Chapter Text
The day Yoohyun packed his bags and announced he was moving out, Yoojin said nothing.
He didn’t ask him to stay. Didn’t try to change his mind.
What was the point of arguing against such falsehood, spoken so confidently by someone who should know better?
“You’re a hindrance to me.”
Sure. If you considered someone’s entire reason for living a hindrance. Because that’s what Yoojin was to him.
“I don’t need you, hyung.”
As if.
Without him, Yoohyun was little more than a walking corpse. A hollow shell drifting through life, waiting only for death.
“Don’t bother reaching out to me from now on. I won’t answer.”
That was fine.
Yoojin didn’t need to reach out.
Yoohyun would come crawling back on his own.
And just like that, an idea bloomed in his mind.
Since his little brother wanted to run off and play hero in dungeons, then Yoojin would follow.
It didn’t matter that he hadn’t awakened yet. And even if he did, even if his rank turned out to be the lowest, the most useless classification the system could assign, he’d still go.
He’d walk into those dungeons without hesitation.
Even if he was unarmed, unranked, unprepared. Even if he came out broken.
Even if he left pieces of himself behind.
His body shattered, his limbs crushed, his life hanging by a thread.
It didn’t matter.
Because he’d have Yoohyun back.
Because Yoohyun would come running to him.
And in that moment, Yoojin would prove it.
That no matter how far Yoohyun tried to run, how convincingly he lied to himself, he could never truly stay away.
After all, how could anyone ever hope to escape the one who molded their every thought, carved out their every instinct, and built them from the ground up to belong to no one else?
It had taken years
Years of waiting, breaking, bleeding.
But Yoohyun had come back. For him.
In desperation. In fear. In love. To save him.
And now, Yoohyun was dying.
The dungeon was collapsing around them, the air thick with smoke and blood, but none of it mattered.
Not when Yoohyun was smiling.
“I made it back,” he breathed, chest rising in shallow, trembling gasps. “Hyung... I made it back to you.”
Yoojin knelt beside him, calm. Gentle.
His hands were steady as he brushed the hair from Yoohyun’s face.
“You were trying to prove it,” Yoohyun murmured, eyes soft. “Throwing yourself into danger. Bleeding where I could see it.”
He let out a quiet laugh. “You never said anything, but I knew.”
His eyes searched Yoojin’s. “It worked.”
Yoojin didn’t speak right away. He just looked at his brother, broken and dying and finally, finally right where he belonged.
“It’s a miracle you lasted this long,” Yoojin finally replied. His voice quiet, thoughtful. Almost affectionate.
Yoohyun’s lips parted, but he didn’t speak, he didn’t have to. Yoojin continued.
“You weren’t built to be alone,” he said. “Not by me. To live life without me… I’m surprised how long you lasted, Yoohyun.”
“You always said I was meant to live for you,” Yoohyun whispered. He smiled faintly, almost shy.
“I’m glad you reminded me.”
And then, a question. Softer, almost childlike.
“Did I do well, hyung? Coming back like this… dying like this?”
His voice wavered at the end, fragile with hope. Like a child asking a parent if he’d been good, if he'd finally made them proud.
Yoojin nodded, brushing a blood-streaked thumb across his cheek.
“You did,” he replied, a proud smile forming on his face for the first time in years.
Yoohyun’s eyes slipped shut, a smile etching itself on his lips.
“I’m happy.”
Then he went still, his hand falling from Yoojin’s grasp.
Yoojin didn’t cry. He didn’t scream.
He only looked at his brother’s body with quiet, reverent pride.
Yoohyun had returned.
And in the end, he had chosen him.
What more could a brother ask for?
Yoojin leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead.
“You were perfect, Yoohyun,” he whispered softly to the corpse.
Then he rose, steady and calm, as the dungeon crumbled around him.
Because this wasn’t the end.
Not when everything had finally aligned.
Not when Yoohyun had remembered his place.
Not when he had proven, without doubt, where he belonged.
Yoojin would go back.
“You won’t escape me again,” Yoojin murmured, almost fondly. “Next time, I’ll keep you where you belong.”