Tied Book 2

Chapter 228

Y/n rubbed his eyes. The morning air stung at his eyes telling him to go back to sleep. A cramp pulled at the man's right hand and multiple knots held onto Y/n's muscles--limiting his motion. To his right, Hyewon slept peacefully, seemingly cleansing him of his plights. As he dragged his thumb across Hyewon's cheek, Y/n sighed.

I should get ready soon. Hyung is probably waiting for me.

After a few minutes of stalling, Y/n slid out of bed, stretching before walking into the bathroom. Eventually the man walked down stairs in a fresh set of clothes. As he expected, Ji Hoon sat at the island counter with an omelet ready.

"Oh, you're awake," Ji Hoon scrolled through his phone, "We'll leave when you're ready."

Y/n nodded as he sat in his chair, "What are you looking at?"

"Hm? Oh," Ji Hoon turned his phone to the younger man, "Just scrolling through Twitter. Nothing interesting to be frank."

"That's a shame."

Ji Hoon set his phone down, "I know, right? I'm kind of waiting for something big to happen."

Y/n raised an eyebrow, "Like Sakura noona's redebut?"

Ji Hoon pumped his fist into the air, "Like Noona's redebut!!"

Y/n chuckled as he scooped a bite into his mouth, "We'll probably have to wait a few months for that."

"I'm fine with that," Ji Hoon shrugged.

Y/n moved his hand to scoop another bite of his omelet into his hand. Just as his spoon neared his mouth, Y/n's right hand cramped violently forcing him to drop his spoon.

Ji Hoon glanced toward his younger housemate, "You good?"

Y/n groaned as he ran his free thumb in circles over his cramp.

"Y-Yeah... This just hurts a lot."

"Did you use it too much?" Ji Hoon chuckled.

"Ha. Ha," Y/n rolled his eyes, "Very funny."

Ji Hoon extended his open hand, "Here, give me that."

Y/n did as told, placing his hand in Ji Hoon's palm, allowing the older to massage the spot. After a few minutes, Y/n felt his hand return to normal prompting him to let out a sigh of relief.

"Better?" Ji Hoon smiled.

"Yeah," Y/n repeatedly opened and closed his hand, "Thanks, Hyung."

Ji Hoon nodded, "Anytime."

While at the café, Y/n found himself incredibly bored. Not many customers stopped by and even when they did, they only said the bare minimum to him.

Toward the end of his shift, Y/n spotted a pair of students enter the restaurant. Like most couples he watched enter, Y/n couldn't help but smile at their antics. Whether that be because the male pays for the female's order or the look in their eyes when they talk, something felt amusing.

Suddenly in his peripherals, Y/n spotted what he thought was a faint glow from one of the student's hands.

Huh?! Is that what I think it was? No way... No. I'm just seeing things. Yeah. It's only been a day since we were told about this. I'm just paranoid.

Throughout the rest of his day Y/n found the couple reappearing in his mind. As he walked home with Ji Hoon, Y/n couldn't help voice his mind to the older man.

"Hey, Hyung?"

Ji Hoon turned his attention from the squares below him to Y/n with a curious look on his face.

"Are you able to sense flow?"

Ji Hoon's mouth hung open with hesitation, "Not any more... Why?"

Y/n pursed his lips, "Earlier, I was watching a pair of students interact when I saw what looked like the glow of a tie come from their hands."

Ji Hoon raised an eyebrow, "Both of their hands?"

"Yeah."

"I guess it's likely. If you saw it then I wouldn't doubt it--especially since you're the seasoned one here."

"Do you think that means it's actually spreading to normal people?"

Ji Hoon frowned, "You look worried. I don't think you should be."

"I kind of am..."

Ji Hoon shrugged, "I don't think it's something we should stick our noses into. We already have the possibility of our own ties forming, but it's also not that big of a deal."

A small silence fell upon the two.

"Wait-" Ji Hoon stuck his finger into the air, "It will be a big deal, but I don't think it will be a big problem. Granted, there's the chance that it's not a common occurrence and these people just get labeled as insane, or it becomes extremely common and a lot of people become tied, but I don't think we should think about it too much. If it happens it happens."

"Do you think JiU's going to do something about it?"

"Pfft. No. She'll probably say, 'Removing flow from one's body kills them,' like she's mentioned before--despite the fact that she could very easily extract flow from people without killing people."

Y/n tilted his head, "She can?"

"Of course she can. She's omnipotent. She's also just insanely lazy and comes up with excuses, or makes up random rules that make it so she doesn't have to tackle the problem."

Y/n shook his head, "Sadly I don't doubt that."

"Honestly," Ji Hoon sighed, "We're probably lucky to be existing with her as our omnipotent deity. It's a miracle she hasn't ended humanity by accident or something."

"Hey," Y/n interrupted, "You're a clone of her. You're not impacted as heavily by this."

"Ignoring the fact that there are two other me's running around, I'm basically a human being," Ji Hoon reasoned, "I was just... Born by unnatural means."

"Yeah, whatever."

At their house, Y/n laid in his bed for what seemed like hours. He couldn't quite find the motivation to do anything other than lay motionless.

Hyung told me not to think about the pair from earlier, but I can't stop. How badly will this affect people? What even determines who the tie binds? Is it two people close? Does one of them have to feel a connection to the other? How did Hyewon ah and I become Tied? Was it just because of JiU's direct actions? I know the tie can develop based on emotions harbored, but to what extent do emotions play in it?

In his peripherals, Y/n noticed Hyewon enter the room.

"Oh, hey. You're home early."

Hyewon sighed, "Yeah. I had to postpone some of my stuff."

Y/n sat up in his spot with a frown, "What's wrong?"

Hyewon rubbed her temples, "I don't know. I'm just not feeling well."