I Tried To Run Away, But The protagonist Is Just Too Formidable - Chapter 128

At first, it was annoyance. The second time, bewilderment. And the third, confusion. Those were Han-Seo’s emotional shifts as he dealt with Tae-Jeong’s stubborn, incomprehensible statements.

So what Tae-Jeong was calling “babies” were the two puppies that had just been clinging to him, acting cute—and he was claiming that Han-Seo had given birth to them.

…No way, right?

Without thinking any further, Han-Seo quickly pinched his thigh. And he immediately knew. He was dreaming. There was no way he wouldn’t feel anything after pinching himself that hard otherwise.

“Ah, shit.”

Well, of course. Not only did his stomach suddenly go flat overnight, but puppies were in a baby crib. He should’ve realized something was off then and there.

He’d gotten so emotional and panicked at the thought that something had happened to the babies that he had moved without thinking.

“Han-Seo?”

“Hyung. I think I really became a dad.”

Han-Seo let out a sigh of relief, then let out a soft, airy laugh. No matter how you looked at it, wasn’t this what it meant to be a parent? He could count on one hand the number of times he had completely lost his mind with worry over someone else.

Even when Tae-Jeong had been in pain from the imprinting process, hadn’t he still managed to stay relatively calm? This whole situation just felt so strange… and honestly, a little ticklish in a good way.

“You’re saying weird things today. You’re not sick, are you? You’re worrying me.”

Now that he realized it was a dream, everything felt even more surreal. Could a dream really be this vivid? Even the way Tae-Jeong frowned in concern at not getting an answer—it was perfectly realistic.

“Sorry. I must’ve been dreaming and wasn’t fully awake yet. I was just babbling.”

Suddenly, Han-Seo became curious—how long could this dream last? He wanted to hold those two puppies he’d named as his future kids—again.

Maybe this was his chance to practice before meeting his real kids.

And dreams were all about doing things you couldn’t in real life, right? If this one lasted long enough, maybe he could even satisfy some other desires too.

“Well, that’s a relief. But what kind of dream made you cry like that? You looked heartbroken.”

“A dream where our puppies disappeared?”

“Really? Poor Han-Seo, that must’ve scared you a lot.”

“Yeah. It really did.”

“Want a hug?”

“Can I get a kiss too, while we’re at it?”

Maybe the sequence of events was a little off, but what could he do? Even if this was a dream, he couldn’t just go waking the babies up to cuddle them again.

He didn’t know how long the dream would last—but since Tae-Jeong had been turning him down for intimacy lately for safety reasons, he figured he might as well enjoy the physical affection in this dream while he could.

***

“…Yip, whine.”

Of course, that was only Han-Seo’s wishful thinking.

“You like it that much?”

“I love it.”

“You’ve been especially excited the past few days.”

“Of course! It’s all so amazing! I didn’t think the dream would last this long in the first place!”

“Huh? Dream?”

“A-ah, no. I just meant our babies are so cute! They were adorable as puppies, but as little people? They’re even cuter!”

Once, twice, three times, four. Assuming one day per location, it had already been nearly four days, and Han-Seo still hadn’t woken up from the dream.

He was starting to wonder if maybe the dream was going on a little too long. But hey, wasn’t there a saying that 100 hours in a dream could be just an hour in the real world? No matter how long it felt, how much time could’ve passed?

If anything serious had happened, the real Tae-Jeong would’ve shaken him awake by now. He was the type to wake Han-Seo up even after a short nap just to tell him to eat.

So, Han-Seo hoped that, just this once, he wouldn’t be woken up for at least another week in dream time.

“So cute. So cute. So cute. Did you see their little fingers and toes wiggle? Did you see the way they smiled at me? Huh?”

He had thought the kids would be cute, given who their parents were—but he didn’t expect them to be this lovely and adorable.

Since this was his dream, the kids’ appearances were probably based on what he’d imagined as the ideal combination of their genes. But still, it felt like, if they really had kids, they’d look just like this.

The babies now had human faces, but with ears and tails. Han-Seo had nicknamed the boy Roundie and the girl Tri.

Since they hadn’t decided on names yet, he had tried calling them by different names multiple times, but always ended up failing.

“Roundie has your eyes and nose exactly, and Tri has my lips and the same beauty mark—don’t you think that’s amazing? They’re twins, but they’ve got their own differences too!”

Whatever the case, Han-Seo had insisted that Tae-Jeong’s good looks be passed down to their kids, and he felt incredibly satisfied seeing that dream come true—even if only in a dream.

“Still, where did the ears and tails come from, I wonder?”

“Apparently, the younger they are, the harder it is for them to control it. But they’re progressing fast—some babies don’t start turning fully human until they’re three or four.”

“Wow. Even the lore is detailed.”

“Huh? What is?”

“Nothing. Our babies are the best, that’s all.”

Every time the story revealed a strangely detailed world-building element, Han-Seo would flinch and reflect on his past memories, but in some ways, it wasn’t a bad thing—it felt surprisingly realistic.

What he liked the most was that he was seeing a new side of Tae-Jeong, a side he’d never seen before.

“…Han-Seo. I told you not to act like this in front of the babies.”

Tae-Jeong had cute, round, pretty-patterned ears that perked up above his head like he was wearing a headband.

The thing that intrigued Han-Seo was that those ears didn’t usually show up, but when Tae-Jeong got excited, they would suddenly pop out. It was one of Han-Seo’s little triggers.

“Why? What’s the big deal? The babies won’t even know why your ears are sticking out, right? You’ve got them pinned down… They won’t notice unless you touch them like this. The dark pants help hide it.”

“Yoo Han-Seo.”

“If it bothers you so much, just hold it in. Who told you to get excited every time someone touches them?”

This situation was exactly what Han-Seo had wanted, just as much as he wanted to see the babies. In reality, the person who used to get excited and restless was the other party, wasn’t it?

Watching Tae-Jeong’s flustered reaction as his ears popped out every time Han-Seo touched below was more thrilling than he had ever imagined.

“Not today. We’re almost there.”

“Huh? Almost there? What do you mean?”

“We were expecting Eun-Ah today.”

Han-Seo blinked slowly at the unexpected mention of Eun-Ah’s name. Why was she suddenly showing up here?

Even though it was his own mind that had come up with this, it was still utterly confusing to him, and he had no idea what would happen next.

“…Ah. She must have arrived already. Could you go open the door for her? I need to quickly greet her and use the bathroom.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll open it, so you hurry.”

Leaving the now-sleeping babies behind, Tae-Jeong quickly headed to the bathroom, and Han-Seo headed toward the front door to greet the unexpectedly appearing Eun-Ah.

“Hey, why did you take so long to open the door? It’s freezing out here!”

“…?”

“Why isn’t this kid answering?”

“W-Where’s Aunt?”

“Mom said she couldn’t make it because of a group order today.”

“Yeah, I get that, but why is Secretary Choi with you… Wait, no way. Seriously?”

“Why are you acting like this? I told you I was coming with Hyung.”

Oh my god. Han-Seo finally realized why Eun-Ah had appeared in his dream.

***

“Stop laughing already, seriously.”

“Ugh… I just can’t stop laughing, what should I do?”

“I’m going to the bathroom now. If you’re still laughing after I come back, I’m leaving. I’m serious.”

“Alright, alright… phew… I’ll stop laughing.”

A few months ago, Han-Seo had heard a secret from Eun-Ah that had an immense impact.

To the extent that the shock had made him hiccup uncontrollably for a while. Even Tae-Jeong, her husband, didn’t know about it.

He never expected that secret to become reality—or rather, a dream.

“Secretary Choi took off his glasses, huh?”

“Ah, yes. Eun-Ah said it’s better for him to go without them.”

The secret was that Eun-Ah had started developing a crush on Secretary Choi after seeing his real face, hidden behind those glasses.

Han-Seo had suspected this ever since the time Secretary Choi filled in for him at the shop, and he thought the face he had seen there matched her ideal type.

However, after several events that had soured her opinion of him, Han-Seo didn’t bring it up. He figured she wouldn’t like him anyway, so there was no point in talking about it.

“I… I’m as weak to looks as you are! I didn’t expect him to look so much like my type!”

But that was completely wrong. Eun-Ah, like Han-Seo, was also weak when it came to appearances, and she was far more tolerant of personality traits than he had imagined.