Dusk (BL Light Novel)

The oppressive heat still hadn’t let up. Inside the café, where the AC was blasting and my stomach was full, the sweetness of my drink was making me sleepy. This was the perfect moment for a nap… if only I could lie down. But we were outside. No luck.
And why had I come out in this scorching midday sun anyway? Because someone had been throwing a fit since last week, saying we hadn’t met for ages due to my "group obligations" (it was literally just a week), and since tomorrow was Thursday and I’d be broadcasting from 11 a.m., we had to meet today, no matter what.
God, I wanted a nap… As I blinked slowly with half-lidded eyes, propping my chin up, Gang Jaegyung scolded me for leaning my head like that and let out a small sigh, gently toying with my hair. He said it was fading, and since I’d just gotten it dyed again, I looked exactly like the old photos of me floating around on social media. He found it fascinating. I hadn’t dyed it red-brown for his sake, but he seemed to really like [N O V E L I G H T] it.
“I’m sleepy.”
“Wanna lean on me and nap for a bit?”
“Hm.”
I turned on my phone to check the time. 2:56 p.m. Just four minutes until the Dusk update notice was scheduled to drop.
I could check it with him, then catch a nap.
“I’ll sleep for thirty minutes after we look at the patch notes.”
“Okay.”
Then, without warning, Gang Jaegyung—who’d been sitting across from me—suddenly stood up and moved to my side.
So by “lean,” he meant on him, not on a wall.
“Save that for your girlfriend.”
“Eh? How do you know what I was planning to do?”
He chuckled smugly. After all my teasing, he’d learned to throw it right back—fast learner. Not that he was any good at it.
“Oh... I see. I just thought you meant I could lean on you comfortably. Fine, I’ll lean on the wall.”
“N-no, lean on me.”
He got all bashful from one simple retort, so why was he always trying to climb me like a cat?
I ignored his insistence and opened the Dusk homepage, already bookmarked on my phone. Sure enough, the new update notice had just gone live under the news tab.
“Hey, it’s up.”
“Read it while you lean on me... It’s gotta be the Chuseok event, right? What’re the rewards?”
“Hold on.”
I clicked the update post and began scrolling.
[Update Notice] 2nd Week of September Patch Notes
Hello, Executors. This is GM Ranpe.
The heat refuses to leave us, and after what feels like an eternity of melting under the sun, we’re finally in the first days of September—autumn. It’s still hot out, but one day, we might even miss this heat. (Not me, though.)
Thank you for always supporting us with passion and love.
<#1> Limited Chuseok Event: “Whose Side Is the Songpyeon On?”
□ Something strange has occurred in the Eternal Land of Atelierna! Meet the NPC “Song,” now appearing in golden-hued Atelierna, and hear what they have to say.
New limited-time quest for Jeojajok players.
New limited-time quest for Viajok players.

In some areas, death cooldown has been reduced to 2 seconds.
Environmental updates to select zones.
This event runs from Sep 8, 20XX after scheduled maintenance to Sep 22, 05:58 KST.
<#2> Limited Chuseok Event: “Light It, Lose It!”
□ Celebrate Chuseok with a fresh PvP brawl! Victory rewards are UP, penalties are DOWN!
Event days: Sep 9 & Sep 16, 20XX.
<#3> Limited-Time Chuseok Dungeon: “Fire Rat Fest”
...
Once we saw the rewards, we put our heads together and calculated how long it would take to farm the event currency. I’d already finished enhancing all my equipment, so the only things I was after were costumes. But Gang Jaegyung hadn’t completed his PvE gear yet, so he needed a lot more currency than I did.
“This might take longer than I thought… It’s already a busy season—I don’t know if I can collect everything.”
Then maybe you should quit your job—redacted.
“Enhancement scrolls can be farmed later, and we’ll probably have to replace gear once the big update hits anyway. Just trade for the limited cosmetics first.”
“You’re right, I should.”
Gang Jaegyung accepted my advice without a hint of hesitation. He was always refreshingly quick to move on from things—never got hung up.
I yawned and scrolled further down the patch notes, hoping to hurry and catch a nap.
But the next section instantly killed that plan—and my sleepiness.
<#4> Special Dungeon: ‘Hidden Mirror Labyrinth’ Access Reopened
Critical bugs in the “Hidden Mirror Labyrinth” have been fixed.
Some named bosses have been changed.
For a limited time, stance switching will not trigger cooldown penalties when done at return points inside the instance.
Even players who previously cleared the “Hidden Mirror Labyrinth” will now be shown the updated story cinematic. This video cannot be skipped.
***
TIP: The first-time cinematic for instance dungeons cannot be skipped. Please be patient so that your party can enjoy the story together!
***
Post Title: So How Exactly Are Pairs Decided?
Posted by: [Viajok] SyrupAddict
I wanna try Hidden Mirror too, but I have no idea who my pair is.
I sent a support ticket and they said they can’t tell me.
So they seriously designed the hidden dungeon so you randomly have to bump into your pair to access it?
(Comments: 29)
[Top Comment] That’s the price of being an immersive lore slave. If your pair quits, you lose access to their half of the story. Shared responsibility system.
└ [Top Comment] [OP] Don’t care. I just want to know who my pair is. How the hell am I supposed to know if they quit or not? I can’t believe I’m starting to empathize with YouTube commenters saying “Was my girlfriend ever even born?” FML
Retaking says he’s looking into it, but he already knows his pair, so he’s not really motivated.
└ Just find them yourself. Stop whining and asking Retaking for help. 🙄
└ Retaking hath spoken: “If you meet people like that, don’t waste your energy. Just ignore them.”
Honestly kinda sucks that only certain people get to access it.
└ [OP] For real.
Only way to meet your pair is to live in the tunnels. Even after finishing the quest, if you encounter your pair there, it’ll trigger the hidden quest.
└ [OP] I’ve been doing that, and I still haven’t met them. Guess mine really did quit. FFS
└ Oh wow, didn’t know that. I barely check forums. Off to go rot in the tunnels now.
└ MVP tip, thanks.
└ I just found out too, but maybe if enough people start tunnel camping, we’ll finally match up.
└ [OP] God, I hope so…
As soon as the announcement about the Hidden Mirror dungeon reopening dropped, the forums exploded again. Players who had found their pairs during the downtime were hyped, while those still unpaired were raging about how impossible it was to locate them.
Everyone was waiting for Retaking to figure it out for them, but instead of hosting a live debate on it like usual, he’d just posted a notice: stream delayed one hour due to personal matters.
What the hell? The guy never misses his broadcast schedule, even when he’s dead tired. Just yesterday he was bouncing around with me like an excited chimpanzee, reading patch notes together. No way he’s sick…
Still, just in case, I figured I’d prod a little. I opened our chat and sent a message.
[Me]
wud
wdyd
wut u doin
whatcha doin
u busy? 11:09 ✅
Normally, the read receipt would’ve vanished immediately. But not this time. The “read” stayed put.
…Is he actually sick?
I decided to scroll up and review our chat while I waited. We’d talked more than I had with my family or Moon Sunhwa lately. Even though most of it was Gang Jaegyung’s absurd nonsense, when you thought about it, it did make a weird kind of sense.
Right when I reached the part where his messages had evolved from “Shall we meet?!” to “ㅁㄴㄲㅇ?!” to just “?!”, a new message popped up.
[Gang Jaegyung]
walking random dog 11:15
…What?
[Me]
? 11:15 ✅
He vanished again after sending “walking random dog.”
What the hell is this guy doing?
Still, at least it didn’t seem like he was sick. Or… was he? Was this just fever delirium?
Should I call?
As I hesitated, the read receipt disappeared. Then a photo came through.
It showed the back of a giant dog, with a pale, slender hand holding the leash.
I didn’t hesitate. I called him immediately.