65.
Meanwhile, while Choi Jae-won was gathering whatever time he could find, the actual source of all the commotion, Ryu Ho-yeon, was spending a quieter and calmer time than ever.
‘He just said he wants to take a matching rate test with Esper Ryu Ho-yeon as a condition for his naturalization!!’
‘What?’
‘He said if the matching rate is high, he’ll proceed with imprinting immediately, not just becoming a Pair!’
Of course, when he first heard this, even the great Ryu Ho-yeon was shocked as if his heart had dropped. But then he looked to the side and naturally calmed down. It was because he could see Choi Jae-won’s face turning deathly pale in real time. Indeed… This was when his inadequacy as a Guide invariably showed. Seeing his Guide who looked like he might faint on the spot, he tried to maintain his composure and take control of the situation.
‘Jae-won, it’s okay. Breathe. Just breathe.’
‘No… hyung, now, now is not the time for—’
‘Follow me. First take a deep breath in, and out. Come on, quickly.’
‘Hah…’
After reluctantly following his instructions and taking several deep breaths, Choi Jae-won seemed to gather his thoughts and immediately led Ryu Ho-yeon back to their lodgings. He repeatedly instructed him not to open the door for anyone but himself, then quickly disappeared somewhere. Ryu Ho-yeon was satisfied that his advice to calmly regulate breathing when faced with a confusing situation seemed to have worked quite well.
Choi Jae-won, who had been absent, suddenly reappeared around midnight and took him past the center’s main gate. He said he had arranged for some vacation time and suggested they rest outside for a while. Ryu Ho-yeon followed him without any sense of danger.
Their destination was a three-story commercial building just a few minutes’ walk away. It seemed like a café had been operating there until just a few days ago, but the building appeared busy with construction even late into the night. Unlike the noisy construction sites seen in dramas, the workers, with visibly tense expressions for some reason, were careful even with their breathing as they skillfully finished the site with quick hands.
‘Hyung, this way.’
‘Huh? Oh.’
Choi Jae-won, who normally discreetly showed aversion to places with even slight signs of untidiness (though he never openly expressed it), walked confidently through the messy construction site. Ryu Ho-yeon simply followed behind him. Fortunately, the third floor where Choi Jae-won took him seemed to have already finished construction, looking as clean as their usual lodgings.
‘Hyung. I’m going to be busy with something else. Can you stay alone?’
‘Can I stay alone? Are you really asking me that?’
For someone else, that answer might have had a different meaning, but the person who said it was none other than Ryu Ho-yeon. For him, being alone was as familiar as breathing. But what was this “something else”? He was curious and about to ask, but Choi Jae-won, looking relieved, immediately laid out what he wanted to say.
He explained that he had prepared meals and snacks in the refrigerator, cold brew coffee concentrate, and plenty of manga, novels, and DVDs of dramas that Ryu Ho-yeon enjoyed, so he wouldn’t be bored. It was like a movie protagonist’s bunker set up with an apocalypse in mind.
The strange thing was that despite preparing all these things that Ryu Ho-yeon normally enjoyed, there was no internet access at all. He said that to properly enjoy a vacation, one needed to be free from outside contacts, and took away even Ryu Ho-yeon’s pager issued by the center. (He had already cut off Ryu Ho-yeon’s mobile network as well, but since Ryu Ho-yeon rarely contacted anyone other than Choi Jae-won anyway, he hadn’t noticed yet.)
‘Hyung. I’ll be back. It shouldn’t take long.’
‘But is this really okay? Even taking my pager, despite it being a vacation… If an urgent mission comes up…’
‘I got permission from Team Leader Kim Jun-young and Senior Lee Jung-hyuk. Don’t worry.’
‘Hmm…’
Although suspicious, if those two had given permission, well… Ryu Ho-yeon nodded nonchalantly. Like most Espers, his weakness was being too soft with his Guide. The sudden vacation, the demand to hand over his pager—though he didn’t know exactly what was happening, he could tell that Choi Jae-won was being quite forceful, but he didn’t particularly feel like stopping him. Remembering his face that had turned deathly pale as if he might collapse backward at any moment, he thought it would be fine to go along with him until he felt reassured.
‘Oh, by the way. Hyung, this is really a minor thing…’
‘Yes?’
‘The door here, it doesn’t open from the inside. You wouldn’t leave without me anyway, but I didn’t want you to be surprised.’
‘…What?’
‘Haha. Why are you so surprised? Your eyes are all round, it’s cute.’
Is it really… okay to go along with this?
Though he’d never experienced something like this before, strangely, a chill ran down his spine. Choi Jae-won left, saying he’d be back soon. His hand caressing Ryu Ho-yeon’s cheek was uncharacteristically cold. Listening to the loud clicking sounds of the front door locking, Ryu Ho-yeon vaguely thought that his Guide must have developed poor circulation in his extremities.
He truly showed no signs of concern about Lexy’s impulsive declaration.
“Hmm… this kind of vacation. Not bad.”
While lounging comfortably in his luxurious prison, Ryu Ho-yeon muttered contentedly, completely unaware of what his Guide was up to. First, he slept deeply without setting an alarm, which felt wonderful. Until now, he had never been able to sleep so peacefully because he had to jump up immediately if an assembly alarm came, even while sleeping. It was the sweetest sleep he’d had in who knows how long.
He wasn’t sure exactly what time it was, but judging by the angle of the sunlight stretching lazily through the windows that wouldn’t open, it was certainly quite late. He rummaged through the refrigerator but found it bothersome, so he just had a cup of instant noodles from the cupboard for his meal.
After eating the cup noodles, he walked into the living room with a banana in his mouth. He put on a random DVD that he grabbed and leaned back against a soft cushion, feeling completely at ease with the world. He certainly didn’t look like an Esper who had just heard about the secret of his birth and had an S-class Guide appear wanting to become his Pair.
If it had been five years ago—no, not even five years. If this had happened just a year or two ago, when an S-class Guide suddenly appeared out of nowhere declaring his intention to become his Pair, Ryu Ho-yeon might have been somewhat excited. In fact, instead of Lexy, Ryu Ho-yeon might have been the one urging to take the matching rate test quickly.
For Ryu Ho-yeon, stable guiding was both essential for survival and directly linked to the liberation of his restricted powerful abilities—to the extent that he could somehow endure the close contact with others that guiding entailed.
But now things were different. The current Ryu Ho-yeon didn’t want just anyone; he had a specific person he wanted to receive guiding from.
It wasn’t about reluctantly enduring unpleasant contact through gritted teeth. He now knew the joy of holding hands and gently mixing trembling breaths. The stability of strong arms carefully embracing his shoulders. The pathos in eyes looking down at him with overwhelming desire. The affectionate expression that revealed a heart bursting with fondness without needing to say it in words.
So other Guides wouldn’t do. Unless it was someone who had all those things at once—in other words, unless it was Choi Jae-won.
Other Guides were meaningless. Ryu Ho-yeon had already decided that.
That thing that had been shouted about countless times in all the cartoons he had watched, that thing he had only enviously observed others falling into and struggling with, that intangible and invisible thing that was more illusory than anything else in the world but at the same time made people the strongest—that thing called love. Ryu Ho-yeon had willingly decided to take Choi Jae-won’s hand and plunge in. Perhaps he was already floundering in it without even realizing it.
This serenity, which seemed unsuited to his situation, was also a result of such feelings and determination. If Lexy insisted so much, he thought it would be fine to take a matching rate test. Ryu Ho-yeon truly thought so. To be very frank, what were the chances of a Guide with good compatibility, who had never appeared in his entire life and had been a source of embarrassment, suddenly popping up with an S-class rating to boot?
Even if, against all odds, his matching rate with Lexy turned out to be high, they couldn’t forcibly disband the original Pair when the Esper’s will was this strong.
Ryu Ho-yeon was confident—more than confident—that he would continue to maintain his Pair with Choi Jae-won.
Although it seemed that neither the authorities nor even Choi Jae-won himself considered this strong resolution of an Esper facing a high-ranking Guide with matching compatibility.
“…It’s unfair, Jae-won. I’m being so good about this, yet you can’t even trust me.”
Ryu Ho-yeon, with no self-awareness whatsoever, brazenly muttered to himself as he turned off the DVD screen that he couldn’t focus on at all.
Just as he was scratching his head, wondering if he should just get more sleep, there was a crunching sound from behind, like someone crumpling a snack bag, followed by a voice casually calling, “Hey.”
He reflexively materialized a small gun that fit perfectly in one hand and immediately turned around. Aiming the gun and narrowing his eyes…
“Oh, I didn’t expect it.”
The impression of the man who dramatically raised both hands beside his ears while shrugging was somehow familiar.
“I’m so glad to meet you.”
“You…”
“My son.”
It was his first meeting with his biological father in nearly 30 years.
