#79
Blank eyes devoid of emotion, unimaginable for a child who had just manifested, were reflecting him. The sight of blue gleaming eyes staring without wavering or blinking was quite chilling.
“What are you looking at?”
However, Woo Tae-sik, being an Esper himself, smiled and squatted in front of Oh-yul.
“I’m sorry. He’ll probably…”
He’ll undoubtedly be sent to a laboratory. The boy swallowed the inevitable prediction beyond his throat. A groan followed. Even though he wanted to help, there was little Woo Tae-sik could do. Woo Tae-sik clicked his tongue inwardly. Oh-yul, who had been staring at him blankly, showed his discomfort at the unfinished sentence.
“Why don’t you finish what you were saying?”
“What?”
“What’s going to happen to Ho-woo?”
In an atmosphere that seemed he would persistently ask until he got an answer, the boy spilled it out, feeling that it was better to be mentally prepared than to suffer without knowing anything.
“He’ll be sent to a laboratory. In my opinion, he’ll definitely be sent.”
Being in the training center, Woo Tae-sik had overheard rumors. That experiments were being conducted on them. If asked whether these experiments were ethically clean, well, that was questionable. The Management Corporation was a closed group, and such places tend to stagnate and rot.
“I see.”
At the flat reply without any inflection, Woo Tae-sik’s expression twisted as if looking at something strange, then quickly smoothed out. Being an Esper himself, he knew well that Espers were somewhat lacking in humanity. Though they appeared normal, they had deficiencies different from ordinary people.
Thinking it must be one of those deficiencies, the boy, unable to shake off the uneasiness of seemingly pushing young children into danger, wore a complicated expression.
Oh-yul, who keenly read from Woo Tae-sik’s expression that the laboratory wasn’t a good place, hugged Ho-woo tightly. Still, information was lacking. Oh-yul was intelligent, but the child’s world was limited to this narrow house, and he had little information. He needed to know at least a little more.
“What will happen to me?”
“When Espers manifest, regardless of age, they enter the training center. You’ll live in the training center under the management of the Management Corporation from now on.”
“Why doesn’t Ho-woo go there? Why does he go to a laboratory?”
“Because he’s become strange.”
Woo Tae-sik, not knowing how to express it, roughly said “strange.” He also didn’t know what to call a state where all energy pathways were open while being neither a Guide nor an Esper.
“He’s not an Esper or a Guide now, and he’s not even a normal person anymore. If we don’t call that strange, what should we call it?”
Woo Tae-sik hesitated for a moment before adding.
“If I had the ability, I’d like to get him out, but it’s impossible.”
The boy was a healing type, and the Espers downstairs were combat types. Moreover, they were Espers who had long fought with monsters. There was little an Esper still belonging to the training center could do in the field. Life is harsh, but it’s one’s own fate. Woo Tae-sik sent a pitying look to Ho-woo.
“If only I had the ability…”
Oh-yul muttered softly. The boy in front of him says he would like to sneak Ho-woo out of here if he had the ability. Even though they just met today. It meant the quality of the place called the laboratory was not good.
“Then will you help?”
“…What?”
“Hiding Ho-woo.”
Woo Tae-sik, upon hearing the proposal, momentarily looked dumbfounded, then laughed incredulously.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the ability.”
“I do.”
“Huh…?”
“I said I can do it.”
Oh-yul narrowed his eyes, counting the presences climbing the stairs.
He had to erase Ho-woo’s traces from this place. Only Woo Tae-sik in front of him had seen Ho-woo, and there were exactly thirteen presences coming up from downstairs. He had never tried controlling this many at once, but he didn’t think he would fail.
“Will you help?”
If Woo Tae-sik refused, it would be fourteen in total. Estimating the numbers, Oh-yul tensed at the approaching presences.
After pondering Oh-yul’s proposal for a moment, Woo Tae-sik nodded heavily.
Even if discovered, he was a valuable healing Esper, so he wouldn’t receive severe punishment. Moreover, Oh-yul’s eyes held some anxiety but showed no fear at all. His gaze was clear and bright, unlike an Esper who had just gone berserk.
“Alright. What should I do?”
“I’d like you to take Ho-woo home safely.”
“Huh?”
I told you that’s impossible. At Woo Tae-sik’s expression that said as much, Oh-yul narrowed his eyes and put his index finger to his lips.
Shh.
The Espers who had come close made a small sound of “Oh?” upon discovering them. Woo Tae-sik slowly gestured towards the man standing at the front of the group.
“Mister, over here.”
“Wow, it’s even more of a mess here.”
Yoon Joo-ho, who carefully walked on the icy floor, clicked his tongue upon discovering Oh-yul sitting on the floor hugging Ho-woo.
“They’re just kids. But why are there two?”
“…Well.”
Woo Tae-sik hesitated to speak, dragging out his words. Although he had agreed to help, the boy who didn’t understand Oh-yul’s last words discovered Oh-yul’s eyes gradually turning purple and took a deep breath. The boy shouted urgently.
“No!”
An A-rank Esper’s mental barrier wasn’t simple enough to be easily manipulated. Among the thirteen companions, three were A-rank, the rest were about B-rank Espers, but those three were the problem. Yoon Joo-ho, the team leader, was also among the stronger ones even among A-ranks. Woo Tae-sik was shocked at Oh-yul’s hasty attempt.
“What?”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had momentarily looked blank at Woo Tae-sik’s sudden shout, belatedly discovered Oh-yul’s purple eyes and snorted.
“Kid, it won’t work on me…”
Before he could finish speaking, Oh-yul, who had been looking indifferently at Yoon Joo-ho’s blank face, turned his head to face Woo Tae-sik.
“Wha, what is this…”
Woo Tae-sik, pale as if his soul had left his body, alternately looked at Oh-yul and Yoon Joo-ho, who stood with his mouth open, drooling. Am I under some spell right now? The boy muttered softly.
It was difficult for an A-rank mental Esper to break through another A-rank Esper’s mental barrier. That had been taken for granted until now, but what happened before his eyes was far too easy. The child who had subdued thirteen Espers without showing any sign of strain was now staring blankly at him.
If he hadn’t agreed to help, he thought he would probably be standing among them with a stupid look on his face, and it gave him goosebumps.
“From now on, you were never here.”
Speaking in a gentle voice, Oh-yul softly embraced the curled-up Ho-woo. As he massaged the body that had gradually regained its temperature and become soft, he beckoned with his eyes to Woo Tae-sik, who was still frozen stiff. Woo Tae-sik swallowed dryly and approached carefully with creaking steps.
“From now on, please take Ho-woo home. I’ll give you the address.”
After poking Ho-woo’s soft cheek that was regaining color with his finger, Oh-yul stared at Ho-woo, who showed no signs of waking up, with a regretful look for a long time before finally turning his gaze away.
Even though he wanted to keep him by his side and be greedy, it wasn’t time yet. He knew well that no matter how strong he was, there were limits with his young body. The best option now was to hide Ho-woo among ordinary people until he was ready.
“I’ll come to get you soon.”
Oh-yul finished his final greeting and forcibly shook off his lingering touch, handing Ho-woo over to Woo Tae-sik. Although reason knew that Ho-woo needed to be separated from him, instinct burned lowly with sticky possessiveness. Oh-yul, after directly implanting the address in Woo Tae-sik’s mind, gritted his teeth and turned his head.
“Go.”
At the firm voice, Woo Tae-sik couldn’t distinguish whether he was moving his body by his own will or if he was under mental control like the other Espers standing there. Before he could ponder this, he urgently hugged Ho-woo and ran out of the frozen house.
Feeling Woo Tae-sik’s presence gradually fading away, Oh-yul leisurely looked around at the thirteen Espers standing as if nailed to the spot.
He whispered, shaking their minds, that only they had come here, Woo Tae-sik hadn’t come, and only one small child had been discovered. The solid minds of the Espers crumbled like tofu and then reformed. Oh-yul manipulated the memories more carefully than ever before.
He shoved all memories with Woo Tae-sik into a corner and locked them with a solid lock. Parts that might leave holes in the memory if erased were filled by pulling in others from the memory. He tried very hard to fill all the holes meticulously and in detail, but once a mind has crumbled, it will show signs in some way, and the controlled memories could return if there was a trigger.
The small Esper carefully imprinted the faces of all thirteen Espers in his mind. Oh-yul stored them in detail in his mental album so that he could recognize them at a glance even after a long time, waiting for an opportunity to eliminate them at any time.
“How long…”
How long will it take?
