Chapter 82
I carried the sleeping Yu-min and moved to the hall reserved for the first birthday party.
Mom and Dad rushed in to change Yu-min’s clothes before he woke up and started whining because of the uncomfortable outfit, saying they would change him first. Meanwhile, I just changed in the bathroom.
“Hyung… you look like a little groom.”
“I already feel awkward, so please don’t say things like that.”
“But it’s true. Just add a bow tie.”
“I deliberately left it out, so please be quiet…”
“…You had one?”
Since I didn’t have siblings and wasn’t married, I didn’t know that first birthday party snap photos were taken this seriously.
I thought we were just renting hanboks… I didn’t expect the baby dress, my parents’ formal wear, and even my outfit…
After only wearing casual clothes, putting on formal wear felt so awkward and stuffy that I was going crazy.
I received a shirt, a gray checkered vest with subtle patterns, and a bow tie.
“I don’t even know how to do it…”
I tried to tie the bow tie myself, but it was either too short or too tight around my neck, making it uncomfortable. When I lengthened the strap, it became too long, so I had given up.
I wanted to ask Dad for help, but he had gone to help change Yu-min’s clothes, so I just stuffed it in my pocket.
“Want me to do it?”
“Hyung, I’ll do it for you.”
“I asked first.”
“The one who gets the answer is first.”
With everything so chaotic, and now them acting like this, I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
“Either one of you, just do it, anyone.”
When I held out the tie, Ji Yeohoon quickly snatched it and stood in front of me.
Yoon Cheong, who had been looking irritated for a moment, moved behind me for some reason.
“The strap is a bit long.”
“Check if it fits well from the front. I’ll adjust the length from back here.”
“Okay.”
I thought they were going to fight, but they were unexpectedly cooperating.
Having the guys standing in front and behind me gave me a strange feeling, so I just rolled my eyes around.
It was a bit funny seeing the guys, who had grown taller than me, bend down and fiddle around in front of me, so a smile escaped.
“What is it?”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing.”
You two splitting up on either side of me, despite having grown taller, is a bit funny.
Even though you make serious faces saying you dislike each other, you still work together when it comes to doing something, which is cuter than I expected.
Those little kids who used to make faces as if they didn’t even want to put their clothes next to each other when they got their first measurements at the guild now know how to hide their displeased expressions.
It was funny and cute how their expressions would instantly change to dislike when they looked away, but soften when they turned their heads toward me.
“It’s done. You’re going to take photos, right, hyung?”
“Yeah. But will you two really watch everything?”
“I’ll take pictures when you and Yu-min are getting photographed and send them to you right away through messages.”
Deal. That’s something I can’t resist.
I nodded quickly, and Ji Yeohoon hugged my waist with an expression that said he knew I would react that way.
“Can’t breathe… Don’t hold me so tightly.”
“Hyung is really cute.”
“Move away a bit. He says it’s hard.”
I tried to push Ji Yeohoon away, but when I gave up and relaxed, Ji Yeohoon, who had been rubbing his cheek against mine, stopped with our cheeks still touching.
This is uncomfortable, so why are you stopping like this?
His cheek muscles were twitching, probably smiling at Yoon Cheong, but being already tired even before taking photos, I had no choice but to stay still.
“It’s not like you’re begging for guiding…”
“Getting it would be even better, right?”
When I muttered from the side, Ji Yeohoon’s lips seemed to briefly touch near my cheek before pulling away.
Geez… Isn’t he stealing bigar on his own?
I was so dumbfounded that I just pushed a burst of bigar into him and pushed him away again.
“You’re hot, man.”
As Ji Yeohoon moved away, Yoon Cheong attached himself from behind.
“Ah, seriously, why are you two like this?”
“I want guiding too.”
Well, since I gave it to Ji Yeohoon, I’d better give it to this guy too for peace to return.
After giving him bigar, he attached himself to the opposite cheek that Ji Yeohoon had been against.
Am I really raising children? Aren’t you all grown up by now?
Ji Yeohoon’s face in front of me clearly had irritation on it, but his overall expression was smiling.
“Please stop dragging me into your fights.”
The Esper kids pretended not to hear.
* * *
The actual first birthday party left me with memories of just taking lots of photos, while the main event passed by in a blur.
Ye Han-dam, who had said he would send me a message, hadn’t contacted me even though there were news articles and notices on the Chaehwa homepage saying the Gate raid was completed.
Later, the party MC made things even more chaotic by telling me that since I was the older brother, I should give a congratulatory message and making me do various things.
I don’t remember what I did, but it felt like I had accumulated some embarrassing memories.
“Hyung, that video of you holding the microphone…”
“Don’t even mention the first birthday party in front of me except for the ‘dol’ part.”
“…The photos came out well.”
The photographer took many pictures of Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon with me in the middle.
They were just sitting photos, but they came out looking like a magazine spread, which surprised me.
These guys really were handsome.
The photographer kept taking pictures while Yu-min was napping, saying it was nice that Espers looked good in photos.
The day right after the event, a flood of unedited files arrived, and the guys seemed to like the photos so much that they saved them on their phones and even color-printed and laminated them.
“Why don’t you just print photos too?”
“I’ve already ordered them online.”
I shouldn’t have said anything.
After returning to the dormitory, instead of going to their own rooms, they came into mine and fought over whose photos turned out better while looking at the pictures.
To me, they all looked the same, and I wondered what was different.
Of course, when I mentioned this, I had to listen to their passionate explanation about how their different phone models produced different color tones.
Only after I shouted that I didn’t care if my skin looked yellow or red could I escape their explanations.
If their own photos were the same, why were my photos different?
Their fussing was making me dizzy.
It overlapped with their behavior after the first Gate when they saved newspaper photos, so I gave them each a smack on the back.
“Now go back. I want to sleep.”
“It’s only 8:30. Not 9 yet?”
“Give me some time to rest!”
The two, who had been making droopy faces as if they didn’t want to leave, quickly stood up at my firm expression, saying they understood.
They must know that if they stayed any longer, the nagging would start.
“Okay. We’re going. Sleep well, hyung.”
“Sleep well.”
After saying goodbye, they took turns ruffling my hair before leaving.
What are they doing?
Why do I smell failed flirting from my kids?
I shook my head and picked up my phone.
It would be better to send a message to Ye Han-dam early since he had messaged me.
We were in the same dormitory building, so meeting in person wouldn’t be a problem, but having already sent Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon to their rooms, I didn’t feel like going out alone to meet him.
[Ye Han-dam> Sorry I’m late.]
[Are you at school? Why didn’t you answer?]
[Ye Han-dam> No, there was a hospital situation…]
[Suddenly? Did something go wrong with the Gate raid?]
[Ye Han-dam> Not that. There was a hyung who went berserk, and I was late because we had to stop him.]
[A hyung? Could it be?]
[Ye Han-dam> Nononono it’s not Yun-hak hyung.]
I thought maybe he had hurt a lot of people by going berserk, and that’s why the records were erased.
Now I understood why there had been no contact.
Normally, Espers recovered quickly from general wounds, bruises, or physical impacts.
They recovered quickly from external impacts, but injuries caused by attacks from other Espers didn’t heal easily.
There was research showing that while a Guide’s bigar helps Espers recover, the power of another Esper acts like poison.
They said it was similar to how Gate monsters aren’t easily affected by regular weapons but are vulnerable to Esper attacks. Conversely, when monsters attack Espers, they also have difficulty recovering.
Since I’m not an ability researcher, I can’t explain it well in terms of Esper science. I just understand it as I was taught.
[Is the Esper who went berserk okay? Were many people who restrained him injured?]
[Ye Han-dam> From what I know, that hyung completely passed out and hasn’t woken up yet. I wanted to ask more since he’s a hyung who used to go back and forth to the Association when he was a student, but…]
He was saying it was an Esper who used telekinesis like Yoon Cheong.
This situation is a bit strange? With an uneasy feeling, I immediately called.
“Are you okay to talk?”
– Yeah. I’m one of the less injured ones. But why?
“Nothing, just because of that hyung who went berserk. Did he originally have a high risk of going berserk? Like not receiving guiding well, or needing medication or machines for guiding because of a high chance of reverse guiding?”
– No? It wasn’t like that…
“Then why suddenly?”
– I don’t know much. He’s a hyung who went to this Gate with me. He was struggling a bit since inside the Gate. This one was an emergency, right? So it seems he couldn’t receive guiding and suddenly burst.
I don’t understand.
Ye Han-dam is still a student Esper and is just learning various things as Chaehwa has started including him in different Gate raids, so he’s just accepting it. But from my perspective as someone who has regressed, it’s completely incomprehensible.
Because Ye Han-dam hadn’t directly talked about his age, he was getting along with me and other students in the class as friends.
That’s why we called him by name, but his actual age is nineteen now. A year older.
If someone like Ye Han-dam calls someone “hyung,” it means they must be at least twenty…
Typically, even if Espers go to Gates infrequently, they would still go once every two weeks, meaning this Esper who went berserk must have gone at least 8 times this year.
How could such an Esper not have received enough guiding regularly?
Even though Chaehwa didn’t have a Guide, Guides dispatched from the Association definitely visited Chaehwa on a rotating basis.
Association-affiliated Guides with sufficient bigar should be managing Chaehwa’s Espers as a basic duty.
But an Esper with a risk of going berserk wasn’t managed properly?
“Okay, I got it. Thanks for letting me know. Get some rest and see you at school.”
– Yeah. See you later.
I regretted it a moment after hanging up.
“Ah… I should have asked if they were together.”
I thought I should somehow try to contact Hong Yun-hak.
He might have been there when the situation occurred.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
