Chapter 90
When I returned to school, Yoon Cheong had a complicated expression.
Ji Yeohoon also had a more prim look than usual.
Something must have happened between them.
“Did you two fight again?”
“Hyung, we’re not that childish.”
Ji Yeohoon quickly approached me, hugged my waist, and shook his head, completely denying it.
“Yoon Cheong.”
“You’re back?”
Yoon Cheong approached and quietly held out his hand.
It seemed like he was expressing that he didn’t want to talk about it, so I just grabbed his hand.
After checking the amount of bigar flowing, I looked back and forth between them in disbelief.
Seeing that more was draining than usual, something must have happened.
It might not have been a full-blown fight, but it seemed like they had used their powers.
Ji Yeohoon was fine, but bigar was flowing out of Yoon Cheong more than usual.
“How much did you fight? Did you crack a bone or something?”
“It wasn’t that serious.”
“It really was nothing. We didn’t even fight. It was just like usual?”
“You two usually fight.”
“Ah, hyung…”
“Moon Soo-young… we really don’t fight.”
Right. I’ve already noticed that they only fight like children when I’m around, and just silently maintain tension when I’m not there.
But isn’t that still fighting?
I decided to pretend I didn’t notice for now.
Even if I asked, they wouldn’t answer anyway.
Just like how I decided not to tell them about what happened at the guild.
“What did you do?”
“Secret.”
“Huh? You’re not going to tell us?”
“No. You guys don’t tell me either.”
“Come on. We don’t tell you about our fights because you’d worry, hyung.”
“I thought you said you didn’t fight?”
“Busted!”
Yoon Cheong wasn’t a very good liar, while Ji Yeohoon was the opposite, able to deceive without any change in his expression.
Yoon Cheong was the type to tightly close his mouth and avoid eye contact rather than lie to me, while Ji Yeohoon would provide the answer I wanted and soothe me rather than worry me.
You could be in danger, Yoon Cheong.
I think I need your help, Ji Yeohoon.
I should be saying that, but I couldn’t tell them.
Ji Yeohoon seemed to roughly guess why my expression was bad and changed the subject.
“I got a call from Dad earlier.”
“What kind of call?”
“He said you were at the guild for something and saw tons of papers.”
“He also said you looked tired, so we shouldn’t bother you?”
“Geez… you guys are always noisy anyway.”
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have told Yoon Cheong why I went there.
When his uncle left to make a phone call, I had just arrived at the guild and was starting to explain to the Guild Master. If he had mentioned what I was doing, the plan could have gone awry.
When I looked at Ji Yeohoon, he seemed to catch the meaning of my gaze and nodded. His expression said he hadn’t spoken either.
“Is it a very busy matter?”
Yoon Cheong suddenly asked while we were in the middle of conversation.
Ji Yeohoon laughed seeing me abruptly stop talking.
“You need to prepare too, hyung. For your task.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“There’s no need to ask when he’s not telling.”
“Seems like you know.”
“It’s just a prediction. I haven’t heard anything from him either.”
The boys were fighting again. But I didn’t feel like telling them to stop.
Instead, I thought, stay like this.
I had borrowed the strength of these growing boys to ensure my safety, but I didn’t want to burden these boys I care for.
Because they’re still young. And because they’re full of affection for me.
It won’t take long. I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt at all. When it’s all over, I’ll get on my knees and apologize.
Of course, I planned to pressure the guild to handle it as quickly as possible. Without letting the boys know, as quickly as possible.
* * *
“I think Moon Soo-young is trying to do something.”
It was the afternoon when the Guide had disappeared, saying he was going to the guild.
Ji Yeohoon, who was lying on the bed looking at his phone, only shifted his gaze sideways at Yoon Cheong’s words as he casually leaned against the desk in the empty room.
Yoon Cheong didn’t like how comfortable Ji Yeohoon looked lying on a bed that wasn’t even his, so he used his ability to pull the blanket on the bed toward himself.
The serious face of the other Esper was a bonus.
“You only figured that out now?”
“Of course I knew he’s been doing something for a while. But I’m asking because this time it seems like the scale is getting bigger. It looks like he’s trying to borrow the guild’s power.”
“He hasn’t told me anything. Don’t ask me.”
“You haven’t heard anything, but you kept me here so he could go to the guild alone?”
“If I hadn’t held you back, you wouldn’t have just stood by and watched Soo-young hyung go to the guild alone.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“I’m holding myself back too, so why don’t you act a bit more mature?”
“Why don’t you stop acting like a spoiled child, then?”
“If you’re jealous, you can do it too.”
The two people with irritation plastered all over their faces looked at each other and then turned away.
Moon Soo-young was someone who never acted for his own sake.
Yoon Cheong had an intuition that this was about 99% likely to be a reaction to something happening to himself or Ji Yeohoon.
He knew that he was quite dull compared to Moon Soo-young and Ji Yeohoon.
Though it was only in comparison to those two—he knew well that he wasn’t dull by average standards.
Because Moon Soo-young still saw them as students appropriate for their age, Yoon Cheong had simply stood behind him and observed as much as possible.
“You really don’t know anything?”
“He didn’t tell me anything.”
‘That bastard means he figured some things out on his own.’
And Yoon Cheong recognized Ji Yeohoon’s expression, which said he would absolutely not tell him.
He could tell that Ji Yeohoon wouldn’t give him any hints, let alone answers.
They always looked at their Guide with mild expressions, but below the surface, they were kicking at each other.
“The rainy season is coming soon, and he’s the type who would have trouble walking around, so of course we can’t let him go alone.”
“There’s no rain forecast for today. Don’t worry. If I’d heard about it, I would have gone too. And would my dad have gone for show? There are earmuffs in my dad’s car, so don’t worry.”
“Will those be enough protection?”
“Better than nothing.”
Their Guide was truly an amusing one.
He was afraid of loud, explosion-like sounds and flashing lights.
He claimed he just disliked them, but to eyes that had known him for ten years, it was clearly not just dislike.
If you had seen him for ten years, turning pale and lowering his head while trying not to show it during thunder and lightning, no one could leave Moon Soo-young alone.
Their Guide was sparing with his words, both when he was young and now.
Yoon Cheong thought it was natural that both Ji Yeohoon and himself had developed worried habits since their Guide had a really bad habit of trying to solve things by himself.
Ji Yeohoon turned his back and tapped on his phone.
Yoon Cheong, who had been glancing over wondering what that bastard had been looking at, shook his head as he saw Moon Soo-young’s photos changing with each movement of Ji Yeohoon’s hand.
Neither of them was normal—that guy who cut out just one person from photos they took together to save separately, nor himself who kept videos of them playing together filling his phone gallery.
“Does it matter what hyung is going to do? Whatever he does doesn’t matter anyway.”
Yoon Cheong turned his gaze at Ji Yeohoon’s words, who didn’t even look back.
“You’d stay still even if Moon Soo-young held a knife to our throats.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Then why are you curious? Hyung wouldn’t do anything bad to us, and even if he did, we’d accept it. With his personality, he probably couldn’t even think of hurting us.”
It was a conversation that would sound strange to anyone listening.
But the thought that death wouldn’t matter if it was for Moon Soo-young had grown for quite a long time.
Yoon Cheong already knew that not only himself but also the guy in front of him whom he didn’t like felt the same way.
Almost to the point where he thought, ‘I wonder if this is what imprinting is like.’
It didn’t matter what happened.
He thought he would protect him. But the reason he was so anxious right now was…
“It’s because I’m afraid he’ll get hurt.”
Ji Yeohoon closed his mouth at Yoon Cheong’s words.
It meant that Ji Yeohoon was thinking the same thing.
For someone who says he doesn’t like pain, he doesn’t take care of his body.
Despite not needing to join Gate raids, he would follow them into more dangerous Gates, and even though Espers heal quickly and tend to have more intense movements, he would exercise, saying he would catch up to them.
Ji Yeohoon stared into space with half-dead eyes at Yoon Cheong’s words that burst out with a sigh.
“He does everything so decisively with a face that’s seen it all, yet he’s incredibly naive… The other day, he suddenly said his goal was a 500 three-lift total.”
“…Suddenly? Does he want to enter a muscle competition?”
“No. He went to work out, and some senior Guide said you can’t wear Under Armour if you can’t lift 500 in the three-lift total.”
“That… isn’t that the thing going around on the internet about how many kilograms you need to lift?”
“It seems like they were just joking, but he came back and was seriously contemplating it.”
Moon Soo-young was unexpectedly dorky in surprising ways.
Yoon Cheong rubbed his face with his hands as if he had a headache.
“If it seems really necessary, I’ll step in. Hyung tends not to tell us things on purpose to keep us from worrying. It’s not difficult to check what he’s doing and why.”
“But you already know everything.”
“I guess you’re the slow one for not figuring it out.”
“Rude bastard.”
“Maybe hyung should speed up a bit.”
Yoon Cheong looked at Ji Yeohoon with a horrified expression.
Wasn’t he the one who would never add “hyung” when Moon Soo-young wasn’t present after his ability manifested?
“Anyway, what I’m saying is believe without asking, if you’re going to believe anyway.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
