I showed quick reflexes by burning all the noodles flying toward me with my ability. The remains in Woo Jeonghyun’s mouth disintegrated in mid-air before reaching me, but I couldn’t help my face hardening into a grim expression.
‘Do you want to die? What the hell are you doing?’
‘What the hell are you doing yourself, hyung?’
—Yes, I miss you so much. I shouldn’t feel this way, but I like you too much, hyung. What should I do?
Because my brother and I were silently growling at each other with disgusted expressions, I couldn’t properly hear Yang Garam’s sobbing voice through the phone.
‘Are you dating Yang Garam? Or just stringing him along?’
‘What nonsense is this, how is this dating… Hey, wait a second.’
“Garam, I’m sorry. I’ll call you back later.”
There was a limit to whispering between us, and it would be disrespectful to continue this conversation with Jeonghyun while on the phone with Yang Garam. I quickly wrapped up the call with Yang Garam and was about to carelessly place my phone on the table when I was startled by the mess Jeonghyun had splattered everywhere.
“Eat properly, you hothead. You’ve made a disgusting mess everywhere.”
“Hyung, what was that about earlier? Have you really lost your mind?”
I put my phone on my knee and glared at Jeonghyun.
“You keep going on about dating, dating, but how is that one sentence dating? Besides, I just met him today.”
“Then what is it?! Are you stringing along a 20-year-old kid? I didn’t think you were like that, hyung. Don’t tell me all the temporary guides…”
“Stop talking nonsense. You’ve been crossing the line since earlier.”
At my words, Jeonghyun shut his mouth like a clam. Then, looking serious as if thinking about something, he opened his lips again.
“Hyung.”
“What?”
“Are you being blackmailed?”
I was about to ask what nonsense he was spouting now, but I couldn’t understand what kind of mental leap he’d made.
“Why would you think that?”
“Well, you just met him today, but Yang Garam called ten times in a row, and it seems like you don’t even have his number saved, yet you’re giving up your ramen and saying such cringe-worthy things.”
His reasoning was slightly off, but from his perspective, I could see why he might think that. But I was offended by his last comment.
“Is ‘Did you call because you miss me?’ cringe-worthy to you?”
“Ugh!! My ears!! Please, hyung. I seriously got goosebumps.”
Jeonghyun was making a fuss and vigorously rubbing his arms, making me purse my lips and twitch my cheek.
“But hyung, if you’re really being blackmailed, tell me the truth. I don’t know what weakness they’ve found, but I’ll take care of it for you.”
I silently stared at Jeonghyun. Uncomfortable under my gaze, he wrinkled the bridge of his nose.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I appreciate your concern, but it’s not like that.”
Just because Yang Garam liked me didn’t mean I was obligated to reciprocate his feelings. But I could never tell Jeonghyun that I felt sympathy because Yang Garam and I sometimes overlapped in my mind. That was my problem as someone who had regressed, a secret I would have to keep forever, a burden I had to carry alone.
“So it’s mutual? You’re seeing each other?”
“Shut up and eat your ramen.”
The feelings Yang Garam and I had for each other were far from romantic. Suddenly, I wondered why I needed to explain this to Jeonghyun.
And whether I was dating or two-timing, Jeonghyun wasn’t in a position to criticize. I suddenly felt strange. It was true that we needed to look after each other since our parents weren’t around, but it felt odd that my brother was interfering and taking care of me to this extent. I wondered if I had acted so untrustworthy.
“Jeonghyun.”
After slurping up the remaining ramen and drinking the broth, Jeonghyun looked at me curiously.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
Jeonghyun swallowed the broth and told me.
“Yes.”
I felt breathless with betrayal. He had never once mentioned this to me. How could he?
Seeing my shocked face, Jeonghyun giggled.
“I’m kidding. How could I date when you’re not? I have principles.”
I made a fist and gave him a flick on the head in the same spot I had hit earlier with the chopsticks.
“Ow! Why are you hitting me?!”
“You’re getting too cheeky. And why blame me for your inability to date?”
“It’s true! I’m not dating because of you, hyung. Do you know how many people are chasing after me?”
When I made a fist again, Jeonghyun fled to the sink, using the empty pot as a shield.
Watching him, I pressed my chest firmly. Feeling my heart beating steadily in place, I let out a sigh of relief. When my brother said he was seeing someone, I felt my heart plummet, and I realized for the first time how terrifying that was.
Someday my brother would meet someone he liked and start a family, and I would too. This was natural, and for my past self, it wouldn’t have been an issue at all. But Jeonghyun’s words brought back the day Joo Seolhyeon left me, like a trauma.
The memory of being abandoned alone in a house that had grown frighteningly cold.
“…”
Although I had the memories of a 27-year-old, I had come to know too many unnecessary things that I hadn’t known at 22.
Enough to make me think something inside me had been broken.
I woke up feeling as though my stomach was clinging to my back from hunger, despite only skipping one dinner the night before.
“…?”
But Woo Jeonghyun’s face, which should have been visible when I opened my eyes, wasn’t there. Getting up from bed, I clearly saw the empty space beside me. Wondering if I’d slept in for once, when I’d been waking up first recently, I checked the clock, but it was the same time I usually woke up. This meant that Jeonghyun had gotten up earlier than usual, unlike his normal routine.
Stretching with a yawn, I came out to the living room and saw Jeonghyun who had just finished washing up.
“Are you going somewhere today?”
“Yeah.”
Jeonghyun answered vaguely, avoiding my gaze. He was someone who usually answered before I even asked, so this sudden change was suspicious.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere.”
Last night, it was Jeonghyun who pulled me out of the panic I’d fallen into, surprised by how different I was from my past self. He finished the dishes in one minute and persistently questioned me about the temporary guide contract. Thanks to Jeonghyun sticking to me like a leech, I could momentarily forget about Joo Seolhyeon, though I experienced my mind being rattled in a different way.
Jeonghyun had acted ruthlessly, not letting me go until I confessed everything, but just a day later, he was now hiding something from me. There was no way I could let this slide.
“Hey now, it hurts when you keep secrets between us.”
Yang Garam, Jeong Seyeon, Do Wonjin—I had told him about everyone without missing a single detail, and now you’re hiding something from me?
I couldn’t help but sneer.
I grabbed Jeonghyun’s arm as he tried to pass by me, shaking his wet hair.
“Speak up while I’m asking nicely.”
With depressed eyes completely devoid of energy, Jeonghyun waved his hand as if shooing a fly.
“I’m already troubled enough without you pressing me.”
“I’m pressing because I’m your hyung. Come on, tell me.”
It was quite painful to admit that the wounds Joo Seolhyeon left me had become a trauma, but because of Jeonghyun, I was able to quickly acknowledge and accept that fact.
With my brother looking like he had aged ten years overnight, I couldn’t just let it go as his hyung. Of course, the fact that I couldn’t stand him hiding something from me was also true.
“Did something happen before you fell asleep yesterday?”
I had gone to bed early the night before to recover my mental state after being drained by Jeonghyun. Jeonghyun also had a habit of going to bed before midnight, so he would have fallen asleep not long after. This meant that something must have happened before Jeonghyun went to sleep that I didn’t know about. I could be so certain because there hadn’t been a trace of shadow on Jeonghyun’s face when he was pestering me, unlike now.
“Haah.”
Jeonghyun let out a deep sigh, pulled his arm free from my grip, and sank down onto the living room sofa.
Realizing that Jeonghyun had finally decided to talk to me, I quickly sat down next to him. Until just now, I had seriously intended to listen to him, but perhaps because I was finally acting like a proper older brother after a long time, I couldn’t help feeling excited, though I felt sorry for the serious Jeonghyun.
“Hyung.”
Jeonghyun didn’t even look at me but tilted his head back to look at the ceiling and covered his eyes with his arm. Again, I heard the sound of a deep sigh.
“This is really confidential, okay? You can’t tell anyone about this.”
“Of course. You know I can keep a secret. Don’t worry.”
Jeonghyun, still covering his face, kept silent for a moment, then lowered his arm and looked at me. His face was pale enough to cause concern.
“They say it’s an S-class esper.”
“Hm? Me?”
When I reflexively answered, I received a look of disbelief.
‘Wait, why is he reacting like that?’
I was the only S-class esper registered with the government. That was a fact that hadn’t changed even when I was 27 years old. So I didn’t notice the problem even as I watched Jeonghyun’s incredulous face gradually change to a look of exasperation. It was a fact more natural to me than breathing.
“Not you, hyung. The person I’m going to meet now.”
Jeonghyun answered, emphasizing that it wasn’t me, as if to prevent my misunderstanding.
I couldn’t believe it. But Jeonghyun’s steady gaze told me it was the truth, making me feel like a ship hit by a violent storm.
“I understand if you don’t believe it. They’re three years older than you, but I guess their ability manifested late. Yesterday, just as I was lying down to sleep, I suddenly got a call telling me to come to the center, and I couldn’t believe it at first either. But they said the matching rate was over 80%, and I was so dumbfounded.”
The more Jeonghyun spoke, the more I felt like the future I had known was instantly turning into scraps of paper.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
