20
Flash. Jihwan’s phone light flickered. As soon as the screen of his silenced phone lit up, Jihwan quickly checked it.
-If you want to reveal the truth, please contact us.
-010-0000-0000.
Ugh… again. Jihwan groaned. Since the article came out, reporters had been flooding him with contact requests for interviews like this.
Jihwan couldn’t fully grasp the current situation, but he knew one thing for certain—he had put Minjae in a very difficult position. Ignoring all the reporters’ messages was all Jihwan could do.
Just in case, he opened his messenger chat with Minjae, but there was no reply at all.
Jihwan put his phone down beside him and glared at the box. It had taken him a long time to be able to lift that box. From 7 AM to 10 PM, except for brief meal breaks, Jihwan hadn’t left the training room.
When he lifted the box, the balls inside kept banging against the walls. They rolled around noisily, boom boom bang bang, just like Jihwan’s heart.
Jihwan kept staggering, trying to maintain his balance. And between practice sessions, he would visit Wooseok to check on Minjae’s situation.
Wooseok would greet Jihwan with an awkward smile, as if he were in a difficult position. Seeing Jihwan’s guiding levels approaching dangerous heights from all the training, Wooseok reluctantly provided guiding for him.
“Get out.”
Minjae’s unhealed hand wouldn’t leave Jihwan’s mind.
I wish he would just come find me and get angry at me, Jihwan thought.
He was angry at himself for the mistake he made, but he also felt resentful toward Minjae for not even listening to his side of the story. Did I really do something that bad? Couldn’t he at least give me a chance to clear up the misunderstanding?
“What are you doing?”
Taehyun asked. As if familiar with the sight of Jihwan glaring intently at the box, Taehyun walked into the training room and sat down next to him.
“…Thinking.”
“About what?”
“Depressing thoughts. You seem to be in a good mood, hyung.”
Jihwan asked wearily. Taehyun shrugged and smiled shyly.
“Yeah, something good happened.”
“What is it?”
Jihwan stuck out his bottom lip. Taehyun, ignoring Jihwan’s mood, said:
“I think I’ll be able to see my noona soon. She was away on a long business trip, but she’s coming back soon.”
“Ahh.”
Nodding, Jihwan remembered that he had occasionally heard Taehyun talk about his sister.
“You must be really close with your noona.”
“Yeah, my noona is a total angel.”
“I see. That’s nice.”
Hearing Jihwan’s completely soulless voice, Taehyun let out a small, incredulous laugh.
“Hyung, hyung.”
“What is it, dongsaeng?”
“Can’t you buy me a drink?”
“Hmm, I don’t think so. But why is me buying the only option?”
“…Hyuuung.”
Jihwan attempted his own version of aegyo with a dejected voice. After looking at him for a moment, Taehyun nodded emphatically as if doing him a favor.
“Fine, I’ll be generous.”
“Hyung! You’re the best!”
Jihwan clung to Taehyun.
“But I’m not treating you.”
“Hyung, that’s so cheap.”
Taehyun, ignoring whatever Jihwan had to say, put his arm around Jihwan’s shoulders. Let’s go! To the world of hangovers! Jihwan was reluctantly dragged to the drinking session that he himself had proposed, with an uneasy feeling.
***
“Taehyun hyung.”
Jihwan called out to Taehyun. What? Taehyun answered. Taehyun had been slightly swaying his body since earlier. Jihwan found it annoyingly distracting.
“Why do you keep swaying like thaaat? Too excited to contain yourself?”
“Oh come on.”
Taehyun looked exasperated. Why is he exasperated? Jihwan wondered.
“Huh? What’s with that reaction?”
“You really can’t handle alcohol. Drink some water.”
Taehyun poured water into Jihwan’s soju glass. Keu. Jihwan made a strange sound as he drank what was in the glass.
“But you know… hyung… you’re… you also came to the Center after turning twenty, right? Like me…”
“That’s right.”
“Then you must have… gone to a regular high school too? Did you… have a dream before?”
“…What about you?”
“Me? Of course my dream was to be a hero!”
Jihwan threw a punch into the air. Taehyun grabbed Jihwan’s arm and pulled it down.
“Hey, do all teenagers want to be heroes like you?”
Jihwan thought there was something strange about Taehyun’s words. Taehyun’s tone suggested he had lived a life disconnected from what he referred to as ordinary teenagers. Jihwan blinked his heavy eyes.
“I guess so…”
“What do you mean ‘I guess so’?”
Taehyun snickered at Jihwan’s response.
“I really wanted to become one.”
Jihwan rested his chin on his hand.
“What about you, hyung?”
Jihwan asked again. Taehyun stared at him silently for a moment before giving a slight smile.
“I didn’t really have a dream. I was sick a lot, so I barely went to school.”
Oh… Jihwan blinked and then slapped his own face a few times. He felt a little more clear-headed now.
“Hyung… that must have been tough.”
“Don’t pity me though.”
Taehyun added.
“It’s not like that…”
Poo- Jihwan exhaled and thought about his own past. I… what was I like in school?
Hero.
Jihwan had always written that in the space for future dreams. Ever since he first watched an animation featuring heroes and villains as a child, becoming a hero had always been his dream. To young Jihwan’s eyes, a hero who saved people seemed cooler than anything else in the world.
Jihwan had finally achieved the dream he’d longed for.
But is this right?
Jihwan looked at Taehyun’s face as he drank his soju with an expressionless look. Maybe he was just an idiot, like his parents and teachers used to say.
Not even able to properly save anyone. Some hero I am. Somehow his vision became blurry.
“…Hey, are you crying?”
Taehyun’s surprised voice could be heard, but Jihwan couldn’t see clearly.
“Hyung, Taehyun hyung. Are you okay now?”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey, stop crying…”
Taehyun pulled out tissues from the table and handed them to Jihwan. Jihwan took them and blew his nose. Hey, come on. Taehyun called out to Jihwan in a low voice.
“Hyung, don’t get sick.”
Jihwan said with a sob. He kept thinking about Minjae. The damaged hand that had been injured trying to save Jihwan when he was held hostage, and the hand with the needle stuck in it. The wound-covered hand with reddish and bluish colors mixed together.
In movies with heroes, he had never seen anyone look that hurt. Moreover, Jihwan had never seen a hero in that much pain. I’m an idiot, Jihwan mumbled.
“If you keep crying, I’m leaving you here.”
Taehyun said. Even while saying that, Taehyun was roughly patting Jihwan’s back. It seemed like a gesture of comfort.
Jihwan grabbed Taehyun’s hand. Taehyun furrowed his eyebrows and tried to pull his hand away.
“Hyung, we’re best friends, right…?”
“I’m your hyung, so why would I be your friend?”
Huung… Jihwan made another crying sound at Taehyun’s words. After silently watching him for a moment, Taehyun let out a small sigh.
“Fine, we’re best friends. Happy now?”
“Yes, I’m happy.”
Jihwan hugged Taehyun. Taehyun recoiled and pushed Jihwan away.
***
Minjae was pacing in front of Training Room B area. What should I do? Minjae thought.
Since being kicked out of the hospital room, Jihwan had been apologizing via text messages every day. It was enough to make Minjae wonder why he was going so far when he was the one who had gotten angry.
Minjae also knew that Jihwan had no malicious intent. Such rumors could have been fabricated the moment Jihwan arrived at the scene anyway.
There were plenty of reporters who would bite like dogs anywhere, so if Jihwan had really wanted to harm Minjae, he could have sold different information.
Already twice. He had shown that strange situation where his guiding suddenly ran out. It was fortunate that Jihwan was a bit dense—if it had been another esper, they might have already noticed.
And inside the sinkhole, Jihwan had wanted to save him without hesitation. It was a situation where the ground had collapsed due to instability, and with the explosion, there was no telling what could happen.
Part of Minjae had thought that Jihwan might not come down to save him.
But Jihwan came. He stayed by Minjae’s side with swollen eyes until he woke up. Because he had been watching over him with such eyes, Minjae felt strange.
And when he finally saw the articles with the rumors as expected, he felt betrayed. It was an inexplicable sense of betrayal.
Why? Minjae wondered. What reason did he have to feel betrayed? Part of the rumors were true.
He had indeed ignored Jihwan and treated him rudely. He hadn’t properly supervised his training. That was because he had hoped Jihwan would quickly give up and leave on his own. Since Minjae couldn’t dismiss Jihwan himself.
But why should he feel betrayed just because Jihwan spread rumors about him?
All the lights were off in the training room where he had trained with Jihwan. Only Minjae’s footsteps echoed in the dark space.
Minjae slowly moved to turn on the lights. With the light, the empty training room pierced his eyes. Minjae frowned.
“I really, how much…”
Minjae recalled Jihwan’s words. From Jihwan’s face, Minjae realized that he had truly almost died.
He could have died.
It wasn’t particularly surprising, but being so openly targeted wasn’t common. Moreover, it wasn’t spontaneous, but seemed like a trap set to wait for Minjae…
No, was I really the target? Would it have been fine if it was any esper, not just Woo Minjae? Minjae’s thoughts became complicated.
“Text message alert!” Minjae’s phone chimed. He slowly took his phone out of his pocket and checked the screen.
-Let’s meet sometime tomorrow morning.
It was a message from the Center Director.
What a pain. Minjae thought. Is it about the rumors, or about 977? He didn’t know how much information had been shared, but tomorrow he would inevitably have to face an unpleasant encounter.
Let’s go get some sleep. Minjae pressed the switch to turn off the lights again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
