22
Where am I? Opening his eyes, Jihwan sank into thought. He had woken up in a place that wasn’t his own quarters. Moreover, Jihwan was sprawled on the living room floor in a strange position.
Jihwan slowly removed the gray blanket that someone had covered him with.
After blinking a few times, his stomach churned and his head ached. The smell of alcohol kept rising from his throat.
So this is what a hangover feels like? This was an unfamiliar pain for Jihwan, who hadn’t been an adult for very long.
Let’s try to remember. I can do it. Jihwan repeated to himself as he began to retrace what had happened yesterday.
Yesterday, he was so upset that he asked Taehyun hyung to go drinking… and they drank. Not just a little—they drank a lot. He seemed to recall hugging Taehyun and crying…
Ugh. Jihwan shuddered slightly.
“I need to go train.”
Tipsy with alcohol, Jihwan had stubbornly insisted on going to train.
“This crazy bastard is out of his mind.”
Despite Taehyun’s attempts to stop him, it was no use. The bewildered expression on Taehyun’s face as he stared at him flickered before Jihwan’s eyes.
Jihwan wished he could stop remembering. People say that when you drink this much, you’re supposed to black out. Why do I remember everything!
After insisting and insisting, Jihwan eventually headed to the training room. Or wait, did Taehyun just abandon him? He remembered sitting in the empty training room, sniffling with tears.
Memories flooded back in fragments. Along with embarrassment. Ah! Past me, just die! Jihwan clutched his aching head.
And then… and then… Jihwan suddenly thought he should confront Sunbae Minjae. He picked up the box, flew over, and knocked on Sunbae Minjae’s quarters door…
“Aaaahh!”
Jihwan screamed. He realized where he was. This is Sunbae Minjae’s quarters! I’m dead. Wait, am I already dead?
Jihwan felt his body but couldn’t see any injuries. His limbs were moving fine too.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“Okay, I understand…”
Jihwan pulled the gray blanket back up to wrap around himself.
Sunbae Minjae had not only said he didn’t dislike him but also promised(?) to accompany him on future dispatches! Jihwan felt like he was floating on a cloud.
And it seemed like there was something more… Jihwan tried to remember, but somehow goosebumps rose on his arms, so he stopped. What’s done is done, so don’t try too hard! The important thing is that I made up with Sunbae!
After enjoying the happiness for a moment, Jihwan slowly got up. He suddenly craved something extremely greasy to eat.
Jihwan struggled to get up and neatly folded the gray blanket. Though he wanted to wash his face, he didn’t want to risk resetting his relationship with his sunbae by touching anything in the quarters.
I’ll go to my own quarters to wash up. Jihwan thought as he headed straight for the entrance. Just as he was about to put on his shoes, he noticed a note attached to the door.
-Clean up the box. Come to the training room tomorrow.
-P.S. If you come looking for me drunk again, I’ll split your head open, got it?
It was the kind of note Sunbae Minjae would write—there was no one else who would write it.
Jihwan removed the note from the door with slightly trembling hands. It was a very concise note. There wasn’t a hint of affection in it, but words like “tomorrow” and “again” stood out particularly to Jihwan.
There will be a tomorrow and an again! Somehow, he couldn’t stop grinning. After neatly folding the note in half and putting it in his pocket, Jihwan left through the front door.
***
-Sunbae, by any chance, what kind of tea do you like?
-Don’t like it.
-Then what kind of food do you like?
-Stop bothering me.
-Ah… Then I’ll find something you might like!
“What the hell…”
“What the hell? What’s ‘what the hell’?”
Minjae shifted his gaze from his phone to look at Wooseok. He had barged into Wooseok’s office just before lunch and was lying on the sofa.
Wooseok had suddenly come into his office and, as if used to the uninvited guest lying there without a word, started nagging:
“You were drinking again and now you’ve got a hangover, right?”
Wooseok glared at Minjae. To which Minjae snickered and replied:
“Someone else is the one who drank a lot.”
“Someone else? Who?”
“And made a lot of mistakes too.”
“Mistakes? Mistakes? Who, me?”
Wooseok cleared his throat nervously, as if startled by Minjae’s mumblings about Jihwan.
“What, did you make a mistake while drinking yesterday?”
“What? No, no mistake. I’m just saying because you’re always groaning after drinking!”
After shooting a look of contempt at Wooseok for a moment, Minjae turned his head back to stare at the ceiling.
“There was a guy who got drunk and caused a ruckus yesterday, so I couldn’t sleep.”
“Who?”
“Who else could it be?”
“That kid?”
“…How did you know that?”
Wooseok laughed with amusement.
“I knew that kid would come looking for you eventually. Didn’t you hit him?”
Despite saying this, Wooseok grabbed Minjae’s face with his hands and turned it this way and that, examining it.
“I came because I have something to tell you.”
Minjae said as he removed Wooseok’s hands.
“What is it? Say it and get out.”
“We need to keep an eye on the Center Director.”
“Why?”
“977 has been terminated. They say he committed suicide this morning.”
“What?”
Wooseok looked at Minjae with a shocked face.
“He wasn’t in a state to commit suicide. Someone had messed with his head, so there was no information to extract. He was murdered.”
“…Are you sure about that?”
“…I don’t know for certain.”
Wooseok heaved a deep sigh. Minjae yawned. He was short on sleep from dealing with that crazy kid last night.
“I’ll do what I can.”
“You’re the only one who can.”
Minjae got up with a smirk and then patted Wooseok’s shoulders as if giving him a massage. “Director, it must be tough for you?” Wooseok let out a dry laugh at Minjae’s flattery.
“Hey, that…”
Wooseok, who was receiving the massage, hesitantly called out to Minjae. What? Minjae asked. Wooseok stared at Minjae with a serious expression for a moment, then nervously mussed up his own hair. He looked a bit like a madman.
“What?”
Minjae asked again.
“You went to the Center Director’s office, right?”
“I just came from there. Why, is that secretary still not letting you in?”
Secretary Yoon always blocked Wooseok’s visits. That was natural. Minjae was summoned when the Center Director needed him. However, in Wooseok’s case, it was closer to ‘barging in.’
Whenever Wooseok entered the Center Director’s office, there would be shouting, so the Center Director had probably warned his secretary not to let him in. This seemed to be bothering Wooseok quite a bit.
“That too, but… did the secretary say anything to you?”
Wooseok glanced nervously at Minjae. What’s this about? Minjae’s eyes narrowed. Ahem. Wooseok cleared his throat again.
“Now that you mention it, Secretary Yoon…”
“What did he say?”
“…He called you a bastard.”
“Ha…”
Wooseok banged his head on the desk and pulled at his hair. This isn’t the reaction I expected? Minjae had expected Wooseok to lose his temper and curse at the secretary as he usually would.
“…What happened?”
“I… I grabbed Secretary Yoon by the collar.”
“…What did you say?”
No matter how harmless Secretary Yoon might seem, he was still the Center Director’s direct secretary. Though he seemed to just sit around doing nothing, there must be a reason the Center Director hadn’t replaced him.
Minjae looked at Wooseok with concern.
“Why? You wouldn’t have just grabbed his collar for no reason.”
“…The kids keep getting beaten up and they’re desperate to join the Center. Hah…”
Thud. Wooseok banged his head on the desk again. You… Minjae started to speak but stopped. He seemed to understand why Wooseok had acted that way.
Wooseok, who was usually calm and rational, tended to get emotional when it came to Minjae and the children. Poor guy. Minjae tidied Wooseok’s disheveled hair.
“…Just go and apologize. If it’s difficult, I’ll go with you.”
“…”
“Or should I go grab his collar once more for you?”
“…No.”
Wooseok denied in a small voice. How cute. Minjae messed up Wooseok’s hair again. Then he added, I’m kidding. Secretary Yoon didn’t badmouth you.
Ah, you crazy jerk. Wooseok protested weakly. Minjae shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m hungry, Director.”
Minjae lay back down on the sofa. When Minjae pointed to the clock with his chin, Wooseok checked the time. It was lunchtime. What do you want to eat? Wooseok asked, pressing the corners of his eyes from fatigue.
***
Bullets were raining down in front of him. Hoyoung observed the scene briefly before starting to run, cutting through the bullets with swift movements.
Using the momentum from his feet, he repeated short jumps and flights to approach the gun barrel. When he twisted and broke the gun barrel attached to the machine, smoke leaked out. One side of the wall had become a bullet catcher, riddled with ugly holes.
Hoyoung wiped his sweat and walked to the opposite wall to press a switch. The gun stopped firing. The wall flipped like a card being turned over, leaving only a clean white wall. Hoyoung stared at the blank white wall that remained.
A person standing in front of a bursting flash can’t see well ahead. That’s because a white light flickers right in front of their eyes.
But if you step just a little away from that light, you can see clearly. Where that light is headed. What everyone is focusing on. It’s very easy to know. Even if you don’t want to know.
Hoyoung sat down on a chair in the corner of the training room and turned on his phone. Messages from his family had accumulated.
-Yeong-ah, it’s Mom. Are you staying healthy? Whatever you do, don’t get hurt. Call anytime.
-Oppa, I got a perfect score on my dictation? You should get a perfect score on your training too. I’ll give you energy!
-Hyung-ah, I told them my hyung is an awesome hero. My friends are jealous. I’m going to be like hyung!
Hoyoung burst into laughter at the youngest brother Junyoung’s message with all its spelling mistakes. The laughter tasted bitter.
Hoyoung had an elderly mother and father, and two siblings with a large age gap. Aside from not being financially well-off, they were an ordinary family. The family members loved each other.
That love sometimes hurt Hoyoung.
“Hoyoung-ah, Mom and Dad are so proud of you.”
“Hyung. Hyung is a cool hero!”
A-class is in the upper ranks. Thanks to that, he received decent treatment wherever he went. Although he had flight-type abilities, which were relatively common in Korea, Hoyoung received some special treatment because he was in the upper ranks.
Being assigned to Team 1 was lucky, but becoming A-class wasn’t just luck. Hoyoung had consistently worked hard to reach this position. He wanted to become an irreplaceable asset among flight-type espers.
But S-class is at the top tier. Excluding the extraordinary Woo Minjae esper, no one else had ever been designated as S-class or above, so it had to be considered the highest rank. Who would have thought that such a precious existence would happen to be born with the all-too-common flight-type ability?
Jihwan attracted attention as soon as he appeared. He caught everyone’s eye. Despite being a flight-type esper who couldn’t properly control carrying others, let alone his own body.
Hoyoung saw the cameras focused on Jihwan. He was shining brightly in the spotlight. That was something Hoyoung could never have, no matter how hard he tried.
Hoyoung gulped down cold water. He found his own thoughts ridiculous. He felt like he had been rolling around in a mud pit.
“Hoyoung-ah, you truly are a shining child.”
He recalled the words his mother often repeated like a mantra. Is that really true, Mom? Hoyoung got up again. He turned on the switch. With a clicking sound, his surroundings darkened. The sound of gunfire rang out again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
