35
Jihwan had been waiting in front of the cafeteria since morning to run into Eunjeong.
Sunbae Eunjeong has been here longer and is close to Sunbae Minjae, so she probably knows if Director Choi Wooseok is bullying or exploiting Sunbae Minjae behind his back. I need to be determined. Jihwan took a deep breath.
Eunjeong entered the cafeteria with Seoyeon as usual. The two sat down with their trays in a cheerful atmosphere.
Jihwan took his own tray—the food had gone cold a while ago—and sat down across from where Eunjeong and Seoyeon were sitting side by side.
“Hello, Sunbaenims!”
Jihwan greeted brightly. Eunjeong saw Jihwan sitting across from her without permission and twitched her eyebrow. It was a signal to get lost.
However, Jihwan ignored Eunjeong’s eye signal and smiled, staying firm in his resolve.
“Oh, you’re Esper Park Jihwan, right? I’ve heard about you from Taehyun.”
Jihwan looked at Seoyeon, who was smiling gently and extending her hand. Jihwan took her hand with both of his and shook it lightly up and down. Hyung’s noona is such a kind person. Jihwan thought.
“What did hyung say about me?”
When Jihwan asked, Seoyeon’s smile deepened.
“He said you’re his closest friend at the Center?”
Really? He’s my closest friend too. Jihwan felt a bit better. Hyung, you really… so that’s what you thought.
Seoyeon, who had been looking at Jihwan, whispered something to Eunjeong. At that, Eunjeong clicked her tongue and shook her head. Then she suddenly stretched out her arms like a gibbon and hugged Seoyeon.
“Hey, I don’t like you.”
Eunjeong glared at Jihwan and issued a warning out of nowhere. Jihwan blinked.
“…W-why?”
“That time I told you to stand right there, but you ran away with that bastard Shin Taehyun.”
That time? Jihwan’s mind momentarily went blank.
“Eunjeong? Taehyun is my brother.”
“I know that, but anyway, I told you to catch and bring him back, but you ran away, right? I can’t trust a traitor.”
Jihwan finally remembered the chase with Taehyun. Sunbae Eunjeong… is more vengeful than I thought.
Seoyeon seemed to think for a moment, then held and shook Eunjeong’s pouting cheeks to soothe her. Oh poor you, Eunjeong. At that, Eunjeong made a strange “hing” sound and buried her face in Seoyeon’s hands.
Shocked, Jihwan rolled his lips inward. But he couldn’t back down so easily.
“It’s about Sunbae Minjae.”
At Jihwan’s words, Eunjeong’s gaze sharpened. Tilting her head at an angle, she moved a little away from Seoyeon.
“Why my sunbae?”
Jihwan looked around, then leaned toward Eunjeong. Eunjeong pulled her head back and rolled her eyes up and down. Jihwan stopped right where he was and whispered.
“Does Director Choi Wooseok have… have… some kind of leverage over him?”
“…What are you talking about?”
Eunjeong’s face froze coldly. Jihwan sighed.
“Sunbae Minjae isn’t well, but Director Wooseok keeps saying he’s fine… says he’s just exaggerating… He won’t even let me visit him properly. I think Sunbae Minjae isn’t getting proper guiding from Director Wooseok!”
Jihwan pleaded earnestly. As he spoke, he felt somehow sadder and had to keep his mouth firmly shut to avoid making his face too contorted.
Jihwan glanced at Eunjeong. She was looking at him with a thoughtful expression.
“Did Sunbae Minjae collapse again?”
Eunjeong asked. Gasp! So he really does have a chronic illness. Jihwan nodded.
“Sunbae has a tendency to find receiving guiding annoying. Since he was young, what was it…”
Eunjeong glared at the empty space as if trying to recall something.
“…Anemia?”
At Jihwan’s words, Eunjeong’s eyebrows twitched.
“Yeah, that. He has that, so he finds moving around a bit bothersome, and even though Sunbae Wooseok takes care of him, he suddenly gets guiding deficiency. And you might not know this, but Sunbae Wooseok…”
Eunjeong paused. Jihwan could see her swallowing with a frown.
“Is… is actually a pretty caring person.”
If you say it like that, it doesn’t sound credible. Jihwan swallowed those words.
What’s going on? Am I really overreacting? Or is Sunbae Eunjeong also in on it? But… As Jihwan was thinking, he felt a burning gaze. Seoyeon was staring intently at him. When their eyes met, Seoyeon smiled broadly.
“Then should I help you?”
“What?”
“I met Director Wooseok recently and he seemed really busy. He looked distracted too. Of course, since I’m just A-class, I might not be much help, but I could go and…”
“No!”
Eunjeong shouted loudly, cutting off Seoyeon’s words. Seoyeon blinked, seemingly surprised.
“Why not?”
Jihwan asked.
“I’ve finally met Seoyeon after a long time. Seoyeon is already tired and has a weak body, so I don’t like her doing more work. And you.”
Eunjeong pointed at Jihwan.
“Don’t make assumptions and interfere in matters between a dedicated guide and an esper.”
“…Eunjeong.”
Though Seoyeon called Eunjeong as if to admonish her, Eunjeong firmly insisted it was absolutely not allowed. Upon reflection, Jihwan knew Eunjeong might be right. But he was angry.
Director Wooseok was the dedicated guide, but he was Minjae’s pair. How is worrying about his partner interfering? And how is it making assumptions?
Jihwan left the cafeteria without saying goodbye to Eunjeong and Seoyeon.
***
Taehyun was looking at his phone when he glanced around.
-Have you ever seen a gray building without windows at the Center?
It was a message Seoyeon had sent last night. A gray building without windows? When he first entered the Center and explored, he hadn’t found such a building. As Taehyun was about to answer that there wasn’t one, he hesitated.
-I’ll look for it.
-Thank you.
Taehyun stared at Seoyeon’s reply then typed. Noona, have you eaten? I haven’t seen you much since you came to the Center, so if you have time, would you like to eat together? He was writing this message while entering a side path in the western part of the Center when he spotted Director Woo Minjae walking between trees and bushes.
He was walking on the outside of the fence surrounding the Center, that is, outside the Center, precariously along the boundary.
The Hero Center was located on the outskirts of the city, with tall trees planted around the Center’s premises. This was cleverly designed to block the view from the outside, but it wasn’t a path anyone would consider good for walking.
Why is he wandering in a place like that instead of using the proper path?
Taehyun quietly followed Minjae with his eyes. After walking a bit, Director Woo Minjae was now walking within the Center’s premises.
After Director Woo Minjae disappeared toward the lobby, Taehyun went back to the place where he had first spotted him. There, he saw a small path that seemed to lead into the bushes.
The path was very naturally formed. It was the kind of path that would be difficult to notice if just passing by. The entrance wasn’t blocked off either. Taehyun began walking along the path.
Following the path, he came across a building without windows. It looked like a gray concrete block just sitting there. Perhaps because it was in a relatively secluded place but fit in without causing any discomfort, it didn’t look particularly strange.
-Found it. Is this the building?
Taehyun took a picture of the building and sent it to Seoyeon. The answer came immediately.
-Can you find a way to get inside?
A way to get inside. Taehyun circled the gray building once.
The windowless gray concrete had no doors either. While there were some lines, they were very cleverly processed, making it impossible to tell where the door was. It was suspicious. It can’t really be just a block of concrete. What is it?
Seoyeon had already asked Taehyun, knowing it was a building. That meant there was something important inside.
Taehyun looked to see if there was a path leading elsewhere behind the building. However, there was no visible path leading anywhere else. So the side path I followed leads to this building.
Director Woo Minjae had walked this path calmly, as if he had been there many times. This suggested he was a person who entered this building without doors or windows.
Come to think of it, he was reluctant to appear in front of the public. Is this related to that? More importantly, what’s the purpose of this building? It could be a place to store—or hide—something, or perhaps a research facility. Either way, it was unsettling.
“Something stinks here.”
Taehyun muttered. I guess it’s true that there’s no such thing as someone without dirt when you dig deep enough, whether they’re national heroes or whatever. He would find out what it was eventually.
Taehyun, who had been staring at the concrete wall, turned back the way he came.
***
Minjae was spraying his hair with a coloring spray that wouldn’t wash out easily even after shampooing.
He looked at his hair turning bright yellow in the mirror. His reflection looked unfamiliar. It doesn’t matter since I’ll be wearing a hat anyway.
While Minjae’s photoshopped face had been sold in many places, not many people had examined him closely in person.
And in fact, people who are somewhat famous are often passed by with the assumption that they just resemble someone famous when they make slight changes to their appearance.
Minjae wore a black hoodie with a strange skull design and black jeans with several silver rings attached. These were clothes he had bought after searching for “trendy college student look” for this undercover mission.
No matter how much fashion cycles, this can’t be right. Why do kids these days wear stuff like this? Minjae pondered in front of the mirror. How would I know what normal college students wear?
Tsk. Clicking his tongue, Minjae pulled a hat down over his head and headed to Wooseok’s office. As soon as he opened the door, Wooseok’s eyes widened and he started laughing hysterically.
“Hey, you crazy bastard.”
Wooseok even wiped his eyes, and Minjae felt offended. Minjae unleashed a torrent of curses at Wooseok.
“Wait a minute.”
Wooseok took out a utility knife and started removing the silver rings dangling from Minjae’s black jeans.
“At least wear decent pants.”
“Hey, I’m not the only one who thinks this is shit, right? They say kids these days all wear stuff like this.”
“You crazy bastard. What did you search for?”
Wooseok again placed his hand on Minjae’s shoulder and guffawed for a while. After waiting for Wooseok to calm down, Minjae stated his business.
“It might take a few days. I came to set the deadline.”
“…How long do you want to set it?”
“Three days.”
“Isn’t that too long?”
Minjae shook his head. The deadline meant the period after which Wooseok would step in if Minjae didn’t return or make contact by any means.
“Stock up on medicine.”
Wooseok poured guiding into Minjae while earnestly making the request. After a warm farewell, Minjae extended his hand to Wooseok.
“Give me the guitar.”
It was an expensive guitar that Wooseok had bought years ago saying he wanted to learn, but had only touched twice. Why’d you buy such an expensive one if you can’t even strum it properly? Minjae grumbled, but Wooseok whined about handling it carefully.
With the guitar slung over his shoulder, Minjae’s concept was complete.
Wondering where to go, Minjae first headed to a university area. Normally, missionary activities took place not in special locations but in ordinary places with many people.
Minjae started walking around leisurely with his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground.
It was when he had received his sixth flyer for bars and fitness center discounts. The words “Mind Training” were thrust into Minjae’s view as he was looking at the ground.
“Are you a college student?”
“…Yes.”
Minjae slightly raised his head to examine the person who had handed him the flyer. It was a well-built man about Minjae’s age.
“Ah, this is a Youth Mind Training Camp that many college students participate in for extracurricular activities. We also do volunteer work, so you can earn volunteer points.”
The excuse was quite clever. Minjae pretended to consider as he looked at the flyer. It looked like a perfectly normal camp flyer. The word “crow” wasn’t mentioned anywhere.
But would any normal organization promote a mind training camp on the street? As Minjae was thinking this, his eyes caught a small black bird mark. Lucky. Minjae first pretended to back away.
“I’m… not sure.”
“Don’t be like that. This is really good. I’ll explain it in detail, so should we go to a nearby café?”
Minjae did his best to act hesitant. Just then, someone approached and stood next to Minjae.
“Sunbaenim?”
Minjae saw Jihwan looking at him with wide eyes and cursed inwardly. Fuck. How embarrassing.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
