64
“Save me.”
The mud man said. The lump of mud was continuously spewing mud from what appeared to be its mouth. This was the fifth nightmare. The mud creature was pleading for help despite being the one who had buried Minjae in the ground.
“Why should I?”
Minjae asked.
“Because you and I are the same… Uweeeegh!”
The mud man couldn’t finish his sentence and vomited mud from inside his body. This is disgusting. Minjae frowned, but he couldn’t escape from this place.
Minjae was covered in mud, becoming similar in appearance to the mud man.
It was moist and lukewarm. It was hard to breathe. The mud man went a step further and leaned on Minjae’s body. A heavy weight pressed down on Minjae’s chest.
What kind of shitty dream is this? As he thought that, the mud man’s hand grabbed Minjae’s cheek.
“You will forever be in this place…!”
Huh. Minjae inhaled sharply and opened his eyes. He saw black fabric right in front of him. Reflexively, Minjae held his breath again.
What is this? Minjae cautiously tried to move his hand. His hands weren’t bound, but it seemed like he was trapped in a narrow space. Minjae raised his hand to touch the fabric in front of his eyes. He felt something slightly firm. A wall?
But it wasn’t cold like a wall should be. It had a warm temperature and an uneven surface. A moment later, the wall in front of Minjae’s eyes slightly bulged and then subsided.
What is this? Another nightmare? Minjae tried to gather his thoughts. As his bodily sensations returned, Minjae realized that what was confining him was someone’s arm.
Wooseok usually gave notice before visiting Minjae’s quarters. And if Minjae was sleeping, he would either wake him up or just leave, and lately, Wooseok had been too busy to visit Minjae’s quarters.
As that thought occurred to him, Minjae reflexively applied force and climbed on top of the intruder’s body. Simultaneously, he stretched out his arm and pressed against the neck area.
“Keck!”
The man coughed and opened his eyes, seemingly startled by the sudden attack. Park Jihwan? Minjae relaxed his hand and pulled it back.
“What are you doing?”
“Ack! Ah, sunbae… are you okay?”
Jihwan asked about Minjae’s well-being after finally catching his breath. Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?
“Why are… you here?”
Minjae quickly looked around. It was indeed his room.
“I came to ask about the next training schedule… when I got to your room, I thought you were sick…”
Jihwan extended his arm to check Minjae’s forehead. Jihwan’s palm was warmer than Minjae’s forehead.
“You kept groaning in pain but wouldn’t wake up. I was worried.”
“……”
“Sunbae?”
Jihwan called out to Minjae with a puzzled expression. Minjae looked at Jihwan beneath him and quickly moved to the side. Jihwan immediately raised his upper body and examined Minjae.
“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
The situation needed clarification. Having fallen asleep in his quarters, it wasn’t strange to wake up there. Having nightmares was also a common occurrence, so that was fine too.
But Minjae couldn’t understand why Jihwan had been holding him while asleep.
“Did I open the door for you?”
Minjae had no memory of opening the door for Jihwan. Nor did he remember Jihwan entering the room. If he had opened the door without realizing it, there was a problem with his memory.
At Minjae’s question, Jihwan’s eyes wavered.
“The… window… was open.”
Minjae’s face froze coldly. Jihwan glanced at Minjae and slightly raised himself from the bed.
“But sunbae, you looked like you were really struggling. If the window hadn’t been open, I might have found a way to open it and come in anyway.”
“What was I doing?”
“…I’d rather not say.”
What? When Minjae asked again, Jihwan gave an awkward smile. Is he insane? How can he be so brazen? As an illegal intruder? Minjae was dumbfounded by Jihwan’s attitude.
“You… don’t go into other people’s homes like this, do you?”
The thought that such a crazy esper existed and was a member of Team 1 flashed through Minjae’s mind, making him momentarily dizzy.
“No! I came in because it’s your room, sunbae!”
My room is free for you to enter as you please? That answer was even less understandable.
Oblivious to Minjae’s thoughts, Jihwan wore an aggrieved expression. Minjae pointed to the window and warned:
“Get out by the count of three. One, two—”
“See you later!”
Jihwan quickly opened the window and flew out. As if there’s going to be a later. Minjae locked the window.
***
As soon as Minjae entered the guiding room, he found Wooseok and the guides having a tangerine party. Wooseok held out a half-peeled tangerine to Minjae.
“Want a tangerine?”
“Where did these come from?”
“His parents own a farm. He received five boxes and said they were too much to handle, so he’s sharing.”
Wooseok nodded toward a guide sitting nearby. Thanks for sharing. When Minjae greeted him, the guide smiled. Minjae took the tangerine Wooseok had peeled and popped segments into his mouth one by one.
“Did you see the news?”
Wooseok asked. Minjae nodded. The news reported that a dead body, presumed to be the leader of the cult The Crow, had been found.
The body had been abandoned at a deserted dock. It was discovered after a fisherman going out with his boat at dawn reported it to the police. However, there were many strange aspects.
The body, which had been in the water, was so bloated that it was difficult to identify. Yet the media specified it as the cult leader based on similar clothing and hairstyle.
Given that the cult leader had suddenly disappeared, making his movement difficult to trace, the location where the body was found was also too random.
“What do you think?”
Wooseok asked. Wooseok was holding Minjae’s wrist that held the tangerine, injecting guiding. Minjae glanced around. Everyone seemed perceptive enough to have returned to their seats with their share of tangerines.
“I think he’s still alive.”
“…Why do you think that?”
Minjae recalled the man he had seen near Dr. Jo’s laboratory building. His appearance was similar to what was described in the news.
If Dr. Jo or the Center Director had disposed of the cult leader, they wouldn’t have allowed the body to be discovered so early. The theory that they had faked his death to divert public attention seemed much more plausible.
Even if it wasn’t the Center Director’s side, Minjae judged that they wouldn’t have killed him in such a sloppy manner.
“I’ve seen something.”
“Where?”
“Just somewhere.”
If Minjae told Wooseok about visiting Dr. Jo, he would obviously make a fuss. Wooseok looked at Minjae suspiciously.
“I’ll tell you when I’m more certain.”
Minjae stuffed a tangerine into Wooseok’s mouth. You jerk. Wooseok mumbled.
***
“What did you say?”
Eunjeong put down the spoon she had been eating with. It was a meal she had prepared with abalone seaweed soup that Seoyeon had said she wanted, packed and brought.
“I applied for the Manifesting Esper Special Team.”
Seoyeon, who calmly repeated her words, placed side dishes on top of Eunjeong’s rice.
“…Why so suddenly?”
“I want to experience it.”
Eunjeong was speechless. The Manifesting Esper Special Team had the highest turnover rate. It meant that many people either gave up or died, indicating how dangerous the job was. No guide who had paired with an esper would voluntarily go there. Eunjeong was shocked.
“Couldn’t you have… discussed it with me first?”
“Don’t worry. Since I’m paired with you, I won’t be working there every day. I’ll be a temporary member deployed when the team needs someone to fill in.”
Seoyeon said that it wouldn’t affect her guiding for Eunjeong. However, Eunjeong was concerned about something else.
“It’s too dangerous there. It’s the only place that calculates guide survival rates every year. I’m against it.”
“What are you saying? You’re here because there was a Manifesting Esper Rescue Team, after all.”
Eunjeong knew Seoyeon was right. She also knew it was contradictory for her to say such things.
But she didn’t want to admit it. She felt this way even more because she knew Seoyeon was a good person.
The moment an esper manifests is not mysterious. It was impossible to predict what actions espers, overwhelmed by their first experience of pain and fear of death, might take.
Seoyeon might feel fear when seeing a manifesting esper, or she might feel compassion and refuse to give up even when she should. Just the possibility of this made Eunjeong want to stop Seoyeon.
“Because of my size, I already had warning signs, so I was discovered by the Center before manifestation. That’s why I don’t really know about espers who manifest suddenly in the field.”
“See, you don’t know either. I think you’re worrying too much, Eunjeong.”
“I don’t want to send you to a field I don’t know about, Seoyeon. Don’t you really understand why I’m doing this?”
Eunjeong had never shown a negative reaction to Seoyeon. Perhaps because of this, Seoyeon’s eyes wavered. Seeing this, Eunjeong became angry with herself. However, her mouth kept moving unstoppably.
“This situation too. Couldn’t you have told me about it beforehand? No matter what, we’re paired. It’s too much. Before thinking about other people you need to save, couldn’t you have thought about me first just once?”
“…Eunjeong.”
“Am I really your friend?”
“Yeo Eunjeong, how can you say that?”
Seoyeon had entered the Center when Eunjeong was 19 years old. And as soon as she entered, she was assigned exclusively to Eunjeong.
It was a time when, after Eunjeong had punched a male guide who blurted out that “her large build was intimidating for a woman,” other guides except for Wooseok were reluctant to guide her.
In the midst of this, Seoyeon, a newcomer who didn’t know anything and was also a woman, was quickly assigned to Eunjeong.
“Hello.”
Seoyeon’s first smile when they met was warm. Even though she might have heard the rumors spread everywhere about what kind of person Eunjeong was, Seoyeon always treated Eunjeong with a consistent attitude. That’s why Seoyeon was Eunjeong’s one and only special person.
Guides are inevitably bound to their paired espers to some extent. While it’s unavoidable since the guide’s role is to assist the esper, Eunjeong didn’t want to diminish Seoyeon’s life. So she supported whatever Seoyeon wanted to do.
She wanted to be the only and special person for Seoyeon too, and she believed that was the case. Seoyeon was always part of Eunjeong’s future.
But sometimes, like now, when Seoyeon seemed to be looking at a distant place, she inevitably felt hurt.
“I can’t stay with you anymore today.”
Eunjeong stood up. Seoyeon didn’t try to stop her.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
