# Chapter 93
Baek Jaan gladly accepted the shrimp Hajin handed to him. Though he’d definitely bought quite large ones, somehow in his hands they looked like cocktail shrimp.
“Hmm… Which part did you say was the sand vein? I can’t really tell.”
Baek Jaan couldn’t find the sand vein that should be visible once the tail was peeled back, so he asked Hajin for help.
Thinking he might not be able to find it on his first try, Hajin moved closer to him and pointed out the sand vein.
“This is the sand vein. It’s different from the tail, right? You just need to slightly remove the tip.”
As Hajin held his hand and showed him directly to avoid confusion, Baek Jaan’s mouth relaxed into a smile. Hajin, who was shorter and had his head lowered, couldn’t see it.
“I think I get it now. Thank you, Hyung.”
“Look at that, look at that. I knew he’d act like that.”
At the teasing voice that cut in, Baek Jaan’s smiling face soured. He’d expected their conversation to last longer, but it ended more quickly than he’d thought, cutting short their time alone.
Baek Jaan glared at Han Seungho from where Hajin couldn’t see, and Han Seungho glared right back. Meanwhile, Cha Jinwoo, seeing there were still shrimp left to prepare, rolled up his sleeves.
“Let me help.”
In response to Cha Jinwoo’s surprise attack trying to take his place, Baek Jaan quickly defended while breaking his eye contact with Han Seungho.
“It’s fine since I’m here, Team Leader. The kitchen is too small for three people.”
But Cha Jinwoo’s attack wasn’t to be taken lightly.
“Hajin must be hungry too, wouldn’t it be better if someone with quick hands helped?”
The implication was that just fooling around wasn’t helpful at all. Understanding the hidden meaning perfectly, Baek Jaan’s gaze sharpened.
“Still, it’s better for the person who started to finish. Why have more people involved?”
Tired of the underwater battle between the two handsome and proud men, the straightforward Han Seungho and Lee Doyoon left their positions.
They both desperately wanted to have sweet moments with Hajin too, but getting in the middle of those two was too much of a headache.
How could they verbally push aside people who were saying, in their own way, that they’d do it because the other was too slow?
Especially Han Seungho, who preferred fist fights to verbal ones, made a face of disgust as he sat at the table.
“Ah! I don’t care who does it, just do it quickly! Hajin Hyung is doing it all alone!”
When Han Seungho shouted angrily, the two men who had been arguing without breaking eye contact finally turned to look at Hajin.
Realizing they’d left Hajin to work alone, Baek Jaan looked like he was about to cry, and even Cha Jinwoo appeared unusually flustered.
“Hyung, why are you doing it by yourself?”
“I’m sorry. We were too busy arguing…”
“What? No, it’s fine. Isn’t it better for someone to just get it done quickly?”
In fact, Hajin had already realized it was taking longer than expected to prepare with Baek Jaan as he had to explain everything step by step.
So when the two men became distracted by their conversation, he took the opportunity to finish quickly.
“And now that it’s done, Baek Jaan-ssi, please go wash your hands. I’ll handle the rest.”
“What? Isn’t it too much to do alone?”
Baek Jaan tried to stay by Hajin’s side a little longer, but Hajin, concerned about leaving the shrimp out at room temperature for too long, gently declined without noticing Baek Jaan’s intention.
“Let’s cook something else together next time. Right now, the shrimp have been out too long, so it’ll be faster if I do it alone.”
After saying that, he started placing the shrimp into a flour batter—who knew when he had prepared it.
In that brief moment, he had not only finished cleaning the shrimp but his hands moved so quickly that neither Baek Jaan nor Cha Jinwoo had a chance to intervene.
The cooking progressed so rapidly that it made the two men feel embarrassed about their selfish intentions, and they quietly stepped back without saying another word.
They even tried to at least set the table, but Han Seungho and Lee Doyoon had already taken care of that. The two men really just had to sit quietly.
This made them belatedly realize how childish their behavior had been. Cha Jinwoo felt especially embarrassed since he had been the one trying to stop such behavior until now.
Though they say love makes people act childish, he vowed to exercise some restraint for the time being.
* * *
Several days had passed since the confrontation with the Association Chairman. Though he had given Hajin Mugunghwa Grade 2 to keep him, the Chairman was on edge, not knowing what Hajin might do with that power.
Despite having threatened to leave the Association, Hajin hadn’t shown any particular movements.
With all that power, all he did was visit the medical ward to check Alpha Team’s past health examination records or check on the Espers he had treated.
Hajin seemed to be enjoying peaceful days, making the Chairman feel foolish for being so tense and cautious.
“Hmm, if he just stays quiet like this, I’d be happy…”
The Chairman considered testing him one last time but then shook his head. After hearing the word ‘last,’ he couldn’t risk such an adventure.
‘At least it seems he doesn’t plan to leave, so that’s fortunate.’
Finally, the Chairman stopped monitoring Hajin. After all, every employee in the Association was his eyes anyway.
Meanwhile, Hajin was once again caught between the bulky men who were hugging him and refusing to let go. Despite explaining clearly multiple times, the same situation repeated daily.
“I’m pretty sure I heard you say you understood at least three times.”
Despite his words coming out like a sigh, Han Seungho, Baek Jaan, and Lee Doyoon pretended not to hear and each clung to Hajin.
“Don’t gooo…”
“Why do you have to examine those bastards, Hyung?”
“…”
Though the arms and shoulders holding him felt heavy, their voices were so plaintive that Hajin couldn’t coldly push them away.
Why were they clinging to Hajin more than before? The answer lay in what happened a few days ago.
It was the day Hajin had opened up about his father.
After Cha Jinwoo felt embarrassed about acting childishly, and Hajin had magnificently filled the table and sat down with chopsticks in hand, he dropped a bombshell.
“Starting tomorrow, I plan to go Guide some Espers.”
Hajin suddenly exploded this bomb.
Those who had been captivated by the appetizing fried food and swallowing at the savory aroma lost their appetite as if they’d never had it, and stared at Hajin in disbelief.
“W-what do you mean?”
“Did we do something wrong? Is it because Seungho Hyung keeps speaking informally? Is that it?”
Some stumbled over their words in confusion, and others dropped their chopsticks, speechless. Even Hajin was quite surprised by the reaction, which was more serious than he’d expected.
He’d thought they would object, but he hadn’t expected them to react as if they were being abandoned.
“No. It’s nothing like that, so please don’t cry, Han Seungho-ssi.”
At Lee Doyoon’s words, Han Seungho’s eyes welled up with tears, truly believing it was his fault.
Hajin had seen Baek Jaan tear up before, but it was the first time he’d seen Han Seungho like this, so he put down his chopsticks and fidgeted uncomfortably.
‘Maybe I should have told them after we finished eating.’
He had thought it was a simple matter of getting their consent, but if he had known this would happen, he would have kept his mouth shut until the meal was over.
“Are you… abandoning us…?”
“No!”
Hajin hastily denied Han Seungho’s teary question.
With that sincere single word, Han Seungho finally held back his tears but then seemed even more upset as he complained.
“What the hell? Then why did you say that? You scared me.”
‘Did you even give me a chance to explain?’
Hajin felt somewhat wronged but, afraid of making him cry again, he obediently apologized.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“So you won’t be Guiding those other guys, right?”
Reassured, Han Seungho seemed to be getting his appetite back as he picked up his chopsticks and stuffed a fried shrimp into his mouth in one go. However, Hajin tilted his head as if to ask what he meant, betraying his expectations.
“What? No. I will be.”
Alarmed by Hajin’s answer, Han Seungho tried to say something but couldn’t because his mouth was full of fried shrimp.
As the table became noisy again, Cha Jinwoo raised his hand to calm everyone down.
“Everyone, quiet. Let’s hear what Hajin-ssi has to say first.”
After silencing Alpha Team, Cha Jinwoo’s gaze turned to Hajin.
“I think there must be a reason. I don’t believe Hajin-ssi would abandon us without any reason.”
“I keep telling you, I’m not abandoning you…”
Hajin grumbled with a small sigh. Then, in the now quiet atmosphere, he continued with what he had been trying to say.
“As I mentioned earlier, this is for investigating about my father. Though it’s a childhood memory, my father was definitely an Esper affiliated with the Association. There must still be records of him here.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
