## Chapter 55
“Hyung, are you okay?”
When I made eye contact with Jaeyoon, who was holding my arm with a worried face, my unsettled feelings calmed down a bit. Even though I couldn’t go home, having my brother with me helped ease my homesickness somewhat.
“Why wouldn’t I be okay? I just want to cook and eat home-cooked food.”
Despite trying to sound casual, my voice lacked strength. Instead of worrying about Jaeha, Jaeyoon smiled as if he had been waiting and led him away.
“I thought you might feel that way, so I prepared something.”
“Huh?”
Jaeha followed Jaeyoon, who was heading in a different direction from their lodging, and arrived at a door that looked just like all the others.
“Hyung, hold out your hand.”
“Why?”
Even as he asked, his hand was already extended. Jaeyoon took off the communication device he was wearing and put it on Jaeha’s wrist.
“You can access with this.”
“If you give it to me, what will you use to get in?”
“I have a backup with lower functions for emergencies. I’ll use that. If there’s an emergency, hitting this hard will set off an alarm right away.”
Jaeha asked with his eyes where the emergency alarm would go, and Jaeyoon answered readily.
“The alarm goes to the control center and at the same time triggers the entire emergency bell system.”
“That’s so disruptive. Is it okay to just hand out watches with such dangerous functions?”
“Don’t worry, only a few people have that authority.”
“How many people have that authority?”
“Among Espers, just Kwon Haeil and me.”
My brother is really something. I saw him break walls and jump farther than others on TV, but I didn’t think that was enough to have the authority to trigger an emergency bell throughout the entire resort. The world of Espers must be that profound, but I felt proud that my brother was so capable.
When Jaeha carefully placed the communication device against the card reader, Jaeyoon smiled and pressed it firmly.
“Hey! What if that sets it off!”
“You really have to hit it hard. It only goes off if the impact is enough to break it.”
Jaeyoon tapped the device like he was flicking it with his finger, and Jaeha flinched but was relieved when the corridor remained quiet.
“It’s pretty sturdy, huh? I just need to be careful not to drop it.”
Feeling more at ease, Jaeha entered the room he’d been curious about.
After feeling a bit tense at the door, Jaeha took off his shoes and rushed in when he saw the interior.
“There’s a kitchen here? With a proper dining table too.”
Though it didn’t have three or four rooms like the lodging he shared with Dojoon, the structure was similar to an apartment, making it feel less foreign than a hotel.
It was tidy like a model home, and had kitchenware like pots and dishes. The space was sufficient for daily life and didn’t feel like someone else’s house as it did when staying at Dojoon’s lodging. Rather, it felt like moving into a new home, which was exciting.
“Which room is yours?”
“My room?”
“If you haven’t decided yet, I was thinking of taking the room with the internet connection.”
Jaeha could tell at a glance that Jaeyoon hadn’t been living here as there were no signs of habitation.
Since living with Jaeyoon seemed natural to Jaeha, he didn’t bother asking if they would stay together. It was a very natural question for Jaeha, but Jaeyoon was quite moved. So he asked a bit mischievously:
“Would you like me to stay with you?”
He asked with a smile because he was in a good mood, but Jaeha, who was looking into the sink, shook his head in disgust.
“Hey, why have you become so sappy? You’re not dating Jiho, are you?”
Despite Jaeha’s obvious dislike of his response, Jaeyoon didn’t hesitate to share his thoughts.
“I’ve been missing you a lot.”
“Ugh, that’s so gross.”
“What about you? Didn’t you miss me?”
Jaeha wasn’t used to his brother’s new, smooth-talking attitude, which was different from right after the regression when he had clung to him crying and refused to let go.
When asked if he didn’t miss him, Jaeha wanted to reply, “I see you on TV every day, so why ask?” He found Jaeyoon’s composure annoying, and felt embarrassed about worrying whether they would grow distant. He wanted to say no, but felt he should respond a little to his brother who was being so honest, even if it gave him goosebumps.
“Yeah, I did too.”
After giving an awkward answer, Jaeha took out some dishes, and Jaeyoon took them and moved them to the sink. Seeing Jaeha smiling continuously, Jaeyoon asked to confirm:
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah. It’s smaller than the house we lived in, but it has everything we need. It actually feels spacious since we don’t have much stuff.”
After looking around here and there, Jaeha was disappointed by the empty refrigerator.
“We just need to fill the fridge.”
“If you request food ingredients, they’ll send them.”
Jaeyoon opened a tablet and showed Jaeha the functions available within the Association. It wasn’t difficult since it was a familiar device. Looking into it, ingredients from the staff cafeteria could be received within 30 minutes.
“They have pretty much everything. What do you want to eat?”
“We should make what you want. You said you wanted home-cooked food.”
“That’s why I’m asking what you want to eat.”
It sounded like eating together with him meant home-cooked food.
Jaeyoon stared at Jaeha anew. Why did his brother always think of him first? Though they lived together as brothers, it seemed too much to take for granted—before the regression, Jaeyoon hadn’t been able to do so. He had misunderstood and hated his brother, thinking he had turned his back because they became different when the world changed. Unlike himself, his brother had thrown himself in harm’s way for him without hesitation.
After learning the truth, he tried hard to save his brother, but he was inexperienced. Even now it was the same, but back then he had been helpless, at the mercy of circumstances he couldn’t predict. In the end, he couldn’t save his brother who endured rather than die for him.
He didn’t know how much he had missed his brother’s ordinary appearance, now looking strange while holding the tablet.
Even though he was looking right at him, the feeling of missing him made his vision blur.
“I asked you to choose the menu, why so serious? Your eyes are red too. Are you sick?”
While Jaeyoon was trying to control his emotions, Jaeha’s hand reached for Jaeyoon’s forehead. Since he couldn’t help but notice the slowly approaching hand, he avoided it by taking a light step back. Jaeha’s hand stopped in midair, then twitched before he nodded his head.
“Well, that must be one precious forehead, not letting anyone touch it.”
Even just hearing it, Jaeha’s voice was clearly filled with irritation and anger, which quickly brought Jaeyoon back to his senses.
Seeing the hand approaching again, he wanted to avoid it, but seeing his brother’s stern face, he hesitated, thinking he might get truly angry if he avoided it again. Jaeha wasn’t one to miss Jaeyoon’s state. Seeing him enduring something he disliked, Jaeha raised both hands.
“If you don’t use your ability, you’ll recover even if it’s slow, right? If you’re not going to receive guiding, don’t go to work.”
“I’ll be fine since I’ll be with you for a while. I’m not in a particularly difficult state anyway.”
“Geez, what’s so embarrassing about just holding hands?”
Jaeha quickly finished ordering by operating the tablet, then moved to the sink and started washing dishes. When Jaeyoon approached to help, Jaeha pushed him away with his foot, saying his leather gloves weren’t needed.
After some light bickering, they prepared the delivered ingredients together and made a late lunch. Instead of making food he wanted, Jaeha made kimchi stew and rolled eggs that Jaeyoon liked.
“Wow, it smells really delicious.”
“The kimchi from the staff cafeteria is from Jeolla Province. It’s quite ripe, perfect for stew.”
“Yes, it tastes similar to the kimchi stew you used to make. The cheese rolled eggs are the best too, Hyung.”
“Look forward to dinner. Let’s have spicy stir-fried pork with soybean paste wrapped in lettuce.”
It felt peaceful, like returning to daily life, with ordinary table conversation about deciding dinner menus while eating lunch. That’s why they didn’t bring up stories from before the regression or about guiding that he had promised to tell in the room. They just kept changing channels on the TV because Jaeyoon appeared on 1/3 of the channels.
At other times, this would be when he’d do homework or play games, but with the world changed and his head complicated, he didn’t feel particularly interested in anything. Jaeyoon was also sitting on the sofa armrest, looking at a phone he hadn’t seen before.
“Did you buy a phone?”
“Yes.”
“On installment? What gifts did you get with it?”
When Jaeyoon couldn’t answer, Jaeha opened his eyes halfway and muttered “My brother is such a sucker,” while shaking his head.
After flipping through channels for a while, Jaeha put down the remote when an old movie came on and picked up his phone.
After the great change, similar things happened overseas where his mother was. Fortunately, both parents worked for a company with cooperative relationships with Daesung Group, so news traveled fast. Being the family of an awakened person also gave them bonus points, so they were staying in safe accommodations and working normally.
‘Should I take a leave of absence from college?’
The world had changed, but all he knew were stories from TV and things he overheard from people around him.
People outside would find Jaeha’s thoughts ridiculous, but from his perspective, he often felt left out because Espers knew things he didn’t.
But that didn’t matter much as he sat mindlessly watching TV and looking at his phone with Jaeyoon. He was grateful for this ordinary daily life where nothing serious would happen even if they spent one day leisurely. The familiar comfort made him feel the tension that had built up while staying at the lodging release. He even felt drowsy, with continuous yawns.
“Hyung, if you’re sleepy, go to sleep.”
“Yawn, I have to pick up Dorim later.”
“That’s Joo Dojoon’s job.”
“Dojoon is busy. He looked super busy blocking water and fire with his shield.”
“I’ll check on the kid, so you sleep.”
“Just wake me up later. Yaaawn…”
After a long yawn, Jaeha soon fell asleep leaning on the sofa. Jaeyoon quietly got up. He picked up the tablet that had been carelessly placed on one side of the table and accessed the laboratory server with the password Kwon Haeil had given him. The corner of Jaeyoon’s lip twisted as he quickly checked today’s guiding test results.
The guiding efficiency of lower-grade Espers was terrible. They didn’t even achieve half the results produced by high-grade Espers like Joo Dojoon, Kyun Jiho, and Kwon Haeil.
Yet the content they wrote on the questionnaire after guiding was enough to make him frown.
“Same bastards then and now.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
