# Chapter 31
Hearing words that felt like a confession, Jeongyun’s first reaction was confusion. He had only met Wooyeon on that rainy day. They just learned each other’s names, so why would Wooyeon say he wanted to see him? It made no sense.
Wooyeon gently kissed the palm of his hand that was touching his cheek, then smiled. He let go of Jeongyun’s hand and straightened his back. A shadow formed over Jeongyun’s head again.
‘There’s a scar here.’
Drenched by the pouring rain, Wooyeon’s white clothes stuck to his body, revealing everything that had been hidden. Jeongyun’s eyes naturally turned toward those areas.
Wooyeon’s body had many scars, both large and small. Some looked recent while others had healed long ago. The most noticeable was the long line across his chest.
‘How did that happen?’
Such a deep scar meant he must have nearly died before it healed. But the chances of an ordinary person having such an injury were very low.
Who is this person? Why was he abandoned in that injured state that day? And why did he appear in front of him of all people?
The questions kept piling up.
“Ah…”
When Jeongyun touched him, Wooyeon’s shoulders trembled violently. Startled, Jeongyun quickly pulled his hand away. Only then did he realize he had touched Wooyeon first without thinking.
“S-sorry.”
Since becoming a Guide, Jeongyun had only initiated contact without permission with Domin, but that was during an emergency. Now he had touched Wooyeon first even though this wasn’t an urgent situation.
“I—”
After a brief silence, Wooyeon opened his mouth as if to say something. Jeongyun unconsciously focused on his moving red lips.
But the restraint team that arrived after receiving a call prevented Wooyeon from finishing his sentence. They moved quickly to separate Wooyeon from Jeongyun.
“Ugh…”
“W-wait a moment!”
Before Jeongyun could stop them, a black ring quickly wrapped around Wooyeon’s neck.
Wooyeon, struggling in pain, tried to grab onto Jeongyun, but the forceful pulling was making the distance between them grow larger.
“Stop resisting and stay still!”
An Esper from the restraint team shouted. They were roughly pulling Wooyeon as if handling a large beast.
A tug-of-war continued between Wooyeon, who was resisting being dragged away, and the Espers.
“Don’t… interfere…!”
Sparks flew from Wooyeon’s fingertips as he looked back.
Sensing danger, Jeongyun rushed forward and grabbed Wooyeon’s hand. Surprised by Jeongyun’s sudden action, the restraint team had no choice but to stop pulling Wooyeon.
“Don’t do it.”
When Jeongyun stopped him, Wooyeon’s fierce eyes softened. The fire at his fingertips also calmed down.
At that moment, a way to calm Wooyeon down came to Jeongyun’s mind.
“Can you make one promise with me?”
“…What kind of promise?”
As expected, Wooyeon responded to Jeongyun’s words.
Though he still didn’t understand why Wooyeon showed such goodwill toward him when they’d barely met, the priority now was to safely resolve the situation.
“Promise that you won’t hurt anyone.”
After thinking for a moment, Wooyeon nodded. A smile spread across Jeongyun’s face, which had been tense with worry. Strange. Even though they hadn’t known each other long, he felt that Wooyeon would listen to him.
“You have to keep your promise.”
Wooyeon nodded again. Jeongyun gently patted his messy hair, then grabbed the ring around Wooyeon’s neck and turned around.
Now that he had calmed Wooyeon down, it was time to calm the others.
“It’s dangerous! Please step back!”
Just then, an Esper from the restraint team shouted. But Jeongyun didn’t move. Instead, he gripped the ring more firmly and shouted at the Espers who were about to attack Wooyeon.
“Please remove this!”
The restraint team was very confused by Jeongyun’s unexpected behavior – he wasn’t following orders to move aside and was suddenly asking them to release an unregistered Esper.
“The target is an unregistered Esper—”
“He won’t attack anymore.”
The Espers exchanged troubled glances and simultaneously looked back at their team leader. Jeongyun followed their gaze and met eyes with the team leader standing at the very back.
“Let him go.”
“But, Team Leader—”
“The fire’s gone and he’s calmed down. If we can resolve this peacefully, we should.”
At the team leader’s order, the Espers reluctantly loosened the ring around Wooyeon’s neck. Jeongyun bowed his head to the team leader before turning back to Wooyeon.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Though there was an angry red mark on his neck and his face was covered in cold sweat, Wooyeon still said he was fine. Jeongyun knew unregistered Espers were treated worse than animals, but seeing it in person was even more shocking.
“Wooyeon.”
Hearing the researchers’ voices, Wooyeon quickly hid behind Jeongyun. Even though his large frame couldn’t possibly be hidden, he tried his best to make himself small and pretend he wasn’t there.
Though the worst situation had been avoided somehow, Wooyeon would need to return to where he came from to avoid further injury.
‘As long as he remains an unregistered Esper, he’ll continue to be treated this way.’
Jeongyun turned around and looked at Wooyeon’s bare neck. Though marks from the ring remained, without a Choker, Wooyeon was still an unregistered Esper.
“Go back.”
Wooyeon’s dark eyes trembled greatly, filled with shock. As he hesitated and stepped back, Jeongyun quickly grabbed him and added:
“If you go back quietly, I’ll come visit you at the Center.”
Though he hadn’t been to the Center since his grade assessment, it wasn’t difficult to enter since it was right next to headquarters. And right now, this was the only way to get Wooyeon to go back.
“…Can you promise?”
Wooyeon asked after thinking for a while.
Relieved that Wooyeon hadn’t rejected the offer, Jeongyun smiled and answered:
“Yes, I promise.”
Wooyeon slowly nodded and let go of Jeongyun’s hand. The researchers’ faces brightened as Wooyeon approached them willingly.
“Situation resolved.”
The restraint team leader’s radio message marked the end of the incident. Though the hallway was flooded and the walls were covered in burn marks, fortunately, no one was hurt.
* * *
After Wooyeon returned to the Center, the cleanup team that had been called quickly restored the scene.
While the cleanup team repaired the fire-scorched walls and drained the water-filled floor, all the Guides, including Jeongyun, were gathered in the break room.
“What happened?”
“An Esper escaped from the Center?”
“Wow, look at the wall. If things had gone wrong, we could have all burned to death.”
The Guides wanted to know the exact cause of this sudden uproar. But since everything happened so quickly and they were busy running away, no one knew the exact reason.
Some approached the cleanup team to ask about the situation, but the Espers who had received orders from above didn’t easily share information. So with no answers, only speculation continued to grow.
‘I want to rest.’
Jeongyun went to a corner of the break room and leaned his back against the wall, which had been uncomfortably straight. He wanted to change out of his soaked clothes, but he couldn’t return to the Guiding room until the cleanup team finished.
‘What was that earlier?’
Jeongyun slowly opened his hand that was resting on his knee. Though it looked normal on the outside, the spot where he had touched Wooyeon had been tingling since earlier.
He had provided Guiding to many Espers before, but this was the first time he’d felt this. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was a very unfamiliar sensation.
‘Something’s strange.’
Though the tingling sensation faded as time passed, the uneasiness remained. When he visited the Center to see Wooyeon, he should ask what caused this symptom. It could be something wrong with his body.
‘I’ll go for a regular checkup too.’
By then, the cleanup team leader had come to the break room to announce that they could return to their Guiding rooms. The gathered Guides began to stand up one by one.
Jeongyun also stood up to return to his Guiding room. But as soon as he took a step, his vision swayed violently.
“Ugh…!”
He barely managed to grab the nearby table to keep from falling. His breathing became ragged as he squeezed his unfocused eyes shut, then opened them again.
‘First, let’s get to the Guiding room.’
But the moment he tried to take another step, his vision, which he had barely been maintaining, flipped over completely. With a great impact, his consciousness gradually drifted away, and after that, there was only pitch-black darkness.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
