# Chapter 53
The shooting had been delayed for an hour due to a prop issue. When Junyoung returned to the waiting room after talking with the staff, he paused when he saw Domin lying on the sofa, fiddling with his phone.
At any other time, Domin would have thrown a fit and ruined the shoot, but now he was just quietly playing with his phone like an obedient child, which seemed like an improvement.
Of course, the problem was that he hadn’t just been like this today but had been acting this way recently. Though he was fine during standby, he often seemed distracted even during filming.
“Domin.”
Domin didn’t respond to Junyoung’s call. His unfocused eyes remained fixed on his phone. Junyoung couldn’t tell if he was waiting for a message or debating whether to send one.
“Choi Domin.”
Only after Junyoung called his name a couple of times did Domin slowly turn his head, finally coming to his senses.
When told that the filming would be delayed a bit longer, Domin just nodded half-heartedly without really listening. Something was definitely off about him.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you waiting for someone to contact you?”
“…Not really.”
Sensing something in that vague answer, Junyoung sat down across from Domin. Domin glanced at Junyoung with just his eyes and deeply furrowed his brow.
“Why are you smirking?”
“Smirking? I’m just smiling.”
“It’s annoying me. Turn your face away.”
Before Domin could raise his hand, Junyoung poked the corner of his own mouth to push down his rising smile. When he asked if that was better, Domin smiled with satisfaction. What a mean-spirited guy.
“You’re waiting for Guide Yeo Jeongyun to contact you, aren’t you?”
“…I’m not.”
A very brief silence passed before the curt reply. Finding his answer there, Junyoung raised his hand again to hide his smile that couldn’t be suppressed.
Ever since Domin started going to Jeongyun’s house recently, the atmosphere between the two had begun to change. Of course, Domin would get irritated every time Junyoung asked what was going on, but Junyoung could feel it.
Though he’d heard Saeon had been mean to Domin, it wasn’t the first time. Saeon had once been endlessly kind to Domin, just like Jeongyun, and Domin had somewhat accepted Saeon too in his own way.
But even then, Domin constantly drew a line with Saeon. When Saeon tried to get closer, Domin would distance himself, alternating between being warm and then cold.
But Domin’s treatment of Jeongyun was quite different from before. It was as if he was drawing a line while making that boundary more ambiguous. No, rather, it seemed like Jeongyun was trying to maintain professional boundaries as a Guide while Domin was trying to cross them. Though Domin himself didn’t seem aware of it.
Whatever it was, from an observer’s perspective, it was like watching an interesting drama.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I’m not laughing.”
Junyoung tried to act shameless, but being poor at lying, his voice shook embarrassingly.
Domin narrowed his eyes and lightly flicked his finger.
“Ow!”
Suddenly, a water bottle flew from somewhere and hit Junyoung’s head. Though the culprit was clearly Domin, he pretended not to know and kept fiddling with his phone.
“You brat.”
Somehow hearing even that small mutter, Domin shot him a sharp glare.
Frightened, Junyoung quickly spread a protective barrier to shield himself from anything else that might fly his way. Domin clicked his tongue and lowered his hand.
“Stop sitting around and go ask when the shooting will start. Tell them if there’s any more delay, I’ll shut it down.”
“I just told you it’ll take a little longer—”
“Then should I go right now and shut it down?”
With Domin’s temperamental nature resurfacing, Junyoung begged him to please be patient.
With Domin giving him a look to hurry up, Junyoung had no choice but to leave the waiting room to meet the staff. Left alone, Domin looked at his silent phone again.
When he unlocked it, he saw the message that was still there, not yet sent. The sentence he had spent a long time composing still remained only on Domin’s phone.
Since he was the one who had first set the rule about not sending personal messages, he couldn’t send even one message to Jeongyun. But if it was about Guiding, then it wasn’t a personal message, right? He tried to think that way, but something still felt off.
“Why am I worrying about this stupid thing?”
Finally, Domin threw his phone onto the sofa across from him. The weakly thrown phone dangled precariously on the edge of the sofa.
Sighing deeply, Domin closed his eyes. Even he noticed he’d been spacing out frequently lately, and he wondered if it was because he needed Guiding.
It had been over a week since his last Guiding, so he probably did need it, but the problem was that work was too busy. It had been weeks since he’d slept peacefully.
“I want a vacation.”
He had a villa in Ttangkkeut Village by the sea, left to him by his parents. He had no memories of it, but there were photos showing that he often went there with his parents when he was young.
Because of this, Domin would often go to that villa alone during his vacations. Sitting in the rocking chair his father used to sit in, he tried to remember what kind of people his parents were, but nothing came to mind.
It was common for Espers to lose their previous memories due to manifestation pain. Domin too had lost most of his childhood memories because of it.
The one thing he clearly remembered was a man and woman dying inside an overturned car. In particular, the woman was holding young Domin, which was why he had survived the terrible accident.
After manifesting as an Esper, Domin came to the Center and stayed with other Espers. Hyun Semin, who was now the Deputy Director, was there too. Looking back, it was quite a twisted connection.
Only after becoming an adult did he learn that the man and woman dying in that terrible accident were his parents. According to the Center Director, they hadn’t told him to avoid shocking him.
But contrary to the Director’s concerns, Domin had been calm. If there hadn’t been photos left, he wouldn’t have even known they were his parents.
But perhaps somewhere in his forgotten memories, his parents remained, because when things got too busy like now, he would think of that place that felt disconnected from the world. Though he wasn’t sure if he missed the peacefulness he felt there or the traces of his parents that remained there.
Buzzz—
Hearing the faint vibration, Domin opened his eyes. When he turned his head, he saw his phone shaking on the sofa across from him.
Quickly sitting up, Domin retrieved his phone. Lying back on the sofa, he unlocked it to check the message that had just arrived.
When the screen lit up, the sender’s name appeared. Of course, it wasn’t Jeongyun.
Though the contact wasn’t saved, the number was very familiar. The person who sent the message was Saeon.
XXX-XXXX-XXXX
[I left something at your house.]
During their long dedicated contract, Saeon had visited Domin’s house exactly twice. The problem was that even those visits were opportunities gained through blackmail for Guiding.
He remembered that Saeon seemed to be in a good mood that day and let him do as much Guiding as he wanted. Though it was just light contact, even that had been desperately needed by Domin at the time.
Remembering that time made his blood boil, but he decided to let it go as it was in the past. Now his dedicated partner was no longer Ju Saeon, but Yeo Jeongyun.
“What did he leave behind?”
Domin sent a reply saying if Saeon told him what he had left, he would send it to headquarters. Saeon responded that he would rather come pick it up himself.
It was clearly a ploy, but Domin had a strong conviction that if he just returned this item, he could completely end things with Saeon. Domin sent back a simple “OK” and then turned off his phone.
“They say the shooting will start soon.”
Just then, Junyoung entered the waiting room and announced the long-awaited start of filming. As Domin got up from the sofa and was about to follow Junyoung out, he looked at his now silent phone again.
“Useless thing.”
Domin took out his frustration on the innocent phone with a light flick of his finger. While tormenting his phone until his mood improved, Domin felt a sharp pain spreading from his fingertips.
“Ugh…”
The phone that had been floating in the air fell weakly. Cold sweat formed on his forehead, and his fingertips trembled. It was unmistakably the side effects.
“Guess I need to go get Guiding.”
A smile spread across Domin’s face, one he wasn’t even aware of himself.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
