Chapter 2
“So baby, what’s your name?”
“I’m not a baby. My name is Ji Yeohoon.”
Despite being just a year younger, Yeohoon maintained a very composed face in the first-grade classroom filled with older boys and girls.
Despite his young age, Yeohoon received a lot of affection because of his well-rounded personality. He answered the barrage of questions from others without hesitation and confidently corrected them when they were wrong.
He didn’t seem particularly afraid either, sitting with wide, round eyes even near people he didn’t know.
But in the future, this guy becomes the worst terrorist.
Of course I wanted to chase away the villain who caused my death, but I was twenty-six before coming back, and after returning to age four and living four more years, I couldn’t help but read the situation. Yeohoon’s boldness wasn’t everything. He was pretending not to be scared while acting confident, but his eyes were darting around with a face that clearly wanted to escape quickly.
Besides, this child hadn’t caused any of those incidents yet, wasn’t even an Esper yet, and was just a very young kid.
“So~ where do you live?”
“Do I have to tell you?”
“Hey guys, shouldn’t he go back to his kindergarten classroom? If he’s gone too long, his teacher will come looking for him. Won’t we get in trouble?”
At the mention of getting scolded by the teacher, the kids immediately became anxious, saying it was a big deal.
For children, the scariest thing is probably getting lectured by adults.
“I’ll take him back.”
“Okay!”
Children are simple.
They’re so simple that whatever works is good, especially if it means avoiding trouble later.
I waved my hand at Yeohoon, telling him to come with me, and Yeohoon’s face showed relief that he could return to his kindergarten classroom.
“I’ll come too.”
Yoon Cheong, who had been sitting quietly next to me watching, stood up.
I thought “why bother?” but then a voice from the past flashed through my mind.
‘The reason I’m doing this includes you, Yoon Cheong.’
That was what Yeohoon had said while causing consecutive Gate explosions, a voice that circulated on the internet for a long time. Words implying the incident was related to Yoon Cheong.
Since he was originally popular, there were plenty of people who still liked Yeohoon despite him causing terrorism.
Especially in the early days after Yeohoon’s actions were revealed, there were far more people defending Yeohoon than supporting Yoon Cheong, who was cold and neither spoke nor expressed himself warmly.
Some people defended him, asking what hardships he must have gone through to act like that, but from my perspective—having barely survived with one foot in the grave after the first Gate explosion—I couldn’t possibly defend Yeohoon after finding out he was the culprit.
If you asked if I was angry at Yeohoon… it would be a lie to say no, but it’s already such a distant memory. What’s the point of being angry? I’ve already regressed anyway.
Yes. Setting aside past stories, I wondered if I should hate this child for something he hasn’t done yet.
Yeohoon tended not to target Gates in places where people he was close to were…
I thought quickly.
“My name is Moon Soo-young. The one following behind is Yoon Cheong.”
Thinking I needed to become friends with this kid to avoid getting hurt, I led Yeohoon toward the kindergarten classroom. If Yeohoon’s terrorist actions were also related to Yoon Cheong, it wouldn’t hurt to become friends with him too.
Fortunately, Yeohoon followed me with quick little steps. Good, the first impression doesn’t seem bad. Please don’t do any terrorism around me in the future.
However, the problem occurred when we reached the kindergarten. The kindergarten teacher started scolding me and Yoon Cheong.
“No, that’s… Teacher, this hyung isn’t… like that.”
“I heard a first-grader took you away. Aren’t you two first-graders?”
“We are first-graders, but these hyungs didn’t do it. I was… a noona who…”
I felt dazed as I listened to the lecture: Brothers, you shouldn’t kidnap your younger sibling; Yeohoon, if older brothers or sisters try to take you away, you must shout “No, I don’t like it, don’t do it.”
Aren’t those lines from kidnapping prevention or sex education classes?
I understand the situation—a child suddenly disappeared from kindergarten and the teacher had been searching for a while. Apparently, other kindergarteners had shouted, “A first-grader took him to their class!”
Yoon Cheong looked indifferent, while Yeohoon appeared apologetic.
I pushed Yeohoon on the back, telling him to go in, but he firmly grabbed my hand.
“Hyung, do you want to come over to my house after school?”
“Suddenly?”
“Since you took me back to my kindergarten classroom, I’ll take you back to your house too.”
The sudden enthusiasm of a kindergartener with sparkling eyes.
I’d heard that when young children fixate on something, they absolutely have to do it, and I thought it wouldn’t be bad to get closer to him, so I nodded.
If we’re friends, it’s normal to visit each other’s homes, right?
Thinking my parents would be happy to hear I made a friend who’s just a year younger, I agreed. He said he’d wait in front of my classroom after school.
“I brought you back too.”
Yoon Cheong, who had been quiet, chimed in.
Yes, if you become friends with him too, maybe this kid’s rising S-class ability will give Yeohoon a reason not to cause Gate explosions.
I’d heard that capable Espers often enter Gates for money, to improve their skills, or to help their friendly Guides earn a living.
Before my regression, Yoon Cheong never missed a Gate request that came to him, so I thought if Yeohoon became friends with Yoon Cheong, he wouldn’t commit terrorism for Yoon Cheong’s sake, who would be inside all sorts of Gates.
“Bring him too. He’s my friend.”
“Friend…? You two didn’t seem close… You barely talked to each other.”
You’re quite perceptive despite being so young.
“Since both of us brought you back—I mean, both me and Yoon Cheong came together, wouldn’t it be right to invite us both?”
“Okay, I understand. I’ll listen to you, hyung.”
How could such a nice child have hurt me?
Telling myself I shouldn’t hit a child who hasn’t done anything wrong yet, I slightly unclenched the fist I hadn’t realized I was making.
“I’ll come to your classroom after school, hyung! We must go together, hyung!”
Shouldn’t that be “hyungs”? Why is he excluding Yoon Cheong again?
I just said okay and sent him back in, then headed back to my classroom.
“Do you like him?”
“Huh?”
Judging by the way he nodded toward the little kid, Yoon Cheong doesn’t seem to like him much.
If he’s keeping his distance from both me and that kid, who is he trying to be friends with? Come to think of it, even before my regression, this guy was known for being a loner.
The Lonely what-was-it? Wolf was what Yeohoon was called, and Yoon Cheong was something like Black Panther.
But Yoon Cheong, you need to become friends with Yeohoon.
Ignoring the disconnect with the personality I remembered, I nodded and answered.
“I don’t have any siblings. No brothers or sisters. I’m an only child, so it feels like I’ve got a younger brother now, which is nice.”
“Is that why you treated me like that when I was a year younger too?”
“Huh?”
“The teacher must have arrived.”
Why does this tiny kid have so many secrets and talk to himself so much?
Even in the classroom, Yoon Cheong was well-behaved. He still occasionally passed his frog eraser across the desk line when I needed it.
I looked at the now tedious elementary school lessons with boredom.
Even though I was distracted, I promptly answered the teacher’s questions, which seemed amazing to the guy next to me as his eyes lit up.
Right, he’s just a child.
* * *
I really liked how early elementary school classes ended.
“Hyung.”
This little one really waited. As soon as the bell rang, Yeohoon peeked his head in through the back door of the classroom.
The classmate who had practically kidnapped Yeohoon into our classroom because he was handsome kept glancing at him, but since he didn’t acknowledge her, she lost interest and I saw her leave for home first.
I was about to fold my dictation test with the obvious 100 points and put it in my bag, but Yoon Cheong was comparing his test with mine and checking the handwriting, so I left it alone.
“You can take it if you need it.”
“No, not that much… Actually, I will take it.”
I carefully folded the test paper in half and handed it to Yoon Cheong, who had changed his mind, then put on my backpack.
“But don’t we need to tell our parents we’re going?”
“My mom really likes it when people come over to play. Since you’re handsome, she’ll like it even more.”
That’s not something they should be saying to me—whether it’s Yoon Cheong with his distinct features despite being tiny, or Yeohoon who was handsome enough for a first-grader to eagerly bring to our classroom—but both of them looked at me and nodded as if they agreed.
As I was wondering what nonsense they were talking about, they tilted their heads.
“What?”
“I’m not.”
“What?”
“Handsome.”
As soon as I finished speaking, both of them turned serious.
“They say handsome people usually know it themselves. I know it, and hyung knows it too, right?”
“To some extent.”
“But why doesn’t Soo-young hyung know?”
They’re really in sync with each other.
If I were that handsome, the student who brought you would have been calling out my name for ages.
Even though that student occasionally stares at Yoon Cheong in awe—what they call being “face-crazy”—it never happened with me.
She spoke to me quite normally, I thought, and then something crossed my mind.
I’m destined to be a Guide, so maybe that’s how I appear to these prospective Espers.
“You two are unusual, so that’s probably why you feel that way.”
Espers are strong.
And whether it’s due to hormones or not, Espers as a species were exceptionally good-looking.
There were even theories that this was to dilute the fear ordinary people might have toward Espers, but conversely, ordinary people don’t find Guides particularly attractive.
There were occasional ordinary person-Guide couples, but most of the time, it was Espers who fell head over heels for plain-looking Guides and became lovers.
Guides might have some kind of pheromone that only works on Espers, because when an Esper took a liking to a Guide, they often clung to them and flirted.
Even though I’m not a Guide yet, I’m destined to become one, so maybe I look somewhat appealing to these high-ranking Espers. Anyway, it seems my destiny to become a Guide hasn’t changed despite the regression.
But can I appear this attractive even before manifesting?
“How do you get home?”
“Sometimes I take a taxi, sometimes the ajussi comes to pick me up.”
“…Taxi?”
“Yes.”
A child? Taking a taxi? Alone?
The still tiny Yoon Cheong was looking envious, while I stared at Yeohoon in a daze.
“The ajussi’s baby is a bit sick, so I just take a taxi when that happens. Yesterday, the ajussi’s baby went into surgery, so I got a message saying he couldn’t come today. This morning, my dad said he’d arrange for me to take a taxi home after school.”
Neither Yoon Cheong nor I have cell phones yet, but this kid has one.
Yeohoon, who seemed to have been using a cell phone for quite some time given how comfortably he was tapping out a message, walked out through the school gate.
Outside the gate, a taxi that had been waiting who knows how long was there for Yeohoon.
“Why do you take taxis…? And who is this ajussi?”
“The chauffeur ajussi. He’s been working for our family for quite a while.”
“Do you also have a housekeeper at home?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
This kid really is the young master from a wealthy family that I absolutely need to befriend, isn’t he?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
