Chapter 55
In the end, the transfer student never opened his mouth.
Since he remained silent with his head turned away, seemingly aware of his wrongdoing, I just quietly observed him.
“Aren’t you going to talk?”
The junior whose name I didn’t even know had a face full of apprehension.
To be honest, even though Ji Yeohoon isn’t the type to have smiling eyes around other guys, he doesn’t give off the hurt feeling like Ye Han-dam did when he first arrived, or the vibe of “you’re all the same.”
He maintains an appropriate distance but plays well with friends, shares food well when I and my classmates bring something to eat, and converses quite well—he’s a nice kid.
And another thing is that Ji Yeohoon is better-looking than Ye Han-dam.
“If you provoke someone out of nowhere saying they have a similar smile and start a fight, you should apologize. You must have learned this before coming here.”
“Who do you think—”
“Stop saying ‘who do you think.’ Even if you don’t want to get close, you’ll end up knowing anyway, so let me tell you, I’m Moon Soo-young, your senior by one year, and I’m the one taking care of him, so I’ll be seeing you tomorrow and the day after, continuously? Before I nag you more annoyingly, let’s just end this quickly, shall we? From your expression, you clearly know you’ve done wrong, so why act so prickly?”
It’s my principle that situations where emotions are hurt should be resolved quickly.
Apologize when you need to apologize, and ask for forgiveness when you need to.
Besides, to shift my attention to another guy, it was better to wrap this up quickly since the big guy standing behind me was more of a problem than the one in front.
As if he’d never apologized before, the boy who had kept his mouth shut for a long time finally seemed to finish his prolonged thoughts and relaxed.
When a small voice saying “I’m sorry” flowed out, I looked at Ji Yeohoon.
Ji Yeohoon looked surprised when the guy who had been acting like he would never apologize finally did.
As I stared at Ji Yeohoon, his face asked what he should do, so I opened my mouth again.
“You apologize too.”
“What?”
“Apologize. You hit him. He’s more injured than you are.”
I don’t want to see them always fighting, but that doesn’t make fighting justified.
Just because you have power doesn’t mean you should use it recklessly, right?
He says he fought because he was provoked, but it didn’t have to end in a fight.
If it wasn’t a case where he was forced to fight, he could have chosen to ignore it or clear up the misunderstanding.
When I said “quickly,” Ji Yeohoon bowed his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“There, now you’re both done, right? I’m sorry too, for butting into your business.”
The prickly boy in front of me was at a loss for words at my apology.
It was strange, like seeing the reaction of someone who had never heard an apology before.
Although I couldn’t help thinking that raising kids is really tough, I felt somewhat relieved, thinking that if I forced them to apologize like this now, they wouldn’t fight later.
“Ye Han-dam is in the same year as me, first year of high school. He’s the most recent transfer student. That’s why I know. He looks like you.”
“He must be 18 years old? Why is he a first-year?”
“He was 18? I don’t know. You two seem to know each other, but I can’t answer that.”
I held up my phone, asking if I should call him.
Seeing the burning eyes of the middle schooler, I couldn’t help but let out a groan, realizing I might have unnecessarily gotten involved.
“Should I do it?” Yoon Cheong asked, but I shook my head.
“You’re not on great terms with him either.”
Of course, Ji Yeohoon doesn’t like Ye Han-dam either.
They disliked him even more after finding out that I get tired after properly guiding someone with D-class bigar.
Of course, if I only use a little, the chances of reverse guiding are extremely low, making it a rather good ability, but they both really hate it.
Especially Ye Han-dam, who experienced reverse guiding due to emotional issues rather than matching rates.
These days, he was gradually receiving guiding from Oh Ji-hyun too, but when I was in charge of guiding, both of them were displeased all day.
“What should I do? I need your answer to call him.”
“…I’ll go find him myself.”
“Alright, then. What’s your name?”
This little kid kept pouting, as if something had hurt his pride.
I nodded when I heard someone nearby say, “The transfer student’s name is Ye Han-seo.”
Just as I thought, they’re brothers.
* * *
And the next morning,
“What the hell is this?”
The classroom was half destroyed.
The windows were broken, the door was smashed, and there were cracks in the wall.
When I was dumbfounded, Baek Da-hyuk said,
“Both of them were called in…”
“…Who?”
“Han-dam and~ that kid from the middle school yesterday. Was it Ye Han-seo? His movements were incredible! I could barely see him with my eyes.”
“Did all the kids see it like that?”
“Other kids also~ all said he was super fast!”
From Baek Da-hyuk’s characteristic drawling voice, I thought only the classroom interior was damaged and the situation wasn’t that serious.
Looking around, the Esper students were obviously fine, but the Guide students looked terrified, almost in tears.
They couldn’t even wait a day before fighting? And in our classroom?
These damn guys!
It seemed impossible to stay in this classroom.
While we were talking, I checked a text from the Guide class homeroom teacher saying we would move to another classroom for lessons.
It seems Ye Han-seo and Ye Han-dam were dragged to the staff office.
“We’re moving classrooms. Just take your bags and today’s textbooks to the floor above…”
“Soo-young!”
One of the Guides who had gathered came urgently toward me.
This is why I hate being something like a class leader.
“Soo-young, Han-dam…”
“What about Ye Han-dam?”
Despite having experienced reverse guiding before, Oh Ji-hyun showed no fear but had a face full of concern for Ye Han-dam.
“He was called in without proper treatment… He had a wound on his arm. Will he be okay?”
“Don’t you think the teachers thought he’d be fine because he’s an Esper? Did the teachers call them after just listening to the kids’ stories, or did they check everyone before taking them?”
“They checked.”
“Then it’s fine. If nothing’s broken, he’ll be okay.”
Since he’s not a Guide but an Esper, they heal quickly even from bone fractures, and if the injuries are as minor as the kids describe, the school nurse would check them properly.
The high school division of the third school has one healing-type Esper and one Guide as health teachers, so it was especially fine.
As I was telling her not to worry, I felt a strange feeling and turned my head to look at Oh Ji-hyun.
Don’t tell me she…
“Which guild did you say you wanted to join after graduation?”
“Me? Just freelance. I’ve been thinking lately, and that seems best.”
…What freelance? I thought I should check about exclusive contract signing methods and let her know in advance.
It would be stupid not to notice when she’s worrying about an Esper in a situation where she could get hurt.
The weather is getting hotter, but she’s experiencing spring.
Anyway, it’s not like I could mediate their fight, and with their names being Ye Han-dam and Ye Han-seo and their similar faces, it’s ultimately a family matter. If their lives weren’t in danger, I didn’t want to get involved.
I would have left it alone if Ye Han-dam had gone somewhere, skipping the entire morning class, and if Ye Han-seo hadn’t suddenly grabbed my arm just before heading to the cafeteria at lunchtime.
“What is it? What’s going on? I didn’t do anything.”
“Get away from him right now.”
Yoon Cheong looked angry beside me, and Yoon Seong-jin, who had been approaching with an excited face to talk about lunch as usual, frowned from a distance.
Caught in the middle, I looked at Ye Han-seo with a sense of being dragged into a tiresome situation.
“Why don’t you let go of my hand first and then talk?”
“You, they say you can guide that bastard.”
“I’m a Guide, so of course I can guide. But all of them can do it too, not just me.”
I pointed to the four other Guides in our class.
Of course, Ye Han-dam was a case where reverse guiding frequently occurred regardless of matching rates due to severe psychological issues, so the Guide students adjusted their bigar to provide only very small amounts of guiding.
In cases where abilities were used heavily and guiding was needed, I was the one who did it.
He seems to have heard about this already and shakes his head.
“Well, I’m the one who does the major guiding, but why?”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why can you do it?!”
What’s with this kid? What’s his problem with a Guide doing guiding?
I relaxed the hand I was about to pull back, hoping he’d explain more clearly.
Can’t we eat lunch first? As I turned my gaze to Yoon Cheong, he seemed to understand and removed the guy from me.
Ye Han-seo, having already experienced this attack yesterday, didn’t crumple to the ground like before but landed somewhat awkwardly but safely.
Seeing the wounds and bruises still there after several hours, it seems he was injured quite deeply.
“That bastard, it never worked before! That’s why our aunt also…!”
“Look, I don’t see what past issues have to do with me, why are you yelling at me, middle school student?”
He kept shouting as if something was upsetting him, making my ears hurt.
He had grown to a decent height, but his voice was still in the middle of changing, so its high pitch made my ears ring even more.
He was acting like some tragic boy manga character, which strangely made me feel wistful.
“Let’s go eat lunch first. You go eat too.”
“…What?”
“You can’t come to the high school cafeteria, so go eat at the middle school and come back. We’ll talk then.”
Since food is important, I had Yoon Cheong help me send Ye Han-seo outside.
I wonder what kind of conversations they had that made him run straight to me.
Saying that no matter how urgent, we all need to eat to live, I entered the cafeteria, and for some reason, the cafeteria staff serving food smiled.
“Why do you think he acted that way?”
After telling Yoon Seong-jin, who was making a fuss about eating together today, to sit far away, I sat down with Yoon Cheong.
“Hmm,” he said with a thoughtful expression.
“They’re definitely brothers since they couldn’t possibly look so alike even as cousins.”
“Yeah.”
“Seeing how he mentioned his aunt, he seems to have a Guide at home, like Ji Yeohoon.”
“I heard Ye Han-dam talking.”
“About what?”
Yoon Cheong made a focused expression as if recalling the conversation he had heard.
“Remember when we had separate classes for ability control? He mentioned then that his parents weren’t around. He didn’t say anything specific about having a sibling, but he did say he wasn’t from a facility.”
A facility is typically where Espers or Guides who were raised in orphanages or children’s homes go after elementary school physical examinations confirm their manifestation potential.
Having grown up with the Association’s help, Espers often entered Chaehwa, and Guides, even if working as freelancers or in guild activities, often participated in Association work, making them somewhat famous.
Just as there are people who are estranged from their parents everywhere, there were also famous Espers or Guides from facilities with such backgrounds.
“Since Ye Han-seo mentioned his aunt, I guess they grew up under her care.”
Ye Han-dam was clearly a case where reverse guiding occurred due to severe psychological issues, even though he needed guiding.
Usually, the probability of reverse guiding increases when an Esper rejects guiding, but it’s a strange case where he both wants and rejects it.
After researching various aspects, I found that when a Guide who was with them when they manifested as a child experiences problems due to reverse guiding, they develop fear.
When reverse guiding occurs unintentionally because of them, that fear causes reverse guiding to happen even though they need guiding.
If this repeats, it eventually turns into resentment toward not being able to receive guiding and toward Guides.
It had reached the point where he would deliberately cause reverse guiding when a Guide approached, even when his body was in pain, but at least I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.
No matter what, when your body hurts, it’s natural for a person to become emotionally and mentally distressed.
“He said something about his aunt. I think his aunt was a Guide.”
“They really are a unique case. Ji Yeohoon also has an uncle and aunt who are a Guide and an Esper. These two are twins who are both Espers.”
And they’re quite powerful ability users too.
Ye Han-dam is an explosive type, but Ye Han-seo is a close-range attack type with an extremely fast body, they said.
It must be true if even Baek Da-hyuk was impressed, not just Ji Yeohoon.
Baek Da-hyuk, a B-class physical enhancement-type Esper, seemed slow due to his blank expression and sluggish speech, but he was actually the fastest among the physical enhancement trio.
“But this type somehow feels familiar.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just… somehow.”
It feels like there must have been this type before I returned…
Having already been 13 years since I returned from age 26 to age 4, no matter how hard I tried to recall, there were gradually blurrier parts.
“Ye Han-seo…”
I scratched my head at the sense of déjà vu.
“…Wait a minute, Seo-han?”
“Huh? The name reversed?”
“No, wait.”
When Ye Han-dam went crazy, one of the people who killed Ye Han-dam and ended up dead was an assassination type.
No way, it couldn’t be.
Even as I denied it, a headache arose.
“It can’t be a coincidence…”
Somehow, the more I try to change the future, the more something unexpected seems to pop up from nowhere.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
