# Chapter 34
I clenched my trembling fist tightly. Despite trembling, I didn’t avert my gaze, and just as the man reached out his hand toward me, someone grabbed him.
Dohyun realized that the large body of someone he’d seen frequently lately had created a shadow in front of him, and he shifted his gaze. The man applied force as if trying to pull his hand free from Haegang’s grip, but Haegang’s strength seemed greater than expected, and the man couldn’t free himself.
“We haven’t met before.”
You seem to be an Esper. A voice lower than the man’s resonated. Haegang’s voice, now familiar to Dohyun, blocked the man like a protective barrier.
“I haven’t seen you on the public Esper registry.”
“You’re a Guide, huh?”
“Yes, I am.”
The blue-haired man looked at Dohyun and smiled with his eyes. Haegang appeared completely unbothered. Their hands shook as if in a test of strength. The man, who had opened his mouth in slight surprise, soon smiled and easily freed his hand despite Haegang not loosening his grip. With a smile suggesting he had been holding back until now.
“You’re stronger than I expected. I want you.”
“……”
Haegang didn’t hide his displeasure. Was he talking about a person as if they were an object he desired? He glanced briefly at Dohyun. Dohyun’s gaze, fixed on the man, was filled with mixed emotions of fear, anxiety, and confusion.
The man stared down at Dohyun, who was looking at him.
“You’re still pretty, Seonwoo.”
“……”
“You should answer when your Hyung speaks to you.”
As if Haegang wasn’t even visible, the man approached one step closer while speaking, and Dohyun held his breath. His chest felt tight, and his vision swam. It felt like the man’s hand would grab his collar and lift him high at any moment.
At that moment, Haegang pulled Dohyun toward him. Hidden behind Haegang’s broad back and no longer able to see the man, Dohyun finally exhaled deeply.
“Step back.”
The man, who had been staring at Haegang looking down at him intently, soon raised the corner of his mouth as if letting it slide.
“Not yet, I guess. See you later, Seonwoo. Next time, you’d better listen to your Hyung.”
The handsome man, with the same face as in the past, spoke with a smile, but Dohyun couldn’t give any answer.
“I’ll see you again too, Guide Choi Haegang.”
The man winked one eye and disappeared like smoke. Despite pretending not to know, the man had known Haegang’s name. Haegang stared at the spot where the blue-haired Esper had vanished unnaturally before turning his eyes. Seeing Dohyun, pale as a sheet and gasping for breath, Haegang grasped his arm supportively.
“I think I need to ask you a few things.”
It didn’t seem like something they could just let go.
❖ ❖ ❖
Dohyun, who had been trembling anxiously for a long time, only stabilized after returning home. He had chills despite it not being cold. Since becoming an Esper, he had only felt physical pain as a backlash after using energy or when not receiving Guiding. Seeing his emotional fluctuations manifesting as physical symptoms, Dohyun realized that Espers, despite having abilities, weren’t much different from ordinary people.
‘I thought everything would be okay once I became an Esper.’
Dohyun picked up the cup of warm milk that Haegang had pushed in front of him and took a sip.
“I know that Esper Baek Dohyun is from an orphanage.”
Unexpectedly, the response was a cautious voice. Perhaps because Dohyun seemed so shocked. Haegang’s question was gentle. It was almost disarming to Dohyun.
“Can you tell me about it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Dohyun, whose hands were trembling anxiously, shook his head.
“I was just startled.”
Startled. Because I really had no choice but to be very startled.
Dohyun’s earliest memories were of children gathered in a facility. He didn’t really know what parents were, and there were only aunts and uncles who came on weekends saying they’d come again, only to disappear. Most of them stopped appearing after about a month. It was a life of continuous waiting and partings.
Dohyun learned that his name was ‘Han Seonwoo’ when he was learning the Korean alphabet. The teachers at the facility were always busy, so older brothers and sisters taught him how to write. Occasionally, there would be times when a lot of books arrived as gifts. They were new books, but for some reason, the contents were all over the place. Sometimes there would be a lot of English books, and sometimes a lot of science-related books. Adults would organize the books and make children promise to become great people.
Dohyun learned a little faster than others. According to a teacher who had been there for a long time, he spoke quickly and walked quickly too. When his friends were beginning to stutter through letters, Dohyun already knew how to distinguish consonant clusters accurately. For some reason, a person called “Big Uncle” particularly favored Dohyun.
‘Seonwoo is going to be an amazing person when he grows up.’
Though he couldn’t understand, the uncle whispered that he had something special, different from the other children. Dohyun shared a room not with his peers but with older boys.
‘Be quiet. Don’t cry so loudly.’
‘Why are you crying? Do you want the adults to come running?’
The only place on Dohyun’s body where adults could touch was his hair. Besides caressing hands saying he was good and pretty, no adult hands touched him. In contrast, the hands of the older boys he shared a room with were harsh.
‘They’re the oldest kids in our facility. I’m sure they’ll take good care of things.’
‘Seonwoo, you’re lucky to be with the older boys~’
‘The boys are just playing with you.’
‘Don’t play too rough. He’s come back injured again.’
Dohyun’s suffering was dismissed as mere play. That’s why Dohyun, who was Seonwoo, learned to keep his mouth shut. He cleverly avoided and hid. He didn’t cry either.
‘I like that Seonwoo is being so obedient these days.’
He remembers the biggest boy who said that with a broad smile. He remembers the height almost like an adult and the deep voice that had changed.
‘Han Seonwoo. You need to listen to your Hyung.’
At that low, whispering voice, Dohyun’s strength drained away. Even when he felt like crying, he held back and nodded. Dohyun wanted to ask for help from a teacher who was questioning the wounds on his body. He wanted to cry out to the teacher who was muttering, “We all play together, so why does only Seonwoo get hurt?” that he was not injured from playing.
‘That teacher is about to leave. It’s too bad, she was a nice teacher. That teacher did a lot of wrong things, you see.’
So Seonwoo just needs to listen to his Hyung.
Little Seonwoo ultimately couldn’t voice his cry for help. Adults didn’t carefully observe the small hands that couldn’t speak up for themselves. But the opportunity to escape came rather quickly.
“I was adopted,” Dohyun explained calmly.
He was reassured that once he left the orphanage, he would no longer be subjected to violence disguised as play. Dohyun was adopted by a kind-looking person. Someone who seemed like they would protect him well. It was rare for older children to be adopted. Thanks to this, Dohyun was able to leave the orphanage before becoming an elementary school student, able to go outside the orphanage for the first time.
Haegang nodded at Dohyun’s explanation but then frowned as if something was strange. “Before elementary school?” At the muttered words, Dohyun lowered his head.
“It wasn’t entirely a good thing.”
“……”
“I was un-adopted. It was forced, but still.”
Just when he thought everything would be okay, the new life left worse memories than the time at the orphanage. Dohyun was still “Han Seonwoo,” and the bruises all over his body never disappeared. Even after entering school, he couldn’t easily mingle with other children.
‘Tomorrow is the physical exam, so please make sure to relay this to your parents.’
While other children responded with “Yes,” Dohyun couldn’t say anything.
…We plan to measure waist circumference and chest circumference, so please cooperate by having your children wear thin clothes or clothes that make it easy to remove their upper garments…
Looking at the school newsletter, what would happen? What actions would that man take toward Dohyun? What would he do to hide the bruises he had created? No, would Dohyun even be able to leave in the morning?
Dohyun wandered around near his house with his backpack containing the school newsletter. He couldn’t enter the house. He thought that if he went in late at night, his body might be cold but at least it wouldn’t hurt, and he stayed like that for a long time.
The next day, Dohyun was absent from school due to a high fever. Through his hazy consciousness from the fever, Dohyun heard that it was fortunate the bruises all over his body weren’t reported to the school.
“I wanted to live,” Dohyun explained calmly. So he reported his adoptive father’s true nature.
“I had already heard separately at the orphanage that I was expected to manifest as an Esper. I didn’t know well that Espers were managed by the Association… But I heard what the children in my class were saying while attending school. That day I went to the Association for the first time. With a recording I had made while being beaten and the diary I had kept since the day I was adopted. I only wrote about the days I was beaten.”
“…An eight-year-old?”
“That’s what I learned at the orphanage. Because I saw what that Esper… what Han Jiwhan did.”
The things the blue-haired Esper did when he was young were lies, but the things Dohyun did when he was adopted as Han Seonwoo were true—that was the only difference.
“Your name is Baek Dohyun now.”
“After being un-adopted, quite some time passed before I was adopted again by a different family.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
