#106
“Then is the reason you wanted to see me today because of Oh-yul?”
“I’m not shameless enough to ask favors of someone without power. And that foul-tempered guy wouldn’t stay still anyway.”
Foul-tempered guy…
“Haha…”
Ho-woo could bet a month’s salary that the foul-tempered guy was Oh-yul. His lover had a very poor reputation among others.
“Besides, Oh-yul isn’t incompetent enough that you or I need to help him. Judging by how he assigned that young Esper in advance, he must have anticipated this situation.”
Moon Jin-hyuk, who was far away, perked up like a dog called by its name. His blank stare really made him look like a well-trained dog. However, Baek Sang-jin continued speaking leisurely, without giving Moon Jin-hyuk any attention.
“Just enjoy yourself without worry for two weeks, and when you return, everything will be over.”
“…Is that so.”
Will I pass through this time too without knowing anything? Like with Bae Gi-hong and Gi Hyeon-deok’s incidents?
“Excuse me, may I ask one thing?”
“Hmm?”
At Baek Sang-jin’s attitude suggesting he should ask, Ho-woo carefully chose his words. He needed to ask a question that could at least give him a hint about how Bae Gi-hong and Gi Hyeon-deok were dealt with.
After carefully selecting words and forming sentences in his mind, Ho-woo finally spoke after a brief pause.
“How are Espers who attack ordinary people dealt with? According to the Management Corporation’s rules?”
“By the Corporation’s standards, it’s execution.”
“―!”
“Espers are quite troublesome, aren’t they?”
Despite being an Esper himself, Baek Sang-jin didn’t hesitate to call Espers troublesome.
“They should be punished for their crimes, but the method is not quite appropriate. It’s not easy to control these monsters. It’s an area I’ve struggled with a lot.”
“…Is it really execution?”
“Well, if there are valid reasons, sometimes isolation or release without punishment is ordered, but it’s rare.”
Ho-woo tightly clasped his trembling hands. Execution? He thought they would just go to prison or something! Is this why Oh-yul didn’t tell him? If he had said those two would die, Ho-woo probably would have told him not to do it.
“If the people you’re asking about are from the incident I’m thinking of, then according to the rules, it would be execution.”
“……”
“You don’t look well. Are you alright?”
“…I thought they just went to prison or something.”
“How could we keep Espers in prison? They’d break out with just a bit of force, there’s no restraining power. But we can’t let them loose either, not knowing when they might cause trouble again. If we don’t provide guiding, they might go berserk and cause damage. So the easiest way is to kill them.”
Those two died?
…Is that why Oh-yul was so sensitive when I asked?
Did he bury the topic from the start because he couldn’t tell me they died? It was just complicated. Even if I had known first, I’m not sure if I could have prevented the execution.
Seeing Ho-woo’s face darken rapidly, Baek Sang-jin left some room for doubt.
“Well, that’s the general rule, but these days we tend to avoid killing. If you’re curious, it’s better to ask the person directly.”
In other words, if you’re curious, ask Oh-yul. Ho-woo swallowed a small sigh.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Baek Sang-jin smiled at Ho-woo’s thanks.
“I didn’t come to make you gloomy, so I’ll tell you the other business now.”
Baek Sang-jin took out a phone and a pager from his pocket and placed them on the table. He pushed these items, which looked brand new to anyone, towards Ho-woo.
“First, here’s a phone and pager for use in the Southern City. Please understand that they can be tracked for location, as the Management Corporation needs to know your whereabouts.”
Since Ho-woo had been carrying the previous ones knowing they could be tracked, he lightly agreed. Fortunately, the phone was the same model as the one he used before, so it felt familiar in his hand.
“…Thank you.”
He had been wondering if he should get a new phone as it would be inconvenient to keep going without one, so this solved his dilemma.
“And I’ve also prepared a guide for your trip, so enjoy your stay. The contact information is saved in the phone, so you can contact them when needed.”
Moon Jin-hyuk would be happy to hear this.
Thinking this, Ho-woo looked towards where Moon Jin-hyuk was, and sure enough, his face was beaming.
Baek Sang-jin, as if having said all he needed to, gave a brief eye greeting and left the cafe first. Only when Baek Sang-jin was out of sight did Moon Jin-hyuk rush over, acting like a dog wagging its invisible tail.
“Hyung! Where should we go first?! The beach, right?”
Ho-woo stared blankly at Moon Jin-hyuk, who was very excited about the trip.
If he asked Moon Jin-hyuk, he might be able to find out what happened to Bae Gi-hong and Gi Hyeon-deok. No, he might not know. It wasn’t certain.
However, one thing was clear: if he asked about it now, it would ruin Moon Jin-hyuk’s mood.
When he’s so happy, do I really need to ruin it now?
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Moon Jin-hyuk silently cheered.
Right, I can ask when we get back.
Ho-woo once again tucked his questions away in his heart.
***
“Jin-hyuk, is this really okay…?”
Ho-woo asked wistfully, but the person who could answer was showing no signs of returning from the deep sea. The waves crashed in, wetting his calves and washing between his toes before receding. The sand swept up by the water clung to his skin, stinging slightly.
He had hoped for just a simple walk, but how did it turn out like this? Moon Jin-hyuk was swimming excitedly in the sea with his top off. Actually, it wasn’t clear if he was swimming or cutting through the water using his ability, but anyway, his speed was incredibly fast.
Ho-woo followed Moon Jin-hyuk with his eyes, then glanced at the man standing beside him. Despite the hot weather, the man who didn’t sweat a drop wore a loud Hawaiian shirt with pineapple patterns, yet his beauty didn’t diminish. With his extraordinary good looks, bright platinum hair, and pink eyes, Ho-woo had thought he was an Esper when they first met, but was surprised to learn he was an ordinary person.
Moreover, he was a castaway rescued from the sea. The Southern City had rescued him along with another man who had drifted in with him. Baek Sang-jin had sent these people, who had been adapting to the city for three months with the Corporation’s support, to Ho-woo as tour guides. They were sent to work in exchange for being saved, fed, and given jobs, apparently?
“Do you have any business?”
Of course, his way of speaking was strange, perhaps because he was a foreigner. The companion who came with him seemed used to it and didn’t mind this odd way of speaking, but Ho-woo found it difficult to adapt.
“No. By the way, the person who came with you…”
“He said he was going to buy ice cream, so he’ll be back soon.”
“I, I see.”
Ho-woo, who had closed his mouth again due to awkwardness, spotted a human figure approaching from afar and looked at them as if seeing a savior. This was the only person who could break this awkward situation.
“Who wants ice cream!”
A youthful man holding a convenience store bag was bouncing over, kicking up sand as he ran. The man, who introduced himself as Hyun-hwi, seemed quite close to Priya, as he explained about the city on behalf of the taciturn Priya.
From the fact that the city itself was by the sea and maintained a large port, actively trading with cities on other continents, to the fact that unlike the Central City, the sea here was deep so there were fewer monsters, allowing the beach to be freely open.
He seemed ready to tell Ho-woo everything he had learned during his three months in the city.
“Priya, you’ll have ice cream, right? Ho-woo, you’ll have some too, right?”
Hyun-hwi smiled brightly as he opened the bag filled with various flavors of ice cream. His clear brown eyes blinked innocently.
“I’m fine…”
“Come on, I bought them with good intentions, have some.”
As he shook the bag urging him, Ho-woo chose a soda-flavored ice cream. The ice cream in the clear tube was already soft, probably melted quickly in the hot weather. The other ice creams seemed to be the same, as Hyun-hwi grumbled to Priya next to him.
“Ugh, it’s all melted.”
Hwi put the ice cream in his mouth with a very dissatisfied face. Priya tried to block the beating sunlight by raising his hand over Hwi’s head. At that affectionate sight, Ho-woo sucked on his ice cream and lowered his eyes dejectedly.
…It makes me think of Yul.
Affection is addictive and makes one turn a blind eye to the truth. Perhaps even though he vaguely suspected about Bae Gi-hong’s incident, he pretended not to know because he didn’t want to lose the affection Oh-yul gave him.
Maybe he just wanted to stay comfortably in the protection of Oh-yul’s kindness of “things you don’t need to know.”
Ho-woo stared at the distant sea with a complicated expression. With perfect timing, Moon Jin-hyuk leaped out of the water like a dolphin.
He’s lucky to have no worries.
After finishing the completely melted ice cream, Ho-woo crumpled the tube and swallowed a sigh. Although he should only think good thoughts since he’s on this trip anyway, thoughts tend to drift to the negative side if left unchecked, making them hard to control.
“Hyung! Aren’t you going to swim?”
Moon Jin-hyuk, who had come out of the sea and was biting an ice cream, asked cheerfully.
