#58
Until recently, his worries were about how to push away Oh-yul who was approaching him, and whether to give his heart to him or not, but now it felt like he was swept up in a wave that would shake his entire life.
Ho-woo grabbed his forehead as his head throbbed.
It felt like I completely lost my senses yesterday.
He couldn’t understand why he thought he had to go the moment Oh-yul called him. It was partly because his body moved before his thoughts could catch up.
“Are you done with the call?”
“Ah…”
Oh-yul, now neatly dressed in uniform, was slightly bending his waist and checking Ho-woo’s complexion. Ho-woo’s plain beige necktie was hanging from his long, neat fingers.
Behind him, Joo Si-yeon and Choi Seon-woo came out of the room in a line, leaving some nagging-like concerns for Ho-woo leaning against the wall, telling him to take care of himself, before disappearing down the long corridor, bickering with each other.
“Is it a company problem?”
Ho-woo blankly watched the outstretched hand wrapping the tie around his neck and tying it neatly, before belatedly responding to the question.
Seeing the question in the light brown eyes, Yul calmly answered while tying the final knot of the tie.
“Your expression doesn’t look good.”
“Ah… It’s not a company problem. Fortunately, it seems I’ll just need to write an explanatory report at the company.”
Unable to say that he was worried about everything that was about to come, that his life entangled in Oh-yul’s waves seemed like it would drift aimlessly into the vast sea, Ho-woo held his tongue.
***
Ho-woo finally arrived at the company and caught his breath. From the start to the arrival, the beginning of today had been quite tough.
At the start, he was shocked to learn that Oh-yul, who had almost hijacked Woo Tae-sik’s car, had a driver’s license.
Why hadn’t he gotten a license until now when there were men who could run faster than cars?
No, I don’t have a car… But Yul doesn’t have a car either, so he borrowed one…?
The self-deprecation that started there had to face bewilderment again at the fact that Oh-yul was an even better driver than expected.
‘You’re a good driver.’
What did Yul reply to that?
‘It’s easier than using my own body.’
There were so many implications in those words. To say that driving a car is easier than using one’s own body.
Anyway, even that departure wasn’t smooth. The reporters camped in front of the industrial complex rushed at them, and Ho-woo, trapped in the wave of people, thought he wouldn’t make it to work today and started to fumble for his phone to call ahead.
And then the car flew.
Should I call it flying?
Ho-woo recalled the path of water that appeared in front of the car the moment the reporters blocked their way. The transparently gathered water instantly froze, creating a path of white ice.
And Woo Tae-sik’s 6-month-old car sped relentlessly over that ice. The car wheels ground the rough ice, intentionally made bumpy to provide friction, and quickly passed over the heads of the reporters.
The ground ice chunks made dull sounds as they hit the underside of the car. Feeling as if he could hear Woo Tae-sik crying from here, Ho-woo sent a small mental consolation.
It was a shocking commute in many ways. As the reporters had no way to catch the retreating car, Ho-woo put his phone back in his pocket.
Oh-yul, sitting beside him, briefly glanced over and then looked away.
‘Weren’t you going to contact someone?’
‘There’s no need anymore.’
The car Oh-yul drove didn’t speed, and perfectly obeyed all traffic laws. In fact, he drove like a very polite gentleman, as if it was ingrained in him without having to consciously try to follow the rules.
‘I’ll come to pick you up at the end of your work day.’
‘No, I can take the subway.’
‘I want to do this.’
As he dropped Ho-woo off in front of the company building, Yul leaned completely on the steering wheel and acted like a lover. His demeanor was so natural that Ho-woo felt as if they had been dating for at least 3 years.
Even though they weren’t anything yet.
If you want to, then you should. Ho-woo stopped refusing and accepted his kindness.
‘See you later.’
Soft affection filled his slowly blinking eyes. The firm, confidently sparkling black eyes remained on Ho-woo’s back until he completely entered the company building.
“Mr. Lee! Is your friend okay?”
Yu Mi-yeon, who had approached while Ho-woo was lost in thought, asked in a friendly manner. Fortunately, her expression only showed concern, without any other negative emotions.
“He’s better now.”
Yes, Oh-yul was fine. He was too normal, even acting like a lover just now in front of the company.
The problem, if there was one, was that Ho-woo still couldn’t quite believe that he himself was the one who had brought Oh-yul back to such a normal state.
“That’s a relief. Do you know how pale your face was when you ran out yesterday?”
Yu Mi-yeon lightly said that even white paper wouldn’t have been whiter, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
“Thank you for your concern. Were there any work issues because of me?”
“No, but the department head said he wanted to see you when you came in, so you should go now.”
Prepared to be scolded, Ho-woo took several deep breaths as he was called to the department head’s office. However, rendering such preparation unnecessary, the department head only expressed mild concern with a grimacing and subtle face, saying “I’m glad you’re back,” without disciplining or getting angry at him.
Rather, when Ho-woo gave a look as if to ask why he wasn’t being scolded, the department head twitched one eye and ordered him to leave.
This isn’t something that should just be let go, is it?
Even after returning to his desk, Ho-woo was still wearing a disgruntled expression when he checked a notification pop-up from a short vibration.
[Lee Ho-woo.]
The message with just his name bluntly written was from Do-hyun. With another vibration that followed shortly after, Ho-woo hurriedly turned on his computer to the message that appeared.
[Check the news right now.]
At the short and concise request, Ho-woo checked the news on the internet and swallowed a short breath.
Management Complex, A Deep Swamp of Corruption.
The title alone was ominous. Moreover, as the news section was filled with similar titles, Ho-woo clicked on one of them to read the article.
[Recently, hail-mixed rain fell in some cities to the extent of causing flooding. Some called it a weather anomaly, but the Management Complex clarified the exact reason today.
The cause was the rampage of an S-class Esper.
Everyone living in this city knows that even when a C-class Esper goes on a rampage, the surrounding area becomes a wasteland. If that’s the case for a C-class, naturally with an S-class, we should be prepared for the entire city to be blown away, and an unfortunate event where we might have to leave the city itself could have occurred.
Why did an Esper, who should be thoroughly managed by the Management Complex, go on a rampage?
We must focus on S-class Esper Oh-yul and Guide Kim Seon-young, daughter of Minister Kim Dong-cheol, newly announced this time.
According to S-class Esper Joo Si-yeon and Ha Eun-chan, who came forward as witnesses, the matching rate between the two was only 13%.
Isn’t this quite different from the matching rate we were told?
Guiding for Espers is important. It’s an act that is the life of Espers and no different from the lives of those living in this city, but Minister Kim Dong-cheol committed an absurd corrupt act here.
He paired his daughter with an Esper with a low matching rate and falsely announced that figure. From 13% to 72%, it’s a dramatic increase.
The Esper’s refusal was not accepted here. The Esper side claims that the Guiding of the forcibly matched Guide didn’t work, accumulating a burden on the body, leading to the rampage.
The rampage was barely suppressed yesterday afternoon by a Guide’s Guiding at the risk of death, but Minister Kim Dong-cheol, who noticed the signs of the rampage, fled the city with his family two days ago at dawn.
It’s shocking to discover that those following Minister Kim Dong-cheol all left the city, pushing citizens towards death.
Minister Kim Dong-cheol’s side denies that the rampage occurred because he matched his daughter, but it seems certain that he knew about the rampage in advance and fled the city.
In this situation, the Esper side has promised to appoint a manifested person as minister and operate the Management Complex transparently, with S-class Esper Oh-yul, who suffered the most damage in this incident, being strongly mentioned as a new ministerial candidate.
The Complex has expressed its intention to more clearly grasp the truth of this incident and punish those involved. They are also investigating additional corruption by Minister Kim Dong-cheol.]
The article was written concisely, but it contained all the necessary information. Ho-woo seriously read a few more articles, which weren’t much different from the first one he read.
However, the articles didn’t mention that Oh-yul was monitored by the Management Complex under Kim Dong-cheol’s command.
The comments below were also chaotic, so Ho-woo closed the internet window with a complicated expression and sent a reply to Do-hyun.
[I saw it.]
[Is that all you have to say? Somehow, our parents also received a contact.]
[What kind of contact?]
[They said they received a call from the Management Complex asking them to come to the main research institute. I wondered what it was about, but it seems many research institute staff have fled too.]
Ho-woo briefly recalled Oh-yul, who had a clean face even while dropping him off. Despite all this happening, there was no sign of anxiety or impatience on his calm face.
