I thought Cha Jae-woo might avoid my call. I would have avoided it if I were in his position. It was a very self-centered thought.
—Why?
Fortunately, Cha Jae-woo did not avoid the call. He answered with a lazy voice, calmly, as if nothing had happened.
I briefly explained to Cha Jae-woo that Jung Hyun-soo’s memory had not been erased. Without adding any further details, Cha Jae-woo immediately replied that he understood.
Before I could ask what to do next, the driver, who had been waiting, rushed in. He promptly removed the unconscious Kim Geon-ung. It was as if he had been waiting for this moment.
I quickly made up an excuse, telling Jung Hyun-soo, who was wide-eyed and trying to understand the situation, that Kim Geon-ung was too drunk and needed to be taken care of first.
At that moment, I slightly resented Cha Jae-woo for hanging up without a word and sending the driver in first. I thought, “Shouldn’t he at least give me a hint on how to handle this?”
However, the resentment did not last long. Less than a minute later, Cha Jae-woo appeared, as if he had been waiting all along.
Cha Jae-woo was accompanied by two strangers. Strangely, as soon as he entered, Jung Hyun-soo fell asleep. I suspected that one of them was an Esper with psychic abilities who had put Jung Hyun-soo to sleep.
After that, we took the sleeping Jung Hyun-soo outside and put her in the car. Then, they manipulated her memory.
I quietly watched them work while trying to recall where I had seen the face of the Esper who was erasing Jung Hyun-soo’s memory. His face was too unfamiliar.
‘Could there be an unknown Esper?’
I had thought about this before. It shouldn’t be possible. The answer was the same as before. The manifestation of an Esper’s abilities is usually accompanied by a rampage, and now it is known that a gate is also created.
“Is it done?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Cha Jae-woo replied.
I did not ask further. I just assumed that I did not remember him.
It would have been awkward to ask about something trivial. This was the first time we had spoken since I had gotten angry at Cha Jae-woo.
Anyway, the psychic Esper left as soon as he finished manipulating Jung Hyun-soo’s memory. He disappeared without even a short greeting. I scratched my cheek, feeling awkward.
“Are you sure it’s done? Jung Hyun-soo said the manipulation didn’t work on her,” I asked Cha Jae-woo, mustering up the courage. I needed to confirm.
“It won’t happen,” Cha Jae-woo assured me.
“President Jang of the Guide Association wants to meet tomorrow. Just to be sure…” I started to say.
“No, it’s certain,” Cha Jae-woo interrupted.
“…”
“He probably just pretended to manipulate it from the start,” Cha Jae-woo said casually.
“…What?”
Pretended to manipulate it?
I was shocked by Cha Jae-woo’s nonchalant revelation. He then signaled to the other man who had accompanied the Esper. The man, dressed casually, approached without a word and closed the car door where Jung Hyun-soo was lying. Then, he got into the driver’s seat.
“What are you doing?” I asked, startled by the man’s intention to drive the car away.
“Taking her home. Should we leave her here?” Cha Jae-woo replied, as if it was an obvious thing to do.
“Ah, ah… Yes, I guess so.”
Then explain a bit before that.
It’s only natural to be confused when a stranger suddenly takes your junior with them. Anyway, Cha Jae-woo lacked tact.
Or maybe he has never tried to explain things one by one to convince someone? That’s why he prefers to keep his mouth shut rather than make excuses for himself. It seemed quite plausible. Although I’m not sure if this is me defending Cha Jae-woo.
“What do you mean by pretending to manipulate?” I asked.
“Why do you think the memories of people who come out of the gate are manipulated?” Cha Jae-woo countered.
I quickly tried to come up with a plausible answer. “Um… because of me. Because they shouldn’t find out that I’m a Guide…”
“Do you think the Association cares about that?” Cha Jae-woo asked.
“Wasn’t it you who wanted the manipulation?” I questioned.
“That would mean the Espers were following my orders,” Cha Jae-woo replied.
But my efforts to think were in vain, as I soon ran out of things to say.
Cha Jae-woo is an S-rank Esper, but he doesn’t have the authority to command others. It was uncertain whether other Espers would follow his orders, given his past behavior towards them. If not for the Association’s orders, what could they want?
“I… I don’t know,” I admitted, shaking my head after much thought.
“Because Espers are to be respected,” Cha Jae-woo explained.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The Association doesn’t want people to see the rampage of Espers. Everyone talks about rampages, but no one really knows what happens when an Esper goes on a rampage. The Association thinks the public should remain unaware,” Cha Jae-woo said.
Shortly after becoming Cha Jae-woo’s dedicated Guide, I had seen discussions on a community site about the initial rampages of Espers.
‘…Sudden rampages cause a lot of civilian casualties.’
But when asked for specific examples, nothing came to mind. There were no news articles or stories about rampages, so it was as if they never happened.
Cha Jae-woo nodded and started walking away, so I followed him.
Not far away, a black sedan was parked. Cha Jae-woo got into the driver’s seat, and I hesitantly got into the passenger seat, assuming he wouldn’t leave me behind.
“Why?” I asked as soon as I got in the car, my voice louder now that we were alone.
Cha Jae-woo looked at me without starting the car and asked, “What do you think it would be like to see an Esper rampaging?”
I was getting annoyed by his constant counter-questions, but I tried to figure out what he wanted to hear.
However, I had no idea what Cha Jae-woo was thinking. The silence grew longer, and finally, Cha Jae-woo spoke again.
“You’ve seen an Esper about to rampage,” he said.
“Ah,” I sighed.
Yes, I had seen Jung Hyun-soo on the verge of rampaging. I had felt the intense energy of an Esper about to unleash all their power.
What had I felt at that moment? What had I thought as I evacuated everyone and held onto Jung Hyun-soo?
“…I was scared,” I admitted.
This answer came more quickly. The emotion I had felt most vividly at that moment was fear.
Of course, I wasn’t okay. I had been terrified the whole time, even as I ran towards Jung Hyun-soo and continued guiding her. I had been afraid that Jung Hyun-soo, in her rampage, would kill me and all my friends. The pain had been real, and the fear had left a strong impression on me, even though I had tried to ignore it.
Perhaps that’s why I resented Cha Jae-woo for throwing Jung Hyun-soo to the monsters, because I had endured all that fear and pain.
“I see,” Cha Jae-woo said simply, seeming satisfied with my answer.
“People who see an Esper using their abilities and rampaging will be terrified. Seeing it with your own eyes is different from hearing about it.”
I had nothing to say. I had never thought about it that way before. But I couldn’t dismiss his perspective just because it was different from mine.
“Fear spreads quickly, and people’s perception of Espers will change.”
“It’s not that Espers protect people, but that Espers make us dangerous.”
I was speechless. I had never considered that before. But I couldn’t deny the possibility just because it was different from what I believed.
“The Association, no, the nation wants Espers to be perceived as indispensable beings. They want Espers to be framed as respectable entities who risk their lives fighting in the gates for the people.”
I was silent, absorbing his words.
“That’s why they manipulate memories. The memories of everyone who witnesses an Esper’s rampage. Even the memories of the rampaging Esper.”
Cha Jae-woo looked away from me and started the car. I had been holding my breath under his gaze, and now I let out a long, quiet sigh, processing what he had said.
His explanation was clearer than usual, and I understood his point. However, I still wondered why they needed to tamper with the Esper’s memories.
“Why do they manipulate the Esper’s memories?” I asked.
Is there a need to erase an Esper’s memories? I could understand, to some extent, the desire to make Espers objects of reverence. But why erase the Esper’s memories?
Cha Jae-woo began to drive as he answered my question.
“Because it’s better for them not to know that they killed someone during their rampage,” he said, his voice cold and detached, despite his nonchalant expression.
