“Did you wake up?”
Cha Jae-woo asked in a calm voice. His gentle hand brushed through Lim Haeyul’s hair.
“…….”
Haeyul blinked blankly and glanced around. For some reason, it was Cha Jae-woo’s room. When had he gotten here? It felt strange. His mind refused to clear properly.
“Are you tired?”
Cha Jae-woo asked again, his voice so tender it made Haeyul feel he should respond. But his lips wouldn’t part no matter how hard he tried.
So instead, Haeyul just stared vacantly at Cha Jae-woo’s face. Lying beside him and gazing at him—somehow, it didn’t feel unfamiliar. In fact, it wasn’t surprising at all. They had become lovers, and with that, Cha Jae-woo had grown even more affectionate. As if it were only natural.
“……Yes.”
It took a long moment before Haeyul finally managed to speak. His throat felt rough, as if something were stuck in it. Even though Cha Jae-woo smiled faintly at his reply, Haeyul didn’t feel the usual lightness lifting his mood.
‘Was it a dream?’
That foolish thought surfaced.
The Cha Jae-woo who had once coldly shaken his head at Haeyul’s questions was nowhere to be found. Instead, he was replaced by the same Cha Jae-woo as always—before the death of the Esper—leaving Haeyul’s heart in turmoil.
“Forget everything.”
It was too vivid to simply dismiss as a dream. Then why was Cha Jae-woo acting like this now?
“Um…”
The vivid anger that had once erupted inside him like a wildfire still burned fresh in his memory, yet with Cha Jae-woo acting so nonchalant, it became difficult for Haeyul to speak first.
“Does your body still hurt?”
Cha Jae-woo asked instead, as if on Haeyul’s behalf. Once again, it was such an out-of-place question. When had he even been sick? Haeyul was sure that had never—
“Let’s just say Kim Sol asked to meet you, and you went to see him.”
Before Haeyul could even open his mouth, Cha Jae-woo’s voice echoed sharply in his mind.
“Then there was another accident at the meeting place, and your phone got smashed during it.”
Right, now he remembered. The words Cha Jae-woo had whispered to him just as his vision had gone white and he lost consciousness.
As his eyes closed and his whole body grew limp, Cha Jae-woo had lifted him in his arms, whispering in a steady, composed tone.
“Ah, of course nothing happened to Kim Sol. He was just a little busy and couldn’t get in touch with you for a bit.”
It was an absurd lie. And yet Cha Jae-woo had said it as if it were the unquestionable truth.
“From now on, that’s how you’ll remember it.”
That was the last thing Haeyul heard from him.
“…….”
Just because Cha Jae-woo said so, there was no way Haeyul would believe it. And Cha Jae-woo surely knew that too. Then why was he so determined to fool him with such a transparent act? Who would fall for such a clumsy lie?
Either Haeyul had gone insane, or Cha Jae-woo had. It could only be one of the two—but somehow, it didn’t feel like either.
That made it even harder to speak up. Rather than getting angry and asking what nonsense he was spouting, Haeyul first needed to figure out what gave him the confidence to act so nonchalantly.
“Are you okay?”
Cha Jae-woo’s hand, which had been combing through his hair, slowly slid down to stroke Haeyul’s cheek. Haeyul flinched, instinctively trying to avoid the touch—but in the end, he couldn’t move. Somehow, it felt like he shouldn’t.
“……Yes.”
Haeyul replied, and Cha Jae-woo gave another faint smile. Haeyul forced his lips into a smile too, but he wasn’t sure if he succeeded.
“The doctor said… it was just a shock. You weren’t hurt.”
“…….”
“So, you’ll get better if you rest a little.”
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
His heart pounded violently. Haeyul even entertained the ridiculous thought that maybe he had unknowingly hit his head.
No, he definitely hadn’t been injured. Nothing like that had happened. What had really occurred was a fight with Cha Jae-woo, during which Jae-woo had said he would turn his back on Kim Sol.
Then what was Cha Jae-woo doing now? He had to know Haeyul wouldn’t believe him just because he said so. Did he have some other kind of certainty?
“Yes…….”
Before he could even begin to sort through his tangled, chaotic thoughts, the answer slipped out. A part of him felt like he had to go along with Cha Jae-woo’s rhythm.
“Go back to sleep.”
In response, Cha Jae-woo whispered softly and gently patted Haeyul’s chest, as if trying to soothe him—as if truly, nothing had happened at all.
Haeyul obediently closed his eyes as instructed. Then, in the darkness, he traced back the vivid memories he still retained. This wasn’t a dream. It couldn’t be.
“……What about Sol-hyung?”
Yet he couldn’t find any rational basis for Cha Jae-woo’s behavior. Haeyul carefully picked a question that wouldn’t stray too far from the fabricated reality Jae-woo had planted, and finally squeezed the words out.
When he slowly opened his eyes, Cha Jae-woo immediately came into view. As if he had expected that question all along, he answered without hesitation.
“He came to see you. He felt bad. Said he was sorry for calling you out and causing the accident.”
A chill ran down Haeyul’s spine, and goosebumps prickled across his skin. Cha Jae-woo was lying. And he was doing it under the absolute conviction that Haeyul would believe him.
***
He stuffed the book he had bought to study English during the break into his bag. Along with it, he packed a change of clothes, a hat, and a mask.
His heart was racing, and he felt a deep sense of unease. Haeyul forced himself to act as casually as possible, trying to soothe the pounding in his chest.
“Let’s go, driver.”
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“If I keep lying down, it just gives me a headache. Cha Jae-woo said it was okay, too.”
He gave the driver, who still looked reluctant, his most harmless smile.
Today marked the second day since Kim Sol’s call—or more accurately, since Cha Jae-woo had started acting strangely.
In the meantime, while playing along with him, Haeyul had been turning countless thoughts over in his mind. What gave Cha Jae-woo the confidence to behave this way? But no matter how he looked at it, the answer didn’t come easily.
Then yesterday, a single hypothesis occurred to him. What if Cha Jae-woo could erase memories? If he had the ability of a Mental Esper, and had tried to manipulate Haeyul’s memories…
Of course, if that were the case, his power shouldn’t have failed on Haeyul. But judging by Cha Jae-woo’s behavior, there was no other explanation. It seemed he wanted Haeyul to forget their conversation and act as if nothing had happened.
If not, there was no plausible reason for his actions. So Haeyul decided to bet on that possibility: that Cha Jae-woo’s powers had simply failed on him. After all, this world was already full of absurdities—Espers, Guides, Gates—none of it made logical sense.
Therefore, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable to think that he might be immune to mental abilities as well.
“I’m only going to study for an hour or two. I really feel fine now.”
“……Alright. As you wish.”
Moving a body that had never been injured to begin with, Haeyul emphasized his good health. Finally, the driver nodded. In any case, Cha Jae-woo had already said it was fine, so there was no reason to stop him.
Haeyul asked to be dropped off at a café near his school—a place he often visited to study. If he chose somewhere familiar, the driver wouldn’t find it suspicious.
His heart beat erratically, the thrill of doing something forbidden making his hands tremble. But he forced himself to act nonchalant.
When they arrived at the café, he deliberately chose a seat by the window where the driver could easily see him. The driver always kept an eye on him, but today, he would be even more vigilant—undoubtedly on Cha Jae-woo’s orders.
Cha Jae-woo had used a mental ability on him. Originally, Jae-woo was a Physical Esper, making this impossible—but Haeyul decided to stick with that assumption. In fact, it was even more absurd that the hypnosis hadn’t worked.
Yet there was no other explanation. Even before he fully lost consciousness, Cha Jae-woo’s voice had seared itself into Haeyul’s mind, vivid and raw—almost as if forcibly wedged there.
It was clear: Cha Jae-woo had tried to alter his memory.
“…….”
At that moment, Haeyul had been deeply disappointed in him. So much so that even the feelings he held for him had become unbearably disheartening.
And Cha Jae-woo, finding Haeyul’s stubbornness bothersome, had simply chosen the easiest path available to him—not to persuade him, nor to be persuaded—but to erase the argument itself as if it had never happened.
‘What a bastard.’
He had tried to convince himself otherwise, that he was overthinking things. But no matter how many times he retraced everything, the conclusion never changed.
That’s why today, he was pulling this stunt. Haeyul glanced at the driver’s car outside, then quietly pulled out the book from his bag and opened it on the table, pretending to focus on his studies.
He couldn’t trust Cha Jae-woo anymore. Nor did he intend to sit idly by and let things continue as they were.
He would escape from Cha Jae-woo. He would wreck whatever plans he had laid out—because if Cha Jae-woo had gone so far as to try to erase his memories just to keep him close, there must have been a very specific reason for it. Cha Jae-woo didn’t want him to disappear.
Which was why Haeyul would do the very thing he didn’t want.
He carefully wrote a message for Cha Jae-woo on top of his open book. Then, cautiously, he slid his bag behind him. The restroom was just behind him.
He planned to leave the book right where it was—and run.
