Cha Jae-woo, who had fallen silent, lost in thought under my pressure, finally opened his mouth. The words he spoke were so unexpected that, for a moment, I was struck speechless.
Cha Jae-woo looked visibly uncomfortable about revealing his thoughts. Yet I quickly found myself feeling delighted. The small irritation and annoyance I had been holding onto melted away in an instant.
See? I would have been so frustrated if I hadn’t heard that.
Right now, Cha Jae-woo was upset because he knew that Kim Geon-ung was freely coming in and out of my house. In other words, he was jealous. And now, he was directly admitting it to me.
Jealousy… jealousy, of all things.
The corners of my lips began to twitch and dance. I made no attempt to hide it. Why should I, when I was smiling out of pure happiness because of what he said?
“So… you’re jealous, then?”
Without erasing the smile from my face, I asked bluntly. My voice was brimming with joy.
“…Yeah.”
“You were jealous of Kim Geon-ung, huh.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, even Cha Jae-woo gets jealous? That’s amazing.”
“……”
“What do you even have to be jealous about…”
As I kept chattering, Cha Jae-woo, who had been readily agreeing up until now, suddenly clamped his mouth shut. Then he narrowed his eyes, and seeing that, I also stopped speaking.
“There’s plenty to be jealous about.”
I wondered for a second if I had gone too far in my excitement, but he didn’t seem angry. He murmured in a calm tone, as if stating something obvious.
“Of course there is.”
I scratched my cheek awkwardly.
“I was just saying. You’ve got nothing to feel inferior about anywhere. And of all people, being jealous of someone like Kim Geon-ung…”
Still, the fact that it was Kim Geon-ung was a bit too much. Even if you scoured the earth, you wouldn’t find anyone better than Cha Jae-woo, and yet… it had to be Kim Geon-ung?
Ah, could it be that Cha Jae-woo knew about Kim Geon-ung’s feelings? If that were the case, things took on a slightly different tone.
If Cha Jae-woo realized that the person he was closest to actually liked him, and that they were still staying close, even going in and out of his house… ugh, that would feel awful.
But would Cha Jae-woo even know? How many times had they even crossed paths?
“Anyway… don’t worry about it. Kim Geon-ung is just a friend.”
Whether he knew or not, I felt I couldn’t just leave it unsaid, so I added. Kim Geon-ung and I were nothing more or less than friends. If anything, he was more like family.
“Yeah, I know.”
It seemed like he was agreeing at a glance, but Cha Jae-woo’s emotions were gradually stirring. It looked like he was trying to calm himself down, bothered by the idea of showing his feelings too plainly, but it wasn’t so easy to control emotions at will.
Cha Jae-woo turned his gaze toward the pot, which had started to boil. He must have judged that focusing on that was better than trying to manage his emotions.
From now on, I would have to make sure Kim Geon-ung didn’t come over anymore. Sorry, but it would be too troublesome if it kept bothering Cha Jae-woo. Kim Geon-ung… well, he’d probably get mad, but he would understand eventually.
“From now on, I’ll make sure he can’t come over.”
I murmured while quietly gazing at Cha Jae-woo.
He didn’t respond, but I was sure he heard me, so there was no need to repeat it. The subtle turbulence in his emotions had calmed, and that was enough of an answer.
***
Anyway, the ramen was successfully completed.
As expected, it felt like the portion was way too small, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I casually pulled out some kimchi too. It was something Kim Geon-ung’s mother had given me, but it felt smarter not to mention that.
“…Come sit here.”
We somehow managed to settle the matter of what to eat, but unfortunately, a new problem arose.
Unlike Cha Jae-woo’s luxurious dining arrangements, my humble meal setup as a mere bachelor living alone was just the floor beside the bed.
I only realized this after setting up the foldable table, placing down the kimchi and the pot holder. That meant I had to make Cha Jae-woo sit on the floor.
It wasn’t like I was some bulldozer. This was my everyday living space, and yet it seemed like I had forgotten all about it just because Cha Jae-woo had come over. I should’ve remembered at least the basic fact that there wasn’t a proper place for him to eat!
For a moment, I considered moving to the small sofa I used during guiding sessions. But still, the floor seemed better. While it was fine to sit close during guiding sessions, eating right next to each other might be uncomfortable for Cha Jae-woo.
Luckily, I at least had a cushion to put down on the floor, which I used to comfort myself while choosing to ignore the awkward situation.
“I’ll carry it.”
Just as I was about to slip on the oven mitts to move the freshly cooked ramen, Cha Jae-woo waved his hand. He then took the mitts from me, put them on himself, and lifted the pot.
They were just plain blue-striped mitts, nothing fancy, yet somehow, the sight of him wearing them looked… strangely cute. Was it the mitts themselves? Or maybe because it was the first time seeing him like this?
This must be what people call a sickness. Whatever the reason, it was clear that I was definitely sick—with him.
If I were in a situation like Cha Jae-woo, where all my emotions could be laid bare, I would’ve desperately tried to avoid any contact. Guiding or not, how could I ever let someone see the inside of my head when it was full of thoughts like this?
“Could you… maybe move the pot without even touching it?”
Terrified that he might somehow catch onto the ridiculous thoughts running through my mind, I just blurted out the first thing that came to my head—and it really was just anything.
It sounded like total nonsense, like something out of a circus act, and I was about to retract it when—
“Like this?”
Before I could even take it back, Cha Jae-woo levitated the pot into the air.
As if the mitts had never been necessary to begin with, the ramen floated safely over and landed perfectly onto the pot stand. Meanwhile, Cha Jae-woo calmly took off the mitts and neatly placed them on the counter, his face showing no particular emotion.
“Wow… That’s amazing.”
The words slipped out of my mouth in a daze.
In truth, Cha Jae-woo was capable of using every ability an Esper could possess. He had even said so himself when he revealed that he could wield mental abilities too.
It had caused an uproar all around the world… His face was on TV every single day, the commotion so intense it was unavoidable.
Anyway, for someone like him, levitating a pot was nothing. Still, seeing it with my own eyes was very different from merely imagining it.
But wait—had I just made an S-Rank Esper, no, not just any S-Rank but one without a single rival to speak of, use his incredible abilities just to float a pot into the air? Did I really make him use that power for something so trivial? Even knowing that every time he used his abilities, it could have ripple effects?
“N-No… I didn’t mean for you to actually do it.”
The moment I realized it, embarrassment and frustration twisted my face. As if he could see right through me, Cha Jae-woo chuckled softly.
It was the second time today that I got to see him smile—thanks to convincing him to stay for a meal—but this time, because of how mortified I was, I couldn’t even lift my head to look at him for long. It was such a shame.
“These days, it’s fine.”
Cha Jae-woo added those words, as if to ease my guilty conscience.
I knew that he was in good condition lately. Although he hadn’t completely rid himself of the black mass that had shrouded his energy ever since he awakened as an Esper, he was indeed far more stable now.
Still, it wasn’t entirely gone. Even after he imprinted on me and my guiding had become far more effective, some of that black mass remained.
Without me, his energy would warp almost instantly; it was easy for things to deteriorate, but so, so difficult for them to improve.
At first, I had thought that the act of imprinting had brought about a dramatic change. After all, my guiding had reacted almost immediately to the near-collapse Cha Jae-woo had been facing.
But now, it seemed like we had hit a limit. The black mass clumped stubbornly, refusing to budge, almost as if it was declaring that it had become a part of him and had no intention of disappearing.
Well… honestly, it wasn’t like I had no idea why. It probably had to do with the amount of physical contact.
“Isn’t this enough? Do we really need more contact?”
It was something I had already thought about, and I had even mentioned it to Cha Jae-woo once.
But he had shaken his head with more firmness than ever before. Though he only phrased it vaguely, it was clear he meant no.
I didn’t do anything stupid like wondering if he didn’t want to touch me, but his refusal had been a little surprising. He had never rejected that kind of suggestion before.
Still, unlike the old Cha Jae-woo, the current Cha Jae-woo was being extremely cautious. Even something as routine as guiding now seemed to make him wary.
Honestly, it wasn’t hard to figure out what he must be thinking. He didn’t want to hurt me through guiding. Plus… we weren’t even in a relationship right now.
Maybe that’s why Cha Jae-woo didn’t seem particularly eager to improve his guiding any further.
