“But, um. I just thought of something.”
The answer came to him the moment he thought about it. As expected, it was the most advantageous choice both mentally and timewise. Plus, he could even grab a meal cooked by the lady of the house while he was at it.
At Cha Jae-woo’s place, it was easy enough for Cha Jae-woo to just leave whenever he wanted, but if he went to that house, he could dig in and refuse to leave. It felt like solving everything at once, so there was no hesitation in the question.
“How about I do the guiding at your house from tomorrow?”
Most likely, the person who would be the most inconvenienced by this decision would be the driver. Because there was no way Cha Jae-woo would just tell him to come on his own.
He did feel a little sorry about that, but there was no helping it. Anyway, for Cha Jae-woo, it wasn’t such a bad suggestion either.
“Why?”
But perhaps he had miscalculated, because Cha Jae-woo’s reaction wasn’t all that positive.
A subtle current flowed around him. A distinctly negative, yet hard-to-define emotion began to ripple through the air.
What could he be thinking to react like this?
A sense of discomfort and awkwardness seeped in. It wasn’t exactly dislike… more like…
“Am I not allowed to come to your house anymore?”
The question popped out instinctively as he read Cha Jae-woo’s emotions.
It didn’t seem like he hated the idea. It felt closer to something like… you can’t. But then, what reason could there be? Nothing immediately came to mind.
“Haa…”
In the meantime, Cha Jae-woo let out a short sigh. His body flinched at the sound. It was obvious that Cha Jae-woo felt extremely uncomfortable with him reading his emotions.
“Um… sorry.”
Knowing that he could feel everything probably made him think it was okay to be so obvious about it. Maybe he overdid it. Quick to understand, he was also quick to apologize.
“No, there’s nothing to be sorry for.”
Cha Jae-woo shook his head immediately, almost surprisingly so. As if he couldn’t even accept the idea that he should be apologized to, he even added, “It’s not something to be sorry about.”
“Since it’s a hassle to go back and forth, let’s just do it here.”
Yet, even so, his stance didn’t change.
Did Cha Jae-woo even realize? That acting like this only made people more curious about the real reason?
“…But, I don’t think it would be that much of a hassle for me. I could find my own way there too.”
He quickly added that he could get there by himself, just in case Cha Jae-woo tried to use the driver being inconvenienced as an excuse.
Maybe he should just get a license and buy a car? That wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Buying a car was no big deal now; he could easily afford it. That way, he wouldn’t need a driver at all.
Cha Jae-woo stayed silent for a moment. It was the face of someone obviously struggling to find a more fitting excuse.
Why couldn’t he go?
In that silence, various possibilities floated up one by one. Maybe there was a reason he couldn’t bring him into his house. Like… there was someone else living there…?
Hmm, that didn’t seem quite right. Then… maybe it was the fear that if he went to that house, he wouldn’t be able to leave—that he might get obsessively attached or something?
No, that didn’t feel right either. If he was going to have feelings like that, it would have happened a long time ago.
Someone who was doing everything they could to avoid hurting his feelings wouldn’t suddenly turn possessive just because he stepped into their house. Plus, Cha Jae-woo wasn’t in such a poor mental state that he would lose control like that.
Then… seriously, what the heck was it?
“Why don’t you want me to…?”
“I never said I didn’t want you to.”
“You’re basically saying it now.”
“…”
At his words, Cha Jae-woo rubbed his face, looking seriously troubled.
Cha Jae-woo usually found it awkward when his emotions were exposed, but he wasn’t this uncomfortable. Yet now, his face was full of reluctance.
Seeing him like that made it feel like he really shouldn’t push any further. But still, just letting it go left an uncomfortable knot in his chest.
He looked at Cha Jae-woo and recalled the third rule: When you’re unsure, just do it.
It was originally about guiding, but at some point, Cha Jae-woo had said that. That whenever he decided to try something, it had never ended badly.
He decided to trust those words. He didn’t know what the outcome would be, but for now, he had to push forward. He had to find out what Cha Jae-woo was hiding.
“Yeah, I’m going to your place after all.”
Of course, Cha Jae-woo’s house didn’t exactly hold the fondest memories for him. Thinking about the reasons Cha Jae-woo couldn’t say anything aloud, it probably had something to do with that. It was likely the same reason he had tried to quickly send him back before.
But if it were really something like that, it would’ve been better to just say it out loud. There was no need to stay silent over something like that. Which meant—it had to be something else.
Whatever it was, he hated that Cha Jae-woo was hiding something from him. They weren’t anything special yet, and he knew Cha Jae-woo wasn’t the type to spill every little thing, but still, he didn’t like it.
Wouldn’t something like this help build more trust between them? Maybe the reason Cha Jae-woo couldn’t properly explain and simply stayed silent was because he was anxious.
Without trust, anxiety grows. When anxious, one becomes nervous, constantly trying to read the other person’s mood, desperate to adjust and accommodate them.
Right now, Cha Jae-woo was exactly like that. He could be certain, because Cha Jae-woo was mimicking the very actions he himself had taken before.
If it were because he didn’t trust him, he would’ve tried everything to prove how trustworthy he was. But the anxiety Cha Jae-woo was feeling now came from regret over the time they had spent together.
In the end, the only way was to make him realize that he didn’t need to feel anxious. Just like he had come to realize himself.
“…I can’t?”
What he needed to do was keep stepping into Cha Jae-woo’s boundaries until Cha Jae-woo realized it was okay.
When he asked with a pretend dejected look, Cha Jae-woo averted his eyes. His troubled expression stayed for a while before it finally dropped. Not long after, Cha Jae-woo nodded his head.
It was such a small thing, yet it made him feel like jumping for joy.
It really felt like he was about to go on a field trip.
***
Silence filled the car. The smoothly moving vehicle followed a familiar path, but somehow, he felt uncomfortable.
Of course, that was because Cha Jae-woo was the one driving, and it was just the two of them inside the car.
“Um… it must’ve been a hassle.”
If he had just come to his house and gotten guided there, it would’ve ended in one trip, but thanks to his insistence on going to Cha Jae-woo’s place, they had to go back and forth, and he felt guilty, rambling awkwardly.
“I could’ve gone by myself, really. I could’ve just taken a taxi…”
The fare would’ve been a bit expensive, sure.
Even if not that, there were ways like having the driver come pick him up. Of course, he knew that would still be troublesome for the driver… but it would’ve been less uncomfortable than having Cha Jae-woo come all the way.
“Or, since you’re already here today, we could’ve just guided at my place and gone to your house tomorrow.”
“We’re almost there.”
“…Yeah, I can see that too.”
Cha Jae-woo lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile.
Lately, these smiles had become more frequent, and seeing them made his own facial muscles relax. Truly, it made him think once again that humans just needed to act first and think later.
But it was only for a moment. He clamped his mouth shut, reminded of the fact that he was bothering a tired man.
Because today, a gate had opened. Around 8:30 in the morning, right in the middle of the city when people were bustling to get to work.
To handle the situation quickly, Cha Jae-woo had jumped straight in. It was an unpredictable gate, so many civilians were sucked inside, making it an unavoidable choice.
In the end, there were no casualties. It was all thanks to Cha Jae-woo. People were showering him with endless praise.
All day, he had been doing nothing but reading articles about Cha Jae-woo. He had also seen several videos of Cha Jae-woo disappearing into the gate. Since there were so many people around, multiple videos had been captured. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing… well, since there had been no bad outcomes, he supposed it was a good thing.
Adding to that, today’s other trending topic was someone who had just awakened as an Esper. A middle schooler, who had been riding a bus to school. His name, brief personal details, and rank were reported on the news.
Originally, it hadn’t been like this, but lately, the news had started giving more detailed explanations about gates and Espers.
Especially regarding gates, things had become much more transparent. Information like difficulty level, map, and which Espers were deployed was all shared. Of course, not all Guides’ identities were made public yet, since public perception hadn’t improved completely; only those who consented had their information revealed.
Anyway, that wasn’t all the news told.
They also reported on what kinds of monsters were inside today’s gate, what habits they had, and what people should do if they got caught in such a gate. On top of that, they even explained how to escape from a rampaging Esper.
