#116
“A fake… author?”
The idea of needing a way to prevent Jaeha from becoming suspicious if the author disappeared made sense. However, it wasn’t clear how they intended to use this fake author.
If we let him know that the author is still around, he won’t be suspicious, right!
“So, what exactly are you planning to do? Are you going to have someone pose as the author?”
Surprisingly, Yeonsoo is quite perceptive. Just posing as someone… hmm. Come to think of it, why should I explain everything to you guys?
The emoticon refused to reveal any specific plans, despite Hyun Dowoon’s cold questioning and Shin Haejun’s threats of shaking the phone.
“You’re not planning to do anything dangerous, are you?”
What are you saying! I like Yeonsoo the most! How could I, who loves him so much, do anything to harm Yeonsoo!
After insisting this to the two suspicious men, the emoticon angrily shouted and then disappeared with a ‘poof’.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s suspicious…”
“But we have no way to stop it, do we?”
Hyun Dowoon replied to Shin Haejun, who was frowning and muttering, as he brushed away the hair stuck to Jaeha’s forehead. Contrary to what he said, he felt they should absolutely stop the emoticon’s actions somehow… but he didn’t know how to do it.
***
“Mmm…”
What was meant to be just closing his eyes for a moment felt like a long time had passed when he woke up.
He reached out for the phone on the bedside table to check the time.
‘Huh?’
He was sure he had put it within reach before sleeping, but somehow he couldn’t reach it even when he stretched out his arm.
Rubbing his cheek against the soft pillowcase, he stretched his arm further and finally managed to grab the edge of the phone. As he fumbled to grasp it and tried to check the time, strangely, the screen wouldn’t turn on.
‘What?’
Even when he pressed and held the power button, it wouldn’t turn on, making him realize that the phone had completely discharged. Finally, after plugging in the charger, the phone turned on.
This explained why the alarm hadn’t gone off. He had set an alarm to eat dinner when Hyun Dowoon returned.
“W-wow, what is this…”
As soon as the phone turned on, alarmingly, it heated up and notifications exploded like a bomb. Each chat room in the messenger app had over 300 messages, and missed calls and texts were filled to an unreadable extent.
The problem was that some were coming in real-time. It was so incomprehensible that it felt eerie.
[Hello, I’m a reporter from OO Daily…]
[Jaeha, it’s been a while. We were in the same class in 3rd grade at OO Elementary…]
[Hello. I’m from the American Awakened Association…]
Unable to read the thousands of messages one by one, he skimmed through the previews, finding that most were from reporters, awakened individuals from other countries, and people trying to find any connection to him.
‘How did my number… get spread like this?’
It’s understandable for there to be buzz about him online or in the media. But receiving personal contacts was a different story.
Since falling into this world, he had never experienced receiving personal contacts on his phone. Having only communicated with the main characters, he had never thought about ‘Lee Jaeha’ having personal connections.
But of course, Lee Jaeha must have had people he gave his personal contact to, from school days and otherwise. That’s why he was receiving these contacts now.
‘What should I do about this.’
Even now, the phone was overheating to the point where he could see the battery draining in real-time.
He first turned off all messenger notifications and, with trembling hands, opened the internet.
The news articles on the first screen of the internet app were all about him. Articles like “So who is the lucky esper that Guide Lee Jaeha will choose?” were filled with exploding comments.
Even if it was positive, it was scary to face a situation where talk about him had spread to this extent across the world for the first time.
“…Jaeha… Jaeha-ssi.”
“…Huh?”
He suddenly raised his head at the touch on his shoulder. Hyun Dowoon was looking down at him with a worried face.
“What’s wrong? Why such a serious face?”
“No… it’s just…”
He hesitated for a moment before holding out his phone to Hyun Dowoon.
“There are so many contacts… I’m a bit anxious. It’s my first time experiencing this.”
Hyun Dowoon, who had been tapping on his screen, soon smiled brightly.
“It will probably continue like this for a while. You might not have realized it yet, but you’ve become the most popular person in the world.”
“Wh… what?”
“You’re the only unclassified one. In other words, it means you’re more amazing than any other guide in the world. Won’t there be more people who admire you?”
“Is… that so?”
“Everyone’s interest in you is bound to increase. You’ll have to get used to this.”
Well, it’s not like my guiding ability is disappearing… Will it continue like this from now on?
“I’m scared to look at my phone. I understand that I’ve become popular… but with so many contacts coming in, the battery drains quickly…”
I mumbled my complaints. Hyun Dowoon muttered something that sounded like “…backfire…” inaudibly, then smiled gently at me.
“Don’t worry. I’ll block as many contacts as possible.”
“…Really? Thank you.”
Maybe it’s because I have such a small-town personality, but even if it was attention and support, it was just burdensome. I brightened at Hyun Dowoon’s words.
“Should we change your phone entirely if necessary?”
“Huh? Ah, no… That’s not necessary.”
He probably said it without knowing, but for a moment my heart skipped a beat as I thought of Nine. I immediately snatched the phone from Hyun Dowoon’s hand and shook my head.
“…Hmm, alright.”
Hyun Dowoon briefly showed an unpleasant expression before nodding. Then he reached out his hand to me and said let’s have a meal.
‘Come to think of it, this person seems to only think about feeding me…’
It’s not incomprehensible that he’s saying let’s eat since I just woke up, but still.
‘It’s scary, but… I need to know how the articles about me came out to understand the situation better.’
I followed him out while tapping on my phone.
[…Meanwhile, opinions are emerging that Guide Lee Jaeha might be in contact with overseas espers due to not quickly announcing his pair esper.]
The articles were mostly full of praise for me, but a very small number of media outlets were publishing articles criticizing me for not announcing my pair esper. Below these, there were comments from people with nicknames like ‘Patriotic Conservative’ saying I should quickly form a pair with an esper instead of being opportunistic, and excessively worried comments about the country’s power declining if talent is leaked.
“Why that expression?”
Shin Haejun, who was carrying plates while wearing an apron for some reason, put everything he was holding on the table and rushed to me.
“No, I’m fine…”
“That’s not a fine expression! Director, did you just bring him like this?”
“I thought we should talk while eating, so I had no choice.”
“Even so-”
The two started to bicker about me. I quietly sighed and walked to the table, plopping down.
“I’m hungry…”
I’m not actually hungry at all, but I blurted it out because it’s a magic spell that can stop these two at times like this. The two immediately rushed and sat in front of me.
“Let’s eat.”
“Mm-hmm.”
I nodded with chopsticks in my mouth at Hyun Dowoon’s words. The mood felt awkward and embarrassing, but it’s not a problem I can solve right away anyway.
‘They put in the effort to prepare this, so I should eat.’
But perhaps because I was just picking at my food, Shin Haejun, who had been looking at me with a worried expression, grabbed the remote control placed on one side of the table.
“Should we watch something while eating?”
It seemed he was going to turn on the TV since I couldn’t focus on eating at all.
“Ah, wait-”
Hyun Dowoon reached out as if to say something, but Shin Haejun was faster in turning on the TV.
“Who will be the lucky esper to receive Guide Lee Jaeha’s touch? Currently, opinions are strong that it will be either Center Director Hyun Dowoon or Awakened Team 1 Leader Esper Shin Haejun.”
“Wouldn’t it be Center Director Hyun Dowoon? They achieved a matching rate of 101.8%! Isn’t this an unprecedented figure in history?”
“I think it will be Esper Shin Haejun. They’ve already formed and broken a pair with Center Director Hyun Dowoon once. There must have been some reason for that, right?”
“Amidst these differing opinions, there have been cases of sites opening to predict which esper he will match with, creating betting systems. Please be cautious not to fall victim to misuse-”
I listened to the conversation flowing from the TV between the anchor and panelists, then lost my appetite even more and put my spoon down on the table with a clank. My mood darkened.
“Sigh… I don’t think it’s a good idea to let Jaeha-ssi hear such things right now.”
“But it’s evidence of receiving a lot of love…”
Shin Haejun tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand Hyun Dowoon’s words of restraint. I puffed out my cheeks and lowered my head as I answered.
“You might be used to this kind of thing, but for me, it feels like the world has changed too quickly and I’m uncomfortable.”
I thought Shin Haejun would say something about getting used to it soon, but surprisingly, I heard nothing.
When I slightly raised my head, I saw Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon exchanging glances, seemingly having a conversation with their eyes.
“You two, are you talking about something without me… huh?”
“Haha, you mean it’s awkward because it changed so suddenly, right?”
“Uh…”
“Here, another channel… no, it’s better not to watch TV for a while.”
Shin Haejun, who had glanced at my face, suddenly laughed awkwardly and turned off the TV, while Hyun Dowoon patted my hand.
“More than we thought, Jaeha-ssi is… hmm. We didn’t know you’d find it this burdensome.”
“Well… this is my first time experiencing something like this…”
“If you dislike it that much, should we make it so the media can’t talk about Jaeha-ssi at all?”
Isn’t that… media control…?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
