#117
“Well… you don’t have to go that far…”
What if you get caught doing something like that? I quickly shook my head.
“Still, I’ll take responsibility and make everything quiet.”
“Why should you take responsibility, Dowoon? It’s fine.”
I waved my hand and awkwardly shoveled rice into my mouth. He’s just being too nice.
“The center director should be responsible for this part. As the director of the Awakened Center, he should have asked the media to protect you.”
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d be this scared.”
“No, well… It’s not like we knew this would cause such a commotion… It’s okay.”
Shin Haejun, are you trying to pick a fight again? I glared at him. He shrugged as if it wasn’t his fault.
“Come to think of it… when are you two going to sort out how you address each other?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Both of them looked at me with puzzled expressions at my question.
“You’re always together, but it’s weird to keep calling each other ‘Center Director’ and ‘Shin Haejun Esper’ and such. Honestly, the three of us are in a more private relationship now…”
“Well, you’re not wrong, but…”
Shin Haejun muttered with an uneasy face. He seemed to think it was true but didn’t want to admit it.
Hyun Dowoon seemed to be in the same situation. Outwardly, he tolerated being close, but it didn’t seem like their intimacy had increased to the point of worrying about how to address each other.
“If Jaeha is still concerned, let’s change how we address each other. Should I call you Mr. Shin Haejun? Well… Mr. Shin Haejun, since there’s quite an age difference, you can call me hyung if you want.”
Hyun Dowoon said to Shin Haejun with a brazen smile. Shin Haejun shuddered and exclaimed with a disgusted expression.
“Mr. Shin Haejun, Mr. Hyun Dowoon, that’s enough!”
Seeing them bicker, I suddenly found myself laughing. As I chuckled, Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun’s faces softened. It seemed they had been worried about me being tense.
“By the way… you said we’re in a private relationship? What kind of relationship are we in?”
“Huh?”
As I burst out laughing, Shin Haejun, who had been grinning, asked me. I had said it without thinking earlier, but I didn’t expect him to catch onto it.
“What kind of private relationship are we in?”
“Ah, no, well… We live together! We share secrets and all that…!”
Thinking about it, it could be misunderstood. Previously, I had insisted that ‘it’s just public guiding between an Esper and a Guide,’ but now I was contradicting that statement.
That’s not what I meant…!
“Oh, come on! You know what I mean!”
As I protested, tapping my finger on the table, Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon chuckled.
I felt wronged, but should I be glad that the atmosphere had improved a bit? Still, no matter how I think about it, it’s unfair…
“I’ll stop teasing you.”
“So you were teasing me!”
“Your reactions are cute.”
Shin Haejun looked at me with affectionate eyes as he said that.
Suddenly feeling like I wasn’t acting my age, I felt a bit embarrassed. I realized they were trying hard to lift my spirits.
“Anyway, I’m really fine, so don’t do anything, Dowoon. Okay?”
“…Alright. But shouldn’t we at least change your phone?”
“That’s really fine too…! I’ll block the contacts myself.”
“Okay.”
Hyun Dowoon’s gaze briefly fell on my phone. I felt a bit guilty and quickly slipped the phone into my pants pocket.
‘I shouldn’t keep drawing attention to the phone… It’s better if I just struggle with it alone.’
Honestly, it’s tough being exposed so much, but I’m also curious about what people are saying. I’ll probably end up looking at it again out of curiosity about what they’re saying about me…
I figured I should endure it alone, thinking that if I kept showing how hard it was, Hyun Dowoon might really end up changing my phone.
As if they knew what I was thinking, Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun’s gazes were piercingly serious, but I pretended not to notice and changed the subject by praising the already cold stew.
***
“Are you really going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m just going to stay at home anyway.”
As Hyun Dowoon kept asking with a worried expression, I shook my head and pushed his back.
Shin Haejun had already left for Team 1’s regular operation that started from early dawn. And Hyun Dowoon, as the center director, had to go to work, so he was standing at the entrance, worried about me.
“But…”
“You need to go to work. I have absolutely no intention of going to the center right now.”
Having learned that there were reporters camped out in front of the center, I decided not to go there for the time being. That’s why Hyun Dowoon was worried about me, unable to do anything. Normally, he would have taken me to the director’s office, but he couldn’t do that now.
“You know I can handle it if the writer dungeonizes this area. It’s close enough for you to come if I need you. Don’t worry too much.”
As I spoke firmly, Hyun Dowoon looked at me for a moment and slowly nodded.
“I’ll come back soon.”
“Come back after you finish your work.”
I pushed Hyun Dowoon’s back and shut the front door with a thud. Finally, I had some time to myself! It was a great situation for me, as I had been looking for a proper time to talk with Nine.
Thinking of chatting while having some snacks, I washed some strawberries in the kitchen, then sat down in the living room and calmly took out my phone.
“Nine.”
After launching the app and calling Nine, Nine’s cheerful emoticon soon appeared on the screen.
︎︎: Hello, Yeonsoo!
“I want to talk about something. There’s no one around right now, so it should be comfortable to chat.”
: What kind of consultation do you need?
“What could the writer be up to? It’s strange that it’s so quiet.”
: For now, they’re probably trying to gain influence over the story, so don’t worry too much.
“But I can’t see the comments… and I can’t access Tweedy. There’s nothing I can check from my side…”
: Whatever happens, all we can do is wait for now. Don’t worry too much.
“It’s a bit frustrating…”
！ : Oh my!
Nine’s words were logical. Usually, it felt like they worried along with me, but this time it felt a bit distant…
I reluctantly accepted Nine’s words and closed the app. It felt a bit suffocating to have no progress.
‘Maybe I should check some news articles.’
I lay sprawled on the sofa and turned on the internet. It was to check if any other topics had come up.
‘Well… it’s all just content about me.’
There were only positive articles. The few articles saying things like I should decide on a pair quickly or that I might seem selfish had all disappeared. They seemed to have been pushed out by the positive articles.
‘…Huh?’
I was wiggling my feet on the armrest of the sofa while looking, when suddenly breaking news started to appear.
[American S-class Guide Ray Gardner secretly enters the country!]
[Why is the American sweetheart visiting Korea?]
It seemed that a famous S-class guide had visited Korea.
‘Why would an S-class guide come here?’
I had a bad feeling about this. When I clicked on the article, I saw a photo of a beautiful blonde man smiling.
He was clearly a different person, but somehow reminded me of Kim Sehyun.
‘Could this… also be the writer’s scheme?’
Was it too much to think that they would replace Jooinsu, who had disappeared, with a new person?
I wondered why a new character would appear at this point, but at the same time, I thought that maybe something had changed internationally with my appearance in Korea.
‘If it had been an Esper who came, I wouldn’t have thought much of it…’
As I was staring at the screen, I suddenly saw my serious expression reflected in the display.
‘He might have just come… We don’t know yet.’
I sighed and scrolled down the article to try and change my thoughts.
[Raymond Gardner visits Korea with Liam Miller. Why are the world’s most famous pair in Korea?]
And then I discovered that the man from earlier had an Esper partner, and this time I let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that the Esper named Liam Miller was also S-class, and they were a very famous pair.
To suspect someone who already has a partner, I guess my suspicion of the writer has gone too far, making me suspect anyone.
I shook my head and reached out to munch on a strawberry. It was ridiculous how refreshed I felt just from feeling relieved.
‘Why did I feel relieved?’
Simply because I realized it wasn’t the writer’s scheme?
…Or because I didn’t want to hand Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon over to that man?
‘He’s not even a woman, but a man.’
But they said they liked me, a man. This story is about men loving each other. So shouldn’t I be more wary of men than women?
‘They’re not objects to be handed over, and it’s a bit selfish to feel jealous when I clearly have no intention of reciprocating their feelings, right?’
My refreshed mood turned gloomy again. I vaguely realized I had entered the usual cycle of digging myself into a hole, but the thoughts that came when I was alone didn’t easily disappear.
As I was lost in thought with my eyes closed, suddenly the doorbell rang.
‘Who could it be?’
It clearly wasn’t Hyun Dowoon or Shin Haejun, as they knew the door lock number.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
