Chapter 42
“Oh? Esper Han Yeonwoo!”
Lee Sangwon opened his eyes wide in apparent surprise, then gently smiled and beckoned to Yeonwoo. At this, Yeonwoo’s lips trembled. It felt like his breath was stopping. As he watched the cherry-colored eyes approaching, Yeonwoo felt for his thigh. When his fingertips touched the dagger, his heart began to pound painfully. His insides were boiling with inexplicable anger.
…Because of you.
Just as Yeonwoo was about to rise from his chair, Chahun blocked his way and reached back with his hand. When Yeonwoo placed his hand on Chahun’s, which was urging him to take it quickly, Chahun swiftly pulled Yeonwoo behind him and raised the corners of his eyes toward Sangwon.
“What do you want?”
“Ah, this. It’s about my mistake during our sparring earlier. Competing with an Esper of the same class really made my competitive spirit boil over.”
Sorry? Sangwon smiled brightly as he apologized and held out a small potion bottle. Chahun glared at the bottle with a suspicious expression before picking it up. As Sangwon explained how to apply it, he shifted to the side and made eye contact with Yeonwoo.
“By the way, what brings Esper Han Yeonwoo here?”
Pretending not to know. Even the Center Director knew Yeonwoo was moving in and out of the A-zone, so there’s no way Sangwon wouldn’t know.
Looking at the burn on Chahun’s forehead and the potion bottle, Yeonwoo inadvertently laughed. Kang Chahun was just a smokescreen. He had injured Chahun to meet me. As this realization dawned on him, hostility boiled over.
“This is perfect timing. We just caught a Liab bird, and I heard Esper Han Yeonhwa really likes it? How about we all have dinner together when things calm down?”
At this invitation, Yeonwoo took a deep breath and smiled awkwardly.
“We’re currently in virtual dungeon training for the rear squad selection for a newly discovered dungeon. As you know, because of mana sickness, S-class mana is a bit…”
When Yeonwoo mentioned it was uncomfortable, Chahun took half a step back. Chahun immediately checked Yeonwoo’s complexion. Watching the two of them, Sangwon stepped back with a resigned expression.
“Then it can’t be helped. By the way, as I asked earlier. What brings you here?”
Sangwon pointed to Yeonwoo’s employee ID with his chin and tilted his head.
“And Esper Kang Chahun doesn’t bother you? You said S-class mana is uncomfortable…”
With his head tilted at an angle, Sangwon looked at Chahun and Yeonwoo and smiled, lifting only his lips. At this, Chahun again extended his arm to push Yeonwoo behind him.
“If you came to give this, you can go now, right?”
“Hey. It’s disappointing to be chased away like that. If you’re in a bad mood because you got hurt today… Well, it’s not like I wanted to do it either, so why don’t you relax a bit?”
Sangwon shrugged and slowly looked around, continuing in a gentle voice.
“The Training Director is pressing me to build up skills for immediate deployment in the next dungeon, while the Center Director is restraining me, saying that valuable Espers shouldn’t get hurt. What can I do in that situation? I have to at least pretend to teach. And didn’t Esper Kang Chahun ask me to teach him first?”
That doesn’t mean you use someone’s face as a punching bag.
Listening to Sangwon, he sounded like a caring senior looking after his junior, but in reality, Chahun hadn’t learned anything. What? “I have to at least pretend to teach”? Is that something to say in front of someone who came all the way to the C-zone trying to read mana flow? It wasn’t even teasing, it was just mean.
“I understand, so step aside so I can close the door.”
Unlike Yeonwoo, who was burning up inside, Chahun calmly gestured toward the door. Hearing this dismissal, Sangwon let out an audible sigh and reached his hand out to Yeonwoo.
“You’re going to the C-zone, right? I’ll escort you.”
“Why would my hyung go with you—”
“Hyung?”
At Chahun’s startled voice, Sangwon’s cherry-colored eyes flashed brightly.
“Esper Kang Chahun. Haven’t you learned that Espers should address each other with ‘Esper’ at the end of their names as a sign of mutual respect?”
What the… Sangwon muttered as he looked Chahun up and down, then let out a laugh.
“And. You must know that access to other zones is restricted unless there’s special business? Surely you couldn’t be unaware of that… What were you thinking when you invited Esper Han Yeonwoo?”
Anyone could tell he was excited to have caught them in the wrong. Yeonwoo found it strange that Chahun was quietly listening instead of arguing about what business it was of his. To me, you argue just fine, don’t you?
Biting the tip of his tongue, Yeonwoo pushed Chahun’s side with his hand as he blocked the way. Emerging from behind Chahun, who was trying to hold his ground with strength, Yeonwoo smiled with lowered eyebrows.
“Umm… I don’t have any special business, but meeting with Chahun draws a lot of attention, which feels burdensome. Trying to avoid those stares led me here. I’ll leave soon.”
“Hmm. No. I’m not trying to make Esper Han Yeonwoo feel uncomfortable…”
Waving his hands, Sangwon tilted his head with a puzzled “Hmm?” Suppressing the desire to punch that face, Yeonwoo looked up at Chahun and smiled slightly. It was a relaxed smile with no tension in his lips. In response to that smile, Chahun’s expression seemed to ask, “What’s wrong with my hyung?”
Tsk. Yeonwoo clicked his tongue inwardly and pulled Chahun’s training uniform to make him stand beside him. Unfortunately, the person standing next to him wasn’t Yeonhwa. Yeonhwa would have coordinated perfectly without any prior rehearsal, with no need for signals. Chahun, far from coordinating, was just looking down at Yeonwoo with a dumbfounded expression.
At least he’s not complaining about me calling him by his name. Swallowing a sigh, Yeonwoo shifted his gaze to look at Sangwon. Narrowing his eyes as he looked back and forth between the two, Sangwon smiled deeply.
“You two seem quite close?”
“He’s a younger sibling I knew when I was young. I didn’t expect to meet him at the Center, but human connections are really unpredictable.”
“Is that so? I guess you didn’t know Esper Kang Chahun would awaken back then?”
“Ah, at that time, Yeonhwa…”
Trailing off, Yeonwoo lowered his eyes with a gloomy expression. The fact that their parents had kept Yeonhwa at home to earn money was a secret between Yeonwoo and Yeonhwa. It was obvious they would be punished under Esper law for hiding the awakening, and the punishment would be more severe since Yeonhwa had awakened as S-class.
Still, being parents, Yeonwoo and Yeonhwa chose to lie instead of revealing the truth. They said Yeonhwa had always been weak since childhood, so they thought the awakening fever was just due to her weak constitution.
The lie worked because mental-type Espers show fewer signs of awakening than other types. In truth, people would have believed anything they said. What were they going to do, doubt them? The precious S-class, a future-seeing Esper at that—they had to believe what she said.
Anyway, as soon as Yeonhwa was diagnosed as an Esper, the Association, all sorts of guilds, and even ordinary people rushed to extract her visions of the future, and Yeonwoo had to flee with Yeonhwa in hand. Still, people approached trying to get even a sliver of prophecy, and like now, they probed Yeonwoo for information.
Each time, Yeonwoo would lower his eyes and well up with tears. Whether Yeonwoo cried or not, there were malicious people trying to extract information wherever they went, but most would back off saying they were sorry.
They might expect Yeonwoo to feel grateful to them, but—
“Alright, I understand. Let’s talk after training. Please make yourself comfortable until then.”
Well.
Watching Sangwon leave the training room with a kind expression, Yeonwoo internally flipped him off. Do you think I’ve only met one or two people like you in my life? Only a fool would fall for such obvious calculations.
Snorting, Yeonwoo turned to the side and was startled. He tried to push away Chahun, who had come very close, but instead took a step back.
“What’s wrong?”
Chahun, who had been standing dumbfounded just like before, cleared his throat and rubbed his nape.
“No, it’s just that it’s the first time you called me by my name.”
“Ah. I’m sorry if that upset you.”
At Yeonwoo’s apology, Chahun exhaled a short “huh” and made a dumbfounded expression.
“That’s not it. Since when have you and I been so close?”
“If you were displeased, I really—”
“What do you mean displeased? If anyone disliked it, it would be you. When did you run away with a rotten expression saying ‘what kind of relationship do we have’? And isn’t this close enough? Do you just casually visit the training rooms of people you’re not close with?”
As Chahun poured out words rapidly, Yeonwoo closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded calmly. That’s right. From Chahun’s perspective, he thought they were close and had helped him, so when Yeonwoo cut him off saying “what relationship do we have,” well, yes. Yeonwoo was reflecting on that too.
But now they had some level of interaction, which is why he lied to Sangwon about being close. Back then, they truly had nothing in common except being Espers belonging to the Center.
“And don’t smile at that bastard like that. He might look all polished, but he’s a complete psycho!”
Chahun, who was trembling with his fists clenched, raised and lowered his hands, not knowing what to do with them, as he continued.
That bastard Sangwon constantly picks fights asking for sparring sessions. He claims it’s all about studying the flow of mana as he touches with mana-infused pokes, but he’s too fast to counter, Chahun said.
He didn’t know exactly what Sangwon was doing, but it seemed like just light touches, yet when you get hit, it hurts like hell.
He beats people up saying they need to learn by getting hit, and if you show any sign of pain, everyone around clicks their tongues saying what kind of S-class stamina is that, and even if you try to hit back, he melts your ice with fire, so you can’t even touch him, which is even more infuriating.
Among the mental-type Espers, there’s one called Yoon Seokhyun who made him stare at a wall for hours, claiming he could feel the mana if he concentrated. When Chahun said he couldn’t feel anything, Yoon said it was because he wasn’t concentrating properly and kept nagging him.
Some crazy bastard whose name he couldn’t even remember said S-class doesn’t need treatment, and later touched the wounded area saying he wasn’t healing people but burning them. When Chahun was in pain, not knowing what to do, the guy said, “How can it not hurt when wounds are healing? If you don’t want it to hurt, develop your regenerative abilities”—that was his advice.
Not just those two, but everyone in the A-zone gathered around to mock him as if they had been waiting for him to make a mistake.
“They say they’ll be lenient because I’m inexperienced, they say they’ll cut me some slack, but there isn’t a single person who actually teaches me properly!”
“Calm down.”
Yeonwoo repeated the words he had been shouting until his mouth was worn out, and struck down the emerging ice with a knife. Looking at the pile of ice columns that had accumulated beside them, Chahun took rough breaths before saying he was thirsty and entering the break room.
So that’s what it was. Recalling Chahun’s fear of treatment and the blank way he stared at the wall without realizing a nest was forming, Yeonwoo nodded, then stopped and rubbed his ear. He thought his ear was going to burst.
Is my ear bleeding?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
