57.
“It’s been a while. We’re acquaintances, aren’t we?”
The man with half his face covered by goggles walked quickly toward them on his long legs and offered a greeting. Since he’d only arrived a few days ago, he must be an acquaintance of Lee Jung-hyuk. Ryu Ho-yeon didn’t think for a moment that the greeting was directed at him, and was just staring at the chocolate wrapper in Lee Jung-hyuk’s hand.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
There were four people, but surprisingly no conversation passed between them. The man had offered a greeting, but the main recipient didn’t keep their turn in the exchange. Choi Jae-won and Lee Jung-hyuk instinctively watched Ryu Ho-yeon’s reaction. Everyone except the person being greeted clearly recognized who the man’s greeting was directed at.
Lee Jung-hyuk lightly flicked his fingers in front of Ryu Ho-yeon, who was absentmindedly staring at his fingertips. Whatever was he looking at so intently? Ryu Ho-yeon looked up at Lee Jung-hyuk with a start, as if he’d been rudely awakened from a sweet sleep.
“Ho-yeon, what are you doing? Hurry up and return the greeting. He said it’s been a while.”
“Uh, huh? What? Was he talking to me? Not to you? But what does he mean by ‘it’s been a while’? I don’t know this person at all.”
At this natural display of dismissal or forgetfulness, Choi Jae-won—who hadn’t been pleased about the high-ranking Guide specifically coming to greet Ryu Ho-yeon—immediately brightened.
“Oh, really? Did you hear that, Lexy? Seems like you’ve mistaken him for someone else.”
Though his appearance was hardly one that could be confused with anyone else, Lee Jung-hyuk decided to create a path of retreat. As someone with his own Pair, his first impression of this unfamiliar, uninvited guest who had specifically requested to meet an Esper paired with another Guide wasn’t particularly positive.
This S-class Guide—definitely Caucasian but with unclear nationality or other identification—had arrived at the Korean Ability Management Office on his own initiative just days before Choi Jae-won and Ryu Ho-yeon’s return to Korea. After publicly proving that he was indeed an impressive S-class Guide, though perhaps not at Lee Han-seo’s level, he had been flirting with the higher-ups, suggesting he might even consider naturalization, saying he would gladly become “a dog of the Korean government” if they could meet his demands.
If he had openly demanded enormous financial compensation or power to manipulate government organizations, they could have dismissed him as just another person with strong abilities but trash personality. But this Guide, who called himself Lexy and withheld all other personal information, had just one request:
‘I’d like to meet Esper Ryu Ho-yeon. The S-class materialization ability user affiliated with South Korea. I’d like to meet him as soon as he returns. Would that be possible? Why? Can’t I at least greet someone I might be sharing meals with in the future? I saw him during the press conference on screen and thought he was so beautiful. I decided then and there that I absolutely had to see him in person no matter what.’
An S-class Guide of unknown origin with suspiciously fluent Korean. Of course, he was valuable personnel. It was common knowledge among ability users that one S-class Guide was worth a hundred A-class Guides. But whether it was right to accept someone with unclear purposes and intentions as family based solely on ability… Lee Jung-hyuk couldn’t easily say yes.
Such intense concerns from practitioners probably had no impact on politicians who were excited at the prospect of adding another S-class Guide to their forces.
“Lexy? Lexy…, Lexy…”
Meanwhile, only after hearing Lee Jung-hyuk call the unfamiliar Guide “Lexy” did Ryu Ho-yeon begin to feel an itching sensation deep in his mind. The name seemed familiar. The red hair also gave him a sense of déjà vu… So they were acquaintances after all?
“Lexy, Lexy, Lexy, Lexy…”
Seeing Ryu Ho-yeon holding his temples with both hands and groaning as he struggled to remember, the S-class Guide Lexy—understanding this wasn’t intentional dismissal—removed his goggles and tousled his swept-back bangs.
“Still don’t remember me, Ho-yeon?”
“Ah…! The one who helped me find my way!!”
“Yes, yes. That’s right. At the Union Headquarters. You finally remembered. But you completely forgot my name? I’m hurt. I thought it would be easy to remember since it’s so short.”
“Ha. Now that I remember, I feel better. Whew, that unpleasant feeling is completely gone.”
It was quite a free-spirited non-sequitur exchange. Lexy continued chattering away undeterred, as if talking to himself, while Ryu Ho-yeon just nodded, apparently relieved that the uncomfortable feeling in his mind had cleared.
Lee Jung-hyuk, who had been secretly wary of this luxurious uninvited guest, actually began to feel sorry for Lexy. It was obvious that one side had overflowing interest while the other had absolutely none.
“I’ve handed out all the souvenirs and resolved that uncomfortable feeling, so let’s go now.”
Was there ever a time when Ryu Ho-yeon’s extremely independent personality—showing zero interest in people outside his circle—seemed more admirable? Choi Jae-won said this to him, exchanged a glance with Lee Jung-hyuk, and then thought that Ryu Ho-yeon’s retreating figure looked especially cool as he treated the S-class Guide—whom everyone else was desperate to approach—worse than a stray dog and simply turned away.
“Oh my, my… This is unexpected…”
The handsome S-class Guide with red hair said this while shaking his head. Lee Jung-hyuk pretended not to hear and naturally increased the distance between them. It seemed this ability user with outstanding skills hadn’t yet outgrown the self-importance that all exceptional ability users supposedly go through… There was no need to get close to him, and honestly, no desire to do so either.
* * *
After arriving at their lodgings, Choi Jae-won began organizing their miscellaneous luggage. Although the number and capacity of their bags remained the same, somehow their belongings seemed to have doubled on the return trip. Ryu Ho-yeon, heading to the bathroom to shower first, overheard Choi Jae-won muttering to himself, “Did they reproduce on the plane or something…” and replied, “Inanimate objects without reproductive capabilities can’t have offspring. Get a grip, Jae-won,” once again showing his somewhat lacking ability to grasp linguistic context.
The biggest problem was Choi Jae-won silently making a fuss behind Ryu Ho-yeon’s retreating figure, thinking, “As expected of my hyung, so cute, how does he think of such things?” Even though Ryu Ho-yeon had been engaged in something resembling normal social life for quite some time now, wasn’t it the fault of his Guide—who stuck closely to him—for only teaching him bad habits, resulting in this outcome?
After eating a simple meal outside and taking turns showering and organizing their luggage, all that remained was to rest in bed. Returning to their familiar, comfortable lodgings felt pleasant, but there was one factor that made Choi Jae-won miss Berlin.
“Hyung, are you asleep…?”
It was the difference between separate rooms versus sharing. After naturally sleeping together in a large bed for a month, his own bed now felt strangely empty.
Choi Jae-won, who had gone to bed early, kept tossing and turning until finally, around midnight, he gently pushed open the door to Ryu Ho-yeon’s room.
Ryu Ho-yeon was in the same predicament, unable to fall asleep. As soon as Choi Jae-won peeked his head in, Ryu Ho-yeon lifted one side of his blanket, inviting him over. Choi Jae-won hurriedly climbed onto the bed, afraid Ryu Ho-yeon might change his mind.
Ryu Ho-yeon’s bed was a super single size. Despite the “super” prefix, it was just a slightly wider single bed. It was woefully inadequate for two adult men to sleep side by side, and neither could possibly be comfortable, yet strangely, as soon as their shoulders pressed together in the cramped space, heavy, tired drowsiness seemed to weigh down their entire bodies.
“Still… our home is the most comfortable… right?”
Ryu Ho-yeon mumbled absentmindedly while yawning widely, and as always, when a stone is thrown playfully, it’s the innocent frog that gets hit. So once again, Choi Jae-won’s drowsiness instantly vanished, leaving him to desperately hold onto his pounding heart. This space that Choi Jae-won had carefully prepared had somehow become “our home” to Ryu Ho-yeon.
It seemed they were just one step away from using a shared bedroom.
