70.
The moment he saw the screen of the tablet, he had an intuition that things would flow exactly as the Research Director wanted. However, Ho-yeon couldn’t bear to ignore the material presented before his eyes. Because what appeared on the screen was… the image of a young Choi Jae-won.
The material, neatly organized in chronological order, was so clean that its content could be fully understood without careful reading. The first page listed in bullet points the condition of fifteen-year-old Jae-won when he began the experiment, with attached photos showing how his appearance changed before and after.
The types of symptoms or side effects from the experiment weren’t much different from what he already knew, but in the early stages, their severity and intensity were much worse. This was likely because the lower the matching rate and the greater the class difference, the exponentially heavier the burden the Guide’s body had to endure.
The young face with a nonchalant expression, seemingly having wiped nosebleed carelessly with his hand, leaving a horizontal blood streak, was particularly vivid in Ho-yeon’s mind.
The amount of data was endless and extensive. It was only natural, considering that the experiment started when he was fifteen had continued until now, at twenty-four.
One strange thing was… despite already knowing that Jae-won had been undergoing experiments from an early age to become his pair, his heart still felt unusually heavy.
Certainly, when he first learned about it, he equally hated the idea of someone else sacrificing themselves for him. But now, the fact that this someone was Choi Jae-won—that Jae-won kept charging into a battle with no prospects of winning, his eyes bloodshot with determination—why did it feel so heartbreaking, so regrettable, so pitiable, and also… so lovable that his heart could burst?
In the momentary surge of overwhelming emotion, Ho-yeon suddenly realized. Ah, he had truly fallen in love with Choi Jae-won.
That young Guide who had come to shoulder all the world’s pain and to show him all the world’s joy and wonder. Somehow, deep in his heart, sincerely.
“I’m genuinely grateful for Jae-won’s efforts too. If Jae-won hadn’t worked so hard… honestly, Ho-yeon, you probably wouldn’t be alive today. But, Ho-yeon.”
Facing her son who couldn’t even bring himself to cry out of guilt for receiving undeserved love, the Research Director continued calmly. Looking at her extremely rational and largely selfish demeanor, Ho-yeon suddenly felt an intense self-loathing.
Was this how the people around him felt when they were occasionally speechless with exasperation?
Even though it had always been his pride that he took after his mother’s greatest legacy of cold reason and intellect.
“It’s going to be… difficult for Jae-won to raise the matching rate any further no matter how hard he struggles. I heard from Dr. An. Apparently, the matching rate has stopped increasing for quite some time, but he can’t accept it and just keeps continuing the experiments. Even the unsympathetic Dr. An has been trying to dissuade him, saying it can’t go any further.”
“…”
“Fine, let’s say a miracle happens. Let’s say your matching rate with Jae-won immediately rises to 80 percent, no, even 90 percent.”
Having put down the tablet, Ho-yeon stared at the window with a sense of devastation. Nothing could be seen through the heavily tinted windows of the back seat. It was just dark. As if to tell him that he had no real options either.
“What meaning would that have? When there’s an S-class Guide with a 99 percent match, and moreover, when that Guide has come of his own accord saying he wants to be your pair.”
“…”
“Listen to me. If it’s too painful, if you feel terribly sorry for Jae-won, you can blame everything on me. I’ll be fine with that. If I can provide you with a good Guide, and if that increases your chances of surviving the increasingly frequent battles, I can bear any blame from you or resentment from Jae-won.”
Both Jae-won and the Research Director sincerely cared for and loved Ho-yeon. And this was what made the dilemma before Ho-yeon all the more tragic. He had no right to blame anyone.
“Let’s free Jae-won from this pain. Let’s stop making him cling to a hope that has no possibility.”
“…Mom.”
“Or would you rather keep pretending not to know, like with Han-seo? Because of that selfish desire to have him stay by your side?”
“…!!”
Ho-yeon’s eyes widened and his shoulders trembled as if stabbed in the side with a red-hot needle. In fact, even before Park Woo-jun found his perfect pair, the higher-ups had seriously considered either assigning Lee Han-seo as Kim Jun-young’s pair or having him manage several A-class Espers instead, given the matching rate that showed no signs of improving.
But Ho-yeon, simply not wanting to lose his only friend… just closed his eyes, covered his ears, and endured until Han-seo could no longer bear it and left.
The Research Director indeed knew her son better than anyone. She knew exactly where his weak spots were and dug into them with uncanny precision.
“I’ll give you until this evening. Take your time to sort out your feelings.”
The black sedan returning to the center was suffocatingly quiet. Ho-yeon quietly sank into that silence. How could the world, which had been clear and simple until he fell in love, become so complicated and painful? It was an unexpected problem, but he decided not to regret falling in love. To him, Jae-won was certainly a lover worth it.
* * *
Knock, knock.
A dull knocking sound was heard. Ho-yeon consistently ignored it. He was holed up in his workshop as being in the dormitory somehow made him uncomfortable. Subordinate staff who had received orders from the Research Director had already knocked on the door several times.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
Usually, they would give up and turn away after being ignored once or twice. But this visitor was quite persistent. Ho-yeon continued to ignore them similarly.
After several minutes, suddenly, with a clear “ding-dong” notification sound, the door opened by itself.
“I was planning to wait until you opened the door, but your stubbornness is really something.”
The face he least wanted to see in the world right now was annoyingly smiling. It was Lexy.
“…How did you get in?”
“Oh, the Director gave me a master key. She told me to meet and talk with you.”
Seeing Lexy’s face, who suddenly appeared and completely ruined someone’s peaceful life yet was smiling as if nothing was wrong, made Ho-yeon’s stomach turn. As Lexy stepped in and closed the door behind him, Ho-yeon asked with a voice that was almost grinding his teeth:
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Doing what?”
“Cut out the wordplay about destiny and all that. You’re not particularly interested in me, nor do you like me.”
Those who have never fallen in love might not be able to tell the difference. But for Ho-yeon, who had experienced receiving love and loving, Lexy’s completely empty heart was transparent despite his eloquent words and eyes lacking any vitality whenever they met.
“Why are you causing all this commotion just because of a high matching rate?”
“Oh my… Was it that obvious? I thought I was doing a pretty good job of pretending to be in destiny-like love.”
It seems he wasn’t planning to keep up the pretense either. Lexy heaved an exaggerated sigh and shook his head as if in regret.
Ho-yeon asked again:
“What’s your purpose? Money? Or proper identification? Or is it the prestige of being the dedicated Guide to an Esper with special abilities?”
Lexy’s goal didn’t seem to be obtaining Ho-yeon. In fact, that’s partly why he hadn’t taken the situation too seriously until it became this grave.
“Hmm. All wrong, darling. Do you think I would have waited for you for so long, all these years, for something so trivial?”
“Stop the wordplay. Who are you? What do you really want from me? I’ll give you whatever you want, so stop playing around and leave.”
“The question is wrong.”
“What?”
“What you should be asking isn’t about my identity, but about yours.”
Lexy’s brown eyes gleamed with a rare madness. He whispered in a dreamy, languid tone:
“How would it feel, Ho-yeon… if you were the one and only protagonist of this world?”
This foreign-influenced “Do you know the way?” approach was quite professional at this point. Ho-yeon himself occasionally felt his heart swell with the feeling that he was the protagonist of this world or a hero with a special mission, but as a mass media addict, he was always careful not to mention it to others, recognizing it was just excessive immersion, nothing more, nothing less.
“Let me introduce myself properly. I am a legacy from the future, left to you to save the world.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
