* * *
When Do Yejun saw the light brown hair he believed he would never see again, his mind went completely numb.
“……Chae Suhyeon.”
The name spilled out of his mouth before he could stop it.
Chae Suhyeon.
He was Do Yejun’s former lover, a source of lifelong guilt, and a nightmare tucked away in a corner of his mind.
A scene that had played back hundreds of times in Yejun’s head flashed before his eyes once more.
“Su—”
Three years ago, a Gate had opened in the middle of the city.
By reflex, he had grabbed Lee Jaeram.
Suhyeon had been sucked helplessly into the Gate.
Jaeram had been wearing a sly smile.
Yejun had reached out for Suhyeon, but he vanished without a trace.
In his place, monsters began to crawl out in swarms.
Do Yejun grimaced at a surging headache and looked at Suhyeon again.
The man who had his back turned was now facing Yejun directly.
“……Do Yejun.”
Those light brown eyes, that pretty face, and that indifferent yet fragile atmosphere.
It was undoubtedly Chae Suhyeon—his lover, Suhyeon.
“……You were safe.”
His voice was a trembling scrape against his throat.
By closing the Gate that day, Do Yejun had become a hero who saved dozens of citizens rather than just an ordinary A-class Esper.
However, the image of Suhyeon remained a nightmare.
Gates were dangerous by nature, and as a high-ranking Esper, Yejun had grown numb to losing people.
But Suhyeon was different.
Yejun regretted, and regretted again, saving Lee Jaeram and abandoning Suhyeon three years ago.
In truth, choosing Lee Jaeram had been almost an instinct.
At the time, Yejun was growing tired of Suhyeon, who was quiet and always followed his lead.
Perhaps it could be called a slump in their relationship.
Lee Jaeram had pushed into that gap.
Lee Jaeram was an A-class Guide with a matching rate of over 80% with Yejun.
The playful touches Jaeram gave with a sly smile—which eventually grew into sleeping together—had felt incredibly welcome to Yejun back then.
Yes. After losing Suhyeon like that, he even dated Lee Jaeram.
“It’s okay. You saved me instead. You didn’t have a choice.”
Jaeram had whispered those devilish words into his ear, soulfully luring him in.
Yejun had fallen for it.
Back then, Yejun didn’t know that Lee Jaeram was a low-life fox.
“It was a bit fun when Suhyeon was around, but sorry. I’m bored now.”
About a year after Suhyeon was sucked into the Gate, Jaeram terminated his contract as Yejun’s dedicated Guide with a perfectly refreshed face.
He immediately became the dedicated Guide for another high-ranking Esper.
Only after seeing Jaeram give that same soft smile to another Esper did Yejun wake up from his illusion.
And only then did the guilt for Suhyeon—which he had tried desperately to hide with the relief of saving Jaeram—come rushing back.
Because he was crazy for a Guide, he had lost his lover Suhyeon, who always gave him love.
The person who tried so hard to be devoted and even understood the unique relationship between Guides and Espers.
The moment he realized this, Suhyeon began to bloom as a nightmare in Yejun’s mind.
“You killed me.”
Some days, he appeared while strangling him.
“……Let’s break up.”
Other days, he appeared exactly as he was in the past.
Yejun managed to live his daily life by closing Gates and killing monsters, but Suhyeon always existed in a corner of his head.
“Yejun? Who is that?”
His current lover and dedicated Guide, whom he started dating a short while ago, was beside him, but he didn’t even notice her.
He had so many things to ask—how Suhyeon escaped the Gate, and how he had lived.
“Suhyeon, I…… I worried a lot. I’m glad you’re safe. Back then, I—,”
‘I should break up with my current girlfriend.’
She was the one who clung to him to start the relationship anyway, and Suhyeon was too important to him.
“……Suhyeon?”
However, Suhyeon’s condition seemed a bit strange.
Yejun’s eyes shook.
“Chae Suhyeon, you—,”
Suhyeon’s slender body swayed as if he were about to lean on the vending machine.
Yejun hurriedly tried to support him, but his hand was sharply struck away.
His hand actually stung.
Suhyeon had never rejected him like this before.
Yejun froze.
“Suhyeon.”
Just then, someone caught Suhyeon from behind, holding him.
For some reason, Suhyeon seemed to calm down in that embrace.
Yejun thought it was an illusion.
Suhyeon used to only truly relax when he was with him.
“Suhyeon.”
“……Don’t come.”
But once again, he was rejected.
Why? Yejun couldn’t understand.
There was no way Suhyeon would reject him.
“Suhyeon—”
“Didn’t you hear him tell you not to come?”
Only then did Yejun look at the person holding Suhyeon.
His eyebrows twitched at the annoying situation.
But the person he saw was someone Yejun knew well.
‘Esper Shin Hajin?’
“Ugh—,”
While his frozen brain failed to reach a conclusion about the situation, blood began to flow from Suhyeon’s mouth.
Yejun went blank.
Suhyeon trembled violently, clutching his chest as if in pain.
Tears rolled down from the corners of Suhyeon’s eyes, and his former lover lost consciousness just like that.
Why?
Ah, so that’s the one.
Hajin, who was stroking Suhyeon’s back repeatedly to help him find stability, sent a cold, robotic gaze toward Do Yejun.
Did he say Do Yejun?
He didn’t particularly know the name or anything else.
Suhyeon was the only exception; Hajin had zero interest in others.
It would be the same no matter which high-ranking Esper appeared before him.
Nevertheless, his brilliant mind quickly put the information together.
Because it was about Suhyeon.
“It’s okay.”
Suhyeon was trembling in his arms and showing abnormal behavior.
Hajin whispered softly while processing the information surfacing in his mind.
“He cheated with a Guide, and when I told him to break up, a Gate opened right next to us. The boyfriend saved the Guide.”
The circumstances involving the Gate that Suhyeon had mentioned in passing.
“I broke up with Do Yejun. Why—,”
The name Suhyeon had uttered today when they ran into Chae Yihan on the first floor.
That protagonist was the guy standing in front of him right now.
To be honest, when he first heard it, Hajin didn’t care who Suhyeon’s ex-boyfriend was.
Regardless of what happened, that guy had dropped Suhyeon into a Gate, which led to Hajin and Suhyeon meeting.
So even when he heard Suhyeon’s words, he didn’t bother to dig into the matter or look it up.
As long as Suhyeon didn’t care, it was fine.
Hajin would be satisfied as long as Suhyeon’s attention and everything else were focused on him.
But if Suhyeon was hurting and struggling because of that man, the story changed.
Hajin’s blue eyes sank with a chilling light.
‘How should I bury him? Should I call the reporters? Or should I hold the upper management of the Association responsible?’
Hajin had enough power and authority to bury a man like that.
He had to remove that thing from Suhyeon’s sight.
So that he could never appear again.
The obsession and greed that had gradually begun to bloom inside him the more he saw Suhyeon—and the longer they spent together—were about to burst out.
“Shin Hajin!!!!”
Yihan, who was anxiously watching the situation from the side, screamed.
The dark thoughts blooming in his mind shattered into pieces.
Before he knew it, Suhyeon was slumped in his arms, unconscious.
Tears that hadn’t finished falling rolled down his thin jawline like beads.
“This way!!”
Shin Hajin took a sharp breath.
Right, that man wasn’t the priority.
He barely managed to hold onto his reason, which had almost flown away, and began to move his long legs to follow Yihan, who was running urgently.
By now, quite a few Ability Users had gathered in a crowd to watch the scene.
That pathetic man stood there frozen, unable to even move.
It was a laughable sight.
Hajin, holding Suhyeon firmly, ran after Yihan.
The Association was the base for Espers who fought against Gates.
To prepare for emergencies at any time, there was a large medical wing in the main Association building.
Yihan, who was leading the way, hurriedly pulled out his ID card to open the entrance.
“Nurse!! Someone from the medical team, come here! It’s an emergency!”
Startled by the sudden situation and the urgent call, nurses and resident medical staff came running.
While Yihan, who had frequented the medical wing countless times, skillfully gave directions, Hajin sat on a chair and anxiously stroked Suhyeon’s wet cheek.
Had he let his guard down because Suhyeon hadn’t collapsed in a while?
Suhyeon kept frowning as if he were feeling pain even while unconscious.
“Bring Suhyeon over here.”
Yihan quickly connected an IV to Suhyeon’s arm and hooked up complex wires.
Beep— Beep—
Except for the sound of the machines, the only thing echoing in the room was the sound of Suhyeon’s ragged breathing. Hajin toyed with Suhyeon’s limp, cold fingers.
Just as Yihan, with a stiff face, tried to take Suhyeon’s pulse—
Beeeeeeeeeep!
The machine that measured the wavelengths of Ability Users, which had been emitting a steady sound, suddenly wailed sharply.
“What—”
It was a machine that only reacted when there was an abnormality in the wavelengths of a Guide or an Esper.
Yihan had connected it just in case, but his eyes widened in panic at an event that had never happened while caring for Suhyeon until now.
However, not long after, a sweet and refreshing scent rushed in like a wave.
Everyone in the hospital room froze stiff.
* * *
