* * *
Take what off? What? His pants?
Slap!
Seo Jaewon hit Joo Youngha’s back without hesitation.
He made sure to hit a bit higher up, keeping the location of the wound in mind.
“Is that all you have to say?! Where else are you hurt? I need to see…….”
“Jaewon-ah, could you please consider our public image?”
Hwi Saul rushed over calmly, covered Seo Jaewon’s mouth, and pulled him away from Joo Youngha.
Looking back, Jaewon finally noticed the reporters milling around in confusion beyond the police line.
……Looking at the camera lenses made his stomach churn reflexively.
He had to be careful.
These people were capable of fabricating stories about assault just because someone put a hand on a shoulder.
Especially in his past life, Seo Jaewon had been a marked target for reporters; articles about “controversies” or “suspicions” popped up at the slightest provocation.
Because of that, even colleagues he’d had good relationships with ended up distancing themselves to avoid being dragged into the mess.
People just got tired of having their names linked to strange rumors, whether they were true or not.
“Of course I have to see—I mean, they have to see, right? The medical team?”
Seo Jaewon pushed Joo Youngha, who was clinging to him brightly, toward the medics.
“I’d prefer if Jaewon looked at it.”
Despite Joo Youngha’s disappointed expression, three or four people immediately surrounded him with various tools.
However, Seo Jaewon couldn’t bring himself to leave.
Seeing the disinfectant being poured, the wound looked deeper than he thought.
‘Wait, the bleeding hasn’t stopped yet? They should be more gentle; look at that pitiful look in his eyes…….’
“Jaewon-ah, my wrist is broken.”
Hwi Sara waved her wrist, which was dangling in a makeshift splint.
Seo Jaewon replied absentmindedly without even looking.
“Yes, Noona. You worked hard.”
Hwi Sara healed fast even for an Esper.
She would be fine.
“Uuu—I denounce the team leader’s discrimination against Espers!”
At his half-hearted answer, Hwi Sara gave a thumbs-down with her broken hand.
She must be in less pain than she looked.
“You’ll get better soon if you eat well, Noona,” Seo Jaewon replied indifferently.
For a frontline Esper, this was a minor injury.
If it were truly serious, they wouldn’t be joking.
‘More importantly, what are they putting on that wound? Joo Youngha hates strong smells…….’
His eyes remained fixed on Joo Youngha.
“Joo Youngha, open your eyes.”
There is no answer from Joo Youngha.
“I said open your eyes……”
The monologue, which doesn’t even return an echo, scatters hollowly.
“Open your eyes, you son of a bitch!”
The blood that had been gushing endlessly from the wound in his chest had finally slowed.
Seo Jaewon’s hands, which had tried to stop the hemorrhaging by any means, were now soaked with blood up to the sleeves.
The eyes beneath the half-closed lids had already lost their light.
He looked like a porcelain doll crafted that way from the start.
The blood that had drenched Jaewon’s entire body had long since turned cold, threatening to drag down his own body temperature.
Seo Jaewon hugged Joo Youngha’s body with trembling arms.
He was terrified that if he relaxed his strength even a little, the body would slide right out of his embrace.
‘No, is it all useless already?’
Seo Jaewon looked back.
A path of blood had been made across the white marble.
Limbs mixed together so they could no longer be identified, and bodies that had collapsed into a pulp.
No, if you looked closely, they were all different.
The orange glove belonged to Hwi Saul, and that long hair was Hwi Sara.
There was a forearm with Guide Jung Wonwoo’s burn scar and…….
Everything that made up his comrades lay scattered, broken and non-functional.
……He was the only one left alive in that landscape.
A sense of the world collapsing beneath his feet brought on a wave of vertigo.
His vision flared white.
It was the end of the world as Seo Jaewon knew it.
“……Ugh!”
With a sensation of falling through the floor, Seo Jaewon snapped his eyes open.
“Hah, hah…….”
The back of his neck was damp, and his heart was thumping as if he’d just finished a full-speed sprint.
As he looked around while frozen, the landscape was somewhat familiar.
White wallpaper and bleak furniture.
Lush leaves outside the window, with a gray building and a cloudy sky visible between them…….
It was a hospital room.
A soft voice tickled his ear.
“Are you awake?”
It was Joo Youngha.
Seo Jaewon stared blankly at him.
The guy was sitting quietly on the bed with his knees pulled to his chest, looking at Jaewon.
His cheeks were flushed, and his hair was slightly sticking out as if he’d just woken up.
‘He looks perfectly fine…….’
“You looked like you were having a bad dream.”
“……A dream.”
Only then did his sense of reality find its place.
That’s right, what happened just now was a dream.
It might have been the past once, but now it was something that hadn’t even happened.
I regressed and came back here.
To a world where Joo Youngha exists.
To a world where all his comrades are still alive and breathing.
A place where he isn’t alone.
“Phew…….”
Seo Jaewon finally caught his breath and let out a long sigh.
Right, he had forcibly hospitalized Joo Youngha, whose stomach had been pierced.
He remembered sitting in a chair in front of the guy’s bed, but he must have dozed off for a moment.
It had been a while since he’d had a dream like that.
He must have been subconsciously shaken by the sight of Joo Youngha’s blood.
Joo Youngha watched him intently and tilted his head.
“Your heart is still beating fast…….”
He reached out and took Seo Jaewon’s hand.
Even though Jaewon’s hand was clammy with cold sweat, he didn’t care and interlaced their fingers.
“Hey, it’s damp.”
Seo Jaewon tried to pull his hand away but hesitated.
It really is Joo Youngha…….
Not a ghost or a delusion, but a solid, living Joo Youngha.
“Are you trying to give me Guiding?”
Joo Youngha smiled brightly and shook Jaewon’s hand like a child.
As if he’d even know what it was if I told him.
“Hmm? Jaewon-ah.”
Shamelessly, energy began to creep in.
Seo Jaewon didn’t push the hand away and gripped it tightly.
Perhaps surprised, Joo Youngha blinked.
“……If I give you Guiding, then maybe you too…….”
This time, maybe even you…….
“……Oh.”
Joo Youngha peered into Seo Jaewon’s face with a smile.
The light curiosity and wonder in his eyes were irritating.
“Jaewon-ah, are you crying?”
“……As if! Just lie down like a patient should!”
Seo Jaewon shoved Joo Youngha back and forced him to lie down on the bed.
Then, after pulling the blanket up to his neck, he busied himself by turning on the TV and opening a fruit basket that had been sent from somewhere.
“Jaewon-ah, I don’t want to eat that…….”
“Shut up.”
Just then, news of the “The Mirae” dungeon clear began to flow from the television.
‘This story is everywhere I look.’
People these days are usually quite desensitized to dungeon news, but this particular dungeon remained a hot topic for quite some time.
Not only did a dungeon appear in a crowded landmark in the middle of the city, but the fact that the entire Apgujeong area almost suffered a flood was quite provocative news for Koreans who are sensitive to real estate.
Contrary to Seo Jaewon’s assumption, it was also revealed that the dungeon hadn’t grown at an unusually fast rate.
The report that it was brand new was a lie; it had been reported long after it was actually created.
As for why it was left alone for so long…… it was a common story.
The department store, which happened to be holding a large exhibition, had intentionally delayed the report for fear it would interfere with business.
Because of that, the related stocks hit rock bottom, and the chairman had to make a public apology.
In any case, Joo Youngha, who had stopped it, also contributed to the buzz.
With a bit of fabrication and exaggeration from the Dungeon Management Bureau, Joo Youngha was treated as a literal hero.
It happens often…….
The Dungeon Management Bureau was always desperate to manage the image of those with special abilities. If the image of Espers improved?
The budget increased.
Civil complaints also decreased, even if only slightly.
You wouldn’t believe how many complaints come in for reasons like road closures or damage to private property…….
Regardless, Joo Youngha was the type of person who fit the role of a hero everyone wanted perfectly.
At least on the surface.
He was young, handsome, and EX-rank.
It would have been perfect if he were just a bit more cooperative…… but…….
“Jaewon-ah, I’m bored.”
“If you move, you die.”
“Okay…….”
Joo Youngha obediently folded his hands over his chest and lay back on the bed.
He looked comfortable in a somewhat tattered T-shirt, but the hole in his stomach was still there.
He really can’t be left alone.
This was why Seo Jaewon had been staying by the bedside all day.
He had even dragged a chair over from the next room.
“Jaewon-ah…….”
“Be quiet, I’m watching TV.”
Seo Jaewon fed a freshly sliced piece of apple into Joo Youngha’s mouth.
Joo Youngha furrowed his brows, but soon the sound of crunching was heard.
[……If a Dungeon Break had occurred, it is estimated that hundreds of casualties would have occurred in Apgujeong.
Fortunately, Esper Joo Youngha cleared the dungeon without a single scratch, and the entire nation is sending their praise…….]
‘Fake news as usual.’
Seo Jaewon turned his head away from the news screen with a bitter feeling.
Well, it was much better than appearing on TV for something bad.
Besides, he was appearing on the news alive, wasn’t he?
He was incredibly proud.
What had happened to this dungeon in his past life?
Back then, Seo Jaewon had been confined in an interrogation room, so he had barely heard any news from outside.
Maybe a Dungeon Break really had happened.
Ending it like this in this life was all thanks to Joo Youngha being alive and active.
‘Still, is there a need to lie?’
It isn’t good to instill an illusion of perfection in the public.
Relying on an Esper is a double-edged sword.
People will praise them endlessly, but the moment they make a single mistake, everyone turns into an enemy.
In reality, it was no different from having the eyes of the whole world monitoring them.
‘They just use people however they want.’
It was cowardly to make someone shoulder those expectations while not even treating them properly just because they didn’t move according to their tastes.
It was a burden too cruel for one person to bear.
Come to think of it, I think I had the same thoughts 15 years ago.
Not even knowing my own situation, I was worrying about others…….
Seo Jaewon suddenly glared at the presence he felt beside him.
“A-ha, where are you going now?”
Long, white fingers were subtly pulling at Seo Jaewon’s sleeve.
The neat, pink fingernails were impressive.
I’ve never even seen him do any kind of maintenance.
Joo Youngha looked up at Seo Jaewon with pitiful eyes, like a puppy he had picked up, and said:
“It still hurts…….”
“……!”
* * *
