* * *
Haebom suddenly remembered that Wonho had mentioned needing to file a report due to something that happened in the Gate.
He should have asked more, but between Na Hyunjoon and Choi Yoonseo taking turns harassing him, it had completely slipped his mind.
Of course, Wonho’s confession hadn’t helped either.
To think he was so shaken he hadn’t even brought it up again during a supposed investigation into the Gate—clearly, he hadn’t been thinking straight.
“It’s only been found once so far… but who knows? It might keep appearing. I don’t know why, but I felt like your interest in Gate research might be related. Haebom… are you not from this world?”
Jin Seyoung had immersed himself in Gate research ever since he was a child.
His life had revolved around it, so his mind quickly reached that conclusion.
The theory that the Gate led to another dimension had been around since its discovery.
Given the unidentifiable minerals, lifeforms, environments, and weather within, it was a natural theory.
But no scientific proof had ever been found.
Then again, the Gate itself couldn’t be explained scientifically.
No one even knew how or why it first appeared.
It was like the question of how life began on Earth—still a mystery.
The same applied to espers and guides.
No one knew why these powers suddenly awakened in otherwise normal people.
All anyone could do was research endlessly.
Still—what if the Gate wasn’t just another space, but a passage connecting this world to another dimension?
That theory had never been proposed before.
No one had ever traveled to another dimension or come from one—at least, not until Haebom.
Jin Seyoung was 99% certain now: Haebom had come from another world.
‘Is it okay to say this out loud?’
Haebom had been planning to tell Jin Seyoung the truth.
He was mentally prepared to some extent.
But being confronted so directly still left him speechless.
‘They won’t lock me up for testing if I say I’m from another dimension… right? Oh no, what if the team leader does the experiments himself since we’re in a lab?’
His mind spun with anxious thoughts.
“I know better than anyone that you’re not different from us, Haebom. So I promise—there won’t be any weird experiments. Besides, inhumane experiments are illegal. I don’t want to be a criminal.”
“Haha… How do you know exactly what I’m thinking? Are you psychic or something…?”
Haebom let out a nervous laugh.
Jin Seyoung’s teasing lightened the mood just enough to ease the tension.
He was grateful Jin Seyoung had already completed a physical examination of him before this moment—if he’d claimed he came from another dimension from the start, they might’ve just sent him to a mental hospital instead of a lab.
“It’s written all over your face.”
Haebom made a strange expression and quickly covered his face with both hands.
He knew he had an expressive face, but hearing it so bluntly made him feel a little down.
He sighed, wondering if Wonho already realized he had feelings for him.
No matter how hard he tried to hide it, it always showed.
“…You’re right. I guess you’d call it another dimension. I’m not even sure what to call it. Honestly, I don’t really understand things like other dimensions or the universe. But… it’s true that the world you and I are living in now is different from the one I came from.”
Haebom spoke with his face still buried in his hands.
He tried to speak clearly, but the muffled tone made his words sound soft and hesitant.
Across from him, Jin Seyoung listened with an intensely serious expression.
Alongside the exhilaration of having his suspicions confirmed, he also felt a wave of sympathy for Haebom, who must have been struggling with this alone all along.
Even moving from one region to another, studying abroad, or immigrating to a new country could be overwhelming and exhausting.
But Haebom hadn’t just changed locations—he had shifted entire dimensions.
And unlike those other situations, he likely hadn’t chosen to make the move.
More likely, he’d been swept away by something beyond his control.
Thankfully, Haebom was an S-rank guide.
Not just any esper, but the one with a high compatibility rate that Wonho desperately needed.
Thanks to that, he hadn’t faced major difficulties settling in.
If even one of those conditions hadn’t been met, Haebom would’ve been forced to reveal he came from another world.
And after that… honestly, not even Jin Seyoung could predict what would’ve happened.
Even if unethical experiments were illegal, that didn’t stop some people from doing them.
It was a stroke of luck that the center had been the first to find Haebom.
Well—actually, it was Wonho who found him first.
“…What was the world you came from like? From how well you’re adjusting here, I get the feeling it must’ve been pretty similar.”
Jin Seyoung thought of novels that involved dimensional travel.
Usually, they went to some medieval era or the Joseon Dynasty—something in the distant past.
But Haebom didn’t seem like he was from that kind of world.
Even the clothes he had been wearing back then looked normal.
Maybe that’s why it didn’t even occur to anyone that Haebom had come from another dimension.
“Hmm, the world I lived in didn’t have gates or monsters. No espers or people with supernatural powers either. So obviously, there were no guides like me. That’s why I was really shocked when people here started calling me a guide. I was just a completely ordinary civilian. You know, just doing my best every day to get by….”
“Ah… a world without gates, huh? I guess I’d be out of a job there.”
Seeing Haebom’s face darken at that, Jin Seyoung tried to lighten the mood with a teasing tone.
He figured maybe in that kind of world, he would’ve been researching something else—but it was hard to imagine.
Jin Seyoung not doing research at the Center?
The thought made him let out a short chuckle.
But as he replayed Haebom’s words in his head, something odd stood out.
“When we first met, you used words like ‘esper’ and ‘gate’ a lot. How did you know all those terms? You said your world didn’t have any of that.”
Sure, things like superpowered people or monsters could exist in movies or books.
Maybe in fictional works, those concepts were around.
But to know exact terms like “esper,” “guide,” or “gate”?
That was suspicious.
When they first met, Haebom hadn’t asked what an esper was.
If he really came from a world with no such things, how could he have known those words?
Haebom realized with a jolt that he’d slipped up.
Something he had done so thoughtlessly was now coming back to bite him.
He rolled his eyes in all directions, wondering how he could explain himself.
But really, how could he say ‘this world is a novel, and Choi Yoonseo and Na Hyunjoon are the main characters’?
He’d probably be locked up in a mental hospital for saying that.
And besides, Haebom already knew this world wasn’t just some novel world.
If it were just a fictional world, then the main characters should’ve had the same personalities as in the book Haebom read.
Wonho should’ve been in love with Choi Yoonseo.
And Wonho should’ve died inside a gate.
But none of that happened.
This wasn’t a novel.
It was reality. Still, he had to explain how he knew everything.
* * *
