* * *
Ring, ring, ring—.
The new cell phone vibrated with a steady hum.
“Are you eating properly? Tell me immediately if Shin Hajin does anything to bother you.”
As always, it was Yihan.
After being practically dragged away a few days ago by a man who introduced himself as an Association employee, Yihan had been sending dozens of texts every day.
At first, Suhyeon replied to each one, but eventually, he grew tired and only sent a few back.
Even so, Yihan replied in long strings of text as if he were simply delighted to receive anything at all.
‘I died and came back, and now my brother seems to have gone crazy… It sounds like some kind of novel title.’
“I’ll ask Do Yejun to stay with you too. Have you contacted him?”
Recalling Yihan’s message, Suhyeon’s face twisted into a frown.
It seemed Yihan didn’t know that his relationship with Do Yejun had completely fallen apart.
Do Yejun probably didn’t mention it—how he abandoned Suhyeon in front of the Gate, which was no different from pushing him to his death.
“Suhyeon…!”
Kuaaaaaaah!
…Stop.
As his thoughts began to spiral toward the memories of what happened at the Gate, Suhyeon intentionally tried to shut down his consciousness.
Reaching out for something to distract himself, Suhyeon’s hand landed on a business card.
“Please visit the Association as soon as possible.”
Right, there was this.
Just then, Suhyeon felt arms wrap around his waist and he lifted his head.
“Suhyeon.”
“You’re back?”
Hajin, who had left early that morning, had returned without Suhyeon noticing.
He sat naturally on the sofa and pulled Suhyeon up to sit in his lap.
A refreshing scent teased the tip of Suhyeon’s nose.
Though he had flinched at first, he was now quite used to leaning against this firm chest.
Suhyeon looked up at him.
It had been a few days since their relationship—previously just a homeowner and a patient living for free—could be defined as “lovers.”
Since then, Hajin acted like someone with separation anxiety, hugging Suhyeon whenever he was in sight.
It was because of that clinginess that Suhyeon had grown used to his embrace so quickly. It didn’t feel bad, either.
In fact, Hajin often carried him around.
When Suhyeon felt too lazy to walk while dragging his IV pole, Hajin was a pretty good mode of transportation.
Suhyeon looked up at him.
Blue eyes looked down at Suhyeon from under slightly lowered lids.
Even though Suhyeon hadn’t said anything, Hajin gently slid his fingers between Suhyeon’s, interlacing their hands.
Leaning his head slightly as he watched Suhyeon, Hajin boasted a beauty more stunning than any man Suhyeon had ever seen.
The unpleasantness caused by the thought of Do Yejun faded away, replaced by a fluttering sensation.
To feel this way just by looking at someone…
Hajin stared intensely at Suhyeon’s face as if there was so much to see.
“…What are you looking at?”
The gaze felt a bit persistent and embarrassing even to Suhyeon, who usually didn’t react much, and he unknowingly blushed.
“I feel like I’m being enchanted.”
And those red cheeks turned even redder at Hajin’s casual answer.
‘If anyone looks enchanting, isn’t it Hajin?’
As they sat there playing with each other’s fingers and making eye contact, it was inevitable that their faces drew closer.
Their lips met, and their tongues naturally intertwined as they opened up to each other.
Suhyeon gasped for breath as the kiss grew intense, grazing his soft palate and sweeping over his teeth as if Hajin wanted to pull the very breath from his lungs.
“Mm…”
By the time their lips finally parted, Suhyeon’s face, which had only been slightly flushed before, was now completely red.
Seeing the corners of Hajin’s mouth turn up, Suhyeon let out a heated breath and simply leaned against him.
He certainly wasn’t this good the first time they kissed.
Was he a genius at kissing, too?
Hajin had quickly become skilled at exploring Suhyeon’s mouth.
Somehow, Suhyeon felt like he had lost.
“…Ah.”
While locked in Hajin’s gaze, Suhyeon realized he had completely forgotten about the business card in his hand.
Suhyeon showed him the card.
“When should I go to this?”
Hajin raised an eyebrow at the card.
“Don’t mind—”
“You can’t just ignore it, hey.”
Yihan, who looked like he had stayed up all night given the dark circles under his eyes, came down to the first floor with a cup of coffee.
He seemed to have overheard the conversation.
“Ugh, Suhyeon. This is not a healthy sight to see first thing in the morning…”
Coming down the stairs, Yihan let out a familiar groan.
Although his initial outrage after hearing they were dating had died down, his expression still soured every time he saw Hajin holding Suhyeon.
Yihan sighed, asking God what he had done wrong to have to witness that jerk’s romance every day.
Of course, Suhyeon was fine.
Shin Hajin was the problem.
“Since you’ve awakened as a Trait User, you really should visit the Association once. You need to measure your rank again. Shin Hajin, since you aren’t responding, they’re contacting me now.”
Suhyeon nodded quietly.
He remembered hearing something about needing to get an ID card issued.
If that was the case, he had no choice.
“How do you feel, Suhyeon?”
“Um, not bad.”
“Then do you want to go today? I’ll stick by your side just in case.”
“You—”
“You stay quiet. You know this is necessary.”
And so, with a bit of bickering, Suhyeon’s outing to the Association was decided.
On the 75th floor of the massive 100-story Association building, there was a large lounge for Ability Users of a certain rank and above.
There were Espers from other teams, but most of those sprawled out on the plush lounge sofas belonged to Shin Hajin’s team.
After their team leader had gone on a terrifying work rampage and then disappeared, the backlog of work had cleared up, leaving them with free time.
However, their mental states had become ragged in exchange.
They didn’t care if other Espers looked at them strangely.
“I never want to go through that again…”
At someone’s voice, the other team members nodded violently.
SLAM!!!
“Ack!!!”
Just then, the lounge door swung open roughly.
Or rather, someone trying to move quickly toward the door hit their head and fell gloriously.
It was Esper Lee Jeonghyeon, who had been worked to the bone by Team Leader Shin Hajin until he vanished.
His forehead was swollen and red, but Jeonghyeon didn’t even notice the pain as he scrambled up.
He quickly called his teammates over.
His face had been pale ever since he escaped the team leader’s mansion.
Though he was pale partly because he had been running missions non-stop without a chance to go home, Jeonghyeon had rushed to the lounge because he had to share what he saw a few days ago.
The shock had overridden his urge to go home.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.”
“What? What is it?”
“You’re back?”
The Espers who had been lounging like zombies lifted their heads one by one and paused.
Jeonghyeon had a very bizarre expression on his face.
His pale face was twisted in a way that looked strangely distorted.
“Did something happen?”
Jeonghyeon was the team’s only teleportation-capable Esper, and his default expression was usually a pout from being picked on, but this was different.
A female Esper tilted her head and asked.
“The, the, the. Team leader, the Team Leader is…”
Jeonghyeon struggled to get the words out, stuttering, but finally:
“The Team Leader is dating…”
“…What?”
The air in the lounge froze.
The team members who had been sprawled out remained frozen with their heads up.
Their brains had stopped working along with them.
Dating?
Sure, anyone can date.
But who? Team Leader Shin Hajin.
The Team Leader is human, so he could date… but he shouldn’t be able to?
“…Who?”
In the silence, someone who regained their senses relatively quickly asked in a mechanical voice.
“The Team Leader…”
Jeonghyeon answered weakly.
Actually, he might be wrong.
The scenes he saw were Team Leader Shin Hajin confessing to that… person?
That gentleman?
Anyway, that nameless person.
Then the Association Director suddenly appeared and they fought, and then the nameless person coughed up blood.
But the goosebumps he felt then were real.
The way he held that nameless person so gently, and that… that look in his eyes.
For a man who was the definition of a germaphobe, sensitivity, and ruthlessness to act like that… Jeonghyeon was gripped by a horror that went beyond cognitive dissonance.
“…I thought the Team Leader had gone crazy.”
At Jeonghyeon’s final words, the Espers finally broke out of their frozen state and sat up.
“…Is that even possible?”
Someone asked. It was what everyone in the room wanted to say.
“No, who is it? What kind of crazy person is the partner?”
Someone else asked. This was also a question everyone agreed with.
Since Team Leader Shin Hajin was a mad tyrant, they reached the logical conclusion that his partner must also be a very crazy person.
Could there really be two people like Shin Hajin in this world?
However, breaking their expectations, Jeonghyeon shook his head.
Even though he had been pushed to the background after dropping Shin Hajin off, Jeonghyeon remembered who that nameless person was.
“You know… when we went to close that German Gate, the person who came out of the Gate.”
All the Espers in Shin Hajin’s team paused as they recalled that day.
Right, there was that person.
The lucky guy who fell right into Team Leader Shin Hajin’s arms and was carried all the way to the hospital without ever touching the ground.
An Esper sitting in the corner of the lounge flinched, but no one noticed because of the gravity of the news.
“Someone came out of a Gate?”
“Yeah, yeah. They said it was a person who got sucked in three years ago.”
At the curious question, Lee Jeonghyeon spit out the information he had overheard.
That wasn’t the important part right now.
“Anyway, that person was at the Team Leader’s mansion.”
“I saw the Team Leader confessing in real-time.”
Wow… a confession… wow… that Team Leader…? Wow…
Every Esper in the lounge was struck speechless with shock.
Only one Esper, who had been sitting in the corner the whole time, bit their nails anxiously with a hardened face, before slipping out the door without anyone noticing.
* * *
