* * *
Chae Suhyeon and Chae Yihan.
They were not brothers with an affectionate, close, or precious family bond.
Yihan had spent the last three years in bone-deep regret.
Even now, whenever he saw Suhyeon’s awkward expression, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest.
Their relationship was that of brothers who had drifted so far apart it felt irreversible.
In the past, the moment Yihan became an adult, the death of their parents acted as a trigger that drove him mad with work and ambition.
He left a child seven years younger than him all alone. He didn’t care for him, and eventually, due to his work at the Association, he got a separate house and left the boy behind.
If he had to make an excuse, it was that nothing else could enter his sight at the time.
He was too busy surviving, too consumed by the loss of his parents.
But Suhyeon had lost his parents, too.
While Yihan wasn’t looking, his younger brother grew up too fast and became an adult.
By the time Yihan realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
Suhyeon was already working at a company at a young age and living well on his own.
Even when Yihan tried to care for him later, the gap between them had grown too wide.
Short check-in calls spaced weeks apart.
Seeing each other’s faces only with great effort.
A way of speaking that was polite but felt like the kindness one gives to a stranger.
That was the state of their brotherhood.
Even though Yihan was clearly the one who started it, he kept delaying the improvement of their relationship simply because Suhyeon was difficult to approach.
He was afraid.
He had no idea how to treat the younger brother he had practically abandoned.
The opportunities dwindled until, in an instant, they turned into something that would never come again.
—Director. The victim is……
The victim, Chae Suhyeon. Yihan stared blankly at the three characters of the name written in the report delivered to him.
Even though they were brothers, he wasn’t just a year or two older; he was seven years older.
Suhyeon had been almost like a late-born child to their parents, and everything ended before Yihan could be good to him even once.
It ended because he was too scared to approach him.
He hadn’t been able to give him a single big gift, he made him work at such a young age, and it ended while he had done nothing for him.
At a young age when it would have been more fitting to laugh and talk with friends and enjoy life, a period was placed at the end of his brother’s life.
Color drained from the world.
A sense of self-loathing poured down. Yihan wallowed and struggled within it.
—I am…… truly sorry.
And amidst a life that had turned to ash, there was the name Do Yejun.
The Esper who had been dating Suhyeon for three years.
Suhyeon, who rarely spoke about himself, had once mentioned Do Yejun during a change of heart.
He said he was someone he really liked.
That he was so happy to be his lover.
Was it a prank of the gods?
Esper Do Yejun, whom Suhyeon had expressed such feelings for, was the one who closed the Gate Suhyeon had been sucked into.
Since Suhyeon had already been pulled in, Yihan heard that Do Yejun only received the news late, knowing nothing.
He had bowed his head deeply before Yihan with a face full of guilt and sorrow.
—……It’s alright.
So, apparently, that had been an act.
Or perhaps a half-insane Yihan had projected those expressions onto him.
Though it felt wrong to call him a substitute, Yihan did a great deal for Do Yejun, Suhyeon’s lover.
Even though he had always considered people who brought private relationships into work to show favoritism or discrimination as the most pathetic, Yihan—having lost Suhyeon—did that very pathetic thing himself.
Objectively, Do Yejun was an Esper closer to B-class, someone with rather weak power among A-class Espers.
He was a bit foolish and lacked the absolute quality of cooperation required for team activities, but Yihan didn’t see those things.
The fact that Do Yejun became the team leader of the Association’s 7th Team was purely thanks to Yihan.
Yihan even saw him dating other lovers as if he had forgotten Suhyeon, but Yihan thought that could happen and continued to look out for him.
Because he was the person Suhyeon had loved so much.
Because now, there was nothing else Yihan could do for Suhyeon.
However.
“Haha,”
Watching Do Yejun squirming on the hospital floor, Yihan let out a dry laugh.
The blue flames of Esper Shin Hajin had already vanished.
The sight of Do Yejun, left with mottled burn marks, was hideous.
“Haha……”
The expression vanished from Yihan’s face.
His lifeless, angular face stared blankly at Do Yejun.
Yihan picked up an empty water cup from the table.
As soon as he gripped it, the cup filled with cold water.
It was Yihan’s ability—he was an Esper, though of a low rank.
The water in the cup was poured directly onto Do Yejun, who was peacefully unconscious and foaming at the mouth.
“……Ugh, cough! Hack!”
Do Yejun flopped like a fish out of water, spitting out liquid as his eyes snapped open.
“H-hugh, Yihan, Chae Yihan, Hyung?”
Yihan tilted his head back and covered his eyes with his hand.
That’s right, he had even allowed this thing to call him Hyung.
“……Hyung, ugh, I’m— cough—sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I, I didn’t do it on purpose. I really meant it when I said I regretted it, Hyung. Cough, please believe me, okay?”
He seemed quick-witted at least.
Do Yejun realized the situation the moment he saw Yihan’s face and began to plead abjectly.
Now, even a hollow laugh wouldn’t come out.
“Hyung, Hyung! Listen, cough! Listen to me. Honestly, it’s not my fault. You understand, right? The Gate opened right in front of me, and when I came to my senses, I had already saved Lee Jaeram. It wasn’t my fault, right? Believe me, cough! Why is everyone doing this to me? I couldn’t help it either. Tell Suhyeon that, too, cough!”
He shouldn’t have stopped Esper Shin Hajin earlier.
Yihan crooked his finger.
Two of his subordinates, whom he had brought along, stepped forward.
They were specialized in this kind of work.
Unlike Hajin, Yihan could not handle Yejun personally.
Handcuffs for high-ranking Espers were snapped onto Do Yejun’s hands and feet.
“What, what is this! Hyung!!! You can understand! Hyung!!!!”
Tshhh.
Yihan pulled out a cigarette he had quit long ago and lit it.
Smoking was technically prohibited in the ward, but since everyone had been cleared out, there were no patients left.
“Esper Do Yejun.”
The voice that finally scraped out of Yihan’s throat was cracked and sounded like grinding metal.
“I will first place you in custody for the crime of assaulting a Guide.”
Exhaling a bitter grey smoke, Yihan looked down at the struggling Do Yejun.
Do Yejun, who had been shouting and resisting, suddenly paused.
“……Guide?”
He looked up at Yihan with a defiant, entitled toss of his head.
“So that Guiding earlier—Suhyeon did it, didn’t he? Hyung, let me go. Let me talk to Suhyeon just one more time. I can really explain. After that, with Suhyeon—AAAAAGH!!!!!”
Yihan pressed his lit cigarette directly into the burn wound.
A piercing scream of agony filled the room along with the smell of burning flesh.
Yihan watched with dry eyes as Do Yejun’s eyes rolled back in pain.
“Keep flapping that mouth since it’s open.”
His low voice, sounding like metal dragging on stone, echoed in the ward.
In truth, it was a miracle Suhyeon had survived the Gate.
There were cases of people being sucked into Gates, but not a single case of someone coming back alive.
Even if Do Yejun really couldn’t help the situation, he had used Suhyeon to toy with Yihan.
On the day Suhyeon was sucked in, all the CCTV cameras around the park were damaged.
While it could be blamed on monsters, there were awkward details.
Yihan ground his teeth at the chilling realization that all the puzzle pieces were finally fitting together.
Instead of apologizing to Suhyeon, he had the nerve to show up and shake his thin, fragile wrist—and from what he heard, things were already bad between them.
“Haha,”
Yihan let out another dry, brittle laugh.
He was sorry to Suhyeon.
So incredibly sorry. Everything felt like a sin in front of Suhyeon.
“This stupid older brother doesn’t even know how to atone to you……”
Muttering to himself, Yihan looked down at Do Yejun, who had stopped screaming.
Do Yejun was sprawled on the floor, unconscious again.
The smell of burning flesh hit the tip of his nose offensively.
“Move him to the detention wing.”
Dropping the cigarette butt on the floor, Yihan gestured with his chin.
The place where high-ranking Espers deemed dangerous or criminal were locked away.
Normally, assaulting a Guide was treated as a misdemeanor, and sometimes, depending on the Esper, it was swept under the rug—but that no longer applied to Do Yejun.
Furthermore, thanks to Suhyeon awakening as an unprecedented Guide, it became easier to lock him away.
The Association President had already agreed to turn a blind eye.
Literally, “just don’t kill him” was the only earnest request made to the enraged Shin Hajin and Yihan.
The two employees, waiting for the order, moved efficiently.
“Ah,”
One of the employees carrying Do Yejun on his back looked back at Yihan.
Yihan pulled out a new cigarette and lit it.
“Tell Esper Shin Hajin the room number of the cell.”
He had stopped Shin Hajin earlier for fear he would lose his reason and kill Do Yejun.
But seeing Do Yejun’s state now, he was on the verge of half-regretting stopping him.
He’d leave the tongue-pulling to him.
When the employees left the room and Yihan was left alone—
“Phew,”
Yihan stood by the open window, exhaling smoke repeatedly before pulling out his phone.
His straight, delicate fingers pressed a number without hesitation.
—It’s been a while, Director Chae! What’s going on? Got some news for me?
A sly voice greeted him before the second ring.
The next morning, various news outlets joyfully delivered the fall of a high-ranking Esper to the public.
[Esper Do, of Special Team 7, who closed the Seoul Gate three years ago, detained for Guide assault! His violence was not a first-time occurrence, and many Guides who had kept their mouths shut are now coming forward……]
Since Do Yejun was someone who had consistently appeared in the media after the Gate incident three years ago, he quickly became a hot topic of public debate.
As always, the public cheered for the fall of a celebrity and tore Do Yejun apart.
And in the early hours of that same day, an alarm rang in the detention wing where Do Yejun was held.
It was an alarm that sounded when someone intruded or escaped, but since no one had escaped and there were no traces of an intruder anywhere, the manager of the detention wing simply ignored it.
* * *
