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The dazzling headlights appeared around the corner just in time. Go Woo-jin checked the taxi’s license plate.
“I called it. Get in.”
Kim Geun-won became even more perplexed. Woo-jin was doing all the work on regarding Seon Jae-chan. He occasionally considered the fact that the guy four years younger than him was sometimes more mature than him.
“You can sleep at my house. Do you know where he lives?”
“Yeah.”
“Just like that, without planning… Huh? You know?”
When Go Woo-jin saw Kim Geun-won’s puzzled expression, he remembered the thing from about a year ago.
‘Go Woo-jin is handsome! I like Go Woo-jin! Boo hoo!’
That bizarre incident when the drunk Seon Jae-chan came to his officetel and cried her heart out as if she had lost something precious. Just the recollection itself echoed vividly in my ears.
He said it wasn’t a confession.
Woo-jin clenched his neat mouth and looked down at the drunken man who was now laughing all alone.
Go Woo-jin had suppressed his frustration at the time and had thrown Seon Jae-chan out of his house using his connections. He couldn’t bear having him stay at his place, and he couldn’t abandon the drunken guide on the streets.
“Yeah, I know.”
He had to clean up this mess again because of him. He sighed for the umpteenth time and lifted Jae-chan’s half-drowsy body.
He sent Kim Geun-won first and grabbed the stumbling Seon Jae-chan. Woo-jin’s gaze was drawn to the collar of his jumper, which was still tightly covering the lower part of his head.
After a moment, Go Woo-jin immediately averted his gaze without any further movement. He walked quietly towards the brightly lit center of the street, where the streetlights flickered.
*
It was a chilly morning with drizzling rain. Seon Jae-chan woke up from his sleep, feeling the heaviness of a hangover in his head.
The first thing that came into sight was the dark clouded room and the ID card necklace scattered on the floor. The thin blue strap was crumpled, forming an S-shaped curve as it stretched out.
Why was it lying there? He always hangs it next to the desk…
His head felt as if it were filled with water. It was a time when he struggled to get up, suspended between dream and reality.
Something felt constricting in his body. The realization of his arms bound to his upper body and the warmth enveloping his entire body came simultaneously.
Seon Jae-chan, who had just sobered up from the effects of alcohol and sleep, turned around in confusion. He found Go Woo-jin asleep with his nose in the nape of his neck.
He wondered why he was here.
At the same time as his eyes were dizzyingly blurry, memories of the previous night came to his mind randomly like a pop-up window.
‘Woo-jin-ah… Woo-jin, don’t go…’
‘I hate being alone… Huuuh… there’s no one… There’s no one, uuh…’
His sobbing voice and the sloppy appearance of sitting on the floor and hugging Woo-jin’s knees passed through his mind.
‘I’ll guide you…! Then just get guiding and go…!’
‘Why won’t you let me guide you? Do you… do you hate me that much…?
I’m crazy.
“…”
Damn it, I’m such an idiot! Seon Jae-chan cursed himself inwardly. Feeling the heat spreading through his ears and suppressing a sigh, he thought that he wanted to go on a rampage like a runaway train.
However, he couldn’t because Woo-jin was clinging tightly to him. Despite the fact that it was a super single-size bed and both men were squeezed onto it, Woo-jin had not fallen off the bed all night.
However, Jae-chan had no choice but to break free from Woo-jin’s embrace the next moment.
Creak.
The sound of a door opening echoed. Jae-chan quickly grasped the situation as he caught sight of Jeong Noah’s empty bed on the opposite side.
Whether Woo-jin woke up or not, he quickly jumped out of his arms. The front door sensor lights turned on brightly as he rolled under the bed.
Jeong Noah entered, looking tired. He was wearing a guide uniform with his tie loose under the thick padding, indicating that he was on the night shift.
“Huh? What are you doing?”
Jeong Noah was taking off his boots when he spotted Ja-chan. He noticed someone lying on the bed behind him as he looked at his roommate’s messy appearance.
“…What the hell.”
The unfamiliar figure’s physique was so impressive that even though he filled up the entire bed, his feet stuck out to the edge. Oh, my. Did he manage to drag another guy in as well? Noah’s eyes widened in astonishment as he gazed at the mysterious man’s neatly trimmed hair.
However, Noah’s face contorted as he realized the sleeping man was Esper Go Woo-jin.
“We had a drink together. It was late, so I let him sleep in my room.”
Seon Jae-chan made an excuse. He emphasized that he had merely let him sleep, even though in reality, it seemed like Jae-chan had forcibly attached himself to Woo-jin.
“We were just sleeping.”
Meanwhile, there was a rustling sound of soft fabric rubbing against each other. Woo-jin was trying to wake up in response to the unexpected commotion.
Oh my god. He didn’t want to face him right now. Seon Jae-chan’s eyes widened as he hurriedly gathered towels and clothes. Seized by the shame of last night, he ran to the bathroom in a hurry.
“… Hello.”
Jeong Noah, who had been left alone in the cold, greeted Go Woo-jin when he awoke.
“…Yes. Hello.”
A dazed response came back from Woo-jin, whose head was still on the pillow.
I’ve just greeted an S-class Esper, who I ended up being alone with…
Noah was amazed for a moment. He abruptly closed his mouth, realizing he had said something unnecessary. He quickly took off his outerwear while looking around for no apparent reason. He muttered to himself as he sat nervously at the bedside.
What the hell was he doing sleeping in other people’s rooms? Jeong Noah voiced his one-sided complaint in hindsight, forgetting that he had brought all sorts of people into the room.
‘Besides, isn’t that brat younger than me?’
As far as he know, Go Woo-jin and Seon Jae-chan were the same age, so they were two years younger than him.
Go Woo-jin was staring at him with an expression that was difficult to read. He’s really handsome. How does he keep his hair looking so neat? It was when Noah raised an eyebrow and looked at him with restraint. Woo-jin sat up.
His black eyes were expressionless, but he was bewildered on the inside. He looked at his own body, which was still dressed in the clothes he had gone out in, except for his outerwear that he had taken off. How did he sleep so soundly in someone else’s bed? And on top of that, it was Jae-chan’s bed.
Go Woo-jin recalled the memories of last night with a strangely refreshed mind.
‘Woo Jin-ah…’
The first thing that came to his mind was Seon Jae-chan’s face, who was crying out loud and telling him not to go.
Eyelashes soaked with tears, a reddened nose, and the helpless hands that held onto his leg.
Woo-jin would have easily pushed such a person away under normal circumstances. But he couldn’t for a variety of reasons. First, he was slightly drunk. Second, he remembered the guy who could endure and respond calmly even when being berated in front of his father. Third, it was due to the distinct fingerprint marks left on the guy’s neck, when he had only taken off his outerwear.
The tear-soaked face was overlapping with the face of Jae-chan, who had guided him. The face that reassured him that it was okay, even though he had marks all over his body, felt disturbingly comforting.
Suddenly, Woo-jin felt angry at something, and his rough hand clasped Jae-chan’s hand without realizing it. He couldn’t seem to let go of Jae-chan’s weak wrist, which was nothing compared to his own strength, and he felt as if he had fallen into a trap and was being guided.
Surprisingly, even in a drunken state, Jae-chan instinctively guided him. He seemed to have lost the slight wariness he had maintained by carefully observing him with his oppressive gaze.
The wavelengths that had been tangled without even realizing it were warmly released. The tension in his eyes dissipated. His eyelids became heavier as they naturally adapted to the flow, and he buried the tip of his nose in the nape of Jae-chan’s neck, where the handprint remained. Smells good… That was the last thing he remembered.
“Esper Go Woo-jin, right?”
Just then, an unfamiliar voice invaded his thoughts.
He was Seon Jae-chan’s roommate. Go Woo-jin’s sleepy eyes glanced at the other. He soon recognized the face from his memory.
“Yes. Guide Jeong Noah.”
Go Woo-jin uttered the memorable name. It must have been in August when a typhoon had passed. There was an incident where Seon Jae-chan rescued a guide from Team 5 who had been kidnapped by criminals. Go Woo-jin knew about Jung Noah from Kim Geun-won.
Jung Noah, who had been wearing a stern expression as if chewing on a stone, suddenly brightened up. It was because he felt an instant liking for the fact that a famous person knew about him.
“Oh? You know me? Ah, it must be because of Senior Geun-won! He must have mentioned me. Well, that senior has a big mouth, as expected. Among the guides of Team 5, we sometimes refer to him as the ‘source of the problem.'”
Jung Noah, who had been giggling while saying that there was also a Geun-won nickname as ‘source of everything,’ suddenly noticed that Go Woo-jin wasn’t smiling.
Ehemm, a dry cough slipped out. Was it because he’s an S-class Esper? There was a strange sense of unease that seemed to weigh him down even though he wasn’t doing anything.