Chapter 68: Call

I was lonely.

I was lonely even when I opened my eyes, and lonely when I closed them; I was lonely when I was with people, and even lonelier when I wasn’t.

Ever since I spectacularly threw in my resignation and left the company, an inexplicable sense of loneliness and emptiness had gradually begun to grow.

So, I tried to eat more and spend a lot of time with my family.

Even with my stomach full and nestled amidst my aunts’ lively conversations, a strange chill lingered in a corner of my heart.

Now, I knew why.

“Ka…ng Yi Ju…”

At the faint sound escaping his fluttering lips, Team Leader Kim rose from the sofa and approached.

As he jogged over, tossing a rustling bag into the trash can, the scent of hamburgers wafted from him.

“Are you awake?”

“Jun…”

Team Leader Kim, seeing Bodam still moving only his lips with his eyes closed, figured it was just sleep talk and started to return to his seat.

“Don’t… leave…”

His leg, which had stretched towards the sofa, returned to the bedside.

Yoon Guide’s sleep talk sounded so desperate that he had no choice but to pull up a chair and sit beside the bed.

“If you’re having a nightmare, wake up.”

He whispered softly, almost exhaling a sigh, careful not to disturb Bodam’s sleep.

The guide, who was tossing and turning, had damp eyes.

He didn’t know what kind of dream it was, but it seemed sad enough to make him cry in his sleep.

He felt sorry for the guide who couldn’t even sleep peacefully.

‘It would be better if he just woke up and ate something.’

“Oh, you’re awake?”

As if his wish had been granted, Bodam’s eyelashes fluttered with tears before he opened his eyes and blinked.

He quickly explained the situation to Bodam, who was rolling his eyes around, trying to figure out where he was.

“You suddenly fell asleep in Kang Yi Jun Esper’s hospital room. There’s nothing wrong with your body.”

He relayed what the doctor had said: Yi Jun hadn’t been able to sleep properly for two months, and Bodam was being affected by that.

“You’re not feeling any pain, right?”

“No.”

Bodam, who had been listening intently, nodded along and replied.

As he said, aside from the grogginess of having slept deeply, he felt perfectly fine.

In fact, it felt as though some of his fatigue had lifted, as if he’d had a wonderfully deep sleep.

His body felt slightly lighter.

“Want something to eat? Dinner time has passed.”

Bodam, yawning, said to Team Leader Kim, who was checking his watch and offering to order a packed meal if he was hungry.

“You ate a hamburger again, didn’t you?”

“Who? Me?”

“I can see the bag right there.”

He giggled, pointing at the table where an unopened hamburger and a cola sat conspicuously.

Even if it was quick and easy food, eating only that could quickly shorten one’s life.

“Eat proper meals. It’ll ruin your health.”

The memory of eating a hamburger and throwing up a whole lot of it was so vivid that he spoke with even more sincerity.

Team Leader Kim, who said he understood, laughed, saying his own partner often told him the same thing.

He had mentioned his guide, which was new, so Bodam perked up his ears and asked.

“When do you receive guiding?”

“Once every week or two weeks? If my condition is good, the interval can get even longer.”

“Wow. But your wave is still stable. You don’t take medicine either, do you?”

Bodam, whose curiosity as a guide naturally surged, asked a variety of questions.

Team Leader Kim, who replied that instead of receiving it often, he received it all day when he did, let out a sheepish chuckle, as if embarrassed by what he’d said.

Bodam gave a thumbs-up, conveying that guiding was nothing to be embarrassed about.

“If my wave levels seem like they’re going to rise, they call me right away like a ghost. If I don’t answer that call, then I’m dead.”

Team Leader Kim, who would ignore calls from the Center Director but would answer his partner’s call even in the middle of a battle, was, as expected, a good Esper.

In fact, Bodam had often heard him video-calling his partner while half-asleep.

It was a comfortable conversation that, strangely, made even the listener feel a flutter of excitement.

Bodam even thought that if an Esper was that gentle and dependable, he might consider imprinting.

Team Leader Kim reminded him a bit of an older Jo Yeon.

He wondered if Jo Yeon would look like that when he was in his thirties.

‘Ah, Team Leader Kim is still in his twenties too.’

“I’ll go take a call. Stay lying down for a bit longer.”

Team Leader Kim’s phone and wrist-watch had been persistently ringing since earlier.

Even when he replied with texts, calls kept coming in.

“If you’re busy, you can go.”

“No, it’s fine. My main duty is to protect the guide.”

Bodam reiterated to Team Leader Kim, who was about to leave the room for a call, that he really could go.

Although personal protection was for a maximum of six months, he felt sorry that his busy schedule seemed tied down because of him.

Moreover, Bodam didn’t particularly seem to need personal protection right now.

For one, Kang Yi Jun was restrained, and as for the others…

“I think I’ll be fine.”

Bodam, lying back on the bed as if preparing to fall asleep again, waved his hand, urging him to go quickly.

He said he’d be sleeping soundly without moving, so he could go and come back comfortably.

Team Leader Kim really seemed busy.

The notification vibrations were ringing endlessly.

Bodam, who knew his competence better than anyone, felt it was a waste for him to be wasting time here.

He was quite capable of killing valuable time himself.

“Are you really sure you’ll be okay? I don’t get good reception when I go outside.”

Although Han Seung Ho was acting arbitrarily and violating the access restriction, Team Leader Kim wasn’t actually worried.

He had intended to stay to keep his promise to Bodam.

He was certain that the Han Seung Ho he knew wouldn’t come back, Esper Lee Tae Hwan wouldn’t act coercively, and Min Ji Oh was just a rich fool.

“I’ll bring you something delicious. Get some good rest.”

“Please do bring something delicious. I’ll give you my card.”

Bodam, who had no occasion to spend money in the hospital room, quickly tried to pull his wallet from his bag.

Team Leader Kim waved his hand, smiling, telling him to put it away.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about your petty cash.”

“No, really. I just want to spend money. Please let me spend some money!”

“Buy it for me next time. Next time.”

The door closed before Bodam could even get his debit card out.

As if he were a parent whose steps faltered leaving a child behind, Team Leader Kim pulled two A-class barrier Espers and stationed them outside the door.

He also left a stern warning to avoid making the same mistake as Hwang Gyu Tae, who had brought shame upon the barrier department.

“Ah… I have so much money.”

Money-spending opportunities missed, Bodam’s mouth drooped in regret, and he closed his wallet again.

It was a wallet he used to consciously keep closed, as if it were locked.

Now that he had decided to spend, there was no occasion to.

Indeed, you never know how things will turn out.

He put his wallet back in his bag, picked up a book, and sat on the bed.

Anyway, he wouldn’t fall asleep since he’d already slept his fill.

He spent a short time diligently reading a healing book titled, ‘Let’s Meditate Together’.

His mind was too busy, so the words didn’t register.

‘Why isn’t the guiding working?’

Yi Jun’s wave, which had desperately desired his guiding enough to form a half-imprint, but then dissipated as if fleeing the moment their bodies touched, kept coming to mind.

It was confusing, as if the desire to connect and the wish to not see each other were clashing.

Kang Yi Jun’s tangled emotions were conveyed to Bodam.

He had tried to push Bodam away when Bodam placed his hand on his cheek and attempted to guide him.

Even though he had appeared in his dreams every day, pestering him endlessly.

“You have to get healthy for me to leave, you crazy bastard…”

He sighed deeply, then closed the book he’d only read a few pages of and muttered.

He resented the maddening 96% matching rate.

Kang Yi Jun’s image, surrounded by cold machines, wouldn’t leave his mind.

He recalled the silence on the bed where no one spoke to him, and the suffocating tightness that constricted his breath.

If he had been confined to that bed in such a state, he felt he wouldn’t have lasted even a week before dying.

He pitied the living Kang Yi Jun.

“…Still, he’s a bad guy.”

Bodam, who had almost empathized with Yi Jun for a moment, quickly pulled back.

If he liked my guiding enough to want to imprint, he should have treated me well.

His heart began to pound faster at the thought of the bastard who tormented him as if to drain his blood.

He was the type of guy who acted like he wished Bodam would have an accident in a gate.

“Don’t forget. He’s a son of a b*tch.”

He caressed his ankle, which had been sucked into the gate, and resolved.

He reminded himself that all this effort was solely for himself.

He gritted his teeth, vowing that once Kang Yi Jun’s wave levels dropped, he would leave again without a backward glance.

“Let’s not forget he’s a son of a b*tch.”

He clenched both fists and got out of bed, yelling it like a chant.

He needed to wash his face to clear his head.

He hummed a tune, thinking he should wash up thoroughly and then properly meditate for the first time in a while.

The lyrics, consisting only of curses he hadn’t sung in a while, flowed out naturally.

“Mm~ ss-.”

Bodam, about to hum the next lyric, paused, stopping abruptly at the bathroom threshold.

A faint sound was coming from outside the hospital room door, which was blocked by a barrier.

It was an outside sound he’d never heard leak in before when Team Leader Kim was present.

It was small and muffled, but if he listened closely, he could make out the sound.

‘Two thousand.’

Bodam pressed his ear closer to the door, his brow furrowing.

The unusually loud voice belonged to Min Ji Oh.

‘Why is this bastard here again?’