Chapter 82: Open It

Kang Yi Jun said nothing.

He simply tilted his head slightly, quietly receiving the guiding that flowed from the soft hands.

It was unclear if he had woken up or fallen back asleep.

His eyes, hidden by the black cloth, were invisible, and his lips, from which only a hint of white teeth could be seen, remained still.

Instead, it was Han Seung Ho who spoke.

“It would be better to hold his hand.”

Seung Ho, detecting Yi Jun’s awakening solely from the flow of his waves, opened his mouth.

Bodam’s posture, almost lying down with his upper body leaned over to reach Yi Jun who lay in the center of the wide bed, looked extremely uncomfortable.

Team Leader Kim, who had been focused on Yi Jun, belatedly noticed Bodam’s posture and asked.

He hadn’t realized Bodam’s heels were almost off the floor.

“Will you be guiding longer?”

“…Yes.”

Team Leader Kim approached Bodam, who answered slowly, saying he would make him more comfortable, and then pulled back the blanket.

Because Yi Jun’s arms were bound by a special barrier, the barrier had to be released for a guide to hold his hand.

Team Leader Kim, who had unnecessarily pulled back the thick blanket so excessively that it flapped, soon realized his mistake and covered Yi Jun again.

He had intended a slight mischievous flick to stir up some dusty air with the blanket, but belatedly discovered Yi Jun’s naked body, not even wearing underwear.

Judging by Guide Yoon’s paused eyelashes, it seemed he had seen what was between his legs.

“Would you mind turning around for a moment?”

Team Leader Kim, feeling apologetic for showing something unnecessary to eyes that should only see good things, offered an even kinder smile.

Bodam quickly turned his head and waited patiently.

“I’ll just pull out his hand, so you can sit in a chair while you do it.”

Following Team Leader Kim’s words, Bodam sat in the chair and again cast his gaze upon the bed.

Yi Jun’s left arm, pulled out from the precisely crafted special barrier, lay stretched long across the white blanket.

At the mention that Yi Jun’s arm movements were also sealed, Bodam nodded and pulled his chair closer.

Because he had only seen Yi Jun covered by the blanket, he had briefly forgotten that Yi Jun was bound by a restraining barrier.

“Ahem.”

He cleared his throat, did some wrist stretches, and then cupped Yi Jun’s left hand with both of his own.

He wished for this hard texture and the dark skin color he touched to return quickly.

Since Yi Jun was always the type to sing about how much he loved pretty things, Bodam thought Yi Jun would be greatly stressed by showing himself in such a state to others.

For his wave levels to decrease, his mind needed to be at ease.

‘…He must not be asleep.’

Bodam alternately looked at Yi Jun’s hand, neatly held within his own two, and Yi Jun’s black face.

The hand receiving the guiding was slowly putting on strength.

As if to hold Bodam’s hand back, the long fingers slowly curved.

“Just sleep.”

Feeling the light pressure on his hand, Bodam said firmly.

At this, the tips of Yi Jun’s fingers, which had been slowly applying pressure, quickly dropped away.

His head was still tilted towards Bodam.

He merely rested his cheek on the pillow and slightly parted his lips, but did not make a sound.

“If you’re sleepy, sleep. Don’t force yourself to stay awake.”

Bodam, feeling Kang Yi Jun’s anxiety, tried to put him to sleep.

It seemed he was anxious that Bodam might leave.

Since he had no intention of leaving just then, Bodam simply held Yi Jun’s hand more tightly.

Only then did Yi Jun fall back asleep.

Even breaths continued to flow long between his parted lips.

It was a deep sleep he hadn’t experienced even before being confined to the sickbed.

***

Team Leader Kim and Seung Ho, who had been looking down at Bodam quietly focusing on guiding, simultaneously raised their heads and met each other’s eyes.

Their keen senses reacted to the aura approaching from the hospital corridor.

Someone was walking towards Yi Jun’s room.

Team Leader Kim gestured to Seung Ho, signaling him to greet the visitor.

S-class Espers were Seung Ho’s responsibility.

Thump-.

Tae Hwan smacked his nose into a barrier that suddenly appeared right in front of Yi Jun’s room door.

He let out a long sigh towards the ceiling, which he saw because his head was thrown back by the recoil.

He had come to Kang Yi Jun’s room on a hunch, and that hunch had been correct.

“Step back.”

Seung Ho, opening the door and stepping out, spoke to Tae Hwan.

Tae Hwan, who had already sensed Seung Ho’s aura, felt Bodam’s wave as well in the short moment the door opened and closed.

It seemed he was guiding.

“Are you insane?”

Tae Hwan asked in a savagely subdued voice.

The vivid image of Yoon Bodam vomiting blood while slumped over Kang Yi Jun’s bed, right inside that very room, flashed in his mind.

He still regretted not slitting the neck of the research director who had forced Bodam to guide.

“You ordered him, didn’t you, hyung?”

Tae Hwan’s triple-white eyes, on the verge of flipping out, glared at Seung Ho as if to devour him.

Yoon Bodam would never have walked into this place of his own accord.

It was none other than Kang Yi Jun.

Surely not that sadistic lunatic who openly tormented Yoon Bodam and loved his crying face.

“Kang Yi Jun regained consciousness.”

Tae Hwan’s wave, which had been pressing with enough force to shatter Seung Ho’s barrier, wavered.

“He came because he wanted to. He’s guiding of his own free will.”

“Why…”

Tae Hwan frowned, his sharp eyes narrowed, as if he had heard something incomprehensible.

He couldn’t believe that Yoon Bodam had sought out Kang Yi Jun directly.

He thought Bodam hated Kang Yi Jun as much as he did, or honestly, even more.

“For the natural imprinting phenomenon to be severed, Kang Yi Jun needs to recover.”

Seung Ho, having condensed the entire situation into a short sentence, continued to gaze with a cold stare as if asking if Tae Hwan had any more questions.

Tae Hwan’s wave, which kept swelling and shrinking in size, was unstable.

It meant he was extremely angry.

“This is in front of a hospital room. Calm down.”

“Why is Yoon Bodam doing it himself? Are guiding machines just for decoration?”

Tae Hwan, clenching his teeth so hard that veins popped out on his jaw, demanded to know.

He had been pouring all his efforts, even dragging in non-existent machines, to help Kang Yi Jun recover.

“How much money did we pour into those machines inside? Why is Yoon Bodam guiding then?”

Instead of raising his voice, Tae Hwan expressed his rage with a savage wave.

The image of Yoon Bodam being forced to guide a body that was repulsive even to another Esper kept replaying in his mind.

“You’re the one who wanted them and bought them.”

Unlike Tae Hwan’s aura, which seemed heated by fire, Seung Ho’s infinitely calm voice continued indifferently.

“Yoon Bodam is also guiding of his own free will, so what’s your complaint?”

“Open the door.”

Tae Hwan, knowing Seung Ho’s personality well, gave up on talking to him.

He felt like he would go crazy if he didn’t see with his own eyes that Yoon Bodam was alright.

“Open it.”

Without further words, he unleashed his psychokinesis and lunged forward as if to rip off the entire wall with the door attached.

Seung Ho, lifting his chin slightly, reinforced his barrier and defended against the psychokinesis.

Because his opponent was Lee Tae Hwan, Seung Ho’s barrier, and the door within it, shook slightly.

Even in a situation where Tae Hwan might break through the barrier, Seung Ho’s expression remained unchanged.

He merely called his name in a calm voice, as if telling him to stop.

“Lee Tae Hwan.”

“Hey.”

Just as Seung Ho opened his mouth, another voice calling Tae Hwan’s name joined in.

“Yoon Bodam!”

Bodam opened the door, which was shaking as if an earthquake had struck, and stepped out.

He first responded to Tae Hwan, who was calling his name loudly, with a fierce expression.

He stared at the guy, who was on the verge of causing a commotion in front of the hospital room, with his round eyes hardened.

At this, the suffocating S-class Esper’s wave that had been filling the corridor immediately disappeared.

“Are you okay?”

“What are you doing?”

This time, Tae Hwan’s and Bodam’s voices followed simultaneously.

Tae Hwan busily rolled his eyes up and down, checking Bodam’s condition.

Fortunately, he looked alright.

No, wait.

“What’s wrong with your face?”

Bodam, startled by the unexpected personal attack, raised a hand to his swollen face.

It was a face clearly showing full traces of having cried severely.

Of course, Bodam hadn’t looked in a mirror, so he didn’t know his own condition.

Therefore, he had no choice but to raise his voice at Tae Hwan, who was breaking their promise and even cursing.

“f*ck…”

“Why did you come here just to curse?!”

“Is it Kang Yi Jun? Did that bastard make you cry?”

Finally, Tae Hwan, his eyes flipped, raised his hand and tore the barrier.

Bodam’s body swayed, standing in front of the forcibly breached barrier.

Seeing this, Tae Hwan paused for a moment, then unconsciously reached out his hand to steady the arm that had lost its balance.

Forgetting to control his strength in his fit of pique.

“Calm down.”

Seung Ho, holding Tae Hwan’s wrist, said as he erected a reinforced wall.

He maintained a grip that didn’t lose to an S-class Esper’s, yet his expression remained unperturbed.

Tae Hwan, watching Bodam regain his balance and stand up on his own, immediately withdrew his power.

He also obediently followed Seung Ho’s hand pushing him outside the reinforced wall.

If he had grabbed Yoon Bodam in the same state as before, he might have crushed his bones.

Dizzy, Tae Hwan swallowed a trembling breath and ran a hand over his face.

He felt Yoon Bodam’s gaze but couldn’t raise his head.

Since he had cursed and even gotten angry, things Bodam had told him not to do, surely-.

“I didn’t cry because of Kang Yi Jun.”

Tae Hwan, abruptly lifting his head, met Bodam’s eyes; Bodam was holding his startled chest.

Bodam, who had almost fallen due to the sudden, fierce wave that broke through the barrier, felt his heart pounding.

However, he wasn’t angry.

He seemed to understand why Lee Tae Hwan had come.

“I came because I said I would, so don’t interfere. Got it?”

Bodam, looking Tae Hwan directly in the eye and gesturing towards the corridor with his chin, conveyed the message to leave.

Even though he heard it directly, Tae Hwan couldn’t bring himself to move.

“Then why were you crying?”

His eyelids, so swollen he could barely open his eyes, and his even rounder cheeks bothered him.

It also pissed him off that Yoon Bodam was guiding another Esper.

“You were fine last night.”

“I ate and slept, so I’m swollen.”

Tae Hwan’s eyes furrowed even more at Bodam’s casually tossed answer.

It was plausible, but it didn’t seem likely to swell that much unless he’d eaten ten ramyeon bowls at once.

“What did you eat to-“

“Hey, Lee Tae Hwan.”

Bodam cut off Tae Hwan’s words, even shaking his head to draw a line.

“It’s none of your business.”

At that firm demeanor, Tae Hwan had no choice but to back down.

He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but Yoon Bodam’s look, telling him to shut up, automatically closed his mouth.

But, still, oh please.

“I’ll bring in more machines.”

Tae Hwan tried to stop Bodam, who was about to return to the hospital room, with words.

He wanted to prevent Bodam from having contact with Kang Yi Jun, no matter what.

“You’re still not well. You don’t need to guide.”

Bodam, holding the doorknob, looked up at Tae Hwan for a moment instead of going inside.

He stared with an ambiguous expression, unsure if it was hardened or just looked stiff due to his swollen eyes.

“Don’t go.”

Tae Hwan, clinging to that gaze like a rope, spoke in a suppressed voice.

He was trying his best not to use harsh words.

The curses ingrained in his mouth kept trying to burst out.

That’s how much fire burned inside him.

“You, on the other hand, should go.”

Bodam, splashing cold water on that fire, slammed the door shut and went inside.

Tae Hwan’s sigh, as he watched the firmly closed door, continued long once more.