Chapter 90: Vindication

He’s an Esper I’m close with.

To the words he added in a trailing voice, his mother and aunts responded with sighs of relief.

Since their capable son’s friend was said to be handling it, they even turned off the noisy news and decided to just pray.

To his first aunt’s fussy question about whether he was really close with such an amazing Esper, Bodam cleared his throat and answered.

“We were on the same team.”

– Really? Our little Bodam worked with an Esper like that?!

“Aunts, I’m an ace.”

He deliberately boasted, seeing his aunts’ and mother’s worries gradually subside, following his lead.

Along with his own competence, he added praise for Lee Tae Hwan and Han Seung Ho.

Looking back, the merits he thought they lacked weren’t entirely absent.

Aside from their personalities, there was nothing to criticize about them as Espers.

It’s just that those personalities completely overshadowed all their other merits.

– Let me talk to him.

Just as he was in the middle of explaining how easily Lee Tae Hwan could shatter a Gate, Bomi’s voice, who had been resting in her room, cut in.

Her pronunciation was slurred, as if she were eating a lot because she was sick.

He smiled, imagining Bomi with her mouth full of all sorts of food.

He didn’t bother telling her about the hell her big brother went through trying to find her.

All that mattered was that she had returned home safely.

– Bro, you’re dating, right?

“…Did you hurt your head?”

– Just tell me. Are you or aren’t you?

“I’m not.”

– You are. You have a lover, don’t you?

“I said I’m not. I’m not. I don’t. There’s no one.”

Startled by the sudden, painful attack, Bodam vehemently denied it.

But at Bomi’s next words, his furrowed brow smoothed out in surprise.

Taking their mother’s phone into her room, Bomi spouted something unbelievable.

It was so shocking that he couldn’t just let it go in one ear and out the other.

‘To think I’d live to hear such a horrifying thing.’

“No. Hey, piggy. No.”

– What do you mean, no? It’s true!

Bomi, who had been talking, flared up at the casual use of the nickname ‘piggy’ and raised her voice.

– He said he was your colleague, Yoon Bodam, and he was so f*cking nice to me. He waited for my treatment to finish, took me home, and even bought me a new phone. You’re telling me that’s not a lover?

“Hey, slow down.”

Bomi, spewing words without taking a breath, was so excited she even started clapping.

A new phone, fine.

He might think his brother’s colleague had money to burn, but the Teleport Esper, who had a remarkable appearance, had vanished after handing her a gift far greater than a phone.

He had left behind a thick cash envelope stamped with a bank logo.

Clutching the warm envelope that seemed to have been freshly withdrawn from an ATM, Bomi felt like she had won the lottery.

– Who just shoves cash at you like that? To think I’d get a money envelope in my life, thanks to you, bro.

Lying on his side in bed, Bodam replayed his sister’s words with a serious expression.

“So. Min—no. A Teleport Esper took you home. Bought you a new phone since you lost yours. And even gave you money? While saying he was my teammate?”

– Are you getting married too?

Hearing the most vicious curse he had ever heard in his life, Bodam was at a loss for words.

The appearance Yoon Bomi, with her high standards, described was definitely Min Ji Oh.

‘Me, involved with that bastard?’

‘I’d rather date a dog.’

– I didn’t say anything because I thought Mom would find it weird. I don’t think it’s weird.

Bomi, speaking in a serious, low voice, sounded refreshed, as if she had finally solved all her lingering questions.

She had already found it strange that he, who had come home after being fired from the Center, was frequently treating her to meals and buying things so readily.

So he was dating a rich Esper.

That guy who’d supposedly never dated before.

– It’s normal to date around when you’re young. He looked classy at a glance, so I hope it lasts. If he throws a fit, you tell me.

“Did you only hurt your head?”

Knowing his sister wouldn’t listen to a damn thing he said no matter how much he denied it, he just changed the subject.

– My head is perfectly fine. I just scraped my knee a bit.

“Ha, you broke it, didn’t you?”

– A little.

“Is a scrape the same as a break? You kid–”

Her brother’s short nagging continued until Bomi warned him he was being too loud.

Ever since she was young, Yoon Bomi was a scary child who would play at the playground until sunset even with a broken finger.

It was like the kid was either dull to pain or had been on the verge of becoming an Esper herself.

He couldn’t help but worry, as she would talk about major injuries as if they were nothing.

“Did he just mess up the store? You didn’t fight with an unregistered person, did you?”

Recalling the chaotic scene inside the chicken restaurant, Bodam asked worriedly.

It was a ridiculous thought, but with his sister, it was entirely possible.

Yoon Bomi was more than capable of losing her temper and picking a fight with an Esper.

– What should I do with this money? Can I use it? I’ll use it well.

To Bomi, who was deliberately changing the subject, he told her to go ahead and use it for now.

She would need the money since she wouldn’t be able to work her part-time job for a while.

He had been looking for a good time to give Bomi an allowance anyway.

Since he knew the source of the money, he could just transfer it back.

– …I can use it?

“Yeah. And take care of yourself. Mom must have been startled, so stick close to her.”

– Um, brother. Did I not mention the amount?

“Take it when it’s offered.”

Thinking her one and only brother might be sick somewhere, Bomi emphasized the amount.

She had just thrown the words out there, assuming he’d naturally want to return it.

It wasn’t sixty thousand won, not even six hundred thousand, but a whopping six million won.

He was telling her to take this?

‘Is he really dating him for his money and looks?’

– I’ll sing at your wedding.

He ended the call with a sharp “shut up” to Bomi’s nonsense.

It was a misunderstanding not even worth clearing up.

“Hah, really.”

‘Why is Min Ji Oh, that world-class jackass, acting like this?’

Lying on his back and staring at the ceiling, Bodam recalled Min Ji Oh being slammed into a wall by Lee Tae Hwan’s psychokinesis.

He thought Min Ji Oh had come to curse him out.

But when he actually opened the door, he had just looked flustered.

He didn’t even look angry.

“Are they all on drugs or something…?”

Bodam, who vividly remembered his last call with Min Ji Oh on the day he resigned, was completely puzzled by his current behavior.

Coming to his hospital room, giving him money he never borrowed?

Most of all, Min Ji Oh not shouting or swearing?

‘Don’t tell me this bastard too… like Lee Tae Hwan….’

A ridiculous assumption was about to form.

Bodam shot up in bed and touched his warm forehead.

An incredulous smile began to form on his lips.

‘Are all these bastards sorry?’

Lee Tae Hwan was a given, and then there was Min Ji Oh’s strange behavior, Kang Yi Jun pretending to be docile, and even Han Seung Ho agreeing to his request for healing.

Bodam’s smile deepened as he slowly mulled over Attack Team 3’s recent actions.

He found it hilarious that after tormenting him so cruelly for half a year, they were now having a change of heart.

Everything, including how they acted like they had lingering attachments only two months after he quit.

Heh, heh.

Bodam, who had been laughing with a sound like air escaping, kicked his feet toward the ceiling.

A cool breeze settled over his chest, where a faint heat had remained.

As Bodam pondered what this feeling was, his feet slid smoothly over the soft blanket.

Vindication.

It felt like popping the memories that had weighed down his stomach from time to time, even while eating and resting well, with a sharp needle.

It seemed just cursing at them and leaving wasn’t satisfying enough.

Over the filthy afterimages stuck in his mind, the image of Lee Tae Hwan groveling and Min Ji Oh’s dazed expression settled.

And with that, he felt a sense of relief.

There were still far more scars left, but it felt like he could cover them up with other memories.

He wanted to.

“Be sorry for the rest of your lives. You bastards.”

Bodam wanted an apology.

He got out of bed, opened the closet, and took out the coat he had borrowed from Jo Yeon.

He left the hospital room, belatedly remembering the Teleport Esper.

Since they were in the same medical center building, it would be easy to find him.

‘Did Han Seung Ho really heal him?’

He was worried about the Esper who had tried to protect him even as poison spread through his body.

In this day and age, it was rare to find an Esper who would go to such lengths for a guide who wasn’t even exclusively assigned to them.

He hoped that Han Seung Ho had kept his promise to him.

Just like Lee Tae Hwan had kept his promise.

“I don’t even know his name….”

He waited for the elevator to go up to the Esper ward floor.

He didn’t even know the name of the Esper who had risked his life to save him.

If it hadn’t been for him, he would have been bitten to death by a creature or crushed to death with the building.

The thought that he almost died without getting to properly spend his money gave him the chills again.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yes.”

The Barrier Esper from his personal protection team, who had been watching Bodam shudder, tilted his head as he looked at the display panel.

“Why is it stopped there?”

The elevator was stuck on the 23rd floor.

It was the floor with the Esper ward and private rooms for high-ranking teams.

It wouldn’t work even when he pressed the button.

Bodam’s expression hardened as he stared at the unchanging numbers on the panel.

An unidentifiable, chilly feeling began to bloom.

“I’ll go check. Please wait here.”

The Barrier Esper, gesturing to his colleague who remained in front of the hospital room door, went up the emergency stairs.

Watching him go, Bodam leaned his back against the wall and zipped up Jo Yeon’s jacket to his chin.

A guide’s intuition, which would become sensitive at times for no reason, was stirring up anxiety.

Why would an elevator in a medical center, which should be busy going up and down, stop?

Just as Bodam was trying to calm himself down by thinking it was just needless worry, he swallowed dryly at the expression on the Barrier Esper’s face as he emerged from the emergency stairwell.

The ominous premonition grew larger.

Unlike good fortune, which arrived without warning, disaster always gave big and small signs.

A rampage incident has occurred.

A bitter look spread across the Barrier Esper’s face as he relayed the grim news of a fellow Esper.

It was something that happened from time to time in the medical center.

That was why there was a Rampage Suppression Team in the Esper ward.

No matter how great an Esper was, they lived with the fate of a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.

The crisis of a rampage, proportional to their ability, would follow them until death.

“Who was it?”

As Bodam listened intently to the Barrier Esper’s calm voice, the strength drained from his body.

His mind went blank as he heard the three-syllable name that had even appeared in his dreams during his school days, a name belonging to someone he’d never met.

Team Leader Han Seung Ho.

Han Seung Ho.