Chapter 73: A Friend’s Betrayal

Today was the day Wonjae was receiving individual training at the research lab, so I returned home alone.

I was waiting for the elevator in the underground parking lot after parting with Jinseok.
I felt a presence behind me.

It wasn’t Hyun Taewoon, and since I didn’t feel a wavelength, I thought it wasn’t an Esper.
When I glanced back, I saw no one, contrary to my thoughts.

‘Did I feel it wrong?’

Feeling puzzled, I turned my gaze forward again, but I heard cautious footsteps.
Feeling as if I was being watched, I was instantly reminded of the changing room incident and the other times I had been stalked.
The culprit still hadn’t been caught.

I was on high alert and checked the elevator’s floor number.
And the moment I turned my head at the presence I felt right behind me, I was startled to see the person standing right behind me and jumped far away.

I was about to press the emergency button on my Guiding Watch, but I stopped my hand because it was a familiar face.
It was Minhyuk.

“Shinui, what’s wrong?”

“I was scared, I thought you were a stalker!”

After confirming it was him, I was finally relieved, and I remembered that he had moved here.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I let out a sigh of relief and approached him.
Then he looked around me and asked.

“You’re alone today? What about the guide who’s usually with you?”

“He has training today, so I came home first.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Just then, the elevator arrived, and I got on with him.

“If you haven’t had dinner yet, want to eat at my place? You’ve never been to my house.”

Come to think of it, it had already been over a month since he had invited me to his house.
It was certain that I would be eating alone today, so I thought it would be nice to go to his house today since Wonjae wasn’t here.

“Let’s do that. Come to think of it, this is the first time I’m going to your house.”

“Yeah, do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”

“Sorry, you know I’m busy.”

I said playfully and checked the elevator’s floor number.
His house was on a middle floor, so before long, the elevator stopped with an announcement.
When I tagged my ID card on the front door lock, the lock unlocked, and the door opened.
He moved aside so I could go in first.

I entered the entrance first, and he also came in behind me, and the door closed.
Hearing the sound of the door lock engaging, I went into the hallway.

“I’m craving chicken after a long time. How about chicken and beer?”

“I’m fine with anything. I’ll order now.”

His apartment was smaller than the one I was currently living in, but it was spacious and neat.

“I’ll go and change.”

I saw him, who had finished ordering, go into his room.
Since it would take time for the chicken to be delivered, I also thought about going home to change.
To be honest, the uniform was stuffy.

“Then shall I go home and change too?”

“The chicken will be here soon, why don’t you wait? The delivery is surprisingly fast.”

“Then it would be better to wait.”

At my words, he went to change again, and I sat in the living room and passed the time by reading a news article on my phone.

He, who came out in comfortable clothes, had wet hair, as if he had also taken a shower.

Without realizing it, like a professional habit, I perceived his wavelength.
But I didn’t feel anything.
Puzzled, I was about to ask him when he spoke to me first.

“Being with you like this after a long time reminds me of the old days.”

Come to think of it, I remembered the times when I used to hang out with him and my friends at my house.
My house was always empty, so we had made it our hideout.

“Do you remember how we used to hang out almost every day back then?”

“Of course I remember.”

“Me too. But it’s really hard to see you these days.”

I had been acting cautiously since the stalker incident.
And it was also awkward to be with people.

“Because of the stalker.”

“Stalker?”

“Yeah. I got a stalker after my personal information was exposed this time. But I’m fine now.”

I said and leaned back on the sofa.
At my words, he said it was a relief and then changed the subject.

“Why don’t you get imprinted?”

“Because I don’t want to be bound to someone.”

He was silent for a while at my words.
Then he asked in a low voice.

“What do you think of me…?”

“I think of you as a good friend.”

I didn’t know why he was asking me this.
It felt like a line from before a confession, so it was awkward, and I didn’t want to have this kind of conversation anymore.

“I’m hungry. When is the chicken coming?”

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t it be here soon?”

When I checked the time on my phone, it had been 20 minutes since I had come home.
He, who was watching me, continued.

“Actually, I was really happy when you became a guide. Because we could meet again.”

“Me too. Do you remember my face when we first met at the Center?”

“I remember. With your eyes wide open.”

My meeting with him was the same, before and after the regression.
When I met him, the old memories would come back, so it was always nice.

“Shinui, you don’t want to get involved with the S-Classes anymore, right?”

“That’s right.”

Whether it was Hyun Taewoon or Sung Yohan, I didn’t want to get involved anymore.

“Then shall I tell you a way not to get involved?”

“Is there a way?”

“Yeah. You can get imprinted with me.”

I looked at him sitting next to me.
Then I laughed at his joke and shook my head.

“How can I get imprinted with you.”

“I’m serious. I want to get imprinted with you.”

At first, I thought it was a joke, but seeing his serious eyes, I was speechless.
I asked him back, who was staring at my face.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, let’s get imprinted. Then the other Espers won’t bother you anymore.”

I had never thought about getting imprinted with him, nor did I want to.

When I was silent, he reached out and took my hand.
I pushed him away and stood up to go home.
I felt like I shouldn’t be here.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

At the end of my words, his figure disappeared.
And I felt a wavelength.
It was the stalker’s wavelength that I had felt in the shower room, one that I could never forget.

I heard his voice right behind me.

“You can’t leave.”

“It was you?”

No sooner had my words ended than my back was pushed hard, and I was sprawled on the floor.

“You’re in such a high place, so I had no choice but to do this.”

Soon, I felt a weight on my back, as if someone had gotten on, and I couldn’t move.

“How did you hide your wavelength?”

I should have felt something strange when I couldn’t feel his wavelength.
Why did I only notice it now?

“The world has gotten better these days. There’s nothing you can’t do with money. But it all gets revealed when you use your abilities.”

“Minhyuk, get off.”

“I’m going to imprint you from now on. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Why are you suddenly doing this!”

“I’ve liked you for a long time.”

I had never once noticed that he liked me.
He was neither more nor less than a friend to me.

“I said get off!”

He and I were about the same height, but he was an A-Class Esper.
At this rate, I would be at his mercy.

I struggled as I felt his body groping me, but I was still pinned under him.
Ironically, the person who came to mind the most at this moment was him.

If he was at home, he would be able to help me.
In the end, I decided to take a gamble.

I immediately did remote guiding.
If it was him, he would feel the strangeness in my wavelength and come looking for me.

“Why are you suddenly guiding?”

He seemed surprised by my sudden action.
I thought of the house he and I had lived in and sent my wavelength in that direction.
Soon, I felt his wavelength.

At this moment, I was so glad to feel his wavelength.
I let him know my unstable state through my wavelength.

Since I, who had been refusing guiding all this time, was the one to approach his wavelength first, he must have also sensed that something was wrong with my condition.

“Shinui, so this is your guiding. It feels so good.”

At my guiding, he said as if he were drunk.
I just hoped that he would read my signal.

As if my desperate wish had been answered, his wavelength began to get closer.
I could tell that he had noticed that I was in a dangerous state.

‘Please, come quickly…!’

Before long, when his wavelength came nearby, bang! A loud noise erupted.
He also seemed surprised at his sudden appearance, with the front door flying off.

“How…. What did you do, Lee Shinui!”

I was still struggling.
Soon, he disappeared again, but he couldn’t fool the eyes of him, an S-Class.

Unlike usual, his neck veins were bulging, and his face was full of anger.
He immediately found him and began to assault him one-sidedly.

His figure appeared again, and he made him float in the air without even touching him.
He struggled as if in pain.

It was a matter of an instant, so I could only watch.
Soon, his body went limp and was thrown to the floor.
He kicked him, who was sprawled on the floor.
Then he saw me and hurried over.

“Are you okay? How did this happen?”

“I was invited to dinner… and he suddenly tried to imprint me.”

“That b*stard.”

He stepped on his upper body with his foot again.
He writhed in pain.

Fortunately, since he had come, it was able to end without going to a bad situation.
If it hadn’t been for him, I probably would have been imprinted.

“I want to go home.”

I didn’t want to be here anymore.
He must have felt my unstable state, as he immediately took me home.

“Will you be okay alone?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll make sure that b*stard never comes near here again.”

It was right to thank him for saving me, but I didn’t.
He looked at me for a while and then went outside.
It seemed he had gone to deal with him.

As he had said, that he would make sure he never came near again, I never saw him again.

I had hoped that his case would be handled quietly, but in the end, as he stood in the Awakened court, it was revealed that he had been a stalker.
This matter became a big issue for a while, and the media was abuzz.
Fortunately, the fact that the person he had stalked was me was not known to the public, but since he had once been a friend, my heart was not at ease.

In the end, he went to the prison where the Awakened were incarcerated.
If he had been an S-Class like Sung Yohan, or if it had just been an assault, he would not have gone to prison.
But the crime was of poor quality.
After all, he had tried to rape an S-Class guide.

He said he wanted to apologize to me, but I refused.
After the incident that day, I even began to question if we had ever been friends.
We had been close friends just a few years ago…
It seemed I couldn’t trust anyone anymore.

After the stalker incident was over, I returned to my daily life.
My heart was still not at ease, but I tried to forget as much as possible to return to my daily life.

I had just finished dinner and was resting in my room when a call came from Sehyun.

“Hello.”

• [Shinui-ssi, it’s me. You’re coming to the cruise party, right?]

“Yes. Are you going too?”

• [Yes, I’m going too. I saw your name on the list, but I was worried you might not come.]

A cruise ship party was being held this week.
This cruise ship party was a party for the friendly relationship between the Association and the government.
Only B-Class and above Espers and guides could participate, and among them, only selected Espers and guides could participate.

It was a good place for the high-ranking Awakened of the Association and the government to build friendships.
I had also agreed to the party because I might be able to meet a helper to leave the Association.
And I was also curious since it was my first time on a cruise ship.

“I’m worried there will be a lot of people.”

• [If you’re worried, you can stay with me. For some reason, there are not many people around me.]

“I might stick by your side the whole time.”

• [That would be even better.]

I smiled at his words and we briefly caught up.
Fortunately, I was relieved to hear that the matter of the terrorist group we had talked about last time had been resolved well.

“I guess you can enjoy the party comfortably this time.”

• [Yes, and I’m looking forward to it this year because you’re also here. Then I’ll see you on that day.]

“You must be tired too, Sehyun-ssi. Get a good night’s sleep, and let’s meet on the day of the party.”

After hanging up, I lay down on the bed again.
I imagined the party on the cruise ship and the meeting with the government people.
Perhaps because of that, my anticipation for the 2-night, 3-day cruise ship party grew, and I felt a small flutter of excitement.