Chapter 76: Uncharted Waters

The second night on the cruise still brought seasickness, but when I woke up, there was no headache or fatigue.

From the morning, I mingled with the guides along with Wonjae.
I was watching him play pool when I stood up from my seat.
Rather than being here, I wanted to rest while looking at the sea.

“Wonjae, I’m tired, so I’m going to go rest in my room.”

“Then I’ll go too.”

“No. Stay and play more.”

At my words, he hesitated and then said he would go after this game was over.
I nodded at his words and moved to my room.

I sat on the chair provided on the balcony and looked at the sea.
Just looking at the sea like this calmed my mind.

Not long after I had entered the room, I heard a knock on the door and his voice.

“Hyung, I’m here.”

He must have come right away because he was worried about me being alone.
I immediately opened the door for him.

“You could have played more.”

“I like playing with you more. Come to think of it, we haven’t gotten a massage or gone to the spa yet. If you’re okay with it, do you want to go now? They say the swimming pool is on the same floor.”

Since we were here anyway, I thought it would be nice to go to the spa.
And I didn’t want to go to the outdoor pool because it was burdensome, but the indoor pool was fine.

There was a private spa on the cruise, but since it was a single room, we had to use the Association’s exclusive spa room to be together.
Fortunately, there was only one person using it at the moment.

He and I took off our clothes in the changing room before putting on our swimsuits.
But unlike me, who had undressed a long time ago, he was fidgeting and couldn’t take off his clothes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you want to go in first, hyung?”

“Why?”

“I’m just going to go and ask something about the spa.”

“Okay. Then I’ll go in first?”

“Yes. I’ll be right there.”

He said without looking at me.
I was puzzled by his behavior, but I took my swimsuit and went into the shower room.

After taking a shower and putting on my swimsuit, I entered the spa, and I saw a whirlpool tub and a large pool.
As the staff had said, one person was in the whirlpool tub, looking at the sea.

One wall of the spa was made of glass, and it overlooked the deck and the outdoor pool.

I waited for him and went into the central pool.
As soon as I went in, the motion sensor was activated, and the spa’s whirlpool function was activated.

As I closed my eyes in the comfort of the water, I felt the fatigue in my body being relieved.
I should have come sooner…

As my body became languid and I was relaxing, I felt a presence nearby, as if he had come.
I opened my eyes to see him, but I was surprised to see Sung Yohan right next to me.

“What are you doing here!”

I was startled and tried to get out quickly, but I fumbled because of the water.

“I’ve been here since a while ago.”

Only then did I realize that the person who had been in the whirlpool tub a little while ago was him.

“Let’s enjoy it together.”

He said and took a seat next to me.
Fortunately, I was about a meter away from him.

I tried to get out again, but he grabbed my wrist to prevent me from leaving.
Surprised by his firm hand, I swatted it away, but he pulled me towards him.

“It’s been a long time since we were alone. Let’s stay together a little longer.”

“Let go!”

Despite my words, he held me in his arms and sat me on his lap.
I struggled and tried to get out of his embrace, but he just smiled and enjoyed the situation.

“You have a nice body.”

He looked at my body blatantly.
Goosebumps rose at his snake-like eyes.

“I felt it before, but your body is beautiful now that you’re all undressed.”

“I’ve also thought this for a long time, but you’re so vulgar.”

As I moved to get away, he held my waist firmly.
I could feel his thing between my buttocks.
At this rate, I thought it would get really dangerous.

“That’s right. I want to tie you up and keep looking at you right now.”

I kept struggling and pushed his face, but despite my actions, his body was firm.

It was then.
I heard his sharp voice.

“Hyung!”

“Wonjae!”

“Why is he here? Was he the one you said was alone?”

“Sung Yohan?”

He didn’t seem to like him calling him by his name.
He looked at him with a blank expression.

He, despite his appearance, tried to get me out.
And in the end, he rescued me from him.

He and I hurriedly moved away from him.
Since we weren’t Espers, a confrontation with him was dangerous.
I was about to go outside just like that when I heard his voice.

“I’ll kill you if you interfere again next time.”

I could feel a murderous intent in his words, so I knew immediately that he wasn’t joking.

He must have felt the same murderous intent as me, as his face turned pale.
At that, I took his hand and moved towards the exit.

“We’ll be on our way now.”

We could have just left without a word, but I felt like he would harm us if we just left.

We came out safely, but his body was stiff, unlike usual.
I comforted him.

“It will be okay. He just says things like that. Let’s file for a restraining order when we get off the cruise.”

I was worried because he had shown murderous intent towards him before.
Even if I filed for a restraining order, nothing would probably change, but it was better than not doing anything.

“If only I were an Esper, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he never touches you.”

He didn’t answer my words.
His frown had relaxed a little, but I could feel the same murderous intent in his eyes as I had seen in his a little while ago.

After lunch, I was hanging out with other guides.
I couldn’t shake the thought of the devil’s gate, and a thought suddenly came to my mind.
I casually brought up a question to the guides.

“Is there by any chance an Esper who can travel to the past?”

“I’ve never seen a space-time travel Esper. Maybe there’s one among the S-Classes?”

Since only he knew the end of the devil’s gate, I naturally began to wonder how he had returned to the past.
Seeing that he had come to the past, there must be a space-time travel Esper.

But everyone answered that they had never seen one.
There might really be no Awakened with such an ability, but since the abilities of S-Class Espers were confidential, they might not know.

‘Who could it be.’

There were many S-Class Espers I still didn’t know.
It seemed best to ask Jinsek.
Since he was a researcher, he might know.

Just then, I saw Yeongwon not too far away.
Since he was an S-Class Multi, he would have a lot of contact with S-Class Espers and a high probability of knowing a space-time travel Esper.
I excused myself from the group and approached him.

“Yeongwon-ssi!”

“Oh? Shinui-ssi, what’s up?”

“I have something I want to ask you.”

After confirming that there was no one in the hallway, I asked.

“Is there by any chance an Esper who can travel to the past?”

At my words, the corner of his mouth stiffened slightly.
At that, I could tell that he knew something.

“Why are you curious about that?”

“If you can see the future, I thought there might be an Esper who can travel to the past or future.”

I also added that it was purely out of curiosity.
Then he seemed to hesitate, but he soon opened his mouth.

“There is someone I know.”

Since he was a government official, it seemed he knew a lot of information that was difficult to find out within the Association.

“Really? Is he here by any chance?”

“No. It will probably be difficult to see him.”

“What does that mean?”

“Because he’s in the anti-Awakened group.”

At the words ‘anti-Awakened group’, I felt like the clue I had barely found had become useless.
As far as I knew, he, who was a member of the Association, had no connection to the anti-Awakened group.
He wouldn’t have come to the past through them.

By the way, to think that the person who possessed that ability was in the anti-Awakened group…
Since the anti-Awakened were under the jurisdiction of the government, it was difficult to find out information as a member of the Association.
It didn’t seem like it would be easy to turn the topic to this during a conversation with Sehyun either.

I thought I should take this opportunity to get information about them through him, so I cautiously asked him.
Hoping that it would seem like an ordinary question.

“How did the anti-Awakened come to form a group?”

“It’s a group formed by Awakened who are dissatisfied with the guidelines of the current government and the Association. I hear that they have their own circumstances. You know, stories like the absurdity that always happens in a grade-based society and the superficial guarantee of human rights.”

“Then they’re not bad people.”

“No. There are some bad apples among them, so the government is having a hard time.”

I wanted to ask more, but if I asked more, he would be in a difficult position, so it seemed I should end the conversation here.

“The government is also having a hard time. Thank you for telling me, even though there must have been some difficult parts to talk about.”

And so I parted with him and was alone in the hallway for a long time.
I could just ask him, but last time, he had said he couldn’t tell me how he had come back.

But what was certain was that there must have been a price for him to return to the past.
There was a big risk when Espers used their abilities.
So he must have also paid a price commensurate with that to the Esper.
Or, like me, death might have been the price.

Since I was scheduled to meet him tonight, it seemed I could ask him then.
How he had returned to the past, and how the devil’s gate had closed.

The most important problem right now was the devil’s gate.
I wanted to prevent the me of the future from dying at the devil’s gate again.