Chapter 22: The Lunatic’s Sudden Glow-Up (Suspicious)

“I know they know, but they’re already short on time even when only gates are active. Gates have increased lately. It’s really serious.”

“Yeah… it really is a big problem.”

Lee Chae, who had already replaced three pads, checked the clock.

Quitting time was getting later than usual.

Tomorrow’s the exam…

But he couldn’t bring himself to say “I’m leaving first” in front of Yeo-jun, who hadn’t eaten all day and was still guiding nonstop.

If it gets too late and he’s waiting… wait, what the hell am I thinking?!

He violently shook his head to purge the thought.

Hanging around that lunatic was clearly driving him insane too.

After finishing guiding and leaving the cleanup crew building, he instinctively scanned the surroundings.

The person who should be there wasn’t.

Relief washed over him.

He rushed home, forced his sleepy eyes open, pulled an all-nighter, then boarded the bus clutching his summary notes.

Still no Haejin.

Did he suddenly go hunting again?

Lee Chae lived by pre-planned schedules; any deviation made him uneasy.

But the exam was tomorrow—he forced himself to focus on the notes.

He sprinted to save time, arrived at the lecture hall, and steeled himself.

Now is not the time to worry about Cha Haejin. Just ace the damn exam.

As he was giving his final spurt, people started whispering.

He looked up.

A neatly dressed Cha Haejin walked in.

Afraid he’d come over with his usual nonsense, Lee Chae quickly looked away.

But—no nonsense, not even a greeting.

Lee Chae wasted ten precious pre-exam minutes worrying about the next trick.

With less than five minutes left, curiosity won.

He glanced over.

Haejin was sitting perfectly straight, completely focused on his textbook.

Cha Haejin… focused? What the hell? Does he actually study before exams? Is that how he answers professors so well?

Questions flooded in.

Come to think of it, today’s outfit and hairstyle were catching his eye too.

He always dressed up, but today he looked like a polished new hire at a top conglomerate.

The serious studying vibe amplified it.

So what. He’s still a crazy perverted bastard…

“Dream of me coming out naked, sexy.”

An old line resurfaced; Lee Chae shuddered.

He corrected his evaluation with past experience and waited solemnly for the exam papers.

The TA distributed them; the professor entered.

Lee Chae checked the questions—thanks to thorough prep and review, they weren’t hard.

He filled the answer sheet quickly and had about ten minutes left.

Pretending to submit, he sneaked a peek at Haejin.

He’d expected him to finish in five minutes and leave—he never studied, right?

Wrong.

Haejin was still writing diligently.

It was so absurd Lee Chae forgot to leave the room and just stood there staring.

“Student, exam’s over—please leave.”

“Ah—yes, sorry.”

He went to the next classroom, took out his notes.

Haejin walked in.

Same thing again.

Inner conflict: spend ten minutes satisfying curiosity and study refreshed, or endure because the lunatic definitely wouldn’t give a straight answer?

Just study. Since when do I care about anything else?

But the more he tried to focus, the more question marks floated around his brain.

He couldn’t study like this.

With grim resolve, he stood and walked to Haejin’s seat.

Haejin was still underlining the textbook like his life depended on it.

Lee Chae tapped the desk instead of calling his name so as not to disturb others.

Haejin finally looked up.

Their eyes met.

He smiled—Lee Chae’s heart weirdly jumped.

It used to feel perverted, but…

Haejin whispered:

“What?”

“Come out for a sec.”

He’d expected instant obedience.

Instead Haejin checked his watch with a serious face, sighed like why are you bothering me?, and Lee Chae’s jaw dropped.

He wanted to storm off, but then the rest of the time would be ruined by curiosity.

He waited patiently.

Haejin stood first and walked out.

Lee Chae followed.

“I’ll be quick since you’re busy.”

“Do whatever.”

“You never needed this class anyway. Why the hell are you taking the exam so seriously? I can’t study because I’m too curious.”

“Ah, that’s what you wanted to know.”

The calm, polite tone felt completely off.

What is this? What the hell is going on…

While Lee Chae was confused, Haejin calmly explained:

“You know how old I am, right?”

“Yeah, twenty-three.”

“Right. Why am I still in school at that age?”

“Well… high-rank espers have to go hunting all the time, busy, credits fall short…”

As he spoke, everything clicked—popping into random classes, preparing seriously for exams he didn’t need.

“You got it. Anything else?”

That was only one of the questions.

All the question marks in his head vanished with Haejin’s neat answer.

While Lee Chae stood there stunned, a big hand landed on his head, ruffled twice, then withdrew.

“You worked hard studying with that tiny brain. Do well on the exam. I’ll buy you something delicious after.”

“…?”

Haejin cleanly turned and went back inside.

Lee Chae stared blankly at his back.

Did he finally get sick of chasing me?

But the head pat and dinner offer said otherwise.

What is this? Seriously what…?

Full of questions, he squeezed out his last focus and took the exam.

Haejin again concentrated perfectly.

Lee Chae even thought he looks kinda cool, then shook his head hard.

Cool? The day the world freezes over, maybe—not him.

He armored his heart, submitted his paper early to escape before Haejin finished, and bolted at full speed.

“Why does he run like that… makes me want to catch him.”

Haejin barely held back his legs as Lee Chae sprinted away.

Yesterday’s conversation with Jin-woo anchored him.

“Haejin, if japchae runs, let him go. That’s the only way he’ll ever have the mental space to look back.”

“Do we really need push-pull when we like each other?”

Jin-woo had sighed.

“Here comes the kindergarten lesson again. Listen. When he runs, you want to catch him?”

“Yeah.”

“When he doesn’t run?”

“Want to kiss him?”

“….”

Jin-woo had clutched the back of his neck in despair.

Jae-hyung continued:

“Exactly. From hyung-su-nim’s perspective: someone’s chasing—run. No one chasing—no need to run. Understand now?”

Only then did Haejin nod.

He knew in his head not to chase.

But watching the hamster scamper away made his feet itch like crazy.

“Why is this so hard? Just like or dislike—simple.”

Catching ten thousand monster-types was easier than catching one hamster.

Still, today wasn’t fruitless.

Normally he had to harass five times to get one reaction.

Today, just following Jin-woo’s orders, Lee Chae approached him first.

Legion members weren’t talking nonsense after all.

He should keep going.

The hamster’s bouncy retreating figure kept catching his eye.

Then his phone vibrated.

Legion or headquarters, he thought—looked at the screen.

<Professor Kim>

S-class guide with multiple abilities.

His mother.

He wanted to ignore it, but she was an executive at headquarters.

Face twisted, he answered.

“Yes, I picked up.”

• Esper Cha, I hear you’ve been very diligent with school lately?

What kind of random nonsense was this?

He stayed silent.