Chapter 4: Unexpected Awakenings

04

From early morning, Yun Junseo grappled with a significant problem.

Tap-tap.

[What a 10-year-old child likes]

[What elementary school students like]

[What boys like]

As a physical-type esper, whose stamina surpassed that of ordinary people, Yun Junseo required significantly less sleep; merely three or four hours were sufficient to fully replenish his energy. Having awoken at dawn, he had been poring over internet pages for hours, long before the sun had even begun its ascent.

Hundreds of pages detailed items, places, and foods that a ten-year-old child might enjoy. Most were familiar, mundane things: amusement parks, ice cream, comics, soccer, game consoles.

Yet, there was one item he had never encountered before.

[A guaranteed favorite: Liquid Monster!!! This is 100%! ^^]

‘Liquid Monster,’ a creature I’ve never heard of. Is it slime?

He pondered whether any liquid creatures appeared in Zone 2, but nothing came to mind. In the end, after merely a minute, he typed into the search bar again, only to discover it was simply a gooey toy. A wave of embarrassment and futility washed over him simultaneously.

“Hah…”

As he scrutinized why anyone would like such a thing, a sudden wave of self-doubt crashed over him, making him question what he was even doing so early in the morning. He considered abandoning it all to go exercise, but his feet refused to move, so he gave up on that thought too.

Beep.

A short mechanical sound reached his ears from nearby.

[Continental Breakfast and 6 other dishes have been delivered to your requested location. Enjoy your meal. – Cafe Daytime -]

Opening the front door, he found three carts, the kind one would typically see in a high-end hotel. Each cart, draped with a white tablecloth, held a total of six food covers and eight trays.

Uncertain of what Jaeseong might prefer, he had simply ordered a wide assortment of breakfast items that caught his eye. Assuming he had a sweet tooth, Yun Junseo had ordered every Western dish that included pancakes, so much so that the dining table alone wasn’t enough, and he had to use the kitchen shelves as well.

A smile touched his lips as he surveyed the table laden with plates. To think that he, who always skipped breakfast, was now contemplating sharing a meal with someone. It was just one more person. Just one more person had entered his life, yet from the very start, his life felt fundamentally altered.

After setting out the food, he refocused on his laptop screen, when suddenly an uncanny sensation washed over him, causing the hairs on his entire body to stand on end. This unfamiliar sensation, something he had never experienced before, felt profoundly alien.

‘It felt as if every cell in his body was awakening.’

‘Could it be?’

Jaeseong opened his eyes at 8:12 AM.

Click.

He had already taken a seat at the dining table, awaiting the person who would soon emerge. After about five minutes, Jaeseong emerged from the room, his eyes still heavy with sleep. His slightly curly hair was entirely damp at the ends, making Yun Junseo wonder how he had even washed his face.

“Ah, hello.”

“That’s not ‘hello,’ is it?”

The unexpected greeting caused Yun Junseo to frown involuntarily. He hadn’t intended to show anger, but Jaeseong’s eyes, fixed on him, wavered with unease.

“Th-then… what should I say…?”

“What did you say before?”

Jaeseong couldn’t answer immediately. Instead, when he flinched and his shoulders trembled, Yun Junseo was struck by a disgustingly foul sensation. It was then that he realized he had brought up a topic he absolutely should not have touched. He shouldn’t have questioned the child about his past. By any measure, it was his mistake.

“Never mind. Just do as you normally do.”

“……?”

“Just do as you normally do.”

“…Yes.”

He stared intently at Jaeseong’s face as the child nodded, carefully observing his reaction. As Yun Junseo continued to gaze, Jaeseong’s pale face, now averted shyly towards the floor, looked much better than it had yesterday. He had wondered if Jaeseong might be uncomfortable in a strange place, but seeing how he had dozed off early and slept soundly without waking until now, it seemed his new bed had been quite comfortable.

It was Yun Junseo, rather, who hadn’t gotten a proper night’s sleep.

Last night, after leaving Jaeseong’s room once he was asleep, Yun Junseo tried to work, but found himself unable to concentrate, his thoughts constantly drifting back to the child. He kept sensing an unpleasant aura emanating from the room beyond the wall, wondering what thoughts plagued Jaeseong. Eventually, he abandoned his work, went to the room, and opened the door. The room was filled with lukewarm air. And there, the child he expected to be awake, was fast asleep.

His face, glistening with cold sweat and exhaling hot breaths, looked tormented.

‘Please save me.’

He had thought he’d pulled Jaeseong from a hellish place, yet the child was still trapped there, alone. In that place where he could cry out for help a thousand times, and no one would come.

‘How much longer until these terrible nightmares cease to torment you? When will you finally escape them and be able to dream of happiness?’

Once again, Yun Junseo resented that man.

He was about to turn on the air conditioner but stopped, recalling the sight of Jaeseong rubbing his dry arms earlier that day. For a moment, he thought of a fan, but he would have had no reason to prepare an item he had never used before. Ultimately, ignoring his aunt’s nagging, he gestured into the air. As a cool breeze materialized, Jaeseong thankfully settled into a more relaxed expression. He sat beside the child for a long while before closing the door and leaving, but even after that, he couldn’t sleep, plagued by worry. Later, out of sheer apprehension, he paced back and forth in front of the door several times.

“Come eat.”

When Yun Junseo intentionally tapped the table a couple of times, Jaeseong, seeing the gesture, approached. Sitting at the table as instructed, the child’s eyes widened at the sight before him.

“Eat whatever you want first.”

Jaeseong stared blankly at the array of dishes before quietly picking up a fork. His small hand first reached for the omelet plate, placed furthest away. Observing Jaeseong’s movement, Yun Junseo promptly picked up the plate and placed it in front of him. Jaeseong gazed at the omelet now before him, then suddenly lifted his head.

“Ah… um…”

“Why?”

“I will eat well.”

The unexpected greeting left Yun Junseo feeling somewhat bewildered. He nodded with a slightly strange expression, then reached across the table. Jaeseong clearly had a sweet tooth; when Yun Junseo drizzled maple syrup over a buttered pancake and offered it, the child’s face lit up with joy.

‘Seeing him so pleased by food, he truly is just a child.’

It had been almost three months since he first met Jaeseong. During that time, he had visited the child every single day. Though their meetings were brief, he couldn’t bear the anxiety of not seeing him with his own eyes each day. Initially, even Yun Junseo, who loathed interfering in others’ lives, found himself unable to trust his own actions. As his interest in Jaeseong grew increasingly insistent, doubts about his own behavior began to surface.

But he couldn’t stop.

He couldn’t pretend not to know, not from the beginning.

Because their paths kept crossing.

****

“Esper Yun Junseo, at approximately 1:05 PM today, in Parking Lot 1 of Center Building A… physically assaulted an ordinary civilian, Mr. [Name], due to…”

Even in the relatively small room, the voice of the center official speaking before him was barely audible. More accurately, it wasn’t that he couldn’t hear, but rather that he found it difficult to concentrate. Perhaps because he had somewhat anticipated this, he didn’t feel particularly upset even as the official droned on about his transgressions for over twenty minutes. He deserved to be reprimanded for using his abilities. It was undeniably his fault to have used his powers against someone he knew to be an ordinary civilian.

“Therefore, having violated Article 38, Paragraph 17, you will receive the following punishment.”

The disciplinary action for using his abilities on a civilian was simpler than he had expected.

[Do not visit any locations frequented by ordinary civilians for three months.]

Since going anywhere beyond his home, the Center, and Zone 2 was exceedingly rare for him anyway, he readily accepted the outcome. However, the official’s final words, as he reiterated the situation for closure, grated on Yun Junseo’s nerves.

“Attacking an ordinary civilian without any reason is—”

“There was a reason.”

“Pardon?”

“What happens if there was a reason?”

There was a clear reason why he couldn’t have remained passive in that situation, and he couldn’t accept that being disregarded. While it was wrong for him, an esper, to use his abilities on a civilian, it wouldn’t have been a situation he could simply ignore, even if the child hadn’t been a compatible guide for him. He might not have unconsciously used his abilities, but he certainly would have intervened.

Yun Junseo then explained the situation that had occurred earlier. He wondered why this crucial fact had not yet been reported to the Center.

“Why doesn’t the Center know?”

“Hmm. Actually, our side did conduct an investigation, but the child present kept insisting he had never been abused, so…”

The official continued speaking, but Yun Junseo no longer wished to listen. The conclusion was that even a powerful entity like the Center couldn’t immediately apprehend and imprison the abusive man.

“We can’t detain him immediately, but we will quickly follow the procedures…”

“That’s enough.”

“Pardon?”

“I understand. May I leave now?”

After a brief farewell, he left the Center and walked towards the parking lot.

Suddenly, a baseless anger welled up within him. Yet, he couldn’t pinpoint the source of this irritation. Was he feeling some inexplicable sense of betrayal towards the one he had gone to such lengths to save? He tried to ignore the burgeoning worries, dismissing his persistent concern for the young guide he would likely never see again as unwarranted meddling.

Outside, it was quite dim. Thinking he should hurry home and rest, he quickened his pace. As he approached his car, parked some distance away, his heart began to pound with an unsettling rhythm once more.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

An indescribably unpleasant sensation washed over him.

A feeling he absolutely did not welcome. It was a sensation he should not be experiencing right now. This was the second time today he had felt something he had never experienced in his entire life.

“Damn it.”

He tried to ignore it, but it was no use. The sudden fear, though merely a transmitted feeling, made him feel as if bugs were crawling all over his body.

‘What the hell are you?’

Too many thoughts were swirling, making it impossible to grasp anything coherent, but first, he needed to get rid of this strange sensation. He immediately pressed the name at the very top of his phone’s call list.

Trill-trill-click.

– Oh, Junseo. Why?

“Where are you?”

– Me? What do you mean, where am I? I’m at the Center, of course–

“Not you. The kid.”

– Huh?

“Where’s that damned kid?”