Chapter 46: The Weight of a Sibling’s Love

Chapter 46

Even on the day the manifestation confirmation notice arrived, I sought out Eun-i as always. Of course, a rumor about my test results had already circulated, so Eun-i was well aware that I had manifested as a Guide.

“Congratulations, Geum-i. I heard the news.”

The moment I opened the hospital room door and stepped inside, Eun-i offered his congratulations. To my surprise, he wore a bright smile, the first I’d seen on his face in a very long time, rendering my worries needless.

However, I shook my head, as if to say no more was needed.

“I’m not going there.”

“…Why?”

Why else? How could I possibly leave the facility alone, abandoning my sick younger brother? Moreover, most of the friends I’d grown up with in the facility had already been adopted. If I, too, were to leave, there would be no one left to visit Eun-i.

Though these were my innermost thoughts, I chose not to voice them. I feared that no matter what I said, he would only interpret it as him being a burden.

“Why are you saying you won’t go? It’s a good opportunity.”

Only after Eun-i pressed me again did I reassure him, telling him not to worry about me and to focus solely on his own recovery. Yet, for some reason, even after hearing my answer, Eun-i’s expression remained troubled.

“Geum-i, I really think you should go to that school.”

“…I don’t really want to go.”

“Why not? Isn’t that where… our older brother went? If you’re lucky, you might even meet him there.”

Even after receiving the notice, questions about enrolling in the SAA continued to crop up. While I generally maintained a stubborn silence, Eun-i ceaselessly urged me to go, even invoking old connections whose names he couldn’t quite recall.

I knew he spoke for my own good, but as his pleas persisted, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of hurt deep inside. After all, I was just an eleven-year-old child at the time, and the thought of being separated from my only family member was utterly unbearable.

“I don’t want to be a Guide. I’m just going to live like this.”

“Why don’t you want to? Back then, our older brother clearly…”

“That brother was an Esper, not a Guide.”

“What’s the difference between the two?”

With every word Eun-i uttered, I tried to explain how undesirable it was to have manifested as a Guide, and why I had no desire to attend the SAA.

“Espers can use amazing powers and even go into Gates to defeat monsters.”

“Then what can a Guide do?”

“A Guide…”

However, I couldn’t articulate much, for I was ignorant about superhumans at the time. To me, someone who didn’t fully grasp concepts like contamination levels or matching rates, an Esper was simply a person wielding extraordinary powers, while a Guide was merely an entity that assisted Espers exhausted from using those powers.

“A Guide… supposedly prevents Espers from getting sick?”

“Like a doctor?”

“It seems similar… more like helping them recover.”

“Then isn’t that really amazing? Much better than an Esper!”

By carelessly stating that Guides treated Espers, I had inadvertently stripped myself of any further arguments. For Eun-i, whose health was deteriorating daily, a Guide who helped others recover must have seemed far more admirable than an Esper.

“Anyway, I’m not going. I’m staying here.”

“That’s absurd, Sogum.”

“Yeah, I’m always like this.”

“You’re childish.”

“You’re more so.”

“You’re ugly.”

“You look exactly like me, so what are you talking about…”

It was hardly a remark to be made between identical twins, who were so alike they were practically indistinguishable. Moreover, objectively speaking, we were both quite pretty at the time, so such words had absolutely no impact.

“Ugh… You’re annoying, Sogum. You never lose an argument.”

“I’ll let you win next time.”

“No need. That wouldn’t be a real win, anyway.”

Eun-i, having utterly lost the argument, huffed in frustration. Of course, even after that, he didn’t give up, continuously asking if I would enroll in the SAA. Each time, our conversation would devolve into a lighthearted squabble. However, Eun-i wasn’t the only one pressing me.

About a month after I stubbornly refused to go to the SAA, I had a private meeting with one of the facility’s teachers.

“Geum-i, I’m hesitant to tell you this, but an official document came down from the higher-ups today.”

“An official document?”

“It seems that if Eun-i is to continue receiving treatment here, you, Geum-i, will have to enroll in the SAA. What are your thoughts on this?”

“What? What in the world…”

The place where Eun-i and I resided was a government-affiliated childcare facility. Perhaps because of this, it was an established custom for any superhuman who emerged from the facility to enroll in the SAA. As a child, I couldn’t comprehend why I absolutely had to attend the SAA, which seemed to have no relevance to me. However, looking back now, it appears there was a symbiotic relationship, as both the facility and the SAA were institutions funded by the state.

“You know we can only provide support here until you turn fourteen, right? After that, you’d have to move to another childcare facility that offers vocational training, and those places won’t have the kind of well-equipped medical facilities we do now. So, I asked the higher-ups for an exception, to allow him to continue his treatment here… and this condition came attached.”

The news I received from the teacher felt like a bolt from the blue. Yet, every year, children younger than Eun-i and I poured into the childcare facility, and for us, who hadn’t found an adoptive home even after a decade, there were truly no other options. In truth, to stubbornly insist ‘I don’t want this, I don’t want that’ would have been ungrateful given the teacher’s immense consideration.

Ultimately, I filled out the SAA enrollment agreement right then and there. It came with a contract stipulating that if I successfully completed my studies at the SAA, the government would support Eun-i’s medical treatment until he reached adulthood.

Of course, the true reason for my enrollment in the SAA was kept a secret. I had no way of knowing if Eun-i ever found out the full truth, but when I first told him I would be attending the SAA, he celebrated the news as if it were his own personal triumph.

While it was a relief that Eun-i could continue his treatment in a favorable environment, my own condition, unrelated to his, was far from good. Perhaps the unexpected turn of events had caused me immense stress, for with only a few days remaining until my SAA enrollment, I began to fall severely ill.

Ironically, this meant I was hospitalized in the same medical center as Eun-i, and thanks to the teacher’s compassionate arrangement, we were even able to share a room.

“Sogum, are you in a lot of pain?”

It was the first time in my life I had ever been so sick. My fever soared to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, and the number of medications I was prescribed easily surpassed the fingers on one hand. Some days, I spent the majority of my time asleep, and whenever I opened my eyes, So-eun would be gazing at me with a worried expression. Usually, I was the one tending to a sick Eun-i, but that day, our roles were completely reversed.

“Yeah… I’m so sick, I don’t think I can go to school…”

“At least your mouth is still working. That’s a relief.”

As my body ached, my spirit seemed to wane alongside it. Seeing me voice such a weak complaint for the first time, So-eun, surprisingly, simply made a lighthearted joke.

“Move over, I’m sleeping here today too.”

“What if you get a fever too, Eun-i?”

“I always have a fever anyway. What’s there to worry about?”

Despite my protests, So-eun insisted on climbing onto the bed and lay down beside me. With two half-grown kids nestled together, the space was just right.

“Geum-i. This reminds me of when we were little.”

“We’re still little.”

“What do you mean, ‘little’? Eleven years old is practically grown up.”

Eun-i lay beside me as I groaned, chattering about various things. He proudly giggled, claiming that since we were closer to twenty than one, we no longer counted as children. Observing him, however, I was convinced Eun-i was still very much a child.

“If you go to the SAA, will you get a Pair Esper too?”

“I guess I will, eventually.”

“Your Esper, Geum-i, will be so lucky. Actually, I wanted you to Guide me too. Then, I wouldn’t be sick like this, right?”

So-eun seemed to equate Guiding with medical treatment from a doctor. I considered correcting him, but my condition was too poor to offer a detailed explanation, so I simply chuckled.

“If it were my Esper… they wouldn’t let them get sick in the first place.”

“Yeah, I think so too. You’re always like that.”

“‘Always like that’ what?”

I grumbled, slightly annoyed, but Eun-i’s unexpected response made me flinch momentarily.

“A kind kid. Our very affectionate older brother.”

I had expected another strange prank, but the sudden praise made me momentarily recoil. As I stared at him with surprised eyes, Eun-i carefully took my hand, which was riddled with IV needles. The trembling in his fingertips suggested he was secretly saddened by the impending separation. I patted Eun-i, as if to reassure him not to worry.

“Eun-i. I’ll come here often.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll come every weekend.”

“Alright, I know, so hurry up and sleep. You seem to be getting a fever again.”

I believe So-eun and I exchanged a few more words after that.

“Good night, Sogum. Sweet dreams.”

Even in my sleep, I could feel a small, soft hand stroking my forehead. But throughout the early morning, my fever worsened, and each time, the additional medication made it difficult to regain consciousness. And then, on that very day, disaster struck.

Bang—

With a massive explosion, the medical center building where we were being treated, along with the adjacent childcare facility, collapsed. I had been unconscious the entire time, so I couldn’t precisely comprehend what had happened. All I knew was that there were tremendous screams, and Eun-i held my hand. And then…

“Director, there’s one survivor under the building here!”

They said that when I was found, I was buried under the debris, in a state where I might as well have been dead.

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