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Join the ServerChapter 49
Reluctantly, I climbed into the back seat, which the Tank Esper had personally opened.
Before we could depart, the Tank Esper announced he would smoke just one cigarette, exhaling plumes of smoke outside the vehicle. Consequently, I found myself alone in the car with my fellow passenger.
‘Why is he like that?’
Stealthily, I stole a glance at the passenger seated beside me. With long hair cascading to his shoulders and thick-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, he wore the SAA uniform. The navy blue suggested he was from the Esper class, but…
My gaze was drawn to him involuntarily. Not only was he handcuffed, but his upper body was also bound by some peculiar rope! Furthermore, this rope, which I suspected to be an artifact, emitted a subtle pink glow, intensifying the already dangerous atmosphere.
I attempted to discreetly glimpse the name tag on the passenger’s uniform. While I had no idea what purpose the rope served, its loose binding offered a potential gap through which I might see.
‘Joo… Joo… What’s written there…’
As I was intently scrutinizing his name tag, a voice, clearly laced with displeasure, suddenly cut through the silence.
“That’s my chest, if you don’t mind.”
“…Excuse me?”
The passenger turned his body away, as if trying to avoid my gaze. As I stood there, momentarily bewildered, a memory from the past flashed through my mind: the image of Yoon Geon-woo calling me a perverted bastard.
‘I can’t be accused of being a pervert again!’
To be subjected to such a humiliating misunderstanding by two different people felt far too cruel. I frantically waved my hands in protest.
“No… I apologize, but I wasn’t looking at your chest… I was looking at something else…”
“It seems your gaze was fixed precisely on my chest. Are you, a culprit caught in the act, trying to deny it?”
What kind of insane misunderstanding was this? I was so flustered that I couldn’t even formulate a proper rebuttal.
Of course, it was true that I had been looking at the name tag on his uniform’s chest. However, to twist that into an accusation of staring at his chest was pure slander.
“Wait a moment. I was looking between the ropes… at what was there.”
“Hmm, between the ropes… my chest?”
Before I could even explain myself, the passenger brought up his chest once more. And his tone of voice—I couldn’t fathom why it was so utterly infuriating, but it made my blood boil for the first time in a long while.
“Chest, chest! Enough already! I wasn’t looking at your chest!”
Furious, I yelled at the passenger, who remained bound by the ropes. But at that very moment, the closed car door suddenly swung open.
“Is there a problem?”
The Tank Esper wore a questioning expression, as if wondering what on earth we were discussing. It seemed he had opened the door to investigate, having heard loud noises from within.
“No, there’s no problem at all…”
It wasn’t an issue that required the Tank Esper’s intervention, so I was about to assure him that everything was fine when suddenly…
“This person keeps staring at my chest.”
Truly, this Esper was utterly impossible to reason with. I felt a surge of fury, reminiscent of the time Yoon Geon-woo had gone around tasing other Espers during the death game.
“…Are you insane?”
“Oh, if I’m insane, then are you a pervert?”
I simply couldn’t stand listening to that mad Esper any longer. Unable to bear it, the moment the Tank Esper closed the door, I immediately pried open the ropes binding the passenger and located his name tag.
“Here it is, the name tag! This is what I was trying to see!”
I swear, I hadn’t touched a single hair on his body. All I did was lightly grasp the pink-glowing rope, yet…
“Ugh, if you grab and pull so roughly…”
“Are you insane? Stop saying such weird things!”
The mad Esper’s nonsense sent shivers down my spine, making the fine hairs on my arms stand on end. It was then that I instinctively realized the person before me was a level of crazy I simply couldn’t handle.
“Are you really sure there’s no problem?”
The Tank Esper’s voice drifted in through the slightly ajar car door. I was about to ask if I could ride in a different car, utterly convinced I couldn’t possibly endure this mad Esper’s company, when suddenly…
‘Joo Yeo-rye?’
Through the ropes, the name ‘Joo Yeo-rye’ was clearly written on his name tag. Seeing that name, my boiling anger instantly dissipated.
It wasn’t a common name, so I immediately realized that the mad Esper before me was none other than Reporter Joo Yeo-rye, the very person who wrote for the SAA campus news.
‘Han Seon-ho and Kang Yun clearly said Joo Yeo-rye was missing…’
I didn’t know why the supposedly missing Joo Yeo-rye was before me in such a state. However, seeing him bound and discovered in the Central Center, I could roughly surmise what had transpired.
‘Was he caught because of the article about Esper Jung Eui-chan?’
However, even if that were the case, wasn’t this guy also on his way back to school with me, presumably to be dropped off? I wondered why he was still bound. Yet, Joo Yeo-rye himself was so exceptionally peculiar that I couldn’t pinpoint anything specific to question.
Giving up on trying to figure it out, I decided to ask Joo Yeo-rye directly.
“Are you… Reporter Joo Yeo-rye, who writes for the SAA campus news?”
“That’s correct. How do you know me? You’re not… my stalker, are you?”
“No, absolutely not. Don’t misunderstand, it’s nothing like that.”
As I refuted him with all my might, Joo Yeo-rye casually pushed up the thick-rimmed glasses that rested haphazardly on his prominent nose with his middle finger. As he did so, the handcuffs on both his wrists rattled with a soft clink.
‘He seems to have done that on purpose.’
Joo Yeo-rye’s articles always seemed quite serious, yet his actual demeanor was utterly bizarre. Then, a message Han Seon-ho had sent suddenly came to mind.
[Joo Yeo-rye? He’s an Esper in our grade. Probably a special ability type. I hear his personality is a bit… unique.]
‘Isn’t ‘unique’ a bit of an understatement?’
He seemed less unique and more just plain strange. Despite my overtly displeased expression, I continued to engage him in conversation.
“Anyway… Joo Yeo-rye, why are you here?”
“Suddenly? And why the informal speech?”
Come to think of it, I had forgotten to introduce myself properly. To be honest, Joo Yeo-rye’s first impression wasn’t great, so I hadn’t particularly wanted to get closer to him. However, I was curious about the special ability he possessed.
He had, after all, once written an article using information about Esper Jung Eui-chan that wasn’t publicly known. If that ability was used for such a purpose, I thought I might be able to uncover other clues. Since there were still things I wanted to ask, it seemed I ought to introduce myself.
“Oh, we’re the same age. I’m Sogum from Guide Class 2.”
“You’re from SAA?”
“Yes, I like the articles you write. I make sure to read them every time.”
“Hmph? You… like my articles?”
Joo Yeo-rye reacted to the fact that I followed his articles. Through the thick-rimmed glasses that obscured half his face, his eyes seemed to glint.
“They contain a lot of useful information. And you can speak informally to me too. I’ll be speaking comfortably to you.”
I extended my hand for a handshake. I wanted to put an end to the ‘chest’ commotion, and since he was an Esper, I was curious about our matching rate. However, no particular response came from him.
“Don’t you like shaking hands?”
“I haven’t considered whether I like or dislike it.”
Joo Yeo-rye scrutinized my outstretched hand. Then, as if asking for its meaning, he tilted his head.
“Then, would you like to try with me?”
“Such close contact with another person is… a bit…”
“Are you saying no?”
“That’s not it, but…”
What kind of conversation was this? Since when did holding hands count as ‘close contact with another person’? I was starting to feel utterly exasperated.
“Come on, if you don’t dislike it, you can at least shake my hand.”
I firmly grasped his hesitant hand. Joo Yeo-rye, as if greatly shocked, trembled violently.
“Ugh… No, Sogum’s skin on my epidermis!”
“Shut up! What on earth are you talking about, even now?!”
I was appalled by Joo Yeo-rye’s horrific choice of words. We attended the same school, so we must have gone through the same educational process. I couldn’t understand why only he had grown into such a complete pervert.
[Matching Rate: 69%]
[Contamination Level: 24%]
The matching rate that flashed before me was instantly displeasing. I flung Joo Yeo-rye’s hand away.
“What… what are you doing?”
Just then, a familiar voice echoed from somewhere. His breathing was rough, as if he had rushed over in a hurry. As I turned my head at the sudden appearance of someone, the car door was half-open. Though I couldn’t see his face, the blue aura he emitted surged around him.
“…Yoon Geon-woo?”
I instinctively called out Yoon Geon-woo’s name. After dealing with a lunatic of another dimension, even Yoon Geon-woo seemed somewhat welcome.
However, a part of me wondered why he was here. When I had asked the medical staff about his condition, I was told that his treatment wasn’t yet finished.
“Yoon Geon-woo, why are you here?!”
Worried about him, I immediately tried to open the car door and get out. However, Yoon Geon-woo was faster, squeezing his way in.
As he forced his way in on my side, I unintentionally leaned towards Joo Yeo-rye. Yoon Geon-woo, who was scrutinizing Joo Yeo-rye wrapped in ropes and me leaning against him, wore an inexplicably twisted expression.
“Why, was it a situation where I shouldn’t have come?”
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