Chapter 49: The Moment the World Learned His Name

Su-ha carefully drew up his energy so as not to startle Chaewon, then slowly began to breathe it into him through the entirety of their touching bodies.

Chaewon’s body, which had been tense from the embrace, gradually relaxed on its own, and at the sensation of his wounds being gently soothed, he let out a small moan.

All of those sensations stirred within Su-ha a strange kind of rapture he had never once felt before.

Guiding, something he had done countless times, felt unusually special, as if he were doing it for the very first time.

Su-ha found himself genuinely questioning whether this guiding was truly being carried out as a mere “duty” for his paired esper.

“…It’s nice.”

But when Chaewon, his mind softened again by the guiding, unknowingly burrowed deeper into Su-ha’s arms and whispered that,

“It’s warm…”

When he pressed his body closer as if Jin Su-ha were the only person in the world who could ever tend to his wounds, murmuring in that sweet, drowsy voice.

In that moment, Su-ha felt as though his own intentions no longer mattered at all.

“Get a little more rest. I’ll stay right here.”

Su-ha stroked Chaewon’s hair as he spoke in an endlessly gentle voice.

Suddenly, the memory surfaced of the moment he had desperately pressed his lips against Chaewon’s.

He wondered what it would be like to carry out such intimate guiding if Chaewon were fully conscious rather than unconscious, but he quickly shook off the thought, closed his eyes, and focused solely on guiding him.

****

“How is Chaewon?”

Ye-seon asked the moment he saw Su-ha enter his office, not even bothering with a greeting.

Though he had personally confirmed that Chaewon had returned to the center and undergone examinations and treatment, it seemed he still couldn’t fully put his worries to rest.

Su-ha, who returned the greeting with a slight bow of his head, answered without bothering with any preamble.

“I’ve done sufficient guiding. He’s still sleeping.”

“His hands?”

“They don’t seem to be deep wounds, so they should heal quickly. Still, I’m concerned about whether side effects involving physical injuries like this might continue going forward.”

“…Yeah.”

Seeing the shadowed look on Su-ha’s face, Ye-seon sighed softly and nodded.

Even based on what they had already identified, the side effects were excessive for one person to bear alone.

If physical injuries like this were added on top of that, then no matter how much of an S-rank he was, how could anyone easily ask him to step forward and shoulder everything?

Ye-seon was one of those who greatly anticipated Chaewon’s future achievements, and Chaewon had been more than living up to those expectations as he grew.

At the same time, however, the number of troubling concerns only continued to grow.

No matter how superhuman their powers, espers were still human in the end.

It was Su-ha who broke the silence of Ye-seon’s deepening thoughts.

“How’s the reaction?”

At the question, posed without any explanation, Ye-seon narrowed his eyes and looked at Su-ha.

Su-ha, sitting across from him, met his gaze head-on with his lips pressed tightly together, his expression plainly saying, Don’t pretend you don’t know.

Ye-seon let out another short sigh, leaned back against his chair, and spoke.

“What do you think? Exactly what you expected.”

“…”

“Every community forum, every social media platform. It’s chaos.”

Ye-seon’s answer wasn’t surprising.

After seeing the gazes fixed on Chaewon as he lay unconscious at the scene, it had all been easy to predict.

Picking up the phone he had set on his desk, Ye-seon turned on the screen and continued in a flat, mechanical voice as he read.

“Who the hell is that esper? I’ve never seen power like that before. His control looked clumsy, but his potential is insane. But it didn’t even look like he took that much damage, so why was he coughing up blood and passed out? What is he, exactly?”

Naturally, what Ye-seon read was only the tip of the iceberg.

Isn’t he a telekinetic esper? Probably not. If a real telekinetic esper had appeared, it’d be a massive incident, there’s no way things would’ve stayed this quiet.

But didn’t a rumor go around about a telekinetic S-rank appearing before? No way he’s S-rank. If he were, he wouldn’t have struggled that much against today’s rampaging esper. And so on.

Not only were there countless posts about Chaewon uploaded immediately after the incident, but videos and posts speculating about his identity were already flooding the internet, competing for views.

Meanwhile, the identity of the esper who carried out the urban terror attack, and what crimes the anti-government awakened terrorist group behind him had intended to commit, had completely fallen out of the public’s interest.

Normally, people would have been loudly criticizing the government for its failure to properly manage espers, or arguing for stricter regulation of awakened individuals.

Instead, all of that had been pushed aside, and people were busy talking about one person and one person only.

And it was no wonder. Among countless espers, a power no one had ever seen before had suddenly appeared. Confusion was inevitable.

Yet the government, who should have been releasing accurate information, had only announced details about the esper arrested that day, continuing to withhold clear facts about Chaewon and thereby fueling even greater curiosity.

At that moment, a hint of mischief crept into Ye-seon’s expression as he watched Su-ha listening with a rather serious face.

Ye-seon tapped his phone a few times, searched for something, then held it out toward Su-ha.

“And take a look at this.”

“…?”

“See what people are saying.”

Su-ha, puzzled by Ye-seon suddenly insisting he look for himself after summarizing everything verbally, accepted the phone.

And as soon as he glanced at the screen, one sentence immediately caught his eye.

[Putting his powers aside, that esper is f*cking handsome.]

Su-ha’s brow furrowed reflexively.

The posts that followed were even worse. Most people who had seen footage taken at the scene were freely commenting on Chaewon’s appearance.

Some spoke politely about how beautiful the blue energy he emitted was, but there were just as many who crudely evaluated his looks with raw, vulgar words.

Whether they praised his performance or questioned his existence, everyone spoke with one voice when it came to Chaewon’s appearance.

And when Su-ha saw posts bordering on sexual harassment, expressing what people had “felt” while watching Chaewon use his powers, he turned off the screen on the spot and handed the phone back to Ye-seon.

To be honest, reactions like this were nothing new.

But for some reason, seeing Chaewon as the target made something sit uncomfortably in Su-ha’s chest.

Ye-seon, watching him with a meaningful smile, spoke again.

“I was actually agonizing over how best to announce Chaewon’s existence. Upper management said there was no reason to delay, release it along with the footage of him training with Team Leader Min. I was the one trying to persuade them to wait until Chaewon was more prepared.”

Su-ha looked at Ye-seon as if this were the first he’d heard of it.

Ye-seon shrugged lightly and continued.

“It wasn’t that I was being especially considerate of Chaewon. I just thought he’d be a waste to use as some cheap image-maker. I had a feeling he’d do far more than that.”

“Yes…”

“But I didn’t expect him to reveal his existence like this, all on his own.”

Though Ye-seon’s tone was ambiguous, half praise, half not, Su-ha sensed a faint worry beneath it.

No matter how much Ye-seon spoke as though he were simply pursuing optimal efficiency, it was clear he could no longer look at Chaewon with complete detachment.

Without putting it into words, but sympathizing with his feelings, Su-ha spoke calmly.

“There are people who end up causing major incidents without even realizing it themselves.”

“Yeah. Those are the hardest types to manage.”

Ye-seon replied lightly, nodding.

A brief silence settled between them.

The aftermath of today’s incident wouldn’t end here. This was only the beginning.

People wouldn’t quietly let the appearance of a new esper pass, and once the government inevitably made an official announcement, the upheaval would only grow more uncontrollable.

For someone who craved fame, there’d be little to worry about.

Of course, espers who became overly intoxicated by attention, so-called ‘celebrity syndrome’ cases, were problematic in their own way, but the management team was already well-versed in handling those.

And such issues usually resolved themselves over time, especially after public criticism set in.

The truly difficult cases were people like Chaewon.

Those who struggled with, and couldn’t understand, the public’s adoration.

Though neither of them had known Chaewon for very long, they knew enough to be certain of one thing:

He wasn’t the kind of person who would enjoy this kind of “fame.”