Chapter 11: Min Ji-oh

“Hah, son of a b*tch.”

Fooled by Tae Seung-jun, who said he’d wake me in an hour, I ended up sleeping for two.

That guy just can’t be trusted.

I threw off the blanket to go to Hyung’s room immediately but stumbled as anemia hit.

Maybe it’s because I lost a lot of blood from the nosebleed.

It wasn’t cold, but for some reason, my body was shivering.

If I went to Hyung like this, I wouldn’t be able to properly care for him, let alone guide him, so I crawled back under the covers.

Pulling the stiff blanket up to my nose, I slowly blinked my eyes open and shut.

Because all the rooms in the Medical Center were soundproof, I couldn’t even hear the comings and goings in the hallway.

The only sound in the room was my own breathing.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, I fiddled with the blanket and looked around at the room’s furniture, one by one.

Everything was unfamiliar.

And so quiet I was conscious of my own breathing.

My eyes stung as I thought of Hyung, tied to a room like this, his arms and legs bound.

I blinked rapidly to keep the tears from forming and shook my head.

“Stop crying. Just stop.”

No matter how many times I vowed to stop crying, I’d turn around, forget, and start sniffling.

While I was secretly hiding under Hyung’s bed, my cheeks were never dry.

I knew that because our emotions were connected through the imprint, Hyung would end up crying along with me, but the tears wouldn’t stop.

“Hyung, I’m sorry…”

The younger Hyung surely wasn’t a crybaby.

How confused must he be, his eyes reddening even while eating?

In the eight years I’d spent with Hyung, I had never once seen him cry.

He was the type to just admire a sad movie for being well-made.

And now, I was making that Hyung cry several times a day.

“I’m no help in life.”

I randomly slapped my forehead and then closed my eyes to organize my thoughts.

What can I do for Hyung right now?

He would probably hate this… and if I do that… Hyung might actually hit me.

Racking my brain, which wasn’t working well, I decided to first figure out Hyung’s mood in detail.

First, I laid out the situations Hyung was facing in my mind.

The moment he opens his eyes, a naked man is clinging to him, crying, and as if suddenly becoming an Esper weren’t enough, he turned thirty overnight.

His body hurts and his legs won’t move.

And that pervert he’s seen for the first time is even clinging to him, saying he needs to be guided.

“Wow.”

Just thinking about it made my chest feel as heavy as if a rock were placed on it.

More than anything, what bothered me most was Hyung’s age as he was going through all of this.

“If he’s seventeen…”

It was a time less than two years after his parents had died in a rampage accident.

Hyung had lost his parents not just to any accident, but to an Esper’s rampage.

And right before his eyes.

I rubbed my chest, which throbbed at just the thought, and got out of bed.

These were things that my glass-like mental strength couldn’t handle.

Moreover, there was still misfortune that the young Hyung had yet to experience.

His grandmother, who passed away the year Hyung entered the Center.

To the young Hyung now, his grandmother was his only family.

If he finds out that his grandmother has also passed away….

Would Hyung be able to endure it?

“He’s Chul-soo Hyung.”

I muttered a belief that was as light as the wind as I put on my shoes.

If it’s Chul-soo Hyung, he’ll be able to endure it.

Just as he calmly accepted the reality of his Esper awakening.

I believed that his grandmother’s death wouldn’t break him either.

Because Chul-soo Hyung is strong.

His memory will come back soon, too.

I thought positively, just as Hyung had always emphasized.

Who knows, Hyung might call my name as soon as tomorrow.

He’d probably hold my hand, telling me to hurry and go home.

Gently, as always.

I finally got my burst of tears under control after imagining Hyung with his memory back and came out.

Pressing down on my eyelids, which I had calmed with cold water, I went up to the Esper ward floor and walked down the long corridor.

“Just approach slowly. Slowly.”

I soothed myself with my chronic habit of muttering to myself and took a forceful step forward.

But that was short-lived.

“Who…”

Puzzled by the open hospital room door, I stepped inside to find an Esper I had never seen before.

A sharp atmosphere emanated from the man who stood there without concealing his wavelength, despite his rank not being low.

The pointed aura of the Esper, transmitted just by his wavelength, automatically soured my mood.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

The Esper, who had only bothered to turn his head, scanned me up and down.

I had expected it from just his back, but I was a little surprised by his even more handsome appearance.

It felt like seeing a celebrity who made a living off their face in person.

His greenish-brown eyes were particularly eye-catching.

His hair, which came down to his shoulders, was a similar color.

“Are you deaf? I asked who you are.”

My brow furrowed at his rough speech, which negated his great looks.

It was the first time I’d seen such an ill-mannered adult on our first meeting.

“Esper Min Ji-oh?”

Just then, a nurse approaching the room stuck her head inside the door.

Esper Min Ji-oh.

A name I’d heard somewhere a lot.

Min Ji-oh….

“Where did it go?”

The moment my gaze followed the nurse’s to the direction he pointed, I almost spat out a string of curses.

That ill-mannered bastard had pointed to Hyung’s bed and called him ‘it’.

He had called my Hyung ‘it’.

Looking like some low-class punk.

“He’s in the rehabilitation room right now. He asked me to tell you when you came, Guide-nim. He’ll be in rehab until 8 o’clock, so he said not to wait.”

“Hyung did?”

I took a step closer to the nurse, whose face I had become familiar with while hiding in Chul-soo Hyung’s room, and asked.

My heart pounded at the thought that Hyung might have been thinking of me.

“Esper Tae Seung-jun did.”

“Ah…”

The nurse, having finished her message, glanced at my deflated reaction and returned to her post.

I forgot the rude guy’s existence and checked the time on my watch.

I was worried if it was okay for him to be in rehab for hours already when he couldn’t even walk yet.

“Hey.”

The rude guy stopped me as I was about to follow the nurse to ask which floor the rehab room was on.

Hearing his annoying voice, I remembered why his name sounded familiar.

Esper Min Ji-oh.

He was an Esper from Attack Team 3, which was once rife with vicious rumors.

A team famous for personalities that surpassed their perfect appearances.

Though they had now been promoted to Attack Team 1.

“Are you his dedicated Guide?”

His low-class temper, which was said to have tormented Guides, seemed to be intact.

Was it four years ago?

Hyung, who had quit the team and was working as a freelance bodyguard, had been assigned to protect that rude guy’s team’s dedicated Guide.

How much must he have tormented him for him to request personal protection along with his resignation?

I felt sorry for that Guide, who had to deal with three more people like that, and also felt he was amazing.

“I asked if you’re the dedicated Guide. Aren’t you going to answer?”

I looked him up and down just as he had done to me and muttered to myself loud and clear.

“This is why Guides run away.”

“What?!”

Startled by the rude guy’s shout, I stumbled backward without realizing it.

His voice was that loud.

I ignored the easily angered rude guy and entered the hospital room.

I wasn’t scared of some Esper who got angry because he couldn’t control his own temper.

“Hey, you f*cker, that was ages ago!”

Slam! I deliberately slammed the closet door I had opened to get my coat and turned around.

“Did you just curse?”

It was a curse that had no effect, but if Hyung had been next to me, he wouldn’t have just let it slide.

For an Esper to curse at a Guide in this day and age.

Of course, profanity is forbidden in the reverse case as well.

Not to mention assault.

“I didn’t!”

“…You did.”

“I said I didn’t!”

Seeing the rude guy shamelessly lift his chin and deny it, my desire to deal with him cooled down.

Chul-soo Hyung had said there was a fool in Attack Team 3, and I think it’s probably this guy.

Did he say he was a fool with just a lot of money?

[You f*cker, that was ages ago!]

I played the recording of the rude guy’s profanity from my wrist watch and warned him with my eyes.

Hyung had told me to do this.

To turn on the recorder whenever I met a rough Esper.

“Y-You f*cking recorded….”

The rude guy, who got flustered as easily as he got angry, covered his mouth.

Now that I see it, it seemed to be a habit of his, not that he was trying to intimidate me.

Of course, I had no intention of being understanding about it.

“Let’s watch our words. Unless you want to get a warning.”

Mimicking Hyung’s way of speaking, who wasn’t by my side, I averted my gaze from the rude guy.

Within the Center, a warning was given for profanity that caused discomfort to the other party, and as warnings accumulated, one’s salary was reduced, or in severe cases, a personal meeting with the Director was scheduled.

The latter was just a rumor, but I heard the warning was much more effective than a salary cut.

“You’re just like Team Leader Kim.”

The rude guy muttered, pouting his mean lips.

I felt a stinging gaze on the back of my head, so I deliberately moved while only looking at the wall.

Following Hyung’s words that it was wise to avoid sh*t you could avoid, I treated the Esper as if he weren’t there.

“Why are you getting a coat in this weather?”

The rude guy deliberately spoke to me as I was getting my coat to go to the rehab room.

I couldn’t understand him, who continued the conversation even while being annoyed.

“Hyung gets cold easily. It’s also cold inside the Medical Center.”

“Who gets cold easily?”

The rude guy asked back with an expression as if he had never heard such nonsense in his life.

As if you know anything. My Hyung got cold easily, even though he was big.

To the point where he would hug me to sleep at night, saying it was cold even in the summer.

It didn’t seem like he would believe me even if I told him, so I changed the subject.

“You came to visit, right?”