Chapter 13: The Recurring Nightmare and a Lingering Debt

“Brother, brother, brother.”

“No, not you, brother. You must flee. Whatever becomes of me, you…”

Though I thrashed, not a single word reached him. I wished he hadn’t appeared at all! My throat constricted, rendering me mute and utterly helpless.

Perhaps it was the illusion of the dream, but my brother seemed utterly unfazed by the bizarre and shocking spectacle unfolding before us. He simply stared at me with dry, vacant eyes, as if gazing at an inanimate object, just as he always had.

The man chuckled again, a spine-chilling sound, before releasing his grip from my throat. My small, freed body crumpled to the floor like a discarded sack.

With slow, deliberate strides, the man moved towards my brother.

“No.”

“Don’t go.”

“Please, don’t go. Don’t do this…”

I barely managed to force open my constricted mouth, pleading desperately. Dragging my powerless body, I crawled, and crawled, and crawled, trying to reach the man.

Then, feeling something brush against me, I slowly turned my head.

A premonition warned me not to turn.

Yet, an undeniable urge compelled me.

There, where my gaze landed, was my father’s face—cold, lifeless, and drenched in blood.

****

“No! No! Aaaargh!”

I thrashed, jolting upright from the bed. My body convulsed uncontrollably, like someone seized by a fit, refusing to calm.

Despite vaguely sensing I had awoken from the nightmare, terrifying screams continued to tear from my throat.

“No. No…”

“Jungwon.”

A calm voice reached Jungwon’s ears, cutting through their deranged muttering. Jungwon remained slumped, face still buried in their hands, unable to lift their head.

As their choked whispers turned to sobs, the other person’s voice gradually tinged with perplexity.

“Jungwon? Jungwon, please, try to compose yourself.”

“Huu…”

“It’s okay now. It was only a dream…”

The screams and muttering slowly faded. Jungwon, face stark white, swallowed several times, as if forcing down their agony.

Their ragged gasps gradually softened into shallow, rapid breaths. Seokjoo, who had been silently observing, offered calm words of reassurance to Jungwon.

Jungwon, still trembling intermittently, slowly lifted their head. The frantic intensity had subsided, but their eyes remained blank and unfocused.

Seokjoo’s face was perfectly mirrored in those dazed, confused pupils. Meeting his gaze, Jungwon’s unfocused eyes widened dramatically.

Their lips began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Your hand… Take your hand away. Get your hand off me! Get away from me!”

Jungwon, who had seemed to be calming, suddenly shrieked again as if confronted by a phantom. They violently kicked their legs, shoving Seokjoo away, then let out a raw, desperate scream.

Moments later, Jungwon buried their face into the bed, dry heaving.

“Alright. I understand, so please, calm down, Jungwon.”

Seokjoo immediately retreated from Jungwon, calmly raising both hands. It was a clear gesture, indicating he had no intention of touching them.

He stood several paces away, watching Jungwon with a perplexed expression. Yet, Jungwon, perhaps sensing the weight of his gaze, remained utterly distraught.

“Get out. Please… just don’t appear before me again…”

The words, which had begun as a frantic shriek, faded into a dying whisper. The eyes, glowing with a color eerily similar to those of the cruelest and most terrifying Esper Jungwon knew from their dream…

Jungwon released a choked sob, keeping their face hidden for a long time.

“Jungwon.”

Only after a considerable time did Jungwon’s breathing finally soften. It was then that Seokjoo broke the silence. Jungwon slowly lifted their head, their gaze falling upon Kang Seokjoo, who stood still, respectfully maintaining his distance.

It felt as though their mind had finally returned to them. Recalling the disgraceful display they had just made, the sheer act of having revealed such vulnerability was utterly humiliating.

Jungwon ran a hand over their face, wiping away the tear streaks.

“I apologize. I…”

The voice that emerged from their struggling lips was hoarse, cracked from all the screaming. Without lifting their face, they managed to finish their sentence.

“Because I had a bad dream.”

To express it this way made them feel utterly insignificant. Though they hadn’t experienced this dream for a while before undertaking this mission, it was one that occasionally plagued them when they were exhausted or troubled.

Thus, the dream itself wasn’t the issue. However, they had never once been caught in such a vulnerable state by another soul.

Would it have been different had it not been Kang Seokjoo who woke them? At the very least, they wouldn’t have erupted into such a frantic scene merely from making eye contact.

Observing Jungwon, who remained trapped in a spiral of shame and dismay, Kang Seokjoo reacted with remarkable nonchalance.

“Why apologize? It was my fault for entering so thoughtlessly.”

“…”

“I intended to let you sleep, but I heard noises. You sounded distressed, so I entered. My apologies.”

The natural, almost automatic apology flustered Jungwon, who quickly shook their head. They opened their mouth to protest, then closed it, struck by a strange sense of déjà vu.

An odd feeling persisted, as if this wasn’t the first time such an incident had occurred.

Jungwon hesitated for a long moment. Even with this nagging suspicion, wouldn’t it be better to simply let it go? Yet, the question proved too difficult to dismiss.

“…By any chance…”

“Yes, speak.”

“Is this… not the first time this has happened to me?”

Their voice trailed off, ending on an awkward upward inflection. Seokjoo offered no immediate reply. Kang Seokjoo typically seemed unfazed by most things, but even for him, his composure was too profound for someone encountering such a situation for the very first time.

Had Jungwon been mistaken, he wouldn’t have remained silent; he would have surely retorted with a ‘What are you talking about?’ Jungwon covertly lifted their gaze, finding Seokjoo’s face an enigmatic, unreadable mask.

‘That’s right.’

‘It isn’t the first time.’

Only one memory surfaced: the night they had fallen asleep at Kang Seokjoo’s house. It seemed they had experienced a similar dream then, and reacted in a similar fashion. Jungwon had been convinced they were too intoxicated to dream.

If so, then Kang Seokjoo’s secretive demeanor that day must have stemmed from this incident. Something had indeed transpired—not merely sleep, but an occurrence far more awkward than just sleeping.

‘Why did he hide it?’

‘It would have been better if he had simply told me.’

If this was Kang Seokjoo’s attempt at consideration, it felt more like a burden than a kindness. Their personality simply couldn’t tolerate the feeling of indebtedness.

Jungwon exhaled a deep sigh, then offered their thanks.

“Thank you for waking me. Otherwise, I would still be tormented by that nightmare.”

Even after hearing this, Seokjoo showed no inclination to elaborate or revisit the past incident. Jungwon, in turn, offered no further words, allowing a brief silence to settle between them.

Seokjoo was the one who broke the silence, changing the subject.

“I’m ordering room service. Care to join me?”

“No, thank you. I already had the in-flight meal while you were sleeping, Kang Seokjoo.”

“That was ages ago. It’s surely all digested by now. Don’t suffer through the night; eat something.”

Seokjoo offered no further opportunity to politely decline. It appeared to be a pronouncement, not an invitation. Jungwon, however, had absolutely no appetite.

Yet, the shame of their recent outburst, coupled with the lingering debt of gratitude for his discretion during a similar past incident, prevented them from actively refusing.

“Then I’ll just have something simple, like a sandwich…”

As Seokjoo acknowledged their request and went to order room service, Jungwon remained seated on the bed, utterly lost in thought.

This recurring dream, dormant for so long, had likely resurfaced due to the recent news about President Taft. It was also probable that seeing Kang Seokjoo, an S-rank Esper, constantly caused Jungwon to superimpose his image with that of ‘that man’.

Jungwon typically maintained strong emotional walls with others, but with Seokjoo, this tendency was unusually pronounced. Even knowing there was no need for such extreme wariness, they couldn’t help but feel it.

‘How foolish,’ they thought.

Room service arrived far more quickly than anticipated. Jungwon slowly shuffled into the sitting room, drawn by Seokjoo’s voice.

“Are you still planning to leave tomorrow?”

Seokjoo asked, taking a bite of his omelet. Jungwon, who had been listlessly picking at their sandwich with a face like they were chewing rocks, briefly lifted their head.

“Because I also need to acquire a permit.”

“They’ll send it if you simply ask, won’t they?”

Espers and Guides required a permit to utilize their abilities in different regions. Even within their own country, not just abroad, certain jurisdictional branches demanded such permits, which Jungwon had frequently obtained.

However, it was always mandatory to retrieve them in person. Such was the manual.

From what Jungwon had gathered, Seokjoo seemed to have disregarded official guidelines on more than one occasion. His ability to do so without consequence was likely attributable to his status as an S-rank Esper.

However, despite both being S-rank and affiliated with the same national agency, a significant disparity in treatment existed between Espers and Guides. Jungwon, moreover, was one of those Guides often pejoratively labeled a ‘s*ave of the national agency.’

Their positions were fundamentally disparate.

“Going to the branch again would only mean enduring pointless chatter and leaving in frustration.”

“Still…”

Jungwon’s voice trailed off, their expression troubled. They couldn’t violate the guidelines, yet they also couldn’t displease him. Would it be better, then, to follow his suggestion, even if it meant writing a letter of explanation?

However, to Jungwon’s surprise, it was Seokjoo who relented first.

“I thought you’d be serious again, but you look so troubled… I’ll go with you.”

“I only said it because I was concerned, not to argue.”

“Ah…”

“Finish your meal. Even better if you can relax your expression.”

I nodded awkwardly, burying my face back into the sandwich. This should have been a reassuring situation, yet my throat felt even more constricted than before.

I felt like I would choke.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Sweet Peach Punch

Age GapBLBoys Love

Read Now →
Not interested