Chapter 138: Side Story – Monday Blues Have Disappeared (8)

Bodam, who had never even properly had a relationship, let alone dated, was shocked by the fast pace.

‘So there really are people who sleep with someone they’re not dating.’ Of course, there must be many, but it was the first time he had actually heard about it.

‘No, wait.’ Come to think of it, it wasn’t something to be surprised about.

‘I also did something like that with Lee Tae Hwan just yesterday.’

“Cough.”

“Hyung. Are you okay?”

Bodam, who had blinked his eyes at the firm naked body that had suddenly crossed his mind, choked.

Thoughts of Lee Tae Hwan, which had been popping up constantly since yesterday, were making his head spin.

Even just before falling asleep, the image of Tae Hwan’s chest muscles, slick with sweat and rising and falling, had come to mind, making him toss and turn for a long time.

‘Was I always this… full of desire?’

He felt strange, thinking about the night he had shared with Lee Tae Hwan all day.

He also wondered if his reaction was particularly dramatic because he had never done anything before.

Lee Tae Hwan, who had sat across from him and had breakfast the next day, had looked rather calm.

As if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Yeon Yeok.”

“Yes, hyung. Eat slowly.”

Bodam deliberately asked in a light tone to Yeon Yeok, who was handing him a napkin and water.

As if he had just thought of it.

“Handsome guys probably have a lot of… experience. That kind of experience.”

“Um, I guess so? It probably differs from person to person. At least, I’m not without any.”

Yeon Yeok pointed to his own face, which was handsome enough not to be looked down on anywhere, and winked.

He had meant it to make his hyung laugh, but Bodam’s expression only darkened.

“Then even if they don’t plan on dating… would they be quick to do skinship or that too?”

“You mean, s*x?”

Yeon Yeok, who had thought of the seemingly embarrassed Bodam and whispered the specific word lowly, laughed, saying it would probably differ from person to person.

“But a lot of people do it. It’s not like it’s a bad thing.”

Yeon Yeok, who blushed thinking of his girl, drank his water coolly.

He, who had been looking at Bodam’s rapidly emptying glass, was about to order beer instead but was refused by Bodam.

It was a very rare occurrence.

For Bodam to refuse alcohol.

Bodam, who had lost his taste for alcohol for some reason, just neatly finished his last glass and went home early.

He had thought about seeing Tae Hwan since he was at the Center, but.

He didn’t want to meet him.

Because he felt like he would be the only one nervous and swept away again.

***

Around the time Bodam was thinking about the skilled Tae Hwan in bed, Tae Hwan was surprisingly sitting at a desk.

It was an unfitting sight for him, whose calling was to use his body on site.

Tae Hwan, who had rolled up his annoying long sleeves, looked better grabbing a creature’s collar than a pen.

“Why are you here.”

Above all, this was Seung Ho’s office.

Since he wasn’t the owner, it was only natural that he didn’t blend in with the space.

“I can concentrate best here.”

Tae Hwan casually greeted Seung Ho, who had just finished his work and come for a coffee, by waving his pen.

It was a sight of someone sitting in another’s seat for anyone to see.

Since he exuded an atmosphere as if he were about to overturn the neatly organized desk.

“Do you have to work, hyung? Should I move?”

“It’s fine.”

Seung Ho, who had given up his exclusive office desk, made coffee and sat at the conference table.

The two weren’t looking at each other at all, but were observing each other with their other senses.

It was a habitual act when high-ranking or equally matched Espers were alone together.

“It seems you’re doing all the Center’s work by yourself, hyung.”

Tae Hwan, whose concentration had been broken, spoke up, spinning the thin pen.

Thanks to Seung Ho, who rarely showed his face, Team 3’s waiting room was filled entirely with Tae Hwan and Bodam’s wavelengths.

Ji Oh’s wavelength, who was desperately trying to increase his presence, was also mixed in, but there was no trace of Seung Ho.

“You’ll really become the Bureau Director at this rate.”

Seung Ho, who was silently drinking his coffee, showed no reaction.

The light conversation Tae Hwan had initiated mixed with the faint aroma of coffee and the silence.

Tae Hwan glared at Seung Ho, who chewed on people’s words more than rice, and gripped his pen properly again.

It wasn’t the first or second time his words had been ignored by that frustrating team leader.

He was better than Min Ji Oh, who was yelling by his side to keep his distance from Yoon Bodam.

Tae Hwan had moved from the waiting room to this place to avoid the noisy Min Ji Oh.

“Manage the new recruits coming in next year.”

Tae Hwan, who had briefly lifted his head at Seung Ho’s words, continued to focus on the documents he was reading.

Since it was an expected remark, he didn’t give a particular response.

Tae Hwan was currently reading the new Esper training materials that Seung Ho had been continuing for several years.

He was to take over the role of the new recruit instructor on behalf of the busy Seung Ho.

At first, when Seung Ho had told him to do it, he hadn’t been interested, but after asking Bodam if he should try it and getting a positive response, he had immediately shown enthusiasm.

Bodam preferred Tae Hwan managing young Espers over him fighting dangerous creatures.

It was a job he could do without difficulty even when he got older.

“We’ll only be picking a small number of people who have passed the ability test, so you can decide on the training difficulty.”

“I’ll have to put them through hell.”

“If an S-class or a rare ability user comes out, just focus on them.”

“What for. We can just make them go to the field right away.”

“No.”

Tae Hwan, who had frowned at Seung Ho’s firm response, soon understood quickly.

If it had been Ji Oh, he would have just been wearing a question mark by his side.

Without even remembering the case of Kang Yi Jun, a newly manifested rare ability user who had been immediately recruited into Team 3 and made to destroy gates without an adaptation process.

As a result, they had turned a guy who was already unstable into a complete madman.

Bodam had said this while giving Seung Ho guiding on an autumn day.

That regardless of their innate ability, wouldn’t a training course appropriate for their age be necessary.

Along with the words that it would have been different if there had been an adult by Kang Yi Jun’s side to guide him well.

“What. Something to say?”

Tae Hwan felt Seung Ho’s gaze as he was rereading the Esper code of conduct, which he had only listened to with one ear and let pass in the past.

Seung Ho was watching Tae Hwan, who was studying, even underlining the documents.

“I didn’t think you would do it.”

“I have too much time on my hands.”

It sounded like he was just saying it, but Tae Hwan was half-serious.

He had started it because Bodam had told him to, but he hadn’t felt like doing it diligently.

But Tae Hwan needed something to kill his excess time.

To him, a day without Bodam felt too long.

On top of that, the Yoon Bodam who was currently filling his head was so dangerously stimulating that he had to move his head.

“Decide on an imprint by next year.”

Tae Hwan, who had been forcing himself to read the words that just wouldn’t enter his eyes, put down his pen.

The pen, which he had roughly put down with a thud, fell to the floor.

“I believe I said I would take care of it.”

“Take care of it. I’m just setting a deadline.”

Tae Hwan, who ignored Seung Ho’s words, pushed the desk with his foot and stood up.

It was the topic he hated the most.

As an S-class attack Esper, he hated it even more because he knew it was a question that would follow him annoyingly as the years passed.

“Don’t you even dare bring up the topic of an imprint to Yoon Bodam.”

Tae Hwan’s hardened gaze sent a warning to Seung Ho.

He walked straight towards the door, emitting an aura that needed no further words.

His mood had plummeted the moment he had heard the words he loathed.

Seung Ho thought it was unexpected, the sight of Tae Hwan walking out, floating the documents and pen he had brought in the air.

The Tae Hwan of the past was a guy who would have shouted or broken whatever was in his hands even if he just brought up a topic he disliked.

Such a Lee Tae Hwan was holding back his temper.

With the thick, unerasable wavelength of Yoon Bodam all over his body.

“Lee Tae Hwan.”

The traces of a deep guiding shared between an Esper and a guide lingered for a long time.

“If you have nothing to do tomorrow, go to Sector 4.”

Tae Hwan, who had opened the newly replaced door due to Ji Oh breaking it whenever he had the chance, looked back at Seung Ho.

“Why there again.”

“You know why.”

Sector 4, where the battle-crazed Attack Team 2 resided, was a place only selected personnel could go.

It was an area filled only with unusual gates and creatures of at least Red Code or higher, and the S-class Tae Hwan’s power was often needed.

Tae Hwan, who was not on bad terms with the ruthless but simple Attack Team 2, had always responded to their requests for support.

But the reason Tae Hwan had been visiting Sector 4 recently was different.

“Just have someone bury her. And take care of the accident.”

It was to keep an eye on Esper Baek Yi Ryeon, not the gates of Sector 4.

She, who had been the head of Attack Team 1, had been demoted to the manager of Sector 4.

Tae Hwan periodically went to and from Sector 4, monitoring her.

To see if she, who was trapped in a barren land with nothing but creatures and gates, was living quietly.

“I wonder what she’s thinking while living.”

Tae Hwan, who had glared at the unresponsive Seung Ho, showed his annoyance but didn’t say he wouldn’t go.

As Seung Ho had said, he had nothing to do tomorrow.

He wasn’t the type to study for two days straight, so he had to at least go around to some gates.

He was already so sick of Sector 1 that he couldn’t concentrate.

“You’re free tomorrow.”

“Who said I’m not going?”

In the end, the provoked Tae Hwan left the office, annoyed.

He had a reason to be angry.

It was a Sunday to which only Tae Hwan had not been invited.

Seung Ho had deliberately brought it up to point that out.

To remind him of the situation of an S-class Esper who was stuck living only inside the Center.

And in truth, half of it was out of spite.

The wavelength of Bodam coming from Lee Tae Hwan was so excessively stimulating that it was annoying.

Bodam’s scent, which had never left his body, was now completely thick.

As if they had even formed an imprint.

***

Ding-

Tae Hwan, who had taken the elevator instead of calling a Teleport Esper, took a deep breath.

Because he was conscious of not cursing, even by mistake, in front of Bodam, curses rarely came out.

But his hot temper was still the same.

Yesterday had been so happy it felt like a dream, but thinking about tomorrow, his heart sank as fast as the descending elevator.

Only Tae Hwan couldn’t be happy about the tomorrow that Bodam and his invited guests were looking forward to.

Bodam had been excited for a whole month, diligently coordinating schedules and gathering people to invite.

Even when he had parted with Yeon Yeok, whom he had met today, he had reminded him not to forget to come by three tomorrow.

“Ah, I’m so f*cking jealous.”

A place to which even Team Leader Kim from the barrier department, whose whereabouts he didn’t even know, had been invited.

Moreover, even though that bastard, no, even Kang Yi Jun was going, Tae Hwan had to stay alone at the Center.

Imagining Yoon Bodam’s first housewarming party, from which he alone was excluded.