Chapter 14: Uneasy Feeling

Tae Hwan, who had been catching some sleep in his room in the waiting area after a dawn mission, was awakened by the loud crash of a dish breaking.

It wasn’t the sound of one or two cups being accidentally dropped and broken.

He figured Min Ji Oh’s tantrum show had started early this morning.

That b*stard was someone who would get annoyed when the weather was good and annoyed when the weather was gloomy.

If left alone, he would accumulate anger on his own, throw a fit, and then disappear.

Min Ji Oh’s sensitivity peaked in front of Yoon Bodam.

It was understandable that he was fuming, as his plan to oust the dedicated guide had still not worked, even after half a year.

When he first saw Yoon Bodam’s profile, Tae Hwan had expected a huge tantrum upon seeing the 54% matching rate with Ji Oh.

Even if his own matching rate had been that low, he would have been more, not less, angry than Ji Oh.

So why couldn’t he just leave gracefully?

Yoon Bodam, who stubbornly remained despite not being treated well, was frustrating.

Min Ji Oh was one thing, but if he caught the eye of that b*stard Kang Yi Jun, who already had a bad reputation before even joining the Center, his life was at risk of becoming tiring.

Tae Hwan, recalling the white face that looked like a hamster with chubby cheeks, closed his eyes again.

Then, not long after, he lifted his eyelids again.

A question mark that made him feel uneasy floated around in his head.

‘Do I really want Yoon Bodam to leave?’

“What the f*ck is this…”

A sigh, which leaked out every time the question mark appeared, continued today as well.

It felt like a sharp heat rising from his throat, hitting his uvula, and then coiling in his chest.

It had been like this often recently.

No, he didn’t even know when it started.

Since he heard the story of Yoon Bodam almost being sucked into a gate?

Or when he was almost hurt after being swept up in the process of suppressing a monster in Sector 1?

The day he first burst into tears during guiding?

F*ck, no.

It was from much longer ago.

When he tilted up his vanilla-latte-like head, which had a lot of milk in it, and smiled and greeted him with a white face that looked like it was filled only with milk.

Yes.

It was like that from the beginning.

From the very beginning.

“F*ck…”

Tae Hwan, inside the blanket that still held Yoon Bodam’s scent, kicked his brawny legs wildly.

The irritating heat that had settled in his chest wouldn’t cool down.

‘Then I can’t hold it in either.’

Yoon Bodam, who would react with a sharp ‘back off’ when poked and jump up to shout when pushed, had seemed a bit tired lately.

Not knowing that his already exhausted heart was being revealed due to his depleted stamina, Tae Hwan just thought Bodam was sick.

‘I can’t hold it in either.’

Even so, after resting on the weekend, he would come back with his battery recharged and run around like the Energizer Bunny from old commercials.

That b*stard was so meddlesome that he would even give out guiding to Espers who weren’t his responsibility, which said it all.

His dedicated guide, who looked like a hamster with rice cakes in its cheeks, was quite strong.

He even had the audacity to wash his face with cold water after bursting into tears and then dash off, shouting, “Fcking bstards!”

The saying ‘a small pepper is f*cking spicy’ was a perfect fit.

‘…I wonder if that b*stard’s pepper is small too.’

Blink.

Lying spread-eagled on the bed, Lee Tae Hwan, who was recalling Yoon Bodam’s white and incredibly smooth skin, threw his pillow and got up.

‘Of all things to think about, why am I imagining the crotch of a man with no chest?’

He originally liked glamorous types.

He was much more drawn to women with some flesh on them rather than skinny ones.

Above all, he had no interest in men.

‘This is just because I’m pent up, nothing else,’ Tae Hwan made an excuse no one had asked for and left the room.

The fact that he had deliberately crawled into the waiting room and headed for the bed Yoon Bodam had lain on was also because the bed was nice.

The bed.

‘…What’s this.’

At the guide’s energy he felt as soon as he opened the door, Tae Hwan’s steps quickened.

“Ji Oh hyung.”

He quickly passed through the needlessly long room corridor and inserted himself between the two who were standing face to face.

“Is breaking plates your hobby?”

The heat that had been coiling in his chest moved to the back of his neck.

He was pissed off.

He looked back and forth between Bodam, who was a scared little mouse as usual, and Ji Oh, who was throwing a tantrum as always.

The only difference from usual was that it was excessive this time.

F*ck.

He looked like he was about to raise a hand.

“Hic.”

‘What’s this now.’

Bodam’s eyes, which had widened to the point of popping out at Tae Hwan’s unexpected appearance, slowly returned to their normal size.

Just as he let out a shallow breath of relief, Bodam’s hiccups started.

“Hic.”

Ji Oh and Tae Hwan’s gazes were fixed on the guide who was making a strange noise, his arms even flinching.

‘He even hiccups like himself,’ he thought.

Ha, Min Ji Oh let out a dry laugh and raised his left hand to brush back his fallen hair.

Even at that everyday gesture, the flinched Bodam took a step closer to Tae Hwan.

As if trying to lean on him.

Tae Hwan’s lips parted slightly.

“Hey… ahem. Go easy on him.”

Tae Hwan, whose voice cracked slightly, cleared his throat and spoke.

As if agreeing with him, Bodam completely hid behind Tae Hwan’s back and continued to hiccup.

“What?”

“He’s sick. Why are you messing with someone who has a cold? Were you never taught any manners?”

Blink.

The eyelids of two Espers and one guide closed and opened simultaneously.

Everyone was flustered by Lee Tae Hwan’s voice, which was mimicking human speech, not bullsh*t.

Even he himself, who had uttered those words.

“Hic.”

Bodam, who was probably the most flustered here, figured this b*stard’s tantrum was aimed in this direction today and quickly caught the flow.

He stuck close to Tae Hwan’s back and cheered him on internally, ‘That’s right, keep barking so prettily!’

“…Are you on drugs?”

“Why do you keep breaking plates every chance you get? If someone steps on those broken pieces and tears their flesh, are you going to fix it? You, who doesn’t even have healing abilities.”

Tae Hwan’s next baffling line raised two questions.

First, Tae Hwan had never once picked a fight with Ji Oh, who had been breaking kitchenware out of boredom until now.

Sometimes, he even felt a vicarious satisfaction when Ji Oh got angry on his behalf.

Second,

“F*ck, what if someone gets hurt?”

Espers didn’t get hurt by things like broken plates.

Crash—!

Ji Oh threw a dining chair.

The heavy chair, aimed precisely at the expensive dinnerware, lost its shape with a tremendous noise.

If Tae Hwan hadn’t blocked the flying debris with his psychokinesis, it would have been a really big problem.

A transparent piece of glass was about to lodge itself in front of Bodam’s face, whose hiccups had stopped at the loud noise.

“I said go easy.”

Lee Tae Hwan’s voice, which had momentarily subsided, rumbled low.

An energy similar to the warning sound a wild beast makes when puffing up its body flowed out.

At the same time, Bodam’s body, lifted by psychokinesis, was moved to the front door, far away from the kitchen.

Tae Hwan took a step towards Ji Oh, and when he lowered his chin, his slit, three-white-eyes became even more prominent.

The usual swagger was gone from his energy, which pressed down heavily on the air.

It was a warning from a top-class Esper.

“Can’t you understand when I say it with words?”

He emitted a wavelength that he rarely showed in front of his hyungs.

His freely controllable energy was confined only to Min Ji Oh’s surroundings, rampaging.

It was constricting the airways of Ji Oh, whose eyes were bloodshot with fury.

“You, b*stard…”

Ji Oh, who had stiffened from the interrupted breathing, snarled fiercely.

The hand aimed at Tae Hwan’s neck was bound by psychokinesis.

The tips of Ji Oh’s ungracefully convulsing fingers turned as red as blood.

‘Beep. Beep.’

Just before his knees were about to buckle from the pressure crushing his entire body, Ji Oh’s watch rang.

It was a signal from the gate site, where he should have already been, calling for him.

“Go.”

Tae Hwan said with a flick of his chin.

If an Esper didn’t respond within three call signals, a meeting with an executive-level staff awaited them.

Ji Oh’s interviewer was none other than the Center Director.

‘Beep. Bee—’

Ji Oh, who disappeared before the second call rang, became air.

“…”

Tae Hwan, who was glaring at the empty space, wiped his face at length.

Far away, he saw Yoon Bodam leaning against the front door with an intrigued expression.

He seemed subtly disappointed that the two Espers’ war of nerves, which had ended so quickly with nothing happening, was over.

‘That cunning little b*stard.’

“Did Ji Oh hyung call you here?”

Tae Hwan asked, lifting the dangerous shards covering the floor with his psychokinesis.

His gaze was not on Bodam.

“Uh, uh…”

Bodam, whose heart was still pounding from the shock, answered with a hand on his chest.

He watched Tae Hwan for a moment as he silently cleaned up the mess Ji Oh had made with his back turned.

‘Was he really on drugs… good drugs…’

“Are you going to stay?”

Even while speaking to Bodam, who was just standing there without going out the door, Tae Hwan still didn’t turn around.

“The guiding… I haven’t done it yet.”

“Hey! You f—”

Tae Hwan, who whipped his head around to meet Bodam’s eyes, suddenly clamped his mouth shut.

He was angry at his dedicated guide for thinking about guiding in this situation, but he had no justification to be angry.

Justification.

Of course, Bodam wanted to go home right away and enjoy the rest of his Saturday, but Min Ji Oh was on his mind.

He hadn’t received guiding yesterday, in addition to the two days he had been absent.

The reason he had exuded a particularly creepy aura was probably because he hadn’t received guiding.

Feeling like he was collecting a time bomb he had raised himself, he decided to calm him down today before leaving work.

Bodam, who was watching Tae Hwan, who was just ruffling his hair without saying anything, stealthily placed his hand on the doorknob.

The air inside the waiting room was suffocating.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to wait in the guiding room.”

Tae Hwan, who reacted keenly to even Bodam’s small movements, turned his back again.

As someone who had received enough guiding yesterday, he didn’t seem to have any demands.

As he lowered the doorknob, Bodam hesitated.

‘Should I say thank you? I don’t really want to…’

So he didn’t.

“Hey.”

“Thanks. I was going to say it before I left.”

Bodam, who was startled by the call as he was about to sneak away without saying goodbye, quickly made an excuse.

He closed the open door with a snap and made an embarrassed face.

Lee Tae Hwan, who he had expected to be glaring at him, still had his back turned.

Then.

“Call me if anything happens.”

He left a remark that Jo Yeon would have made and went straight into his room.

“Why?”

He didn’t even pretend to hear Bodam’s question.

***

Slam.

Tae Hwan, who slammed the door and entered like a second son going through puberty, remained standing still.

The trouble he had with Min Ji Oh for the first time in the six years they had been on the same team was not on his mind at all.

His mind, where all thought had stopped, was filled only with a white face.

From the moment he had shown a look of relief at his appearance, Tae Hwan’s mind had stopped.

The heat that had been lingering at the back of his neck slowly descended to his heart.

The heat, becoming one with his heartbeat, thump-thump, made his heart beat louder.

“Am I crazy…”

***

In the end, Min Ji Oh summoned Bodam, who had been sitting in the guiding room for an hour waiting to leave, to the site.

Bodam, who gave him a deep kiss in the middle of a gate bustling with dismembered monsters, dry-heaved several times.

At least on the way back, he was assigned an A-class teleportation Esper, so he avoided vomiting.

“Haaa… it’s because of Yoon Bomi.”

He made up a reason, saying that his luck was consistently bad today because he had a weird dream.

His pig-like younger sister, whom he hadn’t seen since joining the Center six years ago except for a few texts and calls by chance, appeared in his dream today.

‘If you’re going to appear, you should have come with mom.’

She had appeared all by herself, pissed him off, and then turned into a pig.

It was kind of funny, the dream where his sister, whom he had teased as Yoon the Pig since they were young, actually turned into a pig.

Bodam, who stared blankly at himself in the elevator mirror, chuckling at even a weird dream, soon let the corners of his mouth droop.

He was hungry.

He wanted to wash down the feeling of his stomach being stuffed full from the previous day’s chicken and the nausea with a spicy soup.

He took out his phone and let out a deep sigh as he checked his bank account balance, which looked like it had been robbed of a zero.

18,720 won.

He would have to tighten his belt until payday.

The thought that he would have to make do with ramen for today’s meal as well made his sighs endless.

‘Ah, I want jjamppong.’