Chapter 2: Be Happy

“I’ll do better from now on, I’ll guide you, I’ll— I’ll try harder.

Please don’t die.

Please….”

So-won was begging him now, almost groveling.

But Tae-woo, unable to hear him, was slowly losing his life.

Realizing that, So-won burst into tears and shouted even louder.

Flailing, sobbing—his cries blurred together, indistinguishable, yet Tae-woo showed no reaction at all.

Tae-woo’s breathing grew fainter and fainter, and the wave he could feel through their joined hands weakened by the second.

It truly felt like Tae-woo was going to die.

So-won clung desperately to Tae-woo’s hand as if it were his very lifeline.

“Be happy.”

At the unexpected words, So-won’s cries stopped.

Startled, he looked at Tae-woo.

But Tae-woo’s eyes were already closed, drained of all strength.

Beeeeep—

The sound from the machine echoed in multiple layers, ringing like tinnitus.

At the same time, the faint wave traveling through their joined hands was severed cleanly, as if cut by scissors.

His vision went completely black.

***

So-won’s eyes slowly opened.

His blurred vision gradually sharpened.

He lay there dazed for a moment before looking around.

He was in an emergency room.

The smell of disinfectant mixed with faint commotion, and people hurried busily through the space.

As his consciousness cleared, the first thing that surfaced was Tae-woo’s death.

Kang Tae-woo.

The moment he thought of him, tears slid down his face.

What began as a single drop soon poured endlessly, like a faucet left open, soaking the soft pillow beneath his head.

Is Tae-woo dead?

He must be.

The blood-filled operating room, Tae-woo lying helplessly without regenerating his wounds—those images flashed through So-won’s mind.

The severed wave he felt before losing consciousness and the sharp, piercing sound of the machine rang in his ears again like tinnitus.

‘Be happy.’

So-won recalled Tae-woo’s final words.

He had never treated Tae-woo well enough to deserve such a blessing.

If anything, Tae-woo should have cursed him.

Why would he say that to someone who had even abandoned his duty as a Guide?

In the last image burned into his memory, the dark crimson veins that once looked ready to burst had turned black and lifeless across Tae-woo’s face.

Those veins had spread not only over his face but his entire body—
a curse-like side effect Tae-woo had suffered from never receiving proper guiding.

If only I had guided him properly…
At least he could have died with a normal face.

Guilt tightened around So-won’s heart.

He writhed in a pain unlike anything he had ever felt in his life.

It felt as if his heart were being stabbed over and over.

Regret surged like a tidal wave.

So-won’s quiet sobbing gradually grew into loud, broken cries.

“Patient Lee So-won, are you in pain somewhere?”

A passing nurse, startled by So-won’s crying, spoke to him.

But So-won did not answer.

It hurt.

His heart hurt so much he felt like he might die.

Tae-woo was dead.

And he himself was partly responsible for that death.

So-won hated his younger self, his ignorant past self.

Tae-woo was a person too.

He wanted to scream at the version of himself that had looked at Tae-woo like a monster.

Seeing So-won cry without responding, the nurse sensed something was wrong and called for a doctor.

“Patient Lee So-won, congratulations on awakening as an A-rank Guide.

Do you feel discomfort anywhere?”

The doctor approached and examined So-won from head to toe.

Despite the patient crying as if his world had ended, there seemed to be nothing physically wrong.

The doctor looked at him in confusion.

An A-rank Guide who had fainted from awakening shock—and now this reaction upon waking?

It was unprecedented.

He worried about being blamed if something happened to such a valuable A-rank Guide.

“Nurse, please contact the Guide Association and ask for a guide-specialist physician.”

In the end, the doctor chose to pass the responsibility along.

So-won found it absurd even as he cried, hearing congratulations for an awakening that had happened eight years ago.

He was in shock because an Esper had died—
yet no one understood.

Still crying, he looked at the doctor, then noticed the hospital name on the doctor’s badge and felt a sudden sense of wrongness.

He had been at the Esper Association in Incheon, yet this was a university hospital in the middle of Seoul.

The name was familiar.

It was the hospital he had been brought to on the day he awakened at twenty-two.

Feeling unsettled, So-won stopped crying and looked around with tear-soaked eyes.

His gaze landed on a digital clock mounted on the wall.

It was the middle of the night.

The date showed a summer from eight years ago.

Is the clock broken?

No… this must be a dream.

The place was strange.

The doctor was strange.

The clock was strange.

It had to be a dream.

“Um… this is a dream, right?

Is Tae-woo dead?”

The nurse and doctor exchanged uneasy glances.

“This isn’t a dream.

You’ve awakened as an A-rank Guide.

Are you experiencing pain in your head?”

Hearing that it wasn’t a dream, So-won blinked slowly.

Right… dreams never admit they’re dreams.

If this was a dream, then he wanted to see Tae-woo—
Tae-woo who might disappear when he woke up.

Thinking of him again made tears well up in So-won’s eyes.

“Please call Kang Tae-woo…
S-rank Esper Kang Tae-woo, please….”

So-won burst into loud sobs again.

He vaguely heard the doctor panicking and telling someone to contact both the Guide Association and the Esper Association.

So-won could only cry like a child, calling Tae-woo’s name.

Just then, a couple rushed into the emergency room and, hearing a familiar voice, ran straight to So-won.

Seeing him crying so miserably, they shouted in alarm.

“Oh my goodness, So-won!

Where does it hurt?

Why are you crying?

Doctor, what’s wrong with our son?

How badly does it hurt for him to cry like this?!”

It was his mother.

So-won turned toward the familiar voice.

His parents—looking much younger—were staring at him with worried eyes.

For a dream, it was far too detailed.

Yet all So-won could think about was Tae-woo dying in a pool of blood.

“The patient has awakened as an A-rank Guide.

There’s nothing physically wrong, but we’re not sure what’s causing this reaction.

We’ve contacted the Guide Association—”

“A Guide?”

“Kang Tae-woo… Tae-woo….”

Waaah—!

So-won’s crying threw the emergency room into chaos.

Even patients who had come in with minor issues glanced toward him.

So-won felt those looks but didn’t care, continuing to sob and call Tae-woo’s name.

He cried until no tears would come out, screaming Kang Tae-woo’s name again and again.

The doctor and So-won’s parents exchanged grave looks, whispering that something was clearly wrong.

The commotion continued until a doctor rushed over from the Guide Association and declared that there was nothing abnormal about So-won.

***

Whether he fell asleep from exhaustion or woke up from a dream, So-won tried to open his dry, aching eyes through broken memories.

Looking around, he realized he was alone in a private hospital room.

So it really was a dream after all.

I wanted to apologize to Tae-woo at least once… even in a dream.

Tears slid down So-won’s face when he realized he hadn’t seen Tae-woo even there.

His eyes burned from how much he had cried.

“Oh my, So-won, why are you crying again?

Does something hurt?

The doctor said you’re fine….”

Rrrrk.

The hospital room door slid open, and his mother entered with a familiar voice.

“Mom… is Tae-woo dead?”

“Who is Tae-woo?

You’ve been asking for him since yesterday.

Did you have a dream?

You’re not a child anymore—why cry like that over a dream?”

Hearing that she didn’t know Tae-woo, So-won stared at her in shock.

His mother still looked just as young as she had in the emergency room.

Flustered, he couldn’t find his words.

Am I still dreaming?

“Mom… what year is it?”

“2023, of course.

So-won, are you really okay?

Should I call the doctor again?”

Still wanting to believe this was a dream, So-won pinched himself under the blanket.

It hurt.

So this wasn’t a dream.

Then did that mean the last eight years had been… something else?

“So-won, you awakened as an A-rank Guide.

You were always saying you didn’t want to prepare for a job.

Now you don’t have to—shouldn’t you be happy?”

But those eight years were far too vivid.

They were hell.

Every single day had been unbearably long.

So-won recalled the past, Tae-woo’s final image flashing through his mind.

He could still almost smell the blood.

Did I really return to the past?

The thought felt unreal.

Even the phone lying beside him was a model he had used years ago.

He pressed and held the power button.

The screen lit up, showing a date from eight years ago—
the day after he had awakened as a Guide.

Worried by his silence, his mother stepped out to call a nurse.

Watching her leave, So-won suddenly realized something.

I need to search Tae-woo’s name.

Kang Tae-woo.

The moment he typed in the three characters, countless articles appeared beneath a faceless profile.

Thankfully, there was no news reporting his death.

“Haa…”

A deep breath of relief escaped So-won.

He stretched his arms and legs wide and thumped back onto the bed.

Outside the window, the sky was clear, without a single cloud.

He stared at that peaceful sky, entertaining countless strange possibilities—
but nothing happened.

This wasn’t a dream.

Then…
Had he really returned?