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Class ended. The moment Lee Chae stepped outside, a voice came from behind.
“Babe, did you survive without me? Is that cute little ass still safe?”
Only one person in the world combined that low timbre with shameless, neighborhood-broadcast-level perverted lines: Cha Haejin.
Shockingly, instead of rage, Lee Chae felt… glad?
He realized Jae-hyung’s disappearance wasn’t monster-related; it was because this lunatic had returned.
He almost turned around smiling, then caught himself and kept walking.
Haejin casually draped an arm over his shoulder like nothing happened.
“Our brilliant Lee Chae, did you miss hyung?”
“…”
“Hyung almost died wanting japchae.”
It wasn’t even funny—pure kindergarten humor—yet a laugh slipped out.
More baffling than funny.
They say you laugh when something’s so absurd you lose your mind; that must be it.
“Huh? Huh? Our Lee Chae laughed! Krrrr… got it. You like this kind of gag.”
Lee Chae had tried to ignore him, but the fear of endless repeats forced a response.
“I didn’t laugh because it was funny. I laughed because it was ridiculous.”
“Fine, fine. We were apart for over 40 hours—hyung will let anything slide. Speaking of which, I have a request.”
Lee Chae stopped dead.
The nerve.
He had no right to ask for anything.
A sigh escaped.
“To celebrate our reunion… deep kiss?”
“…”
Lee Chae stared in disbelief for two full minutes before the meaning sank in—he shuddered.
He felt pathetic for missing this guy even a little because of Jae-hyung’s torture.
What 1970s pervert movie taught him lines like that?
This lunatic is saying what now…
His head spun.
Yet his eyes kept sliding to Haejin’s lips.
Am I the crazy one?
He shook his head violently and looked away.
“Talk bullsh*t somewhere else.”
He didn’t want to be near Haejin for even a second and bolted in the opposite direction.
He ran until his lungs burned and the world spun.
Haejin didn’t chase.
Where he was headed was obvious; even if Haejin followed, he couldn’t enter the cleanup crew treatment room—just wait outside like a dog.
Does he really hate me that much?
He’d hoped the time apart might soften him a little, but that unwelcoming face, those furrowed brows full of disgust, stung.
Ah! I came straight from the hunt—maybe he hates the way I look right now? Even I know looks are my only good point…
Convinced that was the problem, Haejin turned back.
He’d shower at Legion, clean up nice, then treat Lee Chae to dinner when his shift ended.
That plan shattered the moment he met Jae-hyung and Jin-woo at Legion.
Haejin proudly recounted today’s events—what he said on the way to the cleanup crew, everything he’d done for Lee Chae so far.
At first the two begged him to stop rotting their ears with lovey-dovey talk.
Then Haejin sighed, “Love is hard…”
And they started listening.
The more he talked, the weirder their faces got.
Mouths slowly opened, eyes turned pitying, sighs followed.
Finally Haejin stopped and blinked.
Jae-hyung jumped in.
“Excuse me, Mr. Romance-Handicapped Leader… Even someone who’s never been interested in dating knows you don’t act like a creepy old pervert and expect to be liked.”
“What? Creepy old pervert?!”
Haejin shot up, fist raised.
Jin-woo blocked him.
“Jae-hyung, that lunatic won’t understand if you say it like that. And you, crazy bastard—don’t hit him. Put your hand on your heart and think why he’s saying this.”
Haejin lowered his fist.
Not exactly reflecting, but… zero progress despite all his effort meant something was wrong.
This was his first time liking anyone, first time wanting to date, first time having a guide—everything was hard.
Watching him, Jae-hyung clutched his chest in frustration.
Jin-woo sighed and asked:
“Haejin, what do you think your selling points are?”
“Uh… face?”
“Fine, hate to admit it but yes. Face, body, and?”
“Explosive sexiness?”
Jin-woo nodded with a rotting expression.
“Let’s say that too! Now—what’s the really important one?”
Haejin mumbled, unable to answer.
Jae-hyung burst:
“Specs! S-class esper, hero who wins massive battles, founder of the only private organization at Management University, Legion—overflowing selling points!”
Haejin scoffed.
“You don’t know Jung Lee Chae. He doesn’t give a damn about any of that. Hates espers, hates receiving help. I told him I’d give him time and money for dating and he completely shut down.”
Jin-woo and Jae-hyung exchanged looks: Where do we even start with this hopeless case?
Jin-woo sighed again.
“Listen, Cha Haejin. Who told you to throw money at him? We said appeal, appeal! Fine, too hard—let’s put it this way. Imagine an S-class guide. Insanely hot. You’re not repulsed at first. But he stalks you relentlessly and spouts cringe pervert lines. How would you feel?”
Haejin thought, then asked quietly:
“…Lee Chae did that?”
“No, you f*cking—japchae’s not S-class!”
“Ah, some other guide? Then I’d hate it. Want to punch him in the face.”
“…Exactly. That feeling you just had? That’s what Lee Chae feels every time he sees you.”
Haejin’s face crumpled like the world ended.
Jin-woo and Jae-hyung couldn’t say more.
Truth always hurts, but knowing it and not knowing it are worlds apart.
They had no choice but to tell their leader the truth.
“No… no way.”
As expected, he denied reality first.
“It can’t be. He said it himself—he doesn’t hate me.”
He searched for proof the uncomfortable truth was wrong.
“So that’s why he kept telling me to f*ck off…?”
Doubt crept in.
“What do I do…?”
Finally accepted it—and made a tearful face.
The two witnesses put their heads together and strategized.
They whispered for a long time.
Haejin heard nothing.
First love—100% matching guide—might actually hate him.
Shock only.
Come to think of it, Lee Chae had always been weird.
When he heroically appeared in the practice room to save him from bullies—Lee Chae didn’t look happy.
When he kissed him to relieve the imprint pain—get lost.
When he gave him meat—Lee Chae chewed like it was paper.
When he poured affection into confessions—creepy old pervert.
Everything he thought was flirting was actually I want to punch you?
While Haejin drowned in despair, the two finished their meeting and spoke in unison:
“From now on, listen carefully.”
“Yeah. Hyung, just do exactly what we say.”
Cleanup Crew Treatment Room.
Lee Chae was drenched in cold sweat.
Non-gate areas were seeing attacks by non-shadow intangibles on low-rank espers.
Not lethal, but even small attacks were devastating to the poor and powerless.
Yeo-jun guided wave after wave of injured espers and sighed deeply.
“This is bad. What are the high-ranks doing? Do they even know this is happening?”
The words “high-rank esper” made someone pop into Lee Chae’s head.
He sighed too.
That someone was supposedly out racking up merits, but seemed far more interested in romance than hunting.
For some reason, though, he didn’t want to badmouth him in front of Yeo-jun.
Maybe because the guy did save a kid once.
It made Lee Chae uncomfortable.
You’ve got to see this next! How to Catch Returnee will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : How to Catch Returnee
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