Chapter 28: Then Why Does It Feel Like This?

There was no need for further explanation. Just by the fact that I-hyeon was present, Su-ha could already guess how this training would proceed.

In short, Chaewon would use his power to form a massive protective barrier, and I-hyeon would attack that barrier. The goal was to see how long Chaewon could endure it.

The flames Su-ha had seen and contemplated hundreds of times flickered through his eyes. I-hyeon nodded at him with a bright, easy smile.

“Yes. That’s right. That’s how we’ll do it.”

“…Isn’t it a bit much to ask Chaewon to block the attack of an S-class esper on his own?”

A faint tension settled over the training room. Ye-seon narrowed his eyes, trying to read Su-ha’s intent behind the remark, while Chaewon turned to Su-ha with a startled expression. Su-ha, however, merely faced I-hyeon with an unwavering gaze.

While Chaewon hesitated, unsure whether this was a situation where he should speak up, I-hyeon replied casually.

“Isn’t Esper Lee Chaewon also S-class? I think it’s an appropriate matchup.”

“They may both be S-class, but Chaewon lacks experience, and more importantly, he’s still suffering from severe side effects. …It’ll be difficult for him to handle.”

Su-ha swallowed his words once mid-sentence. For a moment, he almost said, You don’t know anything about Lee Chaewon, and had to forcibly stop the words from spilling out. It was strange.

Even setting aside the question of whether Su-ha himself truly knew Chaewon well, what genuinely unsettled him was the flash of resentment he’d felt toward I-hyeon just now.

This was necessary training. A process Chaewon had to go through. Su-ha understood that. And yet, the idea of making Chaewon, who bled and collapsed every time he pushed his power, block an attack from Min I-hyeon, of all people, filled him with an inexplicable resistance.

‘You don’t know anything. You have no idea how much pain he’s enduring with inhuman perseverance.’

Su-ha bit his lip, recalling the vibrations of Chaewon’s energy he’d felt through guiding. He knew he was the one least qualified to speak about Chaewon’s pain, but even so, he didn’t want to back down.

After watching the subtle tension between the two for a moment, Ye-seon finally spoke.

“S-uha, don’t worry so much. You don’t seriously think Captain Min can’t control himself, do you?”

Ye-seon was right. I-hyeon would never use his full combat power here, and he was more than capable of finely adjusting his strength based on Chaewon’s condition. If anything, I-hyeon was the most suitable person for this training.

And Su-ha knew that too. Rationally, he understood it perfectly.

Yet for some reason, he didn’t want to step back. Just as Su-ha was about to say something more, I-hyeon, who had already shifted his gaze away from Su-ha, looked at Chaewon and asked gently,

“What do you think, Esper Lee Chaewon? You’re the one actually undergoing the training, so you should decide.”

Suddenly put on the spot, Chaewon quietly met the gazes focused on him. The thought that even training exercises most espers wouldn’t object to became complicated simply because he was weak weighed on him slightly, but honestly, those feelings didn’t matter.

After calmly measuring the eyes upon him, Chaewon spoke.

“I’ll try. I might not be able to do it properly right away, but I still want to.”

Then he looked at Su-ha, who had worried about his condition regardless of the reason, and added,

“Thank you for worrying about me. But I still want to try. I’m good at enduring things. I’ll be okay.”

That’s exactly what I don’t like, Su-ha wanted to retort.

For a split second, he nearly said it aloud, but if Chaewon himself was willing to shoulder the burden, there was no reason for Su-ha to forcibly stop him.

Honestly, considering that Su-ha had brought Chaewon into the training room yesterday despite knowing his condition was terrible, he had no right to argue further.

“…Understood.”

Forcing down the countless words he wanted to say, Su-ha answered. Ye-seon didn’t wait and immediately continued.

“Alright. Then let’s begin right away.”

“Yes!”

Chaewon responded energetically before Ye-seon had even finished speaking. Su-ha’s gaze lingered briefly on Chaewon’s face. He couldn’t understand what had him so excited, eyes sparkling like that, he had no idea how strong Min I-hyeon truly was.

Suha swallowed his saliva, his mouth inexplicably dry, and looked away. That was when he noticed Ihyeon watching Chaewon, just as Suha himself had moments ago. There was something subtle in Ihyeon’s eyes—interest, perhaps even fondness—and Suha frowned out of habit.

Just like yesterday, his mood soured.

****

“Chaewon, are you ready?”

Hearing Ye-seon’s voice through the now-familiar microphone, Chaewon took a deep breath, nodded shortly, and closed his eyes. Finding his power no longer required intense focus; it had become almost effortless.

As a blue glow began to rise from Chaewon’s body, I-hyeon’s eyes lit up from where he stood waiting opposite him. He’d watched recordings several times, but this was his first time seeing Chaewon’s power in person.

It was incomparably more dazzling than anything on screen. Now I-hyeon fully understood why Ye-seon had gone so far as to describe it with the embarrassingly grand word holy. His heart raced, and red energy flickered at his fingertips, a sign of I-hyeon’s excitement.

Even for I-hyeon, witnessing another S-class esper’s power from such close range was rare. There was no immunity to the sensation. Every cell in his body bristled, reacting to the surging energy before him.

Standing beside Ye-seon, Su-ha sensed the shift in I-hyeon’s atmosphere and clenched his fist. It was absolutely crucial that I-hyeon remain calm during this training. One wrong move, and Chaewon could be seriously injured.

Whether I-hyeon took interest in others didn’t even register in Su-ha’s mind. He had no room to analyze or rationalize the emotions he was feeling right now.

Meanwhile, Chaewon slowly extended both hands forward and released the power he’d been compressing. The energy surged outward like waves, responding to his will and gathering into a spherical shape in midair. Unable to hide his excitement, Ye-seon spoke into the microphone.

“Good. Now, Chaewon, imagine forming a barrier that can protect five or six people.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the tightly gathered energy spread outward, forming a shield. Chaewon could probably make it larger, but doing so would disperse his power, so they decided to proceed with this scale for now.

Ye-seon allowed himself a moment to savor the scene before him. Imagining this sight unfolding in the middle of a city, before the eyes of countless civilians, stirred his emotions.

Exhaling softly, Ye-seon then turned to I-hyeon.

“Alright, Esper Min I-hyeon. Begin.”

Eunho and the other team members assisting Ye-seon, and everyone standing by in case of emergency, held their breath. The training room filled with tension, and soon after, red flames began to rise from I-hyeon’s body.

****

Chaewon bit his lip. The attack hadn’t even begun yet, but just facing I-hyeon’s power made it hard to breathe.

I-hyeon hadn’t even fully assumed a combat stance, he was merely raising his power, yet the pressure filling the training room was on an entirely different level from anything seen on video.

An instinctive, primal fear surfaced.

‘There’s no way I can block this.’

Even if they were both S-class, how could someone like him, still unable to overcome his side effects, practically a terminal patient, endure an attack from I-hyeon, whose power was likened to that of a god?

The energy wavering in Chaewon’s hands began to dim unconsciously.

“Chaewon.”

Then, a voice he hadn’t expected reached his ears through the microphone. Just hearing his name made Chaewon’s eyes shake violently. The one speaking wasn’t Ye-seon.

It was Jin Su-ha.

Chaewon’s unsteady gaze searched beyond the glass wall until it found Su-ha. Su-ha wore his usual cold, blunt expression, but he didn’t look away. Meeting Chaewon’s eyes head-on, he spoke.

“There are many people and systems here capable of ensuring your safety. This is only training, an evaluation. Nothing here can harm you with malicious intent.”