Chapter 30: Seeds of Doubt

Hyung was as tight-lipped about himself as he was about hiding the fact that we were imprinted.

Even though he told me to ask him anything I was curious about, he would dodge the question whenever I asked about him.

Aran-noona, who had kept her mouth shut while concentrating on driving, only answered after we were stopped by another red light.

“You said you were tired of the restrictive team life and went freelance.”

“Yeong-u is your partner, so he left with you.”

‘…Is that all?’

I watched Aran-noona, waiting for her to continue.

I felt like there had to be another reason.

“It’s common to go back and forth.”

“Espers who are imprinted, like you, don’t necessarily have to live the team life.”

“But why is Yeong-u-hyung at home?”

“Why didn’t he come back to the team with me?”

“Because Yeong-u likes to be alone.”

“He’s not the type to fit in well with group life.”

Although I didn’t know Yeong-u-hyung in detail yet, his homebody tendencies seemed strong.

He did seem like the type who preferred to be alone rather than hang out with many people.

“But why are you asking me instead of asking Yeong-u directly?”

“He doesn’t talk about himself much.”

Feeling like I had become someone who digs around behind people’s backs, I shifted my gaze out the window as if I had no more questions.

I wanted to ask more about Hyung, but I didn’t.

As Aran-noona said, it seemed better to ask him directly.

“Then you should talk a lot.”

“Don’t keep things bottled up inside.”

Aran-noona, who was holding the steering wheel with only one hand, rested her left elbow on the window frame.

Aran-noona, who drove much more calmly than Seung-jun, also spoke in a gentle tone.

Even though she seemed indifferent, I could feel that she was listening to my words.

“If you guys don’t tell us, we won’t know.”

I answered that I understood and watched the scenery outside the window until the car stopped.

The clear summer sky was nice to look at.

It was such a clear day that I felt it was a shame Yeong-u-hyung, who was always at home, couldn’t see this sky.

I thought I would start walking practice right away since I applied for gait training, but I had been standing for two hours straight.

“If you feel any pain in the middle, please tell me right away.”

The rehabilitation therapist, who had just arrived, said to me, who was firmly strapped into the safety harness of the standing frame.

Two of them were taking turns watching my training.

“If your wavelength level rises by more than 2%, we’ll stop the training immediately.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

The therapist, who was alternately checking the monitor screen with the tiresome numbers and my complexion, adjusted his glasses.

The last digit of the number, which was maintaining 48%, would occasionally hit ‘9’ before dropping back down.

Just by standing, that d*mn number was reacting sensitively.

“Get the idea of walking and running overnight out of your head.”

The therapist, who had read my sullen expression, adjusted the angle of the table and told me to at least rest my arms on it.

I was concentrating in a proper posture to circulate the wavelength, which moved along the bloodstream, down to my toes.

“I’m bored.”

Concentration wasn’t as easy as I thought.

I just felt like I was being punished, standing in front of a school locker.

“Think of it as cultivating your mind as well.”

“Mental and physical stability is essential for Espers.”

“Be careful of your levels, awake or asleep.”

“Check your lowered levels again.”

The therapist, who clenched both his fists, checked his watch and recorded the level on the chart.

He was recording the changes in my wavelength level every 15 minutes.

When the level seemed to be rising, he would guide me to take deep breaths, helping me learn to calm my wavelength on my own.

“You said you can’t control your strength yet, right?”

“Yes.”

The therapist, who put down the chart, took out a pen from his chest pocket and held it out to me.

“Try holding this.”

“If you’re right-handed, use your left hand.”

“I’m ambidextrous.”

Since it was the same no matter which hand I used, I grabbed it with my right hand, which was closest to the pen.

Then the therapist suddenly screamed, “Waack!”

He even clapped his hands loudly.

Startled by the sudden loud noise, I ended up breaking the pen in my hand.

I had clenched my fist without realizing it.

“Now, this shouldn’t happen.”

“Imagine this pen was your Guide’s wrist.”

“Horrifying, isn’t it?”

“There are plenty of surprising things that happen in the field.”

“Never let your guard down.”

The therapist, who took back the pen that had been broken in half, took out six more pens from his desk drawer.

Unlike the other therapist who was a civilian, he was an Esper himself, so he treated me much more comfortably.

Among the Medical Center staff, there was an even mix of civilians and people with abilities.

“First, try applying pressure slowly, step by step, from one to ten.”

“Since you’re ambidextrous, let’s do it with both hands.”

“Can’t we do it with something else instead of a pen?”

“Like unused wooden chopsticks.”

“It’s not mine; it’s Center property, so you can break them all.”

The therapist, who warned me not to break them on purpose, counted the numbers so slowly it was suffocating.

It took almost ten minutes to get from one number to the next.

It seemed he wanted me to maintain a constant force, so I followed without a word.

“Including this one, you’ve broken exactly twenty-one.”

The therapist, who was lining up the broken pens on the desk, clapped his hands and stopped the training.

There was no more room to put them on the desk.

“From now on, we’ll do strength control training along with the standing training.”

“Walking comes after the cast is removed.”

After four hours, I was freed from the standing frame and returned to my wheelchair.

All I did was stand and fiddle with my hands, but I was sweating so much that my back was soaked.

“For the next training session, let’s set a goal of breaking only up to twenty.”

“I’ll come at the same time tomorrow.”

“You’re doing it tomorrow too?”

“It’s better to rest for a day.”

“It’s okay.”

“It wasn’t hard.”

The therapist, who placed his hand on the shattered pens, said he would add electrotherapy tomorrow then.

As long as it wasn’t just standing like today, anything was fine.

“Wow…”

Wiping my sweat with a towel, I looked at the therapist in admiration.

He was restoring the broken pens to their original state.

He must be a Restoration ability user.

“There’s nothing to be surprised about.”

“My rank is low, so I can’t restore anything bigger than a pen.”

“Still.”

“It’s my first time seeing it, so it’s amazing.”

I pushed my wheelchair to the front of the desk and touched the restored pens one by one.

It was the first time I had seen a superpower in person since Esper Min Ji-oh disappeared via teleportation.

“It’s more amazing that you’re amazed, Team Leader Kim.”

The therapist, who put the pens back into the stationery box, tapped his own mouth at the title that had slipped out naturally.

He would consciously call me by my name, but sometimes he would call me Team Leader Kim.

He said he knew me from before.

“You can call me that comfortably.”

“No.”

“When receiving treatment, the patient should be more comfortable.”

“It’s burdensome if an old man like me calls you Team Leader-nim.”

The therapist, who had been with me since being assigned to me during my first rehabilitation session, knew all about my situation.

“Your next check-up is on Monday.”

“That’s the day after tomorrow, so ask them then if you can get your cast removed.”

“Okay.”

While I changed out of my sweaty clothes, the therapist organized his tools.

I checked the clock, which was already past six, and spoke to the therapist.

“You said you first met me when an Esper from our team was hospitalized, right?”

“What?”

“Ah, yes.”

“We met for the first time then.”

He had introduced himself as being in charge of the rehabilitation of an Esper from Barrier Team 3, where I was the Team Leader.

At the time, my mind was so focused on my broken legs that the therapist’s words didn’t register.

Only now did I have the capacity to show interest.

“Who was hospitalized back then?”

“Ah… um, it was Park something.”

The therapist, trying to recall an old memory, frowned as if he couldn’t remember well.

“It was almost five or six years ago.”

“His last name was Park.”

In that case, it wasn’t Aran-noona, nor was it Tae Seung-jun or Hwang Gyu-tae.

‘Is there another team member?’

“Take this with you.”

Before I left the therapy room, the therapist tossed me not a pen, but a pencil.

I hurriedly caught it, almost breaking the pencil as well.

Fortunately, thanks to the practice, I caught the pencil with an appropriate grip.

“Hold it in your hand when you sleep.”

“It’s homework.”

It was the first time I’d received homework in a long time.

I answered that I would and made sure to keep the pencil so I wouldn’t forget.

‘I must not break this one.’

I vowed to myself as I pushed the wheels of my wheelchair.

The rehabilitation therapy took longer than I thought.

Since I told Yeong-u-hyung I would be home by 8, I had to leave by 7:30.

I only had an hour left.

“Chul-soo-hyung!”

Just as I was calculating my return time, a bright voice suddenly approached.

It was the voice of Hong-gi, who resembled a boiled dumpling.

“You’re allowed to use your ability?”

I pulled a chair for Hong-gi, who had appeared out of thin air via teleportation, and told him to sit.

While at Yeong-u-hyung’s house, I had exchanged a few texts with Hong-gi and learned that he was a Teleportation ability user.

“Actually, I teleported from just outside the door.”

“I’m still too scared to do long distances.”

Hong-gi pointed to the lounge door right in front of us and giggled.

Hong-gi, whose ability had manifested not long ago, said he had been in an accident while teleporting on his first field mission.

“I can move up to five meters now.”

“My training teacher told me to increase it little by little.”

“And not to think about doing long-distance teleportation like before all at once.”

Hong-gi, whose rank was higher than he looked, used teleportation skillfully for a rookie, but that very point became his downfall.

The accident occurred because he had trusted his rank and used his ability excessively from his very first mission.

As a result, he lost his right foot and had to undergo retraining for a month.

Hong-gi, who sent this heavy story mixed with cute emoticons, seemed to have strong mental fortitude.

Even though his face looked even weaker than Yeong-u-hyung’s.

“Should we go straight to the training room?”

“If we go now, we can use it for exactly one hour.”

“An hour is enough.”

When I told him I was also a Teleportation ability user, Hong-gi’s face had lit up, suggesting we train together.

When I said my level was much lower and I wasn’t at the stage to start training yet, he said he would teach me what he had learned.

“I’ll go ahead and hold the elevator.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks.”

I was convinced by his words that just watching him practice would be helpful, and so we set a date like this.

For me, it was a grateful offer.