Chapter 31: Trauma Training

“Ah, so that’s why.”

“No wonder.”

On the way to the training room, I told Hong-gi my story for the first time.

While Hong-gi had vividly recounted everything from his hometown to his experiences on his first field mission, I hadn’t even told him the reason my legs were injured.

“Why?”

“Did I seem childish?”

“No, I just thought you were much older than you look.”

“Because you treated your phone like it was some new piece of technology.”

Hong-gi nodded his head as if he’d finally solved a misplaced puzzle.

“But still… it’s okay if I keep calling you Hyung, right?”

“Call me whatever’s comfortable.”

A relieved Hong-gi took the lead, diligently using his crutches.

Following him around the corner, we entered a long hallway with doors packed tightly together.

“You must have been so shocked.”

“Seventeen is the age you should be in school.”

Right now, I was more shocked by the training room hallway than by my own situation.

I wondered what purpose it was built for, with the rooms clustered together like a honeycomb.

“When I was seventeen, I couldn’t even tell my pee from my poop.”

“Ah, not that I really couldn’t.”

“I was just that immature and my thinking was very childish.”

“But you’re really mature, Hyung.”

“I still can’t really tell them apart either.”

“But is this… the training room?”

I followed Hong-gi, who was opening a door by entering a passcode as if it were an assigned room, and then paused.

I thought the inside would be different despite the narrow doorways, but it was exactly as it appeared.

“It’s pretty small, right?”

“It helps you concentrate that much better.”

“It’s cozy.”

I took in the entire room at a glance without even needing to turn my head and closed the door.

How should I describe this?

There seemed to be no more accurate analogy than a solitary confinement cell in a prison.

It wasn’t a poor environment, but it was a small, empty space that couldn’t be called good either.

With nothing much to look at, I scanned the dark gray walls and then narrowed my eyes.

Looking closely, it wasn’t ordinary wallpaper.

“You’ve been to the audio-visual room at school, right?”

“It’s similar to the soundproof walls they use there.”

“It looks more unusual than a soundproof wall.”

“Apparently, this looks white to civilians.”

“They say the more sensitively you detect wavelengths, the darker the wall appears.”

“What color does it look like to you, Hyung?”

“Black?”

“Oh.”

It was about a dark gray, but I exaggerated a little.

Hong-gi said it looked like a foggy sky to him and gestured widely at the wall.

“They say this is a special wall used in Esper containment facilities.”

“No matter how much you use your abilities and go crazy in here, it’s useless.”

Hong-gi, who had walked to the end of the long, narrow room, looked at the door I had my back to.

“For example, Teleportation Espers like us can’t leave this room even if we try to go out the door.”

“Like this.”

Hong-gi, who had been standing at the end of the wall, instantly teleported next to me.

It seemed he had originally intended to go out the door.

“They say that if you try to use a strong offensive ability, it gets absorbed by the wall.”

“That’s why we’re the only ones who use this wall for training rooms.”

“What kind of training do you do in here?”

“Overcoming trauma.”

Hong-gi pressed the light switch, and as the lights went out, a grid of blue lines was revealed on the floor.

Hong-gi walked to the center of the checkerboard-like floor and continued his explanation slowly.

“As you’ve probably heard, Hyung, we have the highest accident rate among Espers.”

“My peers, even if they don’t lose a foot like me, there are plenty of them who have had their toenails or fingernails pulled out.”

That kid had a cheerful way of telling such a gruesome story.

He said it was rare for the torso to be separated, and that you usually lose hands and feet, then arms and legs, in that order.

He said the most common was a fingernail and showed me his blunt hand.

“Fingernails and toenails grow back quickly, so it’s okay, but the mental shock still remains.”

“Like, ‘Ah, if I’m not careful, I’ll act up like Choi Hong-gi and lose a foot!'”

“Something like that.”

Hong-gi, leaning on his crutch, swung his empty right leg, which didn’t yet have a prosthesis.

“When that shock accumulates and you become more fearful, it interferes with your ability to use your powers.”

“They say there are people who can’t use their abilities for months because they got traumatized by an accident where they lost a single finger.”

Hong-gi shrugged as if he didn’t understand them.

It was understandable that he wouldn’t, given his bright personality even after losing a foot.

“This is a training room prepared for those trauma patients.”

“Even a rookie can move this distance without any trouble.”

“It’s a space designed to maximize concentration, so there’s no chance of an accident.”

When the long crutch tapped the square pattern on the floor three times, it turned white.

Hong-gi tapped each corner of the wall in the same way, creating a total of five white squares.

“On the first day of training, you just have to repeatedly move between the five points.”

“There’s no need to time the movements.”

“It’s training to get used to using your ability.”

Hong-gi finished explaining the training method and showed an example by teleporting himself.

Hong-gi landed and stood precisely on the white squares without any error.

I lost track of time watching Hong-gi, who was disappearing and reappearing right before my eyes.

“Hey, you’re really good.”

“It took me a week!”

Hong-gi made a V-sign with his fingers at me as I clapped in admiration.

A drop of sweat fell on his brightly raised cheek.

It looked easy, but it seemed to consume a lot of stamina.

“I’m planning to graduate from this room after one more week.”

“I need to get outside quickly.”

Hong-gi wiped the sweat from his face and, in addition to the training method, told me what else he had learned.

While I listened intently to the precautions for the teleportation process, my eyes kept straying to Hong-gi’s right leg.

Just as Hong-gi had said, just watching was a great help.

Although it was a stuffy space, my concentration definitely increased to the point where I could sense the amplified wavelength when teleportation occurred.

I felt like if I kept watching, I would be able to read the flow.

I promised to observe Hong-gi’s training again tomorrow and left without being late.

I deliberately chose the less crowded back exit to avoid running into colleagues who might recognize me.

I stopped the wheels for a moment and took out my phone from the auxiliary bag Yeong-u-hyung had attached to the wheelchair.

I had put my phone in the bag, worried I might lose it outside as well.

“Call a taxi, where is it.”

After checking that the pencil I’d received as homework was safe in the bag, I looked for the taxi app.

Yeong-u-hyung had installed this too and taught me how to use it.

He said he had saved his home address, so I didn’t need to tell the driver the destination.

The world had certainly become a convenient place to live.

Vzzzt-

Just as I was about to look for the taxi app, a yellow notification window popped up.

It was a text from Yeong-u-hyung.

“How many have come…”

I tapped the notification window without thinking and was startled.

Including the one that had just arrived, there were texts piled up in a line.

Starting with a text sent around the time I arrived at the Medical Center, he had contacted me almost every hour.

After asking if I had arrived safely, there were messages full of encouragement, telling me not to overdo it.

Even though I hadn’t replied once, he had diligently sent them.

chat

[Where are you?]

19:28

As soon as I read the last text, I called Hyung.

As the ringing tone sounded, Hyung’s voice came through.

– Are you done?

Unlike the densely packed text messages, his voice was calm.

“Yes, I just saw the texts now.”

“I’m sorry.”

– It’s okay.

– Where are you?

“I’m at the back exit of the hospital.”

“I was about to grab a taxi.”

– Let’s go together.

– I’ll go there.

“Where are you, Hyung?”

– Stay right there.

– Don’t go anywhere.

– Got it?

The call ended abruptly before I could even answer.

‘Where is he that he talks like he’ll be here in a second?’

Puzzled, I just sat blankly in my wheelchair as Hyung had told me to.

‘I should have contacted him.’

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of Yeong-u-hyung, so why hadn’t I sent a single text?

Thinking of Yeong-u-hyung, who had filled the chat window all by himself, made my heart feel heavy.

“I got here quick, right?”

Yeong-u-hyung, who appeared while grabbing the wheelchair handles, was panting.

It looked like he had run here in a frenzy.

“You didn’t have to run.”

“You were waiting.”

Yeong-u-hyung, after catching his breath for a moment, shook his phone and said he had called a taxi.

It was the same model as mine.

“The taxi will be here soon.”

“In two minutes.”

Yeong-u-hyung’s cheeks were flushed from running so hard he was sweating.

His neck was as damp as Hong-gi’s had been after an hour of training.

Even though it was evening, it was summer, so the weather was hot, which seemed to make him sweat more.

“Did you come to pick me up?”

I asked as I wiped the sweat dripping from Yeong-u-hyung’s cheek.

“…Yeah.”

Hyung glanced at me nervously, as if he thought I would dislike him for showing up without a word.

‘He doesn’t need to do that anymore.’

“It’s your first time coming home alone.”

“And you’ve never called a taxi before.”

“You’re really like a lover.”

Feeling sorry for not replying to his texts, I deliberately responded playfully.

Hyung, relieved to see my smiling face, gave a much brighter smile in return.

It was the smile I had wanted to see as I swiped through his profile pictures.

“Should I roll up your sleeves?”

“Huh?”

“You look hot.”

Hyung, who had come out wearing a long-sleeved shirt in the summer, couldn’t stop sweating.

‘Long sleeves in this weather.’

Just looking at him made me feel hot.

“Ah, it’s okay.”

“It’ll be cold inside the taxi.”

“Because of the air conditioning.”

Yeong-u-hyung, who instead pulled his sleeves down to his palms, pushed the wheelchair, saying the taxi was almost here.

A strange sense of disappointment lingered as his smiling face disappeared from my sight.