Chapter 33: Home

“Yoon Bomi!”

I called out the name of my only sibling, whom I had momentarily doubted upon seeing her profile pass by.

It was a reunion after a full six years.

I almost didn’t recognize her if I had just seen her on the street.

I would have walked right past her if she hadn’t been carrying a large Baskin Robbins ice cream cake box under her arm and spooning a quarter-sized container with one hand.

A laugh burst out at the consistent behavior of the mukbang master.

“Oh, you’re here.”

Judging by her raising the ice cream cake box and waving it as if it were a gift, she seemed glad to see me.

No matter how much we fought and bickered, this was family I hadn’t seen in six years.

No, not just any family.

“Have you been well?”

‘My sister, my golden pig who led me to the lottery.’

“…Yeah.”

Bomi, feeling awkward from Bodam’s cringeworthy tone, replied curtly.

She pulled the pink spoon from her mouth, put it into the ice cream container, and closed the lid.

This quarter-sized container was a sign that it was hers alone.

“I didn’t recognize you because you grew your hair out, you know.”

“…Are you drunk?”

“You’ve become much prettier, my little sister.”

“You f*cker.”

Bomi, who replied with a curse that rolled off her tongue, immediately turned around and ran off first.

Bodam chased after her, letting out a refreshing laugh.

Thanks to Bomi’s excellent athletic ability, which was incomparable to his own, the distance between them didn’t close at all.

There was a time when Bodam was ahead, and Bomi was always chasing him from behind, throwing punches.

We’ve grown up so much, haven’t we?

“Bomi!”

‘Thank you, my honey pig.’

“Don’t run, it’s dangerous. You might fall!”

“What’s wrong with him, he must be crazy!”

‘How lucky that I don’t know your birthday.’

***

As expected, Bodam was laid up with illness.

A headache began to set in, and his fever quickly rose from the moment he ran after Bomi, who fled like an arrow without looking back.

It was funny how his body reacted so quickly just from a little bit of running.

It wasn’t a self-deprecating laugh but a playful one.

Even though he was sick, his mind was like a field of canola flowers, and he was nothing but happy.

“Mom’s going to Auntie’s house and will be back late tonight, so you’re really not going to call?”

“Yeah, Oppa’s fine, I want to sleep a bit.”

“Ugh, I’m going to seal that ‘Oppa’ sound right out of your mouth.”

Bomi, who had opened Bodam’s door to check on him, swung her arm in the air.

Seeing that she didn’t directly use her fist, he wondered if she really had grown up.

If it had been when they were younger, one of Bodam’s limbs would surely have been bruised by now.

Bomi, who looked down at Bodam chuckling to himself at old memories, clipped her long hair back and tilted her head.

“Did you just come for a moment?”

Bodam gave no answer to her casual question.

He seemed to have taken his medicine, collapsed onto the bed, and fallen asleep right away.

Why would he get sick as soon as he got home?

Bomi, who had been staring at the light brown back of his head as he lay on his side, remembered the unfinished ice cream and went back out.

Click.

Bodam, whose brief sleep was broken by the sound of the door closing, rubbed his eyes.

“Yawn—.”

He let out a big yawn and rolled onto his back, facing the ceiling.

Feeling completely unburdened, his clear mind chased away sleep.

His mind was wide awake, but his relaxed body slumped down.

Even while cursing freely and speaking his mind, being born with a timid nature, his tightly clenched fists were actually uncoolly trembling.

‘You little guy, so cute.’

He chuckled, saying his timid nature hadn’t gone anywhere, and let out a light sigh.

Then he spread out his palm, deeply marked with fingernail indentations, and stretched his arm long towards the ceiling.

He repeatedly opened and closed his hand.

‘…….’

His wrist was fine.

The throbbing pain in his wrist, where he wore his watch, had completely disappeared.

He rubbed his restored wrist, as if wondering when it had even been injured, and fell into thought.

After being drenched in the pouring rain and guiding Han Seung Ho like crazy, his wrist had recovered.

This made it the second time.

That Han Seung Ho had healed him.

“Who asked him to do it?”

That healing ability, which even abundant money couldn’t easily procure, was used for a mere cold and a slightly sprained wrist.

An ambiguous question mark settled in his mind and spun around.

Why did he heal me?

“Maybe he’s disappointed now that I’m actually quitting.”

Bodam, pouting, recalled Han Seung Ho’s icy expression and concluded that it couldn’t be true.

He wasn’t the kind of person to feel regret for a Guide who was leaving of their own accord.

It was Han Seung Ho, of all people.

A person so devoid of warmth that it wouldn’t feel strange even if blue blood flowed when pricked, or if he turned out to be a robot.

Han Seung Ho consistently maintained the attitude of a bystander, keeping a step back from everything.

He was a person who, despite possessing a miraculous healing ability bestowed by heaven, routinely passed by dying people indifferently.

But why?

Bodam, who had been toying with his healed wrist and chasing the tail of the question, decided, ‘Who cares?’

Anyway, there was no way he’d find an answer just by racking his brain alone.

It was insufficient for an ordinary person’s common sense to keep up with the thoughts of crazy b*stards.

He shook off the miscellaneous thoughts and looked around his small room, which had been empty for a long time.

He propped a pillow behind his neck, got into the most comfortable position, and took in the unchanging layout and objects.

The only difference was that the spot where his computer should have been was empty.

Bomi said she would use it, but since it wasn’t there, it seemed to have been discarded due to age.

Even in high school, it was an old junker that would stutter just from installing one game.

He and Bomi had fought endlessly over who would get to use it.

Gradually saving up since he started receiving a salary, the first significant amount of money he spent on himself was for a laptop.

The thrilling moment when he got a laptop that he alone could use, without needing to decide turns with his sister, had remained vividly in his memory.

It had also served as motivation to work even harder.

Indeed, for a person to be happy, they needed money.

As much as possible.

“Thank you….”

Thinking of money, an expression of gratitude automatically popped out instead of a sigh.

Bodam, growing increasingly drowsy after taking cold medicine, pulled the blanket up to his chin.

Since he didn’t have to worry about going to work, even the bad cold didn’t feel like a big deal.

The reality that he didn’t have to frantically catch up on guiding sessions missed due to sick leave, or worry about the Espers’ b*stards moods, felt like a dream.

He wanted to sink into the medicine’s haze and fall into a deep slumber just like this.

Since joining Attack Team 3, there had been countless nights he had tossed and turned.

Bodam, lying down at ease, habitually picked up his phone.

He was in the perfect state to browse his phone for a bit before falling asleep.

Thinking of messaging Jo Yeon that he had arrived home, he pressed the messenger app.

“Oh, for f*ck’s sake.”

Above Jo Yeon’s message asking if he had arrived safely, an unwelcome name floated.

[I won’t contact you, so don’t block me.]

“What’s wrong with this b*stard….”

Lee Tae Hwan also added to the question mark Han Seung Ho had given him.

Indeed…

Lee Tae Hwan wasn’t exactly free of obsession with Guides, so Bodam understood him a tiny bit.

He didn’t know how he was before, but he felt it while watching him constantly grill him about his movements and the Espers he met.

At first, he acted with little interest, but then at some point, he suddenly changed and revealed an unknown obsession.

It was different from a typical Esper’s obsession.

His obsession was not affection or interest, but harassment.

“Yeah, block.”

Bodam, making a sour face, tapped the round profile picture and was about to block him, but accidentally entered the chat window instead.

As soon as the number 1 next to Lee Tae Hwan’s message disappeared, a new message arrived.

It was as if he, who had clearly sent his last message hours ago, had continuously been keeping the chat window open.

[Don’t block me.]

“But I want to.”

[I won’t bother you.]

“I’m already bothered.”

[You don’t have to reply.]

“Who said anyone was going to reply?”

[Just don’t block.]

***

Bodam, who had left him on read and muttered retorts aloud, exited the chat window at the last message.

The question mark toward that b*stard Lee Tae Hwan, who was sending a barrage of messages, even omitting spaces because he was typing so fast, grew even darker.

He held his phone and just stared at it for a moment, as if looking at the wrist Han Seung Ho had healed.

What this b*stard was doing was exactly like…

[Don’t die.]

Bodam, frowning, didn’t tap the last message that still had the number 1.

Actually, he wanted to tap it, just a tiny bit.

He was curious about what had happened to Kang Yi Jun.

Team Leader Kim had only given him a vague answer, saying that he must have been taken into custody.

In truth, Yi Jun’s unstable wavelength bothered him.

It was an irresistible force.

A 96% matching rate affected not only the Esper but also the Guide.

Among his assigned Espers, Kang Yi Jun was the one Bodam reacted most strongly to and whose wavelength he perceived most keenly.

If four Espers fell into the water together, Bodam’s instincts would make him reach out to Kang Yi Jun, who had the highest matching rate.

Though only for a brief moment, his feet had slowed at Yi Jun’s voice, which repeatedly told him not to go while being drenched in the pouring rain.

He had almost been swayed by him, not by reason, but by his instinct as a Guide.

Cough.

He rubbed his warm forehead while looking at the quiet phone screen.

When even Bodam’s leaving him on read stopped, Lee Tae Hwan no longer sent messages.

He blew away his needlessly deepening thoughts with a cough.

With a calm expression, he moved his finger without hesitation.

He entered the chat window with Lee Tae Hwan one last time.

With all his heart and full sincerity, he wrote his final farewell.

[It was disgusting being with you, let’s never meet again!]

At the same time as sending all sorts of pictures of middle fingers, he blocked him.

He also didn’t forget to leave the chat room.

“Hiyah.”

Bodam, who placed a hand on his thin chest and patted it, felt as if he had chugged an entire jar of cool dongchimi broth.

His chest felt so clear, he felt as if his body, still glued to the bed, would float away.

If it weren’t for the sleep gradually creeping in, he would have been on the verge of levitating.

After messaging Jo Yeon that he had arrived home safely and would go to bed early, he put down his phone.

He wanted to fall asleep before his cough got worse.

It seemed his body was more tired from thinking, so he felt like he could fall asleep quickly.

“Ah….”

Bodam, frowning as he rolled onto his side, suddenly cried out loudly.

“Bomi! Bomi!”

As he raised his voice, a cracked sound came out.

Hearing this, Bomi, who had been in her room eating ice cream with crushed cookies mixed in, rushed in.

Recalling her older brother’s thin and gaunt appearance, which she hadn’t seen in a long time, she wondered if something had happened.

“What? What? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Turn off the light, please.”

Even after hearing his sister’s nostalgic string of curses, Bodam quickly fell asleep as he wished.

His relaxed body clung to the cozy bed, giving him a pleasant sense of comfort.

Thanks to Bomi, who turned off the light before leaving despite cursing, his comfort was doubled.

He felt like he could sleep soundly.

It had been a very long day.