Chapter 33 : The Following Gaze (9)

Jisung, who woke up to the hot weather, turned his head at the sound of conversation coming from outside. The Espers were chatting, apparently bored with guarding.

‘Noisy.’

It might be boring to stand in front of the hospital room all day with nothing to do, but wasn’t this too negligent? A few days ago, they were caught off guard and easily defeated by Bae Yejun…

Jisung brushed his disheveled bangs and sat up.

‘In the first place, I was in danger because Hyunwoo was away, and now that we’re together, there’s no need for other Espers to be on guard, is there?’

It was a measure that only further spread Hyunwoo and Yuaan’s fatigue and wasn’t helpful at all.

Jisung stroked his chin for a moment and decided to call the Center Director tomorrow morning to talk about this matter.

He massaged his stiff shoulders after waking up and put on his slippers. As he was about to go and ask them to lower their voices a little, the hospital room door burst open. The young man, who had suddenly lost his place to lean, fell backward with a scream.

“Ouch…!”

The young man, rubbing his back that had hit the floor, looked back and flinched at the sharp eyes staring at him.

Jisung, who had been surprised to see Hyunwoo already awake, for a moment thought that he might not have been able to sleep because of his sensitive hearing.

‘…If I woke up, there’s no way Hyunwoo could have slept…’

And yet, he had been quiet all this time just because he didn’t want to disturb Jisung’s sleep.

Unlike him, Jisung wasn’t so sensitive as to wake up at the slightest sound.

The young man quickly got up from his seat. Cold sweat ran down the faces of the two men who were guarding the door. Hyunwoo’s gaze on them was as cold as ice.

“Get lost.”
“…Y-yes?”
“I said get lost.”
“…B-but…”
“Should I make you leave?”

Hyunwoo raised his hand. At that, the two men’s bodies floated in the air.

“Aaargh! W-wait a minute! I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please give me one more chance!!”

The young man with light brown hair shouted at the top of his lungs. The whole hospital seemed to reverberate with his shouts, and murmurs were heard even from the surrounding hospital rooms.

‘He’s going to wake up all the patients in the hospital at this rate…’

The Esper next to him seemed to have had the same thought, as he reached out his arm and covered his mouth even while floating in the air.

‘Nice…!’

Jisung clenched his fist without realizing it.

“I’m sorry. But we were also given orders… We’ll keep our mouths shut… We’ll be quiet.”

It seemed that the brown-haired kid had been doing all the talking, and the black-haired kid had just been listening and giving short answers. He felt a sense of pity for the Esper he had never seen before. ‘You’re having a hard time too…’

Jisung tugged on Hyunwoo’s collar.

“Yes, why?”

His cold expression instantly softened, and a gentle gaze turned to Jisung. His heart fluttered at the sight of Hyunwoo asking with a gentle voice and a small smile.

“The two of them are here because of a mission, so…”

At that, a look of relief appeared on the two men’s faces. Jisung, leaving them who were looking at him as if he were their lifeline, continued.

“Even though they’re noisy.”
“…!!”

The brown-haired young man looked shocked. His shoulders slumped, and his colleague next to him sighed and shook his head.

“Still, it’s hot outside, so play in the lounge or the convenience store on the first floor… rest. Or go to a PC bang nearby.”
“P-PC bang…?”

The black-haired Esper had a dumbfounded expression as Jisung nodded. At that, the young man pushed him aside and said.

“We may look like this, but we’re A-Rank Espers, so we can’t act freely without a Guide! So we can’t go to a PC bang! For your information, our Guides are sleeping in the lounge, waiting!”

The black-haired Esper was horrified at the sight of the young man answering with sparkling eyes. ‘Why did you have to say that?!’ His expression spoke for itself.

“Then wake up your Guides and go.”

Sunwoo, who had woken up at some point, said, sitting up straight on the sofa. Next to him, Yuaan was leaning his head on his shoulder, staring blankly this way with sleepy eyes. Sunwoo stroked Yuaan’s hair as he yawned.

“But what if something happens…”
“You just have to be in a place not far away, and even if something happens, there are two S-Rank Espers here, so it won’t be settled in an instant, so don’t worry.”

The black-haired Esper, after searching for words to say at Sunwoo’s reply, then closed his mouth.

“Then we’ll go out as ordered!”

The young man, with a happy expression as if he owned the world, grabbed the black-haired Esper’s arm and went out.

“Hey, wait…!”

His protest was ignored, overwhelmed by the young man’s enthusiasm.

[Yahoo! Ditching!!]
[Please be quiet in the hospital!]
[Ugh?! I’m sorry!!]

Jisung let out a small sigh, listening to the fading footsteps.

‘Finally got them out…’

Hyunwoo smiled faintly at him, who was slumping on the bed. Jisung, as if by habit, stroked his jet-black hair as Hyunwoo brought his face close and made eye contact with him.

“I can finally get some sleep now.”
“Yeah.”

Jisung, who had been staring at the shyly smiling Hyunwoo, then turned his head.

“You woke up because it was noisy, right?”

Sunwoo nodded and replied to his question.

“It seems like he’s always a little… active.”
“Hmm…”

Jisung gave a bitter smile, thinking of the brown-haired young man.

‘Black-haired friend… fighting!’

It was still late at night, and Jisung, who was trying to go back to sleep, stared at the ceiling and blinked blankly. Perhaps because of the commotion, he couldn’t fall asleep.

‘…They’ll worry if I toss and turn.’

Of course, even if he didn’t toss and turn, they would immediately notice that he couldn’t fall asleep. Contrary to his desire not to worry them, he couldn’t fall asleep no matter how much he closed his eyes.

“…”
“…Hyung, can’t you sleep?”

He finally had to hear that question from Hyunwoo. Jisung squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. He slowly sat up and said with an apologetic expression.

“I think it’s because I slept too much.”
“…”

Hyunwoo stared at him silently.

“Why, why…?”
“…Hyung, is something bothering you?”
“Uh, uh…?”

Jisung’s eyes widened.

“…Was it, obvious?”

Hyunwoo smiled faintly at his words.

“What did Bae Yejun say to you?”
“…That’s…”
“That’s…?”
“Ah, you scared me!”

Jisung, startled, at the voice that came from the side. His resentful gaze turned to Sunwoo. Sunwoo and Yuaan, who had approached without a sound, sat in the chairs they always sat in, as if it were their designated seats. Jisung, at the sight of the three of them waiting for his words, took a deep breath and then said calmly.

“Well, actually…”
“Actually…?”
“…I received a scouting offer.”
“…Pardon?”

Sunwoo frowned and tilted his head to the side. Jisung smiled faintly at his incomprehensible expression.

“I must have had the same expression.”
“Pardon?”
“He suddenly asked me to be on his side…”
“And so…?”
“I said no, but…”
“Of course, that would be the case.”

Sunwoo nodded as if it were natural. Jisung had initially refused to be a Guide. For him to become a terrorist was too absurd. He was only continuing to be a Guide simply because of Hyunwoo. If Hyunwoo, the reason, was gone, Jisung would have no need to continue doing dangerous things.

“But, what could be the reason?”
“Hmm…?”
“I don’t know why Bae Yejun would go to the trouble of inviting you to be on his side.”
“That’s… because of Hyunwoo, isn’t it? He’s one of the few S-Rank Espers in the world, and I’m Hyunwoo’s Guide. Didn’t he think that if I came, Hyunwoo would naturally come too?”
“If that were the case, I think he would have approached Hyunwoo-hyung in the first place. But he didn’t. He didn’t make such an offer to me or Yuaan-hyung either. Only to you… why would he do that?”

‘I’m curious about that too…’

He had thought it was to lure in an S-Rank Esper, but to think that Sunwoo hadn’t been mentioned at all… why?

“It’s also strange that he suddenly changed his attitude and tried to persuade you after trying to kill you all this time… I don’t think the only reason is that he got a Guide. …As I see it, what they want is not Hyunwoo-hyung, but you, Jisung-hyung.”
“Me…?”
“Yes. He also helped you when you were about to die last time… at that time, Bae Yejun was clearly reluctant to help Hyunwoo-hyung. But he did. Because he had to save you…”

Jisung’s brow furrowed.

“No matter how much I think about it, there’s no reason I can think of…”

As he narrowed his eyes and pouted his lips, Hyunwoo’s hand touched his hair. As he turned his head with a puzzled expression, cat-like eyes stared at him.

“Why, why…?”
“…It’s not because of this, is it?”
“Huh?”
“The thing that’s bothering you, it’s not this, is it?”

‘You’re sharp…’

Jisung ruffled Hyunwoo’s hair with both hands. Hyunwoo, who had widened his eyes at the sudden action, stared blankly at him with his hair in a mess.

Honestly, he was scared to bring up that question. What if it was true…

But.

“…Actually, I heard something strange.”
“Something strange?”

Jisung answered, feeling his lips go dry.

“He said you guys were experimented on at the Center.”