Chapter 42: The Choice That Isn’t Mine Alone

“This isn’t something you even need to think about, Mr. Jin Se-hyeon.”

He must’ve assumed my silence meant I was considering his offer.

So he kept talking, nonstop.

“Let’s say you ultimately refuse our proposal.
Then the Management Bureau won’t have any excuse to overlook your illegal activities.
Best-case scenario, you end up in prison.
Worst case, you’re on the run.
And what about Student Seon Jaeyul then?
You can’t run for the rest of your life holding his hand.”

It felt like someone smashed the back of my head.

The Support Agency wasn’t very different from the Six-Point Star.

Persuade first.
Threaten afterward.

Except instead of crude murder threats, they used something worse — authority, force, and legal power.

If it were only me, I could handle being a fugitive.

I never wanted anything to do with the Academy or the Center anyway.

Rejecting them had been easy.

But dragging Jaeyul into a fugitive’s life?

Forcing him to abandon dreams he hadn’t even begun to chase?

Wouldn’t that make me worse than the adults who once hurt him?

“I’ll be clear.
If you stubbornly refuse, you will face punishment for your crimes.
Do you truly think Student Seon would want that?”

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know what was best for him.

“Let’s end the questioning here.
My proposal remains valid until next time, so think about it carefully.”

Was there even a “right” choice?

“I’m Yoon Sera, by the way.
See you again.”

It felt like I was walking with a massive bomb strapped to my back.

Every step was heavy.

The way home felt impossibly long.

I walked slowly, maybe intentionally, and only reached the house after a long time.

I was entering the key code when the door opened first.

“Hyung!
Why didn’t you answer your phone?!
I told you to call if anything happened!
Do you know what time it is— why did you only come home now— haah…”

It was Jaeyul.

He burst out, voice full of worry and irritation, as he pulled open the door.

I pulled him into a hug.

His familiar warmth, scent, and the feel of his arms dulled the weight crushing my shoulders — if only a little.

“Hyung… did something happen…?”

“No.
Nothing… just.”

He patted my back gently.

The same way I always patted his.

That gentle touch made something painfully clear:

I’d been arrogant.

Two lifetimes, almost forty years of experience — I thought that made me a perfect adult.

I believed I knew all the right answers for the future, that I alone could make the perfect choices.

But it was all self-delusion.

There was still so much I didn’t know.

And I wasn’t strong enough to handle everything alone.

I was still… an inadequate adult.

So weak that I wanted to lean on Jaeyul.

“Sit.”

“…I was going to shower…”

“Talk first, then shower.
Sit, hyung.
I’m seriously going to get mad.”

I tried to escape to the bathroom out of embarrassment, but he stopped me.

He plopped down in the living room, voice firm.

Not scary — honestly, kind of cute.

How could someone with ‘X’s exact face feel so different?

It wasn’t because of his “threat,” but I sat across from him.

Five years ago, he would’ve never been part of such a conversation.

But now he was the center of it.

He’d awakened — fully manifested — and he deserved to have a say.

I carefully chose my words.

“The job I was doing… it was guiding work…”

“I know.
I figured it out years ago.”

He’d probably pieced it together from what the Agency said yesterday.

But to think he’d noticed much earlier…

And I’d been saying nonsense like comparing it to chiropractic therapy…

Embarrassing.

“A-anyway… they raided it today.
It’ll be hard to keep working in this neighborhood.”

“Ah… so that’s why you were late.”

“Honestly, guiding is illegal anyway, so I have nothing to say.
If I’m unlucky, I could be charged for unauthorized guiding.”

“…What?
You didn’t kill anyone.
You didn’t scam anyone.
Why is that a crime?”

Right?
It’s unfair.

But the law said otherwise.

I explained the Agency’s proposal.

I left out the “500 million won in cash” part.

I just couldn’t bring myself to say it.

I didn’t want to hurt him again.

“…Hmm…
I’m sorry, hyung.”

His expression darkened after hearing everything.

That surprised me.

“What are you sorry for?”

“It’s all because of me.
If I hadn’t used my powers…
No — even if I used them, if I had just controlled them better, none of this would’ve happened…”

“Seon Jaeyul!
W–What nonsense are you talking about?!”

The words out of his mouth made me snap.

None of this was his fault.

The problem wasn’t the explosion.

The problem was the vultures drooling over his power and acting like tyrants.

Not him.

“I’m only alive because of you.
If it weren’t for you, I’d already have lost my limbs in that warehouse.
You didn’t cause this —
You saved me.
So don’t ever blame yourself.
None of what happened that day is your fault.”

Overkill or not — I considered it justice.

His expression softened a little as my words seemed to reach him.

“…Okay.
So in the end, we either run or join the Academy.
What do you want to do?”

He’d grown so much.

Even though the situation sounded unfair, he responded calmly.

I couldn’t think of him as a child anymore.

Talking to him was clearly the right decision.

“…I don’t want to.
Academy, Center — I don’t want any of it.”

“Okay.”

He stood up.

And headed toward his room like the conversation was over.

“…What are you doing?
You have to tell me what you think.
This isn’t something I decide alone.”

“What is there to say?
It’s obvious.
As long as I’m with you, anywhere is fine.
Academy, mountains, whatever.
Actually… good.
We won’t need to buy new furniture.”

He even joked.

So he really meant it.

He went into his room and started packing for real.

“…Haah…”

My emotions tangled.

His words comforted me.

Yet at the same time, they made me feel guilty.

Because sticking with me might ruin his life.

He could do anything.

University.
A job.
Athletics.
He was a dominant Alpha — he could choose any partner he wanted.

And when he got tired of all that… he’d destroy the world.

But would becoming a fugitive for my sake really be the right path for him?

“I packed everything… got the deposit back…
Did we pay the city gas bill?”

“Hyung.
Who pays the gas bill when they’re running away?
We’re just leaving.”

“Oh.
Right.
First time running away…”

Even running needed preparation.

No way was I leaving empty-handed.

We gathered every bit of money, every Petra bottle.

“The agents are out there today too, right?”

“Yeah.
When I came back from school, I saw about three.
But… weirdly, I kinda feel like I can win?”

…Yeah.
Probably.

There wasn’t a single person on earth you couldn’t beat.

Though with your current lack of control, it might still be risky.

“No.
Even if you beat one or two, you can’t handle everyone they’ll send after.
We need to avoid fighting as long as we can.”

“So how long are we waiting?”

We were fully prepared to flee.

All we needed was the “right moment.”

When would that be?

I found the answer while watching the news.

Multiple large-scale Gates have appeared throughout Seoul!

This was it.

At a glance, it looked like one of many Gate occurrence headlines.

But I knew exactly what this led to.

Back then, I entered the Academy at seventeen.
Joined the Center at twenty.
Fought countless battles.

But the incident at twenty-two had never left me.

The Seoul Ruin Incident.

A massive Gate Break occurred because they couldn’t handle this wave of Gates.

Monsters flooded out.

Half of Seoul became a wasteland.

One of the few pieces of future information I remembered clearly.

“Today.
It starts today.”

We’d use the chaos to escape.

More importantly — I’d protect Jaeyul from that hellish scene.

Tonight would be an unusually long night.

One no one in Seoul would sleep through.