Chapter 44: Re-sign

Jo Yeon held back his laughter and showed interest at the sight of Bodam looking around like a meerkat, checking if anyone was peeking.

Bodam got cuter when he was drunk.

“You’re my family. Right? Understand? You’re like family, so I’m showing you.”

“Thanks, but please watch your pronunciation.”

Bodam chuckled, his words breaking off as he was on the verge of hiccuping.

Then he sat closer, using Jo Yeon’s chest as a shield.

“Here, look.”

Bodam, leaning close to his family-like friend, pushed his phone screen forward.

Jo Yeon narrowed his eyes and focused on the small screen, genuinely surprised.

“This important secret, to me?”

“If you tell, I live, and only you die.”

Bodam, clenching his fist, sternly warned him.

What was densely written in the brightly lit notepad app was a financial plan for 3.1 billion won.

Seeing that all the detailed debt records were checked as completed, Jo Yeon felt a sense of relief.

“You divide all your bank accounts like this? That’s amazing.”

He knew Bodam was meticulous and thrifty with money, but he didn’t know he categorized his accounts so thoroughly.

Admiring his friend’s asset management, he stroked the small head resting on his shoulder.

It was impressive that Bodam, with a face that wouldn’t look out of place in a school uniform, had meticulously divided such a staggering sum.

He was truly admirable.

He even looked into commercial property rentals.

“What’s this? ‘Friend’s Account’?”

Jo Yeon, curious, pointed to ‘Friend’s Account’ written below ‘Yoon Bomi’s Account’ and asked.

Bodam slowly blinked his eyes, then smiled shyly and pointed directly at Jo Yeon.

“Yours.”

“Bodam hyung…”

Deeply moved by Bodam’s thoughtfulness, Jo Yeon clutched his tingling chest.

Proud of Jo Yeon’s reaction, Bodam, in a small voice, pointed to each account name and briefed him on his packed plan to play and live leisurely in the future.

He was a talent more ready to enjoy himself to the fullest than anyone else.

“I’m going to rest fully for half a year and do nothing. Don’t stop me.”

“Who’s stopping you? Bodam, do everything you want.”

“Even after doing all this and that, this much is left over!”

Bodam spread all ten fingers, indicating 1 billion won, and danced jubilantly.

He said he would get his hair trimmed at a salon and take a passport photo tomorrow.

“Oh. You’re getting a passport? Where are you planning to travel?”

“You decide. Where should we go? Ah.”

Bodam stopped talking, covered his mouth with his palm, and glanced at Jo Yeon.

Espers could not leave the country unless it was related to a mission.

This rule applied to all Espers, even those with low ratings.

“Where are you going? Brag about it a bit. So I can live vicariously through you.”

Jo Yeon smiled playfully, took Bodam’s wrist, and lowered it.

His moist, mumbling lips sought alcohol instead of bragging about travel.

Even though he was drunk, a conscience remained that he shouldn’t brag to a friend who couldn’t travel.

“Bodam, drink slowly.”

“What a funny thing to say.”

Bodam said alcohol went down like water and continuously chugged the plain water Jo Yeon poured for him.

Jo Yeon listened intently to the money talk that he wouldn’t get tired of even all night.

Indeed, after love, talk of money was the most fascinating.

“Why do you keep giving me only soju? Do you want to see me get drunk?”

Bodam snickered and agreed to Jo Yeon, who kept filling only his soju glass while leaving the beer.

He was overflowing with pride that he was second to none when it came to drinking.

He rattled the empty glass over his head, looking for the next drink.

Jo Yeon said, “Yup,” and picked up the soju bottle filled with plain water.

He filled Bodam’s soju glass to the brim with clear water and filled his own glass with soju.

“Oh. You gave me ketchup.”

While Jo Yeon was filling the glass, Bodam muttered, pressing his dizzy head and then sweeping his hand over his face.

“Huh?” Jo Yeon turned around, and his smiling expression instantly froze.

“Bodam.”

At Jo Yeon’s call, Bodam, with hands covered in ketchup, smiled broadly, and the red color stained his even teeth.

Bodam rubbed his chest, saying his stomach hurt.

Red blood began to spread on his light beige knit sweater.

Jo Yeon wrapped one arm around the swaying Bodam.

He hastily pulled out tissues and blocked Bodam’s bloody nose.

The gushing blood quickly soaked the pure white tissues.

Simultaneously, Bodam’s vision blurred.

***

Summoned to the Esper Director’s office, Seung Ho sat at the reception table and reviewed documents.

While the Esper Director, with a thick cigar in his mouth, lit it, Seung Ho briefly pressed his throbbing temples with his fingertips.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

As if he had eyes on the back of his head, the Director’s question immediately came.

The Director, who had thrown a Zippo lighter with elaborate engravings onto the desk and turned around, asked when Seung Ho had received guiding.

“My wave levels are stable.”

“Right. Team Leader Han will manage himself. I’m not worried.”

The Director nodded, took a deep drag from his cigar, stood from his desk, and picked up his cane.

Leaning on its gold-melted handle, he limped towards the reception table.

The gray-haired Esper Director was a multi-ability user, and even at his advanced age, an intimidating aura flowed from him.

Apart from his right leg, he was healthy with no illnesses.

In the past, when guide supply was not smoothly managed, he still occasionally felt pain in the area torn by a fellow Esper.

Even though it had completely healed due to an Esper’s innate recovery ability, he limped.

Even decades later, he still found it difficult to move without a cane.

“Is Kang Yi Jun still in that state?”

“Yes.”

The Director, with the thick, sausage-like cigar between his fingers, rubbed his wrinkled neck and sighed.

A terrible smell came from his breath, exhaled with hazy smoke.

“What about the others?”

“They are in their respective dorms. They say they have no intention of returning to duty yet.”

“Ha, the Center’s work has become child’s play.”

The Director slowly puffed on his cigar, murmuring a curse with his pale, shrunken lips.

With retirement approaching, his standing within the Center had significantly narrowed.

Despite being an Esper who had achieved great things to allow the Center to run stably as it did now, his later years were only a decline.

As it was for everyone.

“You said Yoon Bodam, right? That Guide.”

“He’s a civilian now.”

Seung Ho replied, tidying the documents he had passed over and putting them into a brown envelope.

“Tell him to come back. It seemed there was a financial issue. Try to persuade him to hold his position until this gate is dealt with.”

Instead of answering, Seung Ho merely placed the read document envelope on the table.

He never showed any signs of nervousness, even in front of his much higher-ranking superior.

The Director’s gaze narrowed as he watched his intensely young subordinate.

The gray-flecked whites of his eyes were half-hidden by his wrinkled eyelids.

“As you said, field management must continue even without Attack Team 3. Won’t it take time until that system is established? If Team 3 pulls out right now, things won’t function.”

“I’m looking for a Guide.”

“Why waste time when there’s a Guide right there?

Especially Kang Yi Jun is—”

“The Guide Director won’t stand idly by, you know.”

Seung Ho said, meeting the Director’s clouded eyes, which were filled only with anger.

Shutting that wrinkled mouth was easier than appeasing Attack Team 3.

The Guide Director, who championed the human rights movement for ability users, was a young director who had just taken up his new post.

Everyone knew whose side the Center Director was on.

“He’s a Guide who requested personal protection against us. He won’t be coming back, so let’s not mention him anymore.”

At Han Seung Ho’s resolute tone, who never beat around the bush, the muscles in the hand holding the cigar twitched.

While always responding to calls, he maintained an attitude of ‘gracing them with his presence’ rather than merely ‘being called and coming.’

He always kept his mouth shut and maintained a quiet demeanor, yet he said everything he needed to say.

It had been like that since he first met him 10 years ago, with a face that didn’t suit a high school student.

“They aren’t the type to listen if forced anyway. Once they’ve had enough fun, they’ll crawl out on their own. What else would they do if not hunt monsters inside the Center?”

Seung Ho straightened his uniform jacket, picked up the document envelope, and stood up from his seat.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll take my leave.”

The Director continued the unfinished conversation with Seung Ho, who had ended his greeting by giving a slight bow.

“As I’ve said repeatedly.”

He leaned his heavy body on his cane and stood up, walking towards Seung Ho.

The Director, as tall as Seung Ho, exhaled a long stream of deeply inhaled tobacco smoke from his expressionless face.

“I want our Team Leader Han to join Attack Team 1.”

The current Esper Director was the one who first created the attack teams.

He established and commanded Attack Team 1, which currently handles the apprehension and disposal of unregistered individuals in civilian areas.

Attack Team 2, formed after that, was created by the Center Director’s orders for concentrated management of District 4, known as the Hell Road.

Attack Team 3, with Seung Ho as its leader, was also part of the Center Director’s plan.

“You are not suited to be a babysitter for kids. And you don’t even have the qualifications for it.”

The Director raised his arm and extended his withered hand for a handshake.

In that instant, Seung Ho, who had put up a barrier, maintained his expressionless face as he clasped hands.

A wariness he hadn’t possessed as a child had thickened with the passage of time.

“Be sure to pay close attention to Esper Kang Yi Jun’s condition. If even one of your team members is in danger, the Center Director will be heartbroken. Don’t forget whose wallet the Center’s funding comes from.”

As he softened his sharp eyes, the Director, now resembling a benevolent grandfather, laughed heartily.

It was the face of the Esper Director shown in public and on the news.

It was also the face that young Seung Ho had encountered when he first entered the Center.