Chapter 45: Doctor Visit

Seung Ho opened the Director’s office door and, after a few steps, stopped.

Tae Hwan was sitting on the waiting sofa in front of the secretary’s desk.

He looked up at Seung Ho approaching him, who was slumped in his seat, using his phone.

“Why are you here?”

“Because I heard you were here, hyung.”

Tae Hwan put his phone in his pocket and got up from the sofa.

From Tae Hwan, whose eyes were deeply shadowed, Seung Ho sensed the aura of an Esper thirsting for guiding.

“If I can’t talk to the Team Leader, I’ll talk to the Director.”

He gestured with his chin towards Seung Ho and the Director’s office door in turn.

Seung Ho, standing in front of Tae Hwan, continued the conversation.

“Speak.”

“I’m going to start working again. I’ve also requested guiding.”

Seung Ho waited for the next words.

He wouldn’t have come all this way just to convey the decision to return to the field.

As expected, Tae Hwan revealed his true intentions on his own.

“Instead of gates, I want to go outside.”

Watching Seung Ho, who remained silent and unresponsive, Tae Hwan raised his head and spoke more clearly.

“Anyway, you were going to send one of us out. Give me the civilian area dispatch assignment.”

Seung Ho silently met Tae Hwan’s gaze for a moment.

Following Min Ji Oh, now even Lee Tae Hwan was behaving unexpectedly.

For Attack Team 3, the replacement of a dedicated guide was common.

While it could be attributed to Kang Yi Jun having an excessively high matching rate, Min Ji Oh and Lee Tae Hwan had no reason to obsess over a guide who had left on their own.

Their matching rates were only average.

“Say something. Did you put honey on your lips?”

Seung Ho, who had been staring at Tae Hwan, unable to hide his impatience, finally spoke after a long delay.

Though Han Seung Ho himself did not realize it.

“No.”

He too was different from usual.

***

Jo Yeon, who packed a dagger that psychokinesis Espers rarely sought, had a face full of worry.

For an Esper who didn’t require direct contact with monsters, short weapons were inefficient.

Most psychokinesis Espers used their abilities bare-handed from a distance.

Of course, many also sought daggers for a change of pace.

Like Jo Yeon now.

“Haa—”

Throughout getting dressed in his combat uniform, heavy sighs continued endlessly from Jo Yeon’s mouth.

He needed something to break through the Monday morning, which would create worries even if there were none.

“Are you not feeling well?”

Yeon Yeok, who approached Jo Yeon as he packed his weapon, asked.

Thanks to having received guiding since Sunday afternoon yesterday, his wave levels were stable.

Confirming that state, Yeon Yeok turned his attention to his brother’s sour face.

“Did you fight with Guide Yoon Bodam?”

Jo Yeon, who reacted sharply to the three letters filling his head, gave him a look telling him to shut up.

Nodding, Yeon Yeok, sensing the mood, sat on a waiting room chair and kept silent.

Lacking their own team waiting room, they were waiting for the gate suppression order in the common waiting room.

Jo Yeon received the energy bar Yeon Yeok slyly handed him, peeled off the thin wrapper, and took a big bite.

He gnawed loudly on the sticky nuts, suppressing his emotions.

Last night, a big flaw had occurred on a day that should have been filled only with happiness.

It was a terrible time even to recall.

He drove to the hospital, borrowing the president of Ega’s car, holding Bodam who had fainted from a nosebleed.

The moment the automatic doors of the bustling emergency room opened even in the early hours of a weekend, Jo Yeon’s feet were bound by the ability user detection sensor, preventing him from entering.

Hospitals were places where Espers were strictly forbidden from entering.

There was a risk that an Esper’s aura could harm patients with weakened immunity.

After handing the unconscious Bodam over to the medical staff, Jo Yeon paced anxiously around the hospital building.

As the night deepened, more people rushed towards the entrance.

His stomach turned black at the thought that Bodam’s family, who had been contacted, might be among those people.

In the end, he had to return without even hearing an update on Bodam’s condition, in order to comply with the Center’s curfew.

Fortunately, he received a call from Bodam by the time he arrived at the Center.

With a tired voice, completely sober, Bodam said he was fine and to get plenty of rest, and Jo Yeon only replied that he understood.

He barely managed to suppress the urge to ask more questions out of worry.

Thinking of Bodam lying in bed, he decided to call again tomorrow.

Why on earth had he suddenly bled so much?

***

Bodam, who regained consciousness, did not stay long in the chaotic emergency room and quickly returned home.

He didn’t want to be in the hospital, reeking of alcohol.

Dressed in pajamas with only a coat thrown over, he fell asleep in his comfortable bed at home, listening to his sister Bomi and his mother’s nagging like a lullaby.

Due to the lingering effects of alcohol, the situation of fainting from a nosebleed felt insignificant.

He wasn’t insensitive to pain, but that situation was also familiar.

[Did you go to the hospital?]

Bodam yawned widely after replying to Jo Yeon’s text.

As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, he just washed his face and came to the hospital.

Perhaps because it was a large hospital, not a small local one, there were many people from the morning.

He rubbed his swollen face and sat on a soft waiting sofa.

Bodam, like anyone else, disliked hospitals.

The smell of disinfectant and white coats made him feel as if he was catching illnesses he didn’t have.

All sorts of symptoms and unfamiliar illnesses written on posters and flyers everywhere felt like his own.

“Whew—”

He exhaled a long breath and thought of the hangover soup he would eat for lunch.

His stomach already churned at the thought of having blood drawn for tests.

Injections hurt more before getting them than during them.

He killed time by imagining eating spicy soup with cubed radishes instead of a sharp needle.

He repeatedly told himself that there wouldn’t be any major problems.

His mouth was very dry.

“There’s no major abnormality.”

“Oh my. Thank you.”

Bodam, who had been concentrating all his attention on the doctor’s voice, unconsciously let out a big reaction.

The doctor, who smiled kindly, asked if he often got nosebleeds, and Bodam waved his hand, saying no.

In fact, he had never had a nosebleed unless an external impact was applied.

“To know more precisely, you’d need a detailed examination, but there’s no problem with your anemia test results.

Hmm. Are you under a lot of stress?”

“I used to be, but not anymore. I quit my job and am resting.”

“Any other physical discomforts?”

“None. I eat well, and my digestion is good.”

“How many hours do you sleep?”

“I sleep a lot these days. Ah… could I be unwell because I sleep too much?”

The doctor, after listening closely to Bodam’s sleep hours, smiled, saying it wasn’t that much.

The doctor adjusted his glasses and asked, looking at the indirect guide wave level results listed as an additional item on the examination chart.

“When was your last guiding session?”

“Um… about half a month ago.”

Bodam bent his fingertips, recalling his last guiding session with Han Seung Ho.

He watched the doctor, who was nodding his head while scrolling down the mouse cursor, with an anxious gaze.

Bodam’s indirect wave level was slowly decreasing.

Only when this level dropped to 0 could the watch be removed.

Due to his contact with Esper Jo Yeon, the level, which had dropped to 26%, had risen to 30%.

“Firstly, since you had a lot of bleeding, if you’re uneasy, it’s good to get additional tests, but honestly, I recommend getting examined at an ability user medical center rather than our hospital.”

Bodam, who had an expression as if he had received a serious sentence, opened his stiff mouth.

“I quit my guide job. So I won’t be going back to the Center.”

“Your guide record remains, so isn’t entry possible? You’re still wearing your watch, too.”

“No. Because I don’t want to go.”

The doctor, who carefully observed the patient’s resolute attitude, nodded again, saying he understood.

He scribbled something on the examination chart that only he would recognize and asked an additional question.

“While you were working at the Center, did you have any anemia or other unusual symptoms like yesterday? Even minor ones.”

Bodam’s eyes widened at the unexpected question, and he immediately couldn’t speak.

Although it hadn’t even been half a month since he resigned, it felt like ages ago.

This was thanks to his diligent efforts to erase it completely from his mind.

But to bring it up again.

“My chest felt a little…”

“Yes. Your chest.”

The doctor, who waited for the patient to answer slowly, helped him speak.

He roughly guessed the situation of a guide who quit the Center’s work at a young age.

Medical professionals understood the difficulties guides faced more deeply than other ordinary people.

Bodam scratched his chin, straightened his hunched posture, and continued his answer.

It was all in the past now.

A past he had shaken off and left behind.

“It often felt stuffy, like I had indigestion. On bad days, it was difficult to breathe, but it quickly got better. I’d be fine after waking up, and there was no part of my body that hurt.”

“And after you quit your job?”

“Never once. But I looked it up online, and it seemed like a psychological problem, so I tried meditation and tried to reduce stress as much as possible.

Then it gradually got better. I don’t smoke. I drink a little, but not much.”

Bodam, momentarily setting aside his pride in drinking, spoke smoothly.

Once he articulated one symptom, the rest followed naturally.

Stories he had never even shared with Jo Yeon continued like a confession in front of a specialist.

He wanted confirmation that there was no problem.

Bodam believed that.

“You were under very severe stress.”

Bodam, who was about to reply that it was just a normal amount of stress everyone experienced, just nodded.

He pressed his lips together, considering if there was anything else to say.

“Ah, recently, I…”

Hesitating to speak about a symptom he had remembered belatedly, the doctor waited patiently, telling him to speak calmly.

Bodam cleared his throat, starting by saying it wasn’t a big deal.

The words wouldn’t come out easily.

Even though it really was nothing.

“Um…”

Finally, Bodam swallowed his saliva over his rough throat and answered briefly.

The moment he said, “I’ve been crying a lot,” an example burst forth.