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Join the ServerThis was a place where Bok-sil was usually fiercely territorial, preventing anyone from approaching. Yet, for some reason, Bok-sil wasn’t wary of the unfamiliar voice, focusing solely on eating snacks.
“‘…Who are you?'”
I questioned the stranger who slowly approached. Emerging from the shadows was a tall, beautiful woman in an Esper uniform.
Her exceptionally long hair cascaded down to her waist, and her expression seemed rather cold. It was definitely a face I recognized… that person….
‘The Year Representative?’
This was the Esper who had served as the Year Representative before my regression. The very student whose body had been bisected while giving a presentation on stage.
“So, the dog’s name is Bok-sil. Did you name them?”
She spoke to me kindly, yet I found myself unable to respond easily, having once witnessed the gruesome end of this very person now alive and moving before my eyes.
“‘Bok… sil is…'”
Mid-sentence, I squeezed my eyes shut. The horrific image of torn flesh and spilling organs kept superimposing itself, making me feel tormented.
“‘…Yes, I named them.'”
“You gave them a cute name. I’ve only ever come here to give them snacks.”
The Esper who was the Year Representative… what was their name again? Han Seon-ho had cursed them so much that I’d heard it, but with all the recent chaos, I seemed to have forgotten it almost immediately.
As I struggled to recall their name, the former Year Representative, sensing my hesitation, introduced herself at a perfectly opportune moment.
“My name is Gwon Hyeon-ju. Esper Class 4. You’re Sogum, right?”
The former Year Representative—no, the Esper who had just introduced herself as Gwon Hyeon-ju—surprisingly already knew my name.
“‘How do you know me?'”
“You always hang around with Han Seon-ho. That’s how I know.”
“‘…Ah, Seon-ho.'”
Indeed, Han Seon-ho and I had been inseparable every day until this recent cold war, so it made sense that she would know of my existence.
“I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while. It’s nice to finally meet you like this.”
Gwon Hyeon-ju extended her hand for a handshake. Taken by surprise, I instinctively clasped it.
[Matching Rate: 63%]
[Contamination Level: 4%]
It seemed I had now developed the reflex to use my peculiar ability whenever I encountered an Esper. While Gwon Hyeon-ju’s matching rate with me wasn’t particularly high, her contamination level was astonishingly low, the lowest I’d ever seen, which inwardly surprised me.
‘How could the contamination level be 4%?’
Did Gwon Hyeon-ju simply not use her abilities at all? Or was she an incredibly meticulous type when it came to self-management?
Either way, a contamination level in the single digits was truly astonishing.
“‘What did you want to talk to me about?'”
Having concluded the formal pleasantries with Gwon Hyeon-ju, I inquired about the true reason she had approached me. As if she had anticipated my directness, Gwon Hyeon-ju immediately cut to the chase.
“It’s nothing else, really. Is something going on between you and Han Seon-ho these days?”
“‘Why are you asking that? It has nothing to do with you.'”
Our relationship with Han Seon-ho was strained, making this a delicate time. Gwon Hyeon-ju’s question, probing a sensitive spot right from our first meeting, elicited an unintentionally sharp response from me. Although it might have sounded somewhat aggressive, Gwon Hyeon-ju merely smiled calmly, as if it were of no consequence.
“Han Seon-ho hasn’t been in good spirits lately, and I suspect it might be because of you.”
Her answer was entirely unexpected. Recalling Han Seon-ho’s reactions before my regression, it seemed he and Gwon Hyeon-ju were worse than enemies. I couldn’t understand why she was showing such interest.
“‘Sogum, Gwon Hyeon-ju keeps provoking me about my midterm grades. That person can’t even hold a candle to me in theory classes.'”
“‘I didn’t want to be the student vice-representative or anything, but it turns out Gwon Hyeon-ju was the one who made me do it. She clearly intends to keep me under her thumb and boss me around.'”
“‘Gwon Hyeon-ju is so irritating, I can’t stand it anymore. I think I’m going to resign as vice-representative.'”
Both of them had top grades throughout the school and served as class representatives, so initially, their relationship seemed to be one of rivalry.
While they were never particularly close, I didn’t know what had caused it, but by the latter half of the semester, Han Seon-ho would shudder and forbid any mention of her.
Recalling those past memories, I questioned Gwon Hyeon-ju.
“‘How exactly is Han Seon-ho doing in the student council?'”
“He doesn’t speak, doesn’t smile. He just sighs constantly. It’s practically written all over his face: ‘Don’t bother me.'”
Recently, I hadn’t even managed to properly speak with Han Seon-ho, let alone run into him. I already knew his condition wasn’t good due to our cold war, but I hadn’t realized it was this severe.
For some reason, as my mood grew uneasy, a thought flickered through my mind: the real reason she had sought me out to say all this.
“‘…Do you, by any chance, like Han Seon-ho?'”
I asked Gwon Hyeon-ju, who stood before me, point-blank. She shook her head, her face suggesting I’d uttered utter nonsense.
“No, how could I?”
“‘Then why are you showing so much interest in Han Seon-ho?'”
“Is there any other reason? It’s because he’s useful.”
“‘…What?'”
“A matching chart was released recently. And of all people, Han Seon-ho had the highest score with me. But he flat-out refuses to be my temporary pair.”
“‘A matching chart, you say…'”
“Originally, I thought about trying to get a temporary pair by, say, making a bet on grades. But lately, he’s been completely ignoring me, to an extreme degree.”
Gwon Hyeon-ju’s words contained information I hadn’t anticipated. It was also a new fact I had never heard from Han Seon-ho in the past.
“So I thought if you could help me, perhaps he’d be persuaded. In the SAA, there’s no one as useful as Han Seon-ho yet.”
‘………’
“But seeing Han Seon-ho’s state lately, I realized if things are truly messed up between you two, it might actually backfire. It was good I checked.”
Her words, though seemingly rational, contained a subtly irritating undertone. After listening in silence, I finally furrowed my brow and spoke.
“‘Is Han Seon-ho your tool? Why do you speak of him that way?'”
“He’s not a tool, but we Espers are useful simply by existing. Guides, however, are not. You are like an appendix, only proving your worth when an Esper is present.”
“‘I thought you were smart, but it turns out you’re just meticulously spouting nonsense.'”
I scoffed at her absurd remarks, delivered like a true Esper supremacist. Yet, she merely shrugged, as if it didn’t matter in the least.
“I’m not just saying that. No matter what you say, a method to reduce an Esper’s contamination level without guiding has already been developed. It just hasn’t been commercialized yet.”
Was she referring to Helper Killer? Her arrogant words brought to mind the image of Yoon Geon-woo writhing in agony. To speak so lightly, unaware of how tormenting such a thing was. Unable to suppress the sudden surge of anger, I retorted with a choked voice.
“‘If it hasn’t been commercialized, wouldn’t there be a reason?'”
“While there are still risks involved, they’ll gradually be addressed. If they failed to create Espers who don’t need guiding, then it’s only natural to create a replacement for guiding for existing Espers, isn’t it?”
Upon reflection, my assumption was wrong. It seemed Gwon Hyeon-ju wasn’t talking about Helper Killer, but rather a forbidden experiment that had caused a stir more than a decade ago.
“As you know, the experiment to inject abilities into Guides already failed, didn’t it?”
It was information every student admitted to the SAA learned.
“The Doubler experiment, that is.”
****
My plan to meet Bok-sil and calm my mind before theory class was completely ruined by encountering Gwon Hyeon-ju. After meeting her directly, I understood why Han Seon-ho disliked her so much.
“‘Ha, what a stubborn person. Doesn’t want to lose a single word…'”
Even after the conversation about Han Seon-ho, Gwon Hyeon-ju and I exchanged sharp words several more times. I had ample time before class, but as our unpleasant verbal sparring continued, the class bell rang before I knew it.
‘In the end, I couldn’t even brush Bok-sil.’
Having sprinted after a long time to make it to class on time, my lungs felt as if they would tear. A bitter taste welled up in my throat with each gasping breath.
I subtly glanced up at Han Seon-ho, who was seated beside me for theory class. He must have felt my gaze, yet he didn’t spare me a single look. He wasn’t usually this stubborn; for the first time, I felt a suffocating frustration.
I wrote a small message on the edge of my textbook tablet and slid it toward his desk.
[Han Seon-ho, can we talk?]
He must have seen the words I wrote, but Han Seon-ho offered no reply. My patience wearing thin at his attitude, I wrote another message and pushed it to him.
[It’s been a week. Should I just leave tomorrow as planned?]
Only when I mentioned leaving tomorrow did Han Seon-ho finally react. He wrote a simple response on the tablet I had pushed over.
[Alright.]
‘…Alright?’ What did he mean by ‘alright’? It was an ambiguous answer, leaving me unsure if he was agreeing to talk or simply acknowledging my departure tomorrow.
For now, I decided to interpret it as a positive affirmation to have a conversation.
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Read : Eat Me, Sweetie
