Chapter 55: The Man He Became

I was so stunned that I couldn’t say a single word.

This kid… no, this man, who could no longer be called a kid, didn’t feel like the Sun Jaeyul I knew at all.

His face was unmistakably the Jaeyul from my memories.

But the way he looked at me, his expression—it was all so unfamiliar.

It was a side of him I had never seen before.

Jaeyul, who always looked at me with gentle eyes and called my name in a sweet, playful voice… no.

“…Jae….”

Click.

The voice I forced out to call Jaeyul never even made it past my lips.

I could tell he had deliberately blocked me.

Pressing his knee down against my chest, he tightened his grip and snapped handcuffs around my wrists.

“Take him away. He uses unusual techniques, so be careful not to touch him directly.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

With handcuffs on both wrists, Jaeyul straightened up as if his business was finished.

At his command, three espers surrounded me.

Two of them hauled me to my feet, while the third activated a skill, clearly ready to hurl a mass of flames the moment I tried anything funny.

“What should we do about this place?”

As I was dragged out of the office, a voice called out from behind.

“What do you mean, what do we do? Burn this dump down, obviously.

No—blow up the whole building.

It pisses me off.”

Those words felt like they were directed straight at me.

Because I annoyed him, he wanted to blow it all up.

So I couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge Jaeyul.

There was no way I could ask how he’d ended up doing something like this—and that was only natural.

My four years had been filled with time.

And with time came thoughts.

Sometimes… no, often, I thought about Jaeyul.

Was he attending the academy properly?

Keeping up with his training?

Had he grown skilled enough to use his abilities with ease by now?

Or perhaps, after graduating, what kind of life was Jaeyul living?

Had he already grown disillusioned with the world and chosen the path of a villain, like “X”?

Or was he still living an ordinary life?

I imagined countless versions of Jaeyul.

But never—not even once—did I imagine him becoming an agent, much less the leader of a special task force that enforced justice.

At most, I thought he’d be working under Oh Seonggyu….

“Name.”

“…Jin Sehyun.”

“Age.”

“Twenty… six….”

Jaeyul sat across from me, interrogating me.

And still, Jaeyul felt so… awkward to me.

Of course, I knew I had no right to feel hurt by his cold attitude.

After all, I had done something unforgivable to him.

Hadn’t I resolved myself back then?

That even if Jaeyul’s resentment was directed at me, I would bear it.

So… I shouldn’t feel hurt by this version of him.

And yet, I wanted to ask how he’d been.

Whether he’d been well, whether anything hurt.

I knew we weren’t in a position to share such gentle words, but I still wondered.

“Um, Jaeyul….”

The moment I opened my mouth, Jaeyul shot me a piercing glare.

It was a feral look, as if he’d tear me apart if I said even one more word.

Crunch.

The metal table in his grip warped under his hand.

His unfiltered emotions came crashing through.

“Only answer what I ask.

Don’t say anything unnecessary.”

Yeah… maybe this was for the best.

The Jaeyul who had always been weak around me now resembled “X” so closely.

And judging by how oppressive his presence was, his skills must have improved tremendously.

If he’d just kept taking the Petra I gave him, it was obvious he’d surpassed even X’s original power.

…So my decision back then, to leave Jaeyul, really was the right one.

It was… right, wasn’t it?

Even though this was exactly the Jaeyul I had hoped for, every time he spoke, it felt like someone was scraping my heart with a sharp knife.

It hurt—so badly that my throat kept tightening.

The heat welling up in my eyes grew unbearably heavy, forcing my head down again and again.

“Lift your head and sit properly.”

I bit down hard on my lip and raised my head.

Right—who was I to wallow in emotion?

After inflicting such a deep wound on Jaeyul, who was already scarred by others.

Accept it.

This, too, was the price of my past actions.

“The man arrested with you… Yang Suchan.

What’s your relationship with him?”

“…Relationship…?

There isn’t really one….”

Bang!

The loud slam of his hand on the desk made me flinch.

I almost toppled backward in my chair.

Whether his strength had grown even greater or not, the desk he struck with his fist caved in as if it were about to snap in half.

“Are you not going to answer properly?

Do you even know what kind of bastard he is?

He raped three guides at the Jeju Center and ran.”

That shocked me even more.

Yang Suchan—the man who looked so kind, who treated me politely.

The only person who had bothered to talk to me in that unfamiliar place….

“…Are you in that kind of relationship with him?”

“W-What kind of nonsense is that?!

Absolutely not!

I’ve only been in that town for a month!

How could I know anything?

I’ve seen his face fewer than ten times, and I don’t even have his contact information!”

The sheer absurdity of the accusation made me rant without realizing it.

If my wrists hadn’t been cuffed, I might’ve slammed the desk myself.

How could he even think something like that?

The gloom that had been swelling inside me just moments ago vanished in an instant, washed away by indignation.

“…Let’s take a short break.

Turn off the camera and the mic.”

After staring him down for a long moment, Jaeyul let out a deep sigh and spoke toward the camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling.

The red light blinking on it soon went dark.

“…Haa….”

Another sigh.

Jaeyul lowered his head and exhaled as if the floor might cave in.

Then he suddenly stood and started walking toward me.

I felt uneasy for no reason.

This Jaeyul wasn’t the boy I knew—I couldn’t even guess what he might do.

But that, too, turned out to be a misjudgment.

Thump.

As the distance between us closed, warmth suddenly wrapped around my body.

“…Hyung.

You were scared, weren’t you.”

Jaeyul pulled me tightly into his arms and whispered against my ear.

“I’m sorry for scaring you.

Just hang in there a little longer.

I’ll take care of everything, so don’t worry about anything, okay?”

Ah… yeah.

This is Sun Jaeyul.

This voice, this warmth—this is the Jaeyul I know.

The Jaeyul who gently rubs my back until my frozen heart melts, and speaks to me with a voice full of tenderness.

I can finally breathe.

Only now does the heat filling my chest begin to fade.

“…Jaeyul, ah….”

Just a little more.

I want to feel this warmth just a little longer.

Even knowing I shouldn’t, I desperately wish it wouldn’t leave me.

“We’ll talk later.

There are too many eyes watching right now.

From here on, just answer ‘yes’ to everything I ask.

That’s all you need to do.”

“…O-Okay….”

Shamelessly, I find myself glad to see this side of him again.

Relief blooms at the sight of Jaeyul, still kind to me as ever.

I really am hopeless.

After the short break, the interrogation resumed with a brand-new desk and laptop replacing the wrecked ones.

Once the camera turned back on, Jaeyul became a completely different person again.

But this time, he didn’t seem so frightening.

Because I had seen his true feelings.

“Mr. Jin Sehyun.

Based on our investigation, it appears you have no particular relationship with Mr. Yang Suchan.

Is that correct?”

“…Yes….”

“You completed your guide registration four years ago, but due to an administrative error, it was never properly processed.

That’s right, correct?”

“Huh?”

…Me?

When did I…?

The absurdity of it made me blurt out a question without thinking.

“Ah—yes!

Th-That’s right… I did register….”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but for now, I decided to do exactly as Jaeyul instructed.

These days, illegal guiding carried extremely severe penalties.

I didn’t want to invite trouble by being stubborn.

“Hmm… and you’ve only been operating your guiding office for about a week, correct?”

Wait…?

Didn’t I say earlier it’d been a month…?

“Y-Yes?

Uh… yes, something like that….”

“Business registration only needs to be completed within two weeks, so that’s fine.

Then this wouldn’t count as illegal guiding.”

I had no idea what was going on.

As if he already had the entire scenario written out, the more questions Jaeyul asked, the more my crimes disappeared.

“There is a warrant out for you due to a contract violation related to academy admission with the local support office, but that’s outside our jurisdiction.

We won’t be investigating that.

This concludes the interrogation.

You’re free to go.”

“…G-Go?”

“Yes.

Go home.”

At Jaeyul’s words, the interrogation room door opened and an agent came in to remove my cuffs.

Told to leave, I stumbled out of the room in a daze.

Jaeyul didn’t even spare me a glance, as if I were a complete stranger.

“…What was all that….”

It didn’t feel real.

A special task force had suddenly barged in, their leader turning out to be Jaeyul.

Just when I thought it was all over, I was released like this.

With one bewildering event after another, I even forgot how I was supposed to feel about reuniting with Jaeyul after four years.

Scratching the back of my head, I exited the Seoul Second Special Ability User Center.

I had just stepped onto the sidewalk outside the towering building when a hand suddenly shot out, grabbing my arm and dragging me into an alley.

“Wh—Who…?!”

“Hyung.”

It was Jaeyul—no doubt about it—the same Jaeyul who’d been inside until I left the interrogation room.

Before I could say anything, he pulled my arm and trapped me against his chest.

Then he hugged me with all his strength.

“Thank god you’re safe.

Really… thank god.”

I didn’t know what to say.

An apology felt wrong.

So did asking how he’d been all this time.

So instead, I hugged Jaeyul back.

I buried my face in his arms, which felt broader than ever.

Maybe it was the overwhelming warmth wrapping around me—but tears spilled out shamelessly.

Why are you… still so unchanged?