Chapter 75: Hated Guy

“……”

An awkward silence continued over the chicken bones.

This time, Bodam lowered his gaze to the table.

Tae Hwan, who had lowered his goal from love to friendship, clenched his nervous fists.

He didn’t want to dislike him, and he hated being friends more, but he just went for it.

He wanted to be something to Yoon Bodam.

Anything if he could just get out of the ‘hated guy’ category.

“I’ll think about it.”

Bodam, breaking the silence, made a decision after some deliberation.

In truth, it was a reply very close to a positive one.

“Because you at least apologized.”

He said, remembering Lee Tae Hwan, who had knelt down and comforted him in that very spot.

He brushed off sesame seeds that had fallen on his pants and looked up again.

Bodam, meeting Tae Hwan’s eyes, drew a line with a clear voice.

“If you want to be friends, don’t confess.”

“……”

“Or don’t.”

Tae Hwan, who had used psychokinesis to press Bodam back down as he tried to get up from the sofa, opened his mouth.

He forced out the answer that wouldn’t come, straining his jaw.

As if he were making a life-or-death decision.

“I won’t.”

Watching Tae Hwan answer with clenched fists, Bodam wondered why he was straining his neck veins as if it were some great decision.

Bodam had never genuinely liked anyone, except for his fangirling.

Just a promise not to confess felt insufficient.

“Don’t use your powers on me either.”

“I won’t.”

“Don’t shout. Don’t get angry and flare up.”

“I won’t do that anymore.”

“Don’t speak carelessly. Especially, stop cursing, just stop cursing.”

“I’ve stopped cursing.”

A curse slipped from Bodam’s lips at the not-so-funny remark.

Even that curse sounded pretty to Tae Hwan.

With that voice, even singing loudly in the dead of night would sound pleasant.

‘Damn, I didn’t know my feelings would grow this strong.’

If Yoon Bodam saw what was inside him, he would clearly run away at the suggestion of being friends.

“Don’t do anything else. Tell me everything.”

Lee Tae Hwan, leaning his upper body forward as if ready to grant any wish, felt unfamiliar.

He wondered where the anger-management-issue bastard of Attack Team 3 had gone.

“Don’t ignore me.”

Bodam spat out his last words and got up from the sofa again.

Lee Tae Hwan remained silent even as Bodam entered the bathroom to wash his hands.

He just quietly shut his mouth and stared at the floor.

“Go now. I’m going to wash up and sleep.”

Bodam, who had squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush, spoke loudly from outside the bathroom door.

From the faint sounds, it seemed he was cleaning the table.

Since he had been treated to chicken, cleaning up was naturally his responsibility.

“Pfft.”

Bodam, having brushed his teeth and gargled, paused briefly before washing his face.

He wondered what the point was of being friends with Lee Tae Hwan.

He was going to leave the Center anyway.

Lee Tae Hwan was an S-class Esper.

He was destined to be stuck working in the Center longer than anyone else.

Jo Yeon, thankfully, was lower ranked, so regulations weren’t as strict, and he was relatively free to go out into civilian areas.

He had a curfew and places he couldn’t go, but he could eat and drink.

But Lee Tae Hwan was different.

“I’m leaving.”

Lee Tae Hwan poked his head into the wide-open bathroom door.

Bodam, meeting his eyes in the mirror, curtly replied, “Go.”

He didn’t immediately turn on the water, keeping his eyes on Lee Tae Hwan until he left.

However, he only leaned against the door and didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

“Just get out.”

“Yoon Bodam.”

“What.”

“We’re not friends yet, right?”

He frowned immediately at the sudden question.

Honestly, he was already half-thinking they were friends.

It seemed too early to say yes, so he shook his head.

“Then can’t you guide me when we’re not friends yet?”

“What?”

At the fierce glare, Lee Tae Hwan tried to feign illness.

He tried to put his hand on his injured shoulder but got the direction wrong and failed, but the awkward movement made it look more painful.

“If you try to flirt with me using ‘being friends’ as an excuse, I’ll never see you again.”

“We’re not friends yet.”

Bodam, exasperated at Lee Tae Hwan sending desperate glances even with his intimidating eyes, first turned around.

Since he had said he would do it once.

“Just once. No mucosal guiding.”

“Why.”

“Ask your wave levels.”

Mucosal guiding was unnecessary for wave levels below 60%.

Looking at his own level, which stood at 59%, just 1% shy, Tae Hwan sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

Anyway, Bodam had only intended to give a hug even if it exceeded 60.

In his current condition, hugging or simply holding hands would be enough to lower it.

“If you’re not going to take it, go.”

As Bodam turned back towards the sink, Lee Tae Hwan immediately spread his arms.

It might be unbelievable, but in fact, he didn’t have the greed to ask for mucosal guiding either.

Hearing that he couldn’t, he felt like he had lost his country, but he had genuinely only intended to ask for a hug.

He no longer dared to kiss Yoon Bodam.

If he kissed, he felt he would want more than that.

“It won’t be long.”

“Do it as much as you can without overexerting yourself.”

“Don’t pretend to be nice.”

Bodam, who smacked Tae Hwan’s stomach, approached.

It didn’t suit him to keep saying things Jo Yeon might say with his scary face.

It was largely because he had grown too accustomed to Lee Tae Hwan’s irritable tone and curses.

“You should receive it when you need it. Anyway, you don’t know how precious guiding is.”

Bodam, whose plump cheek touched Tae Hwan’s firm chest, grumbled.

Come to think of it, Lee Tae Hwan had always been like that.

Even when his wave was stable like now, he would always call Bodam to his room, hug him tightly, and sleep.

There were many times he wondered if this precious guide thought he was some kind of body pillow.

“Ah.”

Bodam, in the middle of guiding, suddenly slapped Tae Hwan’s back.

Tae Hwan made a sound, even though he wasn’t hurt.

He didn’t ask why he was hit again.

He just stretched out his long, thick arms as far as they could go and held him tightly.

Then he bent his upper body deeply, buried his head in Bodam’s thin shoulder, and said.

“I have to get it while you’re here.”

It was a remark made with the understanding that Bodam was someone who would leave.

The guy who asked to be friends seemed to be preparing to send him away even before they became friends.

Bodam, without a reply, just pressed his palm firmly onto Tae Hwan’s broad back, sending deeper guiding energy.

As he said, he was a person who would leave.

Until he left, it seemed okay to play along with Lee Tae Hwan’s ‘friend’ game.

It would probably be good for his mental health to end his time with Attack Team 3, which only had bad memories, with one person having moderately bad memories.

“Tone it down.”

“Alright.”

“Not just to me. To other guides and Espers too.”

“……”

When he smacked Lee Tae Hwan’s unresponsive back again, the words ‘I understand’ were finally forced out.

He wondered if this guy was originally the type to listen when hit.

‘Should have hit him earlier.’

“I’m sorry.”

Lee Tae Hwan, who pulled out an apology he had repeated dozens of times, suddenly placed a hand on the back of Bodam’s head.

He stroked the surprisingly soft texture and whispered over his shoulder.

“Even if you leave, I’ll keep being really sorry. Until I die.”

Bodam just sent more guiding energy to Lee Tae Hwan, who apologized like he cursed.

The loud sound of Tae Hwan’s heartbeat echoed in Bodam’s ear, which was pressed against his firm chest.

His heart was pouring out confessions instead.

“Don’t cry anymore.”

“There’s nothing to cry about.”

Tae Hwan nodded in agreement at the words implying that without them, he would no longer have any reason to cry.

Along with the wish for him to only be happy from now on, he also asked him not to worry about Kang Yi Jun.

He wished more than anyone for Yoon Bodam to stay at the Center, but he wished even more for him to be happy.

He loved him that much.

This place had only inflicted wounds upon Yoon Bodam.

He couldn’t even bring himself to wish to live together in this hell.

He didn’t deserve it either.

Whoosh!

Tae Hwan, sensing that Bodam might be overexerting himself by standing for too long, discreetly stepped back.

It was the first time he had ended the guiding first.

Lee Tae Hwan, saying he was really leaving and wishing him a good night, truly closed the door gently and left.

“……”

With the sound of the door closing, Bodam, who had filled the sink with cold water, washed his face.

He splashed around, washing his face for a very long time.

***

Beep- beep- beep-.

Amidst the cold sounds of machines, casual conversations between the barrier Espers intermittently took place.

Yi Jun, covered with a new blanket, still lay as if dead in the center of the guiding machine and the barrier Espers.

“They say Team Leader Han Seung Ho is being called out a lot lately.”

“It’s not just Team Leader Han. They’re dragging the entire barrier department out.”

“I can hear our kids dying from overtime.”

The three team leader-level barrier Espers were sharing what they knew about external incidents.

Their short and long sighs followed frequently.

Being tied down to only Esper Kang Yi Jun for two months already felt frustrating.

They’d rather be out in the field.

The three, shifting their gaze to the bed, tried to predict Yi Jun’s recovery time.

It was a daily conversation.

“At this rate, he’ll last another six months, maybe.”

“I’m telling you, it’ll be another six months. Even his guide can’t do anything.”

“I predict he’ll be lying there until next year.”

The Esper, scolded for ‘words becoming seeds’ (a saying similar to ‘speaking things into existence’), shortened the period from next year to the end of this year.

It was a time when summer hadn’t even arrived yet.

They earnestly wished for a quick recovery, hoping his skin color would at least return within six months.

Watching a fellow Esper in a rampage-crisis state was not easy.

They’d rather fight dozens of monsters.

“Oh…”

The barrier Espers, whose conversation had naturally drifted to badmouthing attack-type Espers, turned their heads at the sudden interruption.

It was the sound made by a researcher who had come to check Yi Jun’s condition, holding a chart.

The researcher’s mouth, his eyes as wide as his round spectacle lenses, opened even wider.