Chapter 79: Pretending to Sleep

The first to wake up was Su-ha.

Still heavy with drowsiness, he tried to shift his body, only to realize that someone was curled up in his arms. He froze, blinking slowly.

The small figure sleeping soundly against his chest, curled in tight, was Chaewon.

The shock that had briefly stiffened him faded as his blurred memories gradually returned. While doing close-contact guiding, he must have drifted off at some point, lost in complicated thoughts.

Considering he had practically stayed up all night wrestling with those thoughts, it wasn’t strange that exhaustion had claimed him.

As his memory cleared and the flustered feeling settled, his attention naturally turned fully to Chaewon.

Chaewon’s body fit perfectly in his arms, as if tailored to rest there. With each gentle rise and fall of Chaewon’s breathing, Su-ha’s heart trembled. A faint, ambiguous sadness washed over him, along with a satisfaction he couldn’t pretend not to feel.

In the quiet air, Chaewon’s breathing sounded very close. Trying not to focus too much on it, Su-ha began calmly organizing his thoughts.

From Su-ha’s perspective, today’s so-called “confession” had only just reached the starting line. But for Chaewon, even that seemed to feel like an unreal and overwhelming change.

He couldn’t rush.

Su-ha was just as clumsy with his own emotions. If he approached carelessly, he would surely ruin everything.

If he brought up love or anything like it to someone like Chaewon, who still felt unfamiliar even with basic affection and consideration between people, Chaewon would only grow frightened and retreat.

Especially when Su-ha had once bluntly told him he didn’t like him. For someone like that to suddenly speak completely differently, it wouldn’t be easy to accept.

This was only the beginning. He had to move slowly. Carefully.

Su-ha wanted all the wrong things Chaewon believed about himself to change. He wanted to help make that happen. More than anything, he wanted Chaewon to become happy.

He didn’t want to see him instinctively belittle himself anymore, or accept hurtful words as if they were nothing.

Maybe in the past, that had been Chaewon’s way of protecting himself. But that didn’t make it right. No one should accept that kind of treatment as natural.

That was the first thing Su-ha wanted Chaewon to understand.

“Mm…”

Just then, Chaewon stirred in his arms with a small groan. Worried that Chaewon might feel embarrassed, and suddenly embarrassed himself for having woken earlier yet continuing to hold him, Su-ha reflexively shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Chaewon shifted slightly. Then, gasp, he inhaled sharply and froze as if turned to ice.

Just like Su-ha had earlier, he seemed to be searching his memory, trying to figure out how they had ended up like this.

For some reason, the situation felt amusing. Su-ha barely managed to suppress a laugh when Chaewon began moving again, apparently trying to slip out of his arms without waking him.

Feeling the cautious, wriggling movement, Su-ha’s mischievous side surfaced like that of a childish high schooler. Pretending not to notice, he subtly tightened his arm so it wouldn’t loosen easily.

Rustle, rustle.

Chaewon’s movements grew more frantic, but even then, he carefully avoided making too much noise, worried about waking Su-ha. The timid little sounds he made were so endearing that Su-ha had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

He had never known teasing someone could feel this enjoyable.

Curious to see how Chaewon would react, Su-ha endured a little longer before slowly opening his eyes, as if just waking up.

“…You’re awake?”

Chaewon jerked to a stop, as though malfunctioning.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Su-ha let out a small laugh. He was briefly wondering how to apologize in case his teasing had been too obvious when Chaewon carefully lifted his head and met his gaze with that familiar gentle expression.

“I woke you… didn’t I?”

Even after hearing Su-ha laugh, Chaewon didn’t seem to suspect him at all.

It wasn’t that he lacked awareness. If anything, he was overly sensitive to other people’s moods and emotions, constantly reading the room.

And yet, once he started trusting someone, he gave them immense trust.

A hard life usually makes it difficult to trust others. But since coming to the center, Chaewon had followed the people he met here without much suspicion.

Even Su-ha, whose first impression had been terrible.

There could be many reasons. Maybe Chaewon felt he had nothing to lose even if someone here betrayed him. Or maybe he believed that, since this was an organization managed by the government, it had to be better than the people he’d met outside.

Su-ha didn’t know the root of that trust.

But one thing was certain.

That trust sometimes made his heart sway uncontrollably.

“I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. Were you uncomfortable?”

Watching Chaewon worry first, completely unaware of the little prank, Su-ha replied,

“No. It was fine. I fell asleep too, didn’t I?”

“Yes…”

Chaewon stopped himself from reflexively saying I’m sorry. Su-ha’s words from before they’d fallen asleep resurfaced in his mind, and apologizing somehow felt wrong.

Whatever it was, he didn’t want to do anything that would make Su-ha uncomfortable.

“By the way… aren’t you hungry?”

Acting casual, Su-ha stood up first.

Only then did Chaewon realize he was still in Su-ha’s arms and quickly pulled away. His gaze drifted toward the window.

The sun was already setting.

“Shall we go eat dinner?” Chaewon asked, nodding.

He wasn’t particularly hungry, but if it helped ease any lingering awkwardness, that was enough.

As Su-ha stood from the sofa, he suddenly paused as if something had occurred to him. Turning to Chaewon with a slightly tense expression, he said,

“Um, Chaewon.”

“Yes?”

“…How about we go out for dinner?”

Chaewon blinked a few times.

“Go out…?”

“Yes. Come to think of it, last time we went out, we didn’t really get to spend proper time together before coming back.”

“Ah…”

Chaewon remembered. It had been their first outing after getting leave, but instead of enjoying a proper break, they’d been swept up in unexpected events and had been running nonstop ever since.

Thinking about it now, he felt uneasy that Su-ha hadn’t been able to rest either.

Though he wasn’t entirely sure, it seemed rare for an Esper who didn’t go into the field to guide this frequently. On top of that, Su-ha was overseeing Chaewon’s training, and even continuing his own personal training in between.

How was he managing all of it?

For a brief moment, Chaewon pictured them sitting together at the café that day. It had fallen apart before anything meaningful could happen, but that fleeting moment had stayed with him.

The scenery had been familiar from his past life. Yet through his eyes that day, the world had felt entirely different.

To Su-ha, it might have been the worst kind of holiday.

To Chaewon, it had become something special.

“If you’re tired, we could just eat simply at the cafeteria-”

“No. I’d like that.”

Su-ha had been about to step back, thinking that asking to go out alone after such a conversation might burden Chaewon.

But Chaewon agreed immediately.

“I’d like to go eat something you enjoy, Su-ha.”

Normally, Chaewon would have refused first. He would have assumed this suggestion was Su-ha being considerate because of last time, and would have insisted Su-ha rest instead.

But just as he was about to decline, Su-ha’s voice echoed in his mind.

“I want to remain as your guide, Chaewon. From now on, for a long time. I want us to become a pair that depends on each other, trusts each other, and moves forward together.”

“I want to eat with you every day. Every single time. So don’t apologize to me for something like that.”

The words were so vivid, as if he were hearing them right now.

They had meant that much to him.

He wanted to believe Su-ha. Not as empty politeness, but as sincerity. From what Chaewon had seen, Su-ha wasn’t the kind of person to speak elaborate empty words.

“At this rate… should we go now?”

That trust had become Chaewon’s courage.

Still blinking in surprise at the unexpected answer, Su-ha finally broke into a bright smile.

They were only at the beginning.

The road ahead was still long.

But somehow, having Chaewon, who truly trusted him and was willing to take that first step together, made it feel like everything would be alright.

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