Chapter 93: The Lunatic Who Refused to Let Go

• Is this Hyung-su? You’re calling because you’re worried about Hae Jin Hyung, right?

“Yes, it’s me. Thank you for taking the call. …Hic.”

• Uh, hey, but Yong-yong is right here with me. If I go somewhere else without Yong-yong, I think they’ll get suspicious. But what’s going on….

Instead of continuing, Jae Hyung let out a sigh. He heard a small voice next to him demanding to be let to talk to ‘Dambo,’ but Jae Hyung, reading the mood, quietly held Yong-yong back. Lee Chae tried his best to speak calmly.

“Jae Hyung-ssi, it’s about Hae Jin. Is he badly hurt? I want to know where and how much he was injured. If it’s a situation where he can’t be treated, I was thinking of going there. Even though I’m in a situation where I can’t go right now….”

• Ah, well, you see. That’s……. Yong-yong, seriously! Stop it….

Jae Hyung stammered like someone hiding something. Lee Chae’s heart sank, fearing the situation was far more serious than he had imagined.

• Da, Dambo! Danjang is fine. Not hurt! Jae Hyung said… Ah, sh*t! Why! You have to tell him!

“……?”

At Yong-yong’s words, Lee Chae’s mind became a tangled mess. He’s fine? He’s not hurt? Then what was it that he had seen on the screen?

“Excuse me, what does that mean?”

He asked, but there was no answer. It seemed neither of them had the phone to their ear. For a while, the sound of the two bickering could be heard.

Lee Chae forced himself to steady his breathing and focused on their conversation. From what he could hear, it sounded like they were fighting over who got to talk.

• If we tell him, Hae Jin Hyung’s effort to pretend he was hurt goes to waste. He did it on purpose to make Hyung-su come back.

• Still, lying is bad! There should be no secrets between partners!

• Ah, fck…. Right now, Hyung-su is hiding because he doesn’t want to be partners. So to make him come…. Gasp, sht…. Hyung-su, you can hear all this, right? Right now.

‘He was pretending to be hurt? It was all an act?’

His heart, which had momentarily stopped, began to beat again at the news that Hae Jin was safe, and he felt the blood start to circulate in his cold fingertips.

• Hyung-su? Did you hang up?

Lee Chae kept chewing over the words that Hae Jin was okay. That he wasn’t actually hurt, but had pretended to be just to call for him….

‘It’s a relief it was just an exaggeration.’

The lie didn’t matter at all. As long as he wasn’t hurt, that was enough.

• Hyung-su?

“…I, I heard everything. Jae Hyung-ssi, thank you. Please look after Hae Jin Hyung well. Since I… there’s nothing I can do. Well, I’ll hang up n….”

• Wa, wait a minute. Hyung-su. You can’t just hang up like this. Ah, f*ck, what do I do….

Jae Hyung hurriedly stopped him.

• The, you know. Setting aside your relationship with Hae Jin Hyung, you and I were close too. So….

The sound of Jae Hyung taking a deep breath in and out could be heard. Lee Chae quietly held the phone to his ear and waited for the next words.

• If you’re ever curious about anything in the future, just contact me. I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry.

“Ah…….”

Lee Chae stood with his mouth open like a fool, unable to say a word. An overwhelming emotion squeezed his heart. Only then did the people of the Legion, whom he hadn’t even given a thought to after leaving, come to mind.

They had been so kind to him; why had he never thought about them until now? It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested….

Thinking about it, it wasn’t that he hadn’t been mindful of them, but rather, because the Legion was synonymous with Hae Jin to Lee Chae, there had been no need to think of them separately. Because they were people as precious and beloved as Hae Jin, it had hurt all the more.

Lee Chae spoke with a trembling voice.

“Thank you, Jae Hyung-ssi. I worry so much that I might bother you too much, what should I do?”

Whether he had been listening with his ear pressed to the phone, Yong-yong chimed in.

• Dambo is fine! We aren’t bothered.

• That’s right. Hyung-su, do contact us. Yong-yong got a cell phone too. I’ll text you the number.

“If you keep it a secret.”

• Of course. If Hyung-su tells us not to say anything, we absolutely won’t. Yong-yong, say you’ll keep the secret too.

• Right! Dambo! I keep secrets too. Trust only me.

“Then I’ll contact you again next time.”

Lee Chae quickly hung up the phone. In his heart, he wanted to talk more, but he couldn’t because he was afraid he would start crying while holding the phone. He went to the bathroom and calmed his mind by washing his face with cold water. In the mirror, a pale version of himself with a deathly expression was looking back.

‘Let’s not cry. It’s not like I left without knowing it would be hard…….’

He knew Hae Jin was safe, and though it was brief, he had heard the voices of people he missed, so he would be able to endure for a while by thinking of today.

He had left the area because it was hard to watch, but the sound of Lee Chae crying seemed to ring in his ears the whole time. It was an auditory hallucination he had never actually heard, yet it was as vivid as if it were happening right next to him.

From the debris disposal unit to becoming a civil servant in a small city, Kang Wook had been monitoring Lee Chae by his side. Although he told himself it was unavoidable since headquarters ordered it, he felt a sense of self-loathing, wondering if he really had to go this far.

It wasn’t because an upper-rank Guide had to monitor a D-rank Guide. It was just that monitoring someone who didn’t even have the will to run away was ridiculous.

Kang Wook sighed as he listened to Lee Chae’s voice through the wiretapping program.

He couldn’t even speak properly at the news that Cha Hae Jin might have been injured, but after hearing Jae Hyung’s words that it was all an act, strength miraculously returned to his voice.

Kang Wook listened only that far and pulled out his earphones. Then, he completely deleted the traces of Lee Chae’s call with Jae Hyung today.

He didn’t even know why he did it.

One could say his heart was moved by watching the love between two people whose ranks and purposes did not align, or one could call it an act of rebellion against the headquarters that sacrificed even individual emotions under the pretext of saving humanity.

Whatever it was, the conclusion was the same.

He would be a protector, not a watcher. And he would make sure no one knew.

“Protection, huh…….”

Kang Wook laughed bitterly to himself. It was because he suddenly remembered the past. When he had tried to persuade Lee Chae to terminate the imprint with Cha Hae Jin, the man had seemed strong enough to not need any protection.

‘I don’t care about the benefits. I want to know what the coercive measures are. That way I can prepare.’

To think that such a person had become weak enough to need protection.

To not walk a path if it isn’t right, and to help the weak. That was the minimum justice chosen by Kang Wook, an A-rank Guide living in a twisted world.

Another month passed.

Lee Chae sighed while watching the TV. The fake news he had been sick of hearing for the past month was playing again.

[Legion Representative Cha Hae Jin Intends to Intrude on the National Assembly]

Just as he was thinking today’s news was mild compared to the news that had come out so far, other news broke out in succession as if they had been waiting.

[S-rank Esper Cha Hae Jin Rampages Again Due to Excessive Combat.] [A Fight Over Trophies Between an S-rank Guide Mother and S-rank Esper Son.] [Legion Slush Fund Allegations! Cha Hae Jin Denies Charges.] [Cha Hae Jin Spotted Leaving a Hotel with Handsome Actor C; Dating a Non-awakened?]

The articles were all churning out provocative headlines. If Lee Chae hadn’t been in contact with Jae Hyung and didn’t know the truth behind those articles, the content would have been enough to make him go find Hae Jin.

Even if it was fake news, they would have to stage similar incidents to turn them into articles, so coming up with ideas every day must be a chore too.

“Ha……. Cha Hae Jin, how long are you going to keep this up? If you cause trouble every day, when on earth do you even fight?”

No, actually, the combat isn’t the problem….

The important thing was that the image of Cha Hae Jin, which Lee Chae had built up piece by piece with his own hands, was being shattered in an instant. Hae Jin seemed to be saying this to the lover who had heartlessly left him:

‘If you don’t want to see me ruined, come back and fix me.’

Because Hae Jin’s heart was so transparent, Lee Chae’s mind became a mess every time he saw news about him.

Not long ago, even though he knew the news was a lie, he felt like he would die if he didn’t see Hae Jin right then. With the thought that he had to go immediately, he ran out of the house toward the station in a daze, and only after being caught by Kang Wook, who had arrived beforehand, did he remember the fact that the news was a lie.

He still let out a hollow laugh whenever he thought of that moment.

“Let’s just sleep.”

Lee Chae turned off the news and covered himself with the blanket. Hae Jin’s face, which always came to mind when he closed his eyes, seemed faint today.

Had Hae Jin’s gradually exhausting heart reached all the way here? Dual thoughts constantly tormented Lee Chae: wanting him to give up soon, and at the same time, wanting him not to give up.

Hae Jin there, and Lee Chae here. One person trying to leave a trace somehow, and the other person pretending not to see that trace and looking away—the two were drawing parallel lines that could never meet.

How long must we be like this? Will there ever be an end for us?

Lee Chae closed his eyes tightly, frowning, and forced himself to sleep.

At the end of the dream he always had, Hae Jin stood with his arms wide open. Just like that day when, after being chased and chasing, he finally visited the Legion first, Hae Jin was offering his warm chest with a fluttering eye-smile.

‘Hi. Jung Lee Chae, I kept watching because I wondered when you’d come.’

At Hae Jin’s voice, which was clear even in the dream, the corners of the sleeping Lee Chae’s eyes curved slightly. After a little more time, his pillow would be soaked with tears as it always was, but even a fleeting dream was good.