SOG Ch 197

Woo-jin, who had already been remarkably adept in bed, seemed to become even more skillful as their relationship progressed—so much so that his otherwise perfectly composed demeanor seemed almost a distant memory during these moments. Woo-jin, who had already shown remarkable ability to learn in bed, seemed to have reached another level after their period of quasi-confinement together.

Originally, Jae-chan always accommodating to Woo-jin. Seeing his partner satisfied with their intimacy alone filled him with happiness and contentment.

But at some point, Woo-jin changed. He became like a kind yet persistent instructor, seemingly determined to properly teach the ways of pleasure.

Last night was the same. What feels better? Do you like this more? With Woo-jin completely taking control and leading him to cl1max, Jae-chan could only nod while gasping. Losing all sense and reason, he clung on, crying out that it felt good, so good.

It was like sinking into warm water until his cheeks turned crimson—agonizing yet comfortingly addictive pleasure.

He wanted to do it again. Stroking his now-warm earlobe, Jae-chan awkwardly looked up at Woo-jin’s clean, pure cheeks.

“Are you tired?”

Woo-jin asked during the lengthy silence.

Jae-chan shook his head. He playfully tapped Woo-jin’s elbow and ran ahead on the sidewalk.

It was fortunate enough that they had managed to get outside, even if just for this wholesome activity.

Get it together. As if trying to dispel the slowly building heat, Jae-chan explosively increased his speed.

By now they had passed the path thick with pampas grass and entered a wide road where the moisture had completely dried. Just as he was about to smile again hearing Woo-jin’s footsteps quickly catching up behind him.

Ding-a-ling, the sound of a bicycle approached from behind.

When he turned around, “Oh!” The startled bicyclist, eyes wide in panic, was speeding straight toward him. The bike’s wheels had spun out of control, gaining dangerous momentum. The bike with its broken chain slid straight ahead and crashed into Jae-chan.

*

“I’m fine. I’m perfectly okay.”

That same day at lunch, Jae-chan received a call from Woo-jin as he entered the Cultural Center where Esper Chae Seong-hwan’s lecture was scheduled. He went up the stairs and into the rarely-used second floor bathroom.

“Really. I’m telling you it doesn’t hurt at all.”

Emphasizing once again, Jae-chan placed his palm on his slightly sore waist and recalled the morning’s events.

No matter how suddenly the bicycle had rushed at him, Seon Jae-chan had the reflexes to easily avoid it. Plus, Woo-jin was there too. In an instant, Woo-jin had swooped in and grabbed Jae-chan, pulling him back even further than the single step he had been about to take to dodge.

If anything, the person who got hurt was the bicycle owner. Instead of crashing into Seon Jae-chan, they ended up in the reed thicket.

The situation where Jae-chan strained his back occurred after that. While helping to pull the bicycle out from the densely tangled grass, he misstepped on the mud that had softened from the previous night’s rain.

Though he managed to keep his balance and didn’t fall, it put too much strain on his waist that had already been overworked all weekend. That’s why Woo-jin had called.

-If it hurts, make sure to call me. We’ll go to the hospital.

The soft voice insisted. Despite having personally dropped him off at the Center, Woo-jin was clearly worried the pain might have worsened in the meantime. Some might call it excessive, but Jae-chan’s heart fluttered every time Woo-jin took care of him like this.

“Okay, okay. Have you eaten lunch? What did you eat?”

Their lighthearted banter continued for a while. They ended the call with a promise to meet in the evening if time allowed.

Jae-chan, still smiling until then, suddenly caught his reflection in the mirror. His gaze moved from the proud scar above his eye, which had replaced the scar from before the regression, to his head crown.

Naturally, the morning’s events came flooding back. After the accident, they had somehow managed to send away the bicycle owner who happened to recognize Woo-jin. While Jae-chan was brushing dirt off his sneakers beside the grass, Woo-jin looked back at him with slightly surprised eyes.

‘Wait a moment.’

His neat face showed rare signs of bewilderment. Feeling instinctively uneasy, Jae-chan quickly asked ‘What?’ and Woo-jin’s lips twitched.

‘There’s a… praying mantis on your head.’

‘…A praying mantis? The insect?’

It must have gotten on him while they were pulling out the bicycle.

‘Yeah, don’t move for now…. But can I take a picture?’

Woo-jin asked tentatively with a face that seemed to be holding back laughter.

When Jae-chan’s eyes unconsciously trembled a bit, the sound of laughter finally escaped. With a face still full of mirth, Woo-jin reached out and shooed away the mantis.

“I really should have taken a picture.”

Jae-chan brushed his crown where the mantis had made its nest with his palm, expressing belated regret. He later heard from Woo-jin that the brownish-green mantis, raising its front legs in defiance, had embodied the very essence of the idiom ‘mantis trying to stop a chariot’.

Well, it’s all memories now. A selfie of the three of them – himself, Woo-jin, and the mantis – would have been perfect. It was especially disappointing since he had recently taken up photography as a hobby.

Anyway…

‘Since work starts tomorrow, I should head back to the dorm.’

Jae-chan wrinkled his nose bridge. For the past few days, taking advantage of the weekend and holiday, he had been staying at Woo-jin’s house for three consecutive days. The thought of being apart again made him feel even more regretful than the mantis incident.

Should I really ask him to live together?

It was something he’d been contemplating for months. It was his compromise solution since proposing to a barely twenty-three-year-old Woo-jin felt almost criminal. Though asking a twenty-three-year-old to live together wasn’t exactly proper either.

Well, he could think about it slowly. Things are good as they are now. Wrapped up in these various happy concerns, Jae-chan sent Woo-jin a spirited message saying [Fighting for afternoon training!] before heading back to the main auditorium.

“Younger students, please go up to the second floor!”

The Cultural Center’s main auditorium was packed with people who came to attend the lecture. Many Espers and Guides from other regional Centers were also present. As Jae-chan was an official registrant, he signed next to his name and took a seat on the first floor as directed by the staff.

About 10 minutes passed. Gyeong Chang-hyun managed to find Jae-chan without any communication. Jae-chan moved the bag he had been using to save a seat. Chang-hyun, wearing a track top in an eye-piercingly bright color, plopped down while wafting perfume everywhere.

“I swear, my team leader is going to be the death of me. We got rid of one old-fashioned team leader just to get an even worse one… Isn’t it crazy?”

Gyeong Chang-hyun was having a hard time getting along with the newly appointed Guide Team 1 leader.

Unlike Seon Jae-chan, who had tactfully arranged his days off and lecture days by swapping shifts with colleagues, Gyeong Chang-hyun had taken half a day off from work and received harsh criticism. Just this morning, he had whined to Jae-chan about staying up all night finishing tasks the team leader had dumped on him in exchange for approving his half-day leave.

“I covered shifts without complaint when others were sick, so why are they ignoring my circumstances?”

Seon Jae-chansilently agreed with Chang-hyun’s frustration but refrained from saying much for his friend’s sake.

That guy needs to stay on good terms with Guide Team 1. Before the regression, Gyeong Chang-hyun had dreamed of transferring to the Intelligence Bureau through his relative Han Tae-hoon’s connections, but had failed every single time without exception.

When no particular agreement came, Chang-hyun changed the subject, tapping Jae-chan’s knee under the folding table.

“Did you eat?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah right, you said you were studying at the library. With that kid from Team 9?”

“Yeah, I ate with Park Yu-ram. And she’s not in Team 9 anymore.”

Jae-chan corrected him. Park Yu-ram, who would shake his head at the mention of District 5 Research Institute, was working three hours each weekday at the Center’s main library as a backup plan while aiming for a apprentices position at District 1 Research Institute.

“She really won’t be a Guide anymore?”

“She said something like… that Guide would be a great job if it weren’t for the Espers.”

“So she’s quitting. I could tell she seemed more suited to being a librarian or web game developer, something like that.”

Park Yu-ram’s goal was to become a researcher. Jae-chan just shrugged.

While the two were having this pointless conversation, the lecture began. After the moderator’s introduction, Guide Chae Seong-hwan, who took the podium to loud applause, was unusually well-dressed in a neat suit.

“That guy looks quite normal like this. When I ran into him once at the old-man apartment-“

Gyeong Chang-hyun, who was more interested in Chae Seong-hwan’s personal matters than the lecture content, started dozing off with his mouth open as soon as the first period ended.

The three-hour lecture finally ended around the time Chang-hyun had dropped his writing utensil for the fifth time. As he was picking up the dropped pen, he spotted a face he’d been quite missing lately.

“Oh! Director!”

Gyeong Chang-hyun raised his pen-holding hand high and waved it around. It was Han Tae-hoon, whom he lately referred to as an old boomer to distinguish from the new team leader.

Han Tae-hoon, who was about to pass by while giving a cold stare to Chang-hyun’s outfit that would make ordinary citizens avoid him in back alleys, paused. Ignoring Chang-hyun who was chattering away with drool marks on his face, he turned his attention to Seon Jae-chan instead.

“The photos of Esper Go Woo-jin were uploaded last weekend. The response was quite good.”

Gyeong Chang-hyun made a confused face at this sudden topic. Seon Jae-chan, whose nose twitched at the smell of cologne wafting from both sides of the distant relatives, merely bowed in silence.

I’ll be counting on you next time too. Leaving just a slight nod, Han Tae-hoon passed by. Gyeong Chang-hyun glanced at his former superior heading toward the podium where Chae Seong-hwan was organizing lecture materials, then jabbed Jae-chan in the side.

“What photos?”

Gyeong Chang-hyun turned to look at Seon Jae-chan. Soon, as something occurred to him, his mouth fell open with a “huh.”

“You took those photos? The Go Woo-jin photos that were posted on the Center’s official account?”

Gyeong Chang-hyun mentioned a certain set of photos that had been quite the talk over the past week.