DB Vol 1 Part 17

“Mr. Ji Won-woo.”

“Just Won-woo. Call me Won-woo.”

“Alright, Won-woo. I don’t know how you knew to come, but…”

“I didn’t know. And speak casually to me.”

Won-woo interrupted him, grabbing Sang-cheon’s arm and seating him in a chair. Then he went to find a first aid kit and returned.

“We’re not close enough for me to speak casually… Wait, how did you find the first aid kit?”

“I saw where it was placed when you helped me before. Close your eyes.”

“Why should I… Ouch!”

Sang-cheon instinctively closed his eyes at the sting of antiseptic on his face. He also kept his mouth shut as careful hands disinfected the wounded areas on his face.

“Next time, don’t look the opponent in the eye, and if you get hit once, just pretend to faint and drop.”

If he had heard this when he was fine, he might have thought it was a funny advice, but now it seemed like a realistic option to Sang-cheon, making him sigh instead of laugh.

“Well, those guys were making such unreasonable demands that I couldn’t help but… Ugh.”

Whether Sang-cheon groaned in pain or frowned, Won-woo didn’t stop his hands. His touch was careful, if not particularly affectionate.

“All done. You endured well.”

Won-woo quickly applied ointment and patted Sang-cheon’s shoulder. Sang-cheon looked at him with dazed eyes. He felt embarrassed being comforted like a child, but the way Won-woo treated his wounds seemed familiar. Even if he was a Guide, did he get hurt a lot if he was in the field?

“Thank you… for helping.”

“It’s nothing. By the way, Nani says it wants to talk together?”

Won-woo pointed to the communication device in one ear, and Sang-cheon’s face instantly hardened.

“…N-Nani?”

“Yes, it seems worried about you, Director Hwang.”

Bullshit. This word rose to Sang-cheon’s throat, but he barely held it back. How could something that’s just waiting for him to be screwed be worried?

“It’s an AI, how could it worry about people?”

“Still, there are times when it sounds quite close to human emotions.”

“…When?”

“When you call it by the name Nani.”

Sang-cheon’s hand, which was preparing to connect the speaker to the communication device, stopped in mid-air. Surely it wouldn’t try to harm me for giving it such a crappy name? Won-woo, not noticing Sang-cheon’s stiffened expression, sat down and continued to speak ill of Nani.

“And it gets upset too.”

It’s like it’s dying to be exposed as human. As Sang-cheon was alarmed, Won-woo smiled at him.

“You’re trying to collect data on moments when it can respond emotionally like a human, right?”

“…Ah, yes.”

“Oh, and it used a few inappropriate words.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I wrote them down, so you can modify them.”

The apology was because it might not be possible to modify.

[Do I really have to modify them?]

Suddenly, a snarky voice cut in through the speaker. Sang-cheon looked at Won-woo and repeated the same words.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing, Director Hwang? Nani, you should apologize quickly.”

Sang-cheon’s face turned pale. No words came from the speaker. After a moment of silence, Won-woo tilted his head as if something was strange.

“Sometimes it cuts off like this. It makes me think it might actually be a real person, deliberately cutting off the communication.”

Sang-cheon’s face grew even paler. After another brief silence, a single suppressed word came from the speaker.

[I’m sorry.]

Sang-cheon glanced at the speaker. He was worried about Won-woo finding out, but this was also a problem. What if it loses control and rampages? Unaware of Sang-cheon’s anxious feelings, only Won-woo praised Nani.

“Good job, Nani. Learn well from your father.”

[He’s not my father.]

“I’m absolutely not its father.”

Nani and Sang-cheon simultaneously denied it through gritted teeth. Won-woo looked back and forth between Sang-cheon and the speaker for a moment before asking.

“Then what does Nani call Director Hwang?”

“Well, Mister?”

“But you’re its creator, right?”

The creator’s face lost color again.

[The creator said he wanted to be called something friendly, so he preferred ‘Mister’.]

Nani’s voice still sounded like it was speaking through gritted teeth. However, Won-woo didn’t notice as he was rummaging through the medicine box and just nodded.

“That is friendly. But a family title would have been even friendlier, right?”

“I’m against marriage.”

Won-woo paused at Sang-cheon’s hastily concocted excuse. Then he looked at him with a strange gaze. In the previous world, Sang-cheon liked children and wanted to create a family by adopting a child, if not through marriage. He said he wanted to help society in this way, as the number of orphans increased due to the war. But he always just financially supported organizations, worried about not being able to raise a child properly. And he used to make this excuse.

‘I’m against marriage, that’s why.’

Hearing the same words in front of him now made Won-woo’s heart ache anew.

“I see.”

As Won-woo murmured his response, Sang-cheon barely managed to sigh in relief. It was quite a big sigh, causing Won-woo to look at him as if remembering something.

“Oh, by the way, I heard a sigh from Nani.”

Sang-cheon glared at the speaker. This was mentally dozens of times more difficult than being hit by the gangsters.

“Ah, no, that’s…”

“I was really impressed by Director Hwang’s attention to detail, even adding sound effects.”

Sang-cheon’s heart settled back into place. By this point, he wondered if Won-woo knew everything and was deliberately messing with him.

“But how did you come here?”

“I ran.”

“No, you said that earlier… Wait, from your home to here?”

Yes, Won-woo nodded, took out a muscle pain lotion from the first aid kit and handed it over.

“Apply this. Your whole body will be creaking by tomorrow morning.”

Sang-cheon frowned as he received the lotion.

“Why did you come?”

“Just because.”

“Next time, call before you just come. And although it worked out today because you can fight, you shouldn’t interfere in strangers’ affairs like that.”

Sang-cheon gave this gruff advice and then added sheepishly,

“But thanks for helping.”

“It’s nothing compared to how you helped me.”

“No, it’s not nothing. Oh right, and why did you let those thugs misunderstand that you’re an Esper?”

“So they’ll definitely bring an Esper next time.”

Sang-cheon stared at him, at a loss for words. Has he not come back to his senses yet?

“I’m asking just in case… You’re not hoping for me to get totally screwed, are you?”

“Haha, of course not. And who would want Director Hwang to end up like that?”

Sang-cheon’s gaze involuntarily turned to the speaker. Misunderstanding his look, Won-woo asked Nani,

“You think so too, right Nani?”

[Of course.]

Sang-cheon’s jaw twitched at the calm reply. It might have been better to just get knocked out by the thugs. When the thugs bring an Esper next time, that’s probably what will happen.

“It seemed like those people earlier were unhappy that you’re diligently paying back the money and were trying to forcibly saddle you with more debt, is that right? Those people bow to power rather than law anyway, so they need to be put in their place once to stop bothering you.”

“Are you going to do that?”

“I could.”

[You’re a Guide, you know.]

Nani’s cold voice cut in. Sang-cheon nodded as it was what he wanted to ask too. Won-woo smiled awkwardly as if finding it difficult to explain.

“Being a Guide doesn’t mean I can’t fight.”

“Sure, I saw earlier that you can fight well, but Espers are different. How could a Guide possibly beat an Esper? It doesn’t make sense. We’d be sent flying like flyers with just one touch from an Esper, crashing to the ground. I’d be the first to get trampled. Or can you call an Esper you know?”

“Ah.”

Suddenly, Won-woo’s eyes widened in delight.

“That’s a good idea.”

Did he really try to fight an Esper himself? He was definitely still crazy.

“I don’t know how close you are with this Esper, but I don’t want to owe someone that much.”

“It’s not a close Esper. I can offer guiding in return, so don’t worry about it.”

“No, that’s even more… Huh? You have an Esper you can Guide?”

After asking, Sang-cheon realized his mistake and closed his mouth. It was like saying, “You’re D-rank, and a ‘low’ at that, how could you have an Esper to Guide?” However, Won-woo didn’t seem to catch the implication and explained about himself.

“I can cover quite a wide range of wavelengths. It’s not difficult for me to find Espers to Guide.”

But you’re D-rank ‘low’. Sang-cheon swallowed the words that came up to his throat out of politeness, but there was someone here without manners.

[A D-rank ‘low’ can only Guide D-rank Espers, you know.]

It was a cold point, but Won-woo misunderstood it as machine-like stiffness and looked at the speaker with warm eyes.

“You can even deduce that, our Nani is so smart.”

[Even a kindergartener could deduce that.]

“But you didn’t go to kindergarten, did you?”

The noise from the speaker disappeared as if the connection had been cut. As Sang-cheon guessed it might be curse time, Won-woo pointed to the speaker.

“It’s really cute how you set it to go silent in awkward situations like this.”

Sang-cheon barely managed to hold back the advice that the cute one would run away, fly hundreds of kilometers, and turn him into a jigsaw puzzle of human pieces. Sang-cheon gulped down water in frustration and spoke.

“Haa, so our Nani…”

[Beeeeeep!]

Suddenly, an ear-splitting mechanical noise came through the speaker. Sang-cheon, with a pale face, forced a smile and corrected his words.

“So, as just Nani said, are you saying you’ll bring a D-rank Esper?”

“It might not be D-rank.”

“Hey, be precise.”

“I don’t think you’d believe me even if I was precise. It’s an unbelievable story.”

“Ha, I’ll believe you, so just tell me.”

For a moment, Won-woo’s eyes sparkled. He smiled silently as if he had been waiting for these words and dragging out the topic. And Sang-cheon hesitated at that smile. He felt a surge of anxiety, as if he had fallen into a trap. What was it? Was Won-woo about to reveal a secret that he shouldn’t know? Secrets were off-limits. For Sang-cheon, who prioritized safety above all, other people’s secrets were landmines to be avoided in life.

“No, if it’s difficult to say, you don’t have to…”

[Say it.]

Nani blocked Sang-cheon’s escape route.

“Thank you for saying you’ll believe me. I feel reassured because Director Hwang isn’t the type to carelessly leak secrets to others.”

There was already an outsider involved here. Sang-cheon glared at the speaker for a moment and responded reluctantly.

“…So what is it you want to say?”

“I am a purifier.”

A brief silence fell. Was that all? Sang-cheon leaned in as if he had misheard.

“What’s that?”

“Someone who modulates the waves of energy.”

[The world calls that a Guide.]

Nani announced in a mechanically cold voice. Won-woo smiled and nodded.

“That’s right, but the Guides here are affected by rank. Purifier have no restrictions. The way we handle energy is different. As long as the wavelength matches, it doesn’t matter what rank it is. And, whether it’s human or not.”

Won-woo trailed off the last words as if mumbling, then looked up.

“Fortunately, I can cover all wavelengths. In other words, I can Guide all Espers.”

What is this… nonsense? Sang-cheon, who had been tense, frowned in disappointment. He was clearly still not in his right mind. Did he develop delusions because he struggled as the only one with lower abilities in his family? He felt a bit of pity.

[F**k]

Startled, Sang-cheon and Won-woo both turned to look at the speaker.

“Uh, Nani, did you just curse…”

“Wow, that’s amazing! Oh, very amazing! Being a telephone pole, you could communicate with anyone! Hahaha!”

“It’s purifier(Jeongwha-ga).”

“Right, telephone pole(Jangwha-ga), hahaha.”

After making a big fuss on purpose, Sang-cheon barely managed to stop his forced laughter when Won-woo’s attention turned to him.

“So, ahem, I’m not saying this because I don’t believe you… It’s just, you’ve been through some tough times recently, right? I heard the Center offers counseling, why don’t you try applying for that?”

[That won’t do.]

Sang-cheon looked at the speaker incredulously at the firm opposition. He probably thinks Won-woo might be hospitalized if his delusional symptoms are revealed during counseling, making him useless as a spy. The brute’s intentions were crystal clear even without asking. But no matter his position of following the brute’s orders, he couldn’t obey this time.

“Ignore Nani and make sure to get counseling. …Why are you smiling like that?”

“I just think Director Hwang is really a good person.”

Not at all. I’m conspiring with Nani to deceive you right now. Having never told so many lies in his life, Sang-cheon’s face contorted.

[Yes, he’s a good person. From now on, just follow Mister’s words.]

“Yeah, that’s right. Nani, you should follow Director Hwang’s words well too.”

[…I’ll do as I see fit.]

“Well, you’re still at an age to learn, so you should learn how to do things on your own too.”

Once again, the noise cut off and the sound was blocked. It was curse time. For this moment, Sang-cheon cheered for Won-woo. If he upset Nani a bit more, wouldn’t the brute be on the verge of rampaging and fall ill? Just as he was hoping for this slightly, Won-woo turned to Sang-cheon.

“Then can I get to the main point now?”

“What main point?”

“I’d like to go into business with you.”

His supportive feelings didn’t last even two seconds. Was this some new kind of scam? Approaching by pretending to be sick, evoking sympathy to extract money? Sang-cheon sighed, thinking he really had bad luck today.

“No. I have no intention of doing that. All I have is debt…”

“I don’t need money. I have something to sell, and I just need Director Hwang to find buyers and sell it for me. Then I’ll give you 50% as commission.”

“Wait, it’s your product but you want me to just sell it and take 50%?”

“Yes. It’s a difficult product to sell, and we need to choose the buyers very carefully.”

“Look, if it’s a dangerous product…”

“It’s not dangerous. The problem is it’s too popular.”

Won-woo smiled as if to say not to worry and rummaged through his pocket.

“Hmm, I put it in here. Just a moment.”

Sang-cheon was prepared not to be surprised even if Won-woo pulled out two acorns. So he looked indifferently at the objects Won-woo placed on the table. Two items longer but flatter than acorns. And they were very black. A black so deep it seemed to swallow even light.

“These are seeds, aren’t they? But why are they this color?”

Won-woo pushed the seeds toward Sang-cheon and casually informed him.

“Because they’re Alpha seeds.”