DB Vol 3 Part 7

Won-woo tried hard to suppress his desire to sympathize with Seona’s compassion. Don’t mind it. Even if he was Sang-cheon’s adopted son, he wasn’t someone he would see again, so don’t get emotionally involved.

“Han Seona-ssi.”

At that moment, Seona’s name was called from the office entrance. They both turned their heads to see the Espers from the team who were said to have been discharged. They saw Won-woo too, but perhaps because of the decontamination room incident, they averted their gaze pretending not to notice. As Won-woo stared at them, he heard Seona’s greeting.

“Won-woo-nim, I’ll go first for the strategy meeting. Take care on your way home.”

Even though the team members’ attitudes towards Seona were not friendly as she wasn’t fully accepted as a team member yet, Seona didn’t seem to care, apparently satisfied with working in Head Team 3.

Well, she never really cared about others anyway. So there was no need to worry. Even if he found the pervert who broke into his house among them and beat him to a pulp, Seona wouldn’t be sad. Won-woo spoke as if responding to Seona’s farewell.

“Actually, there was a sudden fire at my lodging yesterday.”

Seona paused at the sudden words, and the other three Espers who were a little further away also looked his way.

“Ah right, I heard about that. Then you can’t go back to your lodging?”

“No. I’m planning to stay somewhere else. Fortunately, my house didn’t burn down so I can stay there, but they say I need to move out my belongings because the entire building needs repairs. I’m thinking of moving everything out on Saturday evening.”

After giving this explanation that Seona hadn’t even asked for, Won-woo smiled and left the office. Then he stopped in front of the elevator, hoping that the stalker pervert would take this bait and make a move. The unexpected fire at his lodging had extended the pervert’s lifespan. He had originally planned to catch and half-kill him that day. So he had to catch him this time for sure.

As he was thinking about catching the pervert, the elevator doors opened. But he couldn’t have a pleasant departure from work. He made eye contact with the person who was alone inside. It was Hong Seung-wook. Is the East Center this small? Won-woo stepped back in disbelief.

“You go first.”

When Won-woo spoke politely in the most indifferent voice he could manage, the other person stared at him and asked slowly.

“Why aren’t you getting on?”

Why? Because I don’t want to get involved. Won-woo knew this situation very well. After receiving that annoying misunderstanding from Idan at the kimbap shop, it was obvious that exchanging even one word here would turn into a mess. Won-woo turned his body towards the emergency stairs.

“Ha, Ji Won-woo!”

Although a dumbfounded voice called his name loudly from behind, Won-woo neither stopped walking nor reacted at all. Only in trashy romance novels do people turn around impulsively. No matter how much he called his name, it wouldn’t work on him. He would never have any connection with him.

“Did you find Ji Won-woo?”

Gye Yoon’s question echoed in the darkness, and soon an answer was heard.

[…No.]

Chief Jung’s voice was openly sullen. And he waited for Gye Yoon’s curse, but Gye Yoon was too focused on the building across to open his mouth. The blackened Guide dormitory building was completely engulfed in darkness with its lights off. The reason he came here was simple. While he was attending to other business, the people he had assigned to follow Ji Won-woo had lost him. So he was now here looking for Ji Won-woo.

“I told you. Just stick to him 24 hours and properly track his movements. Replace all the personnel attached to Ji Won-woo. Send the failures to the northernmost farm and work them like dogs for a few years.”

[Yes. But Ji Won-woo-ssi was unusually sharp for a Guide. He’s too good at detecting pursuers and hides himself like a ghost…]

“So?”

At Gye Yoon’s low voice, Chief Jung immediately lowered his tail.

[I’ll select the best personnel for monitoring Ji Won-woo-ssi and send them immediately.]

Gye Yoon was not in a good mood right now. Both losing track of Ji Won-woo’s whereabouts and being unable to contact him because his communicator was turned off. He became nervous not knowing his location, as if he had developed separation anxiety. Coming to the burned-down lodging was purely based on intuition. He didn’t know where Ji Won-woo had slept last night or tonight, but he felt like he would appear at the lodging at least once.

[Oh, and the Alpha seed negotiation has been completed, so the Guide for Miss Hwan is expected to arrive soon. However, the Guide is uncooperative due to fear of the Ji family, and since their wavelength range doesn’t overlap much with Miss Hwan’s, it seems they won’t be able to stay long.]

“They’ll cooperate when there’s a knife to their throat, and as long as there’s even a little overlap in wavelengths, guiding can happen, so it doesn’t matter.”

Gye Yoon said coldly, but didn’t forget to ask about his niece.

“How’s Hwan?”

[The same, sir.]

Gye Yoon silently cut off the communication and stared again at the dark dormitory. For some time now, pain like a knife slicing through his head had been dominating him. Gye Yoon too was the same. He had gone back to how he was before. Won-woo had warned him when he guided him. That after tasting peace, it would be hard to endure the same pain as before. But there’s something Ji Won-woo doesn’t know.

No matter how terrible this pain is, as long as there’s hope, it’s nothing compared to the past. With just the hope of being able to face peace again, he could endure this level of pain with a smile. Rather, what was unbearable was this irritating reality of not knowing where he was.

Not knowing his whereabouts alone made him feel dirty. The strange thing was that when he thought of him, he didn’t think about guiding at all. Naturally, since he had eliminated his pain, he should have been greedy for guiding first.

Right now, he just wanted to find him and see his face. It felt like this annoying anxiety would disappear only if he could hear his breathing. Gye Yoon blankly looked up at the black sky, then closed his eyes and turned on his communicator. The beeping sound of the unanswered communicator sounded like the dripping water he always heard in the cave. Even though he was clearly in a wide-open space now, it felt suffocating like that prison.

[Oh, Nani?]

Gye Yoon slowly opened his eyes.

[Nani?]

Gye Yoon’s mouth opened and a low murmur flowed out.

“It hurts.”

Won-woo blinked at the single word he heard from the communicator. Hurts? Why? Is there a problem with the server again? Did Sang-cheon get scammed on the server? …That was highly likely. He should have taken care of it first. Won-woo comforted Nani as if patting it.

“I’ll solve the server problem for you. I’ll back you up well too, so don’t worry.”

But no sound was heard. The communication hadn’t been cut off. The static was still there. As he was about to call out Nani’s name, a dry voice was heard.

[I’m not worried. It doesn’t matter if I disappear.]

“No.”

Won-woo blurted out urgently and ran his hand over his face.

“I’ll make you live… I’ll make sure you don’t shut down, I’m telling you.”

After saying this, Won-woo regretted it a bit. He was embarrassed that his voice sounded desperate towards a machine. So he told it lightly, as if joking.

“You might not care if you disappear because you’re a machine, but people aren’t like that. If you want to learn from people and imitate them, you should want to live.”

[There are people who aren’t like that though.]

“Ha, who?”

[Gye Yoon.]

Won-woo momentarily froze at the unexpected name, then frowned.

“You know Gye Yoon? Of course you’ve heard the name, but how do you know he doesn’t want to live?”

[Because I heard it directly.]

“Directly? How… Ah.”

Won-woo, who was about to ask, remembered Sang-cheon between the two. And he subsequently realized why Nani’s way of speaking was similar to Gye Yoon’s.

“Was Gye Yoon your model by any chance?”

[Yes. Is it similar?]

“Just the voice and way of speaking. So do you contact that person?”

The question came out sharply, but Nani answered as if mixed with laughter.

[No.]

Ah, I see.

[So don’t worry.]

Won-woo turned his gaze away in confusion in the darkness. He was indeed feeling relieved, just as Nani said. If this machine, like his secret friend, was in contact with others too, he might feel a bit hurt. On the other hand, he felt pathetic for being attached even to a relationship with a machine. Fortunately, Nani seemed to have misunderstood Won-woo’s relief in a different way.

[I haven’t told anyone about the conversations I’ve had with you, Ji Won-woo-ssi.]

Well done. Won-woo muttered and raised his head to lean against the wall behind him.

“So. Did Gye Yoon say he doesn’t want to live because he can’t receive guiding?”

[No. He said he’s used to the pain. He said if it was just because of the terrible physical pain, he would have given up on revenge and just died.]

“Then why doesn’t he want to live?”

[He said there’s no reason to live except for revenge.]

“…But he has family, doesn’t he? Since he sacrifices so much for his niece, he must be close with his family, right?”

[Yes. It’s not bad. But I guess it’s not enough reason to make him live.]

Despite only seeing him twice, the cold and heavy gaze that belied his age came to mind. Won-woo pushed away the afterimage and spoke firmly to Nani.

“Just because that person is your model doesn’t mean you need to follow such thoughts.”

[I don’t have a reason to exist either, do I?]

“Of course you do. You have me.”

[…Will you be the reason for me to live?]

“Yes. Use me as your reason.”

[What if I cling to you then?]

The voice had gotten lower, but because of the static, Won-woo didn’t notice. So he answered realistically.

“It’s not like I have magnetism, and you’re a heavy server, so that’s impossible.”

If you really cling to me, wouldn’t I die crushed? As he was seriously thinking about this, an out of the blue question was heard.

[What about someone similar to me clinging to you?]

“Who is that… Don’t tell me, Gye Yoon?”

[Yes.]

Thinking that maybe Gye Yoon had made the naive AI do this, he was about to get angry when unexpected words were heard.

[Then it’s okay for me to disappear, right?]

“You and that person are different.”

[If we’re different, it could be even better, right?]

“No. Nothing can be better than you.”

[Why?]

Well, because you’re a machine. You can do everything I ask. If I tell you to stay by my side, you’ll stay by my side forever. Swallowing these childish reasons, Won-woo acted as if it was no big deal again.

“Machines are more comfortable.”

[You sound just like Mr. Hwang.]

A chuckle flowed from Won-woo’s mouth. However, his smile stiffened at Nani’s slow voice that followed.

[But I can’t hug you, can I?]

Even knowing the other was a machine, he was at a loss for words. This time, the joke about “if you hug me, I’ll die crushed because you’re a server” didn’t come out.

“Do you want to hug me?”

[Yes.]

“Why?”

[I guess I like you, that’s all.]

***

Had he ever been this flustered after saying something? At least not in Gye Yoon’s life. Without realizing it, he cut off the communication that the other party could hear. It was a truly unintentional remark. He liked him.

“Crazy bastard, what are you saying? Ha, shit.”

Gye Yoon cursed at his own absurdity. Why did those words come out? Apart from the fact that the words were inappropriate for a machine, the embarrassment that washed over him after uttering those words was more of a problem. He couldn’t understand why his heart was pounding so loudly when he said those words while pretending to be an AI.

“Shit, what’s wrong with me.”

Gye Yoon roughly swept back his long bangs with his hand and licked his lips. Strangely, he couldn’t calm down. If it weren’t for the voice in his ear, he would have cut off the communication right then and there.

[How flattering.]

Ji Won-woo’s voice was laced with laughter. Like an adult amused by a child’s immature words. So his pride was hurt.

“Yes, it’s an honor. It’s the first time I’ve said something like this too.”

[Tell that to Mr. Hwang too, he’ll like it.]

Why was he so concerned about that Mr. Hwang? Gye Yoon suppressed the harsh retort that was about to come out and asked bluntly.

“Doesn’t Ji Won-woo-ssi like it?”

[I do.]

It sounded like he was forcing the words out, but Gye Yoon didn’t like it. He stared at the dark void for a moment before opening his mouth.

“What about Gye Yoon?”

[What?]

His voice revealed his bewilderment. Gye Yoon didn’t miss a single one of his small breaths and focused. His breathing stopped for a moment. Gye Yoon let out a low voice as if to penetrate the silence.

“If Gye Yoon can hug Ji Won-woo-ssi and likes him too.”

[…]

“You don’t believe that Gye Yoon likes Ji Won-woo-ssi?”

[It’s not that I don’t believe it. He’s an Esper, so of course he would like me.]

It wasn’t an arrogant voice. Rather, it sounded as if he was annoyed by an unwanted situation. Gye Yoon’s pride was hurt again. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand Ji Won-woo’s words. Any Esper who had tasted his Guiding would be crazy about him and cling to him. Besides, he was incredibly handsome. His eyes, as deep as an abyss, had an attraction that made you want to keep looking at them.

But for Gye Yoon, that Guiding or appearance didn’t come to mind as reasons. He just liked talking to him. Even the cold tone he had when he faced his real self. Gye Yoon frowned as he inadvertently thought of the reason.

[Gye Yoon only sees me because he received guiding from me. But it’s all a misunderstanding.]

“No, it’s not.”

Gye Yoon denied it firmly and swept his hair back with his hand again. He decided to put aside his own confused feelings for now and focus on Ji Won-woo, who was his goal. He had to make Ji Won-woo accept him. That’s why he was doing this shitty AI act.

“If it was just because of the guiding, Gye Yoon would have used coercive force on Ji Won-woo-ssi. Gye Yoon would never waste time on something he doesn’t care about.”

A short laugh was heard. Then a cold voice revealed his distrust of Espers.

[No. Espers do. They put their heart and soul into it for the sake of guiding.]

***

“Just say the word. I’ll risk my life to find out.”

On a Saturday afternoon, there was an Esper who put his heart and soul into it for Won-woo, who had visited Hwang Sang-cheon’s lab for the first time in a while. He had asked Sang-cheon to find information about Aunt. But no matter how good Sang-cheon’s information-gathering skills were, the clues Won-woo had were too few, so there were no results. Then Seona, who had come with him, suggested an alternative that was worth risking her life for.

“As I said before, the only way to get Guide information is to infiltrate the Guide Center. I’ll go.”

Looking at her sparkling eyes, she seemed ready to jump into the middle of a Monster’s den with her bare hands. Before Won-woo could object, Sang-cheon quickly interjected.

“Oh, it’s difficult for Espers to enter the building where you can search for data at the Guide Center. No, they can enter, but they say they’ve surrounded the building with that mineral that suppresses the power of Espers? An Esper who can’t use their power is no different from an ordinary person inside, and the security is strict and there are several levels of security, so it’s almost impossible to break in. But, ahem.”

Hwang Sang-cheon, who was explaining, suddenly cleared his throat and turned his head to the side. He had been wearing a communicator on only one ear in case a regular customer contacted him, but he lowered his eyes as if focusing on the communicator.

“If it’s an S-rank Esper, they can use some power, so ahem, it might be possible.”

The only S-rank Esper that came to Sang-cheon’s mind was Gye Yoon. Won-woo inadvertently glanced around. He had come to see Sang-cheon after several days to avoid him. Of course, he had called Sang-cheon in advance before coming. He asked if he was alone.

‘Oh, of course! You don’t have to worry about the brute… my adopted son! I signed a contract, and he’ll never run into Won-woo-nim.’

He didn’t say that the contract had become trash because they had already run into each other at the gimbap restaurant. So Won-woo was wary of when he would come to see Sang-cheon. Sang-cheon noticed his gaze and waved his hands in denial.

“There are no S-rank Espers here. There really aren’t.”

“Of course there aren’t. The only S-rank Esper who can help Won-woo-nim is that Gye the brute, but I heard that he’s busy catching Gye Family people like rats as he’s going crazy right before going Rampage. Typical of Gye the brute.”

As Seona replied nonchalantly, Sang-cheon flinched and turned his gaze to the wall. That’s right, the brute was beyond that wall. His anger, which was in the empty office next door, flowed out of the communicator in a low voice.

[I just got rid of some trash, why am I the brute?]

The problem was that the trash he got rid of was a human head. Sang-cheon tried to ignore the voice in his ear, but he heard an order.

[Tell them I’m not.]

“What?!”

Sang-cheon, who was surprised and shouted, looked back at the two people and forced a smile.

“What… if you look at him from a distance, he doesn’t look like a brute.”

Won-woo knew that Gye Yoon was his adopted son, so he thought nothing of it, but Seona couldn’t accept it.

“He’s a brute even from a distance. Of course, I feel sorry for him because he’s been suffering so much from the guiding problem, but he’s done so much wrong in the meantime? It’s true that Gye Yoon blew up the Eastern Center when he was young. Honestly, I think he should have been put in jail since then. That’s the only way he’ll become human.”

[I wonder if I should bite that mouth like a dog to shut it up.]

Sang-cheon’s forehead was covered in sweat at the grinding voice. He was worried that he might break through the wall and jump in, so he quickly turned to Won-woo. He was the only one who could stop the brute.

“So, Won-woo-nim, you, you treat Seona-ssi like family, right? Right? You don’t want Seona-ssi to get hurt even a little bit, right? Especially getting bitten by a dog?”

It was strange that Sang-cheon was emphasizing ‘dog,’ but Won-woo nodded readily.

“Yes. I don’t want Seona-ssi to go to dangerous places for Espers like the Guide Center. If I have to go, I’ll go.”

Seona immediately opposed.

“No, you’re in even more danger, Won-woo-nim.”

[Yeah, it’ dangerous.]

Sang-cheon opened his mouth to object, but stopped at the voice he heard in his ear. Huh? Shouldn’t he welcome the brute? He wanted Won-woo to enter the Guide Center and steal information. Sang-cheon turned to the wall again without realizing it.