OL Ch 39

“Mookyeong-ah!”

Hayun pressed down on Mookyeong’s thrashing body. The unconscious Mookyeong was unconsciously using his telekinesis. The surrounding furniture floated up and moved around with Mookyeong’s small movements, colliding and breaking or falling to the floor.

Hayun quickly dodged the glass shards flying towards him.

“This little punk, really!”

The glass shards that missed Hayun flew into the sofa and stuck there. Hayun glared at Mookyeong with a horrified look. But Mookyeong still hadn’t opened his eyes. He grabbed his throat and heaved as if he couldn’t breathe.

“Baek Mookyeong, please, please! Hey!”

Hayun climbed onto Mookyeong’s chest and grabbed his hands. It wasn’t easy to overcome Mookyeong’s strength. In the end, he pressed down on his shoulders with his knees and used both hands to lower one arm at a time. Mookyeong’s hand, with his joints pressed, grabbed Hayun’s calf.

It felt like his fingertips would dig into his flesh. It was terribly painful, but Hayun didn’t back down. He continued to restrain Mookyeong, securing his airway and attempting artificial respiration.

When Hayun forcibly blew air in, Mookyeong finally let out the breath he had been holding in.

“Mookyeong-ah, it’s okay. It’s okay. Breathe. Slowly, keep breathing. It’s okay, really.”

Hayun patted Mookyeong’s chest and continued to whisper. Mookyeong’s violent movements subsided. He was still panting, but he would be fine soon. Hayun sighed and slowly got up.

At that moment, the floating table flew towards the living room window. Hayun closed his eyes tightly at the wind that blew over his head, then opened them. He was lucky he ducked his head quickly, otherwise he might have had to be taken to the hospital.

“Break it all. Break it all. It’s not my fortune, it’s your fortune.”

Murmuring in a small voice, Hayun released Mookyeong’s arm. But he was still holding onto Hayun’s calf.

Hayun casually removed Mookyeong’s hand and glanced at his face. His eyes were moving rapidly under his closed eyelids.

It had been over two years since they became friends again. In that time, Mookyeong had more frequent rampages and recovered his consciousness faster.

‘Maybe they’re related.’

Maybe it’s because he forcibly regained consciousness without properly releasing his strength that his condition worsened again and he rampaged.

‘And maybe Mookyeong is inducing it.’

Hayun looked at Mookyeong for a moment and then got up. Judging from the movement of Mookyeong’s eyes, he would wake up soon. Hayun looked at the clock and estimated Mookyeong’s rampage time.

‘Thirty-eight minutes.’

In the past, he would lose consciousness for half a day after stabilizing, but these days it wasn’t even in hours, but in minutes. He couldn’t even guess how much shorter it had gotten this time.

Hayun sighed, looking at the objects caught on his feet. He remembered the glass flying around a little while ago. He thought he should clean it up before stepping on it, but no sooner had he thought about it than he stepped on a shard.

“Ow.”

Sitting on the floor, he took off his sock and saw a piece of glass stuck in it, with blood soaking through. It didn’t seem like any other pieces had gone in.

“You don’t deserve to use glass cups. Just use plastic or stainless steel cups.”

Hayun glared at Mookyeong and snapped. As always, there was no answer. Hayun swallowed a sigh and started to clean up the surroundings roughly.

“No matter where I went, I never cleaned with my own hands. What is this, really?”

Especially not in front of Baek Mookyeong. Because Mookyeong would have cleaned it up beforehand, or would have been cleaning it up. But that was just a glory of the past.

‘It’s already another year.’

He knew he wouldn’t be back soon, but when only time passed, he suddenly became afraid. What if he never comes back?

‘What do you mean, what if? I’ll never see him again.’

Hayun took a deep breath. His eyes, which he thought had dried up, were burning, and his insides were stinging. Hayun urged himself not to think. It wasn’t a problem that could be solved by thinking.

“This is broken, too.”

Hayun picked up the fallen picture frame. It was a cheap frame, so there was no glass, but the frame was broken, perhaps from hitting a corner when it flew. Hayun picked up the pieces of the frame nearby and tried to fit them together. But the frame was twisted, and the pieces wouldn’t fit.

“Maybe it didn’t break today.”

It seemed like it was already broken before it broke. Hayun slightly twisted the warped frame in the opposite direction. Instead of becoming flat, it broke with a snap.

“…..”

Hayun silently took out the picture. It was the picture they took together when he went to Mookyeong’s graduation. He had held onto Mookyeong and begged him until he finally got one picture. If it weren’t for the intervention of a passing parent, he wouldn’t have been able to get a proper picture.

“What a sight.”

His face was flushed from running, and his hair was sticking up from static electricity. His expression was also awkward because he was upset.

“He could have at least held the flowers.”

Hayun suddenly remembered the picture he took with Mookyeong at the entrance ceremony. Seo Iju and Baek Jinha attended the entrance ceremony. They were high school students, but it wasn’t much different from when they were in middle school. That’s why their attendance felt strange and embarrassing.

Perhaps because of that, Hayun had a somewhat sullen expression in the entrance ceremony picture. Instead, Mookyeong was smiling at Hayun. He was also holding all the flowers and bags.

‘It’s completely reversed.’

“He doesn’t even know how hard it was for me to go to his graduation.”

Hayun smiled lightly and brushed off the wood chips and styrofoam pieces from the photo. He took out a textbook from his bag and put the picture between the pages so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled.

While he was cleaning up the living room, there was a rustling sound, and Mookyeong got up. He stumbled as if he were dizzy, but he forced himself up and started searching all over the house. He opened every door but couldn’t find what he was looking for, and he covered his face with both hands and trembled.

He didn’t make a sound, but it was clear what he was feeling. Hayun took a cautious step back, clenching his hands into fists.

Mookyeong didn’t look back. But he noticed Hayun’s presence, and an object lying on the floor fell at Hayun’s feet. At the clear order to leave, Hayun turned around.

Thirty-eight minutes of rampage, seventeen minutes of recovery. It was definitely shorter than before.

Living day to day, swallowing each day while fearing tomorrow, it seemed like the days weren’t passing at first, but at some point, the days had passed quickly. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t afraid of tomorrow.

He was still afraid of tomorrow and wished it wouldn’t come.

With graduation approaching, Hayun couldn’t remember how the past three years had passed. It was hard enough just to adapt to a regular high school. In addition, he traveled around Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to find the markings found at Kim Heewon’s house.

In the meantime, he also visited Mookyeong and took care of him, regardless of Mookyeong’s will.

It wasn’t like before when there was an immediate reaction, but apart from hating Hayun, Mookyeong’s ability stabilized when Hayun was around. Ironically, he could tell because, unlike before, Mookyeong’s power affected him.

When they were together, the power that reached him weakened a little, and when they met occasionally after being apart, the power that reached him became stronger.

But Mookyeong didn’t want to meet Hayun often, so Hayun often ended up on the floor because of Mookyeong’s power. Due to this, Mookyeong’s rampages increased as contact became less frequent, but on the other hand, he recovered his consciousness faster.

Hayun wondered if Mookyeong knew this. But Mookyeong avoided talking to Hayun, so it was difficult for Hayun to know.

Hayun visited Mookyeong as usual and chattered on, whether he listened or not.

“You know what Jiha, who usually doesn’t care about Oppa, said when she was filling out her college applications?”

“…..”

“She said, ‘With that face, those grades are ridiculous, what were you doing all the time in class?'”

“Why, I did as I looked.”

Mookyeong, unusually, responded to Hayun’s words and got up. He looked up and down at Hayun, who was sitting on the bare floor because he had destroyed the sofa and everything else.

“You’re stupid. And you can’t understand what people are saying.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with me?”

“…Yeah, that’s why you got those grades.”

“You don’t even know my grades.”

Mookyeong shook his head and tried to go into his room. Hayun jumped up and followed Mookyeong.

“Hey, are you coming to my graduation?”

“Why should I?”

“I went to your graduation and congratulated you.”

“…I told you not to come. I said I didn’t need you to.”

“Hey, who’s going to go to your graduation if I don’t?”

“Please.”

“?”

“Please understand what I’m saying. No means no.”

Mookyeong reached out to Hayun. His fingertips lightly pushed Hayun’s shoulder. But unlike the light gesture, Hayun’s body floated in the air. While Hayun was making a bewildered sound, Mookyeong turned around and closed the door.

With the sound of the door closing, Hayun sat down on the floor. He thought he would hit the sofa, but there was no sofa there, and he lost his balance because he was momentarily unsteady.

Hayun made a sullen face.

“…What do you know? You really don’t know anything.”

Hayun whispered in a very small voice. No matter how much Mookyeong hated him and found him annoying, he needed him. So he had to stay by his side.

So that Baek Mookyeong could be happy.

If Mookyeong could be happy, Hayun could do anything.

At least for now.

Even though he was afraid of the days that came and went without him doing anything, he was also relieved that they came and went. While he was suppressing all kinds of emotions in his throat, the days passed quickly. Winter passed and spring came, then summer passed, and then autumn came again, and before he knew it, it was about to turn to winter.

Speaking of the events of the seasons that passed by helplessly, Mookyeong did not come to Hayun’s graduation.

Hayun actually knew that Mookyeong wouldn’t come. The appearance of an Esper with a high risk of rampaging was not welcome in a place where many civilians gathered. Moreover, if the purpose was simply to celebrate the graduation of an acquaintance, even more so.

Also, Mookyeong didn’t want to care about Hayun’s business. He had expressed his refusal several times. The reason why Hayun kept asking him to come to his graduation was to prepare for when Mookyeong regained his memory.

‘Because he might be upset that we didn’t take a picture at my graduation.’

Now that three years had passed since Mookyeong lost his memory, no one remembered the old Mookyeong. Mookyeong had become a stronger Esper than before, and if he survived like this, he would be in a high position around the age of thirty. Of course, if he played his cards right or achieved great feats, he would settle down even faster.

Perhaps the current Mookyeong was the ideal figure that other people wanted. Because people didn’t want a strong Esper to have a piece. It was known to those who knew that Mookyeong had a piece. But he heard that many people who knew died around that day.

If a few more years passed like this, perhaps he would be the only one who knew that fact. Thinking about it, sometimes he was afraid, and sometimes he consoled himself that it might be a good thing.

When something happened to him later, Mookyeong wouldn’t be affected at all. And he would continue to search for Kim Heewon.

Was Kim Heewon alive or not?

Hayun had been investigating the doors related to Kim Heewon and Kim Eung. The investigation was just recording where they led, but anyway, he left traces while visiting those places. Just in case he was alive, he might see the traces and leave something.

But so far, nothing had been left behind.

Hayun sometimes thought this was also a good thing.

Because he hadn’t thought about what to do if Kim Heewon was alive.

He thought he would know everything when he got older, but strangely, he didn’t know what he didn’t know before, and he didn’t know what was coming. And the most confusing thing was that Mookyeong accepted living with him.

He was slowly running out of things to say about Kim Heewon. He started to get confused about which memories he had replaced himself with Kim Heewon, or whether he had told the original story without mentioning Kim Heewon. He made notes after talking to Mookyeong, but as the notebooks piled up, things started to get tangled.

His resources were running out, and Mookyeong’s rampages were becoming so frequent that they were habitual. He felt impatient, thinking that he had to stop it somehow. He needed a way to stay by Mookyeong’s side without mentioning Kim Heewon.

But his mind seemed to have already hardened, and he couldn’t think of any particular way. Then he barely came up with the idea of just pushing through.

When they faced each other and he pushed through, there were times when he would listen to him like before. Of course, when he turned around, he would say that he never agreed, but if he mentioned responsibility, he would keep his promise.

Actually, even when he brought it up, Hayun had no expectations.

He had prepared what to say in advance, but he was so afraid that he spoke quickly, and the words he had thought of ran out in an instant. After that, he continued to speak, using all kinds of far-fetched excuses. But as always, his words were cut off, and silence followed.

When Hayun was weighed down by the heavy silence, Mookyeong agreed. He even said it was okay to share his bed as long as they didn’t touch, since he didn’t want to sleep on the sofa.

Judging from his words, it seemed like the hatred he had accumulated had lessened, but his face said otherwise.

Why did Mookyeong accept his absurd proposal? Hayun was curious about the reason, but he was afraid that Mookyeong might say no if he asked, so he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

He just knew that there was some kind of intention behind it.