SOG Ch 115

He could not back down here.

All that week, Team Leader Jin Dae-ho persistently tried to persuade Go Woo-jin. Their departure was scheduled for next Thursday. He wanted to wrap things up well by the end of this week.

“Esper Go Woo-jin. Esper Go Woo-jin…?”

“I’ll think about it.”

He’s been just thinking for days! Jin Dae-ho felt a surge of frustration in his heart.

“Ah, do I have to issue a mandatory order!”

The team leader couldn’t stand it anymore and blurted out angrily, Woo-jin simply replied, “If you wish, sir.” Go Woo-jin had no intention of voluntarily leaving District 1. He didn’t want to leave Seon Jae-chan behind.

-Esper Seon Eun-soo boarded the plane.

It was the same on Friday evening when he finally heard the news that Seon Eun-soo, unable to withstand the pressure, fled to the American Union.

Woo-jin asked not to let his guard down even at the airport or overseas and ended the call with the surveillance company.

He diverted his steps, which were about to habitually head to the Guide Bureau, and headed to the underground training facility. After checking if there was any contact from Jae-chan, he got on the treadmill.

As he ran for a while, he suddenly recalled the anti-terror training from yesterday.

“…”

It was the first live-action training held on the Air Force runway. Although inevitably divided into Esper and Guide groups for training due to physical differences, Woo-jin could distinctly sense where Seon Jae-chan was and what he looked like, vividly enough to clearly visualize even with his eyes closed now.

Jae-chan’s hair rippled in the wind amidst the vast noise made by the propeller. Whenever a cloud’s shadow passed, the smooth curve of his forehead and round ears glistened white under the late autumn sunlight.

He couldn’t bear the urge to reach out.

For a moment, he seemed to forget where he was or how many eyes were watching him. He was almost about to run towards Seon Jae-chan. The desire to discard all worries and just be with him in a confined space overwhelmed him.

It was fortunate that he was wearing black goggles. If not, someone might have noticed his reckless gaze.

“…”

Woo-jin furrowed his eyebrows as he reflected on the vivid impressions and emotions that still remained. He cranked the treadmill up to maximum speed.

It was after hours of grueling exercise and taking a shower that he received another call.

-Hyung… Hyung, I’m sorry.

It was Se-jin, who had been sending frequent messages recently. His trembling voice came through. Before the startled Woo-jin could ask why, someone else interjected as if snatching the phone away.

-It’s been a while. How have you been?

A slurred voice, as if heavily intoxicated. It was Yoon Seo-mi, Se-jin’s biological mother.

-You never answer my calls.

A chill fell over Woo-jin’s eyes. He recalled the repeated missed calls from an unknown number. His expression twisted slightly.

So it had been this person, just as he suspected.

Woo-jin stayed silent because he didn’t want to deal with her. The reason he didn’t hang up the phone was that he could occasionally hear his younger brother’s whimpers from in the background. Unnerved by the lingering silence, Yoon Seo-mi spoke first.

-Did you clean up the house properly? Those were expensive pieces of equipment, what a waste…

She was referring to the wiretapping devices. Woo-jin’s response was flat and indifferent, as Yoon Seo-mi’s drunken voice rambled on brokenly.

-Is it because of Guide Seon Jae-chan?

Yoon Seo-mi chuckled as if muttering to herself that the two had been meeting frequently.

Enduring Go Woo-jin’s silence, Yoon Seo-mi licked her lips half in nervousness and half in anticipation. It was thanks to a phone call that she started paying attention to Seon Jae-chan after she had been confined to the villa by Chairman Go Young-chang.

‘Hello, Director Yoon Seo-mi.’

It was Esper Seon Eun-soo. Seon Eun-soo, who felt unfair that he was being treated like this, finally came to his senses for the first time in a while and made a phone call to Yoon Seo-mi.

‘In a word, my brother has gotten quite close to Esper Go Woo-jin. You didn’t know?’

While listening to Esper Seon Eun-soo’s innocent-sounding voice, Yoon Seo-mi suddenly remembered Seon Jae-chan’s claim that ‘He is Go Woo-jin’s weakness.’

At first, she thought it was nonsense, but after dropping that keyword to the reporters and paparazzi who occasionally followed Go Woo-jin, she was able to fish out quite credible information.

Yoon Seo-mi was currently at her peak. Go Woo-jin was like a wall surrounding her on all sides, so she could not break through from either side.

Thus, she could only resort to such a feeble attempt now. Yoon Seo-mi spoke in an even more drunken slur.

-I’m asking if you’re dating Guide Seon Jae-chan. If you’re suffering from that cute hormone disorder called love.

She deliberately chose provocative words in an attempt to rile up Go Woo-jin.

However, there was no significant change in expression on Go Woo-jin’s face as he closed the locker room cabinet. He thought that Yoon Seo-mi would definitely notice someday. He answered in a cold voice.

“No. Just a sex partner.”

The silence that stuck like glue stretched between the two.

-… Just for satisfying desire?

“Yes.”

Even as he answered that it was simply the kind of relationship possible between an Esper and Guide, Woo-jin suddenly felt angry at himself for being unable to respond any other way.

It was the truth, so why did he feel this way? Even if he and Jae-chan were truly dating, he would still have to answer Yoon Seo-mi like this.

-Okay… I see

Yoon Seo-mi’s voice cracked at the end. That was all. At the same time, the click of a call ending sounded. Despite even using her son to barely succeed in this call, all Yoon Seo-mi got in return were those mere words.

Go Woo-jin stared at the darkened screen. He wondered if she might call back, but there was no further response. Strange. Why did Yoon Seo-mi make a call that only raised his guard instead?

Shortly after, Woo-jin furrowed his brows deeply. Abruptly leaving the training room, he urgently contacted the private investigator keeping watch on Seon Jae-chan.

*

“Aren’t you being too obsessive?”

At the same time, by the window in the lobby on the 1st floor of the Guide Bureau building, Jae-chan was approached by Chang-hyun who was playing a mobile game on his phone and had been peering over at Jae-chan’s phone. Chang-hyun happened to spot Jae-chan sitting there on his way out after work and made that comment because Jae-chan had been staring at the pub’s CCTV footage.

“There probably won’t be much to find out.”

Pulling his cap down lower, Chang-hyun spoke. After Jeong Yeon-oh was arrested, the suspicions were mostly cleared, but he still didn’t feel completely exonerated, which is why he’s been wearing the cap around.

“Why?”

Jae-chan asked.

“That guy next to the Psycho…he seemed so insignificant.”

Yeah, he was so damn insignificant. Gyeong Chang-hyun tapped the screen with his thumb and muttered.

“Do you remember?”

“Ah, not exactly…but anyway, he was insignificant.”

Chang-hyun, who was looking at the tip of his pointed chin as if he were a detective, added in a vaguely serious tone.

“It feels like Seon Eun-soo when he was sent abroad with a bandage on his nose?”

Jae-chan burst out laughing at Gyeong Chang-hyun’s words. Surprisingly, Seon Eun-soo quickly chose to go to the American Union again. It seemed Seon Min-yeol swiftly helped him escape before he became the focus of intense public attention after his name circulated online.

Of course, whether that bastard went to study abroad or whatever, the operation with the United Freedom Alliance would proceed as planned.

“So you can stop looking.”

Chang-hyun gestured to the CCTV footage looping on repeat. Oddly enough, Jae-chan felt reassured by their entire conversation. Since Chang-hyun said Gyeong Hye-in’s companion was as insignificant as the fleeing Seon Eun-soo, he started to think maybe he really could stop searching for them.

Anyway, there was no CCTV footage from other angles, so they were unable to find any further clues. What’s left…

‘Ask Gyeong Hye-in directly about her companion.’

But would that person readily answer? After staring intently at the man’s blurry hand in the footage, Jae-chan closed the window without hesitation.

He opened the messenger app. He checked the chat window to see if there was any contact from Go Woo-jin.

It was still strangely cold with Woo-jin.

Still, while less frequent than before, they did continue exchanging messages through the chat window. Apart from physical intimacy, this level of contact was more than he had with Yu-ram or Chang-hyun, thanks to the anti-terror training and sponsorship relationship.

It did bother him excessively that they hadn’t been to a hotel even once since the TZ drug incident, but it had been an overambitious desire to begin with, and he had decided to prioritize Woo-jin’s intentions in this area. Seon Jae-chan ignored the heart-wrenching feeling of loss. He fiddled with the affectionate message Woo-jin had sent an hour ago – [Don’t forget to eat dinner] – before moving on to another chat room.

In fact, there was another small concern lingering.

[Aunt, are you free this weekend?]

It was a text message he left a few days ago to give his aunt the cookies he bought for her. There was no reply, so he called again the next day and yesterday, but there was no answer.

Should he go to her house? It was when he was biting his lip with a slight worry, as if the phone knew he was looking at it, that a call came in at that timing.

[010-****-4590]

It was an unknown number. Lately, with various matters occupying him, Jae-chan frequently received calls from unfamiliar numbers, so he immediately accepted this one as well.

-It’s been a while, sweetie.

And soon his expression turned into a disappointment. It was Yoon Seo-mi.