SOG Ch 158

He knew that Chae Seong-hwan was a significant person to Woo-jin, and it was a difficult question to answer. He wanted to give an impressive response about why he liked Woo-jin, but despite his strong feelings, he lacked the eloquence to express his deep affection.

“He’s kind and nice.”

In the end, he gave a simple and inadequate answer.

Of course, that wasn’t all. ‘And he’s incredibly cute,’ Seon Jae-chan thought to himself. When Woo-jin would kiss him with his characteristic serious face while blushing, he was so cute that Jae-chan really wanted to eat him up. If he could, he’d want to carry the big guy on his back every day.

“Kind? Nice?”

At that moment, Chae Seong-hwan questioned incredulously. Crossing his sturdy arms tightly as if interrogating, Seon Jae-chan wondered why this person was acting like that. Wasn’t it a well-known fact among all the Union people that Woo-jin was kind and nice?

“You should know since you’re close.”

Chae Seong-hwan made a sour face.

“He’s not just some purely nice guy.”

He’s good at pretending to be nice, Chae Seong-hwan grumbled softly. It was obvious that Woo-jin must have shown his true colors to Seon Jae-chan in some way, given how much time they spent together.

“No. He’s really kind.”

Seon Jae-chan answered a bit angrily, forgetting that he needed to make a good impression on Chae Seong-hwan.

How could Chae Seong-hwan not know how kind Woo-jin was? Considering how close they were, and that Seong-hwan was even his mentor, it bothered Jae-chan to hear him speak like that. How could he not see Woo-jin’s kindness after knowing him for so long?

“And even if that were the case, what’s wrong with pretending to be nice? There are plenty of people who can’t even manage that.”

Meanwhile, as he listened to Seon Jae-chan’s protest, Chae Seong-hwan was already thinking of something else. A nice guy, huh. At least it was a more specific reason than what Woo-jin had given, he mused, staring at the dark ceiling.

Silence fell between the two for a moment. Seon Jae-chan wondered if he had been disrespectful to an elder, while also observing Chae Seong-hwan’s suddenly quiet expression. His complexion looked particularly pale in the enclosed darkness. After some hesitation, he asked:

“Are you alright?”

“What do you mean?”

Chae Seong-hwan lowered his puzzled gaze. Seon Jae-chan gestured around them.

“This situation, I mean.”

“…Ah, so you know. That I’m half out of my mind.”

“I’ve just heard you’re unwell sometimes.”

“That can’t be. You must have heard many outrageous rumors. Anyway, the rumors are only partly true. I can handle this level for now.”

Seon Jae-chan slowly twirled the pen he was holding. Rumors about Chae Seong-hwan having PTSD from emergency situations were well-known. He remembered hearing it was similar to symptoms of panic disorder or claustrophobia. And that he also got severe motion sickness.

“Above all, it’s fine when there are many Guides around like this.”

As he spoke, Chae Seong-hwan naturally thought of Han Tae-hoon, who had been his pair guide before. A guide who was once like his lifeline and oxygen tank. He heard he finally became the Director of Guides this year. After pursuing his goals so relentlessly, he achieved everything he wanted at a young age.

That guy was probably on his way now, trying to deal with this crisis.

‘He probably doesn’t know I’m here.’

Chae Seong-hwan thought indifferently, lacing his fingers behind his head. With their significant age difference, and having seen him since he was a novice, Han Tae-hoon still seemed like a young kid to him. Though he looked tough on the outside, he was soft on the inside. He’d probably be troubled if he knew Chae Seong-hwan was here. It would be better if he didn’t know.

“Shall I tell you how I met Woo-jin?”

Wanting to change the subject and chat idly, Chae Seong-hwan asked softly.

Seon Jae-chan’s eyes sparkled in the darkness. It was true that among all the romantic partners Woo-jin had casually dated (if accepting all confessions could be considered dating), this was a face that became more aesthetically pleasing the more one looked at it. Chae Seong-hwan smiled, feeling like he was looking at a pretty grandchild, and began to explain.

“It was about ten years ago, I think.”

His voice continued softly, almost like talking to himself.

Even in his 30s, when youthful recklessness was at its peak, Chae Seong-hwan participated in a mission to recover a hydrogen bomb that had sunk 600 meters deep into the sea. It was a nuclear weapon lost when a fighter jet transporting it had crashed during a war between a coalition of five nations.

The search area was about 1.1 million hectares. They had to explore the vast, pitch-black sea where no light penetrated with just one nuclear submarine. It was an operation that had been failing for a long time. Even the higher-ups had only given nominal orders, having given up hope.

During the ninth mission attempt, they finally discovered the hydrogen bomb caught at the end of an ocean trench.

“The expert who accompanied us said there was little chance of explosion, but all that talk of safety mechanisms sounded like nonsense to me. It’s an immoral statement, but honestly, I wasn’t entirely happy about finding the bomb.”

At the time, Chae Seong-hwan’s role was to use his ability to control the massive underwater currents while the exploration robot attached chains to the bomb.

Amidst the silence filled with cold sweat, they succeeded in raising the bomb with its slightly dented warhead to the submarine. There was no time to rejoice at the success. It was when they were slowly ascending through the still tension-filled deep sea.

“We encountered an illegally modified submarine. It was pirates from Mentosa Island in District 4, who have now been completely eradicated.”

The pirates launched depth charges first.

With a bomb full of plutonium in tow, everyone was on edge. It didn’t take long for the crew to agree that the best course of action was to shoot down the pirates.

“But luck wasn’t on our side. It wasn’t even their usual operating area, so running into just one would’ve been unlucky enough, but we had no idea their comrades were nearby.”

The modified submarines swarmed in. They were completely outnumbered, and if a depth charge were to hit the hydrogen bomb even slightly, it would result in catastrophe.

“The ones who lost their comrades persistently pursued us. We retreated back into the trench where we had found the bomb.”

Under a barrage of indiscriminate attacks, there was nothing they could do. They shut off all power, including the engines, and sank into the blackness of the ocean, hoping the enemy’s strikes would miss. All they could do was endure the silence and helplessness.

For twelve long hours, they endured dozens of rounds of bombardment.

“Thankfully, they didn’t have any anti-submarine aircraft, so they couldn’t find us. But that wasn’t the end of it.”

Even up to this point would have been a disaster difficult for ordinary people to experience, but unfortunately, another ordeal awaited Chae Seong-hwan. Just when he thought he only needed to endure, the final disaster struck in the abyss where nothing could be seen.

The bomb wasn’t the only one present—there was also one inside him.

His Esper energy. The unguided self that he was.

He had been using his enormous ability for days, adjusting water pressure and currents, and recovering the bomb. Until the support troops were dispatched and rescued them two days later, Chae Seong-hwan was another threat within this hell.

“I can’t explain it in words. That feeling that my teammates might die not because of the enemy’s bombs, but because of my own power going out of control.”

The biggest issue had been that he hadn’t received guiding for three months. Since his pair guide, Han Tae-hoon was so young, Chae Seong-hwan had pretended he didn’t need guiding out of pride. Chae Seong-hwan deeply regretted going on the mission without receiving guiding. There was no one else to blame. It was all his fault.

He endured by taking small doses of the few guiding drugs they had. Feeling like he was tightly gripping a full glass of water, with the anxiety of not knowing when he might lose control.

Until finally, the pirates left, and they could rise to the surface.

“Ah, so that’s why…”

Seon Jae-chan, who had been listening to the story up to this point, let out a sigh.

He had heard that besides the post-traumatic stress disorder from the mission, Chae Seong-hwan had developed an excessive attachment to his pair guide, Han Tae-hoon. It seemed to stem from that experience of almost losing control.

“You don’t have to understand. Even with severe PTSD, it’s embarrassing that a man in his thirties whined about not going outside without his barely twenty-year-old Guide.”

He even went so far as to actively try to prevent Han Tae-hoon from carrying out his missions. It was because Han Tae-hoon happened to be a multi-Guide who was also an A-class Esper. It was irrational behavior stemming from the idea that his pair Guide shouldn’t suffer the same pain he did.

“Anyway, it was clear to everyone that I wasn’t in a state to perform duties normally. I ended up submitting a leave of absence… and that’s when I met Woo-jin.”

Following the will of J’s founder, Go Young-chang had once worked as an A-rank Esper to prepare for his role as the company’s successor. He, who had also been Chae Seong-hwan’s senior, approached Chae Seong-hwan when he finished six months of psychiatric treatment, proposing that he become his son’s mentor.

Chae Seong-hwan recalled when he first met Woo-jin. At first, he thought he was a girl with short hair. That’s how breathtakingly pretty the child was.

He initially thought his senior had called him to show off his child. The kid was so pretty.

‘He’s a child I had outside of marriage. I’d like you to teach him properly so he can perform the basics as an S-class Esper.’

That’s what Chairman Go Young-chang said right in front of Woo-jin.