SOG Ch 191

That day, Go Woo-jin was once again summoned to the lecture hall of the humanities building after hearing yet another urgent report that Seon Jae-chan was arguing with someone. The main reason Jae-chan got involved in problematic situations was usually due to the group of Gyeong Chang-hyun, whom he stuck to like a best friend.

“Hey, your Esper’s here.”

Jeong Yeon-oh, was it? The shorter guy in Gyeong Chang-hyun’s group said, poking Jae-chan on the side. At the same time, their eyes met across the students undergoing the guide training program.

The students who had been shouting at the top of their lungs quieted down as if cold water had been poured on them. Perhaps due to Woo-jin’s physique that had grown significantly over the past year, this kind of atmosphere settled whenever he intervened. Tired of the repetitive situations, Woo-jin raised his hand slightly and wiggled it, signaling Jae-chan to come out quickly. Ah, shit. Jae-chan, visibly annoyed, mouthed a small curse as he passed the podium at the front of the lecture hall and approached.

And then he took Woo-jin’s wiggling hand.

It wasn’t a hand offered to be held… why did he take it?

Feeling the delicate joints under his palm, Woo-jin forgot his irritation and became very flustered. However, as Jae-chan’s face looked quite wronged, like a child scolded by an adult, as he held onto his hand, Woo-jin calmly started walking as if this had been his intention all along. Even as he followed, Jae-chan muttered things like “It’s not my fault, those bastards started it first…” 

After that, it wasn’t just once or twice that Jae-chan held Woo-jin’s hand.

Like before, when pulling him out of fights, or when needing to retrieve someone else’s belongings that Jae-chan had supposedly taken during an argument, Woo-jin would extend his hand, and Jae-chan, though bewildered, would place his hand on Woo-jin’s palm. It got to the point where even Gyeong Chang-hyun once snickered, saying, “What’s wrong with you? He’s just asking for Jun-woo’s phone. Are you a puppy or something?”

Only then did Jae-chan realize the oddity of his behavior and reacted irritably, saying, “It’s because of the guiding. We do the damn guiding while holding hands!” rom then on, he tried to refrain from grabbing Woo-jin’s hand unnecessarily.

Those few experiences left quite an impression in Woo-jin’s mind. After all, Jae-chan would put his arm around Chang-hyun’s shoulders or hug him, but never once held his hand.

Could it be that Jae-chan thinks of him as someone special?

However, it didn’t take long for the illusion to shatter. It was during one of the usual guiding sessions after finding Jae-chan roaming around the center. The door of the guiding room suddenly burst open without a knock, and Jeong Yeon-oh barged in.

“As I thought, you were here. I’m going to meet Eun-soo hyung today, want to come along?”

Jae-chan quickly replied dryly.

“No.”

“Really? I thought you’d like to see hyung every day.”

Mumbling about whether all real brothers were like this, Jeong Yeon-oh suddenly noticed the still-clasped hands of Jae-chan and Woo-jin.

“Oh, Eun-soo hyung would be happy to see this. He was worried that you seemed to dislike guiding.”

For a moment, Jae-chan’s calm eyebrows twitched.

“No, I hate guiding.”

“Really? You seem to like guiding Go Woo-jin though.”

“How many times do I have to say no? If it weren’t for my father’s request, I wouldn’t even look at this guy.”

Jae-chan raised his gaze and jerked his chin towards Woo-jin.

“Regardless of their rank, I hate all Espers.”

Woo-jin, who had been receiving guiding, suddenly blinked. ‘It’s dreadful.’ Jae-chan’s small thought had flowed in. Although it was a fleeting thought, it stuck like a particularly sharp piece of glass. Soon, Woo-jin’s lips tightened.

I hate you too.

Fifteen-year-old Woo-jin felt wronged. Why were that guy’s thoughts transmitted freely while his own thoughts couldn’t be conveyed? Woo-jin barely restrained himself from wanting to protest countless times towards the back that left without any lingering attachment after the guiding.

*

For some reason, after that incident, Seon Jae-chan noticeably started to avoid even doing guiding. His public behavior of rejecting Go Woo-jin also intensified. True to his nature of not minding if his thoughts were made public, he would speak recklessly whether Woo-jin was around or not. Sometimes as if he wanted someone to hear.

“In your words, no matter how common guides are, I’m a rare item to Go Woo-jin, aren’t I?”

Jae-chan was saying to his idiot friends.

“I’m the only Guide with a high matching rate for him. So I can do whatever I want.”

Woo-jin initially dismissed Jae-chan’s smug remarks as petty, but over time, they began to wear on him. It was a distortion stemming from an emotional imbalance. The feeling of ‘I don’t think of you that way, so why do you think so little of me?’

Of course, Woo-jin didn’t know because Jae-chan hadn’t told him. He couldn’t have known that Jae-chan was very on edge about the things that would be relayed to his brother through Jeong Yeon-oh, that he was immature and foolish at the young age of just fifteen, and Woo-jin too was too young to understand.

That’s how the two of them started to drift apart little by little.

One year, two years passed, and even as they entered the third year, Jae-chan continued to avoid field guiding and neglect Woo-jin, personally demonstrating consistency in his words and actions. Only allowing him to taste brief moments of guiding, as if bestowing charity.

“You can’t do without me anyway.”

Arrogantly emphasizing every time that he was the only option after all. Only after repeating dozens, hundreds of small resignations did Woo-jin finally understand.

I am an existence outside your line.

However, what Woo-jin couldn’t understand was the fact that while Jae-chan pushed him away, he kept trying to get involved.

“I heard that Seon guy bullied your girlfriend again?”

It was the year Woo-jin turned twenty. Woo-jin, who was used to finding and removing his girlfriend’s belongings from Jae-chan’s locker just a day after they started dating, sighed at Kim Geun-won’s question.

Wasn’t I a person outside your line? IGo Woo-jin couldn’t understand why, while barring him from crossing certain boundaries, Seon Jae-chan himself felt free to meddle with him so recklessly. Was he doing this believing in the matching rate, as he said? Because he was an existence that could only be bound to that guy, was he bullying innocent bystanders at will?

“Don’t you think that Seon guy likes you?”

That’s when Kim Geun-won asked an absurd question.

“Do you really think so?”

Woo-jin asked back, slamming Jae-chan’s locker shut. After a moment, Kim Geun-won muttered, 

“No. You should genuinely treat someone well if you like them.”

Woo-jin thought the same. Jae-chan didn’t like him. The occasional thoughts that came through during the rare moments of guiding he received as if Jae-chan was doing him a favor were of a similar vein. To that guy, he wasn’t someone to be liked. He was an object to be possessed or coveted.

Woo-jin knew such emotions well. The emotions that Go Young-chang and the researchers often showed when he was growing up as an experimental subject. The look in their eyes when viewing a valuable object. Greed and possessiveness.

*

Seon Jae-chan not only continuously committed acts bordering on crime against people close to Go Woo-jin, but also inexplicably went as far as to join hands with Director Yoon Seo-mi.  This was the last straw for Woo-jin, and he decided he would no longer tolerate Jae-chan’s behavior. He felt that if he continued to neglect the situation, Jae-chan might really become a criminal.

The decision came in the summer of the year 578. Woo-jin, who had just rejected a ninth confession from a government employee claiming to be his fan, set off on a pirate extermination mission. It was also not long after Jae-chan had come to his officetel while drunk and committed outrages under the guise of a confession. Woo-jin, who was immediately called to a fire suppression scene after completing his mission, recognized his significantly lowered wavelength stability.

“You can’t do without me… Right?”

Jae-chan’s voice trembled slightly, his stubborn gaze wavering as if challenging him. Woo-jin scoffed bitterly at himself. Even as he looked at Jae-chan—who had grown into a strikingly beautiful young man, his childhood features intact—he could see why Jae-chan’s family had showered him with so much love, raising him like a spoiled little emperor.

In any case, Jae-chan’s words were also true.

He was really good at guiding. Even though Woo-jin would push him away when he carelessly touched his body since they became adults, he ultimately had to accept some of that contact because it was so effective.

However, just when Woo-jin began to crave for him due to the sensation of his airways clearing, Jae-chan would always pull away as if it was all a lie.

This time was no different. Unlike his affectionate voice calling “Woo-jin,” and his attitude of embracing first, Jae-chan capriciously took a step back. As if drawing a line saying ‘This far and no further.’ Like being wary of a wild beast that would recover and leave right after drinking its fill of water. Even knowing that Woo-jin would continue to starve if he took away the bowl now, Jae-chan left the guiding room with a smile.

*

In September of the same year, Woo-jin was experiencing quite a bit of difficulty. It was because the long-planned scheme to trap Yoon Seo-mi was facing setbacks.

[Don’t contact me.]

Gyeong Hye-in, who had been helping him, suddenly disappeared after leaving only a brief text message.

He knew the reason. Last August, there was a heartbreaking incident for Woo-jin as well.

Kim Geun-won was shot. Gyeong Hye-in, who claimed to have known Kim Geun-won from before, had often set as a condition of their dealings that Woo-jin would occasionally act as a bridge between her and Kim Geun-won.

‘Introduce me to Kim Geun-won.’

‘I heard he’s starting a YouTube channel. Doesn’t he need sponsorship?’

But all of Gyeong Hye-in’s attempts were thwarted. Because Kim Geun-won had passed away.

On that day when a mentally unstable person who had kidnapped Team 5’s guide pointed a gun at Kim Geun-won, Woo-jin was in the same place but couldn’t protect him. Gyeong Hye-in had been avoiding Woo-jin since learning of this fact. She seemed to hold some resentment towards Woo-jin.

And not long after, instead of losing a long-time collaborator, Woo-jin met another collaborator. It happened at the Mentosa Island Rampage Prevention Task Force headquarters.