FETCH 28

For the past week, Jaechan had slept in Han Kang’s bed instead of on the floor. Even if they fought right up until the moment they fell asleep every night, Han Kang was always the one to pat the space beside him and tell Jaechan to come lie down, as if he couldn’t bear to make him sleep on the floor.

Of course, it was a bit cramped, so they both had to curl their bodies significantly, but Han Kang even pushed him toward the wall, saying Jaechan might fall off and should sleep on the inside.

That wasn’t all. Ever since they were children, the number of times he had slept in the same bed as Han Kang was countless. Furthermore, wasn’t he the guy who would lie down on the bed in Jaechan’s own house as if he didn’t even need permission?

And yet, he hates sleeping together?

As Jaechan blinked his eyes, suddenly, right next to him—snap!—came the sound of a finger flicking. He flicked it so loudly that Jaechan flinched, his shoulders hunching in surprise.

“That’s the thing! This guy actually sleeps in the same bed as you.”

“Ah, whatever. What’s the big deal? He’s my honey. Married couples naturally sleep in one bed together.”

“I’m saying, that’s what makes it funny.”

“You sure find a lot of things funny. Ah, just eat your food.”

Han Kang scowled deeply as if the others were talking too much about nothing. Then, he began to eat the food spread out before him.

Jaechan wondered what he would do if he choked. He knew Han Kang had a massive appetite and was capable of pacing himself, but he felt concerned nonetheless. Just as he was about to pour some cola into Han Kang’s glass…

Han Kang sent him a look as if asking what he was doing.

“If you don’t eat, this is going to be gone soon.”

Then, he tapped the plate—thump, thump.

What do you mean it’s going to be gone? Jaechan thought as he looked around. Even though they had only just started eating, he saw plates that were already half empty.

No, they were all chattering like that until just a moment ago, so when on earth did they eat?

After blinking in absurdity for a moment, Jaechan chewed on a piece of boneless chicken that was suddenly thrust into his mouth by someone telling him to “Just eat.”

Disjointed conversations drifted back and forth during the meal. When someone babbled about something that happened during the workday, a debate about the lunch menu would follow immediately after.

Whether their incidents were simple compared to the work they did, or whether they decided to use their brains less since they used their bodies so much, the conversation was childish beyond belief. And Jaechan liked this situation where he didn’t have to use his head.

Everyone was just as simple, easygoing, and good-natured as he was. Except for Han Kang, of course.

Anyway, while chatting happily with the teammates, it was suddenly midnight. Since he had to go to work normally tomorrow, Jaechan stood up, thinking he should get some sleep. There had been quite a commotion, so he was feeling a bit sheepish about going straight to Han Kang’s room and was cautiously gauging the atmosphere.

“Are you going to do guiding today too? I really want to stop fighting with you.”

Words he had likely been holding back all week finally reached Jaechan’s ears.

At that, Jaechan turned back toward Han Kang. It seemed Han Kang was just as exhausted; despite receiving guiding steadily, dark circles had settled deeply under his eyes.

The bad mood from those foul words about “sluts” or whatever had already faded. Seeing Han Kang looking like he couldn’t rest properly made Jaechan feel a bit concerned.

Still, it seemed he needed to receive guiding. Looking at how his condition wasn’t that great, he might go berserk soon.

Jaechan let out a sigh—haaa—and then took hold of his hand.

“Let’s just do it like this.”

He intended to compromise moderately, thinking that constantly pushing him might actually have the opposite effect.

Han Kang’s hand, as large as a pot lid, twitched within his grasp. Even though he had performed guiding every day, the amount of wavelengths escaping was significant. Even though there hadn’t even been any special training today.

Jaechan looked at him, wondering if he was okay. But Han Kang nodded as if to say that was enough.

“Yeah, let’s just do exactly this much.”

Since he was also showing an attitude of stepping back, Jaechan couldn’t demand anything more.

“Instead, next time, you’re going to receive it properly.”

No answer came back to that.

“Jeon Jaechan, give me some time to accept this too.”

Instead, Han Kang pushed Jaechan away once more.

.✦ ݁˖

Jaechan let out a languid breath and slumped his body. It wasn’t that he hadn’t gone to work for the past week just because he was a resident Guide, but today felt especially exhausting.

Why?

He hadn’t fought with Han Kang last night, and they had gone to work together this morning without a hitch.

He was a bit worried about Han Kang, who somehow hadn’t looked to be in good shape, but he figured that likely stemmed from the friction between them over the past week.

He thought he should keep some distance for now. No matter how much they lived glued to each other, they sometimes felt a sense of stability when maintaining distance.

It was already nearing lunchtime, yet Han Kang was still quiet. Normally, a flood of various messages, starting with “Let’s have lunch together,” should have poured in. Seeing as he had been quiet for a long time, it seemed he also judged that keeping some distance was for the best.

But why was he so anxious? It felt like the calm before a storm.

It was the feeling of walking bare-bodied over a sea that had turned still before a massive storm. Jaechan clicked his tongue—tsk—and checked his phone. As expected, there was no contact from Han Kang, and he had only accumulated a massive amount of spam messages.

Should I just contact him first?

He agonized over it for a moment but then stopped. His mind was quite complicated, and he felt that if he contacted him rashly, they might end up clashing again.

Ah, I should go to the Monster Museum on a day like this. But I can’t even step out for a bit…

“How was your first experience as a resident Guide?”

Jaechan leaned his heavy body against the back of his chair. Ji Sangtaek, who had asked nonchalantly as soon as he arrived at work, handed him a vitamin jelly, saying he’d worked hard.

“According to what the Center Director said, the only thing is that Esper Han Kang shouldn’t find out that Guide Jaechan awakened through drugs, right?”

“Yes. If Han Kang finds out, I’ll really… it’ll be terrible.”

Jaechan scowled as if the mere thought made him shudder.

The Espers might be different, but among the Guides, there probably wasn’t a single person who didn’t know the fact that he awakened through a drug currently undergoing clinical trials. Not to mention the fact that he was the very first successful case.

Occasionally, researchers he encountered in the hallway would look at him with meaningful and unpleasant eyes, but fortunately, the teammates he lived with didn’t show any sign of that.

Well, that was fine then. It wasn’t as if he met every single person in the Center every day anyway. As long as the teammates he lived with were kind to him, there would be no difficulty in living his life.

Besides, wasn’t even Han Kang pushing him away? If even the teammates looked at him like that, he might have thrown everything away—even the wish he had held for so long—and resigned.

Ji Sangtaek nodded his head, saying he understood well. He even gave a look of trust, as if telling him not to worry.

The feeling of reliability was short-lived.

“Oh, an official notice came from the Olympic Committee.”

At someone’s voice, the teammates went “Huh?” and their eyes grew round.

Quite some time had passed since the first Olympics ended, so the news of a sudden official notice seemed puzzling.

Jaechan opened his eyes wider than anyone else, as this was a situation he was hearing about for the first time.

What could an official notice from the Olympic Committee be? Was a ranking calculated incorrectly? But for that to be the case, the matches had proceeded without issue, and there was no backtalk going around.

Even the athlete Barbara, who had competed against Han Kang, had recently revealed her ambition in an interview, saying, “I want to face Han Kang again.” That was as good as fully acknowledging the outcome, so there didn’t seem to be any lingering trouble…

Jaechan opened his inbox with a bit of hope, wondering if an official notice had come to him as well.

[Re: Delivery of Official Notice regarding Olympic Committee Athlete Qualifications]

“Wow.”

Jaechan cheered in a very small voice.

An official notice had arrived in his inbox too. It felt as if he had finally been recognized as a member of the Center, which made him feel good.

Clicking the email with a fluttering heart, Jaechan immediately downloaded the attachment. As he read through it with anticipation…

“…What is this?”

The further down he read, the more his expression froze cold.

The notice was quite long. An article written in a language he didn’t even know well was attached, and he could see a translation of the article below it.

“So this means, they want us to prevent accidents, right?”

At someone’s question, Jaechan looked at Ji Sangtaek.

Similarly staring at the screen with a serious expression, he let out a long “Aaaaah” as if he were in a bind.

“It looks like Espers who cause accidents will no longer be allowed to register as athletes.”

Lamentations broke out from various places.

Of course, the Center was doing its utmost to ensure that Espers couldn’t cause accidents. Nevertheless, variables regarding transcendent powers were bound to be scattered everywhere. He had even heard cases where guiding occasionally didn’t work, or where someone went berserk due to excessive guiding.

And Jaechan suddenly recalled the day Han Kang awakened. Pure white snow fell densely in the middle of summer, covering everything including the container boxes. Was that all? Because the entire neighborhood froze solid, accidents followed one after another on the unseasonably icy roads, and it even reached a point where the roads were paralyzed.

They were lucky there were no casualties; if things had gone wrong, several people could have died in accidents. And the official notice stated that all of those things must be controlled.

“It must be because of that Esper who went berserk and killed someone recently.”

Jaechan bit his lip hard at Ji Sangtaek’s low addition.

To roughly summarize the notice: if an ability user caused a natural disaster through the abuse of their powers or an uncontrollable state, caused damage to ordinary citizens, or caused a casualty accident, the severity would be weighed to give them a disadvantage in competing. For Han Kang, who used the power of the natural elements, there were many clauses that were unfavorable in many ways.

The lowest level of punishment was being barred from competing in one Olympic Games, and after that, even higher levels of punishment were listed one after another.

All of it felt heavy, which was a huge problem.

Jaechan’s gaze fell on his silent phone. Han Kang, who couldn’t possibly know this news, was still quiet. There was no contact at all, and he didn’t seek him out.

“…He can’t keep refusing guiding.”

Jaechan, who let out the words to himself, let out an “Ah” and pressed his hand to his forehead. Just because the rules changed, would Han Kang’s stiff attitude actually improve?

Because he had no certainty that it would, his chest felt heavy and suffocated.