IMPRINT 17

Dragging my exhausted body along, I opened the door to the Special Treatment Room to find Kang Juha sitting at the foot of the bed reading a fairy tale book. I thought it would be useless now that he had found his memories, but apparently, that wasn’t the case—seeing how he had managed to salvage the tattered book to read it.

It was funny to see him reading a fairy tale titled <Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf> with such a serious expression on that handsome face of his.

“I am Seong Yihyeon, Information Team Leader of the Center’s National Security Bureau Information Security Department.”

Ordinarily, the moment I opened the door, he should have been shifting restlessly like a puppy told it was time for a walk, but today’s Kang Juha stayed quite well-behaved, only rolling his eyes upward to look at me.

“Is it fun? Should I bring you some other books? Something other than these fairy tales.”

I felt a bit sorry for him, wondering just how bored and left with nothing to do he must be to be huddling there reading a child’s storybook.

Closing the book, Kang Juha smiled and shook his head.

“Um… no. I like fairy tales too. You gave it to me, Teacher.”

“Well, that’s a relief then…”

“Maybe because I never got to read them when I was little, it feels new.”

Kang Juha muttered. Fragments of his past that I had glimpsed flashed through my mind. They certainly weren’t good memories.

Most of his childhood was set against the backdrop of hospital rooms similar to this one. The fact that he didn’t pester me to go outside was surely a lingering trace of resignation that had naturally settled into his body during those long years as a patient. Current Kang Juha was simply complying, waiting for a discharge date with no set promise.

“Do you remember the fairy tale we read together before?”

“The one you read to me, Teacher?”

“Yes.”

“Of course I remember. <The Fairy and the Woodcutter> and <The Little Mermaid>.”

“…I think you can forget about the first one. The latter one. Before, I read it and asked what you thought about it, remember?”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to ask that question again now.”

I was curious if there had been any change from his answer that one should just kill the princess who was going to marry the prince. In childhood, concepts are blurry, so one could easily make such a judgment…

“It’s the same.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s the same as back then. My thoughts.”

…Was it not a matter of age?

“…I see.”

I felt skeptical, but Kang Juha’s character or way of thinking wasn’t something for me to interfere with.

“What do you think, Teacher?”

“What I think?”

“Yes. I’m curious what choice you would make if you were the Little Mermaid.”

Well, if I were the Little Mermaid…

Now that I thought about it, it was a problem I had never considered. I could have given a half-hearted answer, but perhaps because of Kang Juha’s expectant gaze, I uncharacteristically pondered it quite seriously.

I’m the benefactor who saved the prince’s life, but the stupid prince mistakes me for a princess from another country and tries to marry her? And if that prince marries the princess, I’ll turn into sea foam and vanish, and to prevent that, I have to kill the prince?

“…I wouldn’t choose anything.”

While it’s resentful that the prince couldn’t recognize me, that is also a part I cannot control. His choice to marry the neighboring princess is also a part I cannot control.

The moment you struggle to change the parts you cannot control, life becomes miserable.

“Why?”

“Because from the moment you choose, you have to take responsibility for everything.”

If people point fingers and call me a coward, well, there’s nothing I can do. I am a cowardly person by nature. I am not cut out to be a good man, nor am I cut out to be a hero.

I was slightly curious what kind of reaction Kang Juha would show, but he worried over it in silence before finally opening his mouth after a long while.

“The prince better get his act together, then. So that Teacher doesn’t turn into sea foam and disappear.”

“Even so, the prince wouldn’t even know I existed.”

“I don’t think so. Because Teacher is the kind of person who is hard to forget even if seen just once.”

Meeting Kang Juha’s eyes, I felt a sensation different from the one I used to know, so I was the first to look away.

Kang Juha gave the same answer as before, but I felt that he was a completely different person from that time.

“I didn’t come to perform treatment today. I came because I have something to inform you.”

“Yes.”

At my tone, which had turned somewhat businesslike, Kang Juha nodded obediently and climbed up to sit on the bed.

“Starting tomorrow… someone else will be coming to help Esper Kang Juha’s rapid recovery.”

The moment I finished speaking, Kang Juha’s face froze chillingly. With his gentle appearance nowhere to be found, he stared straight through me with an expressionless face and asked.

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“Why does it have to be like that?”

“Well, as I mentioned just a moment ago, it’s for Esper Kang Juha’s rapid recovery…”

“Is it because I can’t use my supernatural power?”

“…”

“You said it was okay last time. You clearly said so, Teacher.”

Kang Juha’s voice was settled calmly, but I could tell. Kang Juha is angry at me right now.

“I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

Ah, this is the seven-year-old Kang Juha again.

It was plain to see that his psychological state had become rapidly unstable. His hands resting on the blanket trembled shiver shiver.

“It’s not because Esper Kang Juha did anything wrong. This is purely to help a rapid recovery, and I will be with you as well.”

“…”

Lifting his bowed head, Kang Juha peered at me blankly again. It was a gaze that felt almost obsessive, as if trying to verify that I wasn’t lying.

“Then you’ll keep coming to see me, Teacher?”

“Yes, I will.”

“And another person is coming too?”

“Yes.”

“I understand.”

This time, he acquiesced too smoothly.

It wasn’t a very good sign. It was the moment it became certain that Kang Juha was showing an obsessive dependency on me.

The worst phenomenon in terms of patient care had occurred, but thinking that it happened because I was the only one he could trust and rely on while his mind was nearly collapsed, it wasn’t that surprising.

Once he meets other people and starts full-scale rehabilitation training, his dependency on me will fade and he’ll return to a normal state in no time.

So, having someone else come from the Medical Bureau might not be a bad thing. At least for Kang Juha’s treatment.

༘⋆

But, I hadn’t hoped for that person from the Medical Bureau to be Kim Kunwoo.

“I am Kim Kunwoo, Senior Researcher at the Medical Bureau’s 2nd Research Institute.”

Even at Kim Kunwoo’s greeting, Kang Juha remained silent for a long time before turning his head toward me entirely.

“But Teacher, am I not pretty to you anymore?”

“…Pardon?”

Then, he said something completely out of the blue that made my heart sink.

Kim Kunwoo, who openly showed his displeasure through his expression at the fact that Kang Juha had ignored his greeting, strode toward the bed, but Kang Juha kept looking at me until he was standing right beside him.

“Esper Kang Juha, I’m not sure what you mean by that…”

I tried to stop him, but Kang Juha spoke while pouting his lips.

“I think I’ve been listening to Teacher well lately, but you haven’t been giving me chocolates.”

“Ah.”

“So I wondered if it’s because I’m not pretty.”

I could see Kim Kunwoo focusing all his attention on the conversation between the two of us while pretending not to be interested.

“I’ll give them to you. I’ll give them, so for now, just…”

I grabbed a handful of the chocolates remaining in my pocket and handed them over while gesturing toward Kim Kunwoo with my eyes. Only after peeling one of the received chocolates and putting it in his mouth did Kang Juha look at Kim Kunwoo.

Unlike the face he showed me, it was a chilling countenance. They were clearly making eye contact, but there was no sound of speech. Having a conversation inside one’s head is something only a mental-type supernatural like me should be able to do; just what on earth were they doing? I let out a deep sigh at the suffocating, uncomfortable silence.

After a long while, Kim Kunwoo opened his mouth. It was a voice feigning kindness.

“In case you didn’t hear me, I’ll say it once more. I am Kim Kunwoo, Senior Researcher at the Medical Bureau’s 2nd Research Institute.”

“Yes.”

Kang Juha’s reply was short and concise. Even though it was a positive answer, strangely, a confrontational tone of ‘so what?’ could be read in that voice.

There was no way the quick-witted Kim Kunwoo failed to notice that.

“I’m sure I’m still unfamiliar and uncomfortable for you, but I will do my best for Esper Kang Juha’s recovery.”

“You don’t have to do your best.”

“…Pardon?”

“Because our Teacher will be the one doing that.”

Kang Juha spoke while looking back at me.

No, I have never once in my life said I would do my best at anything! Whether it’s his best or not, they should keep their promises between themselves; why is he suddenly summoning me out of nowhere.

However, I couldn’t exactly say ‘I have no intention of doing my best. I’m going to do a mediocre job’ in response, so I laughed awkwardly.

“Ahem, anyway, it seems a check-up is necessary for an accurate status check… I have requested the Medical Bureau to clear an examination room in advance. Let’s move together.”

Wait, Kang Juha is leaving the Special Treatment Room?

“Has permission been granted to go outside?”

At my urgent question, Kim Kunwoo snorted derisively.

“Then did you think I’d take him out without authorization? There’s no problem since he’s accompanying me, a member of the Medical Bureau. You can wait here, Team Leader Seong.”

If I entered the Medical Bureau, I might run into one or two people I’d find uncomfortable to face. Perhaps they’d even be waiting there under the guise of examining Kang Juha.

Since I had been going in and out of only the basement Special Treatment Room the whole time, our paths hadn’t had a chance to cross.

“Then I’ll…”

Ah, I don’t want to go. Do I really have to go? Even if I go up, things will just become uncomfortable.

Since they openly disliked the fact that I was in charge of Esper Kang Juha’s treatment, they would never look at me kindly. If I was beside Kang Juha, they might even feel like I was interfering with their work.

In many ways, it was a situation that was just asking for trouble, so I was going to say I wouldn’t go.

“Can’t you go with me? I’m a bit scared because it’s unfamiliar.”

The word “no,” which would usually pop out without a second of hesitation, was for some reason stuck in my throat and wouldn’t come out.