IMPRINT 21

The special treatment room I visited after a long time felt as if the temperature had dropped even further than before. Was it just my imagination?

On the CCTV monitor, Kang Juha was sitting quietly on the bed, reading a fairy tale book.

“Where is Kim Kunwoo?”

“He doesn’t seem to be inside.”

“Always something with him.”

Tsk. Clicking my tongue, I opened the door to the special treatment room and stepped inside.

Normally, Kang Juha would have recognized me immediately, but today he remained motionless, staring intently at the fairy tale book like someone who couldn’t hear a sound.

Ultimately, I was the one to speak first.

“Center National Security Bureau Information Security…”

“Teacher?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, Kang Juha jerked his head up and looked at me. He stood up abruptly from the bed and tried to approach me, but he stopped with a small sigh because of the restraints on his left wrist. The clattering sound was particularly grating today.

“…and Seong Yihyeon, the Information Team Leader.”

I finished the interrupted introduction first and then approached Kang Juha. Finding it difficult to face him head-on because he was staring without even blinking—as if he didn’t want to miss a single thing—I lowered my gaze.

He’s looking at me like he’s going to devour me or something…

“I heard you refused your meals.”

“…”

“I heard you refused guiding as well.”

In my downward peripheral vision, I could see Kang Juha’s feet. Since there was no answer, I stopped without approaching further and lifted my head, meeting his eyes directly.

Looking at him like this, I realized anew that Kang Juha is quite tall. I’m not exactly the type to be called small anywhere I go, but…

“Why did you lie?”

His voice was low, as if he were suppressing surging emotions. Kang Juha’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

“…Me?”

What lie did I tell?

It wasn’t that I couldn’t remember because I hadn’t lied; it was because I had told so many minor lies that it was difficult to pick just one.

“You promised you would keep coming to see me.”

“Ah.”

“I waited for you all day, Teacher.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance. Still, someone else should have come to take care of you over the past few days.”

“I never made a promise with anyone else.”

“…”

“I clearly told you that the one I was waiting for was you, Teacher.”

Why am I being scolded?

As I stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to react, Kang Juha let out a deep sigh. Hearing that sigh, I felt a sense of guilt for the first time in a long while.

At that moment, Kang Juha suddenly grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

“I was worried something bad had happened to you.”

He buried his face deep into my shoulder and mumbled; the body heat touching my ear was beyond warm—it was hot.

“…”

“I thought of everything… Either something bad happened and you couldn’t come here, or you grew to dislike me and didn’t want to see me. It had to be one of the two. But there’s no way you grew to dislike me. Right?”

Having said that, Kang Juha lifted his head and looked at me. I couldn’t react at all to his gaze, which stared intently as if trying to check what kind of expression I was making at his words.

Was this the side of Kang Juha that the Medical Bureau raised concerns about?

It was true that he was excessively dependent. And honestly, I couldn’t deny that to others, it might look like I had brainwashed him.

But shouldn’t this be seen as an imprinting effect? Just as a duckling recognizes the first object it sees upon birth as its mother, it just so happened that I was the one in front of him when Kang Juha regained consciousness.

When I lightly pushed him away, Kang Juha stepped back obediently.

“Yes, I wasn’t feeling well.”

I knew it was a brazen thing to say, but I had no choice. I couldn’t exactly tell him I didn’t come because I didn’t want to.

Of course, the truth was different, but there was no need to mention that the Medical Bureau had reported me and that my treatment schedule had been adjusted regardless of my will because of it. I wasn’t a child running to tattle after a fight with a friend.

Unintentionally, one more lie was added to the list. Kang Juha scanned my body up and down with worried eyes.

“What about now? Are you okay now?”

Lies beget lies. Seeing Kang Juha worry about me made my conscience sting a bit, but what else could I do?

“I think I need to rest for a few more days… but I heard Esper Kang Juha was skipping meals and didn’t seem to be in good condition, so I came to check on you. For now, would you like to sit down?”

“Yes.”

Kang Juha sat obediently on the bed. In the way he sat down with a thud, relaxing his whole body, I could feel a trust toward me that lacked even a hint of suspicion or wariness.

“Your guiding levels have dropped a bit.”

Guiding levels didn’t only drop when using special abilities. There was an amount consumed daily, so even without using abilities, they had to be replenished periodically.

Furthermore, Kang Juha must have experienced numerous rampages over the past six months, so it was natural for the unstable guiding to keep leaking out.

“I know.”

“If the levels drop too much, you could go into a rampage, so you need to manage it well.”

“Yes, I know that too.”

“Then why did you refuse?”

Kang Juha looked at me with his head tilted to the side. What is that expression… I feel like I’m going to get scolded again.

“Teacher, you must really have a bad memory.”

“…”

“You promised. That you would be the one to keep giving me the injections from now on.”

No, wasn’t that a promise discarded once you moved past being seven years old?

“We even hooked our pinkies back then.”

Kang Juha’s gaze landed on my fingertips. I reflexively clenched my fist tight.

I had heard clearly from Juyoung about the meaning of the act of hooking pinkies to make a promise, and I knew now that it wasn’t the cruel act I had misunderstood it to be. But why am I scared…?

“…I will give you the guiding injection.”

I pulled out the ampoule I had brought, trying my best to avoid Kang Juha’s suggestive gaze.

Snap. While I snapped the top of the ampoule, drew the medicine into the syringe, and poked it into his forearm, Kang Juha did not take his eyes off my face for a single moment.

A hole is going to be bored into my face at this rate.

Others might take it as a joke, but for some reason, I had the absurd thought that if it were Kang Juha, he really might be able to bore a hole through someone’s face with just his gaze.

“There, it’s done. It takes about 10 minutes for the guiding to fill up. Please tell me when you feel the sensation of the guiding.”

“Yes.”

Once the injection was done, there was nothing left to do. Normally, I would have sat in the chair and waited 10 minutes without much thought, but now it was… awkward, to say the least.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“No.”

“Eat something anyway.”

I took out a protein bar I had brought just in case. Unlike commercial chocolate, which is a mass of sugar, this was essentially a mass of protein that only smelled like chocolate, but it was optimal for energy supply.

Rip. When I handed it over after slightly tearing the top of the packaging, Kang Juha began to chew the protein bar with a blank expression.

“It’s a disgustingly familiar taste.”

“You’ve probably eaten a lot of it.”

“I don’t like it.”

To someone else, he would look like a person chewing on soaked newspaper. Seeing his expression, which was the polar opposite of when he ate commercial chocolate, I couldn’t help but let a laugh slip.

To think that an S-class combat Esper, who is said to be so terrifying in the field, is saying things that sound like he’s complaining about his side dishes while eating a protein bar. Is the reason this looks cute to me because I still remember the Kang Juha with the seven-year-old ego?

“Later, when you’re all better and come to my office, I’ll buy you a meal. Something delicious, not Center food.”

It wasn’t a lie, but it was a bit of an empty promise. It was uncertain whether the Kang Juha who regained his memories would want it. Well, buying a meal isn’t hard. Money is the one thing I have in excess.

Since he’s an S-class Esper, Kang Juha’s previous life probably wasn’t that different from mine. Of course, he would have had a grueling daily life, doing training, running Gate missions, and being deployed in operations to arrest the anti-coalition forces. Regardless, the fact that outside access is strictly restricted would be the same.

If he’s lived in the Center for a long time, outside food must be a distant memory by now. I was a bit curious to see what kind of reaction he would have if I fed him extremely stimulating food like jjamppong or malashanguo.

“…”

I had made the proposal with good intentions by my standards, but for some reason, Kang Juha’s expression was ambiguous.

“If you want.”

If not, whatever.

“I want to. I want to, but…”

Kang Juha narrowed his eyes and glared as if suspicious.

“Teacher, you only tell lies every time.”

“…”

How did I end up becoming a liar?

But since I have a track record, I can’t even argue.

“Make it so I can definitely trust you, Teacher.”

Pardon? How exactly am I supposed to do that…?