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“It is not that we are intending to do anything specific; we are asking because Team Leader Seong is the person-in-charge. Regarding whether what Esper Kang Juha claims is consistent with the facts…”

“It is consistent.”

Since things had already turned out this way, what else could I do? It seemed I had already failed at pushing Kang Juha away, so I had no choice but to shield him. After all, one’s heart bends toward those close to them.

The red light on the recorder placed on the table flickered. I had to think before speaking, considering what kind of impact each word would have.

I took a deep breath without letting it show and then opened my mouth.

“Last evening, there was an attempt by Senior Researcher Kim Kunwoo to forcibly awaken the special ability of Esper Kang Juha in a manner that completely disregarded his physical condition. As a result, I was urgently deployed to stabilize him.”

The expressions of the Center Director and the Disciplinary Chairman froze stiffly.

“My secretary has secured the CCTV footage from that time…”

I looked around, but Juyoung was nowhere to be seen.

Ah, he ran away earlier. He looked so shocked he might faint upon seeing Kang Juha and was even hiccuping; I wonder if he is alright.

“I will deliver it to you later.”

“Ahem, then we shall verify that later. Regarding the case where the Medical Bureau reported Team Leader Seong, the audit is still…”

As the Center Director trailed off, Director Shin raised her hand as if she had been waiting for the moment.

“That is under my jurisdiction. If you wish for cross-verification, I will comply.”

A taut tension hung in the air.

Sensing that there was not the slightest hint of retreat in Director Shin’s or my eyes, the Center Director cleared his throat and leaned back against his backrest. He then looked back and forth between Kang Juha and me, who were sitting opposite him, before turning his head entirely toward Kang Juha to look at him intently while asking a question.

“Has your physical condition recovered much? You look quite energetic.”

“…”

“Yes, his body has almost fully recovered.”

When Kang Juha’s silence stretched on, I had no choice but to answer on his behalf. Nevertheless, the Center Director continued speaking without taking his eyes off Kang Juha.

“It seems Esper Kang Juha trusts and follows Team Leader Seong a great deal.”

“He has been in an emotionally unstable state, and because of the access control of the special treatment room, the environment forced him to rely on me…”

I was saying whatever came to mind to somehow cover for Kang Juha’s statement that he came because he missed me.

“In my opinion, I do not think it is for such a simple reason.”

The Center Director shook his head as if he did not agree with my words.

“Pardon?”

“Setting aside whether Team Leader Seong used special abilities unnecessarily, there has been much talk within the Center regarding a change of the person-in-charge, seeing how excessively Esper Kang Juha follows Team Leader Seong.”

“…”

“Director Shin insisted that Team Leader Seong must be the one to wrap up this matter, but even without me saying it, Team Leader Seong knows well just how important a military asset Esper Kang Juha is to our Center—no, to our country. Right?”

He used a gentle tone as if he were a kind person, but there was no way I could miss the subtle nuance hidden within it.

“Yes, I am aware.”

“I do not think at all that you intentionally slowed down the treatment speed or anything of the sort…”

He seemed to be thinking exactly that. I didn’t even read his mind, but was there a need for him to be that transparent?

I knew the light in my own eyes was slowly dying out, but I didn’t particularly want to open them wide. My soul was already lying down on the bed in my room. Ah, I want to go home.

“If talk keeps circulating and things get noisy like this, it becomes difficult for us too.”

Yes, I am also in a very difficult position right now. Can you not see the expression on my face right now?

“Therefore…”

If the Center Director said right here that he had to replace Kang Juha’s person-in-charge immediately, I had more than enough intention to leave while pretending to be helpless, pretending to be sad, and pretending to be disappointed.

In my mind, the image of Kang Juha apologizing for doing something wrong kept drifting up like smoke, but an accident like today’s was not at a level that could be resolved with the expression of a puppy that had misbehaved.

“We shall proceed with Team Leader Seong continuing to be in charge of Esper Kang Juha without the involvement of the Medical Bureau.”

Pardon?

“Pardon?”

My inner thoughts and my words burst out at the same time. No, why is it turning out like that? Eh? In times like this, shouldn’t you be strongly reprimanding me as the person-in-charge and making me wash my hands of this task immediately? Eh?

“Is it not a problem that I am the one in charge?”

“Oh, there is no problem. The Medical Bureau is the side that did wrong this time. This time, I will not yield and will request disciplinary action against the Medical Bureau…”

None of what the Center Director was saying entered my ears. No, you were clearly trying to pull me away from Kang Juha.

“Esper Kang Juha said that if Team Leader Seong continues to be his person-in-charge, he will participate sincerely in rehabilitation training and strive to return to the field quickly.”

As soon as I heard those words, I turned my head immediately to look at Kang Juha. Whether he knew my heart was filled with disbelief or not, Kang Juha was looking at me with innocent eyes.

“Esper Kang Juha’s memory and psyche are a bit unstable, but a veteran like Team Leader Seong just needs to stay attached and control him well.”

“…Pardon?”

“Then Esper Kang Juha will return to the field quickly. I see it as a very efficient and rational plan. What does Team Leader Seong think?”

That question, “What do you think?”, was by no means asking because he was truly curious about my opinion. It was just a way of telling me to understand, since they had already decided it that way.

“…”

I could not bring myself to answer that I understood as I usually did. However, the Center Director clapped his hands with a loud smack, as if he had already heard my answer.

“Right! Then we shall settle it like this. The Center is very noisy right now, so let us stay quiet for the time being.”

“…”

“Also, we need to announce Esper Kang Juha’s return, so Team Leader Seong should accompany him and help write the resurrection report.”

The work grew endlessly with every single word the Center Director spoke. Well, I have to have the nerve to process it for the content to enter my head. At this point, everything said went in through one ear and out the other.

“When the formal Disciplinary Committee is convened soon, a request for witness attendance will be sent to Team Leader Seong and Esper Kang Juha as well, so you can come then.”

Perhaps fearing that I might say something, the Center Director poured out words like rapid-fire without giving me room to breathe and then disappeared along with the Disciplinary Chairman.

“It is my first time meeting that Disciplinary Chairman; does he usually not say a single word like that?”

The Disciplinary Chairman had so little presence that only at the final moment of his exit did the thought, ‘Ah, that person was there too,’ flash through my mind.

“That is why he is a scary person. Because after not saying a single word like that, he drops the hammer of discipline.”

“…Will I be disciplined?”

“Haven’t you already received your discipline?”

“Me? When?”

I asked urgently, wondering if I had momentarily missed something. I certainly didn’t hear anything about a pay cut or anything like that just now…!

“You are stuck being in charge of Kang Juha. And alone at that. Without a deadline.”

“…”

“That’s why I told you to hand him over when I said so.”

On Director Shin’s face as she spoke those words, the phrase ‘I am so glad this is not my problem’ was written in giant letters.

“And Esper Kang Juha will be disciplined.”

“It will be imprisonment, naturally?”

“No. Wearing a special ability control gear.”

“Is that all?”

What, it’s not as big a deal as I thought? For an S-class Esper, something like a special ability control gear is no different from a soulmate…

“On his neck.”

“…”

“Did they say for three months?”

“…Haaa.”

I let out a sigh and looked back at Kang Juha, but he remained motionless as if he were listening to someone else’s story.

To have to walk around with a special ability control gear on his neck for three months. There was no punishment more humiliating than that. It would be better to be locked in the stockade alone; a control gear was no different from walking around telling the whole world, ‘I am currently being disciplined because I committed a wrong!’

And the way it looked was exactly like a dog collar…

“Let’s actually hear the story. Why did you do that?”

“What I said earlier is everything.”

“No, I mean. Kim Kunwoo tried to move you to the lab, but once you actually came outside, you missed me so much that you crushed all the guards and stormed into the Director’s office?”

“…Yes.”

“…”

I stared at Kang Juha without a word, and Kang Juha, seemingly knowing his fault, avoided my gaze while just fidgeting with his fingers.

“I did wrong.”

Finally, an apology in a dejected voice was heard.

I didn’t even have the energy left to get angry. And I wondered if I even had the right to meddle in the fact that he was being punished for something he committed. Still, I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped me.

“If it’s enough to put a special ability control gear on his neck, it seems that person Kim Kunwoo was hurt quite badly.”

“He is currently in the Medical Bureau’s intensive care unit and is reportedly unconscious. Since he was hit by an S-class combat-type Esper and no one else, they said it would take some time for him to recover on his own.”

Since Kim Kunwoo is an Esper after all, he won’t die from just being hit a few times. To begin with, if Kang Juha had truly intended to kill him, he wouldn’t have made such a racket but would have snuffed out his life without a sound or rumor.

If he had died, that is when things would have truly become complicated, but…

“…Well, he didn’t die.”

To be honest, I didn’t feel sorry for Kim Kunwoo. Given what he had done, it was appropriate to view this as poetic justice.

Even so, to think he actually executed exactly what I had only thought about.

I thought to myself once again. I should never mess with Kang Juha.

“The Medical Bureau seems to be raging, saying they will absolutely not let this go quietly. We will send materials explaining that Esper Kang Juha was in a state of diminished mental capacity. They won’t be able to say a word since they were the ones who picked a fight with you first. Because they reported that you used some trick while taking advantage of the fact that Kang Juha was in a state of diminished mental capacity.”

“…”

“To be honest, it is a pity he was injured, but his life is not in immediate danger, and you are both fellow Espers after all, so… I think this is closer to an accident than an incident. And an inevitable accident at that. In a word, karma.”

After saying that, Director Shin added one more thing.

“Honestly, I think he had it coming.”

In the end, a puff of a laugh escaped my mouth.

Yes, anyway, things didn’t flow toward the absolute worst…

I thought it was lucky that it ended at this level. Just as Director Shin said, the person who provoked Kang Juha first and acted stupidly was he himself.

In fact, if Kang Juha hadn’t exerted himself to control himself yesterday, Kim Kunwoo would have surely died instantly inside the special treatment room.

Injury or death caused by a rampage is processed as a workplace accident, but it does not lead to the guilt of the perpetrator Esper. A rampage signifies a state of loss of mental capacity. If he had died just like that, Kim Kunwoo’s death would have been treated as nothing more than a natural disaster.

It was only because Kang Juha exerted all his strength to try and suppress the rampage that he escaped safely.

Well, his backbone and bravado, acting brazenly all along even after experiencing Kang Juha’s special ability waves with his whole body, were worth acknowledging.

Usually, when I see a stupid person, anger surges up, but seeing as I don’t even feel angry now… I suppose one has to be only moderately stupid for me to get angry.

This was… as good as walking into a tiger’s mouth to die by one’s own will. You know, isn’t there that award given to people who die stupidly in foreign countries? The one named after an evolutionary biologist… I believe he is fully qualified to receive that award.

Since thinking about my workload increasing made my head ache, I decided to ignore it for now. As Kang Juha’s person-in-charge, I had a duty to look after his unstable condition.

“Are you not hungry? Do you want to eat? You know, that thing I said before about buying you a meal.”

I thought I should feed him to celebrate his escape from that beggar-like basement.