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“Now it feels like this is practically our office. Haha.”

Juyoung replied with an impudent laugh, and Director Shin laughed along before clicking her tongue.

“Team Leader Seong, you’re really stretching your legs out just because I dote on you a little…”

Simultaneously, as if I had been waiting for that exact cue, I stretched my legs out and rested them on the low table. I heard Juyoung’s awkward chuckle and Director Shin’s long sigh.

“You actually stretched them out…”

“Didn’t you just tell me to?”

“Fine, fine. Do whatever you want. What is it this time?”

“You heard the conversation we just had. My team has no work.”

“So what, you want me to manufacture some work that doesn’t exist? Making work is the easiest thing in the world.”

Should I really make some?

At Director Shin’s added remark, Juyoung narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

“Why? Mr. Juyoung, why are you looking at me with those eyes?”

“By any chance, Director Shin, are you blood-related to our Team Leader? Like a mother and son relationship…”

“No matter how much I’ve aged, I don’t think Team Leader Seong is young enough to be my son.”

“…An older sister?”

“I’m a bit too old to be called his sister.”

“Then an aunt? On the father’s side? Mother’s side?”

“Strangers.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

What on earth is this conversation?

It was absurd enough that he was asking about the relationship between Director Shin and me, but Juyoung genuinely seemed to believe there was something between the Director and myself. We don’t have a single resembling feature; where did he get that idea?

“Why are you so suspicious?”

“Well… it’s because the way you and the Director speak is identical.”

“Us?”

“Yes.”

“What about our speech is the same?”

I was a bit curious about this myself. I turned my body, leaning my arm against the back of the sofa to look at Juyoung. Director Shin was also leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, watching Juyoung.

Juyoung, shrinking back as he retreated, spoke in a voice that was barely a crawl.

“…The way you threaten people with authority?”

Squeak, the back of the chair Director Shin was sitting in straightened up, making a small noise.

“What’s this. Isn’t that just saying we have bad personalities?”

“I agree.”

I nodded in agreement with Director Shin’s words. Juyoung checked our reactions and started slinking toward the door to escape.

“Ah, so our trashy personalities are a perfect match?”

“Juyoung, didn’t I tell you to hide somewhere if you’re going to badmouth us? Don’t you know you have to hide your inner thoughts even from our faces?”

Even without planning it, Director Shin and I were perfectly in sync. When I joined in on teasing Juyoung without so much as a signal, he made a crying face and pointed at the two of us.

“This! Right here! You’re doing it right now! You two are two peas in a pod!”

The moment I saw his terrified face, I exchanged a silent glance with Director Shin. Just as I was about to add another word.

“Teacher.”

“Huh? Yes?”

“It’s your turn. I’ve been waiting for a while now.”

Kang Juha called me. Five cards were spread out in his hand.

Ah, right. We were in the middle of Old Maid.

“Um… do you have the Joker?”

At my question, Kang Juha swept his eyes over his cards and nodded.

“Yes.”

In the brief lull that followed, Juyoung sat his buttocks down on the edge of the sofa next to Kang Juha with a look of great relief. Director Shin also approached the sofa while massaging her shoulders and took the single-seater in the middle.

Meanwhile, I closely examined the backs of the five cards and Kang Juha’s expression. Detecting lies was a task so easy it had become second nature, but strangely, I couldn’t read any deception or strategy on Kang Juha’s face.

I couldn’t use my ability either, as that would break the game’s rule of ‘Playing Old Maid without using supernatural powers.’

“Is the Joker among these two on the far left?”

“Yes.”

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation or conflict in Kang Juha’s answer.

Is his strategy just to answer ‘yes’ to everything?

“Is this card the Joker?”

When I picked one of the two on the far left and asked, Kang Juha looked at me, his eyes crinkling into a smile as he nodded.

“Yes.”

At that, I smiled back and picked up the card I had asked about. Unlike his previous plain answers, he had shown a smile only for this question, so I was certain there was something that had caused an emotional stir in him.

And when I flipped the card over.

“…”

The Joker greeted me.

“Wow… You actually picked that one. He gave you all the hints—no, he told nothing but the truth!”

Juyoung, who had been craning his neck next to Kang Juha to peek at the cards, clicked his tongue.

“…Mr. Kang Juha, you do know the rules of Old Maid, right?”

“Yes. You discard matching pairs in order, and the person holding the Joker card at the end loses.”

What is this? Is this high-level intellectual play?

“Did you tell the truth on purpose without lying?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you asked, Teacher.”

“…Is it because you thought I’d read your mind anyway, Mr. Kang Juha?”

Most people think of me as some sort of mind reader who can detect any lie and pierce through their inner thoughts. Well, since that wasn’t actually impossible, they weren’t exactly wrong. However, it was true that it wasn’t very pleasant to be treated that way.

But thinking that I was being treated that way by Kang Juha, of all people, left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Have we been stuck together too long lately? To think I’m feeling disappointed all by myself after harboring useless expectations.

Just then, Kang Juha shook his head.

“No.”

My eyes met his. Kang Juha took back the Joker card held in my hand. It was before I could even stop him.

“It’s because I don’t want to lie to you, Teacher. Besides, you promised not to look into my mind before we started the game.”

“Then why did you smile at my last question?”

I thought I had caught a glimpse of Kang Juha’s strategy through that momentary change in expression. That Kang Juha’s composure had crumbled.

“Just because our eyes met, and I liked it.”

“…”

Speaking casually, Kang Juha shuffled the cards he was holding and spread them out again.

“But are you intentionally not putting those cards down?”

Juyoung, who had been peeking at Kang Juha’s cards, asked as if he were genuinely curious. Kang Juha ignored Juyoung’s words and urged me with his gaze.

Feeling that something was off, I grabbed Kang Juha’s wrist and checked the five cards he was holding. He had a pair of 2s (Hearts and Clovers), a pair of Jacks (Diamonds and Hearts), and finally, the Joker card.

Since the 2s and the Jacks already formed pairs, the winner or loser of this game was practically decided. However, even though Kang Juha could have laid down all his cards and passed the Joker to me, he didn’t.

No, why? What kind of kid is this?

Since he clearly said he knew the rules when I asked, this couldn’t have happened out of ignorance.

I simply couldn’t understand what was going on in Kang Juha’s head.

“Is the game over?”

Director Shin, who was looking at a tablet PC on the sofa, asked while only raising her eyes. I gathered the scattered cards on the table.

“Yes.”

“No.”

An answer different from mine popped out of Kang Juha’s mouth. Director Shin looked back and forth between Kang Juha and me for a moment, then shrugged and continued.

“Permission for Esper Kang Juha’s training has come down from the higher-ups. I heard the training room Esper Kang Juha used to use is currently being used by the Alpha Team. So, he can’t use it whenever he wants like before; he has to coordinate with the Alpha Team.”

Nothing had been accurately concluded yet, but just hearing the name of the Alpha Team stirred a vague sense of repulsion.

“And what do they want to do?”

“They have no intention of adjusting their schedule; they told us to match ours to theirs. They said it’s not like Esper Kang Juha has any missions anyway.”

“…”

I had a feeling, but sure enough. There was no twist. It was annoying, but I could accept it since team-level training naturally took precedence over individual training.

“This is the schedule they sent. There isn’t much free time. They did say that side is being run ragged because of performance pressure.”

What Director Shin handed over was a month’s worth of schedule.

There’s hardly any empty time.

Seeing the Alpha Team’s schedule packed to the brim brought back bad memories. The Medical Bureau had stolen my position in exactly this manner…

Because unit training and the entire Alpha Team’s sessions were tightly packed, the only things left were essentially scraps of time in one- or two-hour intervals. It was so devoid of consideration that I wondered if they had planned it this way on purpose.

At that moment, one thing caught my eye. It was the text ‘Training Room K’ written at the top of the schedule.

As far as I knew, training rooms were divided by numbers like 1, 2, and so on. It was my first time seeing a training room labeled with an alphabet…

“By any chance, is the ‘K’ written here the initial of Mr. Kang Juha’s name?”

Since it was a training room Kang Juha used to use alone, I thought it would be Training Room 1, which has the highest difficulty, but there’s a separate Training Room K?

“Ah, you didn’t know? It’s a training room specially manufactured for Esper Kang Juha’s exclusive use. We built an annex next to the training center. About five years ago.”

“But why is the Alpha Team using it now?”

I threw the question toward Director Shin, but the answer came from elsewhere.

“It is being used to improve the combat power of the Alpha Team.”

“Ah, Manager. You’re already here.”

It was Hong Seongbeom, the Manager of the Field Operations Department.