IMPRINT 48

As the team members headed to the cafeteria ahead of us, I had to ask Kang Juha several times if he was truly alright while following behind him.

“There are many Espers in the cafeteria. Do you see them? All these people are heading to the cafeteria right now.”

For me, it was simply a dislike of crowds, but for Kang Juha, it was a physical repulsion to the energy of other Espers, so our positions were entirely different.

“Yes, I know.”

“If you think you’ll be uncomfortable, even now, you should go to the Director’s office and eat separately…”

Kang Juha came to a dead stop. He stared at me quietly and asked.

“I like it because you’re worrying about me, Teacher.”

“…”

Should I call this being positive, or just being oblivious?

“If you’re that worried, hold my hand.”

“Hold your hand, Mr. Kang Juha?”

“Yes. Then everything will be fine.”

“I am not a Guide, so doing that won’t relieve your discomfort.”

“Yes, I know. It doesn’t matter.”

Did he know that the phrase “it doesn’t matter” made me even more uneasy? Whether it was because of recent events or not, I began to worry that Kang Juha might be falling into some kind of delusion.

“Tell me immediately if it becomes hard to endure. Do not force yourself to eat.”

“Yes.”

While I was nagging him out of concern, we arrived at the cafeteria before I knew it. I couldn’t even remember exactly how long it had been since I last came here.

Whenever Juyoung took a leave of absence, even though I had no one to eat lunch with, I would skip the cafeteria and just make do with a protein bar in the office. I suppose I didn’t have the will to go through the trouble of eating amidst a crowd.

Given the number of personnel residing within the Center, the scale of the cafeteria was not small. It was structured like a food court with several restaurants located within the building. With five floors in total and over twenty shops, it was quite excellent in terms of employee welfare.

The inside of the cafeteria was already a sea of people. Finding no gap to squeeze into, I searched for a spot and finally managed to snag an empty table on the third floor.

The problem was that, as someone with little experience in the cafeteria, I didn’t have a clue what to do. Whether the employees only shared the table and ate different menus or not, they vanished in an instant after placing their belongings down.

I was left standing awkwardly with Kang Juha, wondering what to do, when one of those who had disappeared first returned to the table, saying she had left her employee ID. It was Ms. Jin Da-eun, the one I had locked eyes with through the elevator door gap this morning.

In truth, no one would believe it, but if nothing else, I had memorized all the personal information of my team members. There was no particular place to use it, and even though we didn’t even exchange proper greetings in the morning, it was clear that I was their superior and the representative of the team.

“Oh, why aren’t you going?”

I don’t think the team members left us behind on purpose. Rather, the problem lay with this side, having lived in the Center without ever properly using the Center’s internal cafeteria.

“Actually… I’ve hardly ever been to the cafeteria.”

“Ah…! I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that. We usually just pick our own food individually… what would you like to eat?”

The food Juyoung and Director Shin were going to eat in the Director’s office today was tteokbokki. Specifically, instant tteokbokki with beef brisket as a topping.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to mention such a menu in front of a subordinate.

“Just Korean food is fine.”

“Not Korean food, today’s tteok—”

I hurriedly covered the mouth of Kang Juha, who knew today’s lunch menu.

“Is there a Korean restaurant?”

“Ah, yes. There’s a Korean restaurant. It’s on the second floor. You just need to go down one floor from here. Um, Esper Mr. Kang Juha is…”

“I will eat the same thing. You don’t need to worry. Ms. Da-eun, you should go before it’s too late as well.”

I could already see the line of people stretching in front of the restaurant kiosks. Since a backlog of orders might interfere with meal times, I sent Ms. Da-eun off in a hurry and turned back to look at Kang Juha.

“Let’s go.”

“I thought you said you wanted to eat tteokbokki.”

“…”

“Is it okay not to eat tteokbokki?”

I turned my gaze away, trying my best to act as if I hadn’t heard Kang Juha’s words. Thanks to the noisy interior of the cafeteria, feigning ignorance was easy.

After ordering a decent-looking set meal at the Korean restaurant on the second floor.

“I’m done. Mr. Kang Juha, you too…”

When I looked back, Kang Juha had disappeared somewhere, and a stranger was standing there.

After hurriedly yielding my spot and moving away from the crowd, I saw a place where people were gathered to a suspicious degree. Heading toward it with a feeling of “please, no,” I hoped that Kang Juha would not be at the center of it.

The Kim Kunwoo incident hadn’t been resolved yet, and Kang Juha was currently undergoing disciplinary action. The moment a pointless incident occurred here, Kang Juha would not only be at a disadvantage but could also face aggravated punishment.

It was fortunate that his mental instability and power control issues were taken into account to some extent regarding the Kim Kunwoo incident, but now Kang Juha’s physical condition had almost completely recovered. Furthermore, a report had been submitted stating that his power control had returned to a level similar to before, so there were no means left to protect him.

“Excuse me. I’m sorry.” While repeating words of apology and requests for passage, I pushed through the crowd and was finally able to move forward.

Nevertheless, the path I had to take was still long, and I eventually had to shout over the people.

“Mr. Kang Juha, I don’t know what it is, but calm down for now!”

I don’t know why, but simultaneously with those words, the area around me parted like the Red Sea as if a miracle of Moses had occurred.

“…”

And what appeared before me was Kang Juha, standing alone and blankly holding a tray with a bowl of tteokbokki on it.

So, in other words, not a single situation I should be worried about had happened, and this massive crowd of humans was gathered purely to look at Kang Juha—now?

A formless stir hit my ears like the sound of giant waves.

If I intended to listen, I could hear every single word being passed around from people’s mouths without missing a syllable. Furthermore, peering into the inner thoughts of everyone here was nothing for me.

However, I left all those things behind like white noise, approached Kang Juha, and snatched the tray.

“Let’s go to our seats.”

Kang Juha was faithfully following my words—the warning I had given several times that he must not cause any accidents for the time being since he was under disciplinary action.

I hadn’t even eaten anything, yet my stomach felt stifled.

“Did the people say something?”

“No.”

“Then did you say something, Mr. Kang Juha?”

“No.”

This was my oversight.

I was the type of person who felt drained of energy just by being in a crowded place, which is why I didn’t come to the cafeteria voluntarily. However, I failed to consider that the reasons Kang Juha hadn’t come to the cafeteria all this time were more complex and beyond his control.

And also Kang Juha’s position within this Center.

I hadn’t even thought about it because Juyoung and Director Shin, whom I’m usually with, as well as the team members I met a moment ago, didn’t show much of a reaction.

As we hurried back to the third floor, an unknown whispering followed behind Kang Juha and me the whole way.

“Ah, my food.”

Looking at the table where the team members were all seated with their settings complete, I only then remembered that the only thing I had brought back was Kang Juha’s tray. It was natural since I had found him immediately after receiving only the receipt.

“I’ll go get it.”

In the midst of this, even after being subjected to that, Kang Juha stood up from his seat saying he would go get the food.

“Stay still.”

I grabbed his shoulder and pressed him down.

I thought about it while going to fetch the tray I had left on the second floor. If I ever bring Kang Juha to the cafeteria again, I’m not human. If we really had to come, I planned to avoid lunchtime no matter what.

Even though Kang Juha had already gone up to the third floor, the people on the second floor were talking about him endlessly. The words that hadn’t even entered my ears because I was worried about Kang Juha were now heard clearly.

“It’s my first time seeing him in person.”

“I think it’s been a while since he returned, so why isn’t he active?”

“The one next to him was from the Security Bureau, right? Did you see the ID? I heard he was discarded by the Field Operations Division, is that true?”

“Seems so. He caused a scene at the Medical Bureau, so he’s wearing restraints on his neck now.”

“Honestly, no matter if it’s Kang Juha, isn’t he acting too much as he pleases? How could he use his powers on someone from the Medical Bureau?”

“And the disciplinary action is too weak. If it were us, we would’ve been sent to the stockade and stripped of our positions immediately. What is that if not special treatment?”

“The Center Director dotes on him.”

“If you’re S-class, you’re born with a diamond spoon in your mouth. Must be damn nice. Coasting through life. While some of us are working our asses off at the bottom.”

They were likely whispering so as not to be heard, but escaping the ears of an S-class Esper within the same space was practically impossible. If it was like this for me, what must it have been like for the far more sensitive Kang Juha?

A person’s world is narrow. This is because we each live only one person’s life. We do not know what kind of life someone else has lived or what things they have experienced. That ignorance sometimes invites misunderstanding and creates arrogance.

The pouring words were hard to distinguish as true or false. In a way, they could all become truth, or they could all become lies.

Although the subject in the words currently circulating through people’s mouths is Kang Juha, there was a time when that person was me.

The guy who was lucky enough to be born S-class. An unpleasant bastard. A guy coasting through life. Do I have to crawl under a kid younger than me? What makes him so great? Why do all the professors only like that bastard? Life is so damn unfair.

The food, which had grown cold because the owner hadn’t claimed it, had been pushed to the edge of the distribution counter on the tray. In the process of being pushed, the bottom of the soup bowl was wet, as if the soup had overflowed.

“Thank you.”

I offered a greeting toward the cooks who were moving busily without a moment to spare for this side, and picked up the tray.

On the way back, I struggled not to hear a single word.