IMPRINT 51

As soon as he settled onto the bed, Kang Juha fell asleep like someone who had barely stayed awake until then. In contrast, while looking after him, all my sleep had vanished, and I thought I was doomed to stay awake…

So why is it morning when I open my eyes?

The familiar sound of an alarm woke me up. The source was the watch on my wrist. I tried to lift my hand to turn off the alarm, but for some reason, my body felt heavily weighed down, making me wonder if this is how fatigue hits as you get older…

“…”

Didn’t we definitely agree to just hold hands and sleep?

To be honest, even holding hands, I debated hundreds of times halfway through whether to pull away because my palms were getting sweaty. Then, it seemed I fell asleep without even realizing it. But still, this wasn’t part of our agreement.

To think that what unfolded before my eyes wasn’t the scenery of my room, but Kang Juha’s chest.

For a moment, I wondered if I hadn’t fully woken up from a dream, but the alarm was still ringing loudly on my wrist. Kang Juha, who couldn’t possibly miss this alarm sound with the hearing abilities of an S-class Esper, seemed to have departed on a proper journey to a far-off dreamland.

Just how long had we been like this? Because Kang Juha’s burning body heat had transferred directly to me, my body had also become hot.

Setting aside getting away for a moment, I tried to lift my hand again to at least turn off the alarm. However, Kang Juha’s heavy and solid forearm was pressing down on my shoulder, so it wasn’t easy.

This is a person’s arm and not iron, right?

It wasn’t just resting there; he was hugging me tightly, like a child clutching a teddy bear.

He didn’t sleep like this because he actually thought I would run off somewhere, right…?

I wiggled my body and moved downward. By the time Kang Juha’s forearm was touching near my neck instead of my shoulder, I managed to lift my arm and firmly pressed the small button on the side of the watch. The noisy alarm sound cut off abruptly.

“Whew…”

I finally let out a sigh and turned my body to look toward the window. Outside, visible through the gaps in the blackout curtains, it was still pitch black. Time-wise it was morning, but it seemed the sun wouldn’t rise today. It was no surprise since the rain had been pouring like that since dawn.

I hate going to work even more on days like this.

Making a pointless excuse despite hating going to work every day anyway, I took Kang Juha’s hand and lifted it up. Whether he realized his hand was being held even while sleeping, he held my hand back… Why is this so natural?

Looking at the information or records regarding the past Kang Juha, he was closer to hating people than liking them. Seeing Kang Juha lately, he just seemed like a stray cat that had become accustomed to human touch.

Sacrificing one hand to Kang Juha and taking advantage of the moment his arm was briefly lifted, I quickly rolled my body and escaped from his embrace. Since the windows weren’t open, the air inside the house must be stuffy, yet his body possessed so much heat that I felt cool the moment I got out.

I opened the bathroom door to wash my body, which was also soaked in sweat due to the heat, but then returned to the bedroom with a light sigh to find my phone.

Looking through the contacts, which only had a few names written, I called Park Juyoung.

—What is it? This early in the morning.

“I need to work from home today.”

—Yes? So suddenly?

“Yeah. Esper Kang Juha’s condition isn’t very good.”

I couldn’t force Kang Juha along on the commute to work. Furthermore, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone in the house since there would be no one to handle it if a rampage or another emergency occurred, so I thought staying with him would be better for my peace of mind.

—Ah… well then. It can’t be helped. I’ll process it as working from home. I’ll relay the tasks you need to handle today as soon as I get to the office.

“Alright.”

—Yes.

Just as my conscience was about to hurt slightly over the morning-of notification for working from home, the voice coming through the phone sounded strangely excited, so I decided to throw my guilt far away.

I stared blankly at the phone screen after the call ended before I could say anything more, let out a hollow laugh, and headed back to the bathroom.

༘⋆

I sat on the living room floor and looked at documents while leaning my back against the sofa. Fortunately, what I had to do today was check the reports submitted by the team members, so it wasn’t that complicated.

Time passed steadily every time I glanced at the clock, but the scenery outside the window was consistently ashen. And it seemed Kang Juha hadn’t woken up yet…

Click.

As soon as I had that thought, I heard the sound of the bedroom door opening. Speak of the devil. Strictly speaking, I’m the telepath, but it felt as if Kang Juha had read all my inner thoughts.

Still, thinking he would wash up and do his own thing as expected, I turned my gaze back to the report.

“Uh…, huh?”

Kang Juha, who had approached without a sound or sign, suddenly hugged my neck as I sat there. Then, he buried his face in my shoulder.

Since he was mumbling something, I pushed him away as if supporting his forehead with one hand, and a hazy face came into view.

“I didn’t hear what you said.”

“Teacher appeared in my dream. You were just stripping off my clothes…”

I don’t think that was a dream.

“It’s a nonsense dream.”

Well, there’s no need for him to know every single fact, is there?

I unwound Kang Juha’s arms that were wrapped around my neck. Only then did he notice the papers in my hand and furrowed his brows.

“But why are you doing this here? Teacher, you have to go to work…”

“I’ve already started work.”

“Yes?”

“I’m working from home today. Right now it’s not morning, it’s lunch. It’ll be twelve o’clock soon.”

“Ah…”

Even though we were in the same center, I was an office worker doing a 9-to-6, and Kang Juha belonged to the side that had no clear working hours. Since there were no missions officially assigned to Kang Juha yet, whether he went to work or trained was up to his heart.

Of course, there was a principle that training reports had to be submitted every month and at least 52 hours of training per month had to be done, but that too was currently not applicable to Kang Juha.

Come to think of it, I feel a bit envious… No. Envious of what? Seong Yihyeon, you’ve lost your mind.

Considering the pain Kang Juha must have actually experienced, being envious of this meant I wasn’t even a human being. I quickly grabbed hold of my drifting sanity.

It was clear that the aftermath of last night still remained with me as well. No matter if I’m an Esper, working after staying up all night was too much. Moreover, last night I had been in a state of tension the whole time, fearing something might happen to Kang Juha.

“Go wash up before we eat lunch. You must have sweated a lot.”

“Yes.”

Kang Juha disappeared into the bathroom after answering obediently.

He looks like he wouldn’t listen to a word anyone says, but the fact that he carries out tasks without a word of complaint when actually told to do something felt strangely out of place once again. I wondered if that was why I felt like paying more attention and taking care of him for no reason.

I leisurely stretched and stood up from my spot. Having worked while leaning only against the sofa without even a chair, I could feel my waist screaming.

I recalled the words of Director Shin, who said you have to take good care of your waist while you’re young so you don’t suffer when you’re old. There’s a saying she always carried around like a curse: “Waist surgery costs 20 million won.”

…But do Espers get herniated discs too?

Leaving the fundamental question behind, I headed to the kitchen. Since I was at the residence instead of the office today, I intended to make lunch myself.

Actually, seeing Kang Juha’s condition, I thought that regular meals or the delivery food we usually eat would be too much anyway, so I thought about making and feeding him porridge.

To be honest, porridge? Of course, I’ve never made it before.

Because I voluntarily erased most of my memories from when I was young—that is, before entering the center—nothing remains properly, but even back then, if I was sick, I think I just drank a cup of lukewarm water and that was it.

Added to that, a faint memory remained of a day when I went out to the living room like a rat at night while all my family was asleep, shoved painkillers with an unknown expiration date from the drawer into my empty stomach, and waited for sleep that wouldn’t come while clutching my aching stomach.

It was probably not long after my parents’ funeral. Because I wanted to cherish the memories of my parents for as long as possible, I had kept the memories for a while after the two of them passed away.

And after becoming an Esper, naturally, I had never been sick. When my condition was bad, it was resolved by getting a guiding injection, and if even that wasn’t enough, I would become fine in no time if I went to the Guiding Bureau and received guiding.

Realizing this fact anew, I thought there were indeed advantages to living as an Esper.