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by twenty“The person I was talking to was indeed a recruit Esper from the Alpha Team.”
So, in the end, I had no choice but to tell him the truth.
“Yes.”
“Usually, there are two of them. Esper Kim Minjae and Esper Ko Sunghyun. I could see that the other Alpha Team members were openly hostile toward you, Mr. Kang Juha, but those two weren’t. So, I became a little friendly with them with the intention of gaining information or a sense of the internal atmosphere of the Alpha Team.”
“…I understand for now. And?”
“Normally, Esper Kim Minjae watches your training, Mr. Kang Juha.”
“Yes.”
“Esper Ko Sunghyun is friends with Esper Kim Minjae, so he’s just in the waiting room with him… Yes, that’s all. Since we were just in the same space, exchanging a few words of conversation is the extent of it.”
So, please, can’t we just stop the interrogation here? For the sake of my human rights?
“What were those few words of conversation?”
However, Kang Juha seemed determined to find out no matter what.
Ah, if I don’t tell him this, I feel like he’ll be interrogating me right against my ear until I fall asleep tonight… If it’s a beating I have to take anyway, maybe it’s better to get it over with now.
“It seems he met a guide who has frequently taken care of me when I went to the Guiding Bureau. Because of something that guide said about me, he asked me something to confirm…”
“Yes.”
Do I really say this? With my own mouth? The urge to plead for death rose to the tip of my throat, but seeing Kang Juha’s obsession-filled gaze, I thought it would be better to just say it. First, a deep breath.
Inhale, exhale…
“It was whether it’s true that there is an ‘Ex-Wife Club’ for me within the Guiding Bureau.”
I spat it out like rapid-fire without even taking a breath. Better to get the punishment over with quickly. I just closed my eyes tight and went for it. And Kang Juha, upon hearing that… literally broke down.
“Ex… Wife Club? A club for your ex-wives, Teacher?”
“Yes.”
Ah, I want to faint.
“Teacher, are you divorced? And several times at that…? When? Why? So, is that why you have no interest because you’ve been married too many times?”
“No, does that even make sense? Do I look like that kind of person to you?”
“Yes.”
Normally, shouldn’t one say no here? Aren’t you answering ‘yes’ a bit too confidently right now?
“…Are you serious?”
“Because there’s no one who wouldn’t like you, Teacher. But then, you have a weak heart, so you’re constantly letting people in and being kind.”
“I am?”
I was so flustered that I blurted out “I am?” using a less formal “I” instead of my usual professional one. If Juyoung had been here, he would have likely screamed for at least 30 seconds at the kind of things Kang Juha was saying without even blinking an eye.
“Yes. That’s how it is.”
“I’m grateful you see me that way. But that’s the first time in my life I’ve heard such a thing. Truly the first.”
“…Liar.”
“I’m not lying, I swear!”
“So, the ex-wives… I’m sorry. This is so shocking that the words aren’t coming out right. You’re saying there are enough of them… to form a club?”
“I’m telling you, that’s not it…”
By now, I was practically crying as I spoke. But Kang Juha already had a face turned pale as if in a panic and was looking at me with vacant eyes. It was truly a maddening situation.
Whew, let’s stay calm.
After exhaling a massive breath at the hopeless situation, I grabbed both of Kang Juha’s cheeks with my hands.
“I am single. My marriage relationship certificate is clean. If I have an ‘Ex-Wife Club,’ then you, Mr. Kang Juha, have an ‘Ex-Girlfriend Club.'”
“…I do?”
This time, a reaction identical to mine popped out of Kang Juha. He looked bewildered and somehow wronged.
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible. I’ve never even dated anyone?”
Wait, you’ve never dated but you’ve had your first kiss? What a precocious…
No. That’s not what’s important right now.
I barely caught my mind, which was trying to drift off in a random direction.
“Exactly. It’s the same for me. The guides are just playing a prank. Since neither of us takes on a pair guide and we have no interest in people, they say that even if we got lovers, we’d break up right away.”
“Ah.”
“Well, for you, Mr. Kang Juha, they say it’s a simple breakup. For me, it’s divorce. They say I’m the man they want to divorce…”
Every time I said this, Yu Seonjae would throw a fit saying that wasn’t it, but if it’s not that, then what is it? Didn’t you say you wanted to divorce me? Not even get married.
“That’s strange… I want to marry you, Teacher.”
“Now, do you understand? After hearing that story, that was all he asked me about.”
“What about last time?”
“We talked about how the tteokbokki at the center cafeteria is tasteless.”
“…And before that?”
“Apparently there’s a cat that lives in the Guiding Bureau building. He asked for its name, but I didn’t know, so I said I didn’t. Then he said he found out and told me. That it’s ‘Captain.'”
I honestly confessed everything. Now that even things like the Ex-Wife Club had been found out, there was nothing to hesitate about. When I tilted my chin up as if boldly telling him to ask more, Kang Juha’s expression finally softened.
“Are all your curiosities resolved?”
“Yes. Still… I feel sad when you talk to other Espers when I’m not around.”
“But you also hate it when I talk to other guides, Mr. Kang Juha.”
“Of course.”
“Then… who am I supposed to talk to?”
No Espers. Guides are out of the question, obviously. This is—it’s not like he’s trying to isolate me alone forever.
Of course, I’ve lived that way by my own choice until now, but someone forcibly preventing it was a different story.
“Me.”
“Pardon?”
“Only talk to me. Is that not allowed?”
Do you think it is?
“There’s something you’re forgetting, Mr. Kang Juha: I am an office worker.”
“…”
That dissatisfied expression again. When Kang Juha makes that face, it means things aren’t going his way, but he can’t find anything logical to say in rebuttal.
“I can’t not talk to people. Instead, as you said, if you wish, I will consider a way to speak to you during training.”
“Yes. I want that.”
“Then, within limits that aren’t a distraction…”
“You can distract me, though.”
“…”
“You’re allowed to do that, Teacher.”
“What are you going to do if your concentration breaks and you get hurt because of that? I don’t want that.”
“If my skills were at the level where my concentration broke that easily, I wouldn’t be in this position.”
“…I suppose so.”
Hmm, that makes sense.
They said that in recent training scenarios, besides monsters that move according to set routines, there are monsters that have learned via AI and show different patterns and movements every time the scenario is run.
In such a situation, I was worried that if Kang Juha got distracted trying to focus on my voice echoing grandly like the voice of a god within the training grounds, he might get hit by an AI’s surprise attack…
Come to think of it, in the actual gates that Kang Juha frequented like his own home, there are far more things to worry about than in a training ground, and if one were to let their guard down for even a moment, their head would be taken right then and there. And since Kang Juha has survived safely until now—that’s proof of how strong he is.
“Then I won’t worry and will truly say whatever comes to mind.”
“Yes! And please hug me.”
“Why that again?”
“I cleared the training. Please tell me I was admirable.”
It feels like he’s only getting more spoiled as time goes on, but it’s not a particularly difficult task. Since it’s something I can get over with right now.
“Spread your arms.”
“Yes.”
As soon as Kang Juha’s two arms spread out to his sides, I hugged him and patted his back.
“Good job.”
It was a short-lived hug, but Kang Juha’s cheeks twitched as if he were satisfied. Soon, unable to hold it back, a smile spread across his face.
“I think you must be hungry, so let’s head out quickly. I have something to tell you on the way.”
“Yes.”
Kang Juha left, saying he would go change his clothes, and I stood frozen awkwardly in that spot.
It seems it would be better not to hug Kang Juha when he’s wearing his training suit. It’s really no different from hugging someone naked.
I hugged him while pretending to be unfazed because I thought I’d look like an even stranger person if I hesitated or acted embarrassed for no reason, but from the touching chests to the waist I held—there wasn’t a single spot that didn’t feel unfamiliar.
“…Can a person’s chest really be that firm?”
“I told you earlier that I went to take a business call. That was a call related to you, Mr. Kang Juha, and it seems a mission has been assigned.”
“Mhm. Yes. When is it?”
Kang Juha nodded calmly as if it were a matter of course. I was the one who was shocked by that reaction.
“…Is that all?”
“Pardon?”
“No, I mean the Field Operations Department just set a mission as they pleased. Without even consulting you, Mr. Kang Juha.”
“Yes.”
“…”
“Isn’t it usually like that?”
“Pardon?”
“When receiving a mission, I’ve never once been consulted.”
“…”
Just what is wrong with the Field Operations Department? I had wondered, ‘No matter how much they looked down on me, would they really ignore someone from another department this openly?’ But it was clear they had just done it without any hesitation or thought, simply because it was the way they had habitually handled things.
“So when is it?”
“In two weeks. They said the exact date and details are scheduled to be delivered this afternoon.”
After hearing my answer, Kang Juha thought for a moment and then spoke.
“Then our vacation. Can we use it before then?”
“Normally it’s not handled this way, but it is possible.”
Well, if someone calls it an abuse of power I’d have no excuse, but no one would say anything to me even if I handled it that way. Director Shin was the kind of person who would welcome it with open arms even if I said I was taking annual leave starting today.
“Then let’s do that. Because I don’t think I’ll be able to use it after the mission starts.”
It sounded as though he meant missions would keep falling on him like this in the future as well.
“All right. Let’s do that.”
Then there was no reason to refuse. Since this might be Kang Juha’s last vacation.
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