PARADOX 19

It was deep into the night. The inside of the house, where the faint moonlight was the only presence, was so dark that the shapes of objects could not be properly discerned.

In the pitch-black darkness, only a thundering sound echoed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hanseo glared at the front door.

Strangely, he wasn’t afraid. The situation, which had been nothing but terrifying when imagined, actually made his mind calm once it became reality.

However, a question arose.

‘How did the Cult Leader find me?’

Did the investigator catch on to me using my abilities? Or was there another reason?

No, it might not have been a mistake on his part. There were many followers around the Cult Leader with bizarre and mysterious abilities. It was possible it was one of their powers. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t the important issue in this current situation.

The only saving grace was that Hanseo knew the Cult Leader quite well. Since the man had a heavy backside and wasn’t the type to personally grace such menial tasks with his presence, the one knocking on that door wouldn’t be the Cult Leader. If that were the case, there was a chance.

A chance to escape.

‘Fighting is out of the question.’

Hanseo knew himself well. Even if the opponent weren’t an Esper but just a strong ordinary person, he didn’t exactly have the confidence to win. But if it wasn’t fighting but running away, he could do it.

Hanseo approached the only window and looked down. Even for the 3rd floor, it was quite high.

‘If I happen to fall wrong…’

Bang!

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

The front door shook as if it would break at a sound louder than before. When he looked back with a start, the doorknob was moving wildly. It looked like it would fall off soon.

Hanseo steadied his heart.

‘Let’s not think useless thoughts.’

Even if something broke, it was better than being caught by the Cult Leader.

When he even opened the screen, there was now nothing blocking the window.

Just as Hanseo took a stance to jump.

Fling!

Suddenly, the door opened.

‘Damn it.’

Hanseo grit his teeth and tried to jump.

However, his limbs would not move, as if they had frozen.

‘Psychokinesis.’

The moment he realized that fact, Hanseo turned his head and stared at the intruder. It was the moment a faint red light flickered in his hazel eyes.

“Hanseo-ya!”

“…Park Jintae?”

At the unexpected identity, Hanseo stopped the activation of his ability. A look of bewilderment appeared over his hardened face. Simultaneously, the intangible force holding Hanseo also vanished.

“Thank goodness! You’re safe!”

Park Jintae reached out and pulled Hanseo into an embrace. Since the only way to avoid it was to fall out the window, he was forced into the hug, but he immediately pushed the man away.

Hanseo stepped away from the window and stood at a spot where he could bolt for the exit at any time. He still hadn’t let down his guard.

The Cult Leader coveted high-ranking Espers and didn’t hesitate to make them his own if given the chance. That was no exception even for Espers belonging to the Center.

There was no expression to speak of on Hanseo’s face as he looked at Park Jintae. Perhaps sensing the strangeness in that appearance, Park Jintae faltered.

“Hanseo-ya?”

“Are you with the Muhan Ieum Church?”

Muhan Ieum Church. That was the name of the pseudo-religion Hanseo had once been a part of. Looking at his behavior, he thought the possibility was quite likely, but Park Jintae’s reaction was different from Hanseo’s expectation.

“Huh? Muhan…? What?”

In Park Jintae’s face as he asked back in confusion, not even a hint of the fluster of someone who had been caught hiding something could be seen.

The followers of the Muhan Ieum Church did not deny the religion they believed in unless it was a special situation. Rather, it was common for them to proudly put it forward. If Park Jintae truly were a follower of the Cult Leader, he would have joyfully revealed his identity here instead of denying it.

Park Jintae is not with the Muhan Ieum Church.

Once he was certain of that fact, he no longer felt like being wary of him. He was simply dumbfounded.

“More importantly, Hanseo, did you just use informal speech with me?”

What is actually up with this jerk? Hanseo crossed his arms and looked at Park Jintae with absurdity.

“Is that what’s important right now? What do you think you’re doing?”

“…You weren’t getting in touch, Hanseo.”

“What?”

“I kept waiting for you to contact me after you left like that yesterday. But you didn’t. I waited and waited, and when I couldn’t take it anymore and called, it said your phone was turned off. So I came running because I thought something had happened to you.”

Hanseo glanced at his phone lying carelessly next to the blankets. Since he hadn’t charged it once since yesterday, it was bound to turn off while he slept. But that wasn’t a sufficient reason for this situation.

“So you broke the door and came in? Even monitoring me.”

“I’m sorry about breaking the door. I’ll pay you back. No, how about moving to a different place entirely? I’ve already found a new house for us to live in anyway.”

Park Jintae took a glance around the inside of Hanseo’s house. He had a nonchalant face that didn’t look like someone who had just committed a home invasion.

“You’ll like our newlyweds’ home, too. It’s incomparably better than here. This neighborhood doesn’t suit you. The state of the neighborhood is one thing, but the security is especially zero. Look, even with this much of an uproar, no one is coming out to check. At this rate, wouldn’t no one know even if a neighbor disappeared?”

Looking at Park Jintae, who said such spine-chilling things so casually, Hanseo let out a sigh. After realizing he wasn’t part of the Muhan Ieum Church, he didn’t even feel like being on guard anymore.

“You were just a regular madman.”

“Hanseo, are you talking to me right now?”

“Then who else is here.”

Having heard these things, he didn’t feel like pretending to be nice anymore either. Park Jintae’s hands even trembled as if he were shocked by Hanseo’s changed way of speaking.

“Why is your way of talking… Don’t tell me you were just acting all this time because you wanted to look demure to me?”

“…”

“Even so, you shouldn’t speak that way to your husband-to-be. Well, Hanseo, since you have no one around to teach you manners, it’s possible you wouldn’t know. It’s okay. I’ll teach you properly from now on.”

Ignoring Park Jintae who was talking nonsense, Hanseo pondered what kind of action ordinary people would take in this situation. Would they normally report it? However, his phone was dead, and even if it weren’t, it didn’t seem like Park Jintae would wait until he finished reporting it. Furthermore, it would be nonsensical to suppress an A-class Esper with brute force.

In the meantime, whatever he thought about, Park Jintae recovered from the shock and returned with a clean face. Park Jintae, who strode toward Hanseo, smiled.

“I originally intended to tell you a bit later. But after you left like that yesterday, I thought about it for a long time. What I should do with you…”

Park Jintae’s eyes glistened strangely.

“Let’s get married, Hanseo-ya.”

“…”

“Become my bride. Buy whatever you want, have whatever you want. You don’t need to stay in a doghouse like this anymore.”

Hanseo suddenly recalled the numerous proposal scenes he had seen in dramas. Balloons, candles, cakes, and such.

‘As expected, drama and reality are different.’

Hanseo stared up at Park Jintae. Park Jintae didn’t know it, but he was currently within Hanseo’s range. If he put his mind to it, it was an easy task to turn the man’s brain upside down and make him an imbecile.

Hanseo had done a lot of those things. …But he had never once liked doing it.

Hanseo didn’t want to live like his past life anymore. Every choice his past self had made was a mess and horrific. So, in this life, he intended to try making the exact opposite choices.

“Hey, I’ll let it slide this once, so just go.”

Let’s send him off first and then report it. That would be a normal way to handle it.

The problem was that Park Jintae didn’t budge. Then again, if he were the type to leave just because he was told to, he wouldn’t be here doing this in the first place. Hanseo placed a hand on his forehead and reasoned with him quietly.

“I can’t marry you. I have someone else I’m going to marry.”

“Don’t tell me it’s Gu Jeyi?”

He was surprised because an unexpectedly accurate answer popped out. Seeing Hanseo’s reaction, Park Jintae’s face distorted grotesquely.

“This is why it won’t do. You know so little, Hanseo, that I was sure you’d fall for anyone if they looked polished on the outside. Even though I personally warned you. Still, what can I do but understand? It can’t be helped that you’re stupid since you didn’t even graduate from elementary school.”

Even that was an attack with zero impact on Hanseo, who had never even attended. He hadn’t really cared about his academic background either. Hanseo looked up at Park Jintae, who was now close enough to be about a span away. It wasn’t hard to read the emotions displayed plainly on Park Jintae’s face.

Anger and jealousy.

Only then did he start to understand this whole situation. The spark had started in Park Jintae’s heart from the moment Gu Jeyi was mentioned at the restaurant—no, from the moment he encountered Gu Jeyi in the parking lot. Acting so impulsively was also because of that. Since he knew the fact that Yeo Hanseo had no proper protector, there would have been no reason to hesitate.

“You’ve been pretending to be so worried about me for a while now, but monitoring me was too much. Do you know how startled I was because of you?”

“Monitoring? I never did that.”

“Don’t lie at this point. I know all about you parking a car in front of my house and watching yesterday.”

“Hanseo-ya, why would I tell a lie like that?”

Park Jintae shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to deny it, but the man’s words also made sense. Now that he had revealed everything, there was no reason for Park Jintae to go out of his way to lie and say he hadn’t.

Then who on earth was that?

“There’s someone else, then.”

At that moment, a hot hand caressed Hanseo’s cheek.

“You really are popular, Hanseo. Well, your appearance is too noticeable. Even if you weren’t a Guide, everyone would have been eyeing you.”

At the gaze that seemed to pick him apart from head to toe, he felt a disgust like a bug crawling on him.

“So, let’s stay home for a while even after we get married. We can’t have you getting into trouble by going out for no reason.”

“I told you I’m not marrying you.”

Park Jintae stared at Hanseo with eyes that had no light. The face that had been expressionless like a blank sheet soon found a smile.

“Hanseo, you don’t know what’s good for you. You’ll find out later that I was right. Well, let’s not stay here; let’s go to my house first and think about it slowly.”

In the end, it meant he would drag Hanseo away somehow and confine him. Seeing as he said he prepared a house in advance, he likely planned this from a long time ago.

Hanseo slowly stepped backward. Park Jintae didn’t particularly catch the retreating Hanseo. He only stared with a relaxed face, as if looking at prey he had already caught.

Just as expected, the moment he tried to run for the entrance, his body stopped with a rattle.

“This is why I’m worried. Did you think you could escape even after being caught once?”

Park Jintae walked over leisurely. Finally standing in front of Hanseo, surprise appeared on his face.

“Surprisingly, you aren’t the fearful type, Hanseo… To have that kind of expression even in this situation. Don’t tell me you thought someone would help you?”

Of course, he had never thought such a thing. To begin with, trying to run away wasn’t for Hanseo himself.

‘Does it end up like this after all.’

Their gazes met. As if a spark were blooming, a red light began to swirl in Hanseo’s pupils.

Park Jintae stared at the increasingly vivid red light as if possessed. An Esper’s instinct warned him of danger, but strangely, he couldn’t take his eyes away.

‘Ah, this is…’

Before Park Jintae could even complete his thought, his body tilted.

Flop.

“…?”

Hanseo blinked as he looked at Park Jintae, who had collapsed at his feet.

‘What.’

I haven’t even done anything yet?