PARADOX 29

The elevator ride home.

Hanseo, having pressed the button for the top floor, swallowed a sigh. Perhaps because so much had happened, the day felt exceptionally long.

His troubled gaze eventually landed on his casted hand. Since he was an Esper too, his recovery speed would be faster than an average person’s, even if he wasn’t part of the combat class. But the thought of having to endure the pain until it healed was already weighing heavily on his mind.

Ding.

The elevator opened right on time. Hanseo trudged toward the front door and habitually entered the passcode into the digital lock.

But something felt a bit different than usual…

‘Oh, right.’

Only after the door opened did he realize he wasn’t alone today.

Pretending he hadn’t forgotten, Hanseo swung the door wide open and invited the man behind him.

“Please, come in!”

“…”

Gu Jeyi looked at Hanseo with a peculiar expression before stepping inside.

‘What. Why is he looking at me like that?’

Hanseo, failing to recognize that the situation felt strange—as if the homeowner and the guest had been switched—simply tilted his head and followed Gu Jeyi.

“…”

Upon entering, Gu Jeyi paused as he surveyed the interior. The apartment, decorated like a model home, hadn’t changed much since before. The only major difference was the massive TV now sitting in the living room.

Even so, the very air felt strangely different. Only one person had moved in, yet it felt like a completely different space than before.

Gu Jeyi’s gaze shifted from the TV to a paper grocery bag sitting on the dining table.

“Ah, Mister Director Pyo told me about it, so I tried ordering from an online mart!”

Hanseo noticed and explained. Since standing still felt awkward, he rummaged through the bag for no reason and pulled out a bag of snacks.

“They say this is a new flavor; would you like to try—”

“I’m fine.”

Suit yourself. If you won’t eat it, I will. Your loss, not mine, right?

Hanseo grumbled inwardly as he tried to open the snacks.

Crinkle.

To be precise, he tried to open them.

Crinkle, crinkle, crinkle.

“Give it to me. I’ll do it.”

Seeing Hanseo struggling and wrestling with one hand, Gu Jeyi took the snacks.

Hanseo was a bit surprised.

‘Oh? What… is he really going to wait on me?’

Until a moment ago, he had been annoyed at the situation where he’d ended up with a broken hand for nothing, but strangely, it no longer felt like a waste. No, rather, wasn’t it a total win? A chance to boss around the Gu Jeyi using just one hand!

He couldn’t let this opportunity slip by. Hanseo immediately turned the corners of his mouth down into a pout.

“I’m sorry. My hand still hurts…”

Of course, the painkiller he had taken only an hour ago was performing its role perfectly. But when an injured person says they’re in pain, who else can say anything? Sure enough, Gu Jeyi didn’t bother to question it.

“No.”

“But it’s just so… to ask you, hyung, to do something like opening snacks…”

‘…is fun!’

“…I feel so sorry.”

Gu Jeyi didn’t reply further and tore the snack bag open in one go.

And then…

POP!

With a bursting sound, the small snacks scattered into the air.

“…”

“…”

What just happened?

Hanseo, blinking with a vacant expression, reflexively leaned down to pick up the snacks. However, before he could pick up even one, the snacks floated up to Hanseo’s eye level.

“I’ll clean it up.”

As the low words ended, all the snacks that had fallen on the floor simultaneously rose into the air. It didn’t take long for every tiny crumb to head straight for the trash can. It was Gu Jeyi’s ability.

Hanseo’s face, which had soured at the sight of wasting perfectly good snacks, was quickly filled with interest.

There are many Espers with telekinesis other than Gu Jeyi, but controlling one’s ability with this much delicacy is a matter of pure talent.

But why did he fail to control his strength just now?

Combat-class Espers like Gu Jeyi were fundamentally strong in terms of physical muscle. Because of that, those who had recently awakened often caused accidents like breaking things. However, there was no way Gu Jeyi, who had lived as an Esper since he was 5, would make such a mistake.

Hanseo’s doubts faded away as Gu Jeyi silently pulled out a new bag of snacks. He was momentarily tense, fearing it might burst again, but this time the bag was torn open cleanly without any incident.

Gu Jeyi handed the opened snacks to Hanseo. His attitude looked as composed as if nothing had happened just moments ago.

“…Wow, thank you.”

Hanseo took a snack and put it in his mouth as if entranced. Come to think of it, he was hungry because he’d only had a drink for lunch and hadn’t eaten anything else.

Crunch. Crunch.

As the sound of eating thick potato chips continued incessantly, Gu Jeyi subtly moved away from Hanseo. It seemed the sound was getting on his nerves.

‘Sensitive, aren’t we?’

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Hanseo intentionally began to chew even louder. Gu Jeyi glanced at him, but Hanseo pretended not to feel the gaze and focused only on eating.

To be honest, Hanseo had a lot of pent-up feelings toward Gu Jeyi. Until now, he’d had to bury them due to the circumstances, but after breaking his hand today because of Gu Jeyi, he felt those old, stale emotions resurfacing.

‘Damn bastard.’

CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH!

“…”

Honestly, he thought Gu Jeyi might tell him to eat quietly by now, but perhaps because of his guilt, he didn’t make a single comment. If it had been his past life, Jeyi would have snatched the bag away and thrown it out immediately.

The Gu Jeyi of his past life was merciless to Baekgu. Of course, his current attitude could hardly be called “kind,” but to Hanseo, who had seen the “truly” cold Gu Jeyi, even this much of a difference felt enormous.

Hanseo finished the bag in an instant and pulled out another. Then, he stopped pretending not to notice the lingering gaze and met it. He then blinked innocently.

“Would you like one?”

It was a question meant to imply, ‘Are you staring because you want to eat this?’ though he knew that wasn’t the case.

Gu Jeyi took the snacks Hanseo was holding, tore the bag open, and handed it back.

“No.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m fine.”

The same answer as before came back.

Only then did a thought occur to him that something was a bit off.

‘Really? Not hungry?’

Gu Jeyi had just come out after being in a Gate for a week. The food one could eat inside a Gate was, at best, dry rations, and since he had used his abilities extensively, it was only right for an Esper to be starving enough for their stomach to be sticking to their back. If it were Hanseo, the leather sofa in the living room would be looking like a steak right about now.

Yet Gu Jeyi looked perfectly fine.

‘Is that… even possible?’

Then again, Gu Jeyi was different from ordinary Espers. Just like Hanseo. Just as Hanseo was an Esper who didn’t need Guiding, perhaps Gu Jeyi didn’t get hungry even after using his powers.

He was thinking about that while eating his snacks when Gu Jeyi, seemingly unable to stand the noise any longer, went into the bathroom saying he was going to wash up.

‘I actually drove Gu Jeyi away!’

Hanseo celebrated his unexpected victory internally and plopped down on the sofa.

When he habitually turned on the TV, news regarding the dungeon Gu Jeyi had been clearing for the past week came on at just the right time.

A young man, who appeared to be a team member who had entered the Gate with Gu Jeyi, was giving a briefing; it was clear he was incredibly nervous, as if this were his first time.

Usually, Espers clear Gates by forming teams. Gu Jeyi also entered Gates as a team unless it was a special case, and this time was no different.

Hanseo stared intently at the face of the man giving the briefing.

‘Was there a guy like that?’

Hanseo roughly knew Gu Jeyi’s team members. While not as famous as Gu Jeyi, they appeared on TV quite often, and they had assisted Gu Jeyi when he was chasing Hanseo.

But that man was a face he’d never seen before.

‘Which means…’

The thought didn’t last long. It wasn’t important to Hanseo whether that man lived or died.

“Mister Yeo Hanseo, it’s best if you go in and sleep.”

“Mm…”

At the low voice, he opened his eyes to see Gu Jeyi, who had taken off his combat suit and was wearing comfortable clothes. It seemed he’d drifted off while watching TV.

Hanseo, intoxicated by sleep, blinked blankly. He wanted to go back to sleep immediately, but he felt sticky because he’d broken a sweat running after hearing the news about Gu Jeyi earlier.

Perhaps because he was raised in a research institute where the concept of hygiene was strict, Hanseo placed importance on being clean.

“Yes, well, I’ll wash up then…”

Hanseo realized the problem as soon as he said that.

And it seemed Gu Jeyi realized it too.

Both of their gazes simultaneously turned toward the casted arm.

After a moment, Gu Jeyi spoke.

“I will help you.”