As he left the office, Jay, who had been waiting in front, approached, so Raon quickly raised his hand to convey that he was okay.
Walking down the hallway with slow steps, Bbobbo circled around Raon without hurrying.
At first, Raon had appeared with him, but recently when Bbobbo, who had been accompanying Jaehwi, appeared with Raon again, countless indescribable emotions could be seen clearly settling on the employees’ expressions. The Gem Kitten, which was known to be hard to see even in dungeons and impossible to tame, was friendly only to exactly two people.
Sometimes wandering around by himself as if the entire center were his space, sometimes being with Hyukjin, Bbobbo didn’t allow anyone’s touch. But now, seemingly in a good mood, he even made cute sounds and brushed against Raon’s body, naturally drawing more people’s gazes.
“Where are you going?”
The employees who heard not only the Gem Kitten surprisingly changing colors moment by moment and acting cute, but also Raon, known for always being expressionless, speaking affectionately with a small smile, had their fingertips quickly running over their cell phones.
“Chwi chwi.”
When Bbobbo, who had been flying a bit ahead as if guiding the way, looked back, Raon stopped his steps for a moment. A vague thought came to him that if he followed Bbobbo, wouldn’t he go to where Jaehwi was now? Bbobbo, who came close to him and circled once above his head, seemed to be trying to leave the main building, not toward the training room where Jaehwi always was, nor where the guiding rooms were located.
He walked down the hallway a bit and took the elevator. And just from crossing the lobby heading to the annex, he already felt fatigue along with his upper body throbbing.
When Bbobbo, who had flown away with a whoosh and returned, tilted his head and then flapped while biting his collar as if saying let’s hurry, Raon carefully took a deep breath in and out.
When Jay, who had been constantly staying by his side, narrowed the distance, Raon shook his head. There was no reason to show people his poor condition and become fodder for gossip. Raon, who firmly closed his upper body with the loosely worn cardigan and carefully crossed his arms, followed Jay and Bbobbo as they walked.
“Not even the annex?”
Bbobbo, who had gone out to the outdoor garden rather than the corridor connecting the main building to the annex, only then flew up quickly into the sky as if satisfied and then flew to Raon’s side. He was so fast and aggressive that Jay, who was beside him, was surprised enough to block Raon’s front.
But as if asking ‘you think I can’t control that much?’, Bbobbo made a “Chwik!” sound toward Jay and gently landed on Raon’s shoulder. Although he’d commuted to the center for several years, this was the first time he’d actually walked through the wide garden created for welfare purposes.
Raon, who always used the underground parking lot and mostly spent his time only in the main building within the center, smiled without realizing it as the cool breeze passed through between his hair strands.
Sometimes coming out like this is nice too.
The sky he’d seen through windows indoors was clearer, higher, and a more beautiful color.
“I don’t know what I was so absorbed in that I lived without properly seeing even things like this.”
He’d come out following Bbobbo, but before he knew it, Raon was enjoying the well-arranged space. Bbobbo, who had led him to the garden, had disappeared somewhere—neither his form visible nor his sounds audible—but Raon didn’t stop his walk. And only when he arrived in front of a person sitting leaning against a bench with their body completely relaxed could he clearly know why he’d come to this place.
He was looking at the sky with his head tilted back as far as possible, his eyes comfortably closed. The hair of the person wrapped in greenery swayed and moved with the wind, and the hem of his clothes fluttered lightly. At the appearance that seemed to be very comfortably fallen into a deep sleep, Raon couldn’t readily move.
Raon examined him one by one with slow eyes. So this is how you look. Yes. You looked like this. Though he blended as one with nature, loneliness oozed profusely from Jaehwi. After hesitating for a moment, Raon took out his cell phone, trying his best not to make any sound.
He’d missed him. And he kept thinking about it. Jaehwi and himself. Us.
Things like the image of each other in Jaehwi’s future and his own future. But suddenly he couldn’t remember what Jaehwi’s face looked like.
A feeling like he knew but didn’t know. Young Jaehwi and adult Jaehwi.
When the Jaehwi who smiled affectionately at him and only said pretty words mixed with the one who only spat cold words like hard stone, Raon couldn’t properly recall Jaehwi’s face.
Raon wanted to muster courage and capture the comfortable image of Jaehwi in a photo. He trapped Jaehwi in his cell phone screen, and at the same time he took the photo, his eyes met with Jaehwi inside the cell phone. Knowing he’d interrupted his only rest time, Raon slowly put his cell phone in his pocket.
More than anything, he was also worried that he might take his cell phone and delete the photo he’d just taken. Even during that time, Jaehwi stayed as he was without even blinking his eyes.
The sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the sound of unknown birds seemed to hide the sound of Raon’s footsteps approaching Jaehwi. There were no words exchanged, but Jaehwi only watched as Raon approached and sat down beside him.
“Have you been well?”
“Should I answer that I’ve been well?”
Contrary to the comfortable atmosphere, the words coming from Jaehwi’s mouth weren’t very kind. Raon, who read the emotions hidden in Jaehwi’s answer, slightly turned his head to the opposite side from Jaehwi.
This kid, he’s sulking. He’s sulking.
“No. Tell me you haven’t been well.”
“…I’ve been well.”
Not doing what he was asked to do, and laying out a contrary answer as expected—the twenty-year-old was clearly misunderstanding the situation he’d just seen.
“His name is Park Hajun. He’s my second older brother’s friend and a doctor. He told me to rest for more than 2 weeks, but work was piling up, so when I forced myself to come to work today, he came to check my condition.”
Even with the simple situation explanation, Jaehwi’s mood didn’t seem to have improved much.
“I couldn’t wrap the bandages after showering. I can’t wrap them by myself.”
In the end, Raon had to ramble on by himself.
“Do you want to disturb my break time like this?”
“I missed you.”
What came back to his honest words was a sigh. But even that was good, so Raon smiled.
“I was really in pain. I’m still in pain. Even though I wrapped the bandages tightly and took painkillers too. But when I see you, it doesn’t hurt. Are you like that too?”
As he leaned against the bench and strength entered his abdomen, he bit his lower lip and swallowed a groan at the piercing pain he felt.
“If you’re in pain, go to the hospital and rest more. It doesn’t make sense for someone with broken and cracked ribs to be wandering around here and there after only about ten days.”
Raon, who felt Jaehwi getting up with a cold voice, reached out his hand and grabbed Jaehwi’s collar.
“Hey. No matter what. At least worry about me a little.”
“There are many people worrying about you, so why me too?”
“Your house’s bed was comfortable. The porridge you ordered was delicious too. The movie I watched lying on the sofa was really good. The sofa was as comfortable as the bed, so I dozed off. Even when I acted bratty about the medicine being bitter, you forced me to take it.”
“It doesn’t seem like words someone should say when they have a personal physician and even a close doctor friend who splits their busy time to come directly to check their condition and wrap bandages. I told Team Leader Choi to let Team Leader Kang also participate when doing the compatibility test. If your condition is okay, come, and if it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have to. Well, whatever I say, you’ll do as you please anyway.”
Raon stared blankly at the hand overlapping on top of his own hand. In an instant, the clothes he’d been gripping slipped out by the large hand that covered his own.
“I said it doesn’t hurt when I see you, and my mood gets better when I hear your voice.”
“If you say ‘Nox,’ people all over the world know. You’ve grown big enough to be proudly bragged about anywhere. As Team Leader Kang likes to say, I’ve contracted with MK too. I think I’ve kept all the promises I made with Team Leader Kang with that. Now Team Leader Kang should listen to what I say too.”
At the out-of-the-blue words, Raon was at a loss for words. Why does the world knowing ‘Nox’ matter? Why is that something to brag about? It’s true that contracting with many outstanding Espers and Guides with excellent abilities helps the center. But why is that? As Jaehwi said, now he was ‘Nox’ of MK Center.
It was also true that just the fact that ‘Nox’ was at MK Center increased the number of Espers and Guides applying to MK Center. But what does that matter? And what promise? What promise did we make? Raon tried to think of something, but nothing readily came to mind.
“I found a Guide with decent abilities, the same age, and whose guiding energy matches well. Even if we do a compatibility test, it’ll probably come out high. I’ll do the test because Team Leader-nim wants it, but it’ll probably be hard to surpass him. So please work a bit harder, Team Leader Kang, so I can become partners with that Guide. This is what I have to say to Team Leader Kang.”
Raon frowned at Jaehwi’s words as he removed his hand and brushed off the part of his clothes he’d grabbed. He couldn’t properly grasp what he’d said before, but he could understand everything he was saying now.
“Aiden Jung.”
Raon muttered the name of the person who came to mind.
It was like this last time too. At first, he seemed to reject Aiden, but he didn’t know what they did for half a day—when he met them in the evening, they had become close enough to decide to share the center dormitory together.
“You already know. It seems like it’ll be a formal procedure with the designated person already decided…”
“You said his energy was sticky!”
Raon cut off Jaehwi’s words and spat out the words that came to mind, then flinched his fingertips that were still extended toward him at the cold gaze directed at him.
