# Chapter 7
Dohyun let out a small chuckle.
“What are you doing, Lee Jaehee?”
To Dohyun, Jaehee felt like a small kitten. A small, young kitten clinging to its owner’s neck, afraid of falling. That’s why he couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Completely scared.’
Dohyun tightened his arms around Jaehee a bit more. And then,
“Are you afraid I’ll drop you? What a complete scaredy-cat.”
He teased Jaehee. But contrary to his expectation that Jaehee would argue back, no answer came from him.
Instead, as if reassured by hearing Dohyun’s voice, Jaehee gradually loosened his grip on Dohyun’s clothes.
But that wasn’t all.
With one hand lightly holding onto the clothes, Jaehee was using his other hand to hastily smooth out the severely wrinkled fabric.
All of Jaehee’s thoughts were visible in that series of actions.
Jaehee must have thought that Dohyun wouldn’t drop him. He’d been reassured by that thought. Then he must have noticed the clothes he’d thoroughly wrinkled. Now he was trying to fix it by rubbing and smoothing Dohyun’s back.
Having read all the meaning behind Jaehee’s actions, Dohyun’s lips, which had been set in a spiteful expression, gradually softened.
‘That’s right, I’ll never let you get hurt. Just as you trust me.’
Dohyun quickened his pace, feeling a sense of fulfillment rising within him.
How long had they run like that? After passing countless buildings, the outer building for undeveloped Espers at the edge of the Center came into small view in Dohyun’s eyes. Dohyun increased his speed and used his telekinesis to move directly to the rooftop of the building across.
Startled by the suddenly increased speed and the view rapidly rising upward, Jaehee shut his eyes tightly and clung on. After a brief dizzying sensation, the shaking stopped as if it had never happened.
Dohyun set Jaehee down on the rooftop. Then he stared at Jaehee for a moment. Jaehee still had his eyes tightly closed, perhaps still feeling dizzy. After quietly waiting for Jaehee to calm down, Dohyun lightly tapped Jaehee’s cheek, which looked as soft as rice cake, with his finger.
“Hey, open your eyes.”
“……”
Jaehee gently opened his eyes.
“Over there.”
Jaehee turned his head toward where Dohyun was pointing. There was the room exclusively for undeveloped Espers. The bright light leaked through the windows. Between them, Geonwoo was there. He was visible.
“…th-there, Geonwoo…!”
Jaehee’s eyes widened, and his vision filled with Geonwoo’s figure. Without seeing anything else, Jaehee tried to run toward Geonwoo. As he attempted to run, forgetting they were on a rooftop, Dohyun hurriedly grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
The momentum made Jaehee’s body tilt backward. Dohyun caught him with his large body. Dohyun held Jaehee firmly to prevent him from moving and said,
“Watch from here. You can’t go over there.”
“Huh…? Why! Geonwoo…, Geonwoo is right there!”
Dohyun sighed. Why did Jaehee make him sigh so much lately? Dohyun lowered his head to look at Jaehee. Like someone who had something of his own taken away right before his eyes, Jaehee looked anxious and impatient.
After watching Jaehee for a moment, Dohyun turned his head to look at Geonwoo inside the building with a cold gaze. Then he answered.
“You’ve poured out so much guiding energy, if you’re in the same space, he’ll notice right away.”
“…Huh? What… will he notice?”
At Jaehee’s question, Dohyun, taking his eyes off Geonwoo, bent his waist further to meet Jaehee’s eye level.
“If he had formed a bond, the moment he faces you again, he’d realize it. That he’s bonded to you.”
Dohyun didn’t want to make a predator recognize its prey. Moreover, Dohyun had no intention of even considering Jaehee as prey.
And there was another reason he couldn’t tell Jaehee. There was constant pressure from the upper management of the Center. They were subtly demanding Dohyun to hand over Jaehee.
The reason was obvious.
‘They want to offer Jaehee to that precious Esper with top-class potential, I suppose.’
But even the upper management couldn’t forcibly take Jaehee away. Dohyun was a high-ranking Esper within the Center. Among the few A-class Espers, Dohyun stood out. In a Center that still had no S-class Espers, Dohyun was someone they couldn’t touch carelessly.
That’s why they let him monopolize Jaehee to some extent. They had no choice.
Moreover, an Esper’s rank couldn’t be determined for certain until they manifested. This was true even for Choi Geonwoo, whom they were desperately seeking.
He had a high probability of manifesting as a top-class rank, but it wasn’t confirmed that he would manifest as S-class. That’s why the upper management couldn’t push too strongly.
But if they had known, like Jaehee did, that Geonwoo would manifest as S-class in the future, they wouldn’t have left Jaehee alone like this.
The upper management was an organization that thoroughly prioritized benefits.
Knowing the calculating nature of the upper management well, Dohyun didn’t want to show people Geonwoo and Jaehee meeting. He didn’t want to give them any reason to get entangled.
That’s why he deliberately left through the window when leaving the dormitory. Plus, he had long known about the surveillance staff being around.
So Dohyun was resolute.
“We’ll look from here and then go back. No more than that.”
And he was about to continue with what he wanted to say. That Choi Geonwoo was alive and well, so stop worrying about that guy and return to your old self. That’s what he wanted to say. But Dohyun gritted his teeth and held back.
Unaware of Dohyun’s feelings, Jaehee looked back and forth between Dohyun and Geonwoo, asking anxiously why they couldn’t go. But Dohyun’s expression was resolute, without room for even a needle to enter.
So Jaehee just stared blankly at the building where Geonwoo was. Tender emotions filled Jaehee’s eyes.
How long had he been staring like that?
Jaehee realized belatedly. He was so focused on Geonwoo that he hadn’t noticed. He hadn’t perceived that there were numerous Guides around Geonwoo. Geonwoo was surrounded by them, smiling brightly.
Jaehee stared at such a Geonwoo as if entranced. For a very long time.
Meanwhile, Dohyun, watching Jaehee, became deep in thought. Because Jaehee’s eyes were once again painfully contorting.
‘Should I have just knocked that guy out and shown him up close?’
Dohyun even had such thoughts.
Just then, he felt a cold wind. Espers didn’t feel cold due to their enhanced bodies, but the Jaehee before him was not like that. Dohyun stood in the direction of the wind, blocking the icy breeze from hitting Jaehee.
Suddenly, Jaehee called out to Dohyun.
“…Dohyun.”
Did he still want to see Geonwoo up close after all? Dohyun pondered what to do if Jaehee said that.
‘First, get rid of all those Guides. Really, should I knock out Choi Geonwoo for a moment?’
While contemplating this, an unexpected answer came from Jaehee.
“I want to go back…”
It was the answer Dohyun wanted. But as Jaehee spoke those words, his eyes were wetting again. Tears that couldn’t flow were filling Jaehee’s eyes drop by drop.
“I don’t want to see Geonwoo anymore…”
Dohyun was taken aback by Jaehee’s sudden change of words. Then don’t make such an expression. Jaehee, saying those words, looked extremely pained, as if a healing wound had reopened, no, had burst even larger.
“Geonwoo…, I don’t want to see him anymore…”
Jaehee kept muttering while looking at Geonwoo.
That he didn’t want to see him. That he wouldn’t look at him.
Yet he couldn’t take his eyes off Geonwoo. He couldn’t move. As if caught in a trap, his gaze, firmly captured, couldn’t escape from Geonwoo.
All he could do was fill his eyes with Geonwoo while holding back tears. Geonwoo’s image continued to fill Jaehee’s eyes. They were filled with images of Geonwoo smiling brilliantly.
He looked happy. Without sub-bottom Lee Jaehee by his side, Geonwoo was shining brightly like a protagonist. He was no longer the Geonwoo who had grown cold. Nor was he the Choi Geonwoo who had loved Lee Jaehee. Time had turned back to before everything went wrong, returning Geonwoo’s smile.
Jaehee deeply took comfort in that sight, in Geonwoo’s happy face. And he felt sad. His heart ached. Jaehee was no longer in Geonwoo’s heart. The Lee Jaehee whom he had loved so much was no longer with him. Completely gone.
Watching Geonwoo smile in a place where he didn’t exist, Jaehee realized this. Faced with the reality he didn’t want to confront, Jaehee collapsed.
Then the facts he didn’t want to recall, the futures he had already experienced, the wounds he had hidden deep in his memories, all tore through his heart and crawled out.
How he had changed that smile, that happiness. Who had been the one to turn his happy ending into a sad ending.
That for this to not repeat, in this world of regression, in his happy future, Jaehee shouldn’t be there… Jaehee recalled it all.
The shackles that he had forgotten, distracted by the sight of Geonwoo alive, now tightly bound Jaehee’s body.
Each memory became a blade that slashed at Jaehee’s heart.
‘…I’m sorry…. Geonwoo…’
That was the most important thing…
He had forgotten because he was so happy to see Geonwoo alive, because he had been in so much pain all this time.
