# Chapter 22
Hyukjin couldn’t stop Jaehwi, who was following Raon like a duckling following its mother duck. Jaehwi, who had been completely on edge earlier, suddenly shed all his tension. The situation room, which had been so cold that their breath was visible and teeth were chattering, suddenly felt warmer than a spring day, as if the previous chill had never existed.
Jaehwi’s suddenly softened tone, as if knowing Raon was listening to the communication, and his demeanor that seemed to be waiting for him, was impossible to miss.
[Team leader. Nox’s stabilization level has increased to 30%.]
It wasn’t even membrane guiding. Just briefly holding him and stroking his nape a few times was all that happened, yet Aiden, who was listening to the communication alongside them, tilted his head in confusion.
“Is there a problem?”
“No stabilizer was administered, and no guiding was performed… How could the stabilization level increase?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m radiative guiding the entire situation room right now, but the Esper didn’t show any reaction. And the person who just came in isn’t a Guide, right? There was no guiding at all.”
As Aiden spoke, suggesting something was very strange, Hyukjin heaved a long sigh. Since he wasn’t an Esper or Guide himself, he could only verify through the numerical data shown in the test results.
Jaehwi had stubbornly refused any guiding, growling for stabilizers instead, yet he seemed prepared to meet Raon even before he appeared. Hyukjin recalled Jaehwi’s eyes as he crumpled his large body and forced himself into Raon’s arms, pretending to be pitiful and struggling as soon as Raon appeared, and a chill ran down his spine.
Hyukjin had always thought the MK Center researchers were talking nonsense when they said Nox’s personality was no joke. Despite his large build and sharp features, he always smiled with his eyes and showed plenty of aegyo, which Hyukjin had considered typical of an immature, cute 20-year-old. Come to think of it, Hyukjin realized he had never met with Jaehwi alone; Raon was always with him.
So the docile, kind, occasionally grumbling 20-year-old persona was reserved only for Raon. And that cold gaze he’d glimpsed just now was a threat not to reveal his true nature.
Raon desperately trying to find a suitable Guide for Jaehwi, while Jaehwi rejected all guiding. A private guiding between just the two of them that others knew nothing about…
“This isn’t going to be easy.”
Looking at the two with their seemingly insurmountable challenges ahead, Hyukjin clicked his tongue. He would need to find a way to get them both into the testing room for tomorrow’s compatibility test. Even if there was a difference in ability levels, a good compatibility would give him an excuse to pair them somehow.
* * *
Unlike their arrival by helicopter, they chose to return by car. Above all, Raon didn’t want to ride in the rattling helicopter again. Seated comfortably in the back seat, Raon gazed at Jaehwi, who was sitting with his eyes closed, completely motionless.
Though no words were exchanged, it was clear that his current condition was a mess. Raon fidgeted with the small box containing stabilizers that he had been clutching tightly all this time.
This would be the last guiding anyway. Soon—tomorrow at the earliest, or not too far in the future—he would have his own Guide. Though there was no response, Raon reached out and took Jaehwi’s hand, which was resting loosely on his knee.
It tickled. If asked where it tickled, Raon could say it was in his chest. It felt as if a soft feather was gently brushing against a spot in his left chest, like a spring breeze. They weren’t even holding hands tightly.
He had merely slipped his hand into Jaehwi’s loose fist, so his fingers just barely touched Jaehwi’s palm. Being careful not to wake Jaehwi, Raon aligned his fingers between Jaehwi’s long, straight ones, palm to palm.
It wasn’t a complete interlocking of fingers with a tight grip, but Raon was satisfied with that much and shifted slightly. Then he closed his eyes as he rested his head on Jaehwi’s shoulder.
It was like returning to that day almost ten years ago, when he first met Jaehwi.
That night when Jaehwi embraced his small, trembling body that didn’t know what to do with the pain, stroking his back and whispering that everything would be okay.
Raon tried to gather energy in his hands again. Perhaps all the energy he had was gone after briefly releasing it in the situation room, because no matter how hard he tried to provide guiding, no energy gathered at all.
After several more attempts, Raon recognized his limits and closed his eyes.
And from that moment, something unknown to both Raon and Jaehwi began to happen.
An invisible silver thread, thinner than a spider’s web yet stronger than anything in this world, connected the two of them—seemingly about to break but never breaking. The bonding that had already formed between them long ago, without them being aware of it, was now functioning properly.
Jaehwi, who had pretended not to know about everything Raon was doing while knowing it all, let out a long sigh when he felt Raon’s breathing become peaceful and his body leaning against him grow a bit heavier.
Only when he was with Raon did his world become perfect. Unlike when they were younger, Raon no longer needed to embrace him, cover his ears, or stroke his body—just having Raon nearby was enough to calm the ferociously raging cells within him.
The headaches that made him want to smash his own head, the world that felt like an optical illusion, the hearing that suffered from endless noise, the sense of touch that became hypersensitive and uncomfortable—all of them sank into silence as if they had never existed.
Rejecting Raon was impossible. He was the only person who could save him from his pain. Yet Raon was telling him to find someone else. Despite pushing him away—him, who could only find rest in Raon’s embrace—he had no other choice.
Like the clueless 10-year-old child he once was, acting immaturely while hiding his greed, this was all he could do at present: stay close like this. Like a parasite feeding on the sweet energy Raon gave, even while knowing it drained Raon’s body.
In the small space where darkness had settled, Jaehwi, quietly serving as Raon’s cushion, directed his gaze to the rearview mirror. His eyes met with Jay’s, who was driving, but their gazes soon dispersed.
He didn’t have uncomfortable feelings toward the one who had tipped him off about something that hadn’t happened yet but would happen in the future.
Should he be grateful instead? After all, he was the person who prevented him from potentially disrupting Raon’s life, which was supposed to be smooth, stable, and full of happy, joyful events. Thanks to his words, he had barely managed to suppress himself from crossing the line.
The box of stabilizers that rested carelessly on Raon’s lap, who had fallen asleep while holding his hand and leaning on his shoulder, caught his eye. Just by looking at it, the box crossed through the air and into his hand. Without making any movement, the box opened and the stabilizer pill inside crumbled weakly.
Transformed into a fine powder, the stabilizer disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.
He didn’t need stabilizers. If his condition were measured now, his stabilization level would be higher than ever, and that fact spoke to only one thing. Jaehwi closed his eyes again.
The grades of Guides and Espers greatly influenced each other. But there was another factor that couldn’t be ignored. People called it compatibility. Generally, with high grades, it was effortless to raise someone to a certain level.
Compatibility created something beyond that. The power swirling inside his body exceeded his expectations.
It was completely different from the explosive guiding last time. Back then, it was just ordinary guiding, focusing desperately on fixing his broken body and mind—exactly that much and nothing more. But what was different now? Jaehwi delved into his inner self.
When Raon opened his eyes, he first checked his surroundings. Then he saw Jaehwi, still in the same position as when he had dozed off. On the way back to Seoul, the darkness that had settled around them was occasionally illuminated by streetlights that briefly lit up the interior.
In that faint light was Jaehwi, perfectly black from head to toe. It wouldn’t be strange if he suddenly disappeared into the darkness. Just thinking about him suddenly vanishing made Raon unconsciously grip Jaehwi’s hand tightly, which he had been holding awkwardly.
When Jaehwi opened his eyes, which had been closed, his black pupils were revealed. Raon gazed at his face blankly. This situation, this scene, wasn’t unfamiliar.
It was as if he had met this completely black version of him before. The intermittent lights illuminated his face and then created shadows as they disappeared.
Until then, Raon had been looking at him with his head still resting on Jaehwi’s shoulder, his face tilted upward. He slowly straightened his body. His gaze, which had been fixed on Jaehwi’s eyes, trembled anxiously, then traveled down to his nose and finally rested on his slightly parted lips.
As an absurd situation came to mind, Raon squeezed his eyes shut. Had he met someone at the club that day? Memories could be distorted in countless ways. He might have kissed someone while dancing drunk. The strange thing wasn’t the act itself. It wasn’t strange that he had kissed a stranger, but why was the other person…
