“Release this right now.”
“We’ll see. Sit.”
He gestured with his eyes at the sofa in the middle of the room, then turned his back first and leaned against the head seat. Hae-il’s body, beyond his will, also followed him toward the sofa.
Hae-il, who sat facing Moon Woo-shin by force, glared at him with displeased eyes. Leisure oozed from the suit wrapping his body in an appropriate fit and his neat posture.
Very irritating and at the same time very suspicious.
What is he trying to do? Is he going to calmly have a chat in this situation? Could it be a trap? Wasn’t telling Kang Cheol-hyeon to wait outside some kind of signal?
Hae-il opened his mouth first, pretending to have something to rely on separately.
“I have nothing more to say with senior.”
“Then do you want to just die right away?”
“……”
You said it wasn’t your preference. You said it was boring. It seems that didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill.
When he obediently shut his mouth, Moon Woo-shin, who looked over that appearance once, leaned back leisurely.
“What’s the mission content?”
A hollow laugh burst out because it was absurd.
“Where is there a spy who obediently spills such things, especially to the enemy?”
“If you want to be forced to speak, I’ll do that for you.”
“I know you can’t control the mind.”
Surely it hasn’t become possible to do even that, right? Then that’s really a scam.
Though anxious, Hae-il maintained shamelessness on the outside only.
“Right, you know me well just as I know you well.”
Moon Woo-shin, who muttered with an ambiguous attitude about whether that was good or unsatisfactory, tapped his fingers resting on the armrest.
While Hae-il secretly sought another escape method, Moon Woo-shin, who finished brief thoughts, leaned his body forward.
As the distance between the two narrowed, each other’s faces reflected more clearly.
“So I’m in trouble now. So choose. Number one. Cleanly die here by my hand.”
……Is he joking? Talking about ‘clean’ like that.
“Number two. Spill all the mission content and operations you’ve carried out so far and return to the Special Abilities Agency.”
It was a very merciful proposal compared to number one, but it was useless clemency for Hae-il.
Even if he returned with just his life attached, it was obvious as day that all the information he brought back would become useless. Ban tidying up their base and illegal factories and fleeing would be much faster than the Special Abilities Agency moving.
Then the promised compensation and all the effort and suffering he’d put in so far would all become bubbles.
It was when he was gauging whether it was possible to tell Moon Woo-shin part and hide part.
“Number three. Keep your mouth shut and pretend not to know.”
Unlike the previous two, excessively concise words came back.
“……Pretend not to know what?”
“Everything about me. That you and I know each other too.”
“So, you’re saying if I pretend not to know senior, you’ll also pretend not to know that I’m a spy… is that what you mean?”
“Right.”
He couldn’t understand. This was essentially saying he’d turn a blind eye. It was no different from saying to just continue digging out this organization’s information from now on as he had until now, as if nothing had happened.
‘What does Moon Woo-shin gain from me pretending not to know Moon Woo-shin?’
No matter how he thought about it, there was only one thing.
‘Moon Woo-shin is hiding something from Ban. And I know about it.’
It was an easily guessable cause-and-effect relationship. It wasn’t like he couldn’t have anticipated Hae-il would notice either, yet making such a proposal accepting everything was strange too.
He’s not someone who would reveal his weakness so easily. Isn’t he going to backstab me after saying he’ll pretend not to know?
He couldn’t dispel his suspicion at all.
“How can I believe that?”
“What guards a secret most firmly is the same secret. When each person’s life is at stake, they have no choice but to guard it more desperately.”
Moon Woo-shin didn’t bat an eye even at the crooked voice and suspicious gaze.
He’s saying so elegantly that he deliberately revealed a weakness and that he’ll really kill me if I disclose it.
In other words, this was a deal. A transaction to cover up what each was caught on.
“Then you have to tell me properly. What exactly does senior want to hide?”
“Hae-il. Isn’t it enough that I spoon-fed you? Do I have to chew it and push it down your throat too? You have to check that yourself. Just like I figured it out on my own.”
Still, nothing comes easily as always.
Could he trust that bastard? Even if he dug into his back and seized his weakness, the situation where he was alone in the middle of enemy territory with his identity exposed was still much more disadvantageous anyway.
The fact that he’d just let him be when he could just kill or drive him out was also very suspicious. He’s not the personality to be swayed by thin ties from the past. Is there a need to keep him nearby and take the risk in a situation where it’s obvious he’s a spy? What weakness could it be?
Through the lengthening silence, Moon Woo-shin’s voice dug in.
“Why are you deliberating? You don’t have enough choices to deliberate over.”
“What’s the reason you’re covering for me without even knowing what kind of threat I might be to senior?”
At times like this, it was better to just probe outright.
What came back first was a clear laugh. The roundly curved eye shape felt both familiar and unfamiliar. It was because it looked like a much prettier shape than he remembered.
However, the answer that belatedly arrived after the short laugh was sharp.
“Threat?”
It was a tone looking down scornfully as if at a much younger kid attacking.
“Go ahead and try.”
Only after facing that did he understand. Moon Woo-shin was just looking down on Seo Hae-il. That he wouldn’t dare be able to pose any threat. So he’d judged it was better to keep him in front of his eyes and monitor him rather than release someone who knew his weakness outside or dirty his hands.
In short, he was saying let’s see who wins.
Hae-il felt for the first time in a very long while a sensation of something boiling up inside him.
The desire to distort that smooth curve that seemed without a single error. The craving to finally break and stand above that lofty person.
There was no more wavering in the voice that refined and spat out emotions.
“Fine, number three. We’ll pretend not to know each other. Just don’t regret it later.”
“I’m looking forward to it, Hae-il.”
While crookedly facing that diagonally smiling face, Seo Hae-il resolved.
To thoroughly dig into Moon Woo-shin.
1-1
The relationship with Moon Woo-shin hadn’t been bad from the start.
Seo Hae-il’s memory of his first meeting with Moon Woo-shin was in the fall when he was 20 years old.
Hae-il, who had barely welcomed his second semester after entering Special Abilities University, was attending a lecture that day too.
A cool afternoon of a day that was neither too hot nor too cold. Lukewarm sunlight poured in from the window beside him, and the professor’s voice continued calmly in front.
“The exact principle of guiding behavior hasn’t been revealed yet, but the currently most prominent theory is the homology theory. Guides and Espers are fundamentally the same. In other words, it views Guides as a type of mental-type Esper, and that ability itself to reduce toxins accumulating in Espers and promote physical recovery is the Guide’s ability.”
While concentrating on the class and taking notes, message notifications suddenly popped up consecutively on the tablet screen.
Jo Gi-hyeon
hey look outside quick now quiiick
the tallest person 1:24 PM
It was his classmate Jo Gi-hyeon sitting in the next seat.
Hae-il, who stopped his hand for a moment, casually shifted his gaze to the window right next to him.
From this lecture room on the 3rd floor, the school’s large athletic field could be seen directly below. On the large field, several students were lined up, perhaps in the middle of a practical class.
Even though it was quite a distance, there was one person who clearly stood out the moment he saw them. As Jo Gi-hyeon said, it was a man who looked about a head taller than the other people.
1:26 PM Who is it?
Jo Gi-hyeon
that senior S-rank Guide 1:26 PM
A story Jo Gi-hyeon had told the other day faintly came to mind. That there was an S-rank Guide two years above them. They were a being that might or might not appear once every few years, let alone every year, so he was curious.
Hae-il’s gaze turned back outside the window.
Among the trees just beginning to turn with autumn colors in a colorful array, that man alone was achromatic. His hair, the clothes he wore. Even from this far distance, his expressionless face and distinct features could be faintly felt.
