“Ugh…!”
Hae-il, who suppressed and suppressed to groan quietly, curled his body while clutching his heart. It was almost simultaneous with landing on the water puddle he’d created.
‘Of all times…’
It was pain from lack of guiding. The watch on his left wrist vibrated with a buzz. It was a warning signal. However, there was no leisure to just lie there.
While ignoring the pain that seemed to gradually spread, he quickly rolled his body into the shadow of the building. He also used his ability to evaporate the trace of asphalt darkened from getting wet into the air.
The wavelength constantly trying to rampage out of control stirred the heart’s pain.
Hae-il, who examined the invisible upper area while breaking into cold sweat, bit his lips firmly.
‘I’m caught.’
Though the person 6 floors above wasn’t visible to the eye or even felt in presence, he just knew. That Moon Woo-shin had detected the wavelength.
It was an instinctive sense that couldn’t be explained logically. Just, Moon Woo-shin’s wavelength could be noticed much more sensitively than other people’s.
Hae-il, who took a deep breath, immediately moved secretly toward the bathroom.
Normally he would’ve controlled wavelength a bit more perfectly not to leave even very small traces. This was all because of lack of guiding.
Though it was regrettable to be caught by Moon Woo-shin of all people, he swallowed trivial things inside for now. Along with the heart’s pain.
Hae-il, who succeeded in quietly infiltrating to the first-floor bathroom again, hurriedly recovered the items. He wore the ring again too, and pulled out the bracelet and pushed it well into the inner pocket.
After suppressing the pain once more while taking deep breaths for a few seconds, he went outside while maintaining an expressionless face.
Only bowing his head to greet the security guard still sitting in the lobby, he walked almost running quickly and entered the underground parking lot.
As soon as Hae-il climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the car door, the door connecting the elevator and parking lot could be seen opening.
“Ha…”
Almost fucked. Hae-il, who muttered only inside conscious of the dashcam, pressed down firmly on the heart area with his hand. Though it still beat anxiously, the pain was at an ignorable level. After turning the rearview mirror to roughly check his face, he opened the car door again and went out to stand in front.
“…so.”
“Understood.”
His gaze met head-on with Moon Woo-shin who was approaching this way while talking about something. Hae-il demonstratively bowed politely.
The familiar gaze was felt as is above the head bent down.
Multiple footstep sounds moved away to the opposite side, and only one sound approached close to this side.
Hae-il straightened his back only after expensive-looking shoes entered inside his view.
“……”
“……”
The gaze immediately faced shone down strong and thick enough to feel pressure.
When leaving the parking lot attending that Chairman bastard, he didn’t even look properly.
Somehow reluctant to keep facing, he glanced at Moon Woo-shin’s back side for no reason. The Chairman and other bastards had already moved far away. There wasn’t much to obtain from the back figure that had grown quite small.
Hae-il slowly straightened his gaze again. Moon Woo-shin remained as is without any sign of moving.
He opened his mouth first in the end.
“…Aren’t you getting off work?”
The answer returned as a chin gesture instead of voice. Moon Woo-shin, who gestured with his eyes as if telling him to get in the car, passed Hae-il heading to the back seat.
Only after escaping from under the piercing gaze did Hae-il realize he’d been putting tremendous strength into fists he’d clenched without knowing. The palm where fingernails had dug in and the arm that had had strength felt awkward somewhere.
Hae-il, who clenched and opened his hand while recalling expression management, belatedly climbed into the car. Who knows how many times I’ve opened and closed this car door just today.
As soon as he sat in the driver’s seat that now felt more familiar than home and fastened his seatbelt, a voice flew from behind.
“Cigarettes.”
Yeah, I wondered why no inspection.
Hae-il picked up the cigarettes he’d thrown on the passenger seat and held them out to the back seat. A heavy box of cigarettes with 10 packs bundled and packaged plopped onto Moon Woo-shin’s palm.
Feeling him looking absurdly made his mood improve a bit. Moon Woo-shin, who set down the long cigarette bundle to the side, reached out his hand again.
“Dashcam memory.”
It was the first time checking the dashcam this openly. Though there was no memory of suspicious scenes being filmed at all, Hae-il, who reviewed his conduct in the car for the past days for no reason, slowly pulled out the memory and handed it over.
Moon Woo-shin, who quickly looked through in a few minutes after connecting to his phone, said while fixing his gaze on the screen.
“You weren’t in the car?”
“You told me to buy cigarettes.”
“What about after?”
“I went to the bathroom and came back.”
“Why did you use your ability?”
As if aiming for answering carelessly, the question continued naturally. Of course he didn’t fall for that much, but if he hadn’t noticed being caught in advance, he would have been flustered.
Hae-il brushed it off calmly.
“I didn’t use it.”
“You did.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“I don’t know where you saw what nonsense, but whether I use abilities or not, I have no obligation to report.”
He could have roughly deflected, but it was just an act to make him angry. In any case, there was no way for Moon Woo-shin to confirm where Seo Hae-il had been or for what purpose he’d used abilities.
Whether he was annoyed as intended, a sharp voice flew over.
“What guts do you have to keep using abilities without even receiving guiding? Are you experimenting with your body directly to see how long you can endure? Do you miss the sensation of rampage?”
If someone heard, they’d think he was worried. In the past, he might have been mistaken. But now he wasn’t naive enough to think so favorably like that.
Moon Woo-shin just dislikes anyone escaping his control. Because he’s a person only satisfied when all people are placed on meticulously planned boards.
“Yes, I’ve never even gotten close to rampage, so turn off your concern.”
“……”
There was no answer returning to the sarcastically thrown words for once.
While adjusting the rearview mirror, Hae-il glanced behind through the mirror. Moon Woo-shin was looking down at his phone with an expressionless face. Did his interest shift already? It wasn’t a sign of interrogating further.
Hae-il, who returned the rearview mirror to its place, stepped on the accelerator to move the car.
As the silence in the car continued long, tension gradually began to release. Rest was desperate at the end of a long day. Hae-il increased speed a bit more.
***
The next day too, Hae-il, sitting at the steering wheel without fail, let out a light sigh.
Even though he ate guiding medicine more frequently and more than usual, he didn’t feel much effect.
‘I should have received guiding longer when meeting Choi Ji-yeon.’
If I’d known I was already caught by Moon Woo-shin then, I would’ve endured about an hour more. It was still regrettable.
Since guiding was insufficient, the body’s recovery was also slow. The tired sensation grabbed onto the body and dragged, constantly feeling like sinking down, even below the ground.
Nevertheless, he wanted to avoid receiving guiding from Moon Woo-shin. In a situation where he was easily swayed if he loosened tension even a bit and was being monitored, receiving guiding on top of that was no different from meaning to hand over all initiative.
Most of all, he’d already sufficiently experienced guiding’s influence in the past. He’d also experienced to the bone how that ended. Now that they’d met again as enemies, it was even more right to avoid it.
Hae-il meticulously fought with the heart that just wanted to submit and become peaceful while recalling his resolution once more.
“Start.”
Moon Woo-shin, who got in the car soon after, had no particular words or actions other than spitting out one word.
Yesterday he made such a fuss about receiving guiding all along. It seems interest completely disappeared in one day.
If his mind changed in the meantime, he should be happy that troublesome things decreased, but somehow anger surged more.
While roughly turning the steering wheel, Hae-il familiarly followed the navigation’s guidance.
The place they arrived was an empty lot not much different from usual.
Hae-il, who got out of the car, loosened his stiff body with simple stretching while looking around.
‘This is also a Special Gate candidate site. All the places we’ve been going around too.’
Attempting to seize General Gates was already shocking, but he intended to create Special Gates outright. All things in the wide empty lot looked suspicious anew.
Though he’d requested investigation of the places they’d visited from Choi Ji-yeon, he had to dig out as much information as possible until the next contact.
“This way.”
Hae-il carefully observed Moon Woo-shin requesting ability use. Did designating direction also have some meaning? Nothing special could be seen from the appearance quietly looking down at Hae-il.
While trickling D-rank level water streams while being cautious for a few minutes.
“Wait.”
Moon Woo-shin, who suddenly reached out his hand, grabbed and pulled down Hae-il’s arm. It was an unusual expression.
“Why?”
He took out a small device that would fit in one hand from his pocket, and was seriously pressing buttons to check something.
Did he originally carry that around? Looking back at conduct until now, there was no memory of seeing such a thing.
While Hae-il was intensely observing that device, Moon Woo-shin, who turned around urgently, stepped in large strides. It was the direction where the car was. It was when he tried to quickly follow.
‘…What is it?’
Hae-il, who flinched and stiffened his body, stopped in that spot.
Momentarily, a chilling sensation swept over his entire body. The back of his neck was cool and goosebumps rose.
Something’s there. Along with groundless and endless sense of crisis, his heart became urgent.
“Senior!”
The past address more familiar instinctively burst from his mouth first. At the same time as reaching out toward Moon Woo-shin who’d moved several steps farther while approaching, he turned around.
It was an expression he was seeing for the first time. The face without leisure tinged with fear seemed to say he too was feeling the same sensation as Hae-il.
Moon Woo-shin’s gaze passed by Hae-il. Further back. His eyes that discovered something widened.
Hae-il, who guessed the situation behind only through Moon Woo-shin, ran toward him.
The moment the hands reached toward each other touched, Hae-il pulled him with strength. The two clasped hands entangled firmly, and the bodies of the two who pulled each other rapidly narrowed distance and pressed together.
It was right after that the black crack swallowed everything around.
End Of Volume 1
