Chapter 7
“What do you mean Jaehwi has nothing to give? Our Hwi just needs to grow up healthy. You’re getting taller like the other Espers now, and you can control your abilities well too. You’re S-class now, but when you become an adult, you might reach SS-class. Who knows? Maybe even SSS-class is possible. And lately, your stability rates have been holding steady too.”
Raon was finally understanding with his whole being why adults had always told him it was good enough just to grow up healthy. He couldn’t hide his smile at the simplest things—flesh forming on Jaehwi’s once skeletal shoulders, his slight increase in height, what kind of training he’d done that day, how he’d been praised for doing well.
It didn’t matter what he was good or bad at; Raon was just happy the child was growing well without any problems. Even though Raon thought his mere existence was enough, the child’s face fell as he turned his gaze away.
“Ah, why are you so cute? Min Jaehwi.”
Raon laughed out loud and cupped Jaehwi’s cheeks with both hands, turning him to face him. The moment their eyes met, the child’s large, dark eyes darted away to look elsewhere.
“Then promise me one thing. Become a really, really cool adult. Being the world’s greatest Esper would be fine too.”
The child’s slightly wavering eyes filled with Raon’s face.
“Is that enough?”
“Yes. If you ever feel grateful or sorry toward me—though I hate that you think that way—but if you do, just think about this one thing. Become someone I can brag about being friends with. Something like, when I say ‘I know Min Jaehwi!’ people will be really jealous.”
Raon didn’t know what he was saying back then. He was sixteen—an immature kid who lived however he pleased. These were the words of a Raon who hadn’t yet become a mature adult.
It was truly an irresponsible thing to say.
Telling him to become a cool adult. To become the world’s greatest Esper. To become someone he could brag about.
Raon had no idea what efforts Jaehwi would make, what lengths he would go to, to become that person.
Jaehwi made Raon feel good just by being near him. It was enough just to see the quiet child looking at him with clear eyes, listening to his stories. It would have been enough just to watch him grow up healthy, without illness or hardship.
To Raon, the small child was like a baby chick he needed to protect. Jaehwi was the younger brother that youngest children supposedly want at least once.
Unlike the excited Raon, Jaehwi’s eyes remained calm and settled. The child blinked his large eyes slowly. Then he nodded slightly. Happy to have convinced Jaehwi, Raon hugged him tightly with a bright smile, patting his back.
It was something he would never do now, even if he were dying, even if someone held a knife to his throat.
***
His first meeting with Jaehwi and his life at NCSC…
It had been a dream he hadn’t had in a very long time.
An event from over ten years ago. Time truly stole away so many memories. Even the emotions of his turbulent sixteen-year-old self, once sharp as a blade, had dulled. Though he consistently asked Hyukjin from the information team about Jaehwi, he’d largely let things go. For Raon living in reality, Jaehwi had become a memory, something wistful to look back on. When Hyukjin asked what he would do if he found him, Raon would just shrug his shoulders now.
Maybe just ask if he’s doing well, if he’s found a Guide… something like that?
Raon slowly blinked his eyes. As moisture returned to his dry eyes, what had been blurry gradually came into focus. He frowned at the white ceiling and the distinctive smell of disinfectant lingering at the tip of his nose.
I hate hospitals. If they were going to send me somewhere, they should have sent me to the VIP room at my regular hospital. His body felt even stiffer on the hard mattress of the bed.
“Haah—”
A long sigh escaped Raon’s lips as he looked around and confirmed this wasn’t even a hospital, but the treatment center at MK Center. You brought me to a place that’s not even a hospital but barely handles emergency care? Jay, what kind of job are you doing…
Only after staring for a long time at the IV drip falling at a constant rate from the nearly empty bag did he understand why he’d woken up here.
He slowly closed his eyes and tried to channel energy through his palm, but felt nothing at all. Since leaving NCSC, he’d never performed guiding. Hardly anyone even knew Raon was a Guide.
Raon stared down at his own hand. Goosebumps rose all over his body as he recalled how his energy had been endlessly drained just moments ago.
If his first guiding in childhood had been ticklish and subtle, this one had left an unforgettable intensity.
He tried to find the slow and delicate energy that usually flowed inside his body, but felt nothing—as if it had never existed. The person who had swept everything away, leaving not a single drop behind, came to mind.
Was it really Min Jaehwi? Is Nox Jaehwi?
He hadn’t been handsome so much as cute and fresh—a bright, pretty child. If that child had grown up… The face he’d last seen before closing his eyes and the low, moderately deep voice that had shamelessly called his name echoed in his ears.
Jaehwi disappeared suddenly one day. Like smoke.
Raon had woken up in Jaehwi’s bed as usual, and they’d each gone about their scheduled activities. Though they hadn’t made plans, when all his activities were over, Raon went to his room. At first, he thought Jaehwi’s schedule had run long. But Jaehwi didn’t return even late into the night, and as Raon sat alone on the bed through the night, the worst scenarios played out chaotically in his mind.
Was he injured? Did he have an outbreak? Was he even alive…?
NCSC said he’d gone for special Esper training.
At first, Raon believed them and waited for three days. Jaehwi, who was supposed to return after three days, never appeared.
The day he caused a scene demanding to know why Jaehwi hadn’t returned, he received a letter from his mother—who hadn’t responded to his previous letter. Her answer was that she would discuss with NCSC about having MK Center take care of Jaehwi.
A week after receiving his mother’s letter, Raon completed his six-month period and left. Even though he’d thrown another fit saying he wanted to stay, no one listened to him. The young Raon had no power to find the missing child.
For the first time, he tried making an effort to find someone without depending on others. He tried studying through the night, and after entering the university his parents wanted, he joined the management team at MK Center.
There he met Hyukjin from the information team and began searching in earnest for Jaehwi, but to this day he hadn’t found out anything. Whenever Hyukjin asked why he was so intent on finding a child he’d only spent about five months with, Raon would just shrug his shoulders.
He just wanted to find him. To know if the child was sick, if he had any problems. If he’d experienced an outbreak. If he was even alive. At first, he’d thought about the child obsessively, but as time passed, those feelings gradually dulled.
But he couldn’t stop the memories that would suddenly surface at certain moments in his life.
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
“Shut up. Be quiet.”
Sitting in a daze, Raon covered his ears at the sudden noise. There weren’t many people who would curse at him so openly. And with that voice, it was obvious who it was.
“Wow, what a uniquely psycho bastard. I already knew you were crazy, but to perform guiding while carrying a stabilizer? A C-class guiding an S-class? Even a passing dog would laugh.”
“Did Jay let you in?”
He was clearly annoyed—Jay, his secretary, should have been guarding the door outside, yet someone had gotten in.
“Do you even realize that Jay is standing outside the door with a pale face? If you know, maybe tell him to rest? Even if he’s your secretary and bodyguard, isn’t this too much?”
Raon waved his hand, as if telling Hyukjin to call someone to remove the IV. Jay was paid good money to do this job, so of course he should do his job.
“Why did they bring me here instead of a hospital?”
“Try thinking for once. Do you know what would happen if the world found out you guided Nox? Only you, me, and Nox know about what happened at that moment! Nox’s situation was processed as having received the stabilizer you delivered. You fainted after completing your mission of delivering the stabilizer, and Nox had no choice but to carry you out in his arms. That’s the official story—but do you want to go to the hospital and expose to the whole world that you performed guiding?”
With Hyukjin’s irritating words ringing in his ears, Raon moved his hands to cover his face. He couldn’t think of a rebuttal because everything Hyukjin said was right. So where is Jaehwi now?
“Nox expressed his desire to transfer to MK Center, so he’s at the center now.”
“Where in the center?”
Raon had many questions for Hyukjin, but as a nurse and Jay entered, he firmly closed his half-open lips.
