And then he walked out briskly without looking back once. The weaker party? Who? You?
…When I’m already this flustered?
Momentarily dumbfounded by Cha Haseong’s absurd remark, Yeo Dowoon quickly chased after him and protested.
“Don’t you have the concept of stronger and weaker parties backwards?”
“I know it.”
“Don’t lie. If you knew, how could you call yourself the weaker party…”
“I know all the concepts—gap, eul, byeong, jeong, mu, gi, gyeong, sin, im, gye. Have you heard of these?”
“…You’re quite knowledgeable.”
Being ignorant is the real crime, damn it. He felt like he’d heard gap-eul-byeong-jeong in passing somewhere, but he had no clue what the rest of those characters meant.
When Yeo Dowoon gave up the verbal battle, Cha Haseong offered sweet advice like a pleasant afternoon breeze.
“If Dowoon-ssi thinks he’s more of the weaker party than me, then please conduct yourself like an Esper who’s already taken.”
Thanks to his sudden stop, Yeo Dowoon had to quickly brake to avoid crashing into the back in front of him. As his center of gravity swayed forward like a pendulum, Cha Haseong caught him effortlessly and continued.
“Stop worrying people by going to hotels with just anyone.”
“…”
“You’d be offended too if I nagged you to bring an STD test certificate.”
That damn STD talk again—he’d wondered when it would come up today. It was practically at the level of composing a folk song about it. Yeo Dowoon trudged along, muttering to himself. Actually, it was meant for Cha Haseong to hear.
“…And how clean are you yourself?”
To which Cha Haseong answered sharply.
“Cleaner than someone who rolls around in hospitals without condoms.”
“I heard that loud and clear from the person who was kissing in the hospital elevator.”
Cha Haseong shrugged as if admitting defeat. But unfortunately, Yeo Dowoon, who was walking ahead, failed to witness the face looking at him with eyes different from usual.
***
He couldn’t remember clearly whether the rice went down his nose, his throat, or his ears.
STD test certificate, STD test certificate, STD test certificate. Only that damned phrase kept echoing repeatedly, clouding Yeo Dowoon’s mind.
What’s more, Cha Haseong—the very person who had dropped that bombshell—was cheerful and convivial all by himself.
‘Does the food suit your taste?’
‘…’
‘Want more water if your throat is blocked?’
But Yeo Dowoon couldn’t properly answer even these cookie-cutter questions he threw his way.
‘Eat slowly.’
STD test certificate. That damned STD test certificate!
Even on the way back to the hospital after finishing their meal, his right and left brain were focused solely on the STD suspicion attack that Cha Haseong had thrown.
Yeo Dowoon’s heart ached terribly at how he’d ended up being treated like some kind of libertine.
‘How have I been living all this time…’
He no longer had the enthusiasm to reflect on and repent his past. Cha Haseong didn’t seem to believe his confession that he’d been living alone for five years at all.
To put it bluntly, it was probably like the sweet talk of some con artist.
Well, to be honest, compared to an ordinary degree, he did enjoy being slightly promiscuous.
His human relationships, aside from those Delta bastards, were only his lovers—how much he must have wanted to satisfy them. He did prefer trying different plays quite a bit, and if his partner wanted it, anything…
“You’re being discharged already?”
But his useless worries had to melt away like snow right after arriving at the ward.
Because news even more terrifying than Cha Haseong’s STD test attack was waiting for him.
Yeo Dowoon stared in disbelief at the back of Kwon Jeonghoo packing his meager belongings into a bag. He placed the cake box he’d received from Cha Haseong on a low drawer.
Fresh, clear wind kept rushing in through the window that had been flung wide open for ventilation.
“I need to work if I want to get paid.”
“Captain, you look like someone on the verge of death.”
“If I die from overwork, will you take responsibility and bury me? I’ll make sure you don’t have to pay condolence money.”
Kwon Jeonghoo, who threw out an unfunny joke as if it were funny, wasn’t even laughing himself.
“I thought it was vacation. Did everyone except Captain get vacation?”
Yeo Dowoon raised his voice as if projecting his frustration. But Kwon Jeonghoo played it cool.
“Even on vacation, people who work still work. You guys don’t know because you just play around without caring about appearances.”
“Then hyung should pretend not to care either and rest. Why are you going out of your way to suffer?”
So informal speech naturally slipped out. Yeo Dowoon strode over quickly and roughly snatched away his black bag.
The belongings were nothing but nuisances that those Esper bastards had brought a few days ago. Things like fruit, drinks, and manga they’d brought telling him to read when bored.
Moreover, the manga had a big 19+ sticker on it, drawing Yeo Dowoon’s glare. Yeo Dowoon muttered coldly.
“Since he can’t get any in real life, that idiot…”
The cover was obscene enough that it looked like Baek Seonwoo’s taste—he was disgusted that someone would bring something like this as a gift when visiting a patient.
But Kwon Jeonghoo must have interpreted that look differently, because he asked sensitively.
“Interested?”
“What’s so great about some scribbled pictures?”
Saying that, Yeo Dowoon tossed the manga aside with a thud and added while unpacking the rest.
“Stay hospitalized until you’re fully recovered. If you refuse, I’ll tie you down by force. I’ll wrap you in ice and hang you from the ceiling. Like a chandelier.”
“What’s there to recover or not recover from with aftereffects?”
“…I’m saying take this chance to sleep well and eat well and take care of your health.”
“I find it cute and nice when you throw your weight around trusting your abilities, Dowoon-ah. But pick your opponents wisely.”
Yeo Dowoon, who hadn’t been listening even with his ears, clenched his fist tightly at the words that kept falling.
“It’s an order directly from the Director.”
“…”
“Unless you’re going to quit, you have to follow it.”
At that moment, Yeo Dowoon felt like rebelling without rhyme or reason. His hostility toward the Director had started from when he first joined and was still growing vigorously, soaring sky-high.
Yeo Dowoon always felt endlessly uncomfortable whenever he thought of that man with the repulsive gaze.
It was because he found it detestable—that attitude of wearing a hypocritical smile while pretending to be benevolent, digging through people’s minds and unearthing their innermost thoughts.
“…Is that man still hounding you?”
At the childish expression, Kwon Jeonghoo burst into hearty laughter. He thought the cute expression “hounding” was too mild for the opponent being described.
But Yeo Dowoon shuddered as if feeling a chill and spat out.
“He’s profited enough—isn’t it time to retire? How long does he plan to keep playing king of the hill?”
“Tell me about it. Seems like he still has plenty left to profit from.”
Even at the harsh words that seemed to insult his father, Kwon Jeonghoo wasn’t fazed.
Director Kwon Hyeokun. He himself understood just how massive and unsettling the pressure from those three characters was.
Kwon Hyeokun was the very person who had wrangled the Espers—who were scattered about causing trouble, let alone registering with the base—and created the current foundation.
It was also from about 40 years ago, when he took office, that the Esper Operations Base came to properly function as a national organization.
The psychic abilities Kwon Hyeokun used were very different in nature from Kwon Jeonghoo’s. He controlled and tortured Espers in an extremely aggressive and merciless manner.
No physical-type, no matter-type, no nature-type… even fellow psychic-types couldn’t stand against him and had no choice but to surrender.
Yeo Dowoon murmured as if disgusted.
“His lifespan sure is disgustingly long.”
With such a Kwon Hyeokun still hale and overseeing the entire base, even the first-generation Espers who had been like unleashed wild dogs were holding their breath like gentle sheep. Even dutifully reporting their status and updates.
So how much must the fourth generation centered around Delta be feeling that immense position and power? He was practically an absolute figure.
Yeo Dowoon recalled Kwon Hyeokun’s piercing gaze that he’d encountered in the wavelength examination room right after joining the base.
‘I heard a kid who looks like Jeonghoo when he was young came in…’
‘What’s with this old Esper?’
‘The rudeness is an exact match.’
Even that rudeness of suddenly digging into someone’s mind and making them spill their life story.
‘For someone from the mines, you’ve lived quite tamely.’
That was the first assessment Kwon Hyeokun made of Yeo Dowoon. After that, whenever Yeo Dowoon’s escape incidents occurred and the base was thrown into emergency, he invariably intervened to track Yeo Dowoon down.
Even while being dragged to the wavelength examination room and injected with drugs of unknown purpose, Yeo Dowoon had ground his teeth furiously at Kwon Hyeokun.
The middle-aged gentleman in a perfect suit with his hair slicked back with pomade came to visit Yeo Dowoon and advised.
‘Inseok-ah. The more you stand out, the worse it’ll be for you—there’s no need to be so emotional.’
It was only after having his brain stirred up and vomiting that Yeo Dowoon came to learn firsthand that when a psychic-type Esper’s abilities reach their peak, they can exert physical force comparable to physical-types.
Actually, that much was nothing.
Every Esper belonging to the Operations Base sensed through intuition that the reason all the uncontrolled Espers had ended their lives by suicide must certainly be deeply related to him.
“You pick them up. I don’t want to pack again.”
Kwon Jeonghoo said, glancing down at the belongings scattered all over.
They were the odds and ends that Yeo Dowoon had just dumped onto the bed with a crash.
“The older he gets, the more stubborn he becomes…”
Realizing he couldn’t keep Kwon Jeonghoo confined to the hospital, Yeo Dowoon grumbled to himself.
“Are all Kwons like this?”
Most of it seemed like content disparaging both Kwon Hyeokun and Kwon Jeonghoo together. But Kwon Jeonghoo just whistled nonchalantly. It was certain that no amount of criticism would faze him.
