# Chapter 41
A strong belief doesn’t crumble easily. Even if his attitude toward Jiwon had changed somewhat since his awakening, the mental fortitude that kept him holding onto his reason until the end hadn’t disappeared.
Jiwon believed in that, and his belief manifested in results.
“Yes, rest. Don’t do anything.”
“…Yes.”
Suhyun’s house.
Jiwon had just finished a call with Team Leader Jo Wooyeon. As the screen went black, Jiwon flopped down on the sofa. He’d heard so many apologies that he felt like he should be the one apologizing.
Well, at least they made it back alive. Otherwise, Jo Wooyeon, who hadn’t realized that an Esper could attack a Guide, wouldn’t have been able to maintain his sanity either.
The fact that Jiwon could lie on the sofa right now was because they had safely escaped from the dungeon that day.
Not only did they escape, but they even gained something.
Bang! Crash!
‘Huh….’
Suhyun didn’t leave Jiwon alone. He’d deliberated for a long time but ultimately agreed to Jiwon’s suggestion.
And the two of them encountered that space that excessively scattered an Esper’s wavelength again. But there was no problem this time. Perhaps due to the aftermath of being controlled twice, Suhyun managed to maintain his sanity this time.
Suhyun, who wasn’t mentally dominated by them, didn’t waste his wavelength on useless things. He only avoided the monsters in front of him and used his power just once.
To Jiwon, it looked like he was attacking empty ground with no monsters in sight, but the reason became apparent soon enough.
Because Suhyun reached his hand beneath the ground and pulled something out. It was long and emitted pitch-black smoke. It seemed to be ‘that thing’ which had looked like blood vessels inside the walls or beneath the ground.
‘Did you catch it?’
‘I cut off a part of it and it fled.’
Suhyun remained vigilant. He continued to search the surroundings while slowly catching monsters. Fortunately, his attack on the creature must have been effective because Suhyun’s wavelength fluctuated at the same level as usual.
As long as his wavelength was stable, catching monsters was nothing. Suhyun practically toyed with the monsters, targeting only ‘that thing.’ However, even after catching the last monster, ‘that thing’ didn’t reveal itself. It seemed they’d missed it.
Still, they’d obtained a part of ‘that thing,’ so they might get some more clues. Jiwon tried to think positively.
As soon as they exited the dungeon and the situation became known, Jiwon received a barrage of apologies from Jo Wooyeon, and Won Jungyeom scolded him by the bucket for being careless… but anyway, the outcome wasn’t bad.
“Mmm….”
But not everything was going smoothly.
Jiwon glanced at Suhyun’s firmly closed bedroom door and rubbed between his eyebrows.
Two days had already passed since then. During that time, nothing had happened between them. Literally, nothing at all.
When the time came, the two would hold hands and sit side by side. It was for guiding. And then they’d return to their respective rooms. On the surface, there seemed to be no problem at all.
But Jiwon could definitely feel it. That things between him and Suhyun had become frighteningly awkward. The fact that the guiding time felt more awkward than the beginning of their exclusive contract clearly indicated that there was a problem.
‘Your readings are stable, which is good. Is it because you’re resting?’
‘……’
‘Did you sleep well? Oh, have you eaten? I don’t think I heard you eating.’
‘I ate. Are we finished?’
‘Huh? Oh, almost….’
‘I think this should be enough. There’s no need to enter a dungeon right away anyway. Please eat.’
‘Ah… yes.’
It seemed it wasn’t just during guiding.
‘Huh? Where are you going?’
‘I’m going to exercise.’
‘Where? Can I come along?’
‘No. I’m going to the gym at the Association. I’m scheduled to train with other Espers.’
‘I see….’
‘I’ll be going now.’
Hmm.
‘Doesn’t it seem like the stability is rising more slowly? Today, instead of hands….’
‘It’s fine. I don’t think I’m in an unstable state.’
‘That’s true, but….’
‘If we need to enter a dungeon, I’ll consider it then.’
‘…Yes.’
“…He’s avoiding me, isn’t he?”
Jiwon, who had been quietly mulling over what had happened in just two days, crumpled his face and muttered.
Since there were no rough edges in Suhyun’s attitude, Jiwon hadn’t realized it. That Suhyun was avoiding him right now.
“But why?”
Jiwon asked, facing Suhyun’s bedroom door. In fact, Suhyun wasn’t home. He had left early in the morning, saying he was going to train again.
Jiwon had thought Suhyun was immersing himself in training because it had been somewhat dangerous in this last dungeon and they had failed to catch ‘that thing,’ but thinking about it carefully, that wasn’t it either.
From the beginning, training with other Espers wasn’t very meaningful for Suhyun. They were all weaker than him. For proper training, the grades would have to be at least similar, but there weren’t any such Espers in Korea.
“…Wow.”
Jiwon, belatedly realizing this fact, laughed in disbelief. It felt like he’d been hit hard on the back of his head.
Suhyun has always been skilled at suddenly creating distance. But to think he’d subtly build a wall like this.
If he was building a wall because of what happened in the dungeon, he would’ve been cold, and Jiwon would’ve noticed it right away… but Suhyun’s attitude was so respectful that Jiwon didn’t even think he was creating distance.
“I just don’t understand, anyway….”
Jiwon was still rubbing the back of his head, which felt like it had been hit. He resolved to casually probe when Suhyun returned.
***
“You’re back?”
Suhyun returned home only when it was almost 10 PM. He had been stuck at the Association gym all day. Jiwon already knew this thanks to the chatty Won Jungyeom who had contacted him to inform.
“Do you want to receive guiding first? Or do you want to shower first?”
“……”
Jiwon asked with his arms crossed. Now that he had noticed Suhyun was avoiding him, he didn’t feel very good and couldn’t laugh cheerfully as usual.
“…Let’s do the guiding.”
Suhyun, who had been staring blankly at Jiwon, slumped down on the sofa. He must have showered at the gym because Suhyun was emanating a nice fragrance.
Did the gym have products that smelled this nice?
Jiwon, shaking his head to brush off unnecessary thoughts, extended his hand to Suhyun. Suhyun placed his hand on top without a word.
“First, I received a call from Team Leader Jo Wooyeon today. I’ll relay that information first.”
Since it was necessary to separate public and private matters, Jiwon decided to handle official business quickly.
“Yes.”
“They’ve got results from studying the part of the body you brought back. It’s hard to define exactly, but if I had to say, they said it feels like a mix between an Esper and a monster.”
Suhyun nodded.
“We thought it was a creature from an entirely different dimension since it moves through dungeon gates, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. They say it feels artificially created somehow. So they say they need to research it more.”
People thought dungeons were worlds from different dimensions. That was the most widely supported hypothesis.
So they naturally assumed that ‘that thing’ in question also came from another dimension and began their research along those lines, but I heard they were surprised by unexpected results.
“So….”
They said they needed more samples.
Jiwon was about to say it reflexively but closed his mouth. He didn’t want to convey to Suhyun with his own mouth the words that had made him dumbfounded—that they wanted them to go in again.
“Anyway, the main point is that as part of the research, they want to check your condition.”
“…My condition?”
“Since you broke free from their control inside the dungeon. They want to see if there’s anything different about you.”
Jiwon shrugged after relaying all the messages. Suhyun seemed lost in thought and didn’t respond.
“And this is something I’ve been thinking about all day.”
Since it wasn’t a dangerous matter, Suhyun could think about it later on his own. Making that judgment, Jiwon opened his mouth to bring up the part that had been bothering him all day.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
It was a direct question that made his resolve to probe seem meaningless.
“…What?”
“Are you still angry? Or have I done something else wrong? Why do you keep avoiding me?”
Thanks to this, the somewhat static atmosphere changed instantly. Suhyun, who hadn’t expected the barrage of questions, blinked his eyes blankly.
It looked a bit cute, and Jiwon almost smiled, but with the thought that he absolutely needed to hear the reason, he pretended not to notice for now.
“What’s the problem?”
Jiwon asked, showing a very commendable determination to fix whatever was mentioned.
“You don’t dislike me, right?”
Jiwon was convinced that Suhyun didn’t dislike him. So even if his methods were different, Jiwon couldn’t tolerate him trying to create distance.
Back then, he could let it slide feeling only a moderate sense of betrayal, but not anymore. At least Jiwon had let Suhyun into his heart that much.
If there was a problem, he wanted to solve it. Jiwon truly wanted to get along well with Suhyun.
