The kid next door and Hyeseong had two things in common: one was that they were both only children without siblings, and the other was that their parents were very busy. Therefore, they had to be home alone until late in the evening.
Since he was a middle schooler anyway, there was no reason for him to feel sad or anxious about being in an empty house. All he had to do was play a few rounds of basketball or soccer with his classmates, come home, wash up, and study.
For Hyeseong, that simple, repetitive daily life wasn’t bad at all. He naturally didn’t like change. However, once the kid got involved in that simple routine, many things changed.
At first, he couldn’t understand Yeoul’s parents who left him with a school shuttle helper and only came home late in the evening. Thinking about it, he seemed to have been alone when he was seven too, but anyway, in Hyeseong’s eyes, Kim Yeoul was pathetically young to be left with complete strangers.
‘Hyung, did you have a good day at school? Can I try on your uniform just once?’
‘Can’t I read books next to you, hyung? I’ll be quiet.’
Moreover, the kid who had been timid at first gradually became bolder and started coming to Hyeseong with requests. It seemed that accepting the spinning top had been the root of the problem.
Asking if they couldn’t be together, saying that his mother had prepared dinner and left it (‘I asked her to make some for hyung too!’) so they should eat together, saying he’d saved up his allowance to buy rice cake skewers for hyung…
The kid who came by endlessly every single day annoyed him to death. But to coldly turn him away, the kid seemed too young and fragile. Hyeseong always greeted Yeoul with a lukewarm expression, but without fail.
He didn’t do anything particularly nice for him. He just left him alone, whether he was there or not, and studied and read books. Even during dinner, all he did was set out one more spoon and scoop out a bowl of rice for him.
And yet, the little kid came by constantly as if there was something so great about it. Along with words that made no sense, saying he liked hyung so, so much. Fortunately, as long as he just let him be there, the kid didn’t make noise or particularly bother him further, so he left it alone.
The change in that ambiguous relationship with the kid came along with Hyeseong’s awakening.
It was a school day like any other on his way home. Suddenly, unprecedented pain and heat rushed in and overwhelmed Hyeseong. Had it been the result of ignoring the languid heat and dizziness he’d had since a week ago? He collapsed on the roadside, and when he opened his eyes, he was in the emergency room, and received the absurd diagnosis that he’d awakened as an Esper.
Moreover.
‘These wavelengths… I’ve never seen anything like this, Director.’
‘Let’s test him immediately. This… this might be.’
The Director of the Esper and Guide Security Bureau and people called diagnostic examiners who’d been contacted by the emergency room doctor all rushed over and caused a commotion. With his parents’ consent, Hyeseong was taken straight to the Security Bureau. After being covered in strange devices and tested, he heard the news that he’d awakened as Korea’s only S-grade Esper.
Hyeseong refused the recommendation that it would be better to stay at the Security Bureau and returned home immediately. And for a week, he suffered through something called awakening pain or whatever it was. It was pain and heat he’d never experienced before. His heart felt like it was burning up, painfully so, yet his entire body was cold as ice.
During the week Hyeseong lay down, the media was turned upside down. News headlines and internet articles were filled entirely with news about Korea’s only S-grade Esper who’d awakened at age fourteen. Reporters came all the way to his house to hover around. For Hyeseong, who was wandering in hazy heat, everything was just annoying and burdensome.
‘Hyeseong. Yeoul came to visit…’
While he was in a daze from the pain ripping through his entire body, his mother carefully opened the door and said that. He wanted to answer, tell him to leave. But he didn’t even have the strength to move his lips. In the end, Hyeseong gave up and just quietly let out a sigh.
‘Hyung. It’s me, Yeoul. Are you okay? I was worried about hyung, so I came to visit the sick.’
The moment he saw the face of the little kid clinging to his side with a tearful expression, rather than annoyance, a chuckle leaked out. It’s not byeongmunhwan, it’s byeongmunan. He only said that to himself.
‘You must be in a lot of pain. What should I do… Get better soon, hyung.’
‘…Yeah.’
‘I used to be hospitalized a lot because I was sick too. So I understand hyung’s feelings a little bit… How, um, lonely and bored you must be right now.’
Hyeseong silently watched the little kid chattering away with all sorts of things. With his eyebrows drooping and both hands clasped together against his chest, Kim Yeoul looked like he was about to shed tears at any moment.
‘I’ll… save up my allowance hard and buy you rice cake skewers, hyung. No. Since hyung worked hard… I’ll specially buy you corn pops instead of rice cake skewers. With cheese on top too…’
I know full well how much allowance you have. If he bought him corn pops with cheese on top, the kid would blow his entire week’s allowance.
Suddenly, this situation felt quite amusing and pleasant. Outside, news with his face kept coming out, it was being reported even overseas, and reporters were camping out. Yet right beside him sat a seven-year-old kid going on and on about rice cake skewers and corn pops.
Hyeseong smiled weakly at the kid who was making a tearful face.
‘Where does a baby get money to buy such things?’
‘I’m not a baby… I’m in the older kids’ class.’
Yeoul insisted he wasn’t a baby with a shocked expression. Even though his front teeth were completely missing.
‘I don’t have money now, but… tomorrow is allowance day, so I can save it up.’
‘Okay, thank you.’
He was about to say he didn’t need to buy it, but thinking the kid would be disappointed, he just let him do as he pleased. Yeoul carefully extended his hand and firmly grasped Hyeseong’s hand. A pleasant warmth was transmitted from the damp and soft palm characteristic of children.
‘Hyung, your hand is really cold.’
‘Let go. Your hand must be cold.’
‘No. My hands are really warm, so it’s okay.’
While suffering through awakening pain, Yeoul came to visit every single day. As soon as kindergarten ended, he would rush over and stay by Hyeseong’s side.
He would diligently eat the snacks that Hyeseong’s mother had prepared and left for the seven-year-old kid who came to visit every day, show him toys he’d made at kindergarten, and sometimes lie down next to Hyeseong and drift off into an early evening nap.
He couldn’t deny it. Though it had been a tedious and painful awakening period, it was less tedious and less painful because he was with the seven-year-old kid from next door. And also the fact that the kid who had only been annoying and bothersome no longer felt that way.
As soon as the pain that had wrung his entire body subsided, Hyeseong had to go to the Esper and Guide Security Bureau. A tight schedule awaited Hyeseong, including special one-on-one training he would receive from the Director, a rank conferment ceremony, and a commissioning ceremony. He would be spending the next few weeks entirely there.
He had already calmly accepted his life, which would be completely changed in an instant. Since gates began appearing all over the world and ability users started emerging, he had been experiencing firsthand that the state called ‘peace’ was not something freely given.
For him, whose aptitude suited planning and control, he also thought becoming a soldier wasn’t a bad option. That’s why he wasn’t afraid of the military life that would suddenly begin, nor of the harsh training.
However.
‘I wish hyung wouldn’t go…’
Holding onto Hyeseong as he packed his bags and left the house, Yeoul cried until his clothes were completely soaked. Yeoul’s mother tried to soothe him awkwardly and tried to stop him, but it was no use.
Standing tall and silently looking down at the little kid, Hyeseong got down on one knee. He awkwardly pulled the kid who was sobbing with a messy face into an embrace and patted his back.
‘Just 30 nights. Sleep for just 30 nights, and when hyung finishes training, I’ll play with you all day. Let’s skip kindergarten and go to the amusement park. How about it.’
‘Hic, waaah, sniff, r-really?’
The child made an interested expression even while hiccupping severely. Hyeseong nodded and held out his pinky finger.
‘Yeah. So let’s promise to wait bravely without crying. You said you’re in the older kids’ class. Can an older kid cry like this?’
‘N-no, hic, no.’
‘Right. Only babies cry.’
Hyeseong, who wiped away the tears and snot flowing down with his palm, smiled faintly.
‘Hyung will come back as the strongest hero in the world.’
The training was cruelly grueling. Handling at will the massive amount of ability that had begun to explosively sprout inside his body was more difficult than he’d thought.
Unlike other Espers who enlisted in the training center and received training while rubbing shoulders with their peers, Hyeseong was completely alone. One-on-one training with the Director was conducted in a training ground so vast it was like several athletic stadiums put together.
The training content was varied. He had to create a giant ice pillar within seconds, then split it again within seconds into small, uniformly shaped pieces, and he also had to thaw sharp ice pieces sharpened like countless needles just before they fell to the ground. Thus, Hyeseong learned to draw out, stop, and delicately control the cold inside his body.
He also faced living creatures one-on-one. With hands that had never been stained with a drop of blood, Hyeseong took down a different type of monster life form every single day. Though called monsters, they were living, breathing beings. The day he first killed a creature with his own hands, Hyeseong couldn’t sleep all night with his nerves on edge.
It was overwhelmingly difficult to handle with just a fourteen-year-old boy’s body the harsh training that even adults couldn’t endure and dropped out from. After training ended, he vomited every time, suffered severely every night, and fainting was a constant occurrence. Though lonely and difficult, Hyeseong endured it calmly.
As soon as he completed the training course, Hyeseong received the rank of Major. Upon returning home, he immediately kept his promise with Yeoul.
‘Hyung! I want to ride that! That one!’
Inside the amusement park, the little kid wearing a bunny headband flew around like a fish in water. He rode this and that without fear. Though all the little kid could ride were at most spinning teacups, carousels, and bumper cars. Even then, whenever he was disappointed about not meeting the height requirement, Hyeseong would laugh and tease him.
‘See. You always pick out the cucumbers and carrots when eating.’
‘Don’t tease me.’
Yeoul, who had been fuming in frustration, pondered deeply and asked again.
‘…Is it really because of that…?’
‘Of course it is. From now on, should you eat cucumbers and carrots hard, or not eat them.’
‘I should eat them.’
The tiny little kid clenched his fist and made a solemn vow.
‘From now on, I’ll eat mom and dad’s cucumbers and carrots too, and I’ll grow taller than hyung.’
‘Okay, okay.’
He bought churros as a reward for the admirable little kid. He blew on the warm churros and handed them to the little kid who tilted his head wondering what it was. With a crunch, Yeoul’s expression brightened dramatically as he took a bite.
‘Hyung, hyung. It’s really delicious. I love this so much! I want to save up my allowance and buy a hundred of them!’
Hyeseong played with Yeoul at the amusement park until late in the evening. In his father’s car that came to pick them up, Yeoul immediately fell asleep as if collapsing. Looking down at the little kid lying down using his knee as a pillow, Hyeseong thought, He sleeps so well, like an angel.
