When his eyes slowly opened, Yeoul immediately realized where he was lying. The tiresome hospital. Did all hospitals across the country make some kind of pact to use curtains with the same pattern? He found it funny that such a trivial thought was the first thing that came to mind.
‘…Why am I in the hospital…’
The question briefly arose, but soon the memories from before he lost consciousness came back.
He’d eaten with Kang Hyeseong, and even while doing so, he’d tried hard to ignore the occasionally creeping body aches, and when hyung, who saw the medicine box, told him to go home, he’d stubbornly refused to go… As a result, Yeoul was lying in a hospital bed.
‘Ah, how embarrassing.’
Yeoul sighed while dry-washing his face. When he raised his head, he saw the IV needle stuck in the back of his hand. How did he end up collapsing?
Had his heart, which had been fine all this time, developed problems again? Or was it just body aches? But… he swore, absolutely, recently his body had been lethargic and aching here and there, but it wasn’t to the point of losing consciousness and fainting like this.
But even if he made such excuses to Kang Hyeseong, he’d only get an earful. He might get scolded to tears about why he’d been so stubborn when his condition was this bad.
He was usually very caring toward him, but there were exceptions. Those exceptions were always about Yeoul’s condition or well-being.
“…Of course, Esper Kang Hyeseong would know better, but…”
At that moment, the voice of someone presumed to be a doctor came from beyond the drawn curtain. The voice was so cautious and small that he couldn’t hear it well.
“…For that to be the case, I didn’t sense any waves at all until just before.”
“That’s because the waves, which had been suppressed to ordinary person levels, suddenly exploded all at once…”
He could also hear Hyeseong’s voice conversing with the doctor intermittently. Somehow that voice felt heavy and somber. Though he didn’t know exactly what they were talking about, he felt bad that hyung seemed to be suffering in front of many people because of him.
For having collapsed earlier, his condition didn’t seem that bad. Though his vision was slightly dizzy and his whole body ached, it didn’t seem like he needed to be hospitalized like this. Should I get up now and tell hyung to go home… He was thinking such thoughts and had half-risen from the bed when—
“…In conclusion, we can say that Mr. Kim Yeoul… has awakened as a Guide.”
…Wait a minute.
What… did he just say?
Yeoul froze like a statue in that awkward position with his upper body raised.
Not a heart problem, but… he awakened as a Guide?
I’m… a Guide, a Guide…?
The word the doctor had spoken floated around in his head like debris. He’d lived a full twenty years as an ordinary person unrelated to abilities. It was a word he’d thought would never apply to him his whole life, like oil that didn’t mix with water and firmly drew boundaries.
Actually… he had yearning and admiration for ability users, yes, and even further, he had a desire to become an ability user. Quite earnestly, too. He couldn’t say that his yearning and admiration toward Kang Hyeseong, which he’d hidden tightly without anyone knowing, weren’t involved in that.
But that too was a wish from the past that he’d neatly folded and sent flying up to the sky. Ability users usually awakened between seventeen and eighteen years old (Kang Hyeseong’s case was excessively early. So much so that researchers were still periodically drawing his blood and studying it).
However, in Yeoul’s case, even after becoming an adult, there wasn’t even an ant-sized sign of abilities developing. That’s why he had no choice but to cleanly give up on his secret desire for abilities.
But now, of all times?
I’m… I’m a Guide?
“Ah…”
At that moment, a low sigh was heard from outside the curtain.
“…I understand well.”
Hearing Kang Hyeseong’s excessively heavy voice, Yeoul slowly blinked. He slowly clenched and unclenched the fist with the IV in it. Before he could do anything about his jumbled, confused mind, the curtain was pulled back.
“…You were awake, Yeoul-ah?”
“Huh? Y-yeah. I just… woke up… just now.”
Yeoul parted his tightly closed lips. A wet smack sound rang out embarrassingly loud. Hyeseong’s face, which he cautiously looked up at, was rigidly hardened. If anyone saw this, they’d think Kang Hyeseong was the one who received this sudden diagnosis, not him.
Hyeseong looked both bewildered and angry. Yeoul looked up at him, unable to hide his confusion.
“Hyung, what you talked about with the doctor… is it… true?”
“……”
“Did I… hear correctly?”
He asked cautiously, but Hyeseong only looked down at Yeoul without answering. Looking at his gaze that seemed even more troubled, Yeoul took a labored breath.
“…It’s true.”
After a not-so-short silence, Hyeseong opened his mouth.
“Of course, we’ll have to go to the Security Bureau and properly test your waves to confirm it, but… Yeoul, you’ve awakened as a Guide.”
Kang Hyeseong answered faithfully in a heavy voice. Yeoul slowly nodded his head. He stood before a major event that might change the trajectory of his life, but perhaps because of that, it felt even more unreal.
So was he scared, anxious, and at a loss… Actually, a different emotion took precedence over those. What quietly and faintly rose up was clearly joy.
The happiness that he could understand more deeply the person he’d only watched from behind while inwardly seething. The expectation that he could get one step closer to the world of the man he’d admired for so long.
“Hyung, but…”
“Yeah, Yeoul-ah.”
“Are you… angry by any chance?”
However, he was bothered by Hyeseong’s face, which was frowning fiercely. Our hyung seems angry somehow, but why is he so angry… An intimidated voice came out on its own.
Hyeseong, who’d been looking down at Yeoul silently, let out a long sigh with a haah-.
“Of course not.”
“……”
“It’s just, a bit…”
Kang Hyeseong closed his mouth without finishing his words. This is the first time seeing him like this. The Hyeseong that Yeoul knew was always strong, calm, and didn’t have large emotional fluctuations.
He was always a cool-headed and composed perfectionist. To the point where even his mother would sometimes grumble that she ‘couldn’t feel any humanity from her son.’
Yeoul gulped. He wanted to ask why he was like that. But Hyeseong reaching out his hand came first. After neatly sweeping up his disheveled hair, he adjusted and closed off the IV that had finished administering all the medicine. Then he spoke in his usual calm voice.
“…It’s nothing. The doctor said you can be discharged once you’ve finished the medicine, Yeoul-ah. Let’s go home. I contacted Auntie.”
“Okay.”
Hyeseong took the hand of Yeoul, who was obediently getting up from his seat. The moment his hand was buried deep in that cool palm, Hyeseong noticeably flinched. Just like static electricity had sparked.
“……?”
Yeoul, who was also startled, quietly looked up at him. But that was only for a moment. Hyeseong’s attitude as he firmly grasped Yeoul’s hand again was the same as usual, as if asking when that had happened.
***
Having planned a homecoming party for Hyeseong, Auntie took time off work and rolled up her sleeves, saying she’d show her skills after a long time. Yeoul’s parents, who worked overtime more than four times a week, also left work early for once and were helping prepare the food.
In the midst of everyone gathering together to prepare for the party cheerfully, the parents, who received contact from Hyeseong, had no choice but to be startled and collapse. After Hyeseong barely calmed down Yeoul’s parents, who said they’d come pick him up by car right away, he safely returned home with Yeoul.
“Yeoul-ah!”
“My baby, are you okay?!”
Yeoul’s parents, and Hyeseong’s mother, rushed from the doorway to check on Yeoul’s condition as he was carried on Hyeseong’s back. Yeoul mumbled to Hyeseong with an awkward face, asking to be put down now.
Actually, after receiving a sedative at the hospital, his physical condition wasn’t too bad except for some slight dizziness. Enough to be embarrassed being carried like this while receiving all his parents’ worry.
The parents sat down with serious faces and listened to Hyeseong’s calm explanation. For quite a while, no one rashly opened their mouth. Suddenly awakening as an ability user after living a whole lifetime as an ordinary person was a serious enough matter to completely change the trajectory of one’s life.
Yeoul was the first to break the heavy atmosphere.
“Um… Auntie, Mom, Dad. I’m okay.”
He deliberately smiled brightly at their worried faces.
“It’s hard to get jobs these days, right? I was worrying about my career path anyway. Haha… If I’m an ability user, the treatment is the best, right? Since I’ll become a national civil servant like Hyeseong hyung.”
“Well… that’s true. But Yeoul-ah, Mom and Dad…”
Yeoul’s mother let out a deep sigh.
“It’s just… it’s so sudden. That’s why everyone’s surprised.”
“That’s right, Yeoul-ah. Your health too. And since being a soldier is dangerous, we’re also worried…”
Auntie chimed in from the side. At that moment, Hyeseong, who’d been silent, opened his mouth.
“There won’t be any danger to Yeoul. Because I’ll make sure he’s never sent to the field.”
The calm yet firm voice had the power to instantly focus everyone’s attention. The parents, who’d opened their eyes wide and listened carefully, immediately agreed with his words.
“Right, right. Our Hyeseong has connections. I forgot about that.”
“Exactly. Mijeong-ah, don’t worry. Even now he cherishes him terribly as his younger brother, would he put him in danger?”
“That’s right. It’s not just anyone else, but our Major Kang is by his side, so we worried for nothing.”
The parents spoke like it was a joke and laughed. Especially Yeoul’s mother had a genuinely relieved face. It wasn’t just anyone else, but ‘that’ Kang Hyeseong’s closest confidant. As Korea’s only S-rank, he was the first soldier to earn the rank of Major at the age of twenty-seven.
“Can’t we eat dinner now? I’ll help prepare the meal too. I’m hungry.”
Yeoul said that and tried to head to the kitchen, but was stopped by Kang Hyeseong within one second. Yeoul, who was led by his hand to lie down on the sofa, grumbled.
“I’m really okay, I’m telling you. I’m perfectly fine now.”
“Stop fussing and lie down. The sedative’s effect is only temporary.”
Hyeseong, who’d cut off Yeoul’s stubbornness in one stroke, brought a blanket and covered him with it. Then, after subtly adjusting the living room lighting, he headed to the kitchen instead. In the end, Yeoul had no choice but to lie on the sofa and watch the scene of his family preparing food.
“Goodness, our Yeoul is a Guide… an ability user.”
“At this point, isn’t there something about the land around here? Two soldiers coming out and all.”
“Exactly. We’re so, so reassured thanks to our sons, aren’t we?”
The voices of the parents chatting warmly sounded as sweet as a lullaby. His stomach growled at the delicious smell wafting from the kitchen.
