The next day, 4 AM.
Lee Heewoo stumbled outside with a half-asleep face. Since he’d gone to bed later than usual after eating udon yesterday, he hadn’t slept much. He was forcing himself to peel away the drowsiness clinging stubbornly to his eyelids when he opened the rusty gate.
“…Huh?”
Heewoo stopped short as he stepped outside. Someone was standing in front of his house.
A foreign man in a long coat, no different from yesterday. The owner of that massive frame that even the coat couldn’t hide was Heichi. As soon as Heewoo came out, he approached without any change in expression.
Seeing him reminded Heewoo of what happened just before they parted last night. The man who had hastily pulled his hand away as if he’d touched something dirty the moment their bare skin made contact.
After that, Heewoo had waited a moment, thinking he might apologize, but Heichi just stood there silently without a word. The streetlight happened to be shining elsewhere, so Heewoo couldn’t even see his expression. In the end, it was Heewoo who greeted him first in the awkwardness and left as if fleeing.
“Uh… What brings you here…?”
“Are you busy today too?”
“Huh? Oh, uh, yes. I have to go to my part-time job…”
Heewoo answered reflexively, barely collecting himself before starting down the slope. In a few minutes, the first bus would arrive at the only bus stop in the neighborhood. If he missed it, he’d be late.
“I understand.”
“…What?”
Before he could understand what Heichi understood, Heichi stuck close behind Heewoo. Heewoo wanted to ask why he was following him, whether he’d been waiting for him all dawn, but perhaps because it was morning, the words wouldn’t come out quickly, so he just mumbled with his lips.
The two finally arrived at the bus stop. Since he’d moved a bit more diligently today, worried he might oversleep, there was still plenty of time before the bus would arrive. Heewoo stepped inside the thin glass barrier that barely blocked the cold wind and said:
“C-come over here… If you stay there, you’ll be cold…”
Heichi, who had been sticking close behind Heewoo, positioned himself outside the glass barrier once they arrived at the stop. Unable to watch this, Heewoo called him inside. Heichi, who had been looking at him, asked:
“Are you cold?”
“…What? Yes, it’s cold… The news said today would be the coldest day of the year.”
“I see.”
Heewoo pulled his old padded jacket tighter once more. He’d already zipped it up to his neck so there wasn’t really anywhere left to pull tighter, but he was trying to overcome the cold by curling up his body somehow. Even though he’d put on the long underwear he’d gotten a few years ago, the padding was so worn that it wasn’t properly fulfilling its role as outerwear.
“Here.”
“Uh… N-no, you don’t have to.”
Just then, Heichi suddenly held out the long coat he was wearing to Heewoo. What was revealed when he took off the coat was a blazer the same color as the coat, and it looked so cold just to look at that Heewoo hurriedly refused.
“Thickening the outer layer prevents heat loss.”
The word choice was somehow subtly strange. But thinking he was a foreigner, it wasn’t odd, so Heewoo let it pass without much thought.
“I… um, I think you’ll be cold too, Heichi-ssi…”
Since there was no name like ‘Heichi’ among Korean names, he hesitated quite a bit before saying it. After uttering the unfamiliar pronunciation, Heichi looked at Heewoo quietly. He shook his head.
“My skin is thick.”
“…What?”
“Therefore, I am not sensitive to cold.”
His skin is thick…?
While it took time to understand those words, Heichi draped the coat he was holding over Heewoo’s shoulders. Even the way he draped it was so clumsy that it seemed like the coat might fall to the ground at any moment.
Heewoo first held it to keep this expensive-looking coat from touching the ground, then tried to return it. But just then, the bus arrived.
Heewoo, about to board the bus as usual, remembered that yesterday he had tried to put in a 50,000 won bill. Since he also had the udon cost to repay, he should at least pay the bus fare. Just as Heewoo was about to say it was two people:
“Two people.”
“Yes. Tag it.”
-Beep. Two adults.
Everything happened smoothly. In Heichi’s hand was a transit card that hadn’t been there until yesterday, and just like Heewoo had done yesterday, he said “Two people” and tagged the card.
Did he… make a card overnight?
By then, Heichi was already striding toward the back seats of the bus. Heewoo, holding the coat, hurriedly followed. Unlike yesterday, today there were a few people who appeared to be commuting sitting on the bus.
“Did you make a card?”
“Yes.”
“I see…”
He must be a very fast adapter, this Heichi. Perhaps he was on a trip to Korea? But for that, he didn’t seem excited…
“…Oh, how did you know where my house was?”
“I was looking around.”
“M-my house?”
“No, that vicinity.”
He didn’t know what there was to look around in that place that was nothing but a hillside slum, but since he said so, Heewoo decided to accept it.
“Are you doing ‘part-time work’ today too?”
“Yes… U-until eleven. I’ll be busy until then. I’m sorry.”
Is he bored traveling alone? For some reason, Heichi seemed to be asking for help, so Heewoo wanted to be his travel guide. However, thinking of the part-time jobs scheduled for today, Heewoo shook his head inwardly.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“Ah, okay…”
“Did you eat breakfast?”
“Ah, breakfast?”
Heewoo, who had been planning to go to the convenience store and have breakfast with leftover expired items, stammered with a guilty face. Most of the expired food from the convenience store went to Heewoo, so it had been weighing on his mind lately anyway.
A few days ago, the convenience store owner who was Heewoo’s replacement shift had subtly hinted to him, saying, “Heewoo-gun seems to eat all our convenience store rice balls.” Of course, if not rice balls, he’d have to starve straight through until dinner that day, so even while reading the room, he couldn’t keep his hands off them.
“Humans must eat three meals a day.”
He spoke as if reciting knowledge that had been drilled into him. Heewoo knew it too. That if you’re someone who works all day without rest, it’s good to properly have three meals a day.
The problem was always money. Buying food was too expensive, and as someone who had to be out until 11 PM, packing a lunch box would smell if he put it in his bag. Plus, in summer it would often spoil, so lunch boxes were even more out of the question.
“Th-that’s true… But I’m busy.”
Pshhhh, screech.
While talking, the bus had already arrived at its destination. Seeing the familiar scenery through the window, Heewoo hurriedly got off and Heichi followed behind.
“Well… I’ll be going now.”
The convenience store was right across from the bus stop, so they had to part here. Without even seeing Heichi’s farewell, Heewoo busily ran to the convenience store. And only after arriving at the convenience store did he realize he’d brought Heichi’s coat with him.
“Excuse me, this is a card a customer lost early this morning, they said they’ll come back for it later.”
“Ah. Okay. Go ahead.”
The night shift worker quickly left the convenience store today as well. Left alone, Heewoo set the coat aside in a corner and immediately got to work organizing inventory.
While organizing drinks at the back of the refrigerator, he suddenly discovered that the box where expired food was collected was completely empty. Heewoo’s heart felt inexplicably dejected. Today, he had no choice but to go hungry all the way through.
It was fortunate he’d eaten udon yesterday. Heewoo put aside his disappointed feelings and finished organizing the drinks. And when he came out of the refrigerator like that…
“Huh?”
It was Heichi. Still in his morning blazer outfit, he headed straight toward Heewoo as soon as he saw him.
“Please eat breakfast.”
He held out something. A paper bag. On the outside was printed the phrase “Bingeure Dosirak: Breakfast Specialist.”
—
Telling the story of divorcing because of an Esper
Fuck, what the hell are these Espers and Guides really?
Some super handsome guy latched onto my wife and suddenly started courting her with all this bullshit
lol We were going to divorce anyway because we weren’t compatible, but this just makes me feel like shit
He kept going on about “pair” or some crap, what the fuck is that?
Anyway, he was all over her with gifts and flirting, saying she was his pair
But there are female Espers too, right? Why are all the ones I’ve seen equipped with dicks lol
‣Likes (3)│Comments (8)
Anon1: lol This guy just got dumped but is pretending his wife got stolen because of an Esper, upvote if you agree
⤷Anon3: Upvote lol
⤷Anon2: I’m not divorced but broke up while dating.. The Esper said he couldn’t live without them and apologized ㅠ
⤷Anon4: Hang in there, kid. Even if it wasn’t an Esper, she would’ve cheated anyway
⤷Anon5: Wait, he’s a guy though?
⤷Anon7: Oh so you’re a woman? wow
⤷Anon8: Wait no, I’m a guy too?
Anon6: Why are you asking about female Espers? Jealous of the wife? lol
Why does the government just leave Espers alone
Just looking around me, there are several couples ruined because of Espers, fuck. Won’t the government intervene?
Overseas news is blowing up with this too.
France is even giving Espers permanent residency lol
At this point, Espers must have something, right???
‣Likes (7)│Comments (4)
Anon1: You don’t know? One Esper = military power of a decent small country
⤷Anon4: lol My uncle works at the Ministry of Defense and I heard it’s not quite that much, but high-ranking? Espers are stronger than most countries’ militaries, that’s why even the US is groveling to them
Anon2: lol You idiot, can you still talk about intervention when you see the warship floating above your head?
Anon3: If intervention was possible, they would’ve kicked them out from the sky~ It’s impossible so they’re leaving them alone lol
I’ll summarize Esper / Guide stuff for you.
Esper = Those superhumans you see in movies, yeah. But the difference is there’s a risk every time they use their abilities. If they can’t purify the toxins for a long time, it can even lead to death. By the way, on their planet, Espers make up over 80% of the population.
Guide = Role of purifying toxins accumulated in Espers. But there’s something called a matching rate, so the Guide that suits each Esper is different, yeah.
Guiding = The act of a Guide purifying an Esper’s toxins. Must be based on physical contact.
Pair = A Guide with a high matching rate with that Esper. Also called a pair. If the matching rate is very high, they’re also called soulmates apparently.
Conclusion = Espers have to find their Guide to survive anyway. That’s why all the Espers who came to Earth are crazy and jumping around over their pairs. There are no Guides on their planet, so they’re going around to other planets. That’s why they came to our Earth too.
Okay? If you disagree, you’re right about everything.
‣Likes (33)│Comments (11)
Anon1: Upvoting first
Anon2: How do you know so much;; Are you a Guide?
⤷Anon (OP): Nope, scraped all the overseas news. In America, Espers are already officially active, so information spreads faster than in our country.
Anon3: Teacher, but what exactly does physical contact mean?
⤷Anon (OP): Just think of it as anything where skin or mucous membranes touch. That’s why Espers ask people they suspect are Guides to hold hands.
Anon4: Fuck, no wonder someone asked to hold hands yesterday
Anon5: Are there any tabloid reporters here? Someone scrape this and make it into an article. They instantly make articles about celebrity dating;;
⤷Anon8: Agreed
Anon6: But honestly I’m scared ㅠ
⤷Anon7: I’m fucking excited though lol Isn’t it jackpot if you’re a Guide?
Anon9: Wow but another planet? So there are other planets with life besides Earth and those Espers’ planet in the universe? omg The science world must be going crazy
