# Chapter 15
“Hyung?”
“Don’t sign a contract. Just quit being an Esper altogether. Do something you want to do.”
After tearing the paper a few more times, Raon pushed the pile of paper scraps aside. Something he hadn’t even thought of occurred to him. Why should Jaehwi continue being an Esper? He had already worked for the country for over ten years.
If he had been with NCSC, he would have had no choice, but now he was free. At his age, he could do anything or start something new even if he wasn’t an Esper.
“What?”
“I said don’t be an Esper. You don’t need to do it. Just visit sites as requested according to NCSC’s conditions. You’ve already sacrificed for the country for over ten years. Isn’t there something you want to do? Want to study? University? Or travel? You used to like hearing travel stories, right? You can go see all those places.”
“Wow. This is unbelievable. Really. What am I going to do with our Hyung?”
Raon stared blankly at Jaehwi who suddenly burst into loud laughter after he had been speaking seriously. I’m being serious, and you find it funny? Though he couldn’t understand what was so funny, Jaehwi truly laughed for quite some time.
“Do you think I’m joking?”
Raon knew the life of an Esper better than anyone. He knew how they worked in dangerous situations, and how painful it was when their stability levels became unstable due to the limits of their abilities. At such times, they might find stability with a Guide’s help, but many also died in terrible agony.
But Jaehwi didn’t even have a Guide. Even if he got one and the anxiety about stabilization disappeared, he would still constantly be deployed to dangerous situations.
“Should I really do that? Travel with you, Hyung, and live like that?”
“Yes. Tell me anything. I’ll do whatever for you.”
“I saw the aurora, but it wasn’t that beautiful. When you talked about it, I really wanted to see it.”
As Jaehwi spoke casually while eating the prepared food, Raon promptly suggested they go together.
“Hyung. Please give me the original contract.”
Raon picked up his chopsticks and then put them down again at Jaehwi’s request for the contract, not an agreement to go together.
He couldn’t understand Jaehwi, who had just agreed to travel together but was now asking for the contract again. If he wanted, Raon could submit a leave of absence right away and travel around the world together for months.
“Min Jaehwi.”
“I’m an Esper. I should work for the country and humanity.”
“Talk sense. What has the country and humanity done for you?”
Raon hadn’t predicted at all that the conversation would progress this way until they entered the restaurant. He had been excited about finding a suitable Guide for him.
But now they were discussing not the contract issue, but his entire life.
‘They let me meet you.’
Jaehwi didn’t reveal his true feelings. What had the country and humanity done for him? Well. People looked at him with admiration and hope in their eyes. The country awarded him strange medals as compensation for sending him to difficult sites.
They provided cutting-edge medical facilities to keep him alive so they could continue sending him into dungeons, gave him the best dormitory in the center, and listened to whatever he said. Just one thing—they didn’t give him freedom.
“Honor?”
Finding a suitable word instead of the inner thoughts he didn’t want to reveal to Raon, Jaehwi picked up a piece of rib and brought it to his mouth.
“…”
With a very dissatisfied expression, Raon slightly opened his mouth and accepted the meat Jaehwi offered. Whether he had a lot to say but wanted to eat the food in his mouth first, he chewed vigorously.
“Let’s travel too. How about camping in the desert?”
As he opened his mouth to speak, presumably having finished eating the meat, Jaehwi didn’t miss the timing and fed him another piece of rib. What kind of camping could you do in a desert with nothing but sand?
“Hey, now I’m going to eat the japchae. You eat too.”
Instead of nagging or expressing dissatisfaction, Raon chewed the meat and said something random. Whatever it was, as long as Jaehwi was happy, it was fine. If it was good for him, it was good. Honestly, it didn’t make sense for a brother who met him after 10 years to interfere in his life and do as he pleased.
“Really can’t give up being an Esper?”
“No.”
I should modify the contract as soon as I go to work tomorrow. He couldn’t force anything on him. He could only give various kinds of advice. It’s not like he was doing something bad, so how could he stop him from working for the country and humanity?
“I’ll prepare the contract again tomorrow, so do it with MK.”
“You changed your mind suddenly?”
“Yes. Do it with MK no matter what. Even if our conditions are terrible, the worst, or the most awful, do it with us unconditionally.”
“I will.”
Raon glanced at Jaehwi, who was eating while giving the answer he wanted, and began his own meal. Among other things, there were exactly two things he could do for him.
Search the whole world, even if it took years, to find the best suitable Guide for him. And he planned to use his position.
As the Management Team Leader managing Espers and Guides, Espers and Guides could only be deployed to sites through his hands.
Just don’t send him to the field. Then he won’t be in danger. Raon shrugged and continued his meal while humming.
“Hyung!”
“What?”
They finished their meal while having a pleasant conversation, but another problem followed. Raon’s wrist was caught by Jaehwi as he was about to go home with Jay.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s night?”
“Leaving me alone?”
Jay, who had been listening to all the conversation between the two, looked at Jaehwi with an incredulous expression. He was the world’s top Esper, over 2m tall, with a body made entirely of muscle with no trace of fat anywhere.
Jaehwi was a human weapon that would be the most reliable ally if on our side, but someone you wouldn’t want to meet even after death if an enemy. Yet now, he was making the most pitiful and desolate expression in the world.
“I don’t want to be alone…”
Jaehwi added one more sentence. And Raon, with the words “Go home for today and come to work here tomorrow,” left Jay alone in the parking lot and departed with Jaehwi.
* * *
That face was the problem. Just seeing Jaehwi’s face made him want to comply with everything. Maybe it had been like that from the beginning. It seemed as if he had stolen his rationality with an angel’s face long ago. Whether staying at his home or at the hotel, it shouldn’t have been a big issue for Raon.
He had stayed wherever he felt like, so there was no discomfort. It should have been like that.
“Want a drink?”
Jaehwi naturally offered alcohol to Raon, who had just come out after washing up, and already had alcohol in his hand. Raon took the glass from his hand. There was no need to ask where it came from. The hotel refrigerator always had alcohol in it. Raon sat on the sofa and put the glass to his lips. He had looked at the glass and thought ‘surely not,’ but it really was straight.
The strong alcohol that went down his esophagus left heat behind.
“To think we’d even drink alcohol together.”
He put a piece of cheese from the table in his mouth and shook his head slightly.
“Now we can do anything together. Because I’m not 10-year-old Min Jaehwi anymore.”
Raon smiled slightly as he watched Jaehwi also drinking his alcohol straight. Was it a rebellious act? He felt like he was watching a child who had just turned twenty, showing off saying, ‘Look, I can drink well now.’
“Tell me in detail what you did for 10 years.”
Alcohol was the simplest way to enter each other’s hearts. It softened up even the most tense people and simplified complicated minds.
“Training. Field deployment. Training. Field deployment. Training. Field deployment.”
Expressionless, Jaehwi repeated the same words. From the beginning, words like rebellion or rejection didn’t exist for him. The world was too big, and the approaching pain was not something he could handle.
The angel who comforted him by his side when he was struggling had disappeared. The hell was more terrible for someone who had briefly tasted heaven.
What was given to a child who had come to know the taste of sweet candy was bitter espresso.
“Boring.”
Raon thought about ordering ice but, out of laziness, just drank another glass straight.
“Yes. It was boring. What about you, Hyung?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m sorry.”
Though he had searched for Jaehwi, Raon had lived a comfortable life.
He had gone to university, had friends, traveled, and had relationships. He slept when he wanted to sleep, woke up when he wanted to wake up, and lived as he wished.
If asked to name his worst time, Raon could unhesitatingly say it was the 6 months he spent at NCSC. Even though Jaehwi was there, it was a difficult time for him as his freedom was taken away.
But Jaehwi had spent 10 more years in such a place. Suddenly, a sense of shame washed over him. He didn’t want to say a word about his abundant life in front of someone who had lived such a hard life.
The conversation did not continue quickly. When one person said something, the response only came after a long while. In between, they emptied their drinks.
“But there’s no need to be sorry. Just promise me one thing, Hyung. If you feel sorry for me or whatever, just do what you want to do, see what you want to see, and live happily and pleasantly.”
“Why does that sound familiar?”
Raon murmured, comfortably leaning on the sofa, and looked out the window. The night, full of brilliant lights, was very beautiful.
The empty glass was filled with alcohol again. It was a night with the rippling golden liquid, waves of light, and Jaehwi silently looking at him.
