“Right after registering and receiving education, he didn’t stay at the central facility and went to the provinces.”
“Why?”
“Well… after breaking up with me, he said if he stayed in Seoul we’d inevitably keep seeing each other…”
Ilkyung let out a small sigh. Well, there was nothing as painful as having to frequently see a former lover.
“But how can someone manifest as an Esper at such a late age?”
“I was surprised too. Since he was already past twenty, I never imagined he’d manifest as an ability user.”
“Anyway, so you broke up with your ex-boyfriend who manifested as an Esper, and while consulting about your worries with Kyungmin during that time, you two developed feelings and it ended up like this?”
Seonhwa and Kyungmin nodded simultaneously.
“Hey, even so, really. Did you two like each other back when you were in school too?”
“Would they have?”
At Ilkyung’s question, Yewon, who had been silently listening beside them, retorted. Only then did Ilkyung nod. It was because Kyungmin had a girlfriend he’d been dating throughout high school. It was the same for Seonhwa. Rather, Seonhwa was so close with Ilkyung that people would ask if the two of them were dating.
“I guess soulmates exist separately.”
At Seonhwa’s words, Ilkyung chuckled.
“Hey, just drink.”
Looking at Ilkyung who seemed somehow restless, Yewon clinked glasses with him. Ilkyung looked at the large beer mug and let out a deep sigh. Generous side dishes had come out but he didn’t really feel like eating. He’d had no appetite lately.
“Come to think of it, isn’t Woo Ilkyung seeing anyone these days?”
The direction of conversation turned toward Ilkyung. At the question of whether he was seeing anyone, Ilkyung was so surprised that beer trickled down from his mouth.
“Why are you being so gross!”
Even as Yewon said that, she pulled out tissues and dabbed and wiped at Ilkyung’s mouth.
“Ah, sorry.”
Ilkyung pulled out more tissues and wiped his mouth. Fuck, what a surprise. From the moment Espers and Guides were mentioned, he kept thinking of Director Ha Daehoon which was troublesome…
“Seriously Woo Ilkyung, did you meet someone while we haven’t seen each other?”
“Who would I meet? I’m so busy with work I could die! Even on my way home I get called out, and in the morning on my way to work accidents break out and it’s chaos. Before becoming Assistant Manager there wasn’t so much to do so it wasn’t this hard, but these days it’s too tough. I guess I shouldn’t have entered the Center.”
Ilkyung complained. Then his friends looked somewhat surprised.
“You wanted to enter the Center so badly you even graduated from university early.”
“That was then, but now that I’ve actually entered, I wonder if this is right. You know? I’m not even an ability user, so why did I struggle so hard to work since I was young, thinking it was so great.”
“Is there some problem these days?”
Growing up, Ilkyung had the kinds of worries anyone might have, but even those weren’t particularly long or deep. The fact that only he wasn’t an ability user had always sat in a corner of his heart like a hangnail, but that was a problem as long as he didn’t touch it. Other than that, nothing troubled Ilkyung. Born into a good family, he was always materially abundant and grew up preciously like a hothouse flower in his family’s love. Loved and always optimistic and positive, Ilkyung never lacked for people around him. He did well in his studies too, and after entering the Center he was quickly promoted after receiving recognition from his seniors.
“It’s not like that, just. You all went to study abroad and traveled overseas several times. But I feel like maybe I’ve lived too much like a frog in a well. Getting the wedding invitation today, I kind of feel that way.”
“What are you talking about, Woo Ilkyung. You already went overseas every vacation until high school. If you count the frequency of going overseas, you’ve gone the most among us. What frog in a well.”
Yewon frowned and raised her hand to order more beer for the number of people.
“But still, I never studied abroad.”
“You can get posted overseas later, right? There are overseas branches too.”
As Ilkyung nodded but made a somehow unconvinced expression, Seonhwa said.
“Don’t you have a lover? Are you lonely these days?”
“No, I’m not lonely!”
The fact that two close friends were getting married felt a bit strange. But that didn’t mean he was lonely. If he wanted to meet someone, he first had to settle things with Director Ha Daehoon.
“But seriously, why doesn’t Woo Ilkyung date?”
At Seonhwa’s question, Kyungmin sitting beside her chuckled.
“Woo Ilkyung doesn’t not date, he can’t date. This bastard, his standards are damn high.”
“Ah, right! It was like that in high school too, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah! He only meets pretty girls so he always breaks up before long. You have to look at a person’s character, not their face.”
At his friends’ attack, Ilkyung pouted his lips for no reason. This was why meeting friends was both enjoyable and troublesome. Because his friends knew too much about Ilkyung.
“When did I do that?”
“What do you mean when. Don’t you remember in high school, you put aside the kids who liked you and kept meeting only pretty-looking ones and couldn’t even last a few weeks before breaking up? You did that in college too. We kept telling you to look at personality, but you kept falling for faces only, and you’d meet kids who acted like their faces. Among them weren’t there kids who cheated on you? Or wait, were they two-timing from the start?”
“Ah, enough!”
Ilkyung yelled and got irritated as his dark history was recited in a string. Whether he did or not, his friends were too busy teasing Ilkyung to care.
“Meet someone who treats you well. Someone kind. That’s the best.”
“So Kim Kyungmin, are you getting married because he treats you well?”
“Isn’t that obvious? When I had a lot of worries and kept crying and stuff, Kim Kyungmin really comforted me a lot. He listened to me talk. You don’t know how much strength that gave me.”
Ilkyung still didn’t really understand what his friends were saying. As if meeting and loving someone could be controlled like that. If it were as easy as they made it sound, he wouldn’t have had such consistently failed loves until now.
* * *
“Noonaa—! I can’t get home. I can’t catch a taxi. Come pick me up, hm?”
Ilkyung clutched his phone and made a request that was more like an order to his twin noona.
Friday night, meeting friends after a long time and talking about this and that while eating, he eventually ended up in a state where he couldn’t tell if it was rice cake or a person. Drunk Ilkyung got in a taxi with his friends’ help, but felt sick and got out in the middle. In the end he sent away the taxi he’d caught and walked a bit before trying to catch another taxi, but that had to be caught first. He was too drunk to have the presence of mind to call for a taxi.
“Here? Where is here, um… Ah! I can see the subway, but the subway’s already stopped running? Hehe.”
Ilkyung laughed then crouched down and made a tearful face.
“I want to go home. Hm? Are you coming? Yay! Hm? Yeah. Okay then. I’ll waaaait.”
Obedient Ilkyung plopped down on a chair in front of a convenience store and leaned his cheek against the parasol table. Because he was told not to go anywhere and wait right where he was. How much time passed like that? A long shadow fell over the lying Ilkyung.
“I said let’s have a contract relationship, I didn’t say let’s have a real relationship.”
Looking at Ilkyung dozing with his cheek against the convenience store table, Daehoon muttered. The night air was still cold, so he couldn’t understand why he was like this. When he called him on the phone babbling about noona this and that, he didn’t think it was this bad…
“Woo Ilkyung-ssi.”
Daehoon called Ilkyung while looking down with his arms crossed. Then Ilkyung tilted his head slightly and looked at Daehoon.
“Hm? Director-nim? Why?”
“Just how much did you drink?”
“Hm? Is this a dream? Do you appear in my dreams now too?”
Ilkyung grinned. Watching that, Daehoon wanted to painfully pinch those white, soft, rice cake-like cheeks. Then those big eyes would well up with tears and he’d whine that it hurt.
“If you stay here like this, you’ll catch a cold. Let’s go home.”
“Okay.”
Ilkyung just blinked his large eyes open and closed, completely unable to get his bearings. Then he muttered, and the problem was that it was too audible.
“Why am I here. Why isn’t noona coming.”
