# Chapter 72
After finishing all conversations, Jaehee immediately went to the examination room.
“…”
But Geonwoo’s actual condition that he faced was beyond describing as miserable. Jaehee’s face, looking down at Geonwoo who couldn’t open his eyes while being tied by both wrists and ankles to the bed, had turned as white as a sheet of paper.
Add to that the gate news he had just heard.
Jaehee felt like his head was about to explode.
‘The flow of events… has accelerated.’
The occurrence of the gate where Dohyun loses his leg had been brought forward much earlier than before the regression.
‘Is this because of bringing forward Geonwoo’s manifestation…?’
Before the regression, Geonwoo’s manifestation had occurred long after the gate appeared. That’s why he couldn’t help but think this way.
Jaehee ground his teeth.
‘There’s… not much, time.’
The period remaining before the gate formation ends and the gate entrance opens was only ten days.
‘To enter the gate…’
Jaehee’s eyes contorted.
‘Within that time…, I have to erase the bond.’
To somehow withstand the pressure closing in from both sides, Jaehee bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Then he raised his head to look at the guiding machine next to Geonwoo.
‘Since we’ve confirmed that he’s accepting guiding energy from other Guides, from now on, I plan to inject an unlimited amount of guiding energy to the maximum limit into Esper Choi Geonwoo.’
That’s what Dr. Yoon had said before coming to the examination room.
‘If we forcibly inject an amount of guiding energy that’s hard to handle in a state where there’s rejection, the pain Esper Choi Geonwoo has to endure will be considerable. If he can’t bear it, there’s even a risk of death.’
At those words, Jaehee’s expression changed. But as if not wanting to give Jaehee time to speak, Dr. Yoon immediately continued.
‘But in exchange, we can drastically lower the bond rating in a short period of time.’
Dr. Yoon, who had realized that Jaehee was unhesitatingly putting his own life on the line to erase Choi Geonwoo’s bond as safely as possible, offered Jaehee a completely different method.
‘Guide Lee Jaehee. You should only provide guiding during those dangerous moments. Just enough to keep Esper Choi Geonwoo breathing.’
Even this was a method that could be proposed only because Geonwoo was enduring pain that other Espers couldn’t bear. Geonwoo’s physical enhancement rating far exceeded Dr. Yoon’s expectations.
But the mental anguish of Jaehee, who had to just watch this, would inevitably grow that much. Pain filled Jaehee’s entire face.
“…”
Behind such Jaehee, Hyeono had a worried face.
‘How… should I say this…’
Hyeono was pondering. He had followed Jaehee to the examination room to deliver news about Dohyun, but when it came to speaking up, it wasn’t easy. Hyeono had been standing behind Jaehee for a long time, moving his lips, trying to choose his words.
That’s when it happened. Ring ring. The phone in his pocket rang. Hyeono immediately checked the message. And soon, his face contorted mercilessly.
“Guide Lee Jaehee.”
Hyeono, tightly gripping his phone, called Jaehee. There was no more time to hesitate. At the sudden call, Jaehee turned his head to look at Hyeono. Hyeono, with a serious expression, opened his mouth to Jaehee.
“I have something to tell you.”
Hyeono needed to quickly convey to Jaehee about the message he had just seen. For that, there was something he needed to mention first.
“Actually, I just received a call saying that the building where the Deputy Center Director was imprisoned has collapsed.”
At those words, perhaps surprised, Jaehee’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Dr. Yoon, who was listening beside them, showed his bewilderment plainly on his face and asked Hyeono.
“That underground prison?”
“Yes.”
Hyeono looked at Dr. Yoon and nodded slightly as he answered.
“No, why would it suddenly…?”
“The cause… hasn’t been found yet, they say.”
Hyeono hesitated for a moment before answering Dr. Yoon’s bewildered question. He had a guess as to the cause, but Hyeono didn’t voice it.
“Then what about the Deputy Center Director?”
Dr. Yoon, furrowing his brow deeply, asked Hyeono, wondering what was going on.
It wasn’t out of concern for the Deputy Center Director. It was a prison with several barriers, so even if it collapsed, he wouldn’t have been seriously injured. Moreover, there would have been a significant number of Espers on guard, so he would have been rescued quickly.
Dr. Yoon’s concern was rather about something else. He was worried about the obvious possibility that the Deputy Center Director would use this incident as an excuse to avoid the trial by claiming he was ill.
But completely unexpected words flowed from Hyeono’s mouth.
“About that… they say he hasn’t regained consciousness at all.”
“What?”
Dr. Yoon asked Hyeono as if to say what that meant.
“I heard he’s now in a critical condition.”
When discovered, the Deputy Center Director was in a state where his entire body was damaged beyond recovery. For those who didn’t know the full story of the incident, it was a very strange occurrence. So the situation was being kept quiet. Meanwhile, Hyeono, who knew the circumstances, looked at Jaehee and tried to continue.
At that moment, Jaehee suddenly said something else to Hyeono.
“…Esper Kang Dohyun.”
Pausing briefly, Jaehee scrunched his eyes and continued.
“Where is he now?”
Jaehee had brought up what Hyeono was about to say. Hyeono’s expression became complicated.
“Why suddenly here…!”
On the other hand, Dr. Yoon, who had been discussing the Deputy Center Director, looked strangely at Jaehee who was suddenly asking about Dohyun, and soon had a horrified expression. Dr. Yoon looked at Hyeono with a ‘no way’ expression, as if to confirm whether what he was thinking was correct.
And soon, Hyeono gave the answer that both of them had been waiting for.
“The Captain… I just received word that he was summoned by the Center Director.”
***
“…”
Meanwhile, Geonwoo couldn’t move his body. He couldn’t open his eyes, and he couldn’t utter any words. His body, which had grown as if to protect itself from the rising wavelength, had plunged Geonwoo into a deep sleep.
‘…Gui…de…’
But his keen sense, desperately trying to find Jaehee’s energy, disturbed that sleep. Eventually, Geonwoo found himself at the boundary between dream and reality. That’s how Geonwoo was gradually hearing the voices of people in the examination room, while also seeing the story in his dreams.
-Hyung!
In front of Geonwoo, who had been covered by black darkness, the image of his brother in the dream and young Geonwoo was drawn.
-Hyung~
Unlike the reality filled with pain and sadness, the young Geonwoo in the dream was living each day so happily that the real Geonwoo would be incredibly envious. It was all thanks to his brother.
-Hyung! Hmm?
The current dream was the same. It was showing one of those happy days.
-When will you come next time?
Young Geonwoo was tightly holding his brother’s sleeve with both hands, refusing to let go, and looking up at his brother.
-Hmm? Hyung~ When will you come?
Slightly shaking the end of the sleeve, Geonwoo expressed his disappointment with his whole body. He wanted to stay with his brother for a long, long time, but his brother was always busy. So Geonwoo asked when he would come. That way, he could wait, counting the days until his brother would come. Then he thought he could endure.
-Um…
His brother pondered for a moment, looking around. Then, as if seeing something, he stared blankly at one place for a moment before extending his hand there.
-I’ll come then.
At his brother’s words, Geonwoo turned his head to look where his brother was pointing. There was a large poster attached to the wall. It was a poster announcing a festival.
-Mmhmm! Great!
It was the first time going to a festival with his brother. Geonwoo was already excited about going there with his brother, nodding his head vigorously and smiling broadly. His brother stroked Geonwoo’s head and turned around, saying he had to go now. Geonwoo, feeling sad, tightly gripped the hem of his own t-shirt with both hands to prevent himself from grabbing his brother again.
‘I already~ miss hyung.’
After parting with his brother, Geonwoo returned home and was fidgeting on the bed. In front of him was a treasure box he had taken from under the desk. Geonwoo opened the lid. Inside the box, which had only contained withered flowers before, there were now numerous items piled up. All of them were things with precious memories of his brother.
‘Oh? This! Come to think of it, I did this with hyung too!’
Geonwoo carefully took out items from the box, recalling the things that had happened with his brother.
At the end of the warm spring, meeting his brother, laughing with him, crying in his arms, as his brother gently changed people’s gazes, Geonwoo no longer disliked being an Esper. Even with the piercing gazes directed at him, he could become numb to them with a “hmph!” attitude, just as his brother had said.
Once that happened, what followed was a succession of joyful days.
Passing spring, in the hot summer, he had surprised his brother by catching a cold while playing in the water with him, something he had never caught before. In autumn, they stepped on fallen leaves and ate snacks with his brother until their stomachs were full.
In winter, they made snowmen resembling him and his brother, but the next day, someone stole the snowman resembling his brother, leaving only Geonwoo’s snowman, causing Geonwoo to wail loudly. The situation was only resolved when his brother immediately made another one and placed it next to Geonwoo’s snowman.
In all the joyful moments Geonwoo remembered, his brother was always there.
“I wish the festival day would come quickly.”
So Geonwoo thought they would always be together. Not knowing that the end of those happy days was approaching right before his eyes.
