# Chapter 96
Despite having a childish expression like a young animal begging for care, Junseo comforted Dohyuk as if making a concession.
“Are you worried about me? It’s fine except for being a little annoying. You can go check on the cat first while I’m being examined.”
“No. I’ll wait.”
Junseo, who was pressing on Dohyuk’s furrowed brow as if to reassure him, asked again.
“Really? It’s really nothing. Are you going to wait for me?”
“Yes.”
A warm eye-smile like sunshine followed, melting Dohyuk’s frozen response. The cheek that had been touching his neck was replaced by lips. They were equally soft.
Eventually, Junseo followed Junwoo into the examination room. Fortunately, thanks to the high-placed glass window, the inside of the examination room was visible while standing.
Watching Junseo lie down inside a machine he’d never seen before, Dohyuk unwittingly began to tense up. While the machine moved as if scanning Junseo, Dohyuk silently held his breath, unable to take his eyes off him, worried that he might show signs of pain.
How much time had passed? Fortunately, compared to Dohyuk’s razor-sharp concern where each second felt like a minute, the examination was truly nothing special. It was questionable whether it could even be called an examination.
After completing the scan, Junseo rose from the machine with his usual neat expression. When they inserted a syringe into Junseo’s arm, Dohyuk clenched his fist once, but the amount of blood drawn wasn’t much either.
Did Junseo notice Dohyuk, who couldn’t even sit properly and was standing rigidly, endlessly staring at him? As soon as the examination was over, he smiled brightly and waved, looking as bright as a child. Only then did Dohyuk exhale the breath he had been holding, feeling as if it were a form of comfort.
Leaving behind Junwoo, who was busy generating the examination results, Junseo came out of the examination room, approached Dohyuk closely, and playfully kneaded his cheeks.
“Why didn’t you sit down? Why were you standing so still and frozen? It made me tense too.”
“…Ah. Just. Sorry, were you nervous?”
“I was nervous. Even someone like me looks a bit puffy when lying down.”
“What kind of strange thing are you worried about? Does that make you look ugly?”
When Dohyuk finally revealed a small smile on his tightly set face, Junseo lightly pressed his lips to the corner of Dohyuk’s mouth. Startled by the sudden kiss in the bright hallway of someone else’s research lab, Dohyuk froze up completely, and for a while, the empty corridor was filled only with Junseo’s laughter at whatever he found so funny.
Junwoo approached them when Junseo, who had been playfully rubbing his lips against Dohyuk’s several times afterward, was finally being lectured by Dohyuk while having his face held in both hands. Junseo was acting like an injured small animal with sparkling, moist eyes, saying, “Do you dislike it?” Dohyuk was already being drawn in, so Junwoo’s appearance was fortunate for him.
Junwoo’s expression was particularly bright.
“The examination results are better than expected. Your condition is much more stable than during your last examination, Junseo.”
“I told you there was nothing to worry about. I don’t even have insomnia these days.”
Dohyuk, who had been slightly pushing away Junseo as he leaned half his body against him at Junwoo’s presence, quickly turned his head at those words.
“Has Guide Yu Junseo been unwell originally?”
“Hyuuung. We’re not at headquarters, but you’re still calling me ‘Guide’?”
While Junseo whined that their relationship seemed distant and it made him very, very sad—Dohyuk didn’t have the confidence to say unpleasant things to Junseo with such an expression—even Junwoo was just smiling at him. He even supported Junseo by saying, “That’s right. You don’t really need to be concerned about me.” In the end, Dohyuk sighed.
“Um… you didn’t answer whether Junseo’s health is okay.”
“Hmm. He wasn’t unhealthy. If anything, he was quite healthy. But he’s very sensitive, so when he first awakened, he had trouble sleeping properly for a while. All his nerves were painful, right? His energy was also imbalanced. It wasn’t a natural awakening. I’ve been researching to identify the cause of Junseo’s awakening.”
Dohyuk’s expression furrowed with concern.
“I’m not very healthy. I’m delicate.”
“Yes, right. You were delicate enough to never even catch a cold in your life.”
Even Junwoo, who normally treated Junseo like a crawling baby, was responding without emotion, but Dohyuk thought seriously.
Isn’t he really delicate? He can’t run at speeds of 90km/h, and he could die if he fell from a seven-story height. That white body seemed like it would break if touched incorrectly, to the point where Dohyuk couldn’t properly touch him.
“…Ah, this is crazy. I was wondering what he suddenly ate wrong. But there’s someone here who actually goes along with it.”
Only after hearing Junwoo’s words, which were filled with laughter, did Dohyuk realize that he was stroking Junseo’s cheek with a face full of concern. Hastily removing his hand, Dohyuk unnecessarily cleared his throat, leaving behind Junseo’s face full of regret.
“He’ll develop bad habits. Well, it’s not like he doesn’t already have bad habits.”
“…Ah, you said earlier that it wasn’t a natural awakening… right?”
Anyone could see that he was hastily changing the subject out of embarrassment, but Junwoo, who had already received a big laugh, graciously pretended not to notice.
“Yes. Isn’t it well-known that Junseo awakened very late? Anyway, that’s an old story. As I just mentioned, his condition now is so good it’s surprising. This is the result of his previous examination. Comparing the two, you can see his unstable energy has become much more stable, right?”
Dohyuk didn’t completely understand the difference between the previous result values and the current ones that Junwoo showed, but he could at least tell that the flow of the graph drew a much smoother curve.
“Hmm. I’m very curious about the cause…”
Still frowning at the current result values, Junwoo gently opened his mouth.
“How about Dohyuk-ssi taking an examination too?”
Dohyuk flinched briefly at Junwoo’s suggestion as he turned his gaze.
“…That’s.”
“I’m wondering if guiding with Dohyuk-ssi might have influenced Junseo. Isn’t the partner match with Dohyuk-ssi the only change in Junseo’s life over the past half year? Though it’s just a hypothesis for now.”
“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult. And I doubt I’m the reason. I’ve never heard of a Guide being influenced by an Esper.”
Dohyuk shook his head, but even Junseo, who was beside him, supported Junwoo’s words.
“But we don’t know for sure, right?”
“Junseo, receiving an examination at another institution without headquarters’ permission is a security law violation.”
In truth, security laws didn’t matter since they had already secretly diverted headquarters’ test subject. That was also why he hadn’t stopped Junseo when he declared he would receive an examination at Junwoo’s lab, which was clearly another institution. But Junseo getting an examination and Dohyuk getting one were different matters entirely.
Dohyuk’s physical examination is confidential, permitted only to researchers approved by headquarters.
Moreover, Dohyuk was so afraid that Junwoo might notice through the examination that he wasn’t a ‘normal Esper’ that his back felt chilled.
What if they discovered he was born from experiments, not a proper Esper?
Dohyuk wanted to be human to them until the very end. Unsure whether they noticed Dohyuk rolling his eyes to escape this topic, Junseo answered.
“Don’t worry, no one will know. If you’re concerned about leaks, we’ll discard the results right after checking them. And anyway, headquarters isn’t very interested in stabilization through guiding. This place is better than headquarters for these kinds of examinations.”
Junseo moved closer to Dohyuk, who unconsciously stepped back a little.
“Junseo, I said no.”
“Hyung.”
After continued refusal, Junseo’s hand naturally tried to intertwine with Dohyuk’s. The moment the body heat touched bare skin, Dohyuk was overwhelmed by the illusion that the delicate skin would soon be crushed.
His head rang. The stench of a rotting, melting life. Come to think of it, am I still human? The doubt spread like a swirling fog. Dohyuk hurriedly inhaled. The thought of wanting to tear open his skin right now to check what color was lurking underneath consumed his entire mind.
Dohyuk strongly pushed away Junseo’s hand and dry heaved.
“Hyung?”
Still pressing his palm against his mouth, Dohyuk shook his head at Junseo, who was trying to approach.
“…I said, no, please. Just give me a moment.”
A gloomy silence rolled in like ash-gray, sinking as deep as the night sky.
It was Junseo’s role to break the sharp stillness. Unable to close the distance with Dohyuk, Junseo examined his complexion from two steps away.
“Are you okay?”
“…I’m fine. Just felt dizzy for a moment.”
Seeing Dohyuk’s confused appearance, Junseo smiled by raising the corners of his mouth as if nothing had happened. But his startled pupils and slightly lowered eyebrows remained the same, making the contrast appear surprisingly desolate.
“First of all, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would dislike it this much.”
“……”
Even amid all this, Dohyuk continuously doubted what was flowing in his veins in a corner of his mind. Dohyuk’s blunt thumb persistently scratched the back of his opposite hand. The afterimage of Lee Seoyeon, imprinted in his mind with no intention of disappearing, was the only thing that touched Dohyuk.
‘I don’t want to remain a monster.’
