Since they had endured and persevered through a life-or-death moment together, it was natural to be curious. Kwon Jeonghoo, pressing firmly on his forehead area that felt like his brain was shaking, continued his question.
“Is that bastard okay?”
“More than okay, Captain.”
Ko Ijae, who was maintaining composure relatively well, answered on behalf of everyone.
Yeo Dowoon was in much better condition than they’d worried. The reason could be guessed even with eyes closed.
During all the time they were isolated in the monster’s stomach, it must have been because Kwon Jeonghoo had absorbed all the stress that would have gone to him. …Just as he had done for himself.
Ko Ijae couldn’t make eye contact with Kwon Jeonghoo.
It was because he was deeply blaming himself for the fact that not only had the operation been completely ruined because of him, but they had almost lost two comrades entirely.
His hands and feet were sweaty throughout. He was utterly pathetic to himself.
“Ijae, you.”
“……”
“Ko Ijae, I’m asking how you are.”
Kwon Jeonghoo, who looked around at the fruits and flower pots piled up in the hospital room as if annoyed, muttered weakly. Seeing his whole body relaxed languidly, it seemed he hadn’t fully recovered yet.
His ears were stuffy and he felt mentally hazy from lack of energy. A feeling like he could lower his eyelids toward unconsciousness at any moment.
When Ko Ijae hesitated to answer as if gagged, Kwon Jeonghoo said with a snicker.
“Discipline’s all gone, Ko Ijae.”
“……I’m, I’m fine too. Captain.”
Ko Ijae felt like he was going to burst into tears pathetically again.
Captain wasn’t scolding him for his mistake. That fact pierced his heart even more painfully. When the thought “it’s because of me” was about to cloud his vision, Kwon Jeonghoo stroked his head with his palm.
“Then that’s settled.”
At the low voice, Ko Ijae dropped hot tears steadily. The guilt had been chewed over so much it was becoming tattered.
“I’m sorry……”
“What’s there to be sorry about.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry……”
Kwon Jeonghoo, who struck his heaving back with a thud, said he was tired and lay down like a sloth. The one who started sobbing loudly wasn’t just Ko Ijae, but Baek Seonwoo as well.
He astounded Kwon Jeonghoo with the ridiculous excuse that he had a habit of tearing up when witnessing touching scenes. Cha Uihyeon also rubbed and wiped the corners of his eyes as if unable to hold back.
It was when Kwon Jeonghoo, wondering since when he’d been playing kindergarten teacher, felt self-loathing.
“Captain!”
The hospital room door burst open and some tall man came running in. His jet-black hair, which people often said made them wonder if he and Kwon Jeonghoo were brothers, fluttered through the air.
His glossy face, which was often frozen expressionlessly, rolled its eyes here and there looking for Kwon Jeonghoo. His straight eyebrows twitched. Yeo Dowoon caught his rough breathing for a while facing Kwon Jeonghoo.
If he spoke now, it felt like he’d choke pathetically.
“Haah……”
Although the time Kwon Jeonghoo had been collapsed was only about two days, Yeo Dowoon’s nose stung as if he were someone encountering a sibling lost in war. However, he tried hard to pretend to be calm.
Upon closer inspection, it was because those Delta Team idiots had come before him and were wailing. He didn’t want to be treated the same as those scumbag bastards.
“…I’m glad you woke up.”
When he spoke while walking heavily, Baek Seonwoo blew his nose with a “heung” and scolded him simultaneously.
“Isn’t it, keng! Isn’t it too late?”
“Traffic was backed up.”
“Keng! Even so…”
When he rolled up the tissue with snot into a round shape, Yeo Dowoon frowned as if disgusted.
Yoon Minoh too, why was everyone so desperate to hold tissues with snot on them—he couldn’t understand. What’s the trash can, a decoration?
If there was an educational institution teaching such filthy behavior, he wanted to personally visit and destroy it. He also needed to realize a bit that he himself was the one with a破 personality.
Soon, Yeo Dowoon, who had glanced at Baek Seonwoo’s side as if looking at a disgusting spider, immediately approached Kwon Jeonghoo.
The external injuries didn’t look serious, but internal injuries were another matter. Even the medical staff probably couldn’t rashly predict how the progress would turn out.
“Nice hospital room. Is it because you’re high-ranking?”
When Yeo Dowoon spoke jokingly, Kwon Jeonghoo also answered similarly.
“If you’re envious, you get hospitalized too.”
“I would have if you’d let me. They said I wasn’t injured enough to be hospitalized.”
“Berserk possibility?”
“Going back and forth between 20 and 25.”
It was neither good nor bad numbers.
Having nothing more to say and just drifting his gaze, Kwon Jeonghoo nodded his head up and down roughly before launching into a sudden briefing.
“Everyone listen carefully. The operation isn’t over yet.”
“…Captain?”
“The coastal gate area is under civilian evacuation operation, and we’ll also reorganize soon and get back to work. Since the monsters have finished their transformation period, it’ll probably be a difficult operation.”
While wondering when he’d received this information and finding it absurd, Kwon Jeonghoo pointed to his temple and added.
“Director’s orders.”
“Making you receive orders even in a hospital room? Captain, are you in mental resonance right now?”
Making someone who had suffered to the point of being on the verge of going berserk use their ability right away like this. Yeo Dowoon thought of someone’s name and threw a tantrum.
In the Esper base, there existed another mental-type Esper besides Kwon Jeonghoo. He was also one of the people Yeo Dowoon personally found very distasteful.
Kwon Hyeokun. Kwon Jeonghoo’s father and the chief director of the Republic of Korea Esper Operations Base.
Though he was called director, he could be defined as a typical old-fashioned military man. Just looking at the star insignias hanging all over his white coat was enough to guess his personality.
An unlucky bastard whose only resemblance to Kwon Jeonghoo was his neat features. Kwon Jeonghoo, suppressing the nausea that felt like his head was flipping over, announced the final communication.
“Until then, he says you have leave, you bastards.”
When everyone gathered noisily in the hospital room was puzzled, wondering why the stingy and rigid base people were giving leave for once, it was then.
Bang! Yoon Minoh, who appeared through the pushed-open hospital room door, screamed pitifully as if wronged.
“Fuck, are you all ganging up to ostracize me?! Someone’s dying to make me duck-walk, someone’s grinding their teeth looking for a chance to knock me out by hitting the back of my head!”
“……”
“Why are people so mean? Is it fun to tease a kid who doesn’t know anything? Are you happy?”
Yeo Dowoon was about to say something about where he looked like a kid who didn’t know anything, but he could suppress his irritation thanks to Ko Ijae, who had hoped no commotion would arise, blocking Yoon Minoh’s sound waves.
When his voice didn’t spread out as intended, Yoon Minoh seemed flustered and tormented his vocal cords while coughing. But no one explained the principle and maintained their position as spectators.
Free-range could be a decent parenting method. At least for a brat like Yoon Minoh, it was.
***
The word “leave” felt so unfamiliar.
Was it because he’d been postponing leave while going on operations day and night since his Esper debut? Unlike the three people excited about the long leave after a while, Yeo Dowoon just yawned until his mouth tore.
Actually, even when he received reward leave about once a year, he had nothing particular he wanted to do, so he would crawl out to the training center. At those times, Kwon Jeonghoo would meddle and take him camping to mountains or the sea.
‘There was a motel on the way, can’t we just go sleep there?’
‘Go alone.’
On his first camping trip, departing without even knowing how to set up a tent, Kwon Jeonghoo eventually gave up on tent camping and shut himself in the car. When he was busy grinning saying he knew this would happen, he suffered because Kwon Jeonghoo wouldn’t open the car door for a long time.
Only after begging did Kwon Jeonghoo unlock it, and at the next camping trip, he showed his strategic side by preparing an auto-setup tent.
He expounded that this was the power of new civilization, but unfortunately realized the tent interior was so cramped their shoulders were completely wedged together and let out a sigh.
The memory of laughing until his belly button fell out at the sight of his back heading straight to the car remained vivid.
“When are you being discharged, Captain?”
Yeo Dowoon, leaving behind Baek Seonwoo and Ko Ijae rattling off vacation plans no one asked about, asked while stealing Kwon Jeonghoo’s pillow. Kwon Jeonghoo’s scent wafted from the fluffy cushion.
When he placed it on the nightstand and buried his face in it, Kwon Jeonghoo unhesitatingly struck his back.
“Ow!”
No lie, tears pricked out a little.
He’d been letting his guard down because he looked so weak today, but even as an invalid, his arm strength and grip seemed unchanged. If he took off his clothes to check, there would definitely be a large palm print.
Yeo Dowoon responded lamentingly.
“You almost broke my back, ah….”
“I hit your back, so why would your waist break.”
“…Because they’re connected.”
“I hit you to help blood circulation, so endure it, man.”
“Then I’ll help you too…, urk.”
This time his lips were pinched tightly.
“Mmph!”
To make matters worse, they were even twisted in a circle, making the plump flesh burn hot all over. Only after Yeo Dowoon got angry saying it hurt did Kwon Jeonghoo finally let go. Yeo Dowoon asked.
“Captain, did you get dementia by any chance? ……Ahhh!”
Damn it, he thought his forehead split! Yeo Dowoon frantically felt his forehead, wondering if the skin really tore and the forehead bone was showing.
Feeling the swelling bumps with his fingers, strong suspicion activated.
“You…, go to psychiatry right now.”
Despite the murderous warning, Kwon Jeonghoo acted easygoing. He, who had taken back the pillow Yeo Dowoon had plundered, lay down on the bed without even answering.
