Go Yeoul, what am I supposed to do with that crazy bastard.
Dawoon clutched his chest, still startled from the water incident that had just happened. That lunatic Go Yeoul had thrown the window wide open and created a water whirlwind to try to catch a flock of crows. Along with the savage question of whether he preferred them steamed or grilled.
Seriously, befitting a villain-in-training, he couldn’t let his guard down for even a moment. The flock of crows had nearly ended up on the dining table.
“Dawoon Esper-nim, are you alright?”
Ryu Jin approached Dawoon with a worried expression. It was shocking to see him soaked through with water at the dorm instead of at a Gate site.
“It’s nothing. Yeoul just caused a bit of trouble.”
“Hyung said he was hungry.”
“Sssss.”
At the snake-like hiss Dawoon made, Yeoul firmly shut his mouth. Then he leaned his forehead against the wall with an aggrieved expression. He’d only tried to catch some birds to feed his hyung, but ended up getting thoroughly scolded instead. Bird meat is delicious, so why doesn’t he like it?
“Um, I came because Dawoon Esper-nim said he was sick.”
Ryu Jin examined Dawoon’s complexion worriedly. Today too, his pale face was full of exhaustion. Knowing that his body was particularly weak even for an Esper made him worry even more.
“Esper-nim, let’s go to your room for now. You should change clothes too.”
Dawoon followed Ryu Jin up to the second floor. Meanwhile, Yeoul remained stuck to the wall, following Dawoon only with his eyes.
He’d been told to stand facing the wall until Dawoon acknowledged his wrongdoing, so it was right to obey. Yeoul pondered what could have been wrong with his menu selection while appreciating Dawoon’s wet back view.
“Did you… fight?”
Ryu Jin asked cautiously after entering Dawoon’s room with him.
Actually, to anyone watching, it looked less like they’d fought and more like Dawoon had been one-sidedly subjected to something by Yeoul. That’s why Ryu Jin’s expression became even more serious.
“Should I tell hyung? To let you use a different dorm from Yeoul Esper-nim.”
“No. Fight? I was scolding him.”
Dawoon shrugged lightly and headed to the dressing room. Then he added an explanation to reassure Ryu Jin.
“He didn’t spray water on me directly—I ended up like this trying to block something.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Ryu Jin, who had been following Dawoon, closed the dressing room door with a still-concerned expression.
“I’ll be in the room. Take your time changing.”
“Yeah, sit down instead of standing.”
Dawoon felt sorry for causing needless worry and hurriedly took off his wet clothes. This pathetic body was set to catch a cold even from just getting rained on, so there was nothing good about staying in wet clothes.
“Oh, right. Gloves.”
Dawoon, now changed into dry clothes, opened the island dresser drawer. Next to expensive watches, colorful leather gloves were neatly arranged in a row.
He took out the most plain black ones from among the gloves that revealed the tastes of Jeong Dawoon, who had grown up in a wealthy family.
He couldn’t forget the gloves but kept forgetting them, which was a big problem. Dawoon’s rare ability that leaked out unexpectedly through contact often caused pain rather than healing unless he was conscious of it. That’s why he always had to be careful so that the ability that should only be used to kill Monsters wouldn’t touch people.
He had no idea how he’d had sex with Ryu Taeha with this body. Did he just do it while inflicting pain?
If it’s Ryu Taeha… he might like that sort of thing.
Dawoon shook his head as he put the wet clothes in the laundry basket. Thinking of that perverted bastard was making his chronic headache flare up.
Shaking off the thought, he exited the dressing room and his eyes met with Ryu Jin, who was standing by the bedroom door.
“Why are you standing?”
“Ah… I was worried he might come in.”
It seemed he’d been guarding the door, wary of Yeoul the Alpha. Dawoon was deeply moved by how he tried to protect him, being a fellow Omega.
He’d come running with his small fists clenched earlier too. What could he even do with those fern-like hands?
“Don’t worry. Yeoul won’t come in. You saw me scolding him earlier, right?”
Dawoon approached Ryu Jin and patted his small, round head.
“Even if he does come in, I’ll win. Nothing to worry about.”
He added playfully with a smile. Only then did Ryu Jin relax a little.
“What’s that doll? Did you buy it?”
Dawoon looked down at the doll tucked under Ryu Jin’s arm while stroking his soft hair. It was the large bear doll he’d been holding since he came to the dorm.
“Ah, hyung bought it for me.”
“Ryu Taeha—I mean, the Leader?”
Ryu Jin nodded and shyly showed the doll. With his youthful appearance, holding the doll didn’t look out of place at all.
“Hyung must think I’m still a kid.”
“Twenty years old is still young.”
Dawoon suppressed a sigh and rubbed his forehead. Being with Ryu Taeha at this hour when he should be on duty meant they’d done Guiding.
“Did you come from Guiding the Leader?”
“Yes.”
Just as expected. When the anticipated answer came back, Dawoon’s mood became even more troubled.
“You… just held hands, right?”
Ryu Jin blinked his round eyes briefly and nodded.
“Yes, of course.”
He seemed a bit flustered that Dawoon was asking something so obvious. Dawoon inwardly felt relieved and smiled gently with his eyes.
It wasn’t time for them to progress yet. In terms of the novel’s development, it was still the early stages, and Ryu Jin, who had only recently become a Guide, only Guided through light contact. He’d never done Guiding beyond hand-holding and hugging with anyone, not just Ryu Taeha.
Fortunately, Ryu Jin had a high rank, so he didn’t need deep contact. Except in emergencies, he didn’t have to do Guiding beyond hand-holding and hugging.
If it weren’t for that perverted hyung, he would have lived his whole life without ever knowing about Mucous Membrane Guiding.
“Dawoon Esper-nim?”
Dawoon, who had been lost in thought, looked at Ryu Jin shaking his arm. He’d spaced out again in that brief moment.
“Ah, sorry. What did you say?”
Ryu Jin looked at Dawoon carefully and pointed to his bed.
“Esper-nim, you should receive Guiding too. You didn’t receive it yesterday.”
Without giving Dawoon time to answer, he grabbed his arm and pulled. Perhaps thinking there was something wrong with Dawoon spacing out frequently, he showed a rather firm attitude unlike usual.
“Lie down quickly. I’ll leave right after Guiding.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Dawoon, who happened to be feeling fatigue wash over him, didn’t refuse the Guiding and lay down on the bed.
Though he was a Healer with little risk of going berserk, his rare ability to store pain in his body put a lot of strain on him. It was safe to receive Guiding frequently.
Let’s take care of his body first. Since it’s the opening of the novel, nothing major will happen. Believing this, he absorbed the warm Guiding seeping into his body.
“If anything feels uncomfortable, please feel free to tell me.”
Ryu Jin sat by the bedside, held Dawoon’s hand, and poured out energy. Because he was Guiding while wearing gloves instead of bare-handed, he had to release even more energy.
Ryu Jin, who trained daily, was quite skilled at radiation Guiding. For Yeoul, who avoided contact with others, he was stabilizing his Wavelength only through radiation Guiding.
Despite being new, Ryu Jin was an excellent Guide. He had good instincts and was diligent, keenly perceiving an Esper’s condition.
“Um, Dawoon Esper-nim.”
“Yeah?”
Ryu Jin, who had been concentrating on Dawoon’s Guiding, hesitated as if pondering what to say. Just as Dawoon, who had been closing his eyes from fatigue, opened them, there was a knock-knock at the door.
“Dawoon hyung, I’m done reflecting. I’m going to work now.”
Yeoul’s low voice came from beyond the door.
“If there’s anything you want to eat, text me. I’ll buy everything.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“If you feel sick or feverish, call me right away. Don’t take too much medicine. Got it?”
“Yeah, hurry and go.”
Why does he keep telling me to go? Yeoul grumbled and scratched the door with his nails with a grating sound before leaving. His childish behavior was so absurd that now it just made Dawoon laugh.
“Jin-ah, tell me what you were going to say.”
Dawoon forcibly lifted his heavy eyelids to continue the interrupted conversation. But Ryu Jin just ambiguously shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Please sleep quickly.”
He released Guiding even harder to help Dawoon rest. With his diligent effort, the Guiding that had been floating on the surface without seeping into Dawoon’s body gradually began to be absorbed smoothly.
Why was the absorption slower at first? Ryu Jin tilted his head, then shrugged, thinking it must be because Dawoon was tired. He simply felt relieved that his energy was being absorbed into Dawoon’s body without problems and stabilized his exhausted Wavelength.
Meanwhile, Dawoon worried only about the novel’s development right up until falling asleep. After the water incident with Yeoul, he’d been so busy mulling over the novel’s content that he’d completely forgotten the existence he’d been looking for.
* * *
Dawoon slept for quite a long time. Even after the sun set and night deepened, he showed no signs of waking, even snoring as he slept soundly.
He opened his eyes around dawn. Feeling the urge to use the bathroom, he tossed and turned and got up from the bed unsteadily.
Dawoon dozed off even while taking care of business. Even though he seemed to have slept deeply, the fatigue remained the same. His languid body just drooped. Maybe it’s because he wasn’t fully awake.
“I slept so much….”
He returned to bed, sprawled out in a spread-eagle position, and checked the clock. It was an awkward time, so he tried to fall back asleep, but once he closed his eyes, sleep wouldn’t come. But to get up again, his body felt heavy.
Sighing deeply, he leaned his cheek against the pillow. He turned on his side and tried to sleep again when his cell phone on the nightstand caught his eye.
I was wondering where it went, and here it was.
He casually picked up the phone and lay on his stomach. It seemed he wouldn’t fall asleep even if he closed his eyes anyway.
After roughly skimming through a text from the youngest, he opened the search window and checked the news first. He read through the articles on the news main page, then habitually searched for keywords important to future developments like ‘Illegal Ability Research Lab’, ‘Riot’, ‘Sau Guild’.
Naturally, there were no noteworthy articles yet. All the articles about the Illegal Ability Research Lab, which was already ancient history, were written years ago.
Since Go Yeoul, who will cause the Riot, is still quiet, there shouldn’t be any trouble. Trusting the novel’s development, he was skimming through the news when a random thought suddenly occurred to him.
“Should I change my name?”
His languid stream of consciousness bounced in a strange direction.
Through his conversation with Yeoul, he realized he no longer needed to follow the novel’s Jeong Dawoon. So he thought it might not be bad to change his name as a declaration that he’d become a new person.
“Jeong Dawoon….”
Since this was also his name before the possession, it might be good to change it as a way of bidding farewell to his original life.
Dawoon didn’t have much attachment to his real life anyway. It was regrettable that he couldn’t see his close colleagues and friends, but that was about it.
The reason he adapted to the world inside the novel so quickly was because there was no one he missed in his original life.
“Let’s change it. To something strong.”
If the name is strong, maybe his weak body will change a bit too. Holding onto a light hope, he wrote down strong names as they came to mind.
[Gangsik. Ducheol. Cheolho.]
Ah, too strong?
But at least they were names that didn’t seem like ghosts would come to take him because of weak energy. His body would probably hurt less too.
He quite liked the names and was about to pronounce them out loud.
“Who’s that?”
A chillingly gentle voice fell from above Dawoon’s head.
“A new partner?”
