The man who entered inside was dressed in an Esper uniform. He hadn’t come home for two days—had there been a battle in the meantime?
“Have you been well?”
Perhaps because of that, even the greeting tossed out as a courtesy sounded as stiff as words a military superior would give to a subordinate. When the man with his large height and solid build filled the room, it felt suffocating. Even the air seemed to have subtly changed.
“Yes… so-so.”
But something was strange. On the inside of Kang Taejun’s arm, veins were rising darkly on the skin revealed at the edge of the Esper uniform sleeve. They were darker than usual and subtly wriggling as if alive, catching his eye.
The runes on the surface of the black iron mask also looked different somehow. During the Pair Bonding Ceremony, they had held light very faintly, but now the entire pattern was glowing subtly as if holding heat.
Park Shinui reflexively stepped back. It was an instinctively wary attitude, but an action even he himself didn’t realize.
A sentence he’d read in the novel belatedly crossed his mind.
‘As contamination approaches its limit, the imprinted contract documents emit light and erode into the Esper’s body.’
Then did that mean Kang Taejun’s current state was close to the limit? If the two days without receiving guiding were accumulated intact in that body?
Park Shinui found himself staring intently at Kang Taejun’s face without realizing it.
Could the emotions felt differ this much depending on the situation, even when facing the same person? Just two days ago, he hadn’t felt this sense of rejection when looking at Kang Taejun. No, rather, he was the protagonist from the novel he’d liked most.
But now it was different. Whether because memories of the night of the Pair Bonding Ceremony constantly surfaced, just being in the same room felt suffocatingly uncomfortable.
“I heard you ate your meals well.”
Kang Taejun’s gaze slowly swept Park Shinui up and down. Was he displeased by the fact that the person who’d been trembling and scared on the bed had eaten well? His emotionless gaze seemed to have mockery mixed in somewhere.
“The taste was good.”
To be precise, the food eaten at Kang Taejun’s house was the finest Park Shinui had ever eaten. The dishes the chef put out were flawless, from the main courses to even a single side vegetable. Of course, comparing them with the food Park Shinui had roughly made to avoid starving until now was unreasonable in itself.
“Well done. Park Shinui-ssi is too thin, so it seems necessary to increase your weight.”
More than the stiff tone, that content was more irritating. Even in the original world, Park Shinui’s thin body type had always been a complex. It was even more so because he had a constitution where muscles didn’t easily attach even when exercising.
“This is about average though.”
He muttered small as if in rebuttal, and it seemed he heard those words too.
“That’s considered average?”
Kang Taejun asked back.
“The only place to touch was your ass.”
“…What did you say?”
“I said you’re too thin, so the only place to touch is your ass.”
“To, touch… How can you say such things like it’s nothing…”
“Did my words sound like sexual harassment? Which part? Ass? Or the expression ‘touch’?”
“Both. Don’t do either.”
When he retorted through gritted teeth, the corners of Kang Taejun’s mouth rose slightly.
“How interesting. To think Park Shinui-ssi would blush at such mere words. Then, those lost memories must still be gone.”
A piercing gaze quietly swept down Park Shinui. He’d thought he was a figure who knew how to maintain basic courtesy when dealing with people, but the eyes he faced now were unpleasantly blatant.
“Yes, still the same.”
Park Shinui took a deep breath to organize his emotions. The plan to plead without offending Kang Taejun’s mood as much as possible seemed to have gone slightly awry, but he needed to regain the atmosphere starting now.
“What about the hospital?”
“Hospital?”
“If you’re going to suddenly claim memory loss, shouldn’t there be evidence to support the reason?”
“That…”
Park Shinui only blinked his eyes as if he hadn’t thought that far. A mocking ‘of course’ expression crossed Kang Taejun’s face.
“In any case, the two days I mentioned would be today.”
“That’s what I wanted to say… Could you give me a bit more time?”
“Give you time again?”
“Yes, two weeks… no, even just one week—if you give me that, I’ll somehow find a method within that time.”
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“I want to ask this time too, why should I do that?”
Kang Taejun opened his mouth while gazing at Park Shinui. It was an emotionless voice, but strangely tinged with sarcasm. It was an attitude as if someone like Park Shinui had absolutely no value worth trusting.
“That’s…”
Park Shinui, who’d almost been momentarily speechless, hid his flustered appearance and hurriedly opened his mouth.
“During the two days, I looked into ‘Park Shinui,’ that is, my former self. It definitely seems I liked Kang Taejun-ssi a lot. But the current me absolutely isn’t like that. I swear I’ve never thought of Kang Taejun-ssi in that way. Really.”
Honestly, what ‘Park Shinui’ had done to Kang Taejun was close to criminal acts. But right now, he had no choice but to push forward like this. Park Shinui raised both hands toward Kang Taejun, who was sweeping him down with emotionless eyes, as if proving his innocence.
“So how could I do… such acts with Kang Taejun-ssi?”
“Ah, so because Park Shinui likes me, you who’ve lost your memories can’t have sex even for guiding’s sake. Is that what you want to say right now?”
Kang Taejun slowly received the words. This time, it was a tone truly laden with mockery. Though it was a calm tone, underneath lay a thick displeasure that couldn’t be suppressed.
“Yes. That’s right.”
Even after blurting out the words, Park Shinui felt embarrassed of himself and bit his lips tightly.
Ah, is this not working? Even if Kang Taejun had no feelings for Park Shinui, he thought he’d understand a little if it was the words of someone who liked him anyway.
Somehow Kang Taejun’s eyes grew even colder. It was an expression as if he found it pathetic that he himself had to listen to such absurd words.
“Park Shinui-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Is this kind of joke fun?”
“A joke? I absolutely never…”
It was that moment. Kang Taejun’s eyes changed. It wasn’t an emotion like irritation or displeasure. As if something had crossed a critical point, from the depths of his cool pupils, unstable heat surged up. Whether it was because of contamination, because of Park Shinui’s words, or both, he couldn’t tell. Just one thing was certain—right now, this man wasn’t the Kang Taejun from moments ago.
It felt like facing a completely different person from the cold and restrained him he’d seen countless times in the novel.
“…Aaaah!”
The moment Kang Taejun lightly flicked his finger, Park Shinui’s body floated up into the air and was driven straight into the bed.
“Or do you take me lightly?”
“Kang…”
“That can’t be…”
“Kang Taejun… urgh.”
In the blink of an eye, Kang Taejun mounted the bed and pressed down on Park Shinui’s chest with his knee.
“Urgh… n-no…!”
Even though he hadn’t put his full weight on it, suffocating pain rushed in. Park Shinui gasped for breath without even being able to scream while struggling in extreme pain. Fear that his ribs might break swept through his entire body. Park Shinui desperately flailed his arms, but Kang Taejun’s solid body didn’t budge even slightly. Since he’d never even imagined that he would directly wield violence against him, a chilling shudder ran down his spine.
In the novel, Kang Taejun had never once treated someone this way. But right now, this person—
“Or do you have no fear?”
“U-urgh…”
Park Shinui lifted his head while gasping for suppressed breath. Kang Taejun’s face was right before his eyes, close enough to make his vision dizzy.
Unlike the voice that had frozen cold as if emotions were stripped away, his pupils had something suppressed churning like a volcano on the verge of eruption. That wasn’t all. The tendons of his neck and arms revealed between his collar were swelling as if about to burst. The blood vessels under his skin wriggled dangerously like living creatures, and the sound of his pulsing heartbeat bounced up intensely as if audible to his eardrums.
Park Shinui had a memory of reading as a sentence in the novel what this state meant.
‘Wh-what? Could this be…’
Instantly, a passage from the book he’d read flashed through his mind like lightning.
‘Espers who use excessive abilities have their rational judgment clouded, and violent and animalistic senses become extremely enhanced.’
It wasn’t simple irritation or displeasure. Right now, Kang Taejun was in a state where his rationality was clouded. That meant, in other words, any words might not properly get through.
