NOVEL NEXT #19
#19
Choi Seon-woo continued to stare at the two people sitting on the lawn, holding hands tightly. He had known Oh-yul for a long time, since they were quite young, and had been on the same team. During all those years, his captain had never smiled like that. He always had a furrowed brow from the headaches that pounded his head, and eyes that coldly settled and warily observed his surroundings, never softening his nasty temperament even towards the Guides who extended his life.
A static madman was more frightening because you never knew when he might explode.
“The guiding is over, so get lost now.”
“Thank you kindly.”
Seon-woo laughed with an old man’s manner and stood on the open window.
“What are you doing?”
“Even if they’re ordinary, I should greet the captain’s new lover.”
“You must be crazy.”
Ignoring Hee-eun’s reproach, Choi Seon-woo leapt down. Although weaker in strength and stamina than the physical types, he was still an Esper and landed lightly on the ground.
Then, passing by the onlookers who couldn’t get close, he approached Oh-yul and raised his hand cheerfully.
“Captain!”
***
Ho-woo turned around at the unfamiliar voice behind him. A man who appeared to be in his late thirties, with a somewhat sly smile, was approaching with a leisurely gait, his hands in his pockets.
“Just letting you know I’ve taken care of everything you asked.”
“Understood.”
At Oh-yul’s expression that clearly said ‘you can go now without saying more,’ Seon-woo smiled even more slyly and took another step towards Ho-woo. Ho-woo detected a faint purple hue in his eyes and instinctively hid behind Oh-yul’s back. Perhaps due to Hee-eun’s warning, the man before him felt unsettling.
“Is this the neighbor?”
“Esper Choi Seon-woo.”
It was a brief, warning call to not pay attention, but he wasn’t the type to heed such warnings, so Seon-woo extended his hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Seon-woo, a psychic Esper from Team 1.”
Despite his casual attitude, the greeting was more polite than expected, so Ho-woo slowly came out from behind Oh-yul and shook his hand.
“I’m Lee Ho-woo.”
As I thought, I don’t feel anything.
He didn’t feel the ticklish, pleasant sensation he felt when touching Oh-yul from other Espers. Ho-woo, who was about to let go after shaking hands about three times, looked at Seon-woo in bewilderment as he felt a strong grip holding on.
“This is strange. Didn’t you say he wasn’t a Guide, Captain?”
“He’s not.”
Oh-yul coldly affirmed, just as he had when Han Seong-won asked. As if the topic of conversation was uncomfortable. Choi Seon-woo lazily raised the corners of his mouth in a smile at Oh-yul’s reaction.
Lee Ho-woo in front of him felt like a Guide but wasn’t one. Since actual guiding didn’t work, Seon-woo narrowed his eyes at this peculiar feeling.
“Did you take the test at 15?”
“I did. I was neither an Esper nor a Guide. The Esper who diagnosed me determined that.”
Ho-woo recalled when he was diagnosed. The Guide test was different from the Esper test. Guides could only be accurately identified by Espers. So, low-ranking Espers dispatched to each school during the designated period would directly contact students to identify them.
It was a simple handshake, but sensitive Espers could find even low-ranking Guides with just that much. It was a test with 99.9% accuracy.
“Oh? The Esper who did the diagnosis?”
Choi Seon-woo spoke cryptically, subtly glancing at Oh-yul.
“Yes, the diagnostic test has almost no error rate, right?”
Since errors rarely occurred in tests that relied on Espers’ intuition, Ho-woo had lived firmly believing he was an ordinary person.
“Want to take it again? This time, not just with one Esper, but with more people.”
“Esper Choi Seon-woo. Stop being rude to my guest.”
Another warning fell from Oh-yul’s lips. Choi Seon-woo shrugged lightly at the captain’s glaring gaze.
“I’m just suggesting out of concern, but if you don’t like it, forget it.”
“What are you concerned about?”
Ho-woo asked, still somewhat wary of Seon-woo, wondering what his not being a Guide had to do with Oh-yul that warranted such concern.
“Wouldn’t it be better for both the captain and Ho-woo-ssi if the captain’s lover was a Guide?”
“Uh… well… that…”
Ho-woo’s lips parted at the man’s misunderstanding. Lovers? He had never imagined that he and Oh-yul would be bound in such a relationship. Although Ho-woo had feelings for Oh-yul, he was good at distinguishing between what he could and couldn’t desire.
Oh-yul fell into the category of what Ho-woo shouldn’t desire.
“Yul-i-ssi and I aren’t in that kind of relationship.”
“What kind of relationship? You’re dating but not sharing a bed?”
Choi Seon-woo spoke lightly on purpose, and Ho-woo’s cheeks flushed even redder. It would be nice if Oh-yul denied it, but he just stood there looking down at Ho-woo without moving an inch.
In the end, the pitiful ordinary person caught between two Espers had to stammer out the truth about the misunderstanding.
“Yul-i-ssi and I are just neighbors.”
“Neighbors who seem extremely close, I see.”
Seon-woo gave a meaningful look at their tightly clasped hands, and Ho-woo let go of the hand he was holding. He had to twist his hand slightly to pull it free because Oh-yul didn’t want to let go. At that moment, the corner of Yul’s eye twitched and trembled.
I guess it looks a bit strange for even Espers to walk around holding hands.
It certainly wasn’t normal to be walking around holding hands when they weren’t lovers, nor were they likely to develop into something more. Ho-woo inwardly vowed to be careful not to grab Oh-yul’s hand so readily in the future.
With his head bowed low, digging at the innocent grass with his toes, he firmly suppressed the fondness that had sprouted in his heart.
“Anyway, you’re saying you’re not in any kind of relationship?”
“Yes…”
“Then how about me? Don’t you think I’m quite a catch?”
“Yes… What?!”
Ho-woo lifted his head abruptly in surprise. Choi Seon-woo was quite an attractive man. It was rare for Espers to be unattractive. Even those considered unattractive among Espers were generally good-looking overall. Some said this was the minimum survival tactic to entice Guides, and Ho-woo somewhat agreed with that.
The Choi Seon-woo and Oh-yul before him, as well as those gathered around the lawn, were all exceptionally tall and handsome.
“I’ve dated ordinary people who aren’t Guides for quite a long time, you know?”
The moment Choi Seon-woo finished speaking, the surrounding temperature dropped sharply. White frost settled on the grass, and the breath of the three people became misty.
Choi Seon-woo smiled mischievously, even as he felt the energy pressing down on him oppressively. Oh-yul’s eyes were glistening as if they might kill him.
“Lee Ho-woo-ssi. So, what do you think?”
At Seon-woo’s urging, Ho-woo took a deep breath. If he were to date an Esper, he would rather be with Oh-yul, who was kind and gentle to him, than the man before him. So Ho-woo answered quite firmly.
“No. I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
“Is that so? I treat my lovers really well.”
What a shame. Such a shame.
Despite muttering repeatedly about how it was a shame, Choi Seon-woo’s face was bright. His gaze was fixed not on Ho-woo but behind him, on Oh-yul, so Ho-woo turned around following that gaze.
Oh-yul had his eyes downcast and looked a bit dejected.
“Oh my.”
Even at Choi Seon-woo’s flat tone, Oh-yul’s expression remained the same. He pitifully grasped Ho-woo’s sleeve very weakly instead of his hand. As if Ho-woo could shake him off at any time if he wanted. That feeble strength felt even more pitiful.
Perhaps because he had used his power in the training ground, Oh-yul’s eyes, mixed with blue, became moist. It was visible how he was trying to maintain his expression, holding back the corners of his mouth that kept drooping, but the more he tried, the more the ends of Oh-yul’s eyebrows drooped.
“Yul-i-ssi?”
“…It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
No, your expression is worrying to anyone who sees it.
Ho-woo fidgeted, unable to push away Oh-yul’s hand that was weakly grasping his sleeve. Somehow, it felt like he was doing something wrong. Even though all he had done was shake off Oh-yul who had been holding his hand.
“Well… we’re not in a relationship or anything…”
Oh-yul’s expression became even more gloomy. Ho-woo was at his wit’s end. Why should he feel guilty when he was only telling the truth? He should refrain from holding hands right away. The resolution he had just made was already wavering precariously.
“That’s right. We’re not in any kind of relationship.”
As he spoke matter-of-factly, the large man’s gaze fell to the floor. His handsome, refined face openly revealed deep melancholy.
“As Choi Seon-woo-ssi said, it’s strange to be too intimate when we’re not even lovers.”
“Is that so? I wouldn’t know.”
Oh-yul rolled his eyes around before barely audibly adding, “I’ve never been close to other people since I was young.”
It was a very small voice, but it was heard very clearly by Ho-woo standing right in front of him and Choi Seon-woo behind him.