Ordinary Person A

#21

The gaze of an ordinary person who knew nothing clearly swept across the silent room filled with soft breathing sounds.

It still felt awkward for him to be in this space. It felt like he was sitting in a place that wasn’t his. Still, Oh-yul continued to be gentle and kind to him, and sometimes it seemed like he might even like Ho-woo.

But, does he really like me?

At this sudden thought, Ho-woo glanced down at Oh-yul’s well-shaped forehead, delicate nose bridge, and tightly closed lips as he slept. Ho-woo had realized early on that he was open to both women and men.

Though not particularly young, Ho-woo had been in a few relationships, including one with a man. Of course, his relationships never lasted very long, often ending disastrously.

Strangely, those who gave their hearts to Ho-woo or received Ho-woo’s affection would suddenly turn cold and announce their breakup after a month, or as quickly as two weeks. This happened even when Ho-woo hadn’t done anything wrong.

As this kept repeating, Do-hyun teased that Ho-woo had absolutely no luck in love, and Ho-woo would irritably smack Do-hyun’s back.

His last relationship at twenty-five was even worse – she cheated on Ho-woo with another man. Or more accurately, she had cheated on her boyfriend with Ho-woo.

That day, Ho-woo became the world’s worst person for seducing someone else’s partner. It was the first time he’d been punched, and the chaos was unprecedented. The bruise from that day lasted for a month, providing excellent fodder for Do-hyun’s teasing for a while.

After such a terrible last relationship, he couldn’t even think about dating again.

Even if Oh-yul liked him, Ho-woo had no intention of dating. He was sorry for Oh-yul, but Ho-woo’s relationships generally ended terribly, and he had never had a good experience.

Not only did they live in different worlds, but Oh-yul was an Esper who needed guiding for life. Ho-woo didn’t even dare to watch that. Just seeing the guiding bed in the corner made him feel down, and he couldn’t imagine how he’d endure it throughout a relationship.

What if Oh-yul had to be on that bed with someone else out of necessity?

Horrible.

Just as fish have their own habitats, people are happiest living in their own place.

Beep- Beep-

As Ho-woo was mentally listing reasons why he shouldn’t give his heart to Oh-yul, his eyes widened at the red emergency light and loud noise that suddenly filled the quiet room.

At that clamorous sound, those who had been sleeping as if unconscious all rose in unison, as if they had never been asleep. This included Oh-yul. As he tidied his slightly disheveled clothes, he patted Ho-woo’s shoulder to calm him, seeing his expression of unconcealed bewilderment.

“It’s nothing. You’d better stay in the room as I might be late.”

He took out a security key from his pocket and placed it in Ho-woo’s hand.

“Captain! A B-class has appeared in the F area on the outskirts of the city. I’ll stand by near the scene for guiding support.”

Yu Hee-eun, who had been melting limply, checked her pad with sharp eyes. She turned to look at Oh-yul as she hurriedly left the room. Feeling her gaze, Oh-yul spoke without even looking at her.

“Go ahead.”

“Don’t be too late.”

Yu Hee-eun nodded slightly and ran out. Even the rare and valuable Guides were sent to areas where monsters appeared? Ho-woo was very intrigued by this new information.

Oh-yul waited until Ho-woo, who had been looking at the door Yu Hee-eun had left through, turned back to him. And when their gazes met again at the end of that wait, he smiled, his eyes crinkling.

“I’ll be going now.”

Oh-yul bid farewell to Ho-woo, who would be left alone in the room. As if it was natural that he would return to Ho-woo’s side, and Ho-woo should naturally welcome him back.

“Take care.”

Oh-yul’s lips curved up in satisfaction at the small farewell. He strode towards the door to leave, then turned back once more. His dark blue eyes, still with a stronger blue tint, half-closed affectionately.

After Oh-yul left the room, Ho-woo poked his head out slightly to assess the noisy situation outside. He was planning to return to the room if it was too chaotic, but a dark shadow fell over him.

“―!”

Too surprised to even scream, Ho-woo’s lips parted silently. Noticing the man’s bright green eyes, he realized the person before him was an Esper.

He had taken off the long black uniform coat that Espers wore, had half-gloves on his hands, and looked troubled. After looking Ho-woo up and down, he pouted with a somewhat displeased expression.

“What? Why are you wearing a Guide uniform?”

His attitude suggested he knew Ho-woo. He scratched his head irritably, apparently not really expecting an answer to his question.

“Ah shit, if I don’t go to the emergency call, I’ll have to write an incident report later.”

Incident report.

It was a very familiar term. Isn’t it the word office workers hate the most? Annoying, troublesome, and damaging to one’s pride.

“…Well, it’s not entirely my fault, so the captain will probably cover for me.”

He flung open the door that Ho-woo had slightly ajar. Losing his grip on the door due to the strong force, Ho-woo stumbled forward, squeezing his eyes shut.

His knees, instinctively raised to avoid hitting his head on the hard marble floor, made contact first. Judging by the aching that reached his bones, it would likely result in a large bruise.

“Are you going to keep lying on the floor?”

Despite his youthful face that had just reached adulthood, Ho-woo didn’t object to his rude informal speech. The law was far, but fists were near. The man, who had naturally entered the guiding room and taken Oh-yul’s seat, looked indifferently at Ho-woo, who was standing awkwardly due to his sore knees, with eyes tinted a fairly bright green.

“What, because of a guy like this…”

Although it seemed like he had muttered quietly, the room was so quiet that Ho-woo could hear his voice clearly. Ho-woo was a bit flustered but tried to maintain his composure. This was Oh-yul’s workplace, and he didn’t want to cause any trouble. As Ho-woo was about to let it pass quietly, the man’s casually thrown words caught him.

“Are you good?”

It was a phrase that was unmistakable even with everything else cut out. Ho-woo’s expression stiffened.

“I’m asking if you’re good.”

Is he crazy?

They say there are many Espers who aren’t right in the head. Until now, all the ones Ho-woo had met seemed sane, so this new man’s words caught him off guard.

Rather than feeling angry or ashamed at such a vulgar question, Ho-woo blinked slowly, dumbfounded. Seeing this somewhat blank expression, the youthful Esper growled, showing inexplicable hostility.

It was a vulgar statement not worth listening to. Regardless of what feelings Ho-woo might have for Oh-yul, there was no reason for him to hear such words from this man. A faint contempt tinged Ho-woo’s brown eyes.

So this is why Yul-i-ssi told me to go to the room.

It must have been because of crazy guys like this.

Ho-woo tightly gripped the security card Oh-yul had given him and turned to leave the guiding room. However, he couldn’t even take two steps before turning pale at the sharp wind that brushed right in front of his face.

“Are you ignoring me?”

“……”

If he had taken just one more step, his body might have been cut in half. Ho-woo turned to look at the man with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Hey, ordinary person. You think you’re something special because the captain takes care of you?”

The Esper, his hackles raised, was still sitting on the sofa, glaring at Ho-woo with displeasure. Ho-woo tried to remember if he had seen this youthful man somewhere before, but he was unfamiliar. The voice did sound somewhat familiar though.

“Do you know me?”

Ho-woo, who hadn’t wasted his years, calmly asked the man first. His tightly clenched palm was damp with sweat from tension. As the man said, he was a powerless ordinary person, so if he offended him, he could be seriously injured or even killed.

Intending to at least attempt a conversation if there was any misunderstanding, Ho-woo spoke up, but even this seemed to displease the youthful man, whose face contorted. His voice and tone mercilessly criticized Ho-woo with an extremely arrogant attitude.

“Know your place, you nobody. If you can’t do anything, at least live knowing your place. How dare you look above yourself?”

How dare you.

At those words, Ho-woo understood where the man’s hostility stemmed from. The man before him was probably a member of Oh-yul’s team. Since he looked young, he probably either admired or liked Oh-yul.

Ho-woo finally recalled the youthful, cheerful voice he had heard through Oh-yul’s pager.

So…

“Moon… what was it?”

He had definitely heard the name Oh-yul called him, but couldn’t remember it clearly.

“So, Mr. Moon.”

Even after racking his brain several times, he couldn’t remember the name and didn’t try too hard to recall it. After all, this person didn’t like him, so what did the name matter?