Ordinary Person A

#23

“I’ll shut up.”

With those final words, Do-hyun abruptly hung up the phone. Although it was a bit strange that he suddenly became overly positive about Espers, Do-hyun was still the Kim Do-hyun that Ho-woo knew.

After ending the call, Ho-woo was left alone in the room with nothing to do. He fiddled with his phone for a while, but as his eyelids grew heavy, he leaned back on the sofa and drifted off to sleep.

***

The man with piercing blue eyes quietly opened the door and entered. In the dimly lit room, the person he cherished most was sound asleep. To avoid waking him, he moved silently.

Oh-yul pushed his blood-soaked clothes into the laundry basket and entered the bathroom to wash up. He noticed white pants hanging on the wall and slowly furrowed his brow.

Blood.

The white pants, wet with water, still bore red stains. They were crumpled, as if someone had desperately tried to clean them. Oh-yul gently touched the wrinkled clothes, then left the bathroom without washing and observed Ho-woo sleeping on the sofa.

His knee was covered with a wound he hadn’t noticed earlier, his sense of smell dulled by the scent of blood on himself. The entire knee was bruised and discolored.

He carefully grasped the smooth calf with his large hand.

Ho-woo had been fine when they greeted each other earlier, so what could have happened in the meantime? The distance from the Team 1 Guiding room in the corner of the floor to his room was just one corridor apart. What could have caused such an injury on that short path?

The man’s thick, dark eyebrows creased deeply.

Oh-yul carefully lifted the sleeping Ho-woo and moved him to the bed. At that slight contact, Ho-woo made a small sound and nuzzled his face against Oh-yul’s chest.

When he had only watched from beside the bed, he thought Ho-woo had no particular sleeping habits. But lying next to him, he discovered that his pair had a habit of burrowing into the arms of the person lying beside him. Since no one else would be lying next to him in the future, this was a sleeping habit that only Oh-yul would see.

Ho-woo curled up tightly and clung to Oh-yul with a completely relaxed face.

As much as he didn’t want to let go, his blood-stained body was a mess. After carefully laying Ho-woo on the bed, he found a first-aid kit and gently applied medicine to the wound, covering it with a large bandage.

He needed to find out why Ho-woo was injured.

If Ho-woo had fallen on his own, he could pamper him until the wound healed. If someone had harmed him, Oh-yul could handle it cleanly on his own.

He headed back to the bathroom to wash off the remaining smell of blood. The confirmation could wait until Ho-woo woke up.

After taking a long time to thoroughly wash away the smell of blood, he lay down next to Ho-woo again and wrapped his arm around his pair’s waist.

“I’m back,” he whispered very softly.

There was no response to his greeting, but he exhaled contentedly at Ho-woo’s arms wrapping around his neck in his sleep. A tsunami-like sense of stability pushed the on-edge monster deep into the abyss.

***

The morning sunlight pierced through tightly closed eyelids, making them sting. Trying to avoid the light, Ho-woo squirmed and suddenly opened his eyes wide when he felt the thick, firm arm wrapped around his waist. Right in front of his face was a face so handsome it seemed almost inhuman, sound asleep. Unlike when awake, the face was completely devoid of expression, but peaceful.

He was sure he had fallen asleep on the sofa while playing a phone game, so when did he come to the bed?

Ho-woo tried to recall. He had no memory of walking to the bed himself. That meant the only explanation was that Oh-yul, who was now holding him tightly, had moved him.

He should wake up.

Ho-woo tried to carefully unwrap the arm around his waist and get up without waking Oh-yul.

Despite his careful movements to be considerate of his tired companion who had come in late, Oh-yul pulled him even more tightly into his embrace at the slightest movement. Ho-woo struggled to break free from the arms holding him so tightly it was hard to breathe.

“Huk!”

Ho-woo startled and quickly removed his hand after firmly pushing against Oh-yul’s thigh.

“……”

…Hmm. …Uhm?

Contrary to Ho-woo’s intense deliberation, Oh-yul, still half-asleep, clung to him even more, nuzzling his face against Ho-woo’s shoulder. As he felt Oh-yul exhale deeply and pull him even closer, Ho-woo snapped to his senses. Realizing that if he didn’t wake Oh-yul quickly, they might end up in an embarrassing situation, Ho-woo urgently shook his shoulder.

“Mr. Yul! Mr. Yuli! Wake up!”

Ho-woo groaned, letting out a silent scream. Oh-yul, seemingly reluctant to wake up, buried his face in Ho-woo’s neck and mumbled in an incredibly low voice.

“Good morning.”

His voice still heavy with fatigue made Ho-woo feel guilty for waking him. However, this was not the time for leisurely morning greetings.

“Could you please let go of me.”

Blink, blink. His eyes flickered as if not understanding Ho-woo’s words. After a long moment of uncharacteristic blankness, Oh-yul let out a short exclamation.

“Ah.”

That was all. Oh-yul blinked his dark blue eyes, immersed in a perfect comfort he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Since becoming an Esper, he hadn’t experienced such a peaceful morning, except in his childhood.

Oh-yul buried his face in Ho-woo’s nape and closed his eyes. Seeing him about to fall asleep again, Ho-woo hurriedly patted his shoulder.

“Wake up!”

“…Mmm.”

At least if you’re going to sleep again, let go of me first!

Ho-woo’s ears turned bright red with embarrassment. He clenched his teeth and finally shouted loudly into Oh-yul’s ear.

“Oh-yul!”

“―!”

The Esper, who already had sensitive hearing that could clearly pick up sounds through walls, furrowed his brow at the ringing in his head and opened his eyes. The dark blue eyes no longer showed any trace of sleepiness.

“Please let go…”

Oh-yul obediently released Ho-woo. The Esper, now fully awake, gazed intently at the lovely sight of Ho-woo’s back as he clumsily got up, his face red with embarrassment. Then, as if casually mentioning it, he asked:

“By the way, why is your knee injured?”

“I fell.”

Ho-woo replied lightly to the casual question, as if it were no big deal. He had already decided not to tell Oh-yul about yesterday’s incident, so this was a convenient excuse.

“It seems you fell quite badly.”

“Well, you know how the atmosphere was yesterday. I was startled and ran, then I just fell a bit.”

Ho-woo turned to look at Oh-yul, who was still in bed, while telling this plausible lie. Oh-yul had the corners of his mouth turned up as if smiling, but his eyes held not a trace of amusement.

“Since you say so, I’ll believe you for now. Moon Jin-hyuk will be bringing clothes for you to wear today. I told him to bring them this morning, so he should be here soon.”

Oh-yul slowly got up, checking the pager on his wrist as if confirming the time. The muscles of his bare body stretched and retracted gracefully, like an elegant predator. Ho-woo’s gaze was momentarily captivated by the sight before he belatedly furrowed his brow at the somewhat familiar name.

It must be that Moon whatever Esper from yesterday.

Ho-woo frowned, hoping that Moon Jin-hyuk wasn’t foolish enough to blurt out yesterday’s events with his own mouth. What good would come from talking about that in front of Oh-yul?

However, Ho-woo’s worries were soon shattered to pieces.

At a soft knock on the door, Oh-yul leisurely opened it. As he had said, Moon Jin-hyuk stood there with a shopping bag, wearing a displeased expression.

He handed over the shopping bag, which showed clear signs of clothes being carelessly stuffed inside. When his eyes met Ho-woo’s, who was peering out from inside, his expression instantly turned hostile. Clear animosity flickered in the Esper’s eyes.

“You!”

At the harshly spat out address, Oh-yul looked down at Moon Jin-hyuk expressionlessly. Not noticing that the captain standing beside him had turned cold, the young man began to point accusingly at Ho-woo.

“I told you not to act above your station! Who do you think you are to be in the captain’s room?!”

Ho-woo pressed his forehead, feeling a throbbing headache coming on. Even if he had no relationship with Oh-yul, he was still a guest here. And it was Oh-yul who had brought Ho-woo here as a guest, so this behavior was extremely rude.

Is he really this stupid?

He had intended to let it slide because it felt premature to report, but now the man was digging his own grave. Oh-yul’s gaze as he looked down at him was ominous. Oh-yul glanced between the troubled Ho-woo and Moon Jin-hyuk, then smiled beautifully, in a way that sent chills down one’s spine.

“I see.”

It wasn’t clear what he understood, but it was a brief expression of comprehension. Then, still smiling freshly and kindly, he addressed Ho-woo instead of Moon Jin-hyuk, who was still puffing up his chest without reading the atmosphere.

“Ho-woo. I’ve taken a day off today.”

O-okay. But why are you telling me this now…?

“Congratulations on your day off?”

Ho-woo responded dryly. At that response, Oh-yul laughed out loud and passed the shopping bag of clothes he had received to Ho-woo.

“To celebrate my first day off since becoming an Esper, would you go on a date with me today?”