Ordinary Person A

#36

He needed a heavy rain (豪雨, ho-woo) to thoroughly drench his entire body.

After passing a few flickering streetlights due to poor maintenance, when they were almost at the apartment, Oh-yul suddenly stopped walking and stared intently at a dark alley between buildings across the street. There was a bothersome presence there. Though hidden, it was no different from standing out in the open to him. The other party didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding their presence either. A familiar purple light briefly flashed and disappeared in the darkness.

Following his gaze, Ho-woo also turned his head over his shoulder and asked, “What’s the matter?”, so Oh-yul resumed walking as if nothing was wrong.

“I think it’s a cat.”

“A cat?”

Ho-woo looked back at the dark alley, still curious. His face clearly showed disappointment at not being able to see the cat.

“Was it cute?”

“Hmm… Not by my standards.”

Oh-yul reached the apartment entrance and sent Ho-woo up first. It was the classic excuse of stopping by the convenience store, but Ho-woo’s face showed no sign of suspicion as he said goodnight and told Oh-yul to rest well.

Oh-yul stood like a stake in that spot, watching until Ho-woo passed through the parking lot and completely entered the house. Then he slowly turned his head and dropped a huge water droplet on top of the alley they had passed.

Splash-

The large amount of water made a big noise as it soaked the figure hidden in the shadows before hitting the ground. The person who suddenly got drenched despite there being no rain appeared, wringing out their wet clothes. The wet bangs sticking to their forehead seemed to bother them, as they brushed their hair up with one hand.

“Esper Choi Seon-woo, what brings you here?”

“Obviously, I came to watch. I was curious about how you created ‘that thing’.”

“Ho-woo is not a spectacle.”

Beyond their usefulness, Oh-yul felt displeasure at the attitude of treating Ho-woo like an animal trapped in a zoo, even though mental Espers other than himself were useful and were brought in to be used as long-term pawns. At Oh-yul’s hardened expression, Choi Seon-woo smiled, lifting one corner of his mouth.

“Well, isn’t it fine as long as the person himself doesn’t know? After all, I’m just being treated as a mere cat. Since I’m doing well as instructed, shouldn’t you let this much slide?”

Oh-yul furrowed his brow at Choi Seon-woo’s words. Since it was much faster than moving alone, he suppressed his displeasure moderately for the sake of necessity.

“Oh, and have you heard the news? Apparently, among the Guides who manifested this time, there’s the Minister’s daughter?”

Oh-yul’s already furrowed brow wrinkled even more terribly at Choi Seon-woo’s words.

The higher-ups who occupied the Management Corporation that manages and controls Espers/Guides were all non-manifested individuals. They tried their best to hold the leash and initiative of the Espers.

Claiming that only those without any abilities could control and lead Espers who follow their instincts, they actively tried to control the already small number of Guides.

Espers need Guides, but Guides don’t need them, so they were easier to exploit politically. If they granted what they wanted – money, wishes – a very fine leash would be completed.

Not a single Esper was free from this. Not even the great S-class Espers.

“They’ll try to graft on it.”

“Let’s hope they don’t force imprinting or anything.”

Choi Seon-woo shrugged. Except for Oh-yul, who had particularly bad matching rates with Guides, the other S-class Espers, Ha Eun-chan and Joo Si-yeon, had dedicated Guides assigned to them. They assigned Guides with ‘adequate’ matching rates and subtly threatened them with Guiding.

The corner of Oh-yul’s mouth twisted upward. Because of these damn bastards, it took him too much time to bring Ho-woo to his side.

If Oh-yul had brought Ho-woo to his side when he was even younger than now, unable to overcome the waiting, Ho-woo probably wouldn’t have been able to even come near Oh-yul. Or he might have been locked up in a laboratory undergoing all sorts of experiments.

He had spent a considerable amount of time to avoid seeing that sight. It was a slow time of gradually swallowing up the Management Corporation and putting it under his control, and it was about to be completed soon.

“I guess you’ll be doing some matching rate tests and going on dates with that daughter.”

Choi Seon-woo sneered, seemingly displeased as he imagined the scene. He was also an A-class Esper, especially a mental Esper, and one of the Espers who received focused attention from the Management Corporation.

While Guides in other teams were assigned to match with Espers as much as possible, with one Guide for every two Espers at most, only one Guide was assigned to Team 1. The chronic lack of Guiding that followed, along with headaches and pain, was a long-standing chronic problem for Team 1.

Even Oh-yul, being S-class, received Guiding from other Guides called in for the purpose of preventing rampages, while the rest of the team members were barely hanging on. Meanwhile, Choi Seon-woo secretly received Guiding by slipping money to Guides with good matching rates.

“It’s a useless act anyway. It will never exceed 40% with that Guide.”

“Well, that’s true. Still, keep an eye on the higher-ups for now. There are too many guys to mess with their heads, so time is short. It’s even more of a headache because they each have a low-level Esper by their side, pretending to defend against mental attacks.”

Choi Seon-woo laughed, complaining. It was a smile that showed he quite liked his role of messing with other people’s heads to his heart’s content. It was even more so because it was something Oh-yul used to do personally before. Everyone would be shocked to find out that Oh-yul was an Esper with dual abilities.

“But boss, what are you going to do after taking over the Management Corporation?”

Choi Seon-woo asked lightly, belatedly curious about what Oh-yul truly wanted. ‘What, are you going to turn the city upside down?’ It was entirely possible for Oh-yul who had escaped from the cage. After all, unlike other S-class Espers, his power was still growing even now.

However, Oh-yul clicked his tongue briefly with an indifferent face.

“What’s the point of turning over a garbage dump? Only cockroaches will crawl out.”

“What a metaphor…”

“Does Esper Choi Seon-woo need such grand ambitions?”

At Oh-yul’s question turned back on him, Choi Seon-woo slowly turned his head this way and that, pondering for a moment before speaking in a light tone.

“At least let’s lift the ban on imprinting. It’s not like imprinting is wrong, it’s our instinct.”

“……”

“And let’s tear down some of the walls around the Corporation, what is it, it’s not a prison.”

“That’s right.”

He wasn’t trying to do anything grand by manipulating the minds of the Management Corporation’s higher-ups. He was just trying to bring the initiative regarding Espers a little more to the Esper side. It was a small thing, but knowing that this small thing would gradually change things over time, Oh-yul wasn’t impatient about this matter, unlike winning Ho-woo’s heart.

Choi Seon-woo, who had half-achieved his original goal of observing Ho-woo, turned to go back to the Corporation, but then as if suddenly remembering something, he twisted his upper body to look back.

“By the way, is Ho-woo really okay?”

“You’re showing too much interest.”

Oh-yul coldly rebuked, growling and roughly emitting energy. The water around them instantly froze, creating a scene unsuited to early summer.

“How are you sending him to work? It’s amazing you’re not keeping him locked up at home.”

Choi Seon-woo’s expression turned incredulous at the sharp reaction. He laughed as if deflating, then muttered to himself, “Seeing how you’re taking care of him, I guess you know what you’re doing,” as he turned back the way he came.

“……”

Oh-yul stared for a long time in the direction Choi Seon-woo had disappeared, then returned to the apartment. From the entrance, Ho-woo’s house was immediately visible. The light seeping through the tightly closed door and windows used to be distantly far away, but now it wasn’t so far.

He slowly moved his steps towards his own nest.

The shabby apartment, its narrow interior, was surrounded by blackout curtains that blocked the light. It was a familiar sight. Oh-yul’s life without Ho-woo was still stuck in that young age.

The young child who suppressed his breath in pain, killed his presence, and trembled finely in the darkness avoiding light was still trapped in that narrow room.

Oh-yul neatly hung his uniform on a hanger, listening to various noises coming from Ho-woo’s house next door as if it were right beside him, like a radio.

The sound of water continued for a while, as if he was washing up as soon as he entered. Ho-woo liked to shower with very hot water even in midsummer. It was one of his preferences that hadn’t changed from childhood until now.

He sat leaning back on the sofa and imagined Ho-woo’s body under his eyelids. The straight shoulders, the neckline that drew a slender line for a man, and the straight legs that extended along the lines of his body. His posture was also correct, and there wasn’t a single part of his fingers or toes that wasn’t pretty.

His large eyes had been a light brown color since childhood, giving him a cute, puppy-like face, so it was natural that it hadn’t changed even after he grew up. Of course, Oh-yul didn’t tolerate others approaching him with different emotions, attracted by his appearance, even when they were apart.

Kim Do-hyun also said quite annoying things, so Oh-yul had tried to change his memories to make him less annoying, but he was still an irritating guy. He couldn’t like him no matter what, neither in the past nor now.