By Zephyria 
Before I could even send a reply, I heard a soft thud against the window.
Who is it?
I tried to ignore it, but then I heard another thud. Someone was deliberately throwing small pebbles at the window.
What kind of nerve did someone have to pull this on someone else’s window?
I threw open the window and saw Jae-ha down below.
His clothes were a stark black, perfect for blending into the darkness, making it hard to see anything but his face in the night’s shadows. I wondered where he had been.
As soon as Jae-ha saw that I had noticed him, he used his telekinesis to fly up and take me to a nearby park.
Thanks to the stealth artifact, no one recognized us.
“What’s with the prank at this hour?”
I chuckled and asked Jae-ha what was going on, but he just gave me a serious look and started examining me.
I told him I wasn’t hurt, but he scrutinized me as if he didn’t believe me, checking every inch of me.
It was as if he needed to confirm with his own eyes that I was still here in this world. Desperately.
“Did anyone suspicious come around? Did anyone linger in front of you?”
“Why are you acting like an overprotective parent? And speaking of which, weren’t we supposed to make plans in advance before meeting up?”
I meant it as a joke, but Jae-ha urged me to answer as if he were begging.
“Quickly. Answer me. Please.”
…What’s wrong with him?
“I’m always stuck in the practice room. How could that even be possible?”
“That’s a relief…”
I could smell sweat, grass, and dirt on Jae-ha, who seemed relieved. There was a lot of mud stuck to his shoes.
‘He’s been somewhere.’
Reading the Esper’s energy flowing out of him, I noticed that Jae-ha’s Corruption Level had increased. Seeing that it had risen even higher than I had lowered it, I couldn’t help but frown.
It was obvious that he had been using his abilities.
“Did you… by any chance run into X?”
At the mention of X, Potato widened his sleepy eyes and crawled out of my pocket, climbing onto my head.
“……”
Jae-ha didn’t answer my question for a moment. His blue eyes rippled like calm waves. His pupils seemed to tremble slightly from time to time.
After hesitating for a long time, Jae-ha finally answered.
“…Yes.”
“Really?”
“I didn’t actually meet X’s real body, but I did encounter another Esper who had been Brainwashing by X.”
“That means you almost caught him, right?”
I couldn’t hide the excitement in my voice. With my experience of rolling around in the front lines and acquiring the mental ability detection skill, I thought it wouldn’t be impossible to catch X completely if we had a Tracking ability user.
“Wait. This isn’t the time for this. Shouldn’t you be going with your other teammates to catch that bastard? If you don’t have a Tracking ability user, you should find one-”
Jae-ha’s expression darkened even more at my question.
“It’s impossible. We can’t chase X anymore.”
“Huh?”
“That bastard made sure to create escape routes everywhere before disappearing.”
Jae-ha explained everything that had happened to me.
He had found Jin Eu-tteum’s disappearance strange, just like I did, and had chased after him with his teammates, including a Tracking ability user.
And at the place they raided, they found Jin Eu-tteum’s body along with some idiot and had a battle that wasn’t really a battle.
The idiot that X had chosen to take the blame was too scared to do his job properly, so X interfered with his consciousness using mental abilities.
But Jae-ha wasn’t fooled by X’s trickery, and in the end, X left traces of Teleportation, moving several people, making it impossible to track him any further.
“…That’s what happened. The teammate with Tracking ability is no longer able to use their powers, so there was nothing we could do.”
“……”
“I’m sorry.”
I was dumbfounded after hearing the whole story.
“Why are you apologizing? X is the one who did all this.”
“But we missed X when we were so close. I’m not worthy to call myself your Esper.”
“Why are you digging yourself into a hole like that?”
I was dumbfounded. Even I would have decided to retreat if a teammate was dying from the side effects of using their abilities.
Jae-ha was depressed, as if he had committed a mortal sin. His broad shoulders were slumped and pathetic. Like an idiot.
“…I know. I know this was the best decision.”
“But?”
“That’s separate from how sorry I feel towards you. I should have torn that bastard to pieces no matter what.”
A murderous aura emanated from Jae-ha. His blue eyes gleamed like those of a beast.
“Because I can’t let you be in danger again.”
I could see anger, regret, and fear in his eyes.
“What are you so afraid of?”
I raised a hand and placed it on Jae-ha’s cheek, asking him. It was for Guiding.
Jae-ha leaned into my hand obediently and closed his eyes. Jae-ha, a powerful Esper who barely aged after his Second Awakening, seemed to be frozen in time from when we first met.
As he received the Guiding flowing from me, Jae-ha muttered.
“I’m afraid of losing you again.”
“I’m right here, safe and sound.”
“I know. But the thought of X targeting you again makes my blood boil, and I can’t stand it.”
Didn’t X just pick a fight with me at the measurement center and disappear? I couldn’t understand why Jae-ha thought that way.
‘Yeon Yu-jin’ was also an orphan with no connections, just like me. I thought he had come to test me to see if I was useful for ability theft.
Jae-ha shook his head.
“Maybe that’s true. But things got twisted because I was hanging around you and he found out about him then.”
I immediately understood what Jae-ha was saying.
“…Are you predicting that X might come after me again?”
“…Yes.”
I couldn’t deny it.
Jae-ha’s actions were solely for the purpose of catching X, but it was different for me.
X must have been surprised when he ran into Jae-ha near the measurement center. He couldn’t have imagined running into him there, so he must have been confused when Jae-ha suddenly appeared.
Of course, he would have been curious and interested in the relationship between ‘D-Class Guide Yeon Yu-jin’ and ‘the runaway S-Class Esper Hyeon Jae-ha’.
X would definitely come back for me. I couldn’t predict what form he would take. As long as he feared and bothered by Jae-ha, who was chasing him, it was inevitable that he would come to see me.
If he knew that I was important to Jae-ha, he would use it as an excuse to threaten me or do whatever else he needed to do.
I immediately compared X, who possessed unknown combat power, with the Secrety members.
‘Can the Secrety members put up a good fight against that bastard who has stolen various abilities?’
I couldn’t tell. I wouldn’t know until I saw them fight properly.
“I should get a protective artifact.”
As I muttered to myself, Jae-ha stood up and replied.
“No.”
“Huh?”
“It might be safer for me to stay away from you for a while. It might be better for me to disappear completely, like a stranger.”
“…What?”
What on earth was he talking about?
Jae-ha stroked my cheek and smiled sadly at my dumbfounded expression.
“I should have just made sure you were safe and left. Chasing X is the atonement I have to make… I’m just putting you in danger because of my greed.”
“That’s not…”
“Don’t deny it, Ga-hyeon. You don’t have to force yourself to take my side.”
Jae-ha, who was digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole, seemed to have already made up his mind.
“Let’s be strangers until I catch X, just until then… I’ll catch him soon…”
“Hey. Hyeon Jae-ha.”
I couldn’t listen to him anymore. I jumped up and grabbed Hyeon Jae-ha by the collar.
“Stop talking nonsense. It’s been a whole 20 years. It took 20 years to almost catch his tail, whether X was careless or not.”
And now he’s telling me to wait?
“I’m the one who was killed by X, you idiot. Atonement or whatever. Why are you so hung up on that and suffering from guilt?”
X was the one who committed an unforgivable wrong. Jae-ha was a victim just like me. A victim who lost someone precious and suffered from the aftereffects.
And yet he was talking about atonement. It was ridiculous. The real culprit was busy running away and hiding his tracks.
I pressed my forehead against Jae-ha’s and recited clearly.
“Listen carefully. I’m the one who’s going to catch that bastard. Don’t give me any of that ‘for your sake’ bullshit. If you really want to help me, then let me join in on catching X.”
We were already in this together.
“Even if you leave me now, X will definitely come after me. Whether you’re here or not, he’ll try to hurt you by using me. You’ve suffered countless times because of X, and you still don’t know that?”