By Zephyria 
“If there was never any possibility of you getting pregnant from the start. Then what would you do?”
“What?”
Only then did Hae-jun understand Lee A-gon’s story. He was saying that pregnancy was impossible from the beginning.
“No. You saw my body changing too. From my chest… it happened.”
“Milk coming from your chest was possible because you have a chest and nipples. But a uterus is different. That’s not something I can create just because I want to.”
“……”
“So what I’m saying is.”
Lee A-gon trailed off, took a step closer, and grabbed Hae-jun’s hand. Hae-jun stared at the hand holding him as if it were a ghost.
“When the doctor examined you, he didn’t say a single word about seeing a fetus or a uterus. No matter how powerful I am, I can’t create something like that, hyung.”
“Then, if that’s the case, you, then why.”
Hae-jun stammered.
“Why did you lock me up and say you wanted to get me pregnant? Why, why did you act as if such a thing would really happen?”
“Because I couldn’t let go of my obsession. I truly wanted you to get pregnant, hyung. I thought maybe it was possible. I wanted it so desperately that you even had a phantom pregnancy. But now that I’ve tried it myself, I know. That’s the realm of God. It’s impossible for me.”
At the end of his words, Lee A-gon smiled brightly. As if he was relieved now. As if all problems were now solved.
“So… it’s okay now, right?”
Hae-jun stared at Lee A-gon with a dazed expression. Lee A-gon took one more step closer.
“You can’t get pregnant, hyung. I don’t have that ability. So now everything’s resolved. You can relax and love me again.”
“……”
“Hyung, I love you. You love me too, don’t you? So let’s now……”
Hae-jun, having heard that far, threw a punch at Lee A-gon’s face. It was a punch with all his might.
Lee A-gon flew back, bleeding. Hae-jun looked down at the bastard with contemptuous eyes before turning his back.
“Hyung, where are you going? Hyung.”
Before he could take a few steps, Lee A-gon, who had quickly followed, grabbed Hae-jun.
“Let go.”
“I didn’t tell you until now because I was afraid you’d get angry. I’m sorry. But I didn’t lie. I haven’t known this fact for long either.”
“I said let go.”
“Hyung, please think of it in a positive light. Now we can be together again. There are no more obstacles between us. Okay?”
You fucking bastard.
Hae-jun turned around and hit Lee A-gon once more. He didn’t just punch him; he slapped the side of his head hard enough to make a smack! sound.
It must have been incredibly painful, but Lee A-gon didn’t even flinch. He desperately clung to Hae-jun.
“Let go.”
“Hyung, please look at me.”
“You won’t let go?”
“Please. Hae-jun hyung.”
Hae-jun kneed Lee A-gon in the solar plexus. Again, a smack! sound was heard. This time, perhaps unable to help it, Lee A-gon clutched his solar plexus and groaned. Hae-jun used that moment to escape Lee A-gon’s room.
As he came out, the Espers gathered in a circle all stared at Hae-jun at once. Hae-jun roughly shoved them aside. All sorts of filthy emotions—irritation, anger, indescribable feelings—surged up.
“Get lost!”
At his rough actions, the Espers scattered in a flurry. But their curious eyes continued to chase after Hae-jun.
‘Fucking bastard. Son of a bitch. Damn bastard.’
Hae-jun stomped back to his room. Anger surged to the top of his head. He was so heated that he grabbed and threw everything on his desk, but his anger still didn’t subside.
「I didn’t tell you until now because I was afraid you’d get angry. I’m sorry. But I didn’t lie. I haven’t known this fact for long either.」
“Argh!”
Hae-jun grabbed his head and screamed. He felt completely played. What state of mind was I in when I broke up with you? Why did I enlist in the military? With what feelings did I cut you off when you came after me?
Was all of this a futile effort? Was pregnancy impossible from the start?
You son of a bitch. Then what was everything I did? What am I even here for?
The most infuriating thing was Lee A-gon’s clever excuse. Saying he didn’t lie. He could have at least told me when we met again in the military. He hid it until now because he knew I’d get angry like this. He wanted to hide it until the very end.
Only when he saw that I would never accept him as long as the pregnancy issue existed did Lee A-gon slyly spill the truth. He told the truth as a last resort.
Because of his wish, I had a phantom pregnancy; because of his obsession, I was imprisoned; because I was afraid his wish might come true, I fled to the military. And even after all that, I thought he looked lovely and kissed him? I was the crazy one.
If I fell for him again here, there would be no excuse. Such a pathetic fool deserved to die.
Even by the next day, Hae-jun’s anger hadn’t subsided. The temperature had cooled somewhat, but a hard residue remained, like granite formed from magma solidifying after a volcanic eruption.
Lee A-gon couldn’t bring himself to approach closely and just watched Hae-jun with sad, sunflower-like eyes. When their eyes met, he would move his lips, mouthing, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
Seeing that, Hae-jun also replied with his mouth shape. “Wanna die?” “Fuck off.” “Get lost.” “Bastard.”
Receiving the reply, Lee A-gon’s eyes welled up with tears, and he bowed his head. Soon, teardrops fell one by one at his feet, and seeing this, Jo Eun-gyu pitied him.
“That Esper hyung is really pitiful. Hyung, can’t you just accept him if it’s not too much?”
“Yeah. No.”
“What on earth did he do wrong? Did he cheat or something?”
“I volunteered for the military because of him.”
Hearing Hae-jun’s answer, Jo Eun-gyu shut his mouth. That was a truly enormous wrongdoing.
“What did that person do?”
“That’s none of your……”
The clueless Heo Seon-woo asked. Just as Hae-jun was about to answer, “That’s none of your business,” a sound of glass shattering into pieces was heard from afar.
“What’s that?”
“What’s going on?”
The Espers and Guides gathered in the open area rushed over. Smoke was billowing from the three-story Esper training building. It seemed a fire had broken out. Fortunately, it was quickly suppressed, but the commotion didn’t die down.
“That’s the third time already.”
Heo Seon-woo said.
“What is?”
“An accident at the training building. There were accidents yesterday and the day before too. Yesterday a door was broken, and the day before, the four-story training building shook, they say.”
“The building shook? Is that true?”
“Huh, you didn’t know?”
People talked a lot about it. Heo Seon-woo asked back, sounding rather absurd.
Hae-jun really didn’t know. Yesterday and the day before, his head was so full of thoughts about Lee A-gon that no other stories got through.
“It seems the Espers’ powers are getting stronger. Ju-chan hyung told me too. If it used to take 30 minutes to bend a metal spoon, now it’s possible in under a minute.”
Jo Eun-gyu chimed in.
“That’s right. Han-sol hyung’s ability is spatial movement, right? But suddenly, a new ability appeared. Spatial barrier.”
“Spatial barrier? What’s that?”
“It’s trapping people. Setting up a barrier so they can’t escape.”
Heo Seon-woo made his palms concave and overlapped them in a gesture.
Such an ability is possible? Hae-jun was dumbfounded. It sounded like an ability from a superpower comic.
“Did a new ability suddenly manifest?”
“Yes. It’s amazing, right? I hear all sorts of strange abilities are appearing. There’s an Esper who gained the ability to enter others’ dreams, and another who can mimic other people’s voices exactly. So the researchers have gotten really busy too.”
“There’s a rumor that they’re re-evaluating the grades.”
“Since the Espers keep getting stronger, some say we might even get Espers like in the movies for real.”
The two boys spoke in unison. Hae-jun looked at the training building where smoke was still rising. It was strange that the Espers’ abilities were strengthening, but it was also unrelated to him. He led the boys toward the cafeteria.
While returning to the science building after lunch, Hae-jun overheard Espers chatting excitedly. They were talking loudly about their increased abilities, their voices too loud to ignore.
“Hey, with this level of Psychokinesis, isn’t it S-grade? I lifted fifty books at once yesterday.”
“That much is something even B-grades can do now. They say they need to reset the measurement standards, it’s chaos.”
“But is it just us? Are Espers outside like this too?”
“Who knows. If they’re outside, they’re below C-grade; no matter how strong they get, can they match us?”
The Espers, excitedly patting each other’s backs and shoulders, noticed Hae-jun and the two boys following behind. They simultaneously shut their mouths, then smirked and laughed.
“Hello, Guide-nim?”
One of them greeted Hae-jun. Hae-jun nodded indifferently, saying, “Yeah, whatever.”
“The weather is really nice today, isn’t it?”
The Esper kept talking, following Hae-jun. Hae-jun kept his mouth shut. Experience taught him that ignoring them was best in such situations.