Chapter 18 – The Price of Misjudgment
He had never thought about suing Jeong Si-jun. If anything, he just wanted to charge in and grab him by the collar. He couldn’t fathom why the other man was suddenly talking about settlement money.
“Since you signed the contract, we’re working together again regardless.”
Jeong Si-jun spoke up to clear Yoon Ki-hyun’s confusion. Yoon Ki-hyun nodded as if telling him to continue.
“Regardless of the reason, it’s true that I called you by that nickname at the center, and based on what you said last time, it seemed like you were under a lot of stress.”
“…….”
“I’m giving you this money just to put my own mind at ease. Honestly, I want to get along with you, but money is all I have.”
Money is all he has?
It was the first time in his life he had ever aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelsheard such a thing. Some people didn’t have that kind of money—until recently, he had been thinking of nothing but death because of it.
Of course, he knew his poverty wasn’t Jeong Si-jun’s fault, and that even thinking this way was a result of his own inferiority complex, but he couldn’t help feeling irritated.
‘Just how much money does he have to be sending this kind of settlement money without even being sued?’
He tried not to look, but his gaze kept drifting toward the amount transferred to his account.
To think that a sum larger than what he would have earned in a month of work would be deposited under the bizarre pretext of a settlement. No matter how he thought about it, there could only be one reason why Jeong Si-jun was doing this.
“If you’re pitying me because I’m sick…”
Yoon Ki-hyun mumbled the words like a monologue, his voice trailing off. This was because Jeong Si-jun’s expression proved his guess wrong.
‘That look…’
Jeong Si-jun looked flustered. He wasn’t flustered because his inner thoughts had been exposed, but rather looked distressed that he had been misunderstood.
Come to think of it, Yoon Ki-hyun was the one who had arbitrarily announced his illness, and while he had mentioned that the medicine was expensive, he had never mentioned the name of the disease or any other details.
Even if this unnegotiated settlement money were truly an act of pity, it was a sufficiently sincere amount.
Whether he was swimming in money or not, if someone gave him this much just to feel better, he would look foolish to stubbornly refuse.
“No. Since you’re giving it, I’ll take it.”
“I didn’t give it for that reason. Really.”
Jeong Si-jun added, sounding uncharacteristically flustered. Since Yoon Ki-hyun felt the same, he simply nodded.
“I won’t care about what you called me at the center in the past. I’ve received enough in settlement money and apologies.”
Yoon Ki-hyun believed in working as hard as the compensation he received. Just as he had always done his best at the center, he intended to provide guiding for Jeong Si-jun better than anyone else.
He hadn’t asked for it, but since he had received the settlement money, he didn’t want to act pathetic by continuing to bring up the past.
“But this won’t cause any tax issues later, right?”
When Yoon Ki-hyun asked the question with a hint of a joke, the atmosphere of the conversation lightened. Jeong Si-jun, who had been at a loss, looked more relaxed as he shook his head.
“Ah, I’ll take care of all that, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Alright. Well, it’s nice that my employer is generous.”
Rich people certainly are decisive when it comes to spending.
Yoon Ki-hyun brushed aside the thought of digging deeper and glanced at Jeong Si-jun. Color was returning to his pale complexion.
“Take the pen.”
Yoon Ki-hyun slid the pen that was sitting alone on the table toward Jeong Si-jun. When their fingers brushed, their wavelengths tangled for a brief moment.
“Ah.”
The moment their wavelengths tangled, Jeong Si-jun let out a short gasp and frowned. Yoon Ki-hyun was momentarily speechless at the disastrous wavelength he felt.
The fact that he could feel it without even trying to draw the wavelength meant that Jeong Si-jun was unable to control his wavelength properly.
“Did you come here without receiving guiding?”
Today, Jeong Si-jun had rushed here to meet Yoon Ki-hyun immediately after returning late at night from clearing a series of anomalous gates near the metropolitan area.
Naturally, he had assumed Jeong Si-jun would have received guiding, but the wavelength he encountered was a complete mess.
“This is how it is even after receiving it.”
“Your wavelength control is failing right now.”
Yoon Ki-hyun looked at Jeong Si-jun with a concerned gaze.
In the past, he might have gritted his teeth and called him an arrogant bastard, but now, he was an Esper he had to care for and his employer.
He had to work properly given what he’d been paid, but the wavelength he had to take responsibility for was a bigger disaster than he expected. He wondered how the man had managed to move inside a gate with a wavelength in such a state.
“Now you know… why I’m clinging to you with settlement money and all, right?”
Jeong Si-jun murmured with an awkward smile. Only then did Yoon Ki-hyun truly notice Jeong Si-jun’s appearance.
Bloodshot whites of the eyes, bulging veins at the temples, and strangely labored breathing.
As Yoon Ki-hyun’s gaze lingered on Jeong Si-jun’s face, a drop of sweat from the tip of Jeong Si-jun’s bangs fell onto the table.
In that moment, a very small ripple formed in Yoon Ki-hyun’s heart.
At first, he had thought it was just a whim of a rich young master, but perhaps Jeong Si-jun’s situation was more desperate than he had imagined.
“I haven’t had a single day without pain since I awakened, so this is manageable. It’s my daily routine, so it’s not even new.”
Jeong Si-jun murmured in a flat tone while tidying up the contract signed by Yoon Ki-hyun. However, Yoon Ki-hyun knew better than anyone that this didn’t mean he was actually okay.
Setting aside personal feelings, he was the one who had guided Jeong Si-jun’s [Read unauthorized copyon Read BL Novels]wavelength for quite a long time.
While other team leaders occasionally handled the guiding, Yoon Ki-hyun was generally the one in charge of Jeong Si-jun’s guiding. This was partly because Yoon Ki-hyun tended to guide anyone regardless of who they were, but it was also a schedule that reflected Jeong Si-jun’s subtle preference.
‘His state is similar to right before his last outbreak. Manageable my ass.’
Having pain that tortures the body as a daily routine brings indescribable unpleasantness and suffering.
Having experienced pain himself, those words hit home more deeply than anyone else’s. It was a feeling he wouldn’t have understood if he hadn’t suffered from a disease so unfamiliar that he couldn’t even recall its name instantly.
‘I got the money, so I should do my job.’
Yoon Ki-hyun looked straight into Jeong Si-jun’s eyes and reached out his hand.
“Do you want guiding now?”
“Here?”
Jeong Si-jun asked back, sounding somewhat reluctant. Looking at his condition, stolen stolen contentcontenthe should have been demanding guiding, yet he wondered how the man could still ask such a question first.
“Honestly, you’re in bad shape.”
Unable to deny it, Jeong Si-jun fell silent. Yoon Ki-hyun glanced at the stubbornly pressed lips and beckoned with his hand, urging him.
“I’ll be in charge of your guiding from now on, so I should check in advance if my guiding skills are still the same.”
“You don’t have to go that far…”
Jeong Si-jun frowned, but after meeting Yoon Ki-hyun’s eyes, he let out a small sigh.
To think someone would offer guiding in a place like this without knowing his inner thoughts. Still, he felt better than ever.
Was this not the guiding from Yoon Ki-hyun that he had longed for so much? In truth, he felt like he was going crazy needing guiding right now, but he was suppressing it out of habit.
Moreover, he couldn’t keep refusing when Yoon Ki-hyun was the one offering to guide him first.
“Then…”
Jeong Si-jun cautiously reached out.
He didn’t know why he was so nervous just to place his hand atop Yoon Ki-hyun’s white hand. Despite having received guiding to the point of satiety, he felt strangely breathless.
‘Why the hell am I shaking over this?’
For Jeong Si-jun, guiding was categorized similarly to breathing. That was why he had no hesitation in receiving guiding in the center’s guiding room, at temporary bases, or even in places crowded with people’s phones and cameras.
Just as a person does not choose a location to breathe, guiding was an act Jeong Si-jun could receive anywhere. Furthermore, it wasn’t as if it was the first or second time he had entrusted his wavelength to Yoon Ki-hyun.
The very reason he had practically begged Yoon Ki-hyun by handing him money was that Yoon Ki-hyun was the only person who could truly understand and purify his wavelength.
So why on earth was he so nervous now that he was actually about to receive guiding again?
“You really do look like you’re in bad shape. I’ll start the guiding.”
Unable to watch Jeong Si-jun hesitate any longer, Yoon Ki-hyun [[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit [Read on Read BL Novels]our site]first grabbed Jeong Si-jun’s hand, which had approached his own ambiguously.
Jeong Si-jun’s body stiffened at the sensation of soft fingers wrapping around his own.
It was because the wavelength, which had been roaming as if to melt his entire body, suddenly surged out through their interlocking fingers.
‘Wow, fuck.’
Yoon Ki-hyun’s hand was white and slender, but it was clearly that of a sturdy man. His fingertips were slightly hotter than other parts, and the flesh of his fingertips was soft, but the bone structure was thicker and firmer than expected.
The contrast between his own hand, slightly tanned from frequent training and gate raids, and Yoon Ki-hyun’s white hand made his head spin.
“Ah.”
As a certain tremor starting from the crown of his head struck down like a bolt of lightning, Jeong Si-jun let out a small moan and closed his eyes tightly. It was the guiding of Yoon Ki-hyun that he had ruminated on countless times.
‘Why did I ever take this for granted? I must be insane.’
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