Chapter 32 – ​The ​Price ​of ​Misjudgment

Why ​is ​there ​a ​blanket?

Yoon Ki-hyun stared blankly ​down ​at the blanket ​covering him up ​to ​his ​chest. ​It ​seemed ​he had fallen ​asleep ​while ​sitting down to ​rest for a moment. ​Since he ​had no ​memory of ​covering himself, ​this ​was ​Jeong Si-jun’s doing.

‘…Why ​is he ​doing things that don’t ​suit him lately?’

Fiddling with ​the soft blanket, Yoon ​Ki-hyun sank ​into ​thought while rubbing his face with ​his hand.

How should he ​treat ​Jeong ​Si-jun?

For ​the ​past few days, ​the end ​of ​the thoughts that ​plagued ​Yoon Ki-hyun always concluded with ​”I don’t ​know.” ​Jeong Si-jun was ​still ​too ​awkward ​to ​be close ​to, ​yet keeping ​his distance didn’t feel right either.

What exactly ​did he want? ​Just as he ​was thinking that it ​would be ​nice if someone ​could ​look right into ​his head and ​give him ​the ​answer, a ​familiar ​voice reached ​him.

“Oh, ​you’re awake?”

It ​was ​Jeong ​Si-jun. As he ​turned ​his head, ​he ​saw ​the ​guy standing tall, his bangs wet again. Moreover, there was a distinct scent of body wash emanating from him, as if he had just stepped out of the shower.

Yoon Ki-hyun tilted his head, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘What is this?’

He felt hazy, as if a white mist had settled over his mind.

It felt like he had seen this scene in a dream…

While Yoon Ki-hyun blinked slowly, Jeong Si-jun sat on the edge of the folding bed and spoke.

“I showered after coming back from the gate.”

Reporting his movements now felt quite natural. By the way, hadn’t he just gone to a gate a little while ago?

“Didn’t you go earlier?”

“Hmm? I mean I got another call after eating, so I went then.”

Only then did Yoon Ki-hyun check the time. A significant amount of time had passed since he returned to the guiding room after lunch. He had essentially napped for over four hours.

“…You’ve been looking tired lately, are you okay?”

Jeong Si-jun’s question was thick with worry.

If he was okay? There was no reason not to be. His satisfaction in terms of work was wonderful, incomparable to when he worked at the Center.

Furthermore, thanks to Jeong Si-jun acting as if it were a disaster if he skipped a meal, he was eating almost to the point of overeating for lunch.

If there was a reason he looked tired in Jeong Si-jun’s eyes, it was likely due to the stress of being the subject of other people’s gossip. However, since it was something he had already braced himself for, it was bearable.

Comments calling him a money-crazed bastard or a shameless coward didn’t hit Yoon Ki-hyun hard.

Should he say the sarcasm lacked originality? Since the expressions didn’t deviate much from what he expected, they even seemed cliché.

Yoon Ki-hyun nodded, saying he was fine. The mention of looking tired reminded him of a schedule he had briefly forgotten.

“Speaking of which, can I visit the hospital for a bit next Tuesday? My test results come out then.”

“Feel free to go. Like I said before, you don’t necessarily have to do guiding at the Center, so you don’t have to commute here specifically.”

Jeong Si-jun leaned his upper body back, bracing his arms on the folding bed. Watching him stretch by tilting his head from side to side, Yoon Ki-hyun asked back.

“Then where would I do the guiding?”

“Well, you can decide that, Yoon Ki-hyun. There’s no point in coming to the Center just for sly foxes like Seo Yi-kyung to swarm around me when you’re[unauthorized [unauthorized [unauthorized copy]copy]copy] not there. It’s just stressful.”

As if just thinking about it was unpleasant, Jeong Si-jun frowned deeply. It seemed he really disliked Seo Yi-kyung’s visit from this morning. That was something Yoon Ki-hyun agreed with.

If similar incidents to Seo Yi-kyung’s visit and scout offer continued to happen, he felt that guiding in a different location might not be such a bad choice.

“I’ll think about that a bit more.”

“Sure. Think about it. Shall we clock out for now?”

“Already?”

“I’m not on call today.”

In that case, there was no reason to refuse.

Yoon Ki-hyun stood up promptly. The earlier the clock-out, the better. It seemed perfect to go home, shower, and sleep. It was while Yoon Ki-hyun was packing his phone.

“Since we finished early, do you want to grab a drink?”

A drink. While he was tempted by the thought that a drink bought by Jeong Si-jun would surely be expensive and delicious, he changed his mind.

‘No. What if I get drunk again and strip Jeong Si-jun’s pants off?’

As for alcohol, he had drunk his fill in the city where he had stayed for a month, determined to die. Back then, since he only thought of death, he craved alcohol to dilute the pain even slightly, but now the situation was different. Since he had decided to live somehow, it was time to look after the health he had thrown away.

Above all, one incident caused by excessive drinking was enough. He didn’t want to wake up in the morning to see a naked Jeong Si-jun lying next to him again.

“Ah, maybe you can’t because you’re taking medication?”

Realizing Yoon Ki-hyun’s health status belatedly, Jeong Si-jun scratched the back of his head.

“The hospital told me not to, so I can’t drink. I was planning to quit drinking anyway…”

“Then how about dinner?”

“I think I’ll just go home and rest today.”

“Ah, then how about I give you a ride home?”

He really never gave up on the first try. If he took Jeong Si-jun’s car, he would arrive quickly, but he didn’t want to show him the shabby exterior of the goshiwon building.

Moreover, Jeong Si-jun’s memory was not to be trusted. Wasn’t he the guy who forgot that Yoon Ki-hyun had a disease with medication costing twenty million won and suggested going for drinks?

If he saw where he lived, he would surely say he’d get him a Read visit our siteEND: visit our site -->on Read BL Novelshouse or tell him he could come live in his own home.

“No. I’ll find my own way. You should head home too, Team Leader Jeong.”

“…Alright. Contact me when you get home.”

“Okay.”

Packing his phone, he left the guiding room side-by-side with Jeong Si-jun. Only after entering the path toward the goshiwon did a belated question suddenly pop into his head.

‘Wait, why on earth should I contact him when I get home?’

He had been swept up by Jeong Si-jun in the heat of the moment. Lying face down on his bed, Yoon Ki-hyun checked his phone. Looking at the screen where Jeong Si-jun had sent a message asking if he arrived home safely, he sent a short reply.

I’m home. See you tomorrow.

To think a day would come where seeing Jeong Si-jun tomorrow became natural. It truly seemed the saying that one never knows what life will bring was correct.

The place where he met Seo Yi-kyung again was the Center lobby on his way to work.

Most Espers go straight to the annex upon arriving, but Espers with titles often come to the main building. This is because there are all sorts of meetings and tasks to handle.

When their eyes met, Seo Yi-kyung was still wearing [stolen [unauthorized copy]content]a smile that hid his true intentions. Gauging the distance as they grew closer, Yoon Ki-hyun was the first to give a light nod with a blunt expression.

He had no intention of completely cutting ties with Seo Yi-kyung. He had simply rejected the offer because it was made at an inappropriate time.

“Ah, Ki-hyun.”

Seo Yi-kyung smiled brightly and approached with long strides, standing side-by-side with Yoon Ki-hyun.

“Good morning.”

“Yes. Good morning.”

In truth, Seo Yi-kyung had not yet recovered from the shock of having his proposal rejected so flatly. To the point where he inwardly feared that Yoon Ki-hyun might treat him like a transparent human.

However, meeting Yoon Ki-hyun again after a few days, he wasn’t much different from before.

“I’m sorry about last time.”

While waiting for the elevator, Seo Yi-kyung apologized in a low voice.

Yoon Ki-hyun glanced at Seo Yi-kyung. In the past, he would have brushed it off without much thought, but having seen that face that hid subtle intentions behind a slippery demeanor, he felt uneasy.

‘I wonder if he’s doing this on purpose in a crowded place. Well, it’ll only unauthorized visit our sitecopygive me a headache if I think too deeply about it.’

Overthinking was generally a loss. Because when useless thoughts followed one another, it only consumed mental energy and nothing improved.

Yoon Ki-hyun cut his thoughts short and nodded.

“My tone was inappropriate then too, so it’s fine. I apologize.”

Looking back, the conversation they had at the cafe was moderately rude to each other.

From Seo Yi-kyung’s perspective, he probably made that offer because he valued him highly. The problem was that the timing was a bit early and he had made unnecessary comments as if testing him while making the offer.

He recognized that if Seo Yi-kyung wanted to take issue with his attitude—having rejected him flatly and sharply due to unnecessary inferiority despite being able to refuse softly—it could certainly be a problem.

Therefore, it was better for both Seo Yi-kyung and himself to just let it go.

“I must have been impatient because you’re such a coveted talent, Ki-hyun.”

“Ah, yes.”

The descriptor “coveted talent” is commonly used as a compliment in the job market, but unfortunately, it didn’t resonate much with Yoon Ki-hyun. It was because he had spent his time at the Center hearing things like he was a “public good.”

Having grown weary of being treated like [unauthorized copyclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novelsstolen contentstyle="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]a subtle object, there was no way he would like the descriptor of being “coveted” as a person.

“Actually, I had the chance to have a meal with the Guide Director yesterday, and he asked me to pass along his regards to you.”

Seo Yi-kyung brought up the Guide Director with a kind smile.

The Guide Director.

He was a person who had kept a corner of Yoon Ki-hyun’s heart uncomfortable throughout. While he was bothered in various ways by the threats made after he submitted his resignation, it felt different hearing about him from someone other than Jeong Si-jun.

That said, he had no intention of continuing the conversation in the lobby, where people were glancing at them from all sides. He was just nodding along and playing along when a familiar scent suddenly wafted from behind.

“What are you two whispering about?”

The owner of the voice that drifted in like a whisper was none other than Jeong Si-jun.