49 – TDG 49

“…Ji-hyuk!”

The ​voice ​calling ​out ​to him trembled ​piteously. ​For ​a ​moment, ​his heart almost softened, ​but ​Han Ji-hyuk ultimately ​stormed out of ​the ​office ​with ​angry ​strides.

No ​one dared to ​stop ​Ji-hyuk ​as he crossed ​the lobby of Building ​B with ​a terrifying ​momentum. He ​burst through ​the ​doors ​and walked blindly ​in any ​direction. His pace, which ​had been fast enough ​that no one could ​catch up, ​gradually ​slowed as he reached a secluded ​path, and eventually, he ​came ​to ​a ​dead ​stop.

An abnormal high ​temperature manifested ​around ​Han Ji-hyuk, and ​the ​air began to boil. The ​surrounding grass, ​unable ​to withstand the ​intense ​heat, ​withered ​and ​turned black ​in ​an instant.

He ​could not find any peace, consumed by ​a deep sense ​of betrayal surging ​from within. He couldn’t ​understand how ​Seo Joo-won could ​have ​been so devoted ​and kind, all ​while planning ​to ​eventually dump ​him ​on someone ​else ​and leave.

‘Jung ​Ah-yoon?’

A ​good ​person? That he ​hoped ​she would ​be ​happy? ​By ​whose standard on earth was that decided?

Because he had seen the earnest and desperate [Read on Read BL Novels]look in Seo Joo-won’s eyes—as visit our siteif he truly cared for him—he felt even more toyed with. Who gave him the right to decide that? Who, huh?

He couldn’t understand it.

Which one was Hyung’s true feeling?

“You told me that you were looking at me, just as I was looking at you….”

Then why?

Han Ji-hyuk’s life could not be called smooth, even by the loosest definition. He was an orphan, and in the home he was adopted into at age six, he suffered subtle abuse. After fleeing the house during a massive fire at age twelve, he never returned. He didn’t even care whether his adoptive parents were dead or alive.

From then on, he lived on the streets. He begged and stole from shops. When he lacked strength in his wrists, he was frequently beaten and robbed of whatever he had, but those things stopped once his frame filled out after the age of fifteen.

As he grew, people attracted by his exceptionally striking appearance approached him, and he spent time with them, but he never once felt a sense of bonding. No one could fill the innate void that occupied a corner of his heart.

Han Ji-hyuk was isolated from the countless forms of affection that existed in the world.

Parents hugging a whining child, lovers walking visit our siteaffectionately arm-in-arm to flaunt their love, [stolen content]or even something as simple as friends sharing a hobby. It was as if such things had never been permitted for him from the start.

Awakening came the moment he deeply felt the loneliness eating away at his mind.

Han Ji-hyuk collapsed on the spot from a pain that felt like his blood was flowing backward. He writhed in a suffocating agony where his entire body felt crushed to pieces and his consciousness was torn apart, his eyes rolling back several times.

As Han Ji-hyuk gasped for breath, enduring the searing pain, someone whispered to him. Do not resist the pain; submit to it. Then you will be at peace. To his exhausted self, it was an incredibly sweet temptation. Even if he died right then, he didn’t have a single shred of lingering attachment to the world. The corners of Han Ji-hyuk’s mouth, distorted by pain, twisted upward in a strange shape.

It was the moment the last handful of light remaining on his retina was about to go out.

“Han Ji-hyuk!”

He snapped awake at a shout calling him from somewhere.

His failing five senses could perceive nothing, but that desperate voice calling his name pierced his ears with precision.

Some mass of white light managed to avoid the murderous waveforms fluctuating wildly in every direction and lunged toward him.

The absurdly small light clung tightly to him. Though [unauthorized copy]it trembled as if frightened, it [visit our site]was desperate, as if it would never let go. It was an emotion Han Ji-hyuk had encountered for the first time.

The light expanded its presence in an instant. Scattering a wide waveform around them, it seeped into his body, repairing his crushed ego and soothing his rough, violent energy. The movement of the waveform, which changed as if to match his own, covering the irregularities and creating a smooth form, was almost wondrous.

The sensations that felt like they were searing his veins and carving his bones receded like an ebbing tide, and his vision cleared.

Someone was there, where the light that had burned through the flash had vanished. The man pinned beneath him was reflecting his image in wide, half-dazed eyes.

‘Who…?’

The pale face distorted as if about to cry. In those wide eyes, an inexplicable longing, joy, and tears welled up. While he was unable to look away because the man seemed strangely pitiful and lovely, the man whispered.

‘It’s okay, Ji-hyuk…. You’ll be okay now.’

The man burst into tears like a child, yet he did not let go of the hand gripping his collar. His small fists, clenched with a determined resolve, held on as if no one could ever pull them apart.

Han Ji-hyuk knew nothing—how a stranger knew his name, or why he was weeping so sorrowfully as if they were long-lost kin—but he realized one thing. He no longer felt the trace of the void that had been pierced through his heart for so many years.

His dedicated guide, Seo Joo-won.

It was only after Han Ji-hyuk’s condition entered a stable phase that he learned his name.

Han Ji-hyuk suppressed the pain and instincts of rampage and learned how to control the power that had come to him, solely for the purpose of touching Seo Joo-won. When he controlled it well, Joo-won would be as happy as if it were his own achievement, and when he scored high on tests, he would cheer and shout with joy. Every time he met the eyes of Seo Joo-won, which dripped with honey-sweet affection, a flutter of excitement filled him as if he had been born anew.

Seo Joo-won constantly marveled at his strength, but to Han Ji-hyuk, S-rank power was merely a tool to receive his affection. He felt good being strong enough to surprise him anew every day. He felt that if Joo-won smiled, he could achieve anything with this power.

Seo Joo-won would come running whenever Han Ji-hyuk wanted, 24 hours a day. Even when the area under his eyes was hollow with fatigue, he put his heart into guiding every single time and strained himself not to miss even a small gesture. Whenever Ji-hyuk’s brainwaves fluctuated, Joo-won would hold him in his arms and wrap him in his waveform all night.

Even the researchers, who spoke only when necessary, said he was incredibly devoted. That not even blood relatives would care for someone like that.

Watching Seo Joo-won’s defenseless face as he finally drifted off to sleep toward dawn after enduring for so long, Han Ji-hyuk felt an unbearable itch deep inside his chest. It was the first time in his life he had received such blind love.

Brushing away the strands of hair covering his eyes one by one, he softly pressed his lips to the man’s cheek. Chu, chu. He left pecking bird-kisses along the slender jawline, and once he reached the Adam’s apple, he buried his face deep. Even the scent of a common shower cologne was ecstatic when it wafted from Seo Joo-won’s body. He loved the fair skin that exuded a fragrant scent, and he would often bury and rub his nose there for hours, waiting for him to wake up.

Simply hugging him made his heart throb hotly.

‘I love you, Hyung… I love you….’

Satisfying his possessiveness to the fullest, Han Ji-hyuk rested his forehead against Seo Joo-won’s and began to gently trace his brainwaves.

It was an act his instinct had taught him on the day they first met. He didn’t know the reason, but he discovered that if he linked his own brainwave signal to Joo-won’s, the Guiding Wave Synchronization Rate would permanently increase. It was even more efficient when Seo Joo-won was asleep. Thus, Han Ji-hyuk began to intentionally put Seo Joo-won to sleep. The method was surprisingly simple.

When Joo-won was forcing himself to endure the fatigue of guiding, Ji-hyuk would wish internally for him to stop and fall asleep, and in the next moment, he would pass out. He thought it was a coincidence, but the same phenomenon repeated thereafter. Thanks to that, he caught Hyung several times as he tried to return to his room with sleepy eyes and made him sleep in his arms. Seo Joo-won never noticed.

Seeing the synchronization rate rise smoothly, Han Ji-hyuk could not hide his joy. It was also amusing to see the bewildered faces of the researchers. Since Joo-won was his only Guide, he believed that he, too, would be the only Esper for him.

That belief remained steadfast until Jung Ah-yoon appeared.

It was the first time he had seen Seo Joo-won’s eyes sparkle so much while looking at someone other than himself. As if ominous premonitions never miss, Joo-won began to show immense interest in that new female Guide. At times, it seemed deeper and larger than the feelings he had for Ji-hyuk. Han Ji-hyuk’s interior became a tangle of bewilderment and rage.

He repeatedly consoled himself, saying that Hyung is a kind person, so he is simply being nice to her as well.

However, Seo Joo-won’s behavior, acting like a man in love, intensified further, eventually snapping the patience Han Ji-hyuk had struggled to maintain.

Dusk was settling over the sky. The wind climbing the stolen contentbuilding walls Read on Read BL Novelswas sharp enough to cut the tips of one’s ears, but Han unauthorized copyJi-hyuk stood still, motionless for hours. His black eyes, staring into space, were empty and out of focus.

A single shout from Seo Joo-won had brought Han Ji-hyuk back to the world. That was why, no matter what, he could not let Seo Joo-won go. But Joo-won was different. He was someone who wouldn’t mind letting go of Ji-hyuk’s hand at any time. Accepting that was excruciatingly painful.

He regretted the violent behavior and verbal abuse he had used out of anger to hurt him. It might have been better to beg for affection, pleading for him to love him more. A sudden, stinging regret tore through his body.

Han Ji-hyuk let out a cold sigh and turned around. On his phone, there was one missed call and one voice message. As he listened to the content, Han Ji-hyuk’s eyes began to tremble slightly.

He rushed back to Building B, but Seo Joo-won was not at his desk. Yoon Soo-jeong, who was in the middle of preparing to leave work, noticed him as she stood up.

“Esper Han Ji-hyuk?”

Han Ji-hyuk looked around the interior and asked.

“Where did Hyung go?”

As if she suspected something, a hint of antipathy clouded her eyes.

“…Why are you looking for Joo-won?”