By Zephyria 
Ah. Hae-jun stood, hands on his knees, and sighed. Having not eaten properly for four days, he felt dizzy and lightheaded.
For the past few days, anything he ate tasted like chewing sand, making it impossible to eat. His chest burned, his heart ached, and whether his eyes were open or closed, only Lee A-gon’s face came to mind. Hae-jun was festering from the inside.
“Mr. Park Hae-jun?”
Just then, Secretary Yang’s voice was heard. Hae-jun snapped his head up.
Secretary Yang, standing at the top of the stairs, looked down at Hae-jun with a puzzled expression.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, Secretary. Because you wouldn’t meet me.”
“What reason do we have to meet? I kept my promise. You know that.”
“That’s not why I’m here. I want to meet Lee A-gon…”
The moment Hae-jun spoke his name, Secretary Yang came down, grabbed Hae-jun’s arm, and strode up the stairs.
At the gate, Secretary Yang passed Hae-jun through with a wave of his hand and then pushed him into the elevator. Secretary Yang pressed 29. The elevator ascended vertically.
Secretary Yang said nothing until they entered an empty conference room on the 29th floor. Only after the conference room door closed did Secretary Yang turn to Hae-jun and say in a plain but cold voice,
“Please refrain from discussing him as much as possible, Mr. Park Hae-jun. I don’t want to fan the flames of rumors. Now, tell me why you came to see me.”
“Please let me meet Lee A-gon. I absolutely must meet him.”
“Why?”
“I have something to say.”
“Can’t I convey it for you?”
“No. I must say it myself. I must say it directly.”
Secretary Yang crossed his arms and leaned forward.
“What exactly do you intend to say?”
“That’s…”
Hae-jun hesitated to answer. But he had to be brave now.
“I hurt Lee A-gon. I need to apologize.”
“Is that one sentence all? Is that it?”
“……”
Hae-jun was speechless at the question. Is that one sentence all? Can it end with that? No. Of course, it couldn’t.
“Does Lee A-gon have another Assistant?”
“……”
Even as he asked, he somehow felt it wasn’t likely. As expected, Secretary Yang answered by avoiding his gaze. Hae-jun decided to be a little braver.
“Is Lee A-gon refusing assistance?”
This was also a question asked with conviction. Again, Secretary Yang avoided his gaze.
“I want to help Lee A-gon with his assistance. Is that possible?”
“Why? Mr. Park Hae-jun, you didn’t want to be an Assistant before, did you?”
“Yes. But I want to get closer to Lee A-gon. If he doesn’t want another Assistant, then I can help.”
Secretary Yang’s brow furrowed. He seemed to be contemplating Hae-jun’s proposal.
Hae-jun spread his stiff hands wide and then clenched them into fists. He barely suppressed his growing impatience.
“What do you gain from that, Mr. Park Hae-jun?”
“Lee A-gon’s forgiveness. No, a chance to receive Lee A-gon’s forgiveness.”
“Lee A-gon’s forgiveness. Why do you need that, Mr. Park Hae-jun?”
“Because I…”
Hae-jun looked up and spoke with confidence.
“Because… I like him.”
Confessing his feelings to Secretary Yang, the client, felt a bit awkward. But Hae-jun decided to be brave. He absolutely needed Secretary Yang’s help.
“Is it enough to just be by Lee A-gon’s side? In any way?”
After a brief silence, Secretary Yang asked. Hae-jun nodded. Anything. In any way. Hae-jun wanted to be by Lee A-gon’s side.
“To be honest, Mr. Park Hae-jun, our CEO wishes for you and Lee A-gon to no longer have any relationship.”
Because of that, when Secretary Yang gave that answer, Hae-jun was so disappointed his legs almost gave out. Fortunately, Secretary Yang had another proposal.
“Therefore, we cannot hire you as Lee A-gon’s Assistant… but how about a manager instead?”
“Manager…?”
“Yes, do you dislike it?”
Startled by the unexpected proposal, Hae-jun exclaimed hastily.
“Ah, no! No. I like it.”
Hae-jun shouted quickly, fearing Secretary Yang might change his mind. There was no reason to refuse. Hae-jun replied in a clear voice,
“Manager, I will do it.”
Secretary Yang gave a faint smile. Hae-jun took a breath. If he became the manager, he could be with him legally.
“How do I do it?”
“I’ll tell you from now on.”
Secretary Yang placed his hand on Hae-jun’s shoulder and opened the conference room door.
As they rode the elevator down, Hae-jun made a resolution. When they meet again, he would apologize with all his heart. He would keep apologizing until his feelings softened. Then, Lee A-gon would eventually accept him again.
The love Lee A-gon showed was so deep and pure. That love wouldn’t change easily.
Hae-jun believed so.
∞ ∞ ∞
The first symptoms appeared when Lee A-gon was nine years old.
At that time, it was just slight dizziness or headaches. No one expected such a young child to awaken as an Ability User, so Lee A-gon had to undergo various tests at the hospital. Naturally, all test results were normal. He was a perfectly healthy child in every aspect.
The symptoms worsened around the age of eleven. From this point on, Lee A-gon began to experience hallucinations and auditory illusions.
Lee A-gon was sent to psychiatry, not the testing room of a university hospital. Of course, it had no effect.
By the time he was a middle schooler, Lee A-gon was completely broken. He had more absences than attendance days. He managed to finish the first year somehow, but by the second year, even going to school became impossible. Eventually, Lee A-gon could not return to school.
His life afterward was terrible.
The exceptionally early awakening had a strong backlash, but fortunately, once the illness was known, a treatment method was quickly found. Since he was an Ability User, he could be cured with assistance.
Here, another problem arose. Lee A-gon refused assistance.
Lee A-gon refused assistance. Other people’s assistance energy could not enter Lee A-gon’s body. It was as if the channel for assistance energy was blocked. It was the same no matter which Assistant was brought in. Lee A-gon could not receive assistance.
In his extreme pain, Lee A-gon built a wall around his soul. He confined himself within that wall and prevented anyone from approaching.
He didn’t want to see anything, and he didn’t want to hear anything. So, Lee A-gon closed his eyes and ears himself. His soul and free will were all castrated.
All that remained was his body. A body like a zombie, with only a shell. The real Lee A-gon had hidden away long ago.
An A-class Ability User. But an Ability User who could not receive assistance.
He couldn’t be sent to the military. A workaround was needed to save Lee A-gon.
The one who reawakened him was Hae-jun hyung.
“I’ll help you!”
“I’m helping you, you brat! I’ll make you better!”
“Listen when a person talks! I! Will! Be! Your! Assistant!”
“So shut up and follow me.”
“If you come to me, I’ll save you, Lee A-gon.”
“Let’s go home.”
I’ll help you. I’ll make you better. I’ll save you. Let’s go home… With those words, Hae-jun hyung grabbed Lee A-gon’s soul and pulled him back to reality.
‘Is this person a god?’
Lee A-gon, who was able to think again, first thought about meeting a god. Lee A-gon immediately fell in love with the god who saved him, his Assistant, the one he would give his life and soul to.
How could he not love him? This noble and radiant person. Since falling in love, Lee A-gon was always anxious. Hae-jun was too handsome, radiant, beautiful, and wonderful, while he was too ugly and lacking.
So Lee A-gon was always anxious. He always felt like someone would take Hae-jun away from him someday. Lee A-gon didn’t want to be separated from Hae-jun for even a moment. To protect Hae-jun, he had to watch over him constantly.
Everyone was a competitor. People with more money than him, people who were better looking than him, people who were more capable than him, people who were more educated than him.
And most people were either richer, better looking, more capable, or more educated than him. Competing with all of them made Lee A-gon’s nerves increasingly sensitive.
A person too precious to just look at. A grateful person who said he would have a baby with someone as ugly as him. A savior who saved him.
He really wanted to treat him well. He wanted to lay gold under his feet and wrap only silk around his body. If he could, he wanted to do that.
But in reality, he was too incompetent. Lee A-gon felt keenly how incompetent he was as a head of household.
“It’s cold.”
Although it was spring, the hill in Gangnam, where the wind blew through the buildings, was still too chilly. Hae-jun blew on his hand. The two were currently on a profile tour.
The film company had a second Assistant Director who sorted through the hundreds of actors’ profiles that piled up. They would look at a few lines of resume and a few photos and decide whether to put the person up for an audition.
Lee A-gon’s profile, a poor, Umyung actor with a hard-to-prove resume, was often the target of being weeded out. Even with such diligent profile submissions, there were no audition offers.