By Zephyria 
“Jesus!””
A middle-aged woman suddenly cried out. She stumbled towards Lee A-gon, then knelt down and began to sing a hymn. A young woman standing next to her pulled the middle-aged woman up, shouting, “Mom, are you crazy? He can’t be Jesus!”
Next to them, another man was taking pictures of Lee A-gon with his camera. The shutter clicked rapidly. Park Hae-jun didn’t know what to do. Should he snatch the man’s camera? Lee A-gon’s identity was top secret. Was it okay to reveal it like this?
“Aaaaaaagh-!”
Just then, the people standing in the front row screamed and rushed back. Whatever they saw, their eyes widened and they screamed madly, trying to run away.
The reason was soon clear. Eyeballs the size of fists crawled out of the water and onto the cruise ship. The eyeballs moved through the crowd, rolling their pupils around.
“Satan, get thee behind me!” The woman who had been singing hymns earlier now shouted that it was Satan. Someone fainted, and people tried to escape, stepping on the body of the unconscious person. But the stairs leading down to the first floor were bottlenecked, and no one could get through. A child who had lost their mother burst into tears. It was utter chaos.
“Stop it.”
The moment Park Hae-jun spoke, dozens of eyeballs focused on him. Park Hae-jun pushed through the crowd and moved forward.
“Hae-jun hyung.”
Lee A-gon reached out to Park Hae-jun with longing. His body rose through the water to the height of the second-floor cruise ship. A beautiful smile graced his lips.
“Your lips are blue, hyung. If you’re done playing, let’s go home now.”
He spoke as if Park Hae-jun hadn’t run away from home, but had just come out to play for a while. Park Hae-jun glared at Lee A-gon and shook his head.
“You’ll catch a cold. You can’t even take medicine properly when you’re sick, so why are you being stubborn?”
Affection dripped from Lee A-gon’s voice.
“I’m not going back, Lee A-gon.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to break up with you.”
“That again.”
Lee A-gon lowered his eyebrows and chuckled. As if he had heard a very funny story.
“Stop it and go. If you don’t go, I’ll force you to get off.”
“……”
Park Hae-jun didn’t answer and backed away. Lee A-gon, who had been watching leisurely, erased his smile when Park Hae-jun stood close to the railing.
“Don’t come closer.”
Seeing Lee A-gon trying to get on the ship, Park Hae-jun put one foot on the railing.
“Don’t come. I warned you.”
“Hyung.”
Lee A-gon’s voice lowered. His pupils were shaking, even from a distance. Park Hae-jun confirmed that there was no one on the second floor besides him and Lee A-gon. Even if things went wrong, he didn’t want to involve anyone else.
Time passed with Park Hae-jun standing with one foot on the railing, and Lee A-gon staring at him from outside the bow of the ship.
Then, the stopped cruise ship began to move backward. The impact caused Park Hae-jun’s body to lean out sharply. Lee A-gon screamed. With a pale face, he reached out his hand and shouted.
“No! Hyung!”
“Don’t come!”
Park Hae-jun staggered but didn’t fall. He used the momentum to return to the inside of the railing and shouted loudly.
“Don’t come. Absolutely. Or I’ll fall from here. Don’t use your ability either. You know what will happen if you do, right?”
Lee A-gon was pale and trembling, clutching his hands together. The waves supporting his feet sprayed water everywhere like a broken faucet. Each time, Lee A-gon’s body faltered.
Of course, Park Hae-jun had no intention of falling. It was just a threat. Lee A-gon must have known that he was threatening him. Nevertheless, when Park Hae-jun put his foot on the railing, Lee A-gon turned pale and froze.
“Hyung. Please.”
He made a gesture of begging with both hands raised high.
“I won’t go. So please put your foot back in. Okay?”
Park Hae-jun didn’t put his foot back in until the end. It was a warning that he would jump if Lee A-gon came closer. Lee A-gon waited quietly in his place as Park Hae-jun said, and in the meantime, the ship reached the dock.
As soon as the ship stopped, Park Hae-jun ran down to the first floor. The first floor was a scene of chaos. People injured during the evacuation were groaning here and there, and those trying to take pictures of Lee A-gon were precariously hanging on the windows.
Park Hae-jun, having set foot on land, glanced back. Lee A-gon, who had regained his composure as soon as he came ashore, was leisurely approaching the land.
‘Where should I go?’
People who had seen the Umyung were flocking to the riverside. Park Hae-jun forcibly pushed through the crowd. There was nowhere to go. Perhaps he had never been able to separate himself from Lee A-gon in the first place.
—Hyung.
Once again, Lee A-gon’s voice was heard in his ear. A voice as if he was calling from right next to him. Park Hae-jun shook his head roughly and continued to run.
—Hyung.
—Hae-jun hyung.
—Don’t go.
—It’s no use. I’ll find you anyway.
“Shut up, Lee A-gon.”
Park Hae-jun shook his head to chase away Lee A-gon’s voice.
—I love you. Marry me and have a baby.
—What did I do wrong? I’m sorry. Tell me. I’ll fix it.
—I’ll be a good husband.
—My darling. I really love you.
“Fuck!”
Park Hae-jun cursed and continued to run. Apartments and shopping malls appeared. Carols were heard here and there. Park Hae-jun really didn’t know where to go anymore. He felt cornered.
Park Hae-jun, who was running with his breath catching in his throat, looked back. Lee A-gon was standing across two roads.
When Lee A-gon saw Park Hae-jun, he smiled and pointed to the traffic light with his finger. It meant that he would go to Park Hae-jun when the red light turned off.
At that moment, Park Hae-jun realized. There was no place in this world that Lee A-gon, the Umyung, couldn’t find. How foolish it was to think that he would come to his senses while he was hiding in the countryside.
Park Hae-jun also realized that he had been thinking of Lee A-gon as the same innocent and foolish Lee A-gon from before.
Lee A-gon had changed. The Lee A-gon who stuttered and made mistakes with particles, begging Park Hae-jun to date him, was no longer there. Park Hae-jun believed that he could change this relationship, but the ball had long been in Lee A-gon’s court. Because Lee A-gon no longer stutters or makes mistakes with particles.
Park Hae-jun was now the one being chased in the game of tag. He would never be able to reverse the relationship with Lee A-gon again.
Even now, he was relaxed. Park Hae-jun’s escape was just a pleasant moment of amusement for Lee A-gon.
“Haha.”
Park Hae-jun laughed. He burst out laughing. Ah, I see. I’ve been the one being chased all along. Lee A-gon won’t let me go. If I get caught now, I’ll repeat the same thing. No, this time he’ll finish things more thoroughly. He’ll really get me pregnant. I’ll have a baby as a man.
“Please be friends with me.”
“I’m asking you to be friends with only me, not anyone else.”
“Don’t make other friends at school or anywhere else.”
Eight-year-old Lee A-gon said. From then on, Lee A-gon’s wish was one thing. That Park Hae-jun wouldn’t be friends with anyone else. Lee A-gon boldly demanded such an absurd wish from Park Hae-jun.
“Didn’t you miss me, hyung?”
“Not every moment.”
“Every moment, every second, all day long. I can’t see you like that.”
Twenty-year-old Lee A-gon’s wish was the same. He wanted to be with Park Hae-jun every moment, every second. Just the two of them, without anyone else. Doing nothing but loving each other.
“Hahahaha.”
Park Hae-jun laughed while kneeling down, tears in his eyes. He couldn’t live like that. What Lee A-gon wanted wasn’t love, but a prison. He says he wants a child, but he doesn’t really want to have a child either. He was trying to trap Park Hae-jun by doing so.
‘Just the two of us, forever.’
Park Hae-jun stood up. Wiping away the tears hanging on his eyes, Park Hae-jun finally decided where to go. He walked straight ahead with resolute steps.
The sign in the office using the floor below the blood donation center read ‘Guide Reporting Center’. Park Hae-jun opened the door.
“I’m here to report.”
The three center staff members who were leisurely spending time looked at Park Hae-jun at the same time. Park Hae-jun strode over and placed his hand on the simple testing machine.
“Y-you’re here to report?”
“Yes.”
“Yourself?”
“Yes. Is this where I do it?”
“Uh… Ah, yes.”
A woman wearing glasses hurriedly approached and started the machine. She didn’t seem to have used the testing machine before, as her hand pressing the start button was clumsy.
“What’s your name, reporter?”
“Park Hae-jun. My resident registration number is…”
Park Hae-jun clearly recited his resident registration number. Meanwhile, a yellow light came on in the machine. It meant that it had detected a Guide wave. The staff members of the center exclaimed at the same time.
“Park Hae-jun-ssi? You are now registered on the national Guide list. You can never withdraw it now. You know that, right?”
A middle-aged man muttered quickly, almost threateningly. He seemed afraid that Park Hae-jun would belatedly come to his senses and ask to have his name removed.
“Yes, I know.”
Park Hae-jun answered calmly. He wasn’t interested in the civil servants who were in a state of confusion because of him. Park Hae-jun’s eyes were directed at Lee A-gon, who had been standing blankly behind the glass door, looking at him since earlier.
Lee A-gon looked bewildered and confused. That face slowly changed into a surprised and fearful expression.
The only way to avoid the Umyung and Lee A-gon in this country was for him to become a Guide affiliated with the state.