DB Vol 4 Part 1
The Gye Family. Because they had guarded the North for a long time and stood on the front lines of the fight against monsters, they were once adorned with the modifier “Great.”
Since Esper abilities were believed to be passed down through matrilineal inheritance, the family head was always a woman, and the responsibility was always immense.
The East and West, still mired in outdated male chauvinism, refused to acknowledge it, but they could not deny that an S-rank Esper was always born into the Gye Family. However, they always belittled the Gye Family with the same sneer.
“No matter how great an Esper is born, with a unique wave, they are nothing more than a half-baked Esper.”
Previous generations had invested heavily in Guide research to overcome this weakness and implemented preferential policies for unique wave Guides in an effort to bring many Guides to the North.
Then, that horrific event occurred. The Guides compatible with the Gye Family’s wave were killed off to the point of annihilation. It was the rampage of the previous Head of the Gye Family.
Of course, some Guides survived. However, under the guise of protecting themselves from the Gye Family—who had been branded as Guide murderers—they remained hidden for a long time. Or so they believed. They thought that as long as there was a Guide somewhere who could provide guiding to the Gye Family, they just had to find them and bring them back by any means necessary.
After her parents’ death, Min, who ascended as the Gye family head, had a child because of this hope. As long as there was a Guide, the Gye Family could continue. However, the bluebird they had searched for so long turned out to be a fake, its colors manipulated just to mock them, and the real ones had all been slaughtered.
While leading the Gye Family until now, there were more than a few times Min wanted to end everything in one stroke. The reputation of being called the “Great Gye Family” had long since been defiled by the stigma of being Guide killers. At first, she tried to clear their name, but the immediate priority was finding a Guide to create a breathing hole so they could survive.
Others claimed that Min had cut off her emotions and led the Gye Family with ruthlessness, but those severed emotions were merely buried, not discarded. Especially regarding her child. How could she exclude emotion toward that small child?
It wasn’t because of what is commonly called maternal love. If her maternal love had been strong, she wouldn’t [Read on Read BL Novels]have had the child in the first place. After the first one passed away, she had another child despite knowing the difficult situation they would face, solely for the sake of the family. The emotion Min felt for the child was guilt toward another human being. Since she had brought the child into the world, she intended to endure and take responsibility no matter what.
But when it was revealed that all of Hwan-i’s Guides were dead and the data was a lie, she could no longer bear it. She didn’t care if the Gye Family ended here. The current Gye Family, which she had struggled to protect and grow, suddenly seemed trivial.
How could I lead the Gye Family when I cannot even properly protect one person? It would be better to die honorably now. Believing it was the end, she prepared for war. She had fallen into a valley of despair, but ironically, her heart felt at peace. She felt light because she could let go of everything, and she felt a sense of relief at the thought of finally cutting off the enemy’s throat.
“Shall we depart immediately?”
Captain Lee, who always served as Min’s right hand, asked calmly. Min knew the meaning behind her question: was she leaving without saying goodbye to the Gye Family?
“The mobile portal device?”
Min answered with a question. Having decided to go to war, there was no need to look back.
“Both the East and West are ready. Which side should we activate first?”
“Both.”
For victory, it would be better to strike one side first and then handle the other, but what she wanted now was to give up her own life and drag the opponent down to hell with her. And the best way to kill as many enemies as possible was a surprise attack. Min clenched and unclenched her hand as she put on her gloves.
“We must end it all at once.”
“Yes.”
Captain Lee answered and silently followed Min as she stepped forward. The seven team leader-level Espers following behind them also had no complaints. These individuals, skilled in actual combat from long years of fighting monsters, had volunteered to follow Min.
Though they knew this operation was essentially a suicide mission, no one felt fear or anxiety. Knowing this, Min didn’t leave any words for her family, but she looked back at them once. They were comrades who had chosen death together for the sake of the Gye Family. She had to remember their faces.
“Let’s go.”
Having uttered the short command, she took the lead. However, as soon as she took a step, someone called out to her loudly.
“Huff, huff, Family Head!! Please wait!!”
Min did not stop her stride at the sound, but she had no choice but to turn around at the following words.
“The Vice Head… huff, huff, the Vice Head has brought a Guide!!”
The messenger shouted as if it were good news, but Min showed no emotion. If it was a Guide her brother brought, it would be that famous Ji Won-woo. When she was desperate enough to clutch at straws, she had thought about believing Yoon’s absurd story.
But now it was different. In a state where she had let go of everything, her reason operated sharply. The Ji family had deceived them and mocked them for years. Who knew if Ji Won-woo was just another joke? What if he was a Trojan horse designed to completely destroy the Gye Family?
Min looked at the messenger with cold eyes and turned back. If Ji Won-woo was another one of Ji Geun-oh’s schemes, it was better to strike them now. However, the continuing voice caught her ankle again.
“But he also said that if the Family Head ignores him and leaves, he should be sent [stolen content]copy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyoff well. And… that the Head of the Gye Family… um, is him from now on, so you should call a lawyer and prepare to transfer all family assets to his name…”
Min’s face distorted like a demon. That little brat, where does he think…
Jae-hak looked back and forth between Hwan-i, lying in bed, and the guest with disbelief in his eyes.
“It’s over?”
Just like that?
“My method of guiding is a bit different.”
He heard Won-woo’s explanation, but Jae-hak remained skeptical. Even as he looked at his daughter, who was asleep due to medication, he couldn’t tell from the outside whether guiding had occurred or not. Furthermore, in cases where the waves didn’t overlap well, the patient felt pain during guiding, and no matter how deeply they slept under medication, their body would shake as if having a seizure. Now, there were no such symptoms.
Won-woo had simply held the sleeping child’s hand quietly for a few minutes and then let go. Now, they would only know the result once Hwan-i woke up, but the guiding seemed too simple to believe.
“Then really… is the guiding really all done?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true that she won’t feel any pain when she wakes up?”
“There will be no pain caused by the power.”
“And it didn’t hurt during the guiding either?”
Yes. As Won-woo nodded, Gye Yoon, who was standing beside them, threw in a comment.
“Enough already.”
Ask and shut up. The words that were about to follow were barely swallowed the moment he looked up at Won-woo’s face. It was the kind of harsh language he usually used without a second thought, but for some reason, he didn’t want to spit it out in front of Won-woo. Instead, he gave Jae-hak a crooked smile.
“You can doubt him, brother-in-law.”
“…What?”
Jae-hak’s eyes widened in even greater shock than when Won-woo first appeared. Brother-in-law? He had never heard such a normal honorific come out of Gye Yoon’s mouth in his entire life.
“You, did you just call me brother-in-law? Why? Why on earth?”
Gye Yoon forced a smile, conscious of Won-woo’s curious gaze.
“What do you mean why? I’ve always called you that.”
When did you ever? Jae-hak froze, his mouth agape in indignation. Gye Yoon pointed at Jae-hak stolen unauthorized copycontentand explained to Won-woo.
“He was always a blockhead, but he’s become even more of an idiot recently, so please understand.”
There was no malice in his voice, but the content was the ultimate insult. Won-woo thought he was being too harsh, but after glancing at Jae-hak, he said nothing. With his mouth half-open, he did look a bit like an idiot.
“No, I… no, Yoon, you…”
“Brother-in-law, Hwan-i is waking up, so shut… be quiet.”
Again, it was a normal honorific that felt out of place, but upon hearing his daughter’s name, Jae-hak quickly regained his senses. He checked his daughter, who was sleeping without a stir, and held her small hand.
“It really was guided, right? I’m sorry. I just couldn’t believe it…”
She won’t be in pain anymore. If it’s true, she can now walk well with those tiny feet, play with her favorite toys with those small hands, and eat the meals she couldn’t enjoy because of the pain.
Just the thought brought a surge of heat to his eyes. He knew Hwan-i hadn’t woken up yet and that he had to wait to confirm it, but it wasn’t easy to suppress the rushing emotion.
“If you find it that hard to believe, I’ll prove it to you.”
At Won-woo’s words, Jae-hak looked up with teary eyes.
“How?”
“I will try guiding another Esper right now. You can hear from them whether the guiding actually works.”
“No.”
The moment the suggestion was made, a firm objection came from Gye Yoon. Won-woo and Jae-hak both looked at him with bewildered expressions.
“You don’t just guide anyone recklessly. It’s dangerous.”
“Are you afraid my identity will be revealed?”
“No. It’s because all Espers are sons of bitches.”
Won-woo had never heard the term “son of a bitch” sound so solemn in his entire life. It was confusing. Was it a joke?
“Gye Yoon-ssi, you are an Esper too.”
“I’m different.”
“Yoon, what makes you different?”
Jae-hak, listening from the side, chimed in. Gye Yoon looked at Jae-hak with irritated eyes.
“I’m sane.”
…You are? Even Won-woo showed doubt, and Jae-hak’s mouth opened in shock again. Looking at the two of them, Gye Yoon spoke indifferently.
“I survived a long hell without a Guide, so I’m pretty sane by that standard.”
Hell. That word sank deep into Won-woo’s heart like an anchor. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Gye Yoon and lowered his gaze, and as a result, he missed Jae-hak’s expression.
Is he completely insane? To the question written all over Jae-hak’s face, Gye Yoon gave a warning look of irritation. Keep your mouth shut. But even without the threat, Jae-hak had no chance to speak.
Slam!
The door flew open, and a woman strode in. Although she had the ability to create cold air, her expression alone was enough to freeze the atmosphere without needing to use her power. Jae-hak stood up happily as soon as he saw his wife, but her gaze was fixed solely on Won-woo.
Even seeing the opponent’s terrifying glare, Won-woo did not avoid it; instead, he met it with curiosity. A living Gye family head. He felt once again that this world was different from the place he had lived. The Gye Family here was still intact. He hadn’t known that they would share the same fate of fighting for the North as they did in his original world.
“You’re Ji Won-woo?”
Yes. Won-woo bowed his head in greeting a moment late. Min approached Won-woo with a murderous expression, but she couldn’t get close because someone blocked her path.
“Move.”
Despite Min’s command, Gye Yoon stood his ground and introduced Min to Won-woo.
“Greet her. She is my one and only precious Noona.”
Min’s head turned slowly toward her brother. Her speechless eyes screamed: Is this brat crazy?
“Hello, I am Ji Won-woo.”
“No. I don’t think we’re in a position to be peacefully exchanging greetings yet, are we?”
When Min replied coldly, Gye Yoon stepped between them again.
“There’s no need to embarrass someone who even bowed their head.”
What? The bewildered eyes of the couple focused on Gye Yoon again. Gye Yoon met them with a dissatisfied gaze.
“You’re the family head, so why is your hospitality this pathetic?”
“No, I’m fine.”
As Ji Won-woo tried to stop them in embarrassment, Gye Yoon finally stepped back.
“Please understand, Ji Won-woo-ssi. Her personality is naturally like a dog’s.”
Look who’s talking! While the couple was momentarily robbed of their ability to speak, Gye Yoon brazenly demanded:
“Now that the greetings are done, get lost.”
Instead of getting lost, the Noona threw a fist full of killing intent at her brother.
Won-woo had not expected to be welcomed within the Gye Family as long as he carried the surname Ji. However, he hadn’t expected that Gye Yoon, the nominal Vice Head, would be even less welcome than he was. To think the Gye family head would genuinely try to hit her brother. It was the result of accumulated bad karma, but Won-woo had no way of knowing that.
Fortunately, Gye Yoon dodged quickly, and Jae-hak stopped his wife, saying the child would wake up, so the violence didn’t continue. Instead, the siblings radiated killing intent toward each other until they were dragged out by Jae-hak. Consequently, Won-woo couldn’t take his eyes off the direction the three of them had disappeared. Surely they won’t actually fight?
“I have prepared a room for you to stay in.”
When Won-woo turned his head, a man called Chief Jung was waiting for an answer.
“Will it be alright?”
When Won-woo asked worriedly, Chief Jung raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“It seems the Gye family head is very angry. Um, do the two siblings not get along?”
“No. They’re ordinary.”
Since when did a relationship where they show hostility and killing intent toward each other become ordinary?
“Even though Gye Yoon-ssi told his Noona to get lost like that?”
However, Chief Jung asked back as if wondering what the problem was.
“Who else do you say things like that to if not a sibling?”
“…”
“Let’s go to the room for now.”
Will those siblings really be okay? Folding his worries, Won-woo shook his head at Chief Jung.
“I’ll go after a little while.”
Although it would take some time for the child style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized copy]to wake up, he still wanted to see the result with his own eyes.
“I will let you know when Lady Hwan-i wakes up. It would be best for you to go to your room and rest now.”
“Are you worried I might do something because I’m from the Ji family?”
Chief Jung remained expressionless and didn’t answer for a moment.
“Whatever Ji Won-woo-ssi does, it won’t work in the Gye Family. So, I’m not trying to take you to your room out of suspicion.”
“No, it will work.”
Won-woo muttered, looking around the empty hallway. At first, he thought they were blocking people to hide him on purpose, but if they were wary of him, there should have been at least one hidden Esper. However, he felt no Esper energy nearby.
“I thought you were blocking access to hide my presence, but I guess there are normally no people on this floor.”
“Only those who are trustworthy can enter this floor.”
Even among the Gye Family, they had to pick who was trustworthy. As if reading Won-woo’s question, Chief Jung answered bitterly.
“Fatal wounds are always dealt by the enemy within.”
Won-woo could infer that there had been an internal enemy in the incident where the previous family head [stolen content]wm: stolen content -->was lost. He looked back at the empty hallway. The Gye Family mansion unauthorized copywas as large and vast as a palace, but it was quiet and desolate, like a museum that had closed its doors.
“This mansion used to be overflowing with people.”
Chief Jung muttered, then as if snapping back to reality, he urged Won-woo again.
“Please rest first. Once Lady Hwan-i wakes up and it’s confirmed she’s okay, the Gye family head will lower her guard toward you.”
Won-woo gave up on being stubborn and followed Chief Jung. However, before he could take a few steps, a sound came from behind him. It was the voice of the person guarding the child in the room.
“Hah! Hwan-i!”
The child was always afraid of waking up. When she opened her eyes and moved her body, the pain made it hard to breathe, and she would keep crying. That’s why she hated waking up. But when she opened her eyes, it felt like nothing. She could breathe well. Because she was still young, she didn’t realize that this was the state of not being in pain.
She just blinked blankly, waiting for the pain that she didn’t know when would come. But no matter how long she waited, the thing her father worried about, asking “Does it hurt?”, did not happen. However, even without the pain, the child’s mood did not lift. I must have received guiding. Another Guide must have come.
The child was more afraid of that. Guiding was always painful and difficult. But what was scarier were the Guides. The grown-ups always gripped her hand tightly, shook her arm wildly, and always scolded her. They said that the Guides also felt pain while guiding her. No one wanted to guide the child.
That’s why the child hated guiding. At the door, the person guarding her had their back half-turned, talking in a low voice on the phone. The child lifted her small body and climbed down from the bed silently. She hated the pain, but she also hated guiding. The child did the only thing she could. She crawled slowly into a small gap behind the furniture.
The couple facing Gye Yoon were thinking the same thing: Has this brat completely lost it?
“Tell me quickly. I’m bored.”
“Ah, you were so bored that you spouted nonsense in front of Ji Won-woo to drag us out here?”
As Min took a threatening step forward, Jae-hak quickly grabbed his wife’s arm to stop her. This pair of siblings had failed in conversation more than a few times because fists flew before proper words could even be spoken.
“Wait, Yoon must have his reasons. Right, Yoon? There must be a reason why he talked such nonsense. Maybe he was pretending to be something he’s not because he wanted to look good to Ji Won-woo-ssi.”
At her husband’s conjecture, Min looked at her younger brother with disgust.
“You loathsome brat.”
At the couple’s attack, Gye Yoon’s jaw twitched.
“Whether it’s loathing or love-hate, as long as Hwan-i is comfortable, isn’t that all that matters?”
“That might be another trap,” Min muttered coldly. Gye Yoon understood his sister’s distrust, but he had no intention of comforting his sibling.
“Just keep doubting and take only what you need. If you don’t even have the guts for that, hand the position of Head of the Family over to me.”
Startled by his brother’s crossing-the-line remark, Jae-hak glanced at Min. However, fire had already lit up in her eyes.
“Where does a useless brat with nothing but a tiny dick get off [[visit our site]stolen contentclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]talking about the Head of the Family?”
The sister crossed the line too. Gye Yoon, who usually took great pride in his massive dick, stood up from his chair. Surprised by his expressionless face, Jae-hak quickly stepped between the two and restrained his wife.
“You shouldn’t say things like that to Yoon. He’s never even been able to use that dick once in his entire life! He doesn’t even know if it’s useful or not, so imagine how distressed he must be. Such personal attacks are wrong.”
Gye Yoon’s gaze, which had been glaring at his sister, shifted to Jae-hak. That personal attack was the worst of all.
“Fuck.”
As Gye Yoon ground his teeth and spat out the curse, his sister’s eyes widened again.
“Who the fuck are you cursing at?”
“Do I look like I’m in a position not to say fuck?”
As the siblings were about to clash again, Jae-hak quickly grabbed Min’s arm to stop her.
“Just bear with it. Do you think Yoon kept his purity because he wanted to? His situation is bad, and with a personality like that, he’s likely to die a virgin; it’s pitiful. Please understand.”
Thinking of her husband’s kind heart, Min barely managed to suppress her anger. However, Gye Yoon’s eyes, having suffered a second personal attack, were filled with even deeper profanity.
“Ha, both of you are talking nonsense.”
Min frowned again, but for her husband’s sake, she decided to be understanding of her pitiful brother. It was impressive that he had endured this much without receiving guiding. Since he had recently been trapped in a cave, he couldn’t possibly be in his right mind. When pity filled Min’s eyes, Gye Yoon’s mood became even filthier.
“Get that look off your face.”
“You’re the one who should get out of my sight. But before you go, answer one thing. Do you trust Ji Won-woo?”
“Yeah.”
Gye Yoon answered in a nonchalant tone, but if his sister asked why, he didn’t have a precise answer. Because he considered Ji Geun-oh an enemy? Because he blew up the Guide Center? No. What concerned him more than these circumstances were the people Ji Won-woo liked. The unremarkable Sang-cheon, or the ignored B-class Esper Seo-na.
There was no lie in what Won-woo had done for those two. His sincerity toward them was so deep it was almost irritating, to the point of making him angry. But that was why he felt Ji Won-woo was different from the selfish Ji Geun-oh. There was no greater evidence than that. However, Min only stared at her brother and did not ask for the reason.
“Fine. Get out.”
Min commanded as she turned her head, but her brother sat back in the chair and arrogantly crossed his legs.
“Don’t reveal Ji Won-woo’s identity yet.”
“If he walks around showing his face, eventually someone inside will realize he is Ji Won-woo. No matter how good you are, there must be spies you failed to catch. They’ll deliver the news quickly.”
“I’m not talking about his identity.”
Then what? Min raised an eyebrow, then soon realized what her brother meant.
“Ji Won-woo’s ability?”
“Yeah.”
Gye Yoon answered easily, but in truth, it was something that required a lot of caution. After all, if Ji Won-woo could truly guide everyone, this had to be kept secret. However, this request bothered Min.
“Tell me that after Ji Won-woo’s ability has been properly verified.”
“I’m perfectly fine, aren’t I?”
“As long as he is a member of the Ji family, no amount of verification is enough.”
“Hwan-i will be fine too.”
“…….”
“So just hide Ji Won-woo’s ability properly.”
“Is that Ji Won-woo’s request, or your own thought?”
“What does it matter whose thought it is?”
It matters. Min carefully observed her brother sitting in a skewed posture. If it were the latter, it meant he cared quite a bit about Ji Won-woo, which was something Min did not want. She had sent him to seduce Ji Won-woo, but he might have ended up being the one led by the nose.
“Is it your thought?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because it’ll be a headache if you’ve fallen head over heels for Ji Won-woo and want to set up a shield for him in advance. Is it your thought?”
Gye Yoon couldn’t answer immediately and turned his head. However, under his sister’s piercing gaze, he eventually spat out as if annoyed.
“I’m just trying to protect him because Ji Won-woo is useful.”
Min frowned and was about to say something, but Jae-hak’s question was faster.
“Then why did you act so fake in front of Ji Won-woo-ssi?”
“When did I act fake?”
The couple was speechless again. However, they stopped all their thoughts at Gye Yoon’s following words.
“He’s awake.”
They didn’t need to ask who he was talking about. Min and Jae-hak rushed out of the room without looking back.
The person guarding Hwan-i in the room was an Esper woman in her 50s. She raised her voice in surprise, but after entering the room and seeing her expression, Won-woo set aside his own surprise. She was covering her mouth with her hand, staring at the space between the bed and the wall. However, there was no worry on her face. Instead, her eyes were filled with an overwhelming emotion.
“Supervisor Lee.”
When Chief Jung called her, she pointed toward the space between the bed and the wall instead of making a sound. Then she whispered.
“He hid.”
“Really?”
Chief Jung was surprised and glanced back at Won-woo. His gaze looked like admiration, as if thinking he really did the guiding, which felt strange. The reason was explained by Supervisor Lee after Chief Jung left to fetch the child’s parents.
“Hwan-i hides like that when his condition isn’t bad. So it means he’s not in pain.”
Matching the whispering voice of the other person, Won-woo also lowered his voice.
“Why does he hide if he’s not in pain?”
“He hides in advance because if he starts feeling pain, he has to receive guiding.”
Is it because guiding is painful? However, an explanation followed that was different from Won-woo’s expectation. It was a voice full of pity.
“The Guide sent by the Ji family was, well, a very bad person. They said many terrible things to the child.”
Won-woo couldn’t understand immediately. The child was nominally the next Head of the Gye Family, yet they had just let the abuse happen.
“Since that piece of trash was the only Guide, we couldn’t afford to offend them even slightly.”
Supervisor Lee explained in a bitter tone and looked steadily at Won-woo. It was a gaze of concern, as if asking Are you a similar kind of person? So Won-woo gave a sincere answer.
“I will not do anything that harms the child, even slightly.”
Looking at her eyes and expression, it seemed as if a thank-you would come out at any moment, but instead, she quietly gripped Won-woo’s hand tightly with both of hers. Though there were no words, he felt a heat as if her emotions were transferring through her hands.
“I don’t even hope for kindness. Just… please don’t hate the child.”
She let out a breath and released his hand. Won-woo looked down at his hand for a moment, then looked back at the gap where the child was hiding. The child was not visible, but strangely, it overlapped with the image of himself who had rushed out of the house in the middle of the night and sat slumped in a dirty alleyway.
“If you teach me how to be kind, I’ll try my best to learn.”
When Won-woo spoke, Supervisor Lee’s eyes widened.
“Ah, those words…….”
Why my words? Why is she so surprised? Just as he was wondering, the sound of urgent footsteps was heard from beyond the door.
Soon after, Min and Jae-hak rushed in, then stopped at Supervisor Lee’s gesture. She placed a finger on her lips as if telling them to be quiet and pointed again to where the child was hiding.
Even though the awakened child had hidden in that narrow corner, the couple did not look worried. Rather, they looked overwhelmed with emotion. Just because the child had performed a single action he does when he’s fine. The Head of the Gye Family tried her best to compose her expression, but Jae-hak shed a few tears. Then, with a wide smile on his face, he approached the child’s side and crouched down.
“Our little cutie, are you awake?”
The infinitely kind voice trembled slightly. Won-woo watched the scene quietly. No matter how much he learned kindness, could he ever even reach the toes of the kindness shown by a biological father? He felt a momentary envy for that paternal love. As he turned to leave, Min grabbed his arm.
“Let’s talk.”
The condition for moving around the Gye Family mansion was that he must always pull his hood deep and wear a mask when leaving the room, but Won-woo didn’t mind. Compared to the suffocating gas mask he wore during the war, this was nothing.
What was strange was the permission to go anywhere within the Gye Family as long as he followed this condition. Moreover, there were no monitors secretly following him. Even though Min had explicitly said:
‘I don’t trust you. But since you’re useful, I intend to keep you around. So you’d better [Read on Read BL Novels]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[Read on Read BL Novels]be exactly as useful as you claim.’
Perhaps because of the cold voice, he had felt a chill the moment he heard it. He later learned that when she threatened people, she actually lowered the temperature to intimidate them. But contrary to the threats, she and the people in the Gye Family who knew Won-woo’s identity let him roam too freely. The person who opened his heart immediately was Min’s husband, Jae-hak.
“Ah, Hwan-i wants to stay in this room to get used to it? Then I’d be grateful!”
Jae-hak welcomed Won-woo, who had come to Hwan-i’s room, with both hands raised. He was in the middle of tempting the child by placing food, toys, all sorts of books, and even a large teddy bear near the gap between the bed and the wall where the child was hiding.
“Then since you’re here, could you watch Hwan-i for a bit? I have something to take care of for a moment. I’ll be back soon.”
Jae-hak asked, shaking Won-woo’s hand, and left the room before Won-woo could say anything. Won-woo looked at the vanished man and was belatedly appalled.
“I mean, what does he trust me with…….”
Aren’t these people too naive? Is that why they were treated so badly by Ji Geun-oh? While strong suspicion rose, he soon found the CCTV hidden in the ceiling. Only then did he feel relieved. Right, they should at least do this. Leaving a child to a stranger, and a member of a suspicious family at that, without monitoring would be child abuse. As he thought, a low, dry voice was heard.
“I trust you.”
Turning his head, he saw Gye Yoon standing by the door. He looked as if he had just come out of the shower, with his still-damp hair roughly pushed back with his hand. Thanks to that, his handsome face was fully revealed, but what caught Won-woo’s eye more was his ears.
Since he always wore a hood or had his hair covering them, he hadn’t seen them properly, but Gye Yoon’s ears were full of suppression piercings. Just how many are there? It was Won-woo’s first time seeing someone wear so many, and as he couldn’t take his eyes off them, an answer came as if Gye Yoon had read his thoughts.
“Seventeen.”
“……Ah.”
“I took one out.”
“Why?”
“Because it felt too much like eighteen.”*
“……Ah.”
At Won-woo’s continued foolish reactions, Gye Yoon twisted the corners of his mouth.
“It was a joke.”
“Still, wearing that many piercings was indeed ‘eighteen-like’ (vulgar).”
The smile Gye Yoon had been enjoying slowly stiffened. Then he asked quietly in a lowered voice.
“Do you care about how I feel?”
He always felt it, but Gye Yoon’s voice [visit our site]was incredibly good no matter when he heard it. He wondered if a male siren would sound like this. He felt as if he might be lured unconsciously and confess the truth.
Fortunately, Won-woo did not fall for it. All the temptations he had received during the long war were very helpful at times like this. Thus, Won-woo was able to shrug his shoulders as if it were no big deal.
“I said it because all Espers wearing suppression piercings are unpleasant. Don’t read into it.”
“Are you sure there’s no meaning?”
“Yes.”
“You’re good at lying.”
Gye Yoon approached, brushing back his hair. As he came so close that Won-woo wondered if he should step back, Won-woo blocked him with his hand.
“Who is lying?”
“It’s just that Ji Won-woo-ssi seems strangely interested in my misfortune.”
“……I’m not.”
Gye Yoon smirked. Won-woo suddenly realized his mistake. He had heard that Gye Yoon was ghost-like at catching people’s lies, and he had let his guard down for a moment. He didn’t know how his heart had reacted, but Gye Yoon had clearly found the answer he wanted. Damn it. Won-woo cursed inwardly and took a step back. Gye Yoon followed without giving in and blurted out.
“Just so you know, I didn’t use my ability. I just knew it was a lie by intuition.”
“Think whatever you want.”
“I’ll do that even if you don’t tell me to. So.”
Gye Yoon kept his distance and stared at Won-woo, asking.
“Do you want me to be happy?”
Won-woo’s eyes wavered briefly. This time, Gye Yoon didn’t smile but frowned. He was truly reacting sensitively to Gye Yoon’s happiness.
“Do you perhaps feel guilt toward me instead of my father?”
Won-woo answered bluntly while avoiding his gaze.
“Something like that.”
Because it was guilt. But that wasn’t a sufficient explanation for Gye Yoon.
“When you first found out my identity, you had no emotion, right?”
“I didn’t know the Ji family had tormented the Gye family so viciously. [Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]Look, do I have to continue my atonement time? It’s uncomfortable to talk about it here.”
As if changing the subject, Won-woo pointed with his eyes to where the child was hiding. Gye Yoon looked over there once, then grabbed Won-woo’s arm, pulled him arbitrarily near the child, and sat on the floor. Then he spoke to Won-woo, who wasn’t sitting.
“Sit. If you want to get close to the kid, you have to make him come to you first.”
This time, the words felt as if they were whispered in his ear. As if he had used his ability so the child wouldn’t hear.
Just as he was about to ask how he knew that, he realized he didn’t have the ability to hide sound and sat down without complaint. Then he saw Gye Yoon flip over a large yellow plastic bin. Colorful, large blocks poured out of it with a loud noise. Gye Yoon laid a large green baseplate on the floor and handed a block to Won-woo, who was staring blankly.
“Here.”
Why give it to me? Won-woo asked with his eyes, then glanced at the corner where the child was hiding. Perhaps blocks were a game the child liked. Was he planning to attract the child’s interest by doing this? As if Won-woo’s thought were correct, Gye Yoon held out another block. He had no choice but to take it in his hand, and while fiddling with the block, he asked in a whisper so the child wouldn’t hear.
“How do you do this?”
Gye Yoon cast an incredulous look.
“You just snap them together and make whatever.”
“Whatever…… what?”
Instead of answering, Gye Yoon pulled out the doors and windows that were mixed in with the blocks and set them aside. Ah, unauthorized copystyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]it’s a house. Won-woo nodded and asked again.
“Is there no blueprint?”
Gye Yoon, who had just haphazardly plugged a block into the baseplate, stopped his hand.
“Surely you’re not playing with blocks for the first time?”
“It is my first time.”
One of Gye Yoon’s eyebrows shot up. He muttered as if puzzled.
“The Ji family couldn’t be so poor that they couldn’t buy a set of blocks.”
“They have plenty of money, but I was a child who fell out of favor. I was born as a D-class Guide who didn’t need support.”
He felt a gaze staring at him, but Won-woo ignored it and carefully plugged the block in his hand into one spot. To make a house, shouldn’t he roughly decide the size and calculate how many blocks are needed in advance? Unlike him, whose mind was complex and couldn’t easily plug in the next block, Gye Yoon plugged them in without hesitation. To anyone, it looked like he was just plugging them in randomly.
“Ah, if you make the bottom layer that large, won’t you run out of blocks?”
“Then what did you play with when you were young?”
Won-woo answered half-heartedly while quickly counting the number of blocks to check before Gye Yoon used tRead unauthorized copydata-wm="unauthorized copy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyon Read BL Novelshem all in the wrong places.
“Just things I picked up from here and there.”
“What were those?”
Won-woo searched his memories and mentioned a few things.
“Packaging ribbons, or ballpoint pens that were put in the trash to be thrown away. Things like that.”
His favorite was an eraser. He had held onto that small eraser—which his brother had probably thrown on the floor in frustration during a drawing class—for days and nights without letting go. He just really liked that squishy feeling.
“There were erasers too, but in the end, I was scolded for collecting trash and they were all taken away. Wait, you have to leave the center open to put the door.”
Won-woo removed a few blocks Gye Yoon had plugged in without a plan and put a door-shaped block in their place.
“You have two older brothers. Didn’t you inherit any toys?”
“I told you. I was a child who received no support. Wait, aren’t these supposed to be stacked by color?”
While Won-woo seriously pondered whether he should divide the blocks by color, Gye Yoon plugged in the blocks with a rough touch, like someone who was angry.
“Even so, you couldn’t have grown up completely alone, could you?”
(Translator’s note: “십팔” (sip-pal/18) is a homophone for a common Korean swear word (shit/fuck), hence the joke about the number of piercings.)
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