The new safe house was a villa located in Songpa. Only one household lived on each floor, the security was ironclad, and at the entrance, instead of elderly men, young men stood guard.
Like the safe house in Hwaseong, this place was also a two-story structure. The first floor consisted only of a kitchen, living room, and bathroom, while all the living spaces were on the second floor.
Everything needed was prepared. The shoe rack contained ten pairs of shoes each, sized perfectly for Park hae-jun and Lee A-gon. The dressing room was the same.
“From now on, Mr. Lee A-gon will begin rehabilitation training to adapt to the real world. Every morning, I’ll send someone to look after him along with a car. When the training is finished, Mr. Lee A-gon will return home in that car. Afterward, Mr. Park Hae-jun, you’ll need to assist Mr. Lee A-gon.” Secretary Yang explained in response to Park Hae-jun’s question about what to do next.
After hearing the answer, Park Hae-jun asked again, “What should I do while Lee A-gon is away? Should I clean or prepare meals?”
“Mr. Park Hae-jun, you don’t need to do such things. We’ll send a housekeeper three times a week.”
“Then what about me?”
“Do as you please.”
“As I please?”
“You can go out for walks, exercise, or study. Spend your time however you want, Mr. Park Hae-jun. While Mr. Lee A-gon is away, you are free. We’ll also get rid of the cloned phone for you.”
After once not even letting him use the phone freely, they were suddenly giving him freedom. He was bewildered, but there was no reason to refuse. Park Hae-jun happily accepted the change.
The next day, Lee A-gon’s schedule began. At nine in the morning, a car waited in the ground-level parking lot to take Lee A-gon away.
At ten o’clock, the housekeepers that Secretary Yang mentioned arrived. There were as many as three of them. While one person cooked, two people swept and cleaned the house. Whatever instructions they had received, they didn’t even glance at Park Hae-jun. They would only respond with “yes” or “no” to questions like “Would you like a drink?” or “Please take it easy.”
At five in the afternoon, Lee A-gon returned. When asked what he did outside, he answered like this, “I’m learning how to breathe again from the beginning.”
“Breathing?”
“I also did stretching.”
“Stretching? Ah.”
‘He must be doing Pilates.’
Park Hae-jun nodded. He understood. Of course, with his weak physique, he couldn’t start with weights like ordinary men. Pilates would keep him from getting injured too.
“So that’s why you’ve grown taller.”
They say Pilates makes you grow taller, and indeed, Lee A-gon’s eye level seemed higher. Whether it was his imagination or not, his shoulders also seemed broader.
After two weeks, the effects of Pilates became even more apparent. The dark hollows under Lee A-gon’s eyes that had made him look gloomy even when he gained weight had filled in. A subtle flush returned to his skin, which no longer appeared pathologically pale.
His appetite also increased. Now Lee A-gon ate as much as a normal person. His arms and legs, which had been as thin as skewers, became quite plump as he continued to gain weight.
One day, he returned with his shoulder-length hair cut short. Seeing Lee A-gon awkwardly brushing up his shortened hair, Park Hae-jun was truly moved. He was unattractive, but it was an ordinary unattractiveness. He no longer looked like a plucked chicken.
‘That’s good enough.’
Park Hae-jun narrowed his eyes and watched Lee A-gon standing at the refrigerator door, wearing training pants and a gray hooded zip-up, gulping down milk. Now he looked like a somewhat thin college student. He no longer resembled a homeless person or an invalid.
“Lee A-gon.”
“Yes, hyung.”
As always, Lee A-gon immediately stopped what he was doing and approached when Park Hae-jun called.
Staring at Lee A-gon’s face, which was positioned a bit higher than his own, Park Hae-jun asked, “What do you like?”
“You, hyung.” Lee A-gon answered immediately.
“No, not that. I mean what you like. Something you want to do or see whenever you have free time.”
“You, hyung.”
Once again, Lee A-gon answered without a second thought.
‘We’re not communicating.’ Park Hae-jun pressed his brow firmly.
“I’m asking about something like your favorite movie.”
“Favorite movie…”
At those words, Lee A-gon showed a deeply thoughtful expression for the first time.
Park Hae-jun, feeling he was on the right track, continued to ask, “If not movies, then dramas or something like that.”
“The ones you appear in, hyung.”
“…No, not that. Tell me the title.”
“‘Dawn’s Light.'”
“…”
“You appear the longest in that drama, hyung.”
Park Hae-jun gave up on the conversation about hobbies and decided to ask a different question, “What’s your favorite color?”
“Hyung’s skin color.”
“Do you have a favorite music?”
“What you hum when doing the dishes, hyung.”
“Favorite food…”
“I like everything I eat with you, hyung.”
“Special talent…”
“You, hyung.”
“Favorite…”
“You, hyung.”
“…”
“You, hyung.”
‘This guy is hopeless.’
Park Hae-jun came to a conclusion. Secretary Yang had said the assignment would end when Lee A-gon was ready to return as an actor. He had tried asking various questions to gauge how prepared Lee A-gon was, but with no success. Lee A-gon’s social skills were still severely lacking.
“Ask me more questions.”
Unlike Park Hae-jun, who had lost the will to ask questions, Lee A-gon seemed to be enjoying this conversation. He approached Park Hae-jun more closely with shining eyes.
Park Hae-jun asked a question that suddenly occurred to him, “What’s your ability as a power-holder?”
“My ability? Well, that’s…”
Though he asked without much thought, for the first time, Lee A-gon hesitated to answer.
Park Hae-jun, who had assumed it would be telekinesis like most power-holders, asked again, “What is it? Don’t tell me you don’t know?”
“No, I have an ability. I just don’t know what to call it.”
“It’s not telekinesis? Then show me. I’ll try to figure out what it is.”
At those words, Lee A-gon stretched his hand forward. And then he remained still for a while.
Watching and wondering what he was doing, Park Hae-jun’s face soon changed to one of shock. Lee A-gon’s wrist slowly dislocated and then dropped downward with a thud.
“This. I can control my body at will.”
“…Uh, hmm.”
Park Hae-jun covered his mouth with his hand and made a strange groaning sound. That was clearly a wrist fracture.
“Should I show you more?”
Saying that, Lee A-gon then pulled his arm out from his shoulder. Park Hae-jun screamed “Aaaah!” and stepped backward.
“Hey! You, you just dislocated yourself!”
“Yes.”
“And that’s your ability? Your power?”
“Yes. I can also heal myself.”
Lee A-gon waved his hand. Like magic, all the dislocated parts returned to their original positions. He smiled brightly.
“See? All better, right?”
“…What in the…”
What a useless ability…
Is that really a power? Isn’t it just a dislocation show?
“You, you said you escaped from the rehabilitation center using your ability.”
“That’s right.”
“How did you escape using something like dislocation?”
“I stopped my heart. For about ten minutes.”
Park Hae-jun’s mouth fell open. Stopped his heart? Not for one minute, but for ten minutes?
“People thought I was dead and called an ambulance, and I escaped while being transported to the hospital.”
“…”
“I told you. I can control my body at will.”
Park Hae-jun take back what he said about it being useless. While he couldn’t call it useful, it was certainly an extraordinary ability. After all, no one could voluntarily stop their heart for ten minutes.
“Do you have any more questions?”
At Lee A-gon’s question, Park Hae-jun nodded with a tired face. He had started this Q&A to get to know him better, but there was nothing useful to glean. Except that Lee A-gon had a constitution prone to dislocation.
“Can you still do it now?”
“I’m not yet able to stop my heart again… would you like to see?”
“No, no. Don’t do it. And don’t ever do it again in the future.”
“I’ll do as you say, hyung.”
Lee A-gon promised with a gentle smile. Park Hae-jun shuddered slightly. Lee A-gon was already physically weak. Why, of all things, did his ability have to involve abusing his own body? Park Hae-jun felt sorry for Lee A-gon.
After a month of doing Pilates, Lee A-gon’s voice began to gain strength. His habit of dragging his words or using grammatical particles incorrectly also completely disappeared.
It was March when the bitter cold eased a bit and rain fell instead of snow. Suddenly, Park Hae-jun thought he wanted to visit his school. He wanted to find out what rumors were circulating about him before he returned to his studies.
Having made up his mind, Park Hae-jun got ready and left the house. His destination was the Culture University.
“Park Hae-jun?”
“Park Hae-jun is here?”
“He’s crazy. Why would he come here?”
“Didn’t he join the military?”
“I heard he took a leave of absence.”
“He’s got some nerve. Because of him, the professor decided to take a sabbatical…”
He could hear people whispering behind his back. No, it was too loud to be called whispering.
Even though he knew they were criticizing him, Park Hae-jun held his head high. He briefly regretted coming to school, but now that he was here, he couldn’t run away without doing anything.
“Hello?”
Park Hae-jun entered the department office as naturally as if he had planned to stop by. The people inside flinched in surprise and stared at him. Among them was a close female classmate.
“Seon-young, it’s been a while.”
A fellow student with whom he had often created embarrassing memories while drinking in their first year turned her head away from Park Hae-jun. This classmate had secretly encouraged him during his one-person protest, saying she believed in him. Now it seemed she no longer believed in him.
A long silence followed. Standing awkwardly in front of his classmate who turned her head as if he were invisible, Park Hae-jun eventually had to leave the department office.
As the door closed, voices erupted like a cork popping off a bottle.
“He’s crazy.”
“What a nerve.”
“How dare he come here…”
Such words could be heard behind his back.
Similar incidents followed wherever Park Hae-jun went. Just walking down the hallway caused people to part like the Red Sea. Even though he tried to act confidently, continuous exposure to such gazes wounded Park Hae-jun.
Until he started his one-person protest last summer, it hadn’t been this bad. There were people who believed in him, and some who told him to contact them if he needed help.
Park Hae-jun realized painfully once again that it was impossible to reverse this situation without Woomeong. He decided to give up further reconnaissance and leave the school.
“Park Hae-jun?”