The repair technician, Do-jin, arrived at Block C with his eyes covered by a blindfold. Trembling, he took the elevator down and encountered a runaway esper with red eyes.
Do-jin, who worked for a company developing various tools for espers, was well aware of the chokers designed for runaway espers. However, he had never imagined that he would meet a runaway esper in person, let alone have to work in such close proximity that he could hear their breathing.
Meeting a runaway esper for the first time in his life was terrifying. Apart from being a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any moment, the man was simply intimidating at a glance.
Do-jin had never encountered anyone who exuded danger from head to toe, from every part of their body, quite like this.
The esper was half a head taller than Do-jin, with sharp eyes that held a chilling gaze, and lips pressed tightly together as if he had never smiled in his life. To top it off, he had numerous scars all over his body, making Do-jin wonder how brutal his fights must have been.
Having met various espers before, Do-jin licked his dry lips as he looked at the scar-covered arm of the esper.
Espers, like guides, are graded according to the strength of their abilities, from SS- to E, with significant differences between the lower and upper grades.
Nevertheless, there was a way for a C-grade esper to overpower an A-grade esper: a runaway. When an esper loses control of their abilities and goes on a rampage, they manifest explosive power at the cost of their own life.
And here, right next to him, sat an esper who had experienced such a runaway and could do so again at any moment.
Recalling scenes from the news of buildings being destroyed and cars crumpling like paper, Do-jin tried to steady himself as he replaced the broken circuit. The reason they didn't just remove the choker and send it to the company for repair, even though it would be fixed and returned quickly, was that even that short amount of time without the choker was considered too risky.
"No matter how you look at it, this is still too much."
Do-jin thought, lamenting his fate of having to perform repairs in a confined space, clinging to the neck of a runaway esper. This task had been pushed onto him by his seniors, who had all refused it repeatedly. If it weren't for the promise of a hefty bonus, he would have declined it as well.
Of course, if he had known he would be left alone with a runaway esper without any substantial safety measures, no amount of money could have persuaded him to take the job.
"Such a quiet person," he mused.
Do-jin stole a glance at Joo-hyun's face, only to meet the red eyes and quickly look away, swallowing hard.
When he looked up again a moment later, the runaway esper was staring at a spot on the grey wall. It was a stubborn gaze, either showing disinterest in Do-jin or trying not to intimidate him.
The runaway esper blinked. His rather long eyelashes fluttered, and his dark red eyes remained fixed on the empty space. Do-jin continued his work, glancing at the esper's profile, with slightly steadier hands.
Fortunately, after several minutes, Do-jin finished the repairs without any mishap and sighed in relief. He considered that perhaps it was inappropriate to be so openly relieved in front of the esper, but luckily, the esper showed no reaction.
"All fixed. The circuit connected to the GPS was broken. I also removed a protruding metal shard from the connection area. It seemed like it might have been bothering you…"
His task had been only to repair the GPS. The design focused solely on durability, disregarding the wearer's discomfort, and the additional repairs were not part of his assignment. Yet, Do-jin had fixed it without thinking.
As he explained, he grew increasingly nervous, clutching his bag and looking up at the esper. The esper's scarred, muscular hand brushed his neck. Tracing his fingertips around the area where a faint scar remained, he seemed a bit surprised.
"Thank you."
A slight smile curled up his lips. The dark red eyes, slightly narrowed, held a faint but unmistakable kindness. Upon closer inspection, his face was surprisingly delicate.
Staring at the runaway esper in a daze, Do-jin snapped back to reality and hurriedly left the room.
"You know you mustn't tell anyone about this place. Posting anything online is also forbidden. We will track down and sue even on anonymous sites, so it's best to just forget about it."
Nodding repeatedly, Do-jin heeded the employee's warning.
Meeting a runaway esper and sitting next to him for nearly an hour was a heroic tale fit for a bar story, but Do-jin had neither the means nor the intention to deal with a multimillion-won lawsuit. Forgetting, as the stuff suggested, seemed the best course of action.
However, Do-jin, blindfolded again as he got into the car, thought he would never forget the bright smile the runaway esper had shown him.
* * *
It was a rainy morning.
The wounds of an esper would heal without a trace with proper guiding. This was common knowledge, but not many knew that guiding had no effect on scars. Wounds that had healed without guiding would remain scarred and unchangeable, no matter how much guiding was later provided.
Joo-hyun's body was covered in scars from living in an environment where he couldn't receive guiding when needed. Some of these scars ached persistently on rainy days like today.
Joo-hyun disliked the pouring rain for this very reason, but today was different.
"You seem in a good mood today," Cha In-ho remarked. Joo-hyun, who had been unconsciously rubbing his neck, blinked. He hesitated for a moment, surprised that In-ho had noticed, but then he answered willingly.
"Something that had been bothering me is gone now."
"What was it?"
"Nothing much. Just a thorn."
A metal shard that used to protrude from the locking part of his choker had often caused small cuts on Joo-hyun's neck. He had grown accustomed to it, but it didn't mean it wasn't painful.
However, that shard had been completely removed yesterday. Joo-hyun felt quite grateful to the repair technician who, despite being terrified and barely able to breathe, had taken the time to remove it.
He turned his head this way and that, feeling no stinging sensation. Cha In-ho watched Joo-hyun for a moment, then smiled softly. The smile was so gentle and comforting that it felt almost wrong to witness it.
That was Cha In-ho's strange trait. He would push you away completely, yet when you turned around, he would be right there. There was caution but no fear, clear hostility but no reluctance to touch. He was an unpredictable man.
Usually, Joo-hyun would have glared at him fiercely, pretending to be strong, but today his neck wasn't hurting from the morning, and the sound of the rain had a calming effect. So, Joo-hyun spoke with a relatively calm expression.
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
The raindrops hit the windowpane hard.
Joo-hyun wasn't sure what kind of answer he wanted. He had always thought the hand gripping the pager and the eyes that often frowned slightly were signs of fear, but upon reflection, they seemed a bit different from fear.
"Should I be afraid?"
"It's just that most people would be scared having a runaway esper next to them."
Everyone feared runaway espers. The repair technician he met yesterday had been like that. The employees who clutched their guns when he approached were like that. The people who put explosive collars on the necks of the espers in Block C were like that.
But the man who had matched himself with a runaway esper, something an ordinary person would never even consider, seemed to have no intention of acting like everyone else.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I've experienced something very frightening. So, you don't scare me."
"You could die, you know?"
Cha In-ho's extended finger lightly tapped the cracked table. The sound of raindrops filled the silence. In the midst of this, Joo-hyun felt his body lighten due to the guiding flowing in.
Cha In-ho leaned back against the old chair with a gentle smile.
"The weather is nice today, isn't it?"
Joo-hyun closed his mouth at the blatant topic change. There could have been a more natural thing to say, but he chose those words. Was it because he wanted Joo-hyun to understand his discomfort, or was there another reason?
Feeling somewhat guilty, Joo-hyun glanced at Cha In-ho. Despite the upward curve of his lips, his eyes weren't smiling. Joo-hyun realised that Cha In-ho didn't fear him; he simply disliked him.
Whether it was a personal feeling or directed at the group Joo-hyun belonged to, he couldn't tell. The one certainty was that Joo-hyun was too accustomed to being disliked by someone.
"...Yeah."
By now, it wasn't anything new.
His scarred hands slowly took out a cigarette and matches. After several failed attempts due to the damp matches, he finally managed to light one.
"You're supposed to say that's a stupid thing to say."
"Maybe you like rainy days."
Cha In-ho laughed, saying that was true. Joo-hyun had long given up trying to figure out someone who would drift away and then return as if nothing had happened. He only wondered when Cha In-ho would tire of this act. That was his only curiosity.
"I actually hate the rain."
Cha In-ho's eyes, trapped behind long lashes, watched as the raindrops endlessly hit and flowed down the window, losing their shape. Joo-hyun couldn't understand why that voice sounded disappointed.