TTOA Chapter 137
by VolareTaming the Obsessive Maniac – Episode 137
#137
Lieutenant Colonel Jang removed the hand that had been massaging his temple and glanced down at his palm. A hollow laugh escaped him.
This wasn’t the time to be asking these two questions. He should be issuing Seo Eui-woo a severe disciplinary action and heading to the higher-ups to report everything…
Seeing the subtly distorted expression on Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s face, Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin’s eyes met. Kwon Jae-jin nodded slightly first, and Seo Eui-woo opened his mouth languidly as if he couldn’t help it.
“Lieutenant Colonel, don’t you already know the answer?”
Seo Eui-woo retorted plainly. He had deceived Lieutenant Colonel Jang for many years while serving him, but now there was no reason to do so.
“I’ve been breaking the rules since long ago.”
“…Since long ago?”
“Guiding deficiencies, that is. Since my trainee days, I had to tell countless lies to hide my body, which was a mess due to imbalances. If I got caught, I would have been disposed of… How could I have ever considered following the military’s rules in a situation like that?”
“Huh…”
“According to the military’s regulations, I should have died. Jae-jin too.”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s jaw tightened.
His eyes widened as he stared at Seo Eui-woo as if he couldn’t believe it. Seo Eui-woo wore a relaxed smile on his pale, white face.
His expression was genuinely natural.
He was always like that when Kwon Jae-jin was by his side.
Unlike Seo Eui-woo, who was skilled at hiding his feelings, he was openly wary of others, recklessly using his abilities, and even getting angry and enraged.
But when he looked at Kwon Jae-jin, his eyes softened, he acted affectionately, he became anxious, and his inner thoughts were as clear as a child’s.
“To be honest, I was disillusioned. With the military trying to capture and kill Jae-jin just because he was a Mutant/Late-Blooming Esper/Guide.”
“…”
“I even thought about massacring all the Espers in a fit of anger… But Jae-jin kept stopping me, saying that wouldn’t solve anything…”
“Eui-woo, let’s not talk about that.”
“No, it’s okay. Keep listening.”
“He said that the people we should be fighting are the creatures, not the Espers, and isn’t that right?”
“…I see. So, that’s why you let the entire search party live.”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang closed his eyes in despair. He rubbed his dry eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
When the search party’s mission failed, he thought they were as good as dead. Every member who participated in that mission saw their own death.
Yet, there were no fatalities, only injuries.
That day, Lieutenant Colonel Jang owed Kwon Jae-jin his life.
Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san turned his gaze to Kwon Jae-jin. He stared at him for a while, then lowered his head dejectedly.
He seemed to have received confirmation of the impression he had gotten when he saw Kwon Jae-jin shooting a gun on the front lines.
Kwon Jae-jin’s gun had been aimed at the creatures from the start.
“Then there’s no reason to reject efficiency-oriented Guiding, is there? If the goal is to fight the creatures, then Guiding should be used more actively.”
“No, that’s not right.”
Kwon Jae-jin replied in a low voice.
The words were spoken calmly, and his expression was serene, but his heart was in turmoil.
“It’s precisely because of the military’s way of thinking, which only pursues efficiency, that Mutants/Late-Blooming Espers/Guides and other Espers have been dying all along.”
He knew it without anyone having to tell him.
Now was the time to prepare himself.
Kwon Jae-jin slowly raised his head and looked around. The office, neither large nor small, was neatly organized with various documents and official papers. There were a few plaques hanging on the wall, and Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s personal firearm and locker were there.
Outside the window, a transport ship could be seen flying far away. He imprinted these unremarkable scenes in his mind and took a deep breath before continuing.
“Esper-style Guiding is inhumane. Erasing the memories of fallen soldiers with Mental-type Ability/Psychic Ability, and the act of slaughtering trainees who haven’t completed their education and training are also clearly inhumane.”
“I still don’t understand why you keep saying it’s inhumane.”
“It’s natural that you don’t understand. Because no one would have told you.”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san was sitting in front of Kwon Jae-jin, and Seo Eui-woo was standing beside him.
Jae-jin turned his dark eyes to glance at Seo Eui-woo. The moment his eyes met his clear pupils, he slowly reached out his right hand.
Seo Eui-woo showed signs of agitation at the gesture of offering a handshake. A dark fire flickered inside his gray eyes, and an obsessive, sinister gaze poured out.
Kwon Jae-jin steeled himself once more and accepted Seo Eui-woo. Then, he suggested Guiding to Lieutenant Colonel Jang.
“Take it. My hand.”
“…”
“I’m just trying to show you that Guiding can be done in this way.”
He had finished preparing himself, and his resolve was set, but strangely, his fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
It was because Seo Eui-woo was watching with a menacing look in his eyes, which were filled with romantic jealousy.
He wasn’t committing a crime, but Guiding in front of him was more agonizing than committing a crime. Honestly, he didn’t feel comfortable. Even the breaths he exhaled were restless.
Lieutenant Colonel Jang alternately looked at Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin, who were radiating an unusual aura, and then looked up at the ceiling one last time.
“The military does not permit Guiding outside of the prescribed mucous membrane contact. Are you aware of that? Furthermore, this isn’t a designated Guiding room either.”
“Yes, it seems so.”
“Haa…”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang slowly removed his gloves. He threw away one of the black gloves and clasped Kwon Jae-jin’s hand.
The two shared a brief handshake, and Guiding took place through the skin of their palms.
“…!”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s solemn expression crumbled as he was startled.
The Core inside his chest trembled intensely, and his Esper-born instincts shuddered at the overwhelming pull of the Guiding that washed over him in an instant.
Kwon Jae-jin’s Guiding effortlessly reached deep within, even to the abilities buried in his subconscious. The imbalances that had accumulated in the deepest parts of him, which he hadn’t even known existed, were harmonized and found their place all at once.
A fleeting moment that felt like an eternity passed, and Seo Eui-woo violently grabbed Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s wrist and tore it away.
His wrist was grabbed and pulled away so forcefully that it almost broke, but Lieutenant Colonel Jang didn’t feel any pain. It was because he was still intoxicated by the aftermath of the Guiding.
“…I see. So, this is why the ability…”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang clenched his empty hand in the air in vain.
Leaving him looking dazed, Kwon Jae-jin spoke the words he had to convey.
“This way, you won’t get hurt, you won’t feel pain, and your dignity won’t be harmed.”
“…”
“Even if the efficiency is lower, isn’t it great?”
“…I see. Is that so?”
With Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s eyes, which seemed to have realized something, as the last thing he saw, Kwon Jae-jin’s vision was covered in light.
Even until the moment the coordinate transfer took place, Kwon Jae-jin anxiously watched to make sure Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s wrist wasn’t torn off.
Fortunately, a fountain of blood didn’t erupt, and he was able to return safely to his nest without having to witness a gruesome sight.
*
It was the bedroom of the new mansion.
The sea spread out beyond the glass windows. A glass window covering the ceiling. The bedroom of the mansion resembled the seaside mansion he had lived in for a long time, evoking old memories, but it was all brand new, making it feel like a fresh start.
‘…Huff.’
As soon as he returned home, his strength drained away.
His chest was not only in turmoil but also staggering.
It felt like someone had stabbed an arm into Kwon Jae-jin’s chest and was stirring it around.
Jae-jin paused for a moment to catch his breath, then slowly raised his head to look at Seo Eui-woo, who was standing beside him.
It was a difficult feeling.
So difficult that he didn’t know how to express it.
‘Seo Eui-woo…’
Not anyone else, but Seo Eui-woo.
‘Guiding…’
Honestly, he thought Seo Eui-woo might not be able to endure it.
In a way, he thought that was bound to happen.
He had been constantly considering the possibility that Lieutenant Colonel Jang would be swept away by his ability right before they touched, or that Kwon Jae-jin would be coordinate transferred and return home.
It was a method that could intuitively awaken the minds of controlled Espers, and it was a method that only Kwon Jae-jin, an S-rank Mutant/Late-Blooming Esper/Guide, could do, but
It was only a matter of holding hands, and only for a very short time,
But still, Guiding was Guiding.
He couldn’t possibly not know what Seo Eui-woo had endured a moment ago, or what he had been watching with.
‘He was so against it… He was shouting that Guiding was absolutely not allowed…’
That, for Kwon Jae-jin’s sake, he had endured.
Seo Eui-woo…
How could that Seo Eui-woo…
‘If this is the case, I can’t even jokingly call him a brat anymore…’
He thought of Seo Eui-woo as someone who was young, driven by a fiery heart, impulsive, blindly devoted, obsessed, jealous, and determined to take everything he wanted in the end… But he had changed somewhere along the way.
‘No way.’
Really, no way…
He had once overheard that in a relationship, the one who loves more loses.
Kwon Jae-jin had always been the one who lost. Whether voluntarily or involuntarily.
He had been bent, given up, accepted, resigned, and always been that way.
But today, Seo Eui-woo… This time, Seo Eui-woo…
Had completely lost to Kwon Jae-jin.
The fact that he was so moved by that made him feel like he was going crazy.