OMH Chapter 32
by VolareKim Sanghyuk didn’t release Woojin until everyone was inside the entrance and the door was locked.
Woojin, visibly tense, glared at Kim Sanghyuk with eyes like a cornered fawn.
Kim Sanghyuk simply shrugged and ushered us inside.
However, Woojin seemed quite angry. As he followed Kim Sanghyuk, he vented his anger at the back of his head.
“Why are you always so rude? Does individual intent mean nothing to you people?!”
Kim Sanghyuk glanced back at Woojin and shrugged again.
“Come on, let’s talk about this inside. It’s better in here than out there.”
Kim Sanghyuk strode inside, creating space in the cramped living room for all four of us to sit, and even served juice. Only Cha Wooreen was happy about the juice. Still, she seemed a bit cautious, probably because she saw her brother’s anger.
Woojin, aware that his little sister was watching him, seemed to be suppressing his anger without saying a word.
Amidst the gradually easing tension, Kim Sanghyuk chugged his juice and said, “Still, life at the Association is better than outside, right?”
Woojin looked genuinely infuriated by Kim Sanghyuk’s smirking face.
But after glancing at Wooreen, he suppressed his anger.
Then, in a calm voice, he expressed his opinion.
“…You may know my personal information, but it seems you don’t know how I’m doing here.”
“Ah, I don’t know the specifics of what happened today, but I know you visited the Audit Bureau! It’s right next door~ I heard about the attempted rape case nearby before, too.”
Woojin’s anger visibly flared up again because of Kim Sanghyuk.
I was about to intervene, but Kim Sanghyuk grabbed my knee with one hand. And started blabbering again.
“Still, you won’t die from monsters. You won’t starve to death either.”
Kim Sanghyuk started to put strength into his eyes, abandoning his smirking facade.
“To survive, there’s no place better than here. You agree with that, don’t you, Woojin?”
Woojin glared at Kim Sanghyuk and bit his lip. He seemed annoyed but agreed.
Kim Sanghyuk seized the momentum and continued to run his mouth.
“So~ let’s just say I registered Woojin as a Guide for everyone’s benefit~ The Association is happy to have one more Guide, and Woojin doesn’t have to worry about making a living anymore, right? You have to think about Wooreen too~”
My friend, though I wanted to punch him, was infuriatingly only saying what was right.
“Now, say goodbye to the days of rummaging through trash for the least rotten food, the days of being threatened by monsters, and the days of running away from hooligans~”
“……”
“Well, I also regret what happened at the Association. But expressing your dissatisfaction with the Association directly will make things even more dangerous, so be careful. If you really want to vent, just do it a little in a private space like this. The little friend who’s always by your side will listen well.”
“……”
“Ah~ Just because he listens well and seems easygoing, don’t take it out on him~ Anyway, I’m the one who registered Woojin as a Guide~ so if you’re going to be angry, be angry at me. Got it~ Okay?”
With those last words, Kim Sanghyuk glanced at me and winked.
He was a bit annoying, but since he was doing this for me, I held back for now.
Unfortunately, Woojin couldn’t say anything more in that spot.
We waited without saying much until Wooreen finished both glasses of juice and then left together.
Kim Sanghyuk patted my shoulder, gave me a thumbs up for enduring the tardiness for my sake, and disappeared from the spot.
I wasn’t thankful at all.
*
Woojin’s complexion was pale after finally moving into my room.
He had a lot to deal with since morning, and it seemed Kim Sanghyuk had really turned his stomach upside down, making him very tired.
I moved Woojin to the bed so he could rest and started organizing his luggage.
Since it was a studio apartment, there weren’t many enclosed spaces, so Woojin could see me organizing things from the bed.
Woojin, who was blankly watching me, spoke to me.
“Are you much younger than me?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you, Hana. You’re younger than me, right?”
I was briefly flustered by the sudden talk about age. We hadn’t really talked about personal details before…
“You already know everything about me, but it’s unfair if I don’t know anything about you. Tell me. How old are you?”
Woojin’s soft, moderately low-pitched voice was slightly rough, perhaps due to fatigue, but that was also appealing in its own way. Even with dark circles under his eyes and a tired look, Woojin was pure and noble, like a clear night sky with a bright full moon.
I don’t like these kinds of conversations, but I answered almost as if I was hypnotized. If Woojin is curious, I have to answer.
“I’m two years younger than Woojin. I’m 24.”
“You’re really young?”
Before I knew it, Woojin was stroking my head and smiling right in front of me. His low, airy laughter was as soft as the sound of wind briefly brushing against young leaves.
The bed and closet weren’t within reach, so I wondered when Woojin had come all the way over here. But in reality, I must have moved closer to Woojin while answering. Because Woojin was still sitting on the bed.
Since I was done organizing the luggage anyway, there was no need to be far from Woojin, so I didn’t care.
Besides, today was a special, commemorative day because Woojin moved in, and I wanted to do something for Woojin.
*
Cha Woojin had too much to deal with from yesterday morning until now. Perhaps that’s why his head, messed up with fatigue, was filled with useless, irrelevant thoughts.
For example, the thought that the man in front of him, who looked adorably like a child, was actually younger than him, or the desire to touch that short, round head.
Just then, the man came right up to him.
So he realized the thought in his head and stroked the small head of the man in front of him like he was petting a puppy.
Even though he impulsively stroked someone else’s head because he was exhausted from fatigue, he didn’t feel anything strange.
Rather, as expected, he thought it was rough and couldn’t take his hand away. The well-groomed, lawn-like brown hair was much softer than he thought.
Cha Woojin carefully examined the face of the man he was now facing closely.
Short hair, like a boy soldier, cleanly ended, drawing a neat forehead line. Whether it was because he had a lot of hair or because his scalp was free of blemishes, his short hair, like young grass, looked like a smooth acorn from a distance.
His forehead, the round forehead revealed below the line, and the prominent nose below it, and the large, round eyes harmonized delicately, making him look much younger than his age.
Cha Woojin didn’t dislike Gang Hana’s childlike, cute face. He liked the eye level he had to look down on, the head that fit snugly in his palm, and the fact that Gang Hana was an Esper, so much that he didn’t care.
Cha Woojin smiled at him, making eye contact.
Until the man suddenly ran out.
“……”
The man, who was smiling brightly while looking at him, told him to wait a moment and went out through the window.
He knew this was the 11th floor, so he wondered what kind of crazy behavior it was to go out through the window, but he wasn’t as surprised as he thought he would be.
Was it because he was too tired? He wondered if it was a big deal for someone to walk through the window.
He just had a headache from fatigue.
Rather, when the man in front of him disappeared, a bit of his sense of reality returned.
Useless thoughts about the man ebbed away like the tide, and thoughts about his own situation flooded in like the tide.
He was finding the Guide education, which had started two days ago, too hard to bear.
He didn’t even want to admit that he was a Guide, but being forced to receive education as a Guide was very grueling.
Cha Woojin really didn’t want to listen to lessons that rattled off the definition and role of a Guide.
So throughout the class in the lecture hall, he didn’t focus on the lesson but thought about leaving.
Moreover, his body, which had not yet recovered to its former state, throbbed and screamed during the hours he sat hunched over.
No one would know how relieved he was when he finally met the people he could rely on after the 3-hour lesson that felt like endless torture.
He realized anew at that moment how welcome the existence of a person who allowed him to escape from a space where he could do nothing of his own will was.
At the same time, he felt a vile sense of relief at the sight of that existence being swayed by him.
So he went to him because he didn’t want to listen to the lesson. He thought that person would generously accept him, even if he had skipped class.
Thanks to the fact that Gang Hana had told him all the details about his daily life when they spent time together in Downtown, it was not difficult to find him at all.
But when he faced Gang Hana’s annoyed expression, his spine chilled. This was because Cha Woojin knew nothing about Gang Hana except that he was a friendly Esper.
Of course, Gang Hana, who recognized that it was Cha Woojin, greeted him with a smile right away.
However, he wasn’t shameless enough to come brazenly and confidently tell the truth.
So he made up an excuse and entered Room 172.
His only family, who was alone in the corner, greeted him with all their might.
However, not everyone was lenient with Cha Woojin.
While Gang Hana was away, the teenage Espers questioned him.
Cha Woojin told them that he came because he missed his sister. He had nothing to hide because it was somewhat true.
He vaguely thought that he would have to take his sister out of this place someday.
To add specificity to that plan, he also had to constantly keep track of his sister’s whereabouts.
But was it rash to show even a slightly honest side in front of unfriendly Espers?
Cha Woojin was disgusted when he recalled the things he had suffered using this as an excuse.
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