OMH Chapter 7

Oh My Hero – Episode 7

7. Cha Woojin (6)

Since we met up after a long time, I decided to ask Woojin about something I hadn’t been able to ask before.

“Um, I heard that you’re a Guide, Woojin.”

“Cough!”

Woojin choked on his juice and coughed. He spit out the juice he was drinking and spilled it everywhere.

“Woojin, are you okay?”

I pulled out some tissues from nearby and wiped up the juice, checking on Woojin’s condition. It was tomato juice, so it looked like he had hemoptysis.

Fortunately, Woojin quickly stopped coughing. Of course, he didn’t have hemoptysis either. Woojin, who had calmed down, asked me with a lingering cough.

“…Why are you asking that?”

“Well, I was wondering if you haven’t registered yet, maybe you should. If you belong to the Association, your life will be more stable. You get housing, income, and cultural experiences.”

“…If I join, all the Espers here will know, right? That I’m a Guide, you know.”

“Oh, right? Guides are essential for Espers. They need to know who’s available, match them up, and all that.”

Hearing my words, Woojin’s face turned pale, and he grabbed onto me, clinging to me. Woojin’s hand, clutching my collar, trembled faintly.

“Could you, could you forget that I’m a Guide? Could you just record me as a regular civilian? Please, I’m begging you.”

“…Woojin, calm down for a second!”

It’s just like Hwayoung said?! I didn’t know he would hate it this much…

First, I stroked Woojin’s back, who was having a fit, to calm him down. Wooreen was looking at us with a frightened expression.

‘What should I do? How can I get through this situation so these siblings won’t be afraid of me?’

For now, I started to soothe Woojin.

“Woojin, it’s okay. Even if the Espers know that you are a guide, nothing will happen. Hwayoung and I are Espers, and we know you are a guide, but nothing happens to us.”

Woojin, whose face had been pale all along, eventually fainted after hearing my words.

*

This is a disaster. Woojin has been afraid of me since last night.

I just stopped by to say hello today, but when Woojin saw me, he turned pale and trembled. Even Wooreen next to him doesn’t welcome me very much because her brother is scared.

Sadly, the aftermath of last night didn’t end there.

Not long after leaving the Medical Bureau, the Smartwatch rang. It was a call from Hwayoung. I answered the phone without thinking, and Hwayoung scolded me a lot because Woojin refused her treatment.

Hwayoung, who had been mad at me, eventually issued a restraining order, telling me not to approach Woojin. I was upset by the harsh treatment, but I remembered Woojin being afraid of me and soon calmed down.

‘Okay. I’ll hold back for a while.’

I won’t be able to admire Woojin’s face for a while. Since I can’t pursue my hobby, I should exercise more diligently. The Martial Arts Tournament will be held soon. I turned my regretful steps towards the Gym.

When I went to the Gym, there were many people, probably preparing for the Martial Arts Tournament.

‘Hmm, I can’t lose to them.’

I also took a corner of the Gym and did what I usually did.

I was squatting with the metal lump given to me by the Association for training. I was doing about 300, and Sanghyuk approached me.

‘What is it? He rarely looks for me during training.’

Sanghyuk, who came with a black bag, suddenly took out a bottle of beer from the bag and handed it to me. Then he took out another bottle of soju and started drinking straight from the bottle.

‘…Drinking is prohibited in the Gym, Kim Sanghyuk.’

I was dumbfounded by Sanghyuk’s bizarre behavior, so I had no choice but to take him out of the Gym.

“Okay, now tell me, Kim Sanghyuk. What’s going on?”

Sanghyuk, who chugged half a bottle of soju, sighed heavily.

“Ugh, the smell of alcohol!”

It’s not something to do in front of a troubled friend, but I held my nose. The smell was so terrible that I couldn’t help it.

“Hey, what is it? Tell me in words, not chemical warfare.”

Sanghyuk began to ramble about the situation in a sad voice upgraded by the power of alcohol. If I summarize Sanghyuk’s incoherent story, it was like this. Sanghyuk’s Guide, Go Jeongho, refused to meet Sanghyuk.

Sanghyuk had caused Ability Outburst this time while on a mission and injured Go Jeongho, and Go Jeongho said that he would quit being Sanghyuk’s Guide because of this incident.

Well, this is the fifth time Sanghyuk has injured Go Jeongho due to Ability Outburst.

“I can understand why he wants to quit because he’s scared.”

I nodded in agreement with Go Jeongho.

However, Sanghyuk said that Ability Outburst is something that Espers can’t control individually, and the fact that he caused Ability Outburst on the scene means that he was overworked, so shouldn’t that be understood?

“Oh, yeah. Now that I hear it, you’re right.”

I listened to Sanghyuk while soothing him appropriately. But this guy suddenly asks about Woojin. He must have remembered because we bought get-well gifts separately yesterday.

Sigh, I told him about my failed get-well visit to comfort Sanghyuk. Woojin is now afraid of me because he knows I’m an Esper.

I was able to save Woojin because I was an Esper and went jogging alone. Would it have been possible if I were a civilian or a Guide?

Since I was opening up anyway, I told Sanghyuk about the things I was upset about with Woojin. Sanghyuk, who had been listening to my story, suddenly asked an unexpected question.

“But why is he so afraid of Espers that he faints? Cha Woojin, who you’re always singing about, is he a Guide by any chance?”

‘Huh? What, how did this guy know?’

I have no intention of revealing Woojin’s secret. Even though it’s obvious that he’ll join the Association anyway, I don’t want to make him join right away because he hates it so much.

However, Kim Sanghyuk is a guy who follows the rule of making new Espers or Guides join the Association unconditionally. If that guy knew that Woojin was a Guide who hadn’t joined the Association, he would report it to the Central Center right away.

Thwack!

To protect Woojin’s secret, I had no choice but to hit the back of Sanghyuk’s head, who was drunk, to knock him out and lay him down in the Dormitory.

*

After finishing the morning training, I had lunch and went outside the Central Center building for a walk.

I was walking aimlessly, so I was walking without thinking to the Civilian Protection Facility Located on the Rear Side of the Central Center, when suddenly I heard a child crying.

‘There are hardly any children near the Central Center, who is it?’

Looking around, the source of the crying was Wooreen.

‘It’s lunchtime, why isn’t she eating and just sitting there?’

First, I went to Wooreen and comforted her. While comforting the child, I asked why she wasn’t eating and why she was here, and she said that she didn’t want to eat because there was cucumber. And she said that her older brothers and sisters were too scary and she didn’t like it here.

Wooreen, who poured out everything she wanted to say to me, said that she missed her brother so much, and then started crying again.

“Okay, I’ll show you your brother. Don’t cry!”

I tried to stop her from crying, but I failed. I picked up Wooreen and ran to the Medical Center.

‘…Even if Woojin doesn’t want to see me, it’ll be okay because he’ll want to see Wooreen, right?’

I hurriedly arrived in front of Woojin’s room, carrying Wooreen who was crying loudly.

Luckily, Woojin was sleeping. It’s a good thing Woojin can’t see me. If I were to see Woojin tremble again while looking at me, I think even I would be a little hurt.

I put Wooreen next to Woojin and tried to slip out. But Wooreen stopped me.

After seeing Woojin sleeping, she started wailing, telling me to wake up her brother.

“Ugh, why is she doing this? Wooreen, your brother has to sleep because he’s sick.”

Hearing my words, Wooreen started crying even louder.

Fortunately, Woojin didn’t wake up, but I picked up Wooreen and went back out of the room.

Wooreen kept crying even in the hallway, so I had to go outside the Medical Center. Wooreen didn’t stop crying even after going outside the Central Center.

I worked hard to persuade Wooreen that she could see her brother if she stopped, but Wooreen didn’t even listen and kept crying. Eventually, I got tired and just sat on the bench, patting Wooreen’s back.

“Hic… Waaaa!”

“Ugh… Wooreen, please stop crying.”

Whether they felt sorry for us, a Medical Bureau employee who was passing by gave Wooreen juice, so Wooreen stopped crying.

The employee who gave the juice was on the same team as Hwayoung, and knew about Woojin and Wooreen’s situation.

The medical team in charge of Woojin just let Wooreen stay even when it was long past visiting hours, and sometimes even had Wooreen sleep in the Medical Center.

There was a reason for giving so much consideration. It’s because the Civilian Protection Shelter where Wooreen stays is an environment that is difficult for Wooreen to adapt to.

The EGA Association’s Civilian Protection Shelter functions as an orphanage, but there are hardly any children under the age of 10 here.

I don’t know why, but the Downtown residents who have built some kind of home adopt children. There weren’t many young children in the first place.

For that reason, most of the children protected in the Civilian Protection Shelter are teenagers who refuse adoption. There’s no way they’d play with 6-year-old Wooreen.

Not only that, but the Civilian Protection Shelter probably couldn’t afford to take care of Wooreen exclusively. I heard that there aren’t many personnel in charge because there are hardly any children in the Civilian Protection Shelter.

So, after hearing the situation from the Medical Bureau employee, it seems that the Civilian Protection Shelter sometimes sends Wooreen to the Medical Center when Wooreen throws a tantrum and cries.

‘I wondered why she was there one day even though I didn’t bring her…’

I felt sorry for Wooreen, so I stayed with her throughout lunch.

Before I knew it, time had passed, and there were only 10 minutes left until the afternoon training schedule. I was about to shake off my seat and get up, but Wooreen grabbed my pants. Then she said with a sulky expression not to go.

But I was the type of person who wouldn’t postpone training due to personal reasons. So I firmly took Wooreen’s hand off and expressed my intention.

Then Wooreen started crying loudly again.

I just pulled out a snack from the vending machine and watched her eat the juice and snack, but she didn’t think about leaving me.

“Haa…”

Thanks to that, I skipped the afternoon training. I usually don’t miss training, but Wooreen managed to do it.

Wooreen wasn’t crying anymore because I said I would stay by her side. But her face is completely like she’s eating shit.

So, to relieve Wooreen’s depression, I took her to Downtown. To enjoy, worldly things are the best.

‘…Come to think of it, she was born after Gate Break, right? I wonder if she’ll be surprised because she likes the street of civilization so much.’

I went to the movie theater with Wooreen to have a normal time. Others say that the movie theater in Downtown is more like a DVD room, but we call it a movie theater. New movies never come out, though.

Wooreen and I, who took up one of the rooms in the movie theater, watched a cartoon where a princess goes on an adventure while using magic. After watching the movie, we came to a cute cafe and ate cake.

I squeezed out and provided as many things as Wooreen would like, but Wooreen didn’t react much.

Still, she doesn’t seem to hate it because she watches movies quietly and eats cake well, but she doesn’t smile.

‘What am I going to do with her? This is serious.’

I was trying to soothe Wooreen’s mood by providing sugar for a while, but I felt someone’s gaze from outside the cafe window.

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