TTOA Chapter 122

It couldn’t be helped. Until just now, Kwon Jae-jin had also been out of his mind.

It felt as if countless meteorites were falling toward Kwon Jae-jin.

Late-Blooming Esper, Grade Test, the First S-Rank Guide, Ability Enhancement, Creature Wave, Chief Choi, Forgotten Family, Space Dream, First Timeline Seo Eui-woo… Each and every one of them was a massive meteorite striking Kwon Jae-jin.

That’s why he was anxious.

With the Creature Wave looming in the near future, he was consumed by the impatience to somehow transform the existing system. He was also worried about his forgotten family and wanted to quickly improve the current situation of temporary truce.

He thought that he could reverse the situation with Guiding that enhances Esper abilities, and that narrowed his vision.

The important thing is actually the two of them.

Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin, their life together…

“Don’t say you’re okay.”

Seo Eui-woo, overwhelmed, blurted out his feelings.

“Jae-jin-ssi is hurt. You’re torn inside and bleeding… I hurt you.”

“Well, I’m telling you I don’t hurt…”

“No, Jae-jin-ssi can’t stand being hurt. Tell me honestly. It’s my fault, and I’m the perpetrator.”

“…Haa, then let’s just say we’re equally at fault. I provided the cause, and Seo Eui-woo-ssi finished it.”

Kwon Jae-jin prioritized transformation over Seo Eui-woo, and Seo Eui-woo prioritized his possessiveness over Kwon Jae-jin.

That’s why Kwon Jae-jin hurt Seo Eui-woo, and Seo Eui-woo hurt Kwon Jae-jin.

They both caused each other pain. Equally.

“That’s right. It was my fault.”

Seo Eui-woo said to himself coolly.

“Just now… I could have really messed up big time…”

If Kwon Jae-jin had continued to insist on Guiding, if that had happened, right now, maybe…

Seo Eui-woo was still caught in contradiction.

Seo Eui-woo fell into silence again. A cold stillness lingered.

Kwon Jae-jin, sensing the ominous atmosphere, stopped Seo Eui-woo.

“…Stop, that’s enough now. Let’s stop arguing about who’s right and wrong.”

This wouldn’t do.

He felt uneasy. It was the same feeling he had when gears were misaligned, when he found a wrongly fitted puzzle piece, or when he saw a broken knot.

He felt anxious.

Honestly, both Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin were at their limit.

Emotionally unstable, and in a situation where such flaws were clearly visible, he couldn’t help but put on the brakes. If they kept pushing forward with only the accelerator, misunderstandings would pile up and their relationship would become distorted.

In the end, they would both fall and crash together.

So, it seemed necessary to put aside the swirling current situation for a while and focus entirely on Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin.

Like before. Like in their daily lives.

“We need to have some… leisure. Both of us.”

Forget the complicated problems for a while, and just go back to the way things were.

Return to square one.

“So, what I mean is, Eui-woo-yah, um…”

Kwon Jae-jin opened his mouth with deliberation.

He really didn’t know what to say in these situations. He didn’t have any clear solution, he wasn’t good with words, and he wasn’t experienced.

How to reconcile with a young lover…

What… what’s there…

How do other people do it…

“Um.”

Boobs…

Should I touch your boobs…?

No, he’s probably already touched them enough…

“Eyes…”

Kwon Jae-jin muttered hesitantly.

“Should I lick your eyeballs…?”

Seo Eui-woo was silent.

Seeing him with no reaction, Kwon Jae-jin thought that this wasn’t it.

“Or, ah.”

What was there? Something that Seo Eui-woo usually begged him to do.

“I can… cut your toenails for you.”

“…”

“You can call me baby. Just for today.”

“…”

“Why? Don’t you like any of them? Are they not good enough…”

Seo Eui-woo was still silent.

There wasn’t a single twitch in his facial muscles. He was just staring at Kwon Jae-jin like a living sculpture, his eyes wide open and his soul gone.

Then, like a maple leaf, his face gradually turned red.

Seo Eui-woo, his beautiful eyes, cheeks, and even the tips of his ears turned pink, parted his lips slightly.

“…What?”

*

After that. Kwon Jae-jin was being washed in the bathroom with the light out, his eyeballs being licked.

Seo Eui-woo was an unstoppable little brat. Shampooed his hair and licked his eyeballs, conditioned his hair and licked his eyeballs, washed his whole body with body wash, licking and licking again. They were entangled in the pitch-black bathroom where nothing could be seen, and Seo Eui-woo seemed to like the situation even more because he couldn’t see.

And also, Seo Eui-woo said that he had to cut Kwon Jae-jin’s toenails, so he washed his feet with particular care. He lathered and wiped both feet alternately, and massaged them so much. He rubbed his soles and between his toes so much that it tickled.

At this point, it was questionable if there would be any toenails left to cut. It felt like they had all been washed away with the foam.

“Seo Eui-woo… stop it now.”

“Huh? Uh.”

“Don’t just say ‘uh’ in reply, stop it.”

“Uh…”

“It’s a waste of water. The water bill is precious.”

“Okay. Don’t whine. My baby.”

“You really…”

“Whining Jae-jin baby.”

“…Haa.”

“Squishy baby.”

“…”

“Lover baby.”

Aww… this bastard.

“What’s a ‘lover baby’… no, don’t answer. I’m not curious.”

“Really? Then, not-curious baby.”

This… you son of a bitch…

Kwon Jae-jin muttered “son of a bitch” very quietly. Seo Eui-woo heard it and laughed.

“Son of a bitch baby? Haha, cute… Jae-jin-ssi is really cute. Why are you so cute?”

In the end, Kwon Jae-jin, unable to wait any longer, snatched the showerhead from Seo Eui-woo’s hand.

He had washed enough. He was so clean now that it didn’t matter whether Seo Eui-woo cut his toenails or ate them. Kwon Jae-jin’s feet were probably the cleanest on Earth right now.

Kwon Jae-jin rinsed the remaining foam from his feet with the showerhead in the darkness. Then he rinsed his eyes, which were rough from being licked so much, with water. He turned off the showerhead and got up from the tub, and Seo Eui-woo followed closely behind with an even bigger laugh.

His laughter echoed softly in the bathroom.

The pleasant reverberation and the arms wrapped around his waist were so familiar that Seo Eui-woo’s expression, hidden by the darkness, seemed to be visible for a moment.

He was probably wearing an expression that Kwon Jae-jin knew well.

As always. Like in their daily lives.

“Jae-jin-ssi, be careful. You can’t see. What if you slip and fall while rushing out?”

Seo Eui-woo held Kwon Jae-jin in his arms and carried him out, giving a good excuse.

He applied lotion to his body, put on his bathrobe, dried his wet hair with a towel, and then Seo Eui-woo held nail clippers in his hand. After all, he couldn’t cut his nails in a place where he couldn’t even see in the dark, so they had to move to another location.

The stairwell landing. By the window with the sun shining in, Seo Eui-woo sat on the windowsill and cut Kwon Jae-jin’s fingernails and toenails one by one.

The winter wind leaked through the cracked walls. The sound of the cold wind and the clicking of the nail clippers formed a duet.

It was quite impressive to be doing this in a mansion that was no different from ruins.

The surroundings were a battlefield, but only the two of them were peaceful, which was out of place.

Seo Eui-woo affectionately held Kwon Jae-jin’s foot, which was placed on his knee, and carefully shaped his nails. Square and neat, but with rounded corners. The work of carefully cutting only the nails without pinching any of the flesh required quite a bit of concentration, and Seo Eui-woo enjoyed it.

Focusing on Kwon Jae-jin itself was a joy for Seo Eui-woo.

“…Seo Eui-woo, why do you like doing things like this?”

“Like what? It’s Jae-jin-ssi.”

Seo Eui-woo gently stroked the smoothly cut nail with his thumb.

“It’s the same reason why cooking is fun. I like the fact that I can intervene in Jae-jin-ssi’s life.”

“Intervene?”

“The trace of me remains on Jae-jin-ssi’s body in the shape that I cut it. My traces are on Kwon Jae-jin’s body, five on each of his hands and feet, 24 hours a day.”

“No, they’ll grow back anyway. I don’t understand.”

“I like it when they grow back too. Because I can cut them again. It’s sustainable.”

“…I understand even less.”

Even after hearing the reason, it was difficult to empathize. Is this good… is it good?

Seo Eui-woo says it’s good, so I guess it is… but Kwon Jae-jin still doesn’t understand. Kissing is much better.

Kwon Jae-jin twitched his ticklish toes and aimlessly looked out the window at the garden.

The wind was cold, but the sunlight was bright,

Seo Eui-woo was like a child, like a dog, and cute.

‘Haa…’

Jae-jin slowly lowered his eyelids.

It would be nice if they could end the day leisurely with such trivial conversations.

‘By now, the report would have gone up to the higher-ups.’

The results of Kwon Jae-jin’s grade test, his willingness to guide, and the fact that Seo Eui-woo took Kwon Jae-jin and disappeared with teleportation.

Everything would have been reported without exception.

What bothered him the most was the intention that Kwon Jae-jin had expressed with his own mouth. He couldn’t easily judge how the Center would accept those words and what kind of response they would come up with.

As he was falling into thought, a call came in.

A monotonous, repetitive notification. The sound, which he hadn’t heard in a long time, shattered the two of them short peace.

Jae-jin quickly raised his head, and his eyes met Seo Eui-woo’s clear gray eyes.

It was an emergency call.