Chapter 7

“Hey, Hee-beom.”

The sky was painted in deep hues of scarlet as the sun set. Hee-beom stood at the bus stop, waiting to head to his tutoring session. Next to the bus number displayed on the electronic board, the words ‘At previous stop’ were flashing. Seeing this, he pulled his transportation card out of his pocket.

Then, suddenly—a familiar scent of shampoo tickled his nose.

A clear, familiar voice.

I-young.

“What are you doing here…?”

Hee-beom took a startled step back, his expression frozen in shock. But before he could ask anything, I-young was already chattering away, answering questions that hadn’t even been asked.

“I was going to head to your university, but Director Jang told me not to—said I’d freak the students out. So I got annoyed, and then he told me about this place. Apparently, you always catch the bus here at exactly 5:08 PM.”

“Ha…”

Hee-beom let out a dry laugh. That sounded way too much like stalking…

“It’s been a while, Hee-beom.”

“We saw each other two days ago.”

“Exactly! Two whole days! That’s 48 hours! Do you know how long that is? I had to live all that time without seeing you.”

I-young pursed his lips in exaggerated discontent. As usual, he was dressed in a crisp white dress shirt and tie. An embroidered luxury brand logo was stitched onto his chest, and an expensive watch gleamed on his wrist. He looked completely out of place at a humble bus stop.

“I told you I’m not going to be your Guide. Why do you keep showing up?”

“Because I miss you.”

“…….”

Hee-beom pressed his lips into a thin line and glanced at the road. The bus, which had supposedly been at the previous stop, was nowhere to be seen. His heart sank for a second—had I-young done something to it?

Unaware of Hee-beom’s rising anxiety, I-young continued talking, inching closer and closer. Eventually, their arms brushed lightly.

“Hey, Hee-beom. Let’s be friends.”

“No.”

“Come on, let’s be friends.”

“I said no.”

“Nooo, listen to me. I’m not talking about being my Guide—I mean as friends. Just friends. Are your ears bad, Hee-beom?”

I-young exaggerated the pronunciation of the word friend.

Hee-beom sighed and looked at him.

“I heard you just fine.”

“Then you’re really saying you won’t even be my friend?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“My ears…”

Hee-beom was about to respond immediately but shut his mouth. He hesitated for a moment, staring at I-young’s pale face, before deliberately enunciating his words, just as I-young had done earlier.

“Because it’s a hassle.”

Calling a person a hassle—that was a pretty awful thing to say. Even someone like I-young would probably be offended.

But Hee-beom didn’t care. As long as I-young disappeared from his sight, nothing else mattered.

However, instead of getting upset, I-young simply tilted his head.

“Friends are a hassle?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you don’t have any friends?”

“Yeah.”

“Not even one?”

“Yeah.”

I-young blinked a few times at the machine-gun succession of affirmations. Then, suddenly, he grinned.

“Perfect. I don’t have any either.”

“Ha…”

This was not the conclusion Hee-beom had expected. He ran a hand over his face in frustration.

“Even if it’s a hassle, just bear with it. Be friends with me, okay?”

I-young poked Hee-beom’s arm with his index finger.

“Don’t touch me.”

Hee-beom swatted his hand away sharply. I-young awkwardly curled his fingers, but he still wiggled them, as if savoring the brief moment he had touched Hee-beom.

Just then, the long-awaited bus finally appeared.

But instead of letting it go, I-young suddenly pointed somewhere, his face lighting up as if he had just spotted an old friend.

“Hee-beom, look! There I am!”

Just as he was about to board, Hee-beom instinctively glanced in the direction I-young was pointing.

On the side of the bus was an advertisement.

[Discover Your Abilities—Korea Ability Association]

Next to the slogan was a picture of I-young in a suit, smiling like a perfectly normal person. His hands were clasped together, with a pair of dice floating above them.

“Seriously…”

Sick of this.

Disgusted, Hee-beom bolted onto the bus as if fleeing. He tapped his card against the reader and pushed through the crowd, forcing his way deeper inside—anything to make sure I-young couldn’t follow him.

Just as he reached a secluded spot—

“Hey, kid. You gotta pay.”

A distant voice called out from the front of the bus.

“Kid, you need to pay.”

Hee-beom’s head snapped forward, his face twisting in disbelief.

Sure enough, there stood I-young, casually loitering near the bus entrance.

“I have to pay?”

“Of course you do,” the driver replied.

“How much?”

By then, people had started to notice him. Even as a regular person, he had the kind of face that naturally drew attention. But as a celebrity, walking around so openly was practically an invitation for a crowd.

“Wait… isn’t that Kwon I-young?”

“What’s he doing here?”

“Why is Kwon I-young taking the bus? Doesn’t he, like… fly everywhere?”

“Holy shit, he’s even hotter in real life.”

It was unclear whether I-young noticed the murmuring around him. Either way, he remained calm as he pulled a 50,000-won bill from his wallet and held it out.

“Will this work?”

The driver shook his head vigorously.

“No, no, not that. Do you have anything smaller? Like a 1,000-won bill?”

“I don’t have anything smaller… Can’t you just take this?”

The 50,000-won note suddenly floated out of I-young’s hand, spinning in midair.

A collective ooh spread through the bus as the passengers watched in awe.

Only then did the driver seem to fully realize who was in front of him. His eyes widened.

“A-Are you… Kwon I-young?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Uh… wow. I mean, welcome—wait, do you have a transit card? Just tap any card on the reader.”

“Oh, a card!”

I-young pulled out his wallet and flipped through four or five black cards. Then he looked at the driver as if to ask, Which one do I need?

The driver let out a small, helpless groan, unsure of what to say.

At that moment, a girl in a school uniform hesitantly stepped forward. She fumbled with a 1,000-won bill and a few coins before dropping them into the fare box.

“I-I’ll pay for him!”

“Wow, thank you!”

I-young beamed at her, his smile bright and genuine.

The girl’s face turned bright red.

“I-I’m a huge fan, Esper-nim! Y-you’re so cool! I always support you! I even collected almost all of your photocards! A-anyway, I’ll be going now!”

After what was essentially a one-person fan meeting, the flustered girl quickly scurried back to her seat.

And just like that, I-young officially became a bus passenger.

With a confident stride, he made his way toward Hee-beom.

The eyes of every single person on the bus followed him.

And the moment he stopped next to Hee-beom, those eyes naturally shifted toward him as well.

Feeling the weight of their gazes, Hee-beom instinctively reached for his hoodie—only to remember he wasn’t wearing one today. He had on a plain sweatshirt.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

Fucking hell. Can’t catch a break.

Just then, the bus lurched forward.

I-young let out an excited “Whoa!”, marveling like a child. Then, leaning closer, he whispered to Hee-beom.

“Hee-beom, this is my first time riding a bus.”

“…….”

“It’s so cool. It feels like the whole house is moving.”

“…….”

Hee-beom let out a derisive snort.

What kind of life had he been living to have never taken a bus before? Was he born rich? Or did he literally come into the world already flying?

Hee-beom didn’t know when I-young became an Esper.

A single search could probably tell him everything about I-young’s life story.

But he had no desire to look it up.

Hee-beom stubbornly kept his eyes fixed outside the window, but I-young leaned his head in, slipping between Hee-beom’s arm and the bus’s vertical handrail.

“But where are we going?”

At that question, Hee-beom’s face scrunched up.

“You got on without even knowing?”

“Yeah.”

“What if it’s far?”

“That’d be great. I’d get to stay with you longer.”

“…….”

“But I am curious. Tell me.”

“…….”

“Tch… Not answering again. You’re so mean.”

I-young turned his head away with a sulky snap.

Hee-beom let out a dry laugh. The way he so openly showed his pampered upbringing was irritating. Shaking his head, Hee-beom pulled out his phone and aimlessly browsed a portal site.

The bus took a sharp right turn. Expecting the shift in weight, Hee-beom gripped the pole tightly.

But—

“…….”

His body didn’t tilt.

The bus, the passengers, the handrails—everything inside had leaned to one side. Everything except Hee-beom.

A shiver crawled down his spine at the warped sensation of gravity.

Moving stiffly, like a malfunctioning robot, he turned his head toward I-young.

I-young was still standing right beside him. But he wasn’t holding onto anything—not the handrails, not the seats, not the vertical pole.

The entire space had tilted, yet only the two of them remained upright.

Sensing Hee-beom’s gaze, I-young met his eyes. He smiled, as if he hadn’t just been sulking a moment ago.

But Hee-beom couldn’t smile back. His fingers gripping the pole had gone completely white.

“Tutoring? You came here for tutoring?”

I-young had followed him all the way to the student’s apartment complex.

He looked as if he was about to march straight into the student’s home, so Hee-beom had no choice but to tell him his actual destination. That should have been enough for him to back off.

Instead, I-young’s eyes widened like they were about to pop out.

“You really tutor?”

“Yeah.”

“Since when?”

“Since I started university.”

“…….”

I-young’s breathing grew heavy. The rise and fall of his chest was visible beneath his dress shirt.

It was a bizarre reaction.

It wasn’t like Hee-beom had announced he was heading to a war zone. He wasn’t walking into a Gate. He was just going to a tutoring session.

“So… you’re really going to tutor right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’ll be alone with that kid for hours?”

“Probably.”

“How many times a week?”

“Twice.”

“You plan on doing this for a long time?”

“That’d be ideal.”

“You’re going to keep being alone with them?”

“Yeah.”

Hee-beom nodded absentmindedly.

Who else would he be with? A parent sitting in on the session? That’d be uncomfortable. A group lesson? That wasn’t a bad idea.

His thoughts wandered in a different direction when—

I-young suddenly jumped in place.

“No way!”

“…What’s not okay?”

“The tutoring!”

“…….”

“How—how could you be alone with another guy? When I, your pair Esper, am alive and well?!”

I-young looked as if the sky had just collapsed on him.

Anyone watching might’ve actually thought Hee-beom was cheating on him. That’s how genuine his despair was.

Faced with that ridiculous sight, Hee-beom’s expression twisted in sheer exasperation.

“Pair? You were just saying we should be friends.”

“…….”

I-young’s devastation momentarily froze.

His large eyes darted left and right, no doubt scrambling for an excuse.

Hee-beom let out a deep sigh. If this dragged on any longer, he was going to be late for tutoring again.

“I need to go. You should go too.”

He turned toward the apartment entrance. Naturally, I-young followed without hesitation.

“The kid you’re tutoring… they’re not an Esper, right?”

“Why would an Esper need tutoring?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Just a regular eighteen-year-old student.”

“……Fine, then. I’ll allow it.”

“…….”

Hee-beom almost snapped, Who the hell do you think you are?, but he swallowed the words.

He had no desire to get dragged into another pointless back-and-forth.

Keeping his focus ahead, he approached the apartment’s entrance keypad. With practiced ease, he entered the house number and pressed the call button.

Then, I-young spoke again.

“Hee-beom, can I wait for you outside?”

“No.”

“I’ll wait.”

“…….”

If he was going to do whatever he wanted anyway, why even ask?

Hee-beom’s lips twitched in irritation.

The door unlocked, and he stepped inside.

Thankfully, I-young didn’t follow.

The door slowly closed, separating them at last.

Finally cut off from I-young, Hee-beom let out the deep breath he’d been holding.