AAGULT Ch 32

Chapter 32

 

My head was spinning, so I shut my eyes tightly again.

“Aiden….”

“Mr.?”

“Hyung….”

“Yes.”

He responded as if telling me to go on, but he kept kissing me, so I couldn’t say anything. In the end, my urge to protest grew, and I couldn’t help but open my mouth every time his lips happened to part.

“Can you, ngh, stop having weird, thoughts…?”

“Out of nowhere? I only ever think pure and wholesome thoughts.”

“……”

I couldn’t say, ‘Actually, I can read minds.’ But maybe the grievance showed on my face because he paused in the middle of kissing and collapsed in laughter. It was a smile that matched his outfit and appearance perfectly.

“Is it that obvious?”

“……”

“Yeah. Actually, I’m…”

Chomp. He bit my lip hard.

“Ugh!”

It hurt so much that my eyes welled up. It must’ve been really hard—blood was now dripping down clearly from the burst wound.

“I was thinking about having sex with you.”

“……”

“Good, right? Because you think of me as nothing but your sex partner, a heartless pervert…”

He muttered as if he were sad, then gripped the back of my neck even tighter and kissed me again. Blood trickled down my chin.

And now, with the blame shifted onto him, Jaeha felt wronged.

Who was calling who the pervert…?

Thankfully, the nurse never walked in on them lying together on the bed. For some reason, Aiden let him go without resistance. That made him even more suspicious, but Jaeha didn’t miss the chance and quickly ran away. Just like when he came, he couldn’t remember much of the way back home. When he came to, he was lying on his bed in his shabby room.

“Ah…”

What time was it? He vaguely remembered it being a little dark outside… Then maybe it was okay to sleep.

Just like the time he’d passed out after their first kiss due to guiding deficiency, a wave of drowsiness suddenly hit Jaeha, and he slowly blinked. Perhaps confirming Aiden’s safety gave him peace of mind; those days of jumping awake in fear now felt like a dream.

He did feel better after confirming Aiden was safe, but still, something lingered in the back of his mind.

Guilt—for harboring a feeling he neither deserved nor suited. And discomfort—for not being able to completely sever their connection.

“Will it be okay…?”

Jaeha laid his arm across his forehead. The gentle pressure on his tired head felt somewhat soothing. His split lip throbbed dully and hotly in time with his heartbeat.

He had to cut things off.

“……”

He had to, but could he really be the one to do it first?

Falling into endless self-deprecation was foolish, but Jaeha knew himself well. When he stood in front of Aiden, he’d be bewitched by his words and face, nodding like a fool no matter what he said. Like being swept up by waves—it was inevitable.

Because he… liked him.

“……”

He pressed his arm against his forehead, blocking out the light from the old fluorescent lamp on the ceiling, easing the strain on his eyes.

I shouldn’t have kissed him.

Like a patient dozing off after taking painkillers, his mind grew foggy and sleep pressed down heavily. He just wanted to sleep and think later. There weren’t any pressing matters to deal with right now, so it should be okay to sleep a little… With that thought, Jaeha closed his eyes.

But as always, whenever he made a firm decision, something inevitably struck him down.

Ding-dong.

And so, Jaeha had developed the habit of never being confident in his own choices.

“Sigh…”

Being unable to sleep when you desperately wanted to was always painful. He forced his heavy eyelids open and reached for his phone. The alarm kept ringing—it must be a call.

He squinted at the bright screen and saw the name.

“Ah…”

Jaeha answered the call like a tired office worker on a weekend morning receiving a call from his boss.

“Hello…”

–Hey. You’re home, right?

“Yes.”

–Come down for a sec. I’m at the shop.

The words made his eyes snap open. Though his sleepy eyes protested, he ignored them and shot upright in bed.

“What?”

–Don’t make me say it twice.

With that, the call ended. Jaeha quickly got up and rushed out the door. He practically flew down the stairs leading to the lower level, and the cold air slammed into him. That’s when he realized—just like before, he hadn’t put on a coat.

It wasn’t that the short run tired him out, but the shock left him slightly breathless. His breath came out in little white puffs.

“You’re here.”

“Yes…”

Manager Kang, dressed in a suit, checked his wristwatch. With a slightly annoyed look, he jerked his chin, signaling him to open the shop door. Jaeha dug into his pocket for the keys and opened the door. Kang stepped inside.

“The ‘storage room’ is empty too, right?”

“Yes. It’ll be restocked when the shop reopens…”

He must be referring to the illegal guides. Jaeha nodded in response. Kang glanced around the store then spoke in a casual tone—words that were practically a bombshell to Jaeha.

“Clear everything out by next month. Let the guides know.”

“…What?”

“I think the Association’s caught our tail. Tsk, those bastards…”

“……”

A month and a half. Not nearly enough time to notify nearly fifteen guides and shut everything down. He’d have to explain things to Harin, who’d only been working for three months… The future felt bleak, but he had to respond. He closed his sore eyes tightly, then opened them, the chilly air snapping him back to attention.

“Then… where should I go after that?”

“Wait for word from the boss.”

“Okay.”

Kang began retrieving hidden ledgers and important documents from the shop. To do that, he roughly shoved aside and rummaged through the neatly arranged items Jaeha had organized. The shop quickly looked like a tornado had hit it. Still dazed from the lack of realism, Jaeha helped him gather the documents here and there.

“I’m leaving.”

“Oh, okay…”

By the time he came to his senses, Kang was already heading toward the entrance. Like a puppy, Jaeha quietly followed to see him off. Kang turned back at the doorway and looked Jaeha over, then smirked.

“Who else’s been hitting you besides me?”

“…Huh?”

Besides Manager Kang, who else…? He blinked dumbly, then realized Kang’s eyes were on his swollen, split lip. He instinctively lied.

“Ah, um… A customer seemed to be in a hurry.”

“Same esper as you, but you’re the only one getting hit? Ah, because you’re mental-type?”

“Haha…”

Finishing his rhetorical question, Kang snickered and left without waiting for an answer. Even in his exhausted state, Jaeha found himself looking at the man with a clearer mind than before—probably because of that brief kiss with Aiden.

‘Why does he seem jealous…’

Instead of fear or resentment, a sense of puzzlement—and even a touch of pity—started to creep into his heart. He was surprised at himself. He wasn’t someone in a position to look down on others.

“……”

As he stared blankly at Kang’s back, he snapped out of it and looked around the store. Without a coat, the cold made him shiver. The store was a mess after being ransacked. The thought of cleaning it up was exhausting.

Still, in a way, he felt a cowardly sense of relief.

“…Good.”

Jaeha couldn’t sever the relationship on his own. As an esper, he had no choice but to do whatever the guide wanted. It wasn’t strange for their roles to naturally fall into that power dynamic. After all, guides were the only ones who could relieve espers’ pain.

But even without that, Jaeha liked him. Loved him. He figured he deserved some credit for not blurting out “I love you too!” right then and there.

So maybe, just… like this… continuing the relationship until the store closed, until everything was wrapped up—would that be okay? It was a relationship bound to end anyway. Thanks to the boss, he didn’t have to be the one to let go. He could just wait until the situation cleaned things up on its own…

“Sigh…”

He laughed bitterly at himself for being so pathetic after liking him that much. But whatever. It’s not like he ever aimed to be a good person, right?

As he righted a toppled chair, justifying things in his head, Jaeha began sorting out what he had to do. First, call Harin, then call the guides…

Ah, how was he supposed to apologize to Harin? He was absentmindedly sweeping up shards of a glass cup that had shattered while retrieving hidden documents when he finally made the call.

Ring, ring…

“Hey, Harin-ssi.”

And just like that, the beginning of a time-limited relationship began.