BCGWR Chapter 32 Part 1

031. Sweet Dream 3

Tap tap tap tap—

Han Ji-su, hearing the familiar brisk footsteps as always, tried to get up, but his body felt as heavy as water-soaked cotton, making it impossible to rise.

“Squeak~ Squeak~!”

“…Toto… just a moment… I’ll get up soon.”

“Squeak~ Squeak… Squeak!?”

Han Ji-su, seeing Toto who had approached the front of his bed, suddenly let out a loud squeak, startling him and making him open his eyes wide.

“Toto…? What’s wrong?”

“Squeaaak!!! Squeeeeeaaak!!!”

With wide, startled eyes, Toto, who had urgently shrieked, scurried out of the room to call Jung Ha-jin.

Han Ji-su, unable to understand why Toto was acting that way, tried to get up, but again, his body had no strength. He heard Jung Ha-jin approaching the room, following Toto from outside.

“Squeak!”

“Han Ji-su Guide? Are you alright?”

“…Yes… Jung Ha-jin Esper, my body right now… doesn’t seem to be moving well…”

Han Ji-su saw Jung Ha-jin approach, kneel by the bed, and examine him with serious eyes. He tried to ask what was wrong, but found it quite difficult to speak. As if having assessed Han Ji-su’s condition, he asked in a serious voice.

“Han Ji-su Guide. Can you transform into the Kim Ji-su Guide form right now?”

“…Ugh…”

He tried, but he couldn’t control his skill at all. As a flustered Han Ji-su blinked and looked, Toto, who had climbed onto Jung Ha-jin’s shoulder, began to squeak anxiously.

“…It… doesn’t… seem… to be working…?”

“Squeak! Squeaaak!!!”

Jung Ha-jin, hearing Han Ji-su’s difficult, labored reply, nodded, then told him to wait a moment, got up, and went behind the bed. Han Ji-su wondered what he was doing, but judging by the sounds, he seemed to be rummaging through a closet.

Jung Ha-jin retrieved a hoodie and a coat, helped Han Ji-su’s uncooperative body put on the hoodie, and then the coat. He pulled the hood over Han Ji-su’s head, covering his face as much as possible, then picked him up directly into his arms.

“Ah…”

Only after being carried by Jung Ha-jin and lifted from the bed did Han Ji-su realize why his face had been wet. The pillow and bedsheet visible below were heavily soaked with blood.

“Han Ji-su Guide. I will hold you tightly, so don’t be tense and just relax your body.”

“…Yes…”

He had no strength anyway. More than that, Han Ji-su wanted to first reassure Toto, who was fidgeting on Jung Ha-jin’s shoulder.

“Toto… Daddy’s alr… Ugh…”

Because his body suddenly felt like it was floating and he felt nauseous, Han Ji-su couldn’t finish his sentence. He saw Toto’s fur, pressed flat against Jung Ha-jin’s shoulder, wildly fluttering. The sudden gust of wind against his body was cold and sharp. Han Ji-su, seeing the scenery beyond Jung Ha-jin’s shoulder change from the room to the sky, understood the current situation. Jung Ha-jin was flying without activating any item skills.

“…Jung Ha-jin Esper… you have a flight skill?”

“…Yes.”

Han Ji-su felt a bit dumbfounded seeing him answer immediately, as if he had no intention of hiding it anyway. There were only three Espers in the country capable of pure flight without any items, excluding wind-element Espers. Two of those three were female Espers, and the other one was…

‘…Jung Ha-jin Esper. Even I find this absurd, but it seems he never had any intention of hiding it either…’

If Jung Ha-jin was truly that Jung Ha-jin, then it was a terribly uninspired alias.

Of course, his own use of the alias Kim Ji-su wasn’t much better, but that name had been given to him by Kim Hyun-ah. She had recommended just changing the surname and keeping the given name, since names are easy to mess up, and Han Ji-su, knowing he wasn’t particularly bright, had readily agreed.

At the time, he also didn’t have the mental capacity to think of anything else.

‘…It could be the same case for Jung Ha-jin Esper, then…’

He had put off considering it an absurd situation for an SS-rank Esper to be protecting him, but something was indeed strange.

Just based on the information he’d gathered from their brief conversations so far, he thought there was a high probability that Jung Ha-jin was the same person as Jung Ha-jin.

Jung Ha-jin was also a water-type Esper, had known Kim Hyun-ah for a long time, and was one of the few people Kim Hyun-ah called ‘Oppa’. Almost nothing was known about Jung Ha-jin’s past history. However, analyzing his tendency to use his body rather than skills, many Youtubers specializing in Esper analysis commonly agreed that he likely served in a special forces unit.

‘…But if he really is Jung Ha-jin Esper, that’s weird in its own way. Why is an SS-rank clinging to me? We’re not particularly close acquaintances…’

Of course, they had met a few times at previous Awakened events, but they had only exchanged greetings.

He had given an autograph before, but it wasn’t Jung Ha-jin who had asked for it; it was Jung Ha-jin’s twin sister, Jung Ha-young, who had requested it.

He had watched from afar as Jung Ha-young, after getting the autograph, handed the paper to Jung Ha-jin and put it into his Inventory… He had just dismissed it, assuming Jung Ha-jin’s Inventory was just very spacious.

‘Should I just ask him directly?’

Han Ji-su parted his lips to speak, then firmly closed them, and leaned his head against Jung Ha-jin’s shoulder.

Not being able to control his body was a problem in itself, but now he was so tired that even opening his mouth was difficult.

Concluding that, given his condition, it would be better to ask his questions later, Han Ji-su blankly gazed at the dim evening sky, then closed his eyes. Perhaps because his chest was broad, Jung Ha-jin’s embrace was comforting.

Like the embrace of a longed-for person, now difficult to recall again.

The place they arrived at using Jung Ha-jin’s flight skill was Hankook University Hospital, as Han Ji-su had expected.

Jung Ha-jin, who knew the exact location of Professor Choi Seong-hun’s private office, headed for the window instead of the hospital entrance. Professor Choi Seong-hun, who had been concentrating on his monitor late into the night, was startled by the sudden rattling sound of the window opening behind him, but recognizing the slumped figure in Jung Ha-jin’s arms, he shot up.

“…!! Oh my, Han Ji-su Guide. Are you alright? Lay him down here first.”