One chapter unlocks every wednesday

“Hyung, I think I like you”

“Suddenly…….”

I looked at him while coughing and drinking water because I couldn’t believe what I just heard.

“……What?”

“I like you.”

However, as soon as I asked again, Go Geun-Young, who was sitting in front of me, started chatting calmly as if confirming he liked me.

I was dumbfounded for a moment, pointed my finger at Go Geun-Young, and then he headed back toward me. Then he nodded.

“Are you sick?”

I asked, turning my index finger round and round near my head.

Then Go Geun-Young showed his teeth and laughed.

“Do you want me to break your finger?”

At the same time, I felt the heaviness of a 3-kilogram dumbbell hitting my index finger, which had been stopped in the air.

I bent my fingers in a hurry and screamed.

“Are you crazy?! Why are you using superpowers all of a sudden?”

“You didn’t understand the atmosphere well.”

It was only then that I realized that he confessed to me.

I spoke to him in an absurd mood.

“You, me?”

“Yes.”

“……You like me? Then what do you want to date or something?”

“Yes?”

I got confused as I stared at Go Geun-Young, who nodded nonchalantly.

“You…… Do you like me? Since when?”

“It hasn’t been long since I realized, but I think I’ve liked you since about half a year ago.”

“Wow, it doesn’t make sense!”

“Why?”

As I looked at Go Geun-Young’s face, I felt anger rising from deep in my heart.

‘The bastard who said he likes me… Did those things?’’

Whether Go Geun-Young is the same guy as me or the most popular Esper in Korea…… This was a minor part of his personality problem.

I’ve been associated with him numerous times and have been picked on by him. All I’ve gained over the past year from being with him is stress…….

‘You like me? If you like me, shouldn’t you be nice to me or have an exciting reason? I have no idea. The more I think about it, the more I want to beat him.”

As I looked back on the memories of the past(?) I began to get angry.

However, Go Geun-young made absurd remarks regardless.

“So, we’re dating, right? Today is Day 1?”

“Are you crazy?”

When I got angry, Go Geun-Young looked at me as if he was wondering.

“Why?”

“Because I hate you!”

And I confidently revealed what I had hidden every time.

I’m his manager right now, which means that he’s my employer, so I’ve matched and cared for a lot of things…… I couldn’t stand this.

However, Go Geun-Young spoke as if he was somehow surprised by my obvious words.

“Hyung hates me?”

“Yes!”

“Then why did you kiss me?”

“……Argh! How many times do I have to say it was a mistake!!”

I shouted at Go Geun-Young, who was revealing my dark history. I covered his mouth tightly with my hand and looked around in a hurry, in case someone heard what he was saying.

Go Geun-young looked at me with his mouth shut in my palm, flashing his glass-beaded brown eyes.

“Hey, listen up! Really…… Well, it was a complete mistake then, because I was drunk, not you…… Oh, anyway……. Absolutely not! And that’s when you said okay! Didn’t you promise to cover it up?!”

Instead of answering, Go Geun-Young just blinked.

It was only then that I realized that I had been keeping his mouth shut too tightly, and I hurriedly removed my hand.

It was only then that Go Geun-Young slowly opened his mouth.

Then he asked me in a slow tone, which I don’t know if he was joking or serious.

“Oh, are you playing with me?”

“No, I didn’t play with it…….”

“It was my first time.”

“You can do it with a good person the second time.”

Go Geun-Young looked at me in a bewildered way. But I shrugged and quietly avoided his eyes.

Honestly, if the other person was someone else, my conscience would have been stabbed, but I didn’t want to take responsibility for mistakenly kissing Go Geun-Young, because I was drunk and mistook him for someone else.

‘It’s time for Go Geun-young to realize that something unlucky can happen in his life. And why didn’t you push me away? You just needed to use your telekinesis, right?’

I have finished rationalizing shamelessly.

However, Go Geun-Young did not go along easily.

“Come to think of it, I think that’s when I started to be conscious of you little by little after you kissed me.”

“……W-what?”

“I wouldn’t have liked you if you hadn’t kissed me back then.”

“…I told you to do it with someone else! Try it again!”

“I don’t want to do it with anyone other than you.”

I realized that Go Geun-Young started to insist on screwing me over

“I’m sorry…… I hate you. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

I removed my expression from my face as well. I thought I had to be as cold as I could to get out of this nonsense.

“It’s not because you’re a man…… You’re not my type. I like older people.”

“I don’t think older people will like you.”

“Oh, my God……. I’ll take care of that!”

I was deeply upset with Go Geun-Young, who confessed to me and was nagging even in the situation where he confessed to me, but I thought I succeeded in accurately conveying my opinion anyway. (Honestly, even at this time, I didn’t even believe that Go Geun-Young was seriously confessing to me.)

But then, Go Geun-Young raised one arm on the table and mumbled, holding his chin.

“Then Hyung molested me?”

“Moo…… What?”

“I thought you kissed me because you liked me, so I tried to forgive you, but you said it wasn’t the case.”

“No……, Hey, no matter what, it’s not sexual harassment…….”

“Why? Because you drank, don’t you remember?”

I couldn’t say anything as if I had eaten something.

At the same time, I was really afraid that Go Geun-Young would report me. This is because his specialty was pretending and fucking people as soon as they turned around.

“Hey……. I mean, I said I was sorry about that…….”

“You never once apologized. You just asked me to forget it because you made a mistake.”

I closed my mouth shut and looked at Go Geun-Young’s face.

No wonder…… At that time, he didn’t say much, was it because he thought it was a confession?

‘shit….’

It was a time when I was in agony about how to deal with this.

Go Geun-Young looked straight at me and said.

“So, it’s a no, right? Certainly.”

“Um…….”

I suddenly felt cornered by the power of a serious man. For some reason, I felt like if I told him I don’t like you, I’m going to be screwed over by Go Geun-Young.

At the end of the day, I uncrossed my arms to look determined and spoke as gently as possible.

“It’s not that I hate you……. Hmm, just, should I say it doesn’t suit me?”

“…….”

“Well, it’s not that you’re not good..… I like the nice older sister type, someone a bit mature and has a good personality…….”

“I see.”

After cutting off my lame excuse at once, Go Geun-Young got up from his seat.

And he called somewhere.

“Yes, secretary.”

I listened carefully to the term secretary. This is because my superior, who works at the Esper Association’s headquarters, held the position of secretary.

’No way, you didn’t call Kim Soo-Hyung right now, right?’

However, my predictions did not go wrong.

“Oh, it’s nothing else…… I want to take a half-year off starting tomorrow.”

As if wondering over the phone at the sudden request for a long break, the secretary’s voice was faintly heard asking why.

At this moment, I opened my eyes wide at the foreboding that the bomb was about to explode and quickly approached Go Geun-Young.

“It’s nothing special, I’m afraid the mental pain will make it difficult for me to carry out my duties. I was sexually harassed recently……. To a close friend I trusted…….”

“……Hey, hey!”

And Ko Kun-young did something much, much worse than I thought.

I was surprised and took the cell phone from Go Geun-Young’s hand.

Then, beyond the cell phone in my hand, I heard the voice of Secretary Kim Soo-Hyung, who was surprised.

[……What do you mean by sexually harassed? Geun-Young, are you at the police station?]

I hastily put the cell phone on my ear to deal with the accident.

“Ah, Secretary-nim! This is Lee-Seo! Geun-Young was kidding! I’ll call you back later!”

[What? What’s that?]

Stop.

I hung up in a hurry and stared at Go Geun-Young.

Then Go Geun-Young spoke with a crooked smile on his mouth as if he had been waiting.

“What do you think? Can I give you some time to think again?”

……Damn, Damn, Damn!!!

What more can I say here?

In the end, Go Geun-Young made a proposal in front of me, who was speechless.

“I don’t want to force you to do anything about it.”

“Then what is it?”

“Hyung is so adamant in rejecting me, so I’m asking for a chance to change your mind.”

‘Do you think I’m crazy enough to date you?’

I was confused inside, but I couldn’t bring myself to reveal my inner feelings to him. This is because it was Go Geun-Young who held the handle of the knife.

“……Well, then…… Set a duration.”

“Duration?”

“Yes. If three months have passed and I don’t like you, then you should quit and not bother me anymore.”

But I didn’t want to keep being dragged around, so I used my brain quite a bit.

When Go Geun-Young saw my nervous expression, he smirked and brushed off his flowing hair.

“Let’s do it for half a year.”

“Four months…….”

“It’s not like we’re bargaining in some market……. All right. Then make sure you leave your day off for four months. You shouldn’t date.”

“Ugh…….”

“If you don’t like it, change it to half a year.”

Eventually, I made a promise to take Go Geun-Young seriously as a romantic relationship while dating him on my days off for four months.

However, I was convinced that there would be no chance that I would date Go Geun-Young even after ten years. This is because I have known him for a year.

During that one year, instead of developing feelings for him, I was just sick of him. Even if we started meeting each other on my days off and going on dates, there was no way that I would develop feelings for him. I don’t know if I’ll hate him even more.

‘It was a mess from the first time I met Go Geun-Young.’’

I frowned remembering the first time I met him.

***

“·……Esper fan meeting?”

My older sister was a fan of people with superpowers called ‘Espers’.

I thought she was just collecting some photos and watching broadcasts, but suddenly she said she wanted to go to a fan meeting held by Espers.

“Yes! So, please help me with the tickets. You’re good at this. When I was in college, you helped me with your computer? Anyway, I heard you used it to help me apply for the course.”

“When has it been the same…….”

I replied bluntly and clicked my tongue.

That’s because ticketing and college enrollment are different in size in the first place, and if it’s an Esper fan meeting, it’s obvious that the competitiveness will be beyond imagination.

‘Isn’t it harder than an idol group?’

So, even if I offered to help, honestly, there was no chance of success.

Not only my sister but also Korea is now completely crazy about espers. Just as they care about figure skaters, K-pop idols, and trot superstars, the whole nation is now drunk on Espers.

So instead of instilling unnecessary hope, I gave realistic advice.

“Give up, Noona. Or, just buy a ticket from a scalper. There’s nothing I can do with my computer.”

“Oh, come on! If you succeed, I’ll give you 50,000 won. Huh?”

“50,000 won? As far as I know, the 160,000 won ticket was sold up to 2 million won at the Esper fan meeting last time.”

At that time, even I, who was not very interested in Esper, was well aware of the posts that were posted in all communities, saying [the recent status of Esper fan meeting scalped tickers].

“Damn! Hey! 100,000 won!”

My sister followed me around and bothered me until I said yes.

In the end, I decided to help with ticketing for an Esper fan meeting only after receiving 100,000 won regardless of success or failure and adding the condition that my sister cleans the house for the whole month.

My sister must have high expectations for me, but…… To be honest, I wasn’t confident.

How can I get one with our home’s shity computer? I just pretended to listen because I was tired of my sister following me around.

In the first place, if I get a ticket for the Esper fan meeting, it can be said it was because it was a grace given by our ancestors. So I hope my sister won’t say anything if I fail.

“……Crazy!”

By the way, it seems that my ancestors were giving their graces. Because I suddenly succeeded in getting a ticket!

Even I thought it wouldn’t work anyway, so I didn’t think about it, but the seats were very close to the stage.

It’s not the second floor but the first floor. Except for the standing seats, the two curbside seats were placed in the central section closest to the stage.

What is it? I…… Am I a genius?

“Did you succeed?”

“Uh……? Yes.”

“No, crazy! Really? Really? What are you doing? I heard all my friends failed! What did you do? Crazy……. Wow…… Awesome……!”

“Whoa……. Well, it’s nothing like this.”

I filled my sister with the feelings I had accumulated one by one and enjoyed the praise she gave me while trembling.

It’s not that I didn’t think about reselling it, after saying that I failed…… Anyway, I decided to give it to my sister in a good mood.

My sister immediately ran into my room and brought three 50,000 won bills, and happily offered it to me. As expected, there is no one like my sister. Usually she is like an angry gorilla, but when she is in a good mood like today, there is no such cheerful girl.

“Hey! Hey! Can you pick me up that day?”

“Fan meeting day?”

“I work until 9 pm and I don’t want to take the hellish train back to work after it’s over.”

“It’s about…….”

I thought I might be able to pick up my sister in time for the end of the fan meeting after work.

“Hey, pick me up after you’re done. It’s not good for a girl to walk around alone at night. The world is terrible these days.”

Then, my mom in the kitchen looked at us instead of trimming the green onions and sided with her.

“I…… I got it.”

I spoke bluntly, but my sister gave me an extra 50,000 won, so I thought I would give her this as a service.

I also remembered that my sister picked me up every day to the hospital for two weeks when I got a ventilation cast because I hurt my foot while working hard.

Nothing happens for no reason in the world. The reason why people with superpowers called “Espers” have appeared is because of the monsters that suddenly appeared in the world.

The monsters that appeared unknowingly around the world, as if they had existed, somehow did not die with modern firearms. As a result, the Epser began to awaken one by one only when humanity was helpless and encroached on despair, but only their abilities worked for the monsters.

That’s a story that’s already been around for decades.

In the present day, people are somewhat insensitive to safety because Espers came quickly and handled it, but it was true that it was dangerous.

‘The monster doesn’t care about men and women.….’

It’s safe in Seoul, but monsters usually appear at night. After the Esper fan meeting, it was an ambitious time of 9 o’clock, so it bothered him.

So I decided to personally bring his sister back. Let’s try to act like a younger brother.

***

After that day.

I’ve been at work, home, company, home for a while…… While going to work like hell, I honestly forgot about the Esper fan meeting.

[Lee Sol: Hey! You didn’t forget today, right?]

[Me: Hmm?]

[Lee Sol: Today’s fan meeting]

[Lee Sol: Come to the Art center by 9 o’clock today!]

[Me: Of course, I knew ]

[Lee Sol: Thank you!]

On the day of the Esper fan meeting.

My sister messaged me just in case I forgot. I pretended to remember, but I only remembered thanks to her.

After work, as I got into the car tired, I scanned the navigation and drove to the three-star art center where the Esper fan meeting was held.

“Oh…… You arrived sooner than I thought.”

When I pulled up to the public parking lot near the art center and checked the clock, there was still an hour left until the end of the Esper fan meeting.

To kill time, I didn’t want to work overtime, so I came straight here.

I was hanging around the huge art center building, and I found the restaurant street when I realized that I couldn’t even eat dinner because I was coming here straight from work.

“Wait a minute. Can I see your ticket?”

“I’m not going to an Esper fan meeting here, I’m going to a restaurant……. Do I still have to have a ticket?”

“Oh…… I see. Please use gate A for the restaurant street, not this way. You can go straight to the left along this street.”

“I see.”

As there were a lot of people, it seemed that one entrance was used exclusively for the Esper fan meeting. Although I bumped into a fan meeting staff member at the entrance, gate A was still not far away.

A bit explanation for the names since I became confused with the use of Yi, Lee and I

이이소 – Lee Yi-Soo [Main Character]

이솔 Lee Sol – Yi-Soo’s older sister

Correct me if I’m wrong, I attached the hangul with the names I would be using. If there is anything wrong please feel free to tell me.

The Art center was decorated with a shopping mall on the top floor except for the stage of the multi-story concert hall, so there was also a restaurant area.

However, by the time I arrived, most of the signs were closed and most of the lights were off.

I managed to find a ramen restaurant with half an hour left until closing and sat down. I instinctively felt the part-timer swearing with his eyes, but I tried to ignore it because my stomach was rumbling.

“Hey, where’s the bathroom?”

“If you go straight from here, it’s next to the elevator.”

“Thank you.”

When I left the store, I went to the bathroom after eating the hot ramen for 10 minutes.

However, while I was washing my hands after finishing my work, I heard a strange sound from the compartment next to where I was.

“Ugh, uh…….”

“……What is it?”

I ignored it and was drying my hands on the hand dryer, but the voice kept bothering my ears.

I wondered if he was groaning because it hurt, but since it was coming from the bathroom compartment, I thought it might be because he was struggling with a lot of strength.

I hesitated for a long time and then approached the bathroom compartment where I could hear the voice and politely knocked on the door twice.

knock, knock.

“Excuse me…… Are you alright?”

“…….”

At that moment, the moaning that had been leaking out suddenly died down as if it never had happened.

I stood in front of it for about 30 seconds, just in case, but the bathroom, which was only occupied by me and the person in it, was silent, and the groan was no longer heard.

‘·…Oh. You were trying hard, but I guess I interrupted you…….’

Feeling embarrassed, I said, “I’m sorry…….” I tried to get out of the bathroom, muttering quietly.

It was then.

The faint pleading leaked through the closed door of the bathroom.

“Sa, save me…… Gagg.”

……What?

“What?”

I thought I heard it wrong, so I turned and stepped back inside.

However, as I approached the toilet compartment in question, silence began again as before.

What’s this? What’s going on?

I might let it go if it’s a joke, but…… How should I say it? I felt a little dreary.

‘He asked to be saved.’

These may be words that can be overlooked, but on the other hand, they are extremely scary.

“Mmmp.”

But at that moment, a low groan came out of the bathroom, as if the mouth had been forcibly blocked.

In an instant, a chill went down my spine.

My rich imagination would occasionally play out in the wrong places, and this time, too.

At the moment, I thought maybe there was not just one person in this bathroom compartment.

‘By any chance…Isn’t someone covering his mouth?’

“Hey, over there! There’s something wrong inside, right?!”

I banged on the closed bathroom door again and shouted.

I tried to force the door open, but it was locked tightly, so it didn’t budge, and even though I made the fuss, there was silence in the partition again.

“Sir! If you’re inside, please knock twice! If you don’t knock, I’ll call the police!”

Maybe the other person is embarrassed and doesn’t reply on purpose. Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable if someone you don’t know comes and knocks on the door when he is doing his business for a long time?

But I firmly believed in the imagination I had unfolded, and I was possessed by courage from an unknown place.

And as if to prove it, as soon as I finished speaking.

Thud Thud–!

Suddenly, he knocked on the door twice as if he were going to smash it from inside.

I stayed close to the door because I was worried, but I was so surprised by the sudden noise that I took a couple of steps back.

It was a violent knock, as if telling me to stop bothering him and to go away.

“Oh, yes……. I’m so sorry…….”

I crouched sharply and tried to move to get out of the bathroom, but stopped again.

As expected…… No matter how much I think about it, something was weird.

The faintly heard “Save me……” and also the groan as if he was holding his breath. The strangely lifeless voice stuck to my ears and did not leave.

In the end, I still can’t say if this is right, but I stood in front of the toilet compartment in question.

Then, in a cautious voice, I asked the question.

“Well, hey, I think I’m crazy too…… You’re sure everything’s okay, aren’t you?”

Thud—!

Then, inside the compartment, he hit the door harder than before, as if he was annoyed.

It was unusual to see the door shake so hard even though it was hit so hard. If that person came out, there might be a situation where I had to call the police for a different reason.

But still, I realized something wasn’t right.

Just now, just before…… Because when the other person hit the door hard! It was near my head.

Maybe it doesn’t mean much, but it was weird somewhere.

‘Why are you standing? You have to sit on the toilet when you’re doing business…’

I stared at the door, suspiciously.

And at that moment, my heart sank. It was because of a figure looming through the door.

Of course, I can’t be sure of what I saw through the narrow gap, but the figure in the bathroom compartment was clearly standing in a suit with his back turned.

It was very unnatural for a man to do business in the bathroom compartment.

“Hey, Ho, do you happen to…… Can you speak?”

Thud—!

“No, because if you tell me to go, I’ll go……. Just say something, sir, okay?”

Then the fist-punching of the door as if it was going to be broken down stopped. Then, the inside of the bathroom became breathtakingly silent.

What broke the silence hat lasted for a while was something I never expected.

“……Run.”

“What?”

“Run…….”

Inside the partition, the voice I heard earlier was telling me to run away.

My body began to tremble with fear for an unknown reason. A feeling of fear creeped up my spine.

As if my courage had been for naught, I faltered and retreated without realizing it. However, I was unable to take a few steps and collapsed on the floor because my legs were weak.

I regretted it for a moment. ……I should’ve just left earlier! I shouldn’t have been foolish!

However, it is too late to regret. The bathroom door, which had been tightly closed, began to open slowly like a scene from a horror movie.

“Ugh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….”

Soon, a man slowly pushed out the bathroom door with his back turned.

In the meantime, the man did not move at all. His feet were not even attached to the ground when he exited the compartment.

However, it was only after he completely left the bathroom compartment that I found out how he came out of the door.

The man wasn’t floating in the air without anything. There was something behind him that could not be considered a human.

So the man was pulled up in the air by something.

“Ugh, Ugh, Ugh. Run…….”

I was still only looking at the man’s back, but I realized what this situation was like just by hearing that voice that was strangled and cut off.

‘Monster…’

The things that appeared on the news all the time but I didn’t think was a big deal, the unknown fear that I thought had nothing to do with me unfolded before my eyes.

The man in the suit, whose name I didn’t even know, was slowly being strangled to death, caught by that monster.

It’s not that he didn’t answer my question, it’s because he couldn’t.

“Crazy……!”

After understanding the situation, I crouched on all fours and moved toward the entrance to the bathroom, listening to the sound of my heart exploding around my ears. It was an instinctive movement.

At the same time, my throat instinctively let out a scream.

“Aaaah! Save me! A monster, a monster has appeared! Help me!”

However, all the stores near the bathroom were closed.

Furthermore, there was nothing around the bathroom except for the light from the bathroom. The smooth marble floor and the sole of my shoes made a squeak.

How did the monster appear in the middle of Seoul? How……? It just happened to be right in front of me……!’

A feeling of resentment welled up that I didn’t know who it was directed at. When I heard something stomping on the ground from the inside of the bathroom, I came to my senses again.

I thought of the store where I had ramen a while ago and like lightning ran towards it.

“Save me! Save me!”

Desperate for someone to hear my voice, I shouted to the point where blood ran in my throat.