'Now all that's left is to buy ingredients,' Jaejin thought.
He logged into an online department store's gourmet food section and skillfully selected premium ingredients. Because Seo Ui-woo never cooked for himself, Jae-jin had been in charge of grocery shopping and preparing meals during the first timeline as well.
Caviar. Truffles. Grade 2+ Hanwoo beef ribs. Abalone. King crab. Lobster.
Not satisfied with just those, he also visited the luxury gift section and purchased a set of fatty bluefin tuna, a premium dried yellow croaker set, and a set of 13-year-old ginseng certified by a master grower.
After completing the purchase, Jae-jin chuckled to himself, only to realize that Seo Eu had woken up at some point and was watching him.
"Did you buy something?"
Seo Ui-woo glanced sleepily at the tablet screen with his drowsy gray eyes. Jae-jin quickly turned off the screen.
"Just a little something. You'll find out when it arrives."
Seo Ui-woo nodded obediently. This guy probably didn't care whether Jae-jin bought land or houses. As long as he got the guiding, that was all that mattered to him.
"I thought you said you were going back to sleep, Seo Ui-woo. You're already awake?"
"Ah, well…"
Seo Ui-woo, who had been lying there vulnerably, suddenly stretched his neck and kissed Jaejin's temple. He kissed him noisily a couple of times, then stuck out his tongue as if to savor the taste, licking his bottom lip.
"…"
"What now?"
"It's just… I feel so happy."
"Sorry, what?"
"Sleeping, I mean. It feels strange to be able to sleep so deeply… It happened so suddenly that it kind of scared me."
"…"
"Do people always feel like this when they fall asleep? I feel anxious like I might never wake up again if I close my eyes. And, strangely, the bed feels so comfortable."
Seo Ui-woo spoke lazily, his voice soft.
Though he seemed relaxed, Jae-jin didn't miss the fleeting tension in Seo Ui-woo's eyes, the sharp unease that vanished almost instantly.
"Since I was a kid, in the Center training dorms, we had to sleep in a designated place at a designated time, you know? But for me, that was…"
It must have been like torture.
He wouldn't have been able to leave the cramped, chicken-coop-like third bunk bed, which was far too small for Seo Ui-woo's growing body. He wouldn't have been allowed to turn on a light or shift around too much for fear of disturbing his fellow trainees' sleep. He must have been stuck, alone, in the dark.
"Ah, no. It's nothing," Seo Ui-woo cut himself off, shaking his head nonchalantly. Jae-jin sat up slightly, staring closely into Seo Ui-woo's eyes.
'Come to think of it, that's right. How did I miss something so simple?'
S-Class Esper Seo Ui-woo was in a severe state of imbalance due to chronic guiding deprivation.
One of the most prominent symptoms was his insomnia.
'The premise was wrong from the start. Providing guiding alone wasn't going to solve everything.'
The root cause lay deeper — in his imbalance.
'How could anyone think straight when they haven't been able to sleep properly? Of course, anyone would lose their mind…'
Seo Ui-woo's erratic behavior was all due to sleep deprivation.
If he could just sleep well, Seo Ui-woo would probably be much more reasonable.
When Jae-jin thought back to the first timeline, Seo Ui-woo seemed to have become a bit more human once he started getting proper sleep. Granted, it also seemed to make him even more obsessed with Jae-jin…
'I need to make sure he sleeps properly.'
Three major imbalances immediately came to mind regarding Seo Ui-woo.
And the first of them was his insomnia. The rest could be dealt with one by one.
'I just need to make sure he gets proper sleep and returns to his senses.'
With newfound clarity, Kwon Jae-jin stared at Seo Ui-woo with his pitch-black eyes. They were steady, unwavering, and calm.
A slight tension ran along his spine, and he felt a pleasant thrill.
'See, just look at this. Our boy isn't a bad person. He just has some extreme tendencies.'
Right then, a large paper bag flew toward Seo Ui-woo.
Seo Ui-woo rustled through the bag, pulling out each item one by one. As more of the contents were revealed, Kwon Jae-jin's expression gradually changed.
Handcuffs,
Chains,
A gag,
A catheter,
Urine bags…
It was absurd.
Kwon Jae-jin let out a dry laugh. Had Seo Ui-woo gotten these while he was unconscious? It was so ridiculous that he couldn't even be angry. He just felt a headache coming on at the thought that he couldn't escape the "handcuff argument" even in the second timeline.
'Hah… This makes no sense. Why are we back here again?'
It was beyond belief.
Kwon Jae-jin hadn't refused the guiding, nor had he caused any trouble trying to escape from Seo Ui-woo's house.
He hadn't tried to shoot his way through the windows, nor had he rushed out unexpectedly with a knife to stab Seo Ui-woo. He hadn't tried to strangle Seo Ui-woo while he slept either… And yet… why?
'Could it be that my future is already set in stone, and I can't change it?'
Kwon Jae-jin frowned, looking down at the floor.
It felt like the ground beneath his feet had collapsed, leaving him to be swallowed by an endless black abyss.
'If the future truly can't be changed… Does that mean I'll die again in four years? So pointlessly?'
That couldn't be allowed to happen.
Kwon Jae-jin abruptly lifted his head, glaring sharply at Seo Ui-woo, his voice brimming with irritation.
"Seo Ui-woo, just what exactly do you think you're doing right now?"
Seo Ui-woo, holding the silver handcuffs, looked at Jae-jin with innocent eyes. The air around him shimmered, vibrating faintly.
"What do you mean? Isn't it obvious…? Do you hate being tied up that much? Does it make you uncomfortable?"
"Anyone who enjoys something like this wouldn't be normal. Yes, I hate it."
"But then why did you do that? You said you'd give me guiding, but suddenly, you bit your tongue… It's terrifying, you know, for me."
"What could be terrifying for you, Seo Ui-woo? If anything, I should be the one afraid."
"What if you die, Jae-jin? Even if you failed this time, what if next time… or the time after that, you succeed and stop breathing? If that's the case, then it would be better for me to… rather…"
Seo Ui-woo murmured, almost as if talking to himself, his eyes glinting dangerously as they looked at Jae-jin. Just as Jae-jin was at a loss on how to handle Seo Ui-woo, it seemed that Seo Ui-woo, too, was struggling with how to handle Jae-jin.
"Well, Seo Ui-woo, you're the one who messed up first," Jae-jin replied, letting out a small sigh, and muttering quickly.
"You didn't keep the terms I set, did you? I told you I didn't like being hurt, but you shoved it down my throat until I was vomiting, and you tried to force it into the back where you hadn't even prepared properly."
"I just needed guiding, that's all. And I never agreed to that ridiculous second condition of yours in the first place."
"And I just bit my tongue out of frustration. I wasn't seriously trying to die. I knew you'd heal me with the healing factor anyway. I did it because I thought that maybe, just maybe, you would listen to me this way."
Jae-jin spoke as clearly as he could, though his tongue still felt numb. Regardless of whether Seo Ui-woo believed his explanation, Jae-jin felt it was important to make it clear where Seo Ui-woo had gone wrong.
"Look, Seo Ui-woo, you're the very first S-Class Esper, aren't you? Among Espers, you possess one of the most powerful abilities."
"So what?"
"So, Seo Ui-woo, ever since you were assessed as an Awakened right after birth, you've probably never had much difficulty dealing with people."
Sure, he must have suffered from not being able to find a guide at his level, but that was a problem of lacking guiding, not of human relationships, which was an entirely different matter.
"No one could challenge you, no one could go against you. Everyone must have liked you, revered you, or even feared you. And that's why, Seo Ui-woo, even at twenty, you're still a child."
"A ch-… what?"
"I'm telling you this very clearly right now."
Seo Ui-woo blinked in confusion, and Kwon Jae-jin looked at his glossy gray eyes, giving him a pitying yet instructive gaze.
"If you need my help, then you should try to get on my good side."
"..."
"Whether it's acting cute, being affectionate, or giving me what I want — do whatever it takes to win my favor!"
Handcuffs? A gag?
Honestly, they were nothing.
If Kwon Jae-jin had let such things bother him, he wouldn't have developed a romantic relationship with Seo Ui-woo in the first timeline. Eventually, Seo Ui-woo realized his mistakes, regretted them, and showed genuine remorse. Because of that, Jae-jin could let it slide. Just like he did in the first timeline, he could let it go in this one, too.
"So far, if you wanted it, guides would have opened their legs for you without hesitation. They wouldn't even blink, no matter if they were torn up in the process. But me? As you can see, I'm just a half-assed, ordinary-born mutant guide, and I simply can't do that."
"..."
"I hate getting hurt, I hate getting injured, I hate being treated roughly like some tool, and I hate when you ignore my will and do whatever you damn well please."
"So what you're saying, Jae-jin, is… that you hate guiding. Did you need to go around in circles to say something so obvious?"