This S-Class Esper is Not an Obsessive Maniac

10.

Choi Jae-won skillfully hid his stirring feelings. Although he couldn’t help being young, he didn’t want to show it.

It was true that he had lived a more economically comfortable life than others due to his innate background, but that economic comfort didn’t guarantee his mental maturity and anguish. Although he had improved somewhat since his days as a student in uniform, Jae-won was well aware that he, at just twenty years old, was terribly young and immature. The gap in experience might narrow when he reached thirty and thirty-five, forty and forty-five, but twenty and twenty-five were indeed ages with notable differences in many ways.

“I’ll have one iced hazelnut latte and two watermelon juices to go. Oh, what do you want to drink?”

“I’ll have an iced Americano.”

After waiting for over ten minutes to order at the cafe in the lobby bustling with people seeking caffeine, Jae-won felt annoyed again. Probably without much thought, Han-seo had ultimately sided with Park Woo-jun, not Ho-yeon, in choosing drinks. His lips itched to blurt out, “Hyung, can’t you just drink lemonade?”

If drinking lemonade instead would make Ho-yeon feel a bit more comfortable, he wouldn’t mind having that carbonated drink a hundred times, but Jae-won couldn’t be Han-seo’s substitute for Ho-yeon. He arbitrarily attached the adverb “yet” rather than “never” to the end of this sentence. It was half stubbornness. But it didn’t matter. Isn’t it the privilege of those in unrequited love to stubbornly cling to hope that no one has given them?

“Then add an iced Americano too. And I’ll take one slice of each type of cake.”

“That much? Who’s going to carry it all?”

Only the childish resentment he couldn’t fully suppress fell on Han-seo’s shoulders with a thud, thud, thud, following his somewhat brusque words. What truly hurt the pride of the twenty-year-old drowning in the fever of first love was that his cousin, who was no less than a rival in love, didn’t mind these brusque words at all. Han-seo just nodded towards the clerk with his card-holding hand once more, giving the obvious reply, “Oh, you’ll carry it.”

“And I have to buy this much because they both eat well.”

“Both? Including Ho-yeon hyung?”

“Of course. He goes crazy for anything dessert-related.”

This was another piece of valuable information he didn’t know. Jae-won quickly pulled out the notepad he carried around.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, don’t look.”

He was in the process of writing down that Ho-yeon likes all types of desserts as the sixteenth item on the list of “Things hyung likes” that he had started a few days ago. He should have remembered to write it down when Han-seo wasn’t around, but he unnecessarily took it out right away.

“Add number 17. Hazelnut latte. Usually drinks it cold, but warm on rainy days.”

Suddenly, Han-seo seemed about 5cm taller. Here was an encyclopedia who knew all the detailed preferences that he could never know unless Ho-yeon told him first (and Ho-yeon wasn’t the type to voluntarily talk about himself).

Jae-won set aside his pride and asked all he wanted to know about Ho-yeon while waiting for the takeout order.

Indeed, his respected cousin was quite useful. Jae-won diligently wrote down the information Han-seo was chattering about. Details like how Ho-yeon likes plums the most among fruits, doesn’t have a favorite sport, and in fact dislikes physical activity altogether, flowed from Han-seo’s mouth.

“Do you like Ho-yeon that much?”

Suddenly, an off-topic question. However, there was no reason to hide it, and he didn’t want to hide it either. Jae-won immediately nodded and said, “Yeah.”

“You’re not trying to hide it?”

“Why should I hide it?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious you entered the center because of Ho-yeon.”

That’s right. Han-seo saw it accurately.

“At least try to hold back until grandfather and uncle get used to the fact that you’ve planted yourself at the center.”

Just a few months ago, Choi Jae-won had been quietly, as quietly as possible, lowering himself and playing the role of a model student he wasn’t meant to be, trying to deceive the elders in his family. He flatly refused offers of private tutoring and applied for self-study, but as soon as school ended, he would go straight to a private research institute he had arranged to undergo various guiding experiments.

These were mostly experiments aimed at increasing his matching rate with the DNA samples of Ryu Ho-yeon he had secured, or somehow improving his inadequate guiding that couldn’t even compare to a hair on Lee Han-seo’s head. After willingly offering his body as a test subject to researchers he paid himself for three to four hours every day, he would leave through the main gate with his schoolbag at the end of self-study time.

If he pretended to memorize English words in the car sent by his family, a report would automatically be sent to the adults. Unlike other chaebol grandchildren, the adults, including the Chairman grandfather and the Vice-Chairman father, were simply proud, grinning from ear to ear at the image of Choi Jae-won, who never tried to deceive them, focused solely on his studies, and always brought home excellent grades.

Imagine the shock of the family elders when this precious grandson, who had never caused them any worry except for being judged as a Guide, pretended to go take the college entrance exam on the day of the test but instead ran away to submit a voluntary Guide registration form to the center.

“I don’t want to. It’s a waste of time. I’ve already waited for so long.”

But no matter how much his family loved and cared for him, they were ultimately others. Choi Jae-won had no intention whatsoever of making himself uncomfortable just to make others comfortable. The only thing that had stopped him from eagerly trying to enter the center at fifteen was his pathetically low guiding grade and matching rate. To become a Guide for an S-class Esper, one needed to be at least A-class to be considered presentable.

There was a precedent where Lee Jung-hyuk, a former B-class Guide, was successfully acknowledged as the pair of S-class Kim Jun-young, but that was possible because the matching rate measured between those two was close to 90 percent. When Jae-won’s matching rate was first measured with Ryu Ho-yeon’s DNA sample, the figure barely exceeded 50 percent. He focused on experiments for five full years. As soon as he finally reached a figure that could aim for a pair after such grueling efforts, he immediately applied for admission.

“I wondered why you suddenly insisted on becoming a Guide, but if it’s to see Ho-yeon, I understand.”

The light laughter following Han-seo’s words was certainly not mockery, but Jae-won’s relationship with Ho-yeon wasn’t deep enough yet to not feel inferior to that laughter. The calm in Jae-won’s heart bristled again.

“I never asked for your understanding.”

Ah, he really hates this. It’s too childish. Choi Jae-won wishes he could close his eyes now and open them to find ten years have passed. He hated, hated, hated himself for acting so childishly towards someone who spoke without any particular intention.

“Hey. Write this down. Thing Ho-yeon likes, number 0: Lee Han-seo. Thing Ho-yeon dislikes, number 0: What Lee Han-seo tells him to dislike.”

“Oh, come on!”

“If you understand, let’s be tactful, Jae-won.”

He was both envious and amazed at how Han-seo could confidently say such things even after being apart and distant for years. Choi Jae-won unknowingly let slip the question he really didn’t want to ask. There was no time to catch it.

“…You two were really just friends, right? You didn’t actually, actually date, did you?”

“Yeah. Woo-jun is my first love.”

The bright, smiling face made him feel a bit relieved again.

“Treat him well. He’s clumsy with human relationships, so you’ll have a lot of frustrating moments. He’s also inherently slow to react.”

“…I know.”

“If you have any questions, feel free to come ask anytime.”

He’s clearly an enemy, but he’s an ally, and while he seems like an ally, he’s an annoying cousin. Jae-won couldn’t afford to reject the offer saying he had nothing to ask. He just nodded silently.

“But weren’t you B-class? How high is your matching rate for a B-class to be exclusively assigned to an S-class?”

“Well…”

He was at a loss for words. While he didn’t mind if it was revealed that he had liked Ho-yeon for a long time, he couldn’t disclose the fact that he had set up a private research institute with his own funds and had been continuously experimenting for years. It was truly illegal research, secretly gathering those who had been dishonorably discharged from the center.