Confinement Constitution Guide

Life in Confinement, Hard Ver. (13)

Sa Hae-geon was truly persistent. He showed the epitome of persistence to the point where I thought if the word “persistent” were to be personified, it would result in the creation of Sa Hae-geon. I swallowed a sigh as I glanced at Sa Hae-geon, who was freely kneading my right hand as if it were his own. It had been two hours already. Sa Hae-geon never let go of my hand except when he went to the bathroom every 30 minutes to warm up his cooling hands.

As a result, my hand was in a very warm state due to the warmth of Sa Hae-geon’s hand and the continuous massage. At this point, I began to wonder if Sa Hae-geon was just trying to give me a hand massage. Otherwise, how could he hold my hand for two whole hours? Even affectionate couples wouldn’t do this much.

I was partly responsible for how this situation had developed. If it had been someone other than Sa Hae-geon claiming ownership of my right arm, I would have firmly rejected them, telling them not to talk nonsense. But I couldn’t do that to Sa Hae-geon. That’s why I was experiencing this tiresome situation now. It wasn’t just to stay on good terms with Sa Hae-geon, my kidnapper, or to avoid upsetting him. There was clearly another reason.

Something I had only vaguely thought about until now. The fact that I unknowingly tended to be lenient with Sa Hae-geon. Whether it was because of his handsome face or because I was caught up in his pace, I had pondered various reasons but couldn’t come to a definitive conclusion.

I looked up at the ceiling with tired eyes and asked, “So when will my right hand be free? At this rate, you’ll even be feeding me dinner by hand.”

“Can I do that?”

Seeing Sa Hae-geon’s wide-eyed reaction to my half-sarcastic comment, taking it seriously, made my head throb. I had no idea where to start correcting what was wrong. I stared at Sa Hae-geon, who was waiting patiently for my answer like a large dog, and then opened my mouth.

“Hae-geon.”

“……”

Sa Hae-geon’s large hands, which had been continuously massaging my hand, suddenly stiffened. He looked at me with a completely frozen expression. His snow-white face gradually turned red, seemingly quite flustered. Sa Hae-geon repeatedly opened and closed his plump lips before managing to speak.

“W-What did you just…?”

Sa Hae-geon stuttered uncharacteristically. Not only that, but with his face as red as a tomato and his head bowed, he kept stealing glances at my face. Could he really be having such a sensitive reaction just because I called his name? What’s so embarrassing about being called by name?

Still, seeing Sa Hae-geon unable to hide his flustered appearance was both amusing and seemed to alleviate some of the frustration that had built up knowingly or unknowingly.

“I just called your name, what’s wrong?”

“T-That’s just it. Why suddenly, so casually, as if you’ve always done it, why are you calling my n-name so naturally?”

Sa Hae-geon fired off words rapidly in an excited voice, clearly quite flustered. But in his stuttering voice, there was an undeniable joy that he couldn’t hide. For all his apparent bewilderment, he seemed quite pleased. Though he tried to hide it, the corners of his mouth kept turning upwards, proving this fact.

Seeing Sa Hae-geon behave so differently from usual, I felt a mischievous urge. I answered nonchalantly, as if I had nothing to lose, as if I was going along with his wishes.

“Alright. I’ll be careful not to call your name ever again, not even by mistake or in my sleep.”

“What? That’s not what I meant!”

Sa Hae-geon shouted with wide eyes, as if he had heard something unbelievable. Then, gripping my hand tightly, he said,

“That’s not what I meant at all. It’s just… I was surprised because I didn’t expect you to suddenly call my name like this.”

“You don’t dislike it?”

“How could I dislike it! …I like it. It’s a problem because I like it too much.”

“Being called by your name?”

“No. You.”

To think he could say such embarrassing things so easily, when he had turned completely red just from having his name called once. Sa Hae-geon was becoming more and more unfathomable the more I got to know him.

* * *

Nam In-cheol, the senior researcher at the Dungeon Research Institute, had come up to his personal break room, taking advantage of a brief lull in the overwhelming workload he faced daily. This personal break room was the only pleasure in the life of a senior researcher where the balance between work and life had completely tilted to one side. Since working here, Nam In-cheol had given up on his dream of having a personal research lab.

And that space was filled with satisfaction for his personal break room. Nam In-cheol let out a deep sigh as he laid his exhausted body on the high-quality mattress in his personal break room. It had already been a week since the embargo was placed to prevent the news of an S-class dungeon’s emergence from spreading. A lot had happened at the Dungeon Research Institute during that week.

First, after the prophecy of Choi Nam-hee, an A-class Esper with precognitive abilities, the wavelength of an S-class dungeon was detected by the measuring devices. At the same time, the embargo imposed by the Ability Department, citing that they couldn’t cause public confusion based solely on Choi Nam-hee’s prophecy without numerical confirmation of the S-class dungeon’s occurrence, was on the verge of being lifted.

Moreover, coinciding with the detection of the S-class dungeon’s wavelength, the occurrence of lower-grade dungeons increased exponentially, leading to a flood of inquiries and requests for lab visits from experienced ability users. As a result, the Dungeon Research Institute had to request assistance from the Ability Department. And the Ability Department, taking the occurrence of an S-class dungeon very seriously, willingly responded to the institute’s request for support.

Nam In-cheol, in particular, was greatly benefiting from the dispatch of researchers directly under the Ability Department. A smile appeared on Nam In-cheol’s face as he checked the time on his phone screen. It seemed he could get at least thirty minutes of sleep. It was time to enjoy an unbearably sweet nap. Just as Nam In-cheol, who had pulled the thick blanket up to his neck, was about to bury his face in the pillow, it happened.

The tightly closed door of the personal break room swung open, and someone rushed in urgently.

“Nam In-cheol.”

At the sound of that exasperatingly familiar voice, Nam In-cheol let out a deep sigh and sat up. He pressed his aching eyelids firmly and asked without even checking who it was.

“…An Jong-hyeok, what brings you here?”

“Something’s up. So, did you find out about what I mentioned last time?”

How could it be so perfectly in line with his expectations? Nam In-cheol replied, unable to contain his dismay.

“That gust of wind or whatever it was?”

When An Jong-hyeok nodded, Nam In-cheol sighed and grumbled.

“Ah, An Jong-hyeok… I really can’t understand why you come to the Dungeon Research Institute to ask about something that happened in the middle of a perfectly normal street, not even in a dungeon. I don’t want to understand either. And what am I doing, looking into things I’m not even interested in just because a colleague asked, even though I don’t like it…”

“Enough, just get to the point.”

“You… You’re really one lucky bastard. Ah, is that why you became a team leader despite recklessly doing whatever you want? Anyway, there were traces of ability use left at the site of the gust. So it was easy to investigate.”

“Your preamble is too long, Nam In-cheol. Just tell me the main point.”

“The readings were close to S-class. Considering everything, it should be considered S-class. Speaking of which, you’re certain it’s that bastard’s doing, right? That’s why you asked me to check, just to be sure? Am I right?”

An Jong-hyeok remained silent at Nam In-cheol’s question. It meant yes. Nam In-cheol let out a wail and flopped down on the bed. It was truly a dire situation. In the midst of the chaos surrounding the impending occurrence of an S-class dungeon, some illegal group had caused trouble, and it turned out to be the very person they had been wary of.

“What are you going to do?”

“Catch him and lock him up.”

“Is it as easy as you make it sound? This is the guy who overcame an Esper’s instincts and attacked a Guide. How do you think that was possible?”

An Jong-hyeok’s reddish-brown eyes turned towards Nam In-cheol. Nam In-cheol, who had sat up again, shook his head and said,

“Back then, let’s say he couldn’t avoid the control device because he was on the verge of going berserk and had lost his reason. But now, when he’s rational and not going berserk? It won’t be as simple as you think. And the fact that he could attack a Guide was probably due to the influence of going berserk, but there must have been some other cause too. Like an artifact or illegally manufactured wavelength regulators.”

Nam In-cheol sighed as he watched An Jong-hyeok clench his fist tightly at his words. He couldn’t help but wonder how the world was turning, feeling as if humanity was regressing rather than evolving as time passed.

“Nam In-cheol, thanks. I’ll repay the debt by catching that bastard and locking him up again.”

“What? Hey, who repays debts like that? Pay me back with money, with money! If you have any conscience, you should pay me back with mon… This bastard, he ran off again!”

Nam In-cheol, who had been getting heated at An Jong-hyeok’s outrageous words, scrunched up his face and fell back onto the bed. Given the value of the information he had provided, repaying it by catching and locking up Shin Woo-jun once? That doesn’t add up at all.

“…Well, I guess he didn’t become a team leader just by luck after all.”

Nam In-cheol, who had muttered quietly, was about to bury his face in the pillow when he checked his phone screen.

“Ah… This damn bastard.”

Faced with the situation of having to reduce his precious planned 30-minute nap to 13 minutes, Nam In-cheol chewed on curses with a face full of despair.