This S-Class Esper is Not an Obsessive Maniac

22.

“Ah, stop nibbling there like that.” “Why?” “…It tickles.”

With a flushed face, he said that, but I’m not sure if he knew it only made me want to bite harder. Choi Jae-won suppressed the surge of excitement and gently pressed his lips against Ryu Ho-yeon’s plump ones. It took considerable effort not to give in to the rough impulses that threatened to take over whenever he let his guard down.

Kissing seemed to have become fairly familiar now. Ryu Ho-yeon opened his lips willingly, looking relieved. Considering he used to frown and say kisses felt strange, this was remarkable progress. The fact that Jae-won had personally guided this growth was the most sacred achievement of his mere twenty-one years of life.

He could still vividly recall Ryu Ho-yeon’s cold expression and tone from their first meeting—stating flatly that he knew what Jae-won wanted but it wasn’t happening, and if guiding was absolutely necessary, he would have to be patient. Jae-won had been too tense at the time to notice, but looking back, behind those perfectly sculpted features that could appear both classical and metropolitan depending on the angle, the emotion seemed to be mild tension.

Though perhaps not as intensely nervous and hopelessly excited as Jae-won was meeting his dream Ryu Ho-yeon for the first time, Ho-yeon had been tense about meeting his pair Guide for the first time. That alone was enough consolation for Jae-won.

It had been several months since they first sat face to face, sharing meals and spending time together. That period was sufficient for Jae-won to learn what kind of person the real Ryu Ho-yeon was, not the fantasy version reconstructed in his imagination.

The fictional character Jae-won had vaguely imagined—strong yet delicate, blushing innocently at trivial matters—had almost completely disappeared. And yet, he liked him even better now. Though he had initially been drawn in like a fly (though “fly” was almost too harsh a term for someone who had deliberately ruined his promising life) by Ho-yeon’s beautiful appearance, it didn’t take long for that infatuation to develop into genuine love. The real Ryu Ho-yeon—not just pretending to be strong but truly firm and solid, assertive, capable of standing alone—was dazzlingly wonderful and lovable.

Whether he loved him because he was dazzling, or whether Ho-yeon was dazzling because he loved him—distinguishing between the two no longer mattered. What difference would it make either way? Jae-won simply adored Ryu Ho-yeon, and that was enough.

Today was a perfect example. His new medication wasn’t agreeing with him, leaving both his condition and mood at their worst. Yet the moment he held Ryu Ho-yeon’s soft body, seemingly devoid of muscle, against his own, his mood instantly improved. It seemed like barely ten minutes had passed from opening the front door to kissing and making it to the bed. A remarkable change in such a short time. At this rate, it was as if Ryu Ho-yeon was Jae-won’s Guide rather than the other way around. Though this wasn’t especially remarkable—Jae-won was almost always in the best of moods whenever Ryu Ho-yeon was in his sight.

He loved everything about him—the pretty face masked by an impassive expression, the sensitive nerves unaccustomed to others’ approach, the thoroughness with which he pursued any subject that captured his interest. As mentioned earlier, but worth repeating to emphasize its importance, the imagined Ryu Ho-yeon and the real-world Ryu Ho-yeon had both similarities and differences. However, those differences couldn’t stop Jae-won’s feelings. His emotions had grown like a snowball rolling downhill, becoming too large for even himself to control.

“I’m getting sleepy.”

Drowsy eyelashes languidly lowered. Long lashes dampened with tears clung to the plump aegyo-sal beneath his eyes. The sight made Jae-won’s chest swell tightly. It was too poignant to be mere instinct, almost bittersweet. Jae-won nodded in acknowledgment, having once again fully satisfied his own desires under the pretense of guiding.

Though accustomed to enduring pain, Ryu Ho-yeon could only whine about the strange tingling sensation that saturated his toes. He who never shed a tear even when his guiding levels dropped to near-uncontrollable levels would easily cry buckets in bed. If his aim was to make his devotedly enthusiastic pair Guide proud, he’d succeeded admirably.

“Did I hear you right? You want to sleep?”

Who was it that nibbled at his lips the moment he walked in, claiming he needed guiding after using his abilities all day at the workshop? As if he’d just put out an urgent fire. With slender arms like willow branches wrapping around his neck and pulling him close, Jae-won still felt it wasn’t enough.

“It’s okay. If you’re sleepy, go ahead and sleep. I’ll take care of the finishing touches after you fall asleep.”

He whispered teasingly and gently bit Ho-yeon’s cheek, making Ho-yeon open his eyes wide. “Jae-won!” he exclaimed, sounding annoyed. Jae-won just giggled playfully. The strong smell of blood that had filled his head all day in the laboratory had completely disappeared, replaced by the mixture of Ryu Ho-yeon’s warm skin scent and the blueberry diffuser he had gifted him.

“Why is everything about you so small? Your height, your hands…”

After living together for over a year, Jae-won had developed a sense of how far he could tease Ryu Ho-yeon. Though he’d said it was okay to sleep, he clearly had no intention of letting him do so. Knowing that Ho-yeon was secretly self-conscious about his height, Jae-won teased him—and suddenly saw stars as Ho-yeon smacked him on the head.

“Ow! That hurts!”

“I hit you to make it hurt. Did you expect it to tickle?”

It seemed Jae-won needed to take back his earlier thoughts. He had clearly failed to gauge the appropriate level of teasing. (Though Jae-won hadn’t teased him consciously, unfortunately his teasing touched on one of the major disqualifying factors preventing Ryu Ho-yeon from becoming a perfect obsessive maniac, one of his few sensitive complexes.)

Quite indignant, Ryu Ho-yeon’s face turned bright red as he breathed heavily, waving his small fist rather threateningly in front of Jae-won’s face. Even that looked adorable, but Jae-won knew better than to mention it. Suppressing what he wanted to say was a long-standing habit, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.

I like you. Hoyeon, I really love you. Don’t you remember when we met before? When you came to save Lee Han-seo, I was there too. So you saved me as well. The truth is, I’ve wanted to be by your side since then. You have no idea how happy I was when I found out I was a Guide. You don’t know what I’ve done to stay by your side… But it’s all okay. Because I love you. You, Ryu Ho-yeon. Because I love you.

He wanted to shout it at the top of his lungs if given the chance. Not yet, but someday. Yes, someday for sure…

Growing impatient, Jae-won successfully drove away Ryu Ho-yeon’s drowsiness and guided him like a raging bull. Endlessly, even when there was no more guiding left to pull up.

Whether in natural physical condition or basic stamina, Ryu Ho-yeon was far inferior to Jae-won and could only escape after being thoroughly exhausted. His limbs lay limp on the newly changed sheets. Jae-won soaked a towel in hot water and wiped Ryu Ho-yeon’s body thoroughly. After cleaning every inch of skin and carefully applying body lotion, then dressing him in underwear and loungewear, Ryu Ho-yeon’s eyelids were already drooping.

He was using an even softer cloth to gently wipe the tear marks around Ho-yeon’s eyes. The cat-like eyes with slightly upturned corners glanced at Jae-won’s still-excited state despite all they had done—perhaps due to his vigorous age—and curved at the ends. Caught off guard by this sudden eye-smile attack, Jae-won froze mid-wipe, at a loss for words. If this were a game screen, “CRITICAL HIT!” would have appeared in 100pt bold font.

“Times like this make it perfectly clear.”

“Wh-what’s clear, hyung…?”

Ryu Ho-yeon’s voice, mixed with sleepy petulance, was twice as low and twice as slow as usual. Even his slightly cracked, tired voice sounded like the dignified narration of an actor from some classic film. If that was the case, was there something wrong with Jae-won’s ears or his mind? Jae-won felt it was probably both.

“That you really are young.”

Jae-won wanted to argue that Ho-yeon himself was only twenty-six, but since his beloved Esper was a young traditionalist thoroughly steeped in Confucian ideology, he kept that objection to himself. Ryu Ho-yeon continued, with laughter in his voice, his pronunciation stretching ridiculously long toward the end of each sentence like a stretched-out tape.

“Your youthful vigor… mm, is impressive… At that age, they say instincts exploding… is normal… But it’s a bit overwhelming for me to keep up till the end…”

Having heard this much, Jae-won expected Ho-yeon to suggest shortening their intensive guiding sessions or reducing their frequency. His mistake was assuming he had fully understood the unpredictable contents of Ryu Ho-yeon’s small head.

“So… next time if you still have guiding energy left… go guide another Esper… It’s like, a talent donation, you know…”

“…What?”

In Ryu Ho-yeon’s mind, he was genuinely thinking of Jae-won, suggesting that since he couldn’t fully satisfy him, Jae-won should quench his remaining energy by helping other Espers in need of guiding—a practical, two-birds-with-one-stone proposal. The amazing thing about Ryu Ho-yeon was that he could sincerely make such a suggestion without any intention to tease or test Jae-won.

“Hyung, Hoyeon hyung? Wake up for a second. What did you just say? What? No, right? I misheard, didn’t I? Hyung? Hyung!”

“Snooore…”

Regardless, Ryu Ho-yeon was already sound asleep, leaving only Jae-won burning inside. Jae-won could thoroughly understand his grandfather’s sentiment when he used to mutter about wanting something strong and bitter to smoke after particularly difficult meetings. He too urgently needed something strong and bitter, whether tobacco or otherwise.