Taming the Obsessive Attachment

Seo Eui-woo supported Kwon Jae-jin and helped him to his feet. Now that he had finally regained enough composure to look around, Jae-jin took in the situation.

They were in the hallway of the villa mansion, with spent shell casings scattered across the floor. A quick glance toward the living room revealed the fallen corpses of creatures and shards of shattered glass still strewn about.

“I’ll clean that up. You should wash up first, Jae-jin. Your body is… really cold…”

With a dazed look in his eyes, Seo Eui-woo led Kwon Jae-jin to the bathroom. His gray eyes were clouded with turmoil.

Even though they were the only two left in the house and nothing posed a threat to them anymore, Seo Eui-woo was clenching his teeth so hard it seemed as if they might shatter, as though he were battling something unseen all on his own.

“Cold? What do you mean?”

“Because it’s cold… it’s hard for me.”

“Why…? It’s winter. There’s nothing we can do about that.”

“…You look like a corpse.”

Seo Eui-woo turned on the hot water, letting the tub fill, and reached out to undress Kwon Jae-jin. But the moment he noticed the deliberately torn section on Jae-jin’s T-shirt near his chest, his expression twisted into something vicious.

Anyone could tell at a glance—it had been slashed open with a knife. The thought alone was enough to drive him mad.

“What the hell is this? What happened to your clothes?”

“Ah… Well, that’s what I’d like to know. They just went for it, out of nowhere.”

“What?”

“I think… they wanted to check my core.”

All Awakened beings possessed a core.

It was located deep inside, nestled just past the heart. If another Awakened being got close enough, they could feel the resonance—the distinct waves it emitted.

Of course, Kwon Jae-jin had only learned this information from the Seo Eui-woo of the first timeline. He had never personally felt any resonance or waves himself.

That was because mutated beings who awakened later in life, like him, had immature and incomplete cores—unlike those who were born Awakened.

To be honest, Jae-jin still couldn’t fully grasp the reality of having something like a core inside his body.

Moreover, the core was an Awakened being’s most fatal weak point.

Just as breaking the gate’s core was the key to destroying a gate, an Awakened being would die instantly if their core was shattered.

Even if their heart could regenerate with healing factors, the core could never be restored.

If a core was injured, not even healing factors could restore it.

Because of this, the existence of a core—an Awakened being’s greatest weakness—was never disclosed to ordinary people. And for Kwon Jae-jin, who couldn’t directly sense resonance or energy waves, it still felt unfamiliar.

“They actually stripped your clothes just to check? Who did it?”

Seo Eui-woo grabbed Kwon Jae-jin’s left chest, his large hand pressing down hard, squeezing the muscle beneath.

“Did someone touch your chest?”

“Ugh.”

Jae-jin let out a slightly uncomfortable groan.

“Answer me. Did they touch you like this?”

“Y-Yes… they did.”

“Ha… Was the bastard an Esper? Or a Guide?”

“Ah, an Esper…”

“Fucking hell.”

Seo Eui-woo spat out a curse without even trying to restrain himself, his temper flaring as he interrogated Kwon Jae-jin.

“Who was it? Do you know their name? What ability did they use? Their face? Just tell me everything you know.”

The bathtub was nearly full, but Seo Eui-woo showed no signs of stopping. At this rate, the water would spill over the edge.

Was it okay to tell him this?

Well, he was going to tell him anyway… He wasn’t planning to hide anything. But there was a certain mood to consider. And right now, Seo Eui-woo’s energy was off the charts.

“…Can I wash up first? And let go of my chest. That hurts.”

Jae-jin decided to take a step back.

“You said my body was so cold I looked like a corpse.”

“……”

“You said it was hard for you to see me like that… Well, I’m cold too. And I hurt. Let me wash up first.”

“…Ha.”

Seo Eui-woo scrunched up his nose in frustration.

His burning gaze bore down on Kwon Jae-jin with overwhelming intensity, but when the bathwater finally spilled over the edge, he let out a sharp exhale and turned his head away.

He grumbled under his breath.

“Seriously, Kwon Jae-jin, you have a fucking talent for driving people insane.”

Seo Eui-woo undressed Kwon Jae-jin, his movements rough and impatient, making his irritation clear.

Sensing his foul mood, Jae-jin quickly reached out and helped remove Seo Eui-woo’s clothes as well, wanting to get into the tub as soon as possible.

Kwon Jae-jin’s clothes were practically rags, so there wasn’t much to take off. His tattered shirt slipped off in an instant, and his dirt-streaked pants were just as easy to remove.

Seo Eui-woo, on the other hand, was still in full tactical gear from right after work, making undressing a much more involved process. Jae-jin helped him unfasten the harness strap that ran across his chest, carefully guiding his arms out one by one. After that, he loosened the front of Eui-woo’s combat uniform and slowly unzipped it.

Once everything had been removed, leaving only the identification tag around Seo Eui-woo’s neck, the two of them stepped into the bathtub together.

The water was hotter than expected.

Or maybe it just felt that way because Kwon Jae-jin’s body was ice cold.

His blood, chilled from being pushed to the extreme, gradually warmed.

As time passed, submerged in the bath, Jae-jin felt his tension ease.

The fear and anxiety from being chased by creatures, from his flesh being torn open, from nearly being executed by an Awakened Special Forces soldier—all of it slowly dulled.

Even in hindsight, the series of events had been too sudden and horrific for an ordinary person like Kwon Jae-jin to handle. He had tried to stay composed, but in the end, a civilian with no training, fighting with a gun and facing death alone, could only endure so much.

Thinking back now, maybe he had delayed the conversation with Seo Eui-woo because even explaining it all felt overwhelming. First, he asked to be freed from his restraints. Then, he insisted on washing up before talking. He kept pushing it back, bit by bit.

After all, even disaster survivors needed time to collect themselves before they could recount what had happened.

But now, it was okay. Seo Eui-woo was here. That made it okay.

Beside him, Jae-jin gradually found peace. Just being with Seo Eui-woo reassured him.

Strangely enough, though, Seo Eui-woo didn’t seem to feel the same way.

As time passed, Kwon Jae-jin grew calmer—but Seo Eui-woo only seemed more unsettled.

Even while holding Jae-jin in his arms, he couldn’t seem to relax. He kept touching him, gripping him, as if he needed to confirm he was really there.

He clutched at Jae-jin’s hair, pulled his arms toward himself, wrapped an unyielding hold around his waist—as if treating him like something fleeting, something that might disappear at any moment.

Uneasy. On edge. Desperate.

Even though they were together, Seo Eui-woo acted like they weren’t.

“…Jae-jin.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Seo Eui-woo finally called out to him, his voice breaking. He tightened his embrace, trapping Jae-jin within his arms, whispering as if crumbling.

“Tell me now.”

His gray eyes, usually sharp, were sunken with despair—like a man locked in a windowless room with no way out.

“Say something. Anything. To me. Please?”

Jae-jin nodded.

Now that he had calmed down, he felt ready to talk.

He would tell Seo Eui-woo everything—the horrors that unfolded while he was gone, and how he had felt in the midst of it.

“…So, it started when a creature—that thing lying in the living room—broke through the glass. I thought you’d come back soon, but the security system must have malfunctioned because you didn’t. So I grabbed your gun and somehow managed to shoot it down. I got really lucky. Seriously.”

Jae-jin recounted the events slowly and steadily.

Seo Eui-woo, still holding him tightly, listened with a dark, grave expression, his grip around Jae-jin’s body never loosening.

“I thought that was the end of it after killing the creature, but another one appeared outside the window and ambushed me. It threw me off, and I tumbled all the way down near the gorge. I was seriously injured… I thought I was going to die.”

Even though Kwon Jae-jin was finally telling him everything, Seo Eui-woo wasn’t calming down. In fact, the more he listened, the more agitated he seemed to become.

He knew it was all over. He could see Jae-jin alive and well, could feel him safe in his arms. And yet, the veins in his arms bulged, his muscles tensing with a barely restrained response.

His fingers curled into a tight fist, and his sharp eyes burned with intensity.

No matter what, there seemed to be no way to soothe him.

Confirming Jae-jin’s safety didn’t help. Holding him close didn’t help. Listening to him speak didn’t help. Nothing could suppress the storm raging inside Seo Eui-woo. His emotions surged uncontrollably, consuming and commanding him.

“Then, the Awakened soldiers scouting near the gate found me… They mistook me for one of them and injected me with a healing factor. It saved my life, but soon after, they realized I was actually a mutant…”

“Yeah. That must’ve been when it happened. That’s when they touched your chest and figured it out, right?”

“…Yes.”

“That fucker… Who the hell was it? Huh?”

Seo Eui-woo growled, his eyes flickering wildly.

His ability, which he usually kept suppressed, stirred violently.

Maybe it was because he had fully unleashed his power earlier, but now, his emotions were fueling an aura even more intense than before.

At this rate, the house would be ripped apart just like the terrain near the gorge.

Jae-jin swallowed a deep sigh and relayed everything he had heard and seen, sharing all the details he knew.