This S-Class Esper is Not an Obsessive Maniac

5.

To some, he might have seemed like an unreliable potential troublemaker, behaving unlike a proper Guide despite his tall and lanky stature. However, in reality, few people were as promising and accomplished as Choi Jae-won.

While Lee Han-seo’s background as Asia’s only S-class Guide and the cherished son of a chaebol family was impressive, Choi Jae-won’s circumstances were subtly different. His parents’ union was essentially a corporate merger. He was the stereotypical third-generation chaebol heir often portrayed in the media: insufferably rich with an abundance of resources, yet unfortunately having consumed rudeness along with his meals.

From the day he was born, Choi Jae-won was handpicked by his paternal grandfather as the heir to the company. Throughout his upbringing, he never disappointed those around him with his brilliant mind. While children of other company chairmen, presidents, directors, and executives were struggling academically despite pouring money into tutoring and considering studying abroad, Choi Jae-won consistently achieved top national rankings in mock exams without a single private lesson. He was always the shiniest trophy for both his grandfather and parents.

If not for the unexpected encounter with Ryu Ho-yeon, which struck like a sudden thunderclap, he might have been strutting around a prestigious university campus by now. Though he might have faced the inconvenience of having his every move reported in the news, it couldn’t have been as uncomfortable as life in the Center.

The meticulously planned and swiftly executed operation was successful – perhaps too successful. While Choi Jae-won had firmly made up his mind since middle school, it seemed no one else had anticipated it in the slightest. The shock was so great that when Chairman Choi, who had been happily choosing a university entrance gift for his grandson, collapsed upon hearing the news of his sudden admission to the Center, even the company’s stock price wobbled. The magnitude of the impact needs no further explanation.

Meeting Ryu Ho-yeon and redirecting his life’s purpose towards him was, subjectively for Choi Jae-won, an unparalleled stroke of luck and miracle. Objectively, however, it was nothing short of a calamity. This was because Choi Jae-won first met Ryu Ho-yeon and fell head over heels for him when he was just a five-year-old child.

Of course, as someone might say, even at twenty years old now, with the ink barely dry on his ID card, he could hardly be called mature. But five years old was far, far too young to set the purpose and direction of one’s entire life.

But what could be done? The immutable truth that what’s done cannot be undone was all too obvious, and if it couldn’t be undone, the natural course was to accept it.

That day was when ten-year-old Lee Han-seo stubbornly insisted on attending the fall sports day for the first time.

Lee Han-seo, who had been diagnosed as an S-class Guide during the ability assessment test typically conducted before elementary school enrollment, was a prize catch for anyone. It was said that even a hundred A-class Guides couldn’t match up to one S-class Guide, and this S-class Guide was just a snot-nosed kid about to enter elementary school. Who wouldn’t dream of kidnapping such an S-class Guide who could be lured with kind words and sweet snacks? While attempts were difficult, success would have been priceless. In fact, after the official announcement, Lee Han-seo’s family received various offers of compensation and requests for naturalization from various countries.

For this reason, he wasn’t allowed to participate in school events like field trips or talent shows where personal bodyguards couldn’t maintain close surveillance. But that year, for some reason, the ten-year-old child persisted for nearly two weeks, barely eating and constantly whimpering until he got his way. Also, it had been three years since his Guide classification without any incidents, so those around him were beginning to lower their guard.

Choi Jae-won, who was five years old at the time, was attending a private kindergarten run by the same foundation. He went to watch the sports day, holding his parents’ hands with his tiny fingers. (In fact, Choi Jae-won’s father was the chairman of the board of the foundation that operated the school and kindergarten.)

Everything was relatively peaceful until lunchtime when they all sat down to eat the luxurious boxed lunches prepared by the staff. Lee Han-seo, happy to participate in an event for the first time, was smiling brightly, and five-year-old Choi Jae-won was grinning along without knowing why, just because his cousin was smiling. To the adults, they all looked cute and adorable.

It was right after lunch when the group tug-of-war was in full swing. Lee Han-seo was sitting with his classmates, shouting cheers at the top of his lungs, while Choi Jae-won, whose parents and grandfather had urgent business matters to discuss, was sucking his fingers and sitting right next to his cousin. A little distance away, highly experienced private security guards were on standby, maintaining tight security. But somehow, no one knew when it happened.

‘Huh…?’

‘B-big brother! Han-seo big brother!’

When they suddenly came to their senses, everything around them was pitch black. Loud voices speaking in incomprehensible foreign languages filled the air, and ten-year-old Lee Han-seo and five-year-old Choi Jae-won were trapped in a cage large enough to hold a big dog, hugging each other and trembling. In other words, Choi Jae-won was like a “buy one, get one free” item that came along with the kidnapping of Lee Han-seo. Although, as far as “free” items go, Choi Jae-won’s ransom value was quite substantial.

Whether it was to thoroughly frighten the children, the criminals outside the cage would frequently kick it irritably, gesticulate, and spout harsh words that the children couldn’t understand, even though the two huddled children were barely even daring to breathe, let alone cry properly.

Was it because he was too young, or had he consciously erased it? In fact, Choi Jae-won didn’t remember much about that day. The fragmentary scenes that remained were mostly of his cousin’s trembling hands holding him tightly, or the whimpering voice repeatedly murmuring apologies.

Fortunately, the end of their misfortune wasn’t a nightmare.

‘Han-seo! Lee Han-seo! Are you here? Han-seo! Answer me!’

Miraculously, it was thanks to the efforts of an Esper who appeared out of nowhere to rescue them, or rather, Lee Han-seo.

“What is this?”

“Um, for now, it’s scrambled eg… I mean, scrambled eggs, sir.”

“If this is a plot to poison me with consistently burnt food to gain your personal freedom, I must say it’s futile.”

Although this miracle still had an angelic face that was saying terrifying things about being poisoned just because the eggs were a bit burnt… it was still a miracle.

Choi Jae-won suppressed a rising sigh and calmly replied, “I won’t burn them tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

As they approached the third week of living together, Choi Jae-won was gradually learning how to deal with Ryu Ho-yeon.

Throughout his fated one-sided love, he had obsessively tried to learn and preciously store every detail he could about Ryu Ho-yeon’s life. However, there was a clear limit to what he could find out about Ryu Ho-yeon, who lived mainly in the research lab within the Center – a place second to none in terms of security – without even having a birth registration. Even now, living in the same quarters, he still didn’t know Ryu Ho-yeon’s birthday, let alone anything else.

On the first day, Ryu Ho-yeon quickly entered the first four digits of the keypad password and entered the house before Choi Jae-won could properly see. As soon as he unpacked, saying he couldn’t live in a place with such lax security, he changed the password before Choi Jae-won could even come back out.

He went on and on with his usual nonchalant expression, explaining something about using some method he had seen in a cryptography book to make it as unpredictable as possible, with minimal relation to his personal information… Choi Jae-won listened attentively with mixed feelings.

It was clearly the same Korean language, and Choi Jae-won himself had never been told he was slow on the uptake, but for some reason, he couldn’t process the vast amount of information. Usually, people around Ryu Ho-yeon would cut him off rather coldly once he got excited and started talking, so it had been so long since someone listened to him this patiently that Ryu Ho-yeon went overboard. What started as changing the password for the front door keypad eventually led to a lengthy lecture that only ended when it reached the origins of cryptography and the applications of modern cryptography. Even then, it was thanks to the timely ring of the doorbell for food delivery.

Facing Ryu Ho-yeon, who was breaking apart wooden chopsticks with a seemingly solemn air, saying that according to movies and dramas, you’re supposed to eat jajangmyeon and fried dumplings on moving day… Choi Jae-won, who had never tasted delivery food of questionable hygiene, could only tremble at the corners of his mouth, managing to chew a few strands only when the noodles had become swollen and about to burst. It was nothing short of tearful devotion.