Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 99

‘I see.’

The answer was found.

The heightened tension melted away, and his head nodded on its own.

Heeheon understood Captain Sung Ahwon in his heart, deep in his soul. He had no choice but to support his decision and stand by his side to defend him. In this moment, Baek Heeheon was Sung Ahwon’s colleague, an Awakener who shared his will. As Awakener to Awakener, guide to Esper, and as colleagues, he felt an overwhelming and strong bond.

And the more he felt that, the more he keenly realized on the other hand.

‘This is what I wanted.’

Cha Moogyul and Baek Heeheon. The two of them.

‘I just wanted to share this with Cha Moogyul.’

Heeheon put strength into his forearm and gripped Captain Sung’s hand back.

“Captain.”

He squeezed his hand so hard it trembled, frowned, and shook his head. The moment Captain Sung looked down at Heeheon in confusion, a rough voice burst out of him without him realizing it.

“I am the one who is grateful.”

“Pardon…?”

The countless memories he had hesitated over flashed before his eyes like a panorama.

The moments he held Cha Moogyul in his aching heart and suffered over the unbridgeable gap.

The moment when he thought he had overcome the endless conflict and finally taken a step forward to grasp Cha Moogyul.

Although the joy of revealing their feelings for each other and becoming a couple was shorter than a falling star that crashes and loses its light, all the footprints and emotions of the past remained within Heeheon.

“I was on the verge of wavering. It is thanks to you, Captain Sung Ahwon.”

Looking back honestly, it was true.

Having suffered mentally without rest for so long, a deep regret of wanting to finally be at ease remained. After being at odds for so long, they had finally gotten together, so he didn’t want to have any more complicated worries. He didn’t want to rack his brain and suffer. Baek Heeheon just wanted to be happy. That complacency had held him back.

So for a moment, he thought about just letting himself be dragged along by Cha Moogyul.

Just as he wished. As he planned. Even if it meant taking the position of a nominal dedicated guide under the new project and becoming an Esper and guide in name only.

But, after all, he couldn’t do that.

The life of turning away from Cha Moogyul was an escape, and from now on, having caught him, was the true beginning. But if he were to end the rest of his life with Cha Moogyul as an Esper who doesn’t use his ability and a guide who doesn’t guide, he didn’t think he could forgive himself for grasping him in such a weak way.

“Thanks to the Captain, I finally understand. I don’t think I should be doing this. To retreat without even fighting… I’m so pathetic, I can’t even show my face.”

A new universe has just been born.

Does he intend to ruin it already?

Cha Moogyul is Baek Heeheon’s Esper, and the countless lives saved with Cha Moogyul remain as traces on this land. That overwhelming truth was the vivid proof that Baek Heeheon had been with Cha Moogyul.

‘It doesn’t matter if Cha Moogyul gets another dedicated guide. I don’t have to be his guide.’

An Esper needs proper guiding. Even if Heeheon couldn’t fulfill that role, it didn’t mean his feelings for Cha Moogyul would fade.

‘We can just be lovers. Insisting on the Esper and guide relationship as well might be greed.’

He couldn’t express this feeling with things like a grim resolution, a sublime sense of mission, or a great cause for peace. Heeheon simply wanted to protect the light of the flame within him.

‘I want him, and he feels the same way. We only have each other. Is there a reason not to be satisfied with that…?’

Cha Moogyul only has Baek Heeheon.

And Baek Heeheon only has Cha Moogyul.

Their feelings for each other are so terribly passionate and tenaciously persistent that they hurt and broke each other and plunged into despair, but is this not enough? How would he know if it’s enough or not? They haven’t even properly treated each other as lovers yet…

“I am a guide.”

His resolve was firm, and his heart was at peace.

“That is how it must be.”

From now on, they would fight, clash, and get angry, but Heeheon didn’t think he would regret the answer he had made. In fact, he was even a little excited about the life he would face as a result.

Because on this path that Heeheon has chosen, he wants to love him by dedicating his all. He has to hold onto Cha Moogyul just as he is, without leaving a single piece of regret.

Baek Heeheon, too, must present his own answer to him.

As soon as he entered the examination room, the first thing that greeted Heeheon was the white light of the lamps reflected on the floor. The indoor air, sterilized by a purification system, and the white walls and silver flooring emphasized cleanliness and hygiene, while also giving off a slight sense of foreignness.

“Scan your identification tag and hang it in the empty slot.”

Heeheon moved according to the instructions of the medical staff dressed in white coats. They were not administrative staff, but medical researchers belonging to the Research and Development Division.

“You can stand up here.”

“Yes.”

After scanning his identification tag, Heeheon stepped onto the examination equipment. It wasn’t the kind of equipment one would expect to find in a general hospital facility, like an ultrasound machine or a blood analyzer. It was a special device designed for in-depth analysis of an Awakener’s core.

An Awakener’s unique examination can be broadly classified into three types.

First is the well-known mandatory awakening test.

It is a test to distinguish between Awakeners and non-Awakeners, a relatively simple examination that observes the presence of a core inside the chest, specifically the heart. The 1st mandatory awakening test that all citizens undergo at birth and the 2nd mandatory awakening test that they undergo after becoming adults fall into this category.

Second is the wave test to distinguish between Espers and guides.

It accurately examines the waves of the core to confirm which side the Awakener’s core resonates with. It doesn’t apply to Heeheon, who is a guide, but if one is judged to be an Esper here, they undergo an additional in-depth examination to determine what ability they possess.

And the last is the rank test to determine an Awakener’s rank.

It measures their power by accurately examining the wavelength of the core and various numerical values. The official classification ranks are divided into four categories: A, B, C, and F, and if the unmeasurable S-rank is included, there are a total of five.

Among the A~C rank Awakeners, those who complete the training at the Education Center are assigned to combat departments and take on combat roles, while other non-completers and F-rank Awakeners are assigned to administrative units and become reservists in charge of general life support duties for the special residential district, such as maintenance, construction, transportation, cooking, and communication.

Although it is a very rare case, if one applies to the research department during their trainee days and passes the exam, they can become a researcher belonging to the Research and Development Division. It was possible that there were Awakeners among the medical researchers who were now conducting a detailed examination of Baek Heeheon’s core.

Anyway, the test Heeheon was now waiting to receive was the third type, the rank test. It was to accurately diagnose his current physical condition by observing and quantifying physical data such as the wavelength of his core.

“Do not step off the plate and hold your breath. Do not move until the lamp light goes out.”

Following the instructions, Heeheon, who had stepped onto the flat plate, placed his shoulders on the armrests of the examination machine and held his breath. The plate vibrated and rotated 360 degrees at a slow speed, and the wing-like parts attached to both sides of the machine also turned. A bright light shone down from the ceiling.

‘Ugh.’

The inside of his chest ached again. Even the wave resonance for the examination was putting a strain on his body. He almost flinched, but Heeheon endured the examination by holding a firm posture without even blinking his eyelids until the end.

A white landscape slowly turning. Under the dazzling light, Heeheon once again engraved his difficult resolve.

<I am a guide.>

 

<That is how it must be.>

After some time, the examination ended, and he felt the researchers who were looking at the monitor exchanging glances as they looked at the numbers. One of the researchers stopped the equipment and added a brief explanation.

“Guide Baek Heeheon, your examination is finished. We will inform you of the final diagnosis results after analysis. It will take a few days, so you can just wait.”

Heeheon let out the breath he had been holding in a big gasp, stepped down from the disk, and slipped on his slippers. The researchers were all concentrating on the monitor with serious expressions, and no one seemed to be interested in Heeheon as he left.

He left the examination room as he was and calmly returned to his hospital room, retracing his steps.

Naturally, his footsteps were heavy and his mouth tasted bitter.

‘What will Cha Moogyul say?’

Will he get furiously angry? Or will he coldly dismiss it?

‘Still, I have to persuade him.’

Somehow. This time. For the sake of their future.

‘Hah, what should I do. How should I tell him.’

A letter… should I try writing a letter?

Heeheon swallowed a deep sigh and opened the door to his private room, which had his name on it. Then he saw a tall shadow looming up.

He thought no one would be in the hospital room, but a black shadow was waiting for Heeheon alone.

Cha Moogyul…

Cha Moogyul, dressed in a jacket, was standing in front of the table with his back turned. He couldn’t see his expression, but his broad back felt ominous. The air was chilly.