The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 91

I only laughed for a moment, and I didn’t think much about it.

But Yeon Dogyeong looked like he had just gained the whole world.

He was so happy that he even rescued the mushroom that had been crying in the hole.

The hole looked deep, but Dogyeong tucked the mushroom under one arm and quickly climbed up by stepping against the walls.

He even spoke gently to the mushroom that had been terrified when he mentioned grilling it.

“I won’t eat you, so stop crying. Honestly, you don’t look tasty anyway.”

I wasn’t sure that counted as comfort, but for him, that was definitely being kind.

The mushroom thanked us several times, told us a direction to go, and disappeared.

As we followed the path it gave us, Dogyeong kept talking to me.

“Yoon Hyeya, did you know? If you smile a lot, good luck comes to you.”

That was definitely flirting. He kept saying things like that. Even if I ignored him, he continued.

Like I said, I hadn’t meant to laugh.

It just slipped out.

It didn’t mean anything.

But he kept making it into something.

So I said,

“So what?”

If it were Cha Eunhwi, he would have apologized for saying something strange.

If it were Lee Shinra, he would have shrunk back.

But Dogyeong didn’t get discouraged.

“I just want you to be happy, Yoon Hyeya. So I’m saying you should smile a lot and get good luck.”

At the same time, I could strongly feel his friendliness toward me.

I’d been sensing that kind of feeling ever since we came back from the gate.

But today it was stronger than usual.

Maybe he was putting too much meaning into the fact that I chose to spend my day off with them.

If it were some other misunderstanding, I might let it pass.

But not this.

I looked at him dryly and spoke in an even colder tone.

“Just say honestly that you want to see me smile.”

“If I say it honestly, you’ll tell me to stop talking nonsense.”

“You know me well. Right now I’m just calling it nonsense. But if you keep going, I might call it something worse. So stop and let’s just keep walking. And let me be clear. When I laughed earlier, it really meant nothing. When I see you guys, my first reaction is still anger. Other squads and other espers are so terrible that I just chose the lesser evil. I’m with you because you’re better than the worst—not because I feel close or like you. I came today because I was bored. And even saying I’d join took a lot of thought.”

My words were sharper than usual.

The smile disappeared from Dogyeong’s face.

I sighed loudly on purpose and added,

“I’m the only one who forgot what kind of relationship we had before. You all remember. It’s fine if you feel sorry and try to treat me well. But acting close, talking like we’re friends… shouldn’t you hold back a little?”

The soft, fluffy warmth in the air completely fell apart.

He didn’t look angry.

Not shocked, either.

More like guilty. And sad.

After walking quietly for a few minutes, Dogyeong gave an awkward smile.

“Sorry, Yoon Hyeya. I crossed the line today. I’ll be careful… Just, don’t hate me too much.”

“If you don’t want to be hated, don’t do things I hate.”

Of course, that wouldn’t turn -100 into 100.

But maybe it could move to -90.

Dogyeong nodded like that was enough.

We walked in the direction the mushroom told us.

Then he spoke again.

“Thanks. For telling me honestly that you don’t like it. Before… no matter what I said, you never reacted.”

“Maybe I didn’t want to talk to you.”

“Yeah. That makes sense. Back then, I wasn’t even worth being called a bastard.”

After that, he stayed quiet.

From his expression, it looked like he was thinking about the past, full of regret.

If he had lived eight years as someone “not even worth being called a bastard,” there must have been a lot to think about.

For almost twenty minutes, we walked in silence.

Then suddenly—

The ground collapsed under our feet.

“Ah!”

Unlike Dogyeong, who just widened his eyes silently, I screamed.

It felt like the time I was swallowed by a snake.

But this time, there was a clear difference.

My physical ability was much better now.

“—!”

I quickly adjusted my balance in midair and landed steadily.

The hole was deep, so there was a slight shock in my legs, but it felt like jumping down two or three stairs at once.

Dogyeong had fallen a bit earlier and had his arms open to catch me.

Now he awkwardly lowered them.

Right then, laughter poured down from above.

“Ki-ki-ki! Kkall-kka-kka! Kya-ha-ha!”

“What is that?”

I looked up.

At the edge of the hole stood glowing children, looking down at us.

They had transparent wings on their backs.

Fairies.

They’re bigger than I expected.

And all of them looked cute and lovely.

But soon, I wanted to change Eunhwi’s description from “They like pranks” to “Their personalities are broken.”

“Catch this! Catch it!”

The fairies started throwing bugs into the hole.

Not normal beetles or grasshoppers.

Caterpillars. Larvae. The kind that make your skin crawl.

And they weren’t small.

Each one was the size of my fist.

I could handle it.

It was disgusting, but they were just bugs.

But—

“Ah, damn it! Stop throwing them! Don’t—ugh!”

Dogyeong, who hated all insects—especially the ones with many legs, rustling sounds, and fast movements—was screaming while burning every bug that fell.

He burned them completely, leaving not even ashes.

“Kyahaha! Burn more! More!”

“#$!@!@#!”

“……”

He even started swearing, though I honestly couldn’t tell what he was saying.

He’ll be so embarrassed once he calms down.

He had always been like this.

Even as a child, he hated bugs.

If I or Eunhwi caught one, he would turn red and mutter, “I look so pathetic…” and even tear up.

After watching for a moment, I grabbed his hand and spoke quickly.

“Can you block the entrance with fire? Like a tight net.”

He flinched at the sudden contact.

Then his breathing slowly steadied.

He nodded and carefully controlled the flames.

Instead of throwing them wildly, he shaped them into a dense net, sealing the hole completely.

“Hey! That’s cheating!”

“So boring. Let’s go tease the other intruders!”

The fairies complained from above.

The “other intruders” must be Eunhwi and Shinra, who went the other way.

Soon, the fairies’ presence disappeared.

But Dogyeong stayed still, saying nothing.

Even his ears were red.

He looked deeply embarrassed.

But I had no intention of laughing at him.

There was a reason he hated bugs so much.

He grew up without attention from his parents.

At school, he was bullied.

Some cruel kids forced him to eat bugs or put them inside his clothes.

His home environment was bad too. There were many insects in the house.

He said he sometimes touched them in his sleep or woke up with them on his body.

It made sense that it became trauma.

No matter how much I disliked him, deliberately triggering someone’s trauma is just trash behavior.

“I hate bugs too. Honestly, when I saw those caterpillars, I froze. You reacted really fast and burned them well. But this hole is deeper than the mushroom’s earlier. How do we get out?”

So I pretended nothing happened.

I changed the topic naturally.

The embarrassment and panic around Dogyeong slowly began to settle.