“Good.
I was worried you might get the wrong idea.” Seunghyun said.
‘Did he really think that being introduced to the team would make her feel like one of them?’
His words didn’t even surprise Yeonsu anymore.
She had never once thought that way, but the way he spoke, as if preemptively cutting off the very possibility, left her feeling wronged.
He opened the box he had brought.
Taking out a device that looked like a smartwatch, he spoke to her.
“Come here.”
He grabbed her left elbow as she hesitantly approached and pulled her closer.
Startled by the sudden grip on her arm, she tensed and resisted.
“Relax.
Anyone watching would think I’m about to eat you.”
“What are you talking abou—”
Before she could finish, he pushed up the sleeve on her left arm and laid her wrist in his palm.
The warmth of his skin against her bare flesh sent goosebumps prickling along her arm.
Her wrist was so slender his hand could easily wrap all the way around it with room to spare.
Adjusting the device to fit her wrist, he fastened it on with a businesslike tone.
“You must never take this off.
It’s not easy to remove anyway, but I recommend you don’t even try.
Not unless you want every cop in the area descending on your location.”
Her tongue, stiff in her dry mouth, finally managed to move.
“So this is…”
“You heard the Team Captain earlier, didn’t you?”
It felt heavier than a normal watch as she ran her fingers over it.
The strap was smooth, with no visible seams.
As she turned it this way and that, he added,
“It’s a tracker.
Unless you want someone at your side twenty-four hours a day, just accept it.
This is the minimum measure we could agree on, for your sake.”
The small black device sat flush against her wrist, a green light blinking at regular intervals.
“It’s also a minimal show of trust.
And this tracker will transmit your condition to us as well.
From whether you’re using your ability to your vital signs.
Green means normal, orange is a warning, and red is dangerous.”
Yeonsu didn’t respond.
He pointed to his own wrist.
She had thought it was just a simple watch, but a green light was blinking there too, with a single digit displayed beneath it.
“With this device, I can monitor your condition in real time.
If anything happens, I’ll use that signal to provide…
appropriate measures.”
Appropriate measures.
She let out a short, derisive laugh at the euphemism.
“How very kind of you.”
“If the backlash level displayed here goes over eighty, that’s when those measures will be taken.
I’ll be managing it, so you don’t need to worry.”
She said nothing.
“There’s no need to look so horrified.
I told you, it’s a minimal show of trust.
Think of it as an additional condition of your cooperation.
You’ll get used to it soon enough.”
An awkward silence fell between them.
Would she ever get used to these shackles?
The absurdity of him reassuring her about the very restraint he’d just locked on her was almost laughable.
“Then what am I supposed to do now?”
“For now, you’ll remain in custody until the Hwang Seungmin case is closed.
And you’ll be called when needed.”
“By custody, you mean…”
“The Esper-only holding cell.
You’ll stay there for a few days, and then…”
“No.”
Her firm tone made him look at her in disbelief.
“What did you just say?”
She shook her wrist pointedly.
“You’ve already put a tracking device on me.
Why do I need to stay in a holding cell?
I agreed to your conditions.”
“So you want to commute from home?
Do you really think this is a job you can commute to?”
Was she truly that clueless, or just pretending?
All he knew for sure was that talking to her sent his emotions spiraling out of control.
He’d rather be tangled up in her body than in her words.
At least then, she was honest and compliant.
With a sigh, he said,
“As I’ve said repeatedly, you’re still an Esper who hasn’t been fully cleared of suspicion in the Hwang Seungmin case.
What exactly are we supposed to trust to let you walk out of here?”
“So I’m supposed to live in that holding cell forever?
Until when?”
“That…”
Even he hadn’t thought through her living arrangements.
The Esper-only holding cell was meant for short-term stays; keeping someone there long-term was practically impossible.
“We don’t even know how much longer this will take.
Are you telling me to stay in that cell, barely able to wash my face, wearing the same filthy clothes, and just pop out whenever you need to use my ability?”
He realized she was still wearing the same clothes.
It was only because it was winter that it was even remotely bearable; if it had been summer, it would have been much worse.
Looking down at her outfit, she gave a little shrug.
“If you want to use my ability, you need to treat me like a human being, Detective.”
“As for where you’ll stay, your place is out of the question for now.
For the moment…”
“How about your place, Seunghyun?”
As Mun-gyeong’s voice floated over from his private office, both of them turned to look at him.
He spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“You live alone and you have plenty of extra rooms.
We need someone to keep a close watch on her anyway.
And it would be much easier to provide those…
‘appropriate measures’ you mentioned if you were living together.”
Had he been listening to every word through that thin wall?
Seunghyun’s face twisted like he had bitten into something sour.
Take her into his home?
The idea was absurd.
“Why my place?
No.
Find another arrangement.”
“No.”
Yeonsu cut into the conversation between the two men.
Watching his handsome, composed face crumple made the tight knot in her chest finally loosen a little.
She looked straight at Seunghyun and gave him a bright smile.
“The captain is right.
If I want to receive those ‘appropriate measures’ at the right time, it would be best for us to stay as close as possible, wouldn’t it?”
Seunghyun stared at her, smiling as brightly as the sun, unable to believe what he was hearing.
It felt like both Mun-gyeong and this woman had lost their minds.
“There are a few things I need to make clear.”
Stopped at a red light, Seunghyun glanced over at Yeonsu in the passenger seat as he spoke.
“Do not touch anything in my home.
And while you’re staying there, I’d prefer you didn’t use your ability recklessly.
I find it extremely unpleasant when you know things I haven’t told you.”
Calling it “unpleasant” was putting it mildly to an Esper.
Yeonsu nodded.
“Using my ability takes a toll.
I’m not going to waste it on pointless things.
I’m not that kind of person, so don’t worry.”
“For someone who says that…”
He almost brought up what had happened at the hotel, then shut his mouth.
‘Did she erase that from her memory because she read mine without permission?’
“…Fine.
Just try not to give me any reason to worry.”
With that brief exchange, a suffocating silence settled over the car.
Even after the light changed, the traffic was so jammed that the car didn’t move an inch.
Heavy snow clouds scattered thick flakes, and despite it being daytime, the world looked dim.
Only the red brake lights of the cars filling the road glowed brightly.
It was as if the entire city had been trapped under a blanket of white.
Yeonsu stared blankly at the endless swirl of thick, powdery flakes drifting down.
She suddenly realized that, after being shut inside for days, she hadn’t seen an open sky in a while.
Even the sight of people on the street—real, living people, not the two types she had grown used to seeing at the agency, civil servants and criminals—felt strangely new.
Looking at the scenery she had always passed by without a thought, Yeonsu felt an odd sense of longing.
“Traffic’s a bit backed up.”
Muttering to himself in the slowly inching car, Seunghyun hadn’t really expected an answer, but when none came, he glanced toward the passenger seat.
“Huh.
Is she dense, or what?”
At some point, Yeonsu had tilted her head to the side and fallen fast asleep.
Traces of youth still clung to her face.
Seunghyun recalled the age he had seen on her chart.
Twenty-three.
‘She really is young enough to charge in to something without thinking of the consequences.’
She was an adult, but not old enough to have truly experienced the world.
Whatever storms her life had already weathered, what she had gone through after meeting him would rank among the biggest.
No wonder.
The moment she stepped out of police headquarters, the tension drained out of her so completely that sleep crashed over her, even with the very man who’d put her on edge sitting right beside her.
‘And yet her eyes were full of fear.’
She had glared at him, eyes wide, as if desperately refusing to lose.
He remembered her ridiculous bravado.
But in the end, she was just a young woman who found even that too much to bear and simply wore herself out.
Yeonsu shifted uncomfortably, her body slumped into the leather seat.
Clicking his tongue, Seunghyun quietly reclined the passenger seat for her, then turned the heater up a little higher.