Morning came, and right on cue, there was a knock at the door.
“Ms.
Cha.”
By now, the voice was familiar.
Just out of the bathroom, Yeonsu fumbled for a response.
“…Just a moment.”
When she opened the door, he was already gone.
She had been worried it would be awkward to face him, but it turned out she had been fretting for nothing.
As she stepped out, her foot bumped into something.
Looking down, she saw a neat row of shopping bags with the mall logo, filled with all the things they had bought yesterday, lined up in front of her door.
“Oh.”
It was obvious that Seunghyun had dropped them off.
Staring blankly at the line of bags at her feet, she let out a small laugh.
She could picture him, serious-faced, carefully lining them up.
“It’s funny how a person’s personality shows in things like this.”
Lately, her mood rose and fell several times a day.
The idle comments she tossed out to pass the time while staring at Tae Seunghyun’s broad back during long stretches of waiting, the few words he always returned—never exactly kind, but always there—and the ordinary dilemmas she had faced at the mall for the first time in her life, just like everyone else…
It was all of these things that had her emotions in such turmoil.
After meeting Tae Seunghyun, Yeonsu felt as if she were being inundated by a flood of emotions she never knew she possessed.
The violent swings were more than she could handle.
It felt as if something far more terrifying than backlash was surging up from the depths of her soul, clawing her open from the inside.
From the kitchen came the savory smell of baking bread, a sign that he had prepared breakfast.
When she pictured Seunghyun awkwardly making a meal for them to share, a strange feeling settled over her again.
Not once since leaving the orphanage had she sat at a table to eat with someone.
And no one had ever cooked a meal just for her.
She tried not to attach too much meaning to it, but despite her intentions, the everyday life she was living in Seunghyun’s home kept striking her with its profound novelty.
“Come and eat.”
“…Okay.”
His voice carried from the kitchen as if he had heard her emerge.
Yeonsu picked up the shopping bags by the door, took them to her room, and then walked toward the kitchen.
The backlash, at least, would eventually pass if you just endured it.
But she had no idea how to endure these unfamiliar emotions that surged without warning or if they would ever fade at all.
“…Sir, a case like this should probably be handed over to the local precinct.”
“What are you talking about?
Some lunatic has been catching and killing all the cats in our neighborhood for two months now.
How is that not a big deal?”
“It is a serious matter, but our unit only handles nationwide or high-risk cases…”
Watching Seunghyun flounder before a grandmother much smaller than him was a strange sight.
He wasn’t overflowing with kindness, but he was sincerely trying to persuade her, and the way he was breaking into a nervous sweat was fascinating to watch.
They had run into the woman by chance that morning on their way into the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, right in front of the public service office on the first floor.
She had been wandering through the unfamiliar building when she latched onto Seunghyun—who looked like a detective at a glance—and began pouring out her complaint.
However, there was nothing the Violent Crimes Division, which handled cases across the country, could do for her.
When his attempts at persuasion failed, and he was left looking helpless, Yeonsu stepped between him and the grandmother.
“Ma’am, I think I can explain it a little better than this detective.”
“Oh my, you can, dear?
Are you a detective, too?”
“…Not exactly.
I help him with his work.”
Yeonsu avoided Seunghyun’s gaze, feeling him staring at her as if she were some bizarre creature.
“Gran—no, ma’am.
Why don’t we sit over here and talk?”
“Ms.
Cha Yeonsu.
What do you think you’re doing?”
Glancing at Seunghyun, Yeonsu said dismissively, “I’m just going to talk to her,” then turned her attention back to the grandmother.
“Oh, thank you, dear.
Over at the public service desk, they kept telling me to fill out some form, but how am I supposed to know what any of that is?”
Walking beside the older woman, she led her to a bench at the end of the hallway.
As Yeonsu listened to her story, she was wearing colored contact lenses.
Espers commonly wore them to hide the telltale glow when they used their powers.
After the incident at the mall, Yeonsu had specifically requested a pair.
“Unbelievable.
Look at her.”
Clicking his tongue, Seunghyun watched as Yeonsu spoke with the grandmother, her hand resting on the item the woman had brought with her.
“I know how hard it is every time I use my ability, so I’m not going to waste it on pointless things.
I’m not that kind of person, so don’t worry.”
“And she said she wasn’t the type to throw her power around,” he muttered, dumbfounded.
It was obvious that Cha Yeonsu was using her ability on the evidence the complainant had brought—the cat’s collar.
The old woman’s report was infuriating, but it wasn’t the kind of case that warranted using an ability.
It could easily be handed over to the local precinct.
Yet there was Cha Yeonsu, using her power with a deadly serious expression.
By the book, he should have stopped her immediately.
Instead, he checked the numbers on his watch and hesitated.
“Take what you told me and this evidence and go to the local precinct.
This detective here says he’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Oh, thank you, dear.
You listened so well.
It was worth coming all this way.”
When Yeonsu returned with the grandmother, having apparently wrapped things up, the old woman pressed something firmly into her hand.
Yeonsu looked down to find two peppermint candies in her palm.
Before she could say anything, the grandmother was already walking away, telling her to share one with the detective.
Just as she had when she’d admitted it was her first time in a mall, Yeonsu’s cheeks flushed red as she stared blankly at the candies.
“Damn…”
The radiant expression on Yeonsu’s face was one he knew all too well.
It was the same look his partner, who had been especially full of righteous zeal when they were rookies, used to wear.
“What’s so great about being dispatched for something so pointless?
They didn’t even need us.”
Seunghyun had grumbled about wasting public resources, but as the complainant walked away, bowing gratefully, his partner, Iseok, had said: “You don’t get it.
This is the whole reason you become a cop.”
He had clapped Seunghyun on the shoulder and flashed a mischievous grin, and a warm satisfaction had welled up in Seunghyun’s chest.
He remembered how that smile had been so contagious it had made him smile, too.
Yes, his partner Iseok had smiled just like that—the way Cha Yeonsu was smiling now as she walked toward him.
It was probably that shared smile that did it.
On the watch strapped to his wrist, a different color appeared.
Orange.
The backlash level was 25.
Better than he’d expected.
However…
“I checked the cat collar the grandmother brought.
The culprit is…”
Back at his side, Yeonsu fidgeted with the two peppermint candies as she reported what she had seen.
The culprit’s physical description, the horrific final moment… she had felt as if she had become the cat herself.
Seunghyun’s gaze fell to the crinkling candy wrapper in her trembling hand—the hand that had just witnessed a gruesome death—and he cut her off.
“We can go over that later.”
“Oh.”
He took her by the hand and led her toward the emergency stairwell at the end of the hall.
His expression had hardened noticeably.
As she followed, the giddy excitement Yeonsu had felt finally evaporated, and she realized she had broken the rule about not using her ability recklessly.
She bit down hard on her lip.
What if he kicked her out and sent her to one of those notorious detention centers for Espers?
Her eyes wavered with anxiety.
“Um, Detective, this is…”
She wanted to make an excuse, but nothing came to mind.
She was the one who had ignored his warning.
Life with Tae Seunghyun had been more peaceful than she’d expected, and the people at the police agency hadn’t been as bad as she’d feared.
She had started acting as if she actually belonged.
What if her impulsive behavior had just ruined their deal?
Even in the short time she had known him, Yeonsu had seen that Seunghyun had a stubborn, rule-abiding streak.
She had also realized that one of the things he disliked most was deviating from those rules.
As he dragged her along in silence, she had no idea what he was going to say.
Her head filled with every worst-case scenario imaginable.