Ordinary Person A

#26

Discomfort.

Ho-woo was speechless, struck by the word choice. He had to swallow the curses that tried to rise up several times.

“Ho-woo? Is something wrong?”

Oh-yul, having apparently finished his short call, returned silently and slowly observed Ho-woo, who was gritting his teeth as if suppressing anger, along with the staff member.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Not wanting to tell Oh-yul, Ho-woo joked that the movie was about to start. The staff member still wore a troubled expression, and the gazes directed at them were not friendly. Oh-yul calmly spoke to Ho-woo, who was trying to wrap up the situation:

“Ho-woo. I’m fine.”

His face, even wearing a smile as if nothing had happened, was serene. This made Ho-woo even more furious. He felt immense pity for Oh-yul, who had naturally accepted and grown accustomed to this unfairness. Ho-woo’s eyes burned with anger.

“It seems today wasn’t the right day.”

He quietly left the cinema after getting a refund for the tickets. Ho-woo watched all of this while tightly hugging the popcorn bucket. His fingertips were white from gripping it so hard.

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble because of me.”

Oh-yul comforted Ho-woo as if he had never had any expectations to begin with. The kind words meant to soothe Ho-woo only intensified his emotions.

His lips were tightly pressed together, and finally, a tear fell from his eyes that were brimming with tears. While Ho-woo, who had been caught up in this, felt so indignant, the actual person involved was busy comforting him. As if this kind of thing was familiar. That made Ho-woo even more upset.

Looking at Ho-woo with teary eyes and sniffling, Oh-yul felt a surge of affection rising from his chest.

“How could I not love you? You’re the only one who sees me for who I truly am.”

Oh-yul wiped Ho-woo’s eyes with his fingers, recalling that moment still clearly etched in his mind.

That this all began from that time.

Sea Fog

The small child glared fiercely with both eyes. The headache that had been tormenting the child had been going on for a year already. After realizing that the pain ripping through his head wouldn’t disappear no matter how much he writhed or screamed, Oh-yul stopped doing anything.

He just sat quietly in a room darkened by thick curtains, eyes tightly closed, enduring that moment. The child matured far too early in the moment of transforming from an ordinary child into a monster.

His parents, who had been the most affectionate and loving in the world, stopped showing love to the child from that day. All that returned were violence, curses, and the gleam of black eyes filled with fear.

At first, he couldn’t understand it. Nothing had changed about him, so why were these things suddenly happening to him?

But at some point, the child realized. Everything had gone wrong because he had stepped outside the bounds of normality.

As the purple color of his eyes grew stronger, Oh-yul’s surroundings regained an artificial daily life.

His parents embraced him again and whispered words of love, and the servants welcomed him, calling him “young master.” He thought everything had returned to normal.

Everything was the same as before. So the young child felt relieved, thinking there would be no problems.

However, the child, still ignorant of many things, soon received the consequences of misusing his power. He had only wanted to be loved again, hiding in his small world, but as if that had been the greatest greed, this whole situation violently choked him.

He heard auditory hallucinations along with a fever and a headache that felt like his head would explode. Even covering his eyes and plugging his ears couldn’t stop the loud noises from tormenting Oh-yul.

It’s noisy, so noisy!!

The unvoiced scream circled in his mouth. His curled-up body trembled. He wished for someone to approach while also hoping they wouldn’t.

Normal life was almost impossible as he suffered from headaches and hallucinations almost daily. The fortunate thing was that the last employee whose memories Oh-yul had touched had a child about Oh-yul’s age, so she was skilled at taking care of him.

“Young master, you’ve left food again today? It’s not much, you should eat it all.”

Even when he didn’t answer because her gentle words irritated him, she always spoke to Oh-yul. As if overlapping her own child at home with the young master, she would worry, examining his thin body here and there, making Oh-yul often curious about what her child looked like.

However, not once did the child ask to meet her son or to see a photo. Everyone Oh-yul had faced after his awakening was the same.

They feared him at first, then thinking he was a monster weaker and younger than themselves, they would resort to violence. After beating him persistently as if out of their minds with extreme fear, they would pour out looks of contempt.

She was no different. She didn’t physically abuse Oh-yul, but she too feared him. It would be the same if she brought her son.

So Oh-yul didn’t harbor any hasty expectations or hopes. The child was young but had learned pain far too early, and was busy struggling with the pain burning his body. All he could do was endure silently in the darkness where no sound could be heard.

“Come to think of it, I need to step out for a while today. My son seems to have gotten into another fight at kindergarten, so they’ve requested a meeting.”

“Alright.”

At his curt permission, unfitting for his age, she awkwardly withdrew. Oh-yul lowered the book he had been reading, feeling her presence quietly disappear.

His head throbbed, signaling another headache. The pain that felt like death enveloped his small body in an instant.

***

Oh-yul furrowed his brow at the headache that still hadn’t subsided. While he had been briefly unconscious, he sensed an unfamiliar presence nearby. It was somewhat bustling and far too small to be an adult.

The child gently opened his eyes. Somehow, his body had been laid on the bed. It seemed the servant who said she would step out briefly had returned. Oh-yul directed his gaze towards the small presence. Sitting by the window where Oh-yul often sat to read was a strange visitor, a small child.

The child, with band-aids plastered all over his face, had light brown hair and clear brown eyes. Anyone could see he was her son.

As his eyes gradually turned more purple, the servants became increasingly afraid of him. If he used his ability any more, his head might really explode. He was contemplating whether to use his ability or not when he narrowed his brows at the clear brown eyes he suddenly met.

“Wow!”

The child exclaimed as soon as their eyes met. The small body put down the large book he had been reading as if throwing it and bustled towards the bed where Oh-yul was. The unfamiliar child raised his hands high.

Surely, even a young child like this isn’t going to hit me?

Oh-yul tightly closed his eyes, bracing for the pain he was about to face. His body, exhausted from pain, didn’t even have the energy left to avoid it. However, what touched him was a small hand gently landing on his cheek. Oh-yul’s eyes flew open at the warmth transmitted by the child’s characteristically warm hand and the words that followed.

“Your eyes are so pretty!”

The brightly smiling face was incredibly cheerful. For the first time that day, Oh-yul didn’t resent his purple eyes. The light brown eyes directed at him sparkled with pure fondness.

***

“Are you feeling a bit better now?”

Ho-woo nodded slightly at Oh-yul’s question. He had ended up sniffling, unable to contain his anger. Yet Oh-yul, who had actually experienced such discrimination, was sitting calmly beside Ho-woo, handing him tissues.

“I’m sorry.”

At Ho-woo’s dejected voice, Oh-yul carefully wrapped an arm around his shoulders. His large hand gently patted Ho-woo’s back.

“I vaguely expected this might happen.”

“……”

“I had heard about Choi Seon-woo’s experiences before.”

Oh-yul’s words about having prepared himself mentally made Ho-woo feel even more depressed. This damned situation really wasn’t helping.

He shouldn’t give Oh-yul any openings, but every time he saw these vulnerable moments, he found himself creating gaps. He should firmly push him away and maintain an appropriate distance, but the boundaries of that line were blurring.

“Let’s watch that movie together later.”

Even if they couldn’t watch it in the theater, they could rent the movie and watch it at Ho-woo’s house. So after leaving the cinema, when it became available on TV, they could sit side by side with beer and chicken instead of popcorn this time.

“It seems we have a lot to do together in the future.”

“I guess so.”

“We need to have dinner together at your place, watch movies, and tell each other when we’re sick, don’t we?”

That sounds like we’re dating.

Ho-woo pressed a tissue firmly against his reddened eyes to wipe them and sniffled. His eyes stung.

“Your eyes are quite swollen.”

Oh-yul’s hands cupped Ho-woo’s cheeks fully. Usually, his hands were warm, so Ho-woo was about to push them away, but feeling the coolness of Oh-yul’s thumbs on his eyes, he closed them and let out a long sigh.

“I must look awful.”

“No.”

You look beautiful.

Oh-yul’s softly whispered voice was sweet. The touch of his hands, full of affection, was incredibly gentle. If he wasn’t going to accept Oh-yul’s feelings, he should push him away, but strangely, the comfort from their touching skin made that difficult.