You know what, he should've predicted this. And actually this is probably not the best—

"Sunbae, let's go sit on your sofa. Or your bed. ...bathtub, probably."

And without waiting for permission he teleports both of them there.

Woo-young considers the idea of hugging Tae-gun and then discards it. Not a hugging moment. 

"She's fine. He didn't—as far as I know he didn't do anything to her. She's safe."

Woo-young is—saying something. At least Tae-gun thinks he is. He's not sure. He can't really hear him. There's this really loud banging sound in his head like drums, and this high-pitched whistle that's coming from nowhere and everywhere. It drowns him out. Drowns everything out.

He was safe. He was safe. He—hardly ever thought that name. He'd never had reason to. He didn't watch or read the news, the three times Nightmare cropped up since, and he blacklisted that name and Lucid Guild from all Google searches. 

He never needed to think about it. About him. About that time. It was over. He was over it. Over that part of his life. He could move on. He learned how to deal with his backlash, without anyone else. He tried a new partnership after but it didn't work out but it was fine. He never needed to think about it.

The sounds in his head are very loud.

Then he got a partner again. That was pretty much proof that he was over it, right? And it's been a couple of months already, and he, he doesn't do anything dangerous. And it's fine, really. It's been fine. It's been fine. He was over it.

When did it get so dark? He thought it was morning.

He mistrusted Hye-jin. Who again? He can't remember. He can't think. The sounds are so loud. He can't think anymore. He's not sure what he was thinking. He—

"Sunbae, breathe!" Woo-young cries, shaking Tae-gun bodily.

He takes in his first breath in he has no idea how long and starts coughing violently and gasping to try to get air again in his system.

Then he turns to the side and vomits.

Yeah, okay, maybe it is actually hugging time. He can hug Tae-gun and run a hand through his hair and rock back and forth slowly.

Why?

Why is he back? 

Why now? 

He thought—thought—

"Kim Hye-jin," he says, suddenly. "Is—is she—"

"She's fine. Nothing happened. She's fine. She's away from him."

He nods and tries to believe that. 

It's really, really hard to believe anything, right now. 

"What—what happened?"

"He—Kang Jaeha—bumped into her in a bookstore. As in, literally physically bumped into her, dropped books he'd been carrying, et cetera."

"He was faking it."

"He was absolutely faking it. Then he just—chatted to her. About books. Introduced her to a new bookstore. And while he was there—sunbae. Breathe."

He breathes, again. It's so easy to forget to breathe, when nothing can be real except that. That can't be faked. The lack of oxygen in his blood, the fainting, that's all real.

But he breathes.

After making sure Tae-gun is in fact breathing he continues. "He was playing this kind of bumbling fool character, and he told her he used to be your partner—"

Tae-gun shivers violently at that word.

"—and she was immediately suspicious. Apparently Lucid Guild had been trying to poach her. He acted like he didn't know anything about it—"

"He absolutely knew."

"Of course he knew. So then Hye-jin left and messaged me to ask about him and I've been talking to her about him for the last hour."

Oh. 

Oh no. 

Oh no no no.

Yes. Obviously. Of course Hye-jin would ask about it and of course she'd ask Woo-young before asking him and, and, and—

"What—did you tell her."

"I told her about all of his powers. And she asked me if Kang Jaeha was the person who fucked you up. I said yes."

The person who fucked him up. 

Well, he supposes he knew he was fucked up. He thought he was already fucked up before don'tthinkhisname but he supposes that whole thing did fuck him up more. So now he's just a fuckup, no matter whose fault it was.

"Sunbae you're thinking mean thoughts about yourself again aren't you."