He laughs a giggle that's more of a sob than a laugh.

"Sunbae, you know what the name of this is? It's a trauma response. You're traumatised."

"Just how fucking pathetic do I have to be to be traumatised by this? I'm the most powerful esper in the country! I'm probably one of the top ten most powerful espers in the world! And I can't get over my fucking ex—"

"Your fucking ex who systematically gaslighted you using esper powers, who isolated you from everyone around you and made himself your only support network, who made everything in you be about him, who made you need him—"

"He needed me more! He loved me!"

Tae-gun sobs. "I loved him," he says, pulling away from the hug. "I, I loved him, Woo-young."

"Sunbae..."

"I," he takes a shallow breath, trying to make himself not cry. "I loved him. I gave him everything. I keep," hic, "keep having double vision whenever I," hic, "think about it. Why couldn't," hic, "why couldn't that be enough?"

"Sunbae—Tae-gun—"

"It's not fair!" Hic. "What's the point in being, in being Lee Tae-gun if some," hic, "some guy, he's just some guy, how could I let some guy fuck me up like this?" Hic. "It's been years, Woo-young. And I still sob like a fucking child when I hear his fucking name." Hiccup.

"And I'm so self-centred." Hiccup. "It's, I didn't even see him, Hye-jin did, and I'm," hic, "I'm making it all about myself. The great Lee Tae-gun," hiccup, "can't get over his ex," hiccup, "only thinks about himself—"

"Your literal first question was about Hye-jin's safety, sunbae," he says, gently.

"After I went and almost made myself pass out from not breathing—"

"Sunbae, be kind to yourself. You keep, keep telling yourself things you wouldn't dream of telling anyone else. You keep comparing yourself to the perfect shining hero you want to be and concluding you're shit whenever you fail to be it and that's, honestly sunbae that's such a cliché."

"We'll add that to the list, then! A traumatised, fucked up cliché who can't get over his ex, what else have we got?"

"Sometimes I wonder if you even hear the shit you say or if you just kind of autocomplete it with whatever will make you feel worst like some kind of fucked up iPhone from hell."

"Aren't all iPhones from hell?"

"Sunbae it's not nice to call America 'hell'."

He giggles at that.

And then he hiccups.

And then he breaks down.

"Fucking. Kang Jaeha. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him so much. How dare he, I'm fucking Lee Tae-gun, how dare he do this to me, how dare he, he, how dare he make me love him and then do this. He could've—could've—could—"

Woo-young thinks it's hugging time again.

This time Tae-gun hugs him back and just... cries. Cries himself hoarse and raw, cries himself dry, cries and cries and cries. He cries until he can't cry anymore, and then cries some more.

He's decided he's going to cry as much as he can cry now, because this is ridiculous. He's Lee Tae-gun, he should not still be crying over an ex from half a decade ago. He should cry himself out, get rid of all of the crying in his system and then...

...get over it. 

Get over Kang Jaeha.

Move on with his life, and treat Kang Jaeha, not as an ex, but as a threat.