He takes a seat and listens impassively (except for a twitch when she says the name).

"That... is smart. I don't think he needs to dictionary attack me, though." He knows Tae-gun too well.

"Thank you, though honestly I'm not so much worried about you getting dictionary attacked? What I'm worried about is getting manipulated into doing something illegal or dangerous. Or deadly. I expect that if I see him again it will actually be phenomenally stupid to set him on fire, because probably? That's actually someone else. And I want to know when and where he's trying that, or anything else, to figure out what constraints he's working under."

Tae-gun wants to say that he doesn't think this is—that guy's—style, but what does he know, really? Exactly and only what that guy wanted him to know, is what.

(It was so funny, how he thought he could get over that guy. He still can't even let himself think that guy's name, now that he's no longer actively spiralling about it. Talk about being inconsistent.)

But also, he doesn't really know how to bring up the thing he wanted to talk about, when she's doing tactics talk at him like that.

"But I don't know how likely that particular line of attack is from him, I just think our defenses against mental tampering currently suck and that they need to be better, in general. That's just my worst case scenario that I want to avoid at all costs. Uh - I don't think we should skip our next dungeon, actually, or hide in here for a week like Woo-young-sunbae mentioned. For one, people would die or at least get overworked, but for another - he doesn't work across portals, right? No esper ever has in recorded history."

"Not as far as I know," he says. She's right about no esper having ever been able to do that, and if he were objective about this it'd be obvious that it's kind of ridiculous to expect that that guy could, but Tae-gun is anything but objective about the whole situation.

"Right. And for once in our lives, the omnipresent media presence waiting outside dungeons will play to our advantage. What's he gonna do, mind control every single person in the crowd outside of a dungeon, and go through all of the data on each and every one of their phones, and take down anyone livestreaming in a way that wasn't obvious? Hah. I'd love to see him try. I kind of think the most verifiably safe place we can be is actually in dungeons."

"Or my silo. There is no record of where it is anywhere on the system, it doesn't keep a history of past teleports for me personally and I type the coordinates every time, he would not have a way to find it."

"Okay, fair, but I'm not going to demand to be let into your silo, and my secret underground base plans are still in the works. So. Safest place I can be is actually in dungeons," she says, a little amused.

"Mm." Yeah he's not going to invite her to his silo.

Yeah, she thought not, and frankly she wouldn’t want to ask it of him.

“Possibly we need different names for different silos, since you have more than one, and I probably will eventually?” This can be the lewd handholding one. Wait, no, be professional. “This one can be the split silo? Since, you know.” She motions to the wall. “Split. Only handholding allowed.”

"Yeah. That seems reasonable. And I suppose my silo is... my silo. And yours will be yours." Amazing job at using words to have a conversation like a real human being, Lee Tae-gun, you're acing this.

Well, it produces a giggle, so. Apparently he is!

Yeah. Sure.

...

"Woo-young said that you—" Pause. "That your job is to kill monsters."

“Y…es? It is. Was this in question, sunbae? You’ve seen me do my job.”

"I'm. I meant. Something else."

“Why I’m not screaming and running back to Japan, or seeing if my English is good enough to survive going to America or something, you mean?”

"I—not—exactly—but that too."

"Okay, well. Because he doesn't get to take people. People aren't things to be taken by anything or anyone, be it dungeons or espers or anyone else. If anyone tries it I will try to stop them. Because it's my job, and I like my job.

"Plus - if we were in a dungeon and you were accosted by something horrible, it would be my job to have your back and get you out. If it were a dungeon break, it'd be the same. You are my partner, I have your back. That's how it works."

Pause.

"Also the bastard showed up near my house. I just bought that house, I am actually pretty fucking mad about it being stolen from me by a mindraping self-obsessed esper who somehow got the dungeon/esper divide completely fucking backwards."

He looks down at his feet so that she won't see the numerous complicated faces he makes and, most importantly, so that she can't see his urge to cry again.

The thing is. The thing is. The thing is.

"... Sorry, too flippant? I, uh. Know the risks, just. I don't think he's going to go away with a strongly worded email."

"No, that's not, that's not—" His voice is tight but at least he's managing to keep it steady. "I don't have any right to tell you what to do. Not if—he—comes after you because—because of me."

"If he comes after me it'll be because of him, not you, and - you can make requests? You're a smart man, I care about your opinion."

"I don't want—" God he can't say it. He just can't say it. The words won't come out.

You're making such a fool of yourself, Lee Tae-gun. What made you think you could walk into her half of the split silo, looking all nice and hot in your overcoat, like you were some kind of, of functional human being, after hours of crying over your ex, and hold a conversation? Pathetic. Pathetic, and delusional.