just like back then
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.... Though...

".... probably any tactics talk should take place before any alcohol is imbibed," acknowledges Hye-jin a little awkwardly, after the waiter has departed. She looks at Tae-gun, because, uh. She's trying not to make the literal exact same mistake she did earlier, a second time.

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Ah goddamnit.

"What tactics talk, Hye-jin."

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Wince.

"Your crazy stalker ex that is still a very real problem that will not go away if we pretend he doesn't exist even if we want very much for him to? Sorry???"

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"Does it have to be here. Now."

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"Tae-gun..." Juheon starts, reaching for Tae-gun's hand.

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He pulls his hand away like he's been burnt.

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Then he covers his face. "Sorry. Sorry. I don't mean to snap. Just..."

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"It's okay. I shouldn't have - I did the combat esper thing of 'see problem, solve problem' earlier, and I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry. It's more complicated than that. No, it doesn't have to happen now, but it should be a conscious decision to not, instead of just. Not."

And Tae-gun, if left to his own devices, was just going to not. She doesn't say this, but it's pretty clearly heard anyway.

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...this is awkward as hell but actually they're all of them combat espers so—they get it.

"Sunbae, what do you need?"

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He barks out a humourless laugh. "What I need is—is—" What even is it? He needs his time with Jaeha to not have been a lie. He needs the man he loves to not be a monster. He needs the people he loves to not be plotting to murder each other.

Actually he really feels like that last one should be achievable!!!! He has it on good authority that most people's loved ones aren't plotting to murder each other even a little bit!!!!!

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"...too many contradictory things and something's gotta give and it's gonna hurt a lot when it does?"

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"It'd be great if it only hurt a lot then, actually."

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Wince.

"... Sorry," she repeats, again, but that feels so useless and stupid when she keeps being the one to bring up this exact problem and hurt him. ... It's Kang Jaeha's fault, ultimately, but. She does keep making the issue be an issue now, which. ... Combat esper.

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"... It doesn't have to be now," she repeats, looking away. "Really. I'm - sorry I keep pushing."

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He grits his teeth. "No, you know what? Fine. Fine! You want tactics talk? Let's talk tactics.

"Kang Jaeha's publicly known powers are only a fraction of what he can do. He can create fully immersive illusions that are indistinguishable from reality even in retrospect. Everything you can perceive, he can fake. He can fake the feeling of your heartbeat and the breath in your lungs, he can fake the feeling of having just woken up, he can fake the feeling of being in a dream."

He pours the soju he ordered into a cup and starts drinking it. "He can let your brain do most of the detailwork, he can make you come up with a whole conversation in your head and play it out without overseeing it at all."

More alcohol. "No other mind esper on record is known to be able to detect his work, counter him, or prevent him from affecting you. He can completely remove any other esper's or dungeon's effects from your mind, and shield you absolutely."

More alcohol. "He can erase short term memories if he catches them as they form. He can't directly make you feel any emotions but he can bring the ones you're already feeling more or less into focus, and pull at them to try to reshape them at the edges. He can't mind read you but he can tell everything you're feeling, and he gets feedback on a lot of major things, like whether you're looking at a face and whether it's someone you recognise or whatever."

More. "The closer he is to you, physically, the better he is at details, but he literally could make up your entire environment and not even be in the same building as you."

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At some point in the middle of that Chun-hee lifted her hands to cover her mouth and she's now just staring at him.

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"That's—you cannot be serious, Tae-gun."

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"That's S-rank."

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"Yeah."

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"...does that mean..."

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"That he used his powers on me? Oh yes. And on all of you. Not that any of us can tell because, again, there is literally not a single other esper who could look into our brains and figure out what was real and what he put in there!"

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His voice cracks and he looks away. "I—I thought—he convinced me. That you guys—that—"

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Oh. That's. That's what he meant, earlier. When he apologised for believing things...

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Yeah.

She doesn't interrupt and she doesn't contradict him, she just sits there quietly looking grim, wishing she weren't partially responsible for her partner's pain, and also that she could hold him.

She's so sorry, Tae-gun.

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"And now you may be thinking, gosh, Tae-gun, isn't it a bit stupid of you to still care about him? Isn't it kind of dumb that you love him? Aren't you a little daft?"

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