...wait, what.

"I... am about to tell you of a way in which I have harmed you and have been harming you for years. It will make you hate me. You will be right to hate me. I want you to wait until I'm done and then if you—want to hit me or, or something—"

"Okay I'm not sure I'd call this unstable but you're freaking me the fuck out, hyung."

"I have never loved you."

oh

"We are not compatible. Not symmetrically. You guide me very little. I have used you to keep my backlash levels stable and high for years."

"Wh—wh—"

"I'm a horrible person, Insoo. I have been obsessed with Lee Tae-gun for almost a decade. When we were together, I systematically used my powers to isolate him from his support network and trap him with me because of that obsession. When he finally managed to break free from me I devised a plan to get him back while my backlash was getting steadily worse. I manipulated you and used you, I kept you exactly as close to me as was necessary for you to never leave me but not so close that it would be surprising if I did—"

His legs almost give out and he has to lean against a wall to hold his weight up.

He continues, relentless. "I kept obsessive track of everything Lee Tae-gun was doing. I diverted potential partners away from him. I tried to make sure he would get more and more backlashed over the years until he eventually had to choose between me and dying in hopes that he'd choose me—"

"Why—"

"I didn't want anyone other than him to guide me. I felt disgusted every time you touched me. I used my power on you constantly to manage you and make sure you only saw what I wanted to show you. I lied to you. I manipulated you. All because of a deranged belief that if I did this for long enough I would be able to get Lee Tae-gun back."

This, this, this is too much. This, it, it doesn't, it doesn't, "This doesn't make any sense, hy—" Can he even call Kang Jaeha "hyung"? "Just—who are you—"

"Insoo—"

"It, it, it's Nightmare. It must be. It, it got to you somehow, otherwise, otherwise why—why would you—"

"The experimental procedure is these handcuffs." He rattles them. "They seem to be completely suppressing both my power and my backlash. I have not felt this guided in years—since, in fact, I was Lee Tae-gun's partner. I'm confessing all of this to you because I—"

His voice cracks. "Because I cannot bear to keep hurting you this much, Insoo. You didn't deserve this. You didn't deserve me. Didn't deserve the awful ways I've treated you, didn't deserve this, you're—you're such a good person, Insoo, such a bright and, and, and beautiful—you didn't deserve any of this. You didn't deserve any of this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Insoo, I'm so, so sorry—"

"I, I, I, this, but, Nightmare, you—"

"I'm sorry, Insoo. I'm sorry. Please hate me, please don't, don't think it was your fault. All of the little ways—the insecurities, the way you felt like you were never enough—I did this. It was me. I made you feel this way, I made you feel like you're not enough, but you are, you are enough, you've always been enough—"

Oh. Oh, so he—he knew. Of course he knew. He knew, because it was him. All the, the, if he knew—he knew—

"All Nightmare did was shown me in detail that there is no way for me to get Lee Tae-gun back." The tears are flowing freely, now, and he's staring at the ceiling, because he can't bear to look at Insoo's face, he's a coward and he's selfish and he can't even face the man whose life and self-esteem he ruined almost on a whim while he finishes crushing that man. He just can't. He's too weak, he keeps saying he'll face the punishment but even wanting to die is just wanting to run away, because he can't actually face any of it. "And so I wanted to die, because if I couldn't have him then life wasn't worth living. Everything else was—an accident. I was caught before I could act on it, and I got here, and they happened to have this—humane esper containment procedure—" Because he also got the email and it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. "I'm sorry, Insoo."

"I have to go. I have to, have to—" He doesn't use the door, he just requests a teleport from his personal stash of credits so that he can be away as quickly as he possibly can.

Jaeha squeezes his eyes shut. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry—"

Someone else pokes his head into the room about half an hour after Insoo leaves.

"Kang Jaeha-nim? I'm with the Korean government. If you'd like an attorney present, we can provide one for you, but you said there were several crimes you wanted to confess to?"

He's managed to calm down some over the past half hour and he was allowed to go to the bathroom and wash his face but he still kind of looks like shit.

"I would in fact like an attorney, if possible, yes." Not because he doesn't want to confess; rather, he wants to figure out how to, in the process of confessing, get all of his money and assets into better hands so that he can at least make any sorts of amends at all ever. He's filthy rich, surely he can use that to bring some good in the world, even if it doesn't offset all the harm he's wrought.