"...okay. But, uh. I don't really... like... owning things..."

"Would renting be okay?"

"—oh I don't mean the apartment, owning the apartment is fine, just, things in it. Objects. I've—I don't—decorate. Or do things other than work and train and... when I used to have a life I... went out sometimes... but..."

"Oh. Hm. I expect Quasar offers this service? Probably?"

"Probably."

"Is the problem here that you think you won't be able to spend much time in your apartment anyway, because you'll always be doing things outside it, so what's even the point?"

"Oh. Yeah." Wow literally everyone can just read his mind huh.

On one hand: she does kind of want to help him out in some way? But on the other hand: this kind of thing is why she would like some space from her boyfriend, actually. He's gotta figure this shit out on his own.

But she will make sure he's been fed and is generally taking care of himself.

"Have you eaten?" she asks, because she has suspicions.

"...um. Not... really..."

How did she guess. Oh, wait! She's met him.

"Uh huh. Okay! Room service it is, toast is not enough for three hungry espers..." There should be a little card somewhere with room service options, she's going to set about making sure they Have Food.

This also neatly makes Tae-gun having to figure out how to have a space of his own not her problem! She is very clever and wise.

Yep it does!

"So, want to test compatibility?" he asks, holding out his hand.

"...ah, I don't really—get guiding from people I'm not partnered to."

"By which you mean, people who haven't signed an NDA?"

"...well..."

"I would be fired if I told anyone what your backlash is," he points out. "But I don't want to pressure you." He drops his hand.

Ah. Yeah. Legit. Though he still has his massive backlog of chronic backlash that is not entirely chipped away at, such that he should probably be buried under a pile of compatible espers for the next six months to be completely sure. She gives him some soothing pats while she gets them food, though.

Food: ordered! There will be a drone at their window shortly.

No obvious emotional catastrophes imminent, Hye-jin will... tentatively... check her email. There might be delicious apologies in there, and she... does still feel overall pretty wronged by the state of the world and how she's been treated in it, actually.

There are some! Here's one. 

Hey Hye-jin. I think I owe you some apologies, too.

I'm sorry about last night. I wish I'd known what that clown had been planning. I don't know what he was thinking, doing that then and there. I hope you'll still have fond memories of the wedding despite it. 

And I'm sorry about how I acted when we went to your and Tae-gun's place after that ice dungeon. I should've realised you wouldn't have wanted to be there in the center of it so soon after what happened. I should've suggested that you could leave and let us take care of it without losing face. I was so focused on the task, I didn't think about how you must've been feeling about it until it was really obvious. I'm sorry for making such a time in your life worse than it should've been. 

I hope you're okay. Love you, girl.

Thank you!

I still had fun at your wedding, yeah, though I don't think that clown and I are ever going to be friends. Or on speaking terms. I don't super want to interact with him ever again, honestly, he is not making it obvious to me that he has redeeming qualities!

Thanks. I'm - still processing some things. The tactics meeting was.... very hard for me in ways I wasn't completely cognizant of at the time. I think the really big thing for me more than any one person was everybody not - giving me space to leave? And also doing the polite Korean 'if we do not see the thing it does not exist,' while also seemingly being chill with Si-yeon tapdancing all over my traumas, and then not giving us space even after I started crying, that it all added up to... idk. I have some issues around organizations of perfectly nice people coming together into a group and screwing me over. Dunno how to prevent that sort of thing in the future, would appreciate some kind of interference to prevent things like that, please. I 100% will be dying on the inside with a smile on my face, White Star fucked me up good.

I'm doing okay. Met a cute guy at a bar, turned out to be compatible with him. Ended up having a very nice night in the end! ;)

Hey! Ji-woo-sunbae said we should email you to apologise for stuff so I'm doing this here, but let me know if you'd like something else instead.

I'm really sorry about how I treated you that time at Tae-gun's. I think I was just sort of acting like we were pushing the meeting we'd already planned forward without considering why we were doing that, and even though I noticed you were in a bad way, I thought you wouldn't have wanted us to bring it up. But we never gave you any space to leave if you in fact didn't want to be there then, and just jumped straight to it. 

I'm sorry even after we acknowledged it we didn't really take it in well enough. I think we were all out of sorts about how to engage with it—I know I was—and kept trying to fit the situation into some mold that made sense, rather than really reassess and consider what you needed. 

And I know I'm not Ha Si-yeon's keeper, but I'm also really sorry about not reining him in when I knew what he could be like. I'm also sorry for going along with him and with Min Woo-young when they were acting familiar. I should really have thought about it a lot harder. 

Finally, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was the one who suggested to Ha Si-yeon that he mention the email to you, and it should've occurred to me that it was not a good time for more highly emotionally difficult topics. I'm sorry for encouraging him; I should've urged restraint instead. 

I don't know if this is okay to say, but I think I had an image of you as kind of invincible. I'm not trying to say any of it is your fault at all, you shouldn't need to be invincible and invulnerable and people shouldn't assume you are. But you're always so cool and badass, and I admire you so much, that I let myself believe nothing could get to you, and so I acted in unacceptable ways as a result. 

I still think you're really cool and badass, and admire you a lot. You're a cool and badass and admirable human, and I shouldn't forget about the human part, and should treat you with the care and respect and thoughtfulness you deserve. 

If you ever need anything, be it a hug or a shoulder or an ear or firepower to destroy your enemies, please know that you are very dear to me and I will be here for you. 

Lee Juheon

... Yeah, she's not going to be able to reply to this one right now. On one hand: Juheon as a person is hard to be mad at, and he does clearly care? On the other hand: everything else.

So it was the combined brain power of Tae-gun and his two hyungs that resulted in the wedding apology nonsense? That's kind of funny, it's like 'Three idiots try to disarm a bomb at a wedding,' except she's the bomb, and was actively trying not to blow up. Nobody asked them to try and disarm the proverbial bomb at the non proverbial wedding. They just decided to, for some reason.

This one gets to go in a folder named 'NOPE,' and then she moves on.

Kim Hye-jin-san,

I am not sure if you will remember me. You helped me in a way I dearly needed at a very difficult time in my life, but I would not at all be surprised to learn that you do that every Tuesday.

My new partner and I are doing well at our new guild. I remain very grateful for your support in those early days, without which I am sure I would not be where I am today.

I hope it is not too presumptuous of me to say that if you need anything, I would be glad to offer it. Please feel free to disregard this message for that or any other reason.

Thank you again,
Ueno Midori

She's briefly thrown by it being in Japanese instead of Korean, but once she processes its contents, she stares at it. Ueno Midori... the name doesn't ring a bell, but her face and hair color might - she does a brief search on the esper database and... ah ha.

The pink hair is very memorable, and connects the appropriate dots. She... paid for her to get her own personal silo, instead of a shared or guild one, she thinks. Or possibly did a down payment for several months rent on an apartment? The apartment might've been the silo? Something like that. She remembers encountering 'new esper without built up savings and at the mercy of the whims of others' and just. Well, even then, she was an A-rank who liked to do tricky dungeons, she had spare cash to spend on stuff. Like 'make sure a young female esper had a place to be safe.' Like that.

... Well she's definitely feeling a way about this. Not sure what way, but. A way. It's really nice to know she did some real, tangible, non-destructive based good for someone? Such that the someone would send an email into the void on the chance that it would reach her and make her feel a little bit better.

Ueno Midori-san,

I do remember you, actually! I can't remember if it was a silo or an apartment or both, but I helped get you a place that was yours where you were safe, right? I'm really glad it helped.

Your email is extremely sweet and I love it intensely? Thank you for it, truly. It's a ray of sunshine in what's been a bit of a dark time. It's, uh, been a hard couple of months for me, as you might've guessed.

Would you like to keep in contact? Maybe meet some time and catch up? I would like to be your friend.

Thank you in return,
Kim Hye-jin