“No. There isn’t.”
Even though it should have been a moment of joy and delight, Hyukjin’s mind kept drifting back to Jaehwi’s expression he’d encountered before entering the test room. The slightly upturned corners of his lips and that arrogant look as he gazed down at him. Though he hadn’t said anything, that expression somehow seemed to be saying, ‘I’ll show you the numbers you want.’
Aiden emerged from the test room with the astounding number of 78%, and once again the surroundings became noisy. It was as good as decided who would be the Guide for ‘Nox’ that everyone wanted.
The compatibility test after Aiden’s turn didn’t even take 30 seconds.
“Are you really going to do this?”
Raon, who had been heading to the test room, stopped as Hyukjin grabbed his wrist and looked down at him.
“Why.”
“It’s 78%. S-grade at 78%. They get along well too. Even if you try, everyone will…”
Right. They’d just become gossip fodder. His C-grade status would be exposed, and there’d be a scandal about how Team Leader Kang of MK Center, a C-grade with the worst compatibility, had the nerve to covet ‘Nox.’
“I don’t care if it’s even 1%.”
It wasn’t embarrassing for him to be known as a C-grade Guide. Now he could openly add his name to the dungeon team and no one would say anything. Of course, the Espers and Guides who would go into dungeons with him would accumulate complaints. Even though the dungeons Raon, being C-grade, would enter wouldn’t have anything dangerous.
But whether they complained or disliked it, such things weren’t important to him. Since when had he lived caring about people’s gazes and groundless rumors?
“I really didn’t think you’d come.”
At Jaehwi’s words heard simultaneously upon entering the test room, Raon nodded his head roughly. Then he put on the bracelet first.
“I told you it was pointless.”
“You know everything we say here can be heard in the control room, right?”
“Are you saying to let them keep listening? Or are you asking me to make it so no one can hear? I don’t mind, but if it’s going to be a conversation that would be troublesome for you, Team Leader, I’ll do as you wish.”
Since Jaehwi chose to head toward the wall and distance himself rather than sitting comfortably in a chair or couch, Raon headed for the comfortable chair in the center of the test room. He recalled how cozy and comfortable it had been, enough to doze off.
The sound of a gentle breeze that gave psychological stability, the sound of rustling leaves, and the chirping of unknown birds lingered in Raon’s ears.
With his left arm wrapped around his upper body, Raon carefully sat in the chair and closed his eyes. Whatever the result, unless he spoke about what he had directly experienced, this was as far as he could insist. Moreover, the difference between imagining Jaehwi and Aiden’s relationship and actually seeing it was too great.
Unlike before when he had sat and watched the test comfortably, Hyukjin paced around the control room, alternately looking at the test room and the monitor.
Simultaneously with Raon entering the test room, a commotion filled the surroundings. And now everyone was watching the two while holding their breath.
It was the moment to verify the truth of the rumor that had been circulating: ‘Team Leader Kang is actually a Guide hiding tremendous abilities.’ What those here could know for certain was the compatibility test result, but before that, to conduct such a test one had to be a Guide of a certain grade or higher.
There had been an incident where Raon entered the Guide room where Jaehwi was receiving guiding, and then whitish mist-like something formed so they couldn’t see or hear what happened inside, which made the commotion even greater.
“What is it?”
“It’s not even 10 percent.”
“How long has it been since the test started?”
“One minute has passed.”
It seemed like they were having a brief conversation, then Raon sat comfortably in the chair and closed his eyes. And Jaehwi leaned against the wall, staring somewhere else. If the atmosphere between Aiden and Jaehwi earlier had been spring full of gentle breezes, this place was like a desolate field at the end of November with chilly winds blowing.
And this sluggish test continued for three more minutes. If it had been another Guide, they would have ended the test right away, but to end it like this, a strange uneasiness kept holding onto Hyukjin’s ankles.
They were simultaneously producing a figure that could be used as a specimen of the most ideal and perfect matching rate of Esper and Guide grades and compatibility, and a specimen that clearly showed that the test itself was a waste of human and material resources—literally the worst.
Standing with his arms crossed while watching the test room, Hyukjin didn’t miss seeing Jaehwi slowly turn his head. There was no way he could see here from inside. At first he thought it was a coincidence, but Hyukjin couldn’t say anything when he met the head turned at precisely the right angle to look at him and the unmoving black pupils.
Nox was looking precisely at him. The moment he flinched and stepped back a little, one corner of Nox’s mouth rose crookedly and his eyebrow lifted lightly.
The meaning was clear even without wanting to read it—why aren’t you stopping the test and what are you doing? How long are you going to waste his precious time on something like this? After squeezing his eyes shut and opening them, Hyukjin realized he was no longer making eye contact with Jaehwi.
He was clearly looking this way, but no matter what effort he made, he couldn’t meet Jaehwi’s gaze. What he’d just experienced felt like a dream, but also like something he’d experienced before.
“Team Leader. It’s been stuck at 13 percent for 2 minutes now, what should we do?”
“Stop it.”
Raising his hand to sweep and massage the back of his neck, Hyukjin tried to resolve the uncomfortable and strange emotion he was feeling.
“We’ll end the test. Thank you for your hard work.”
Even while hearing the announcement the research lab staff made to the test room, Hyukjin couldn’t readily leave that spot. Even at the words that the test was over, Jaehwi remained right where he was. The one who moved was Raon.
Raon sat up from the chair he’d been leaning back in comfortably and buried his face in both hands, seeming to let out a long sigh. He didn’t know whether he actually sighed or not, but he probably needed to rest like that for a moment, if only because of the pain.
Next, he removed the bracelet on his wrist and placed it on the side table, then slowly stood up from the chair. Even in that short time, as if he had to reveal his fussy and fastidious personality, he straightened his clothes while standing.
Raon seemed to be looking at Jaehwi and saying something, but all he could see was the round back of Raon’s head. Unable to read the situation from Jaehwi’s expressionless face alone, Hyukjin turned on the speaker he’d turned off.
[Are you satisfied?]
[You haven’t seen the results.]
[Why until the end when it’s so obvious…]
Just from the brief conversation, the suffocating tension could be read. As if he had no intention of conversing further, Raon moved first, then lost his balance and staggered, causing a small “Ah!” to burst from Hyukjin’s mouth.
But what moved faster than his voice was Jaehwi. Only when he saw Raon firmly caught in Jaehwi’s arms without falling did Hyukjin exhale the breath he’d unknowingly stopped.
“Huh?”
“Oh! Team Leader.”
After confirming Raon wasn’t hurt and opening the test room door himself to help him come out, Hyukjin looked toward the sound calling him. At the research lab staff’s expressions full of bewilderment and surprise, Hyukjin approached them instead of the test room.
Unlike Raon’s graph which showed a continuous stream of zeros after the test ended and the bracelet was removed, one graph was creating a line with a steep slope. The number that had been gently fluctuating around 10% shot up to 100% in an instant and didn’t drop even as they watched.
“Nox. Hit a perfect…”
Simultaneously with the words about the situation that everyone could see but couldn’t believe coming from one of the researchers’ mouths, the line plummeted down. Then it continued recording numbers in the low 10% range again. Hyukjin’s gaze naturally turned to the test room.
Distance had formed between the two who had been embracing just moments ago, and Jaehwi was removing his bracelet.
“Is it an error?”
“Even if it’s an error, would it suddenly hit perfect and drop back to normal?”
“Did someone touch something?”
“Team Leader. How should we handle this?”
“Error.”
Hyukjin said while watching Jaehwi emerge from the test room and approach him. Simultaneously, Jaehwi let out a snickering laugh.
“Show me the results sheet.”
“Esper Min’s information is there, but other Guides’ information is also there, so we’ll show you an organized file later. Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
“…There’s no retest. My partner’s already as good as decided, so I’d rather we not waste each other’s time on pointless things. It’s much more productive to train more or enter one more dungeon in that time.”
“I hope it’s also a pointless matter for Team Leader Kang.”
Though it was muttered like talking to himself, Jaehwi would have clearly heard it. Hyukjin passed by Jaehwi and headed into the test room. Because of his foolish friend who was still standing there in that spot.
His head had never been as complicated as it was these days. Though he’d said it was an error with his own mouth, Hyukjin’s instinct was shouting that this wasn’t an error but fact. A perfect compatibility that would produce a perfect match.
Raon, who suddenly came forward saying he’d be a Guide, insisting on taking a compatibility test because his grade wasn’t sufficient. Nox, who was indifferent to everything in the world, showed reactions only to Raon. More than anything, couldn’t Jaehwi manipulate such test numbers? Though there had never been such an Esper until now.
