Fortunately, Orin, who belatedly caught on, realized that Heichi had subtly emphasized “my guide” and hurriedly left the scene. The captain’s guide, who he’d said couldn’t be found even if you scoured the entire universe, was right before his eyes—he wouldn’t have dared to even attempt a challenge.
Heichi, who realized his jealousy had blinded him and made him forget his promise with AJ once again as he stepped forward in front of Lee Heewoo, hesitated for just a moment. Then he quickly revised his plan. He instinctively recognized that the current situation was an opportunity to drastically narrow the distance with his guide that had grown between them.
“Um, just, if you could call Orin back earlier…”
Heichi had been calmly explaining what Lee Heewoo was curious about using Earth expressions as much as possible to make it easy to understand, but when the name “Orin” flowed out again, he felt his rationality snap. So without realizing it, he subtly guided the direction of the conversation toward holding hands with him, just like those cheap espers do.
“Then, would you like to… hold hands with me?”
But his guide was far too naive. Without even knowing what kind of disposition the esper before him had, he easily fell for the cheap coaxing. Heichi inwardly sighed several times and spoke to Lee Heewoo as if giving advice.
That he must never carelessly allow espers to make contact.
What he told Lee Heewoo was actually a very brief and lightly condensed version. In reality, on planet Epsilon, tremendous things that Earth couldn’t even imagine happened in order to steal and be stolen from the few guides that existed.
Guides who saw espers who had crossed the universe to meet them usually split into two reactions: either they fell in love with that esper in the same way, or they only used the wealth and abilities that esper possessed.
On Epsilon, they never forced guides to board battleships going out to “search” for espers. There was no need to make such demands because the battleships were always packed full with espers trying to meet their guides. Seeing espers who acted like creatures created solely for guides, most guides didn’t dislike them.
How could they dislike an esper who acted like they would give their all? Even if they didn’t like such behavior, espers were life forms with sufficiently high utility value.
Still, it was fortunate, if anything, that most guides were born with hearts that cherished life forms and couldn’t turn away from espers who devoted everything to them. And as this continued, guides inevitably faced a moment when they had to make a choice.
Follow the esper they chose, or remain on their home planet where they were born and raised.
If a guide said they would remain on their home planet, Epsilon fortunately gave that esper a chance to choose as well. But here, if the guide abandoned their home planet and headed to Epsilon following the esper…
From that point on, the esper creates a “shelter.” To protect their guide that they brought to Epsilon.
Nevertheless, bastards inevitably emerged who committed all kinds of illegal acts to steal guides who had partners, and when that happened, life-or-death battles occurred like daily routine among espers.
Watching that carnage, Epsilon felt no different from any weak planet where only inferior life forms existed. Among espers, there were even bastards who, after having their guide stolen, had their limbs cut off and could no longer move alone, yet used their psychic powers to challenge to battle again.
“And this phenomenon becomes more pronounced the higher-ranking the esper.”
Heichi finally even spoke about himself, warning Lee Heewoo very indirectly. If even lower-ranking espers acted like such lunatics when their guide was stolen or they faced equivalent danger, then if an esper of Heichi’s level experienced such a thing…
Heichi, who had been continuing his thoughts to that point, felt his mind turn completely white in an instant. It was because he had clasped hands with Lee Heewoo.
From that moment, Heichi opened and closed his mouth without knowing what he was saying, spouting whatever came out. All his sensory organs and nervous system were concentrated on the fingers touching Lee Heewoo.
“Ah, it hurts. Please let go…”
Lee Heewoo’s request didn’t reach Heichi’s ears. His mind was already urging him to pull his guide’s hand, which he was properly touching for the first time, then twist his arm and push him into his embrace.
Lee Heewoo was approximately 22cm shorter than Heichi, and his shoulder width differed by about 13cm. He couldn’t properly assess his waist circumference since he hadn’t embraced him yet, but there would be at least a 20cm difference.
Then if he moderately bent his knees, twisted his arms back and clasped his elbows so both armpits lifted slightly, Lee Heewoo would fit right into his embrace and be held as is. If he held him that way, probably even if someone looked at Heichi from behind, they wouldn’t be able to see a single hair on Lee Heewoo’s head.
He wanted to hold him like that and live his entire life. Heichi’s imagination gradually became extreme, spreading even to the direction of surgically combining parts of Lee Heewoo’s and his own skin. If Lee Heewoo hadn’t restrained him at that moment, before long Heichi might have actually realized part of that imagination.
“Um, Heichi.”
Heichi emerged from his hazy imagination and once again deeply sympathized with AJ’s statement. Was it that all espers inevitably live their entire lives fiercely fighting with themselves? That was truly an appropriate statement, worthy of applause.
He even worried whether he could really endure his entire life without confining Lee Heewoo. This was Heichi, supposedly so skilled at self-control.
***
Lee Heewoo got fired from his workplace. It was entirely Heichi’s fault.
So Heichi couldn’t understand Lee Heewoo saying he would buy him “jjajangmyeon.” Shouldn’t he be angry or annoyed with him rather than offering compensation?
But either way, Heichi felt good just from the fact itself that his guide wasn’t angry with him but was suggesting a meal. So before going to eat “jjajangmyeon,” he secretly inquired through the link to AJ about what kind of dish jjajangmyeon was and what the restaurant sold, but after arriving at the shop, he again pretended not to know and asked Lee Heewoo about the food.
Heichi, who was briefly watching Lee Heewoo looking anxious saying he had no money because he found him cute, soon honestly told him that he would pay for everything. Then he saw Lee Heewoo’s eyes widen in delight, which made him feel very good too.
“Haa, I’m happy…”
If the pained moaning sounds coming from his guide’s mouth made him feel so worthless that he couldn’t endure it even for a moment, then the simple emotional expression of “I’m happy” gave an absolutely definitive answer to why Heichi had lived until now.
He had continued this arduous life all this time to make Lee Heewoo happy. Heichi realized this simple proposition while buying jjajangmyeon for his guide.
If he had stopped just there, Heichi would have long remembered today without forgetting, mulling it over again and again and recalling it whenever something unpleasant happened. But things that made Heichi’s mood excited didn’t stop there and continued to happen one after another.
Lee Heewoo picked up food with his chopsticks and offered it to him. Heichi knew this action too. The Earth way, the act of lovers feeding each other food.
It was a bold imagination, but he couldn’t help but get excited without realizing it. Perhaps he also thought of him as his lover? Then they should establish their relationship early so there would be no misunderstanding.
Thinking such thoughts, Heichi received the food Lee Heewoo offered and repeated his chewing activity. Come to think of it, on the day he first had a proper conversation with him, Lee Heewoo had also lifted up food and offered it, saying he couldn’t use chopsticks.
Actually, it had been about 10 years in Earth time since Heichi had directly put food in his mouth, so at that time, parting his lips and using his masseters to consume food was extremely awkward. Previously too, it wasn’t so much that he was clumsy with chopsticks, but rather the muscle movements themselves were awkward, which made his eating slow.
Heichi’s extremely developed five senses unfortunately had side effects that grew larger the longer the days went without meeting his guide. For example, his sight, hearing, and smell became so sensitive that he could see, hear, and smell everything not only beyond walls but in the vicinity, so it was natural for him to set his quarters in a corner of the battleship’s basement.
But when he was tormented all day by his sensitized five senses, he instinctively thought that at least for survival, he wanted to let his sense of taste rest. So Heichi had been consuming nutrients through pills instead of consuming food for a long time.
Consuming food directly through the mouth was still an awkward and troublesome task. But somehow the food Lee Heewoo passed over was different.
AJ probably also consumed nutrients by eating food rather than pills for that reason. Because his guide, Kzar, was an Ekarian who loved food.
“With Heichi… eating together is nice… I’m happy.”
Heichi suddenly wanted to cut open and dissect Lee Heewoo’s body to confirm whether what filled his body was really blood and cell masses similar to his own. Otherwise, how could such sweet energy emanate from his words, gestures, and atmosphere?
Happiness is contagious. Heichi newly learned that fact from Lee Heewoo.
“I… like you, Heichi…”
No, perhaps happiness hadn’t been contagious, but he had simply been completely swept up by Lee Heewoo. Heichi, who had lived his entire life as a conqueror and ruler, was helplessly defeated by Lee Heewoo, who had lived his entire life only as the weak, being poor and frail.
And he intuitively realized that from now on, he could never inflict any pain whatsoever on Lee Heewoo.
—
⚡Category – ‣ Epsilon – ‣ 1st Strategic Fleet – ‣ Complaints & Counseling
✨Epilogue for Sentient Life Forms✨
⦁Discrimination between planets is prohibited.
⦁Fraternization is prohibited.
⦁Spamming is prohibited.
⦁Please be aware that automatic translation functions are installed, so language structure and interpretation results may be reconstructed according to the respective civilization for each planetary coordinate where link access occurs.
567 [Captain’s Guide Appeared]
1 Life Form εCTC.8861.10256 ✋136
Got confirmation from 986.
2 Life Form εCTC.8861.10300 ✋4
You’re alive?
3 Life Form εCTC.8861.10358 ✋0
?
4 Life Form εCTC.8861.10399 ✋12
Is this real? Does such a guide even exist in the universe?
5 Life Form εCTC.8861.10412 ✋0
Did they find them on Earth?
6 Life Form εCTC.8861.10444 ✋0
Crazy, it’ll be chaos when they come to Epsilon
7 Life Form εCTC.8861.10454 ✋1
That bastard who cursed that I’d find my guide later than the Captain, are you happy now that it came true?
8 Life Form εCTC.8861.10502 ✋52
But if they’re at a level where they can guide the Captain, doesn’t that mean they can guide all supreme-class espers below that? This seems like a really huge deal… ㄷㄷ
Who are the supreme-class espers in our fleet who still haven’t found guides? There must be quite a few in other fleets besides ours, what do we do
9 Life Form εCTC.8861.10555 ✋0
Here comes the bullshit again
11 Life Form εCTC.8861.10598 ✋24
100% morons with Korogol-level intelligence will appear and try something, I bet all five fingers on my left hand on it
12 Life Form εCTC.8861.10601 ✋3
-‣11: I’ll bet all ten on my right and left hands
13 Life Form εCTC.8861.10609 ✋34
Breaking news, Pluto Team 1 ㅇㄹ has Korogol-level intelligence lol
14 Life Form εCTC.8861.10623 ✋1
-‣13: Did he know and do it or did he not know, fuck
15 Life Form εCTC.8861.10656 ✋0
-‣14 Are you ㅇㄹ?
16 Life Form εCTC.8861.10666 ✋9
But doesn’t it seem like there are unusually many guides in Earth’s East Asia area? Even though there are no Browns yet
17 Life Form εCTC.8861.10688 ✋21
I wish they’d find out how the Captain met their guide and spill it for us
18 Life Form εCTC.8861.10782 ✋13
Then we’ll stay on Earth longer than planned, right? But is it possible for the Captain to stay on Earth if they want to like us?
19 Life Form εCTC.8861.10798 ✋2
-‣18: Would that work, idiot, considering who that person is
20 Life Form εCTC.8861.10811 ✋0
Ah I’m sick of Earth
21 Life Form εCTC.8861.10822 ✋17
If we stay on Earth longer we can drink more cola so that’s good
22 Life Form εCTC.8861.10823 ✋56
So is the Captain’s guide Black? Isn’t this what’s important? Or are they White? White reminds me of that bad memory…
23 Life Form εCTC.8861.10824 ✋6
-‣22: What bad memory?
24 Life Form εCTC.8861.10855 ✋32
-‣23: Long ago there was a crazy bastard who acted cocky in front of the Captain saying they were a White guide and almost died. I think it was Karat Planet. Back then too, 986 risked their life to stop it and resolved it. After that we just concluded here that 986 should be the Captain’s guide
25 Life Form εCTC.8861.10867 ✋12
No wonder they’ve been going out frequently lately
26 Life Form εCTC.8861.10899 ✋33
I met that person outside the battleship too and thought my eyes were wrong;
27 Life Form εCTC.8861.10912 ✋16
So is the Captain’s guide really Black
28 Life Form εCTC.8861.10923 ✋0
-‣27: What will you do knowing that?
29 Life Form εCTC.8861.10936 ✋0
-‣28: I’m going to tell our team leader. I know the Captain is amazing but our leader is also on death’s door. Shouldn’t we at least try begging
30 Life Form εCTC.8861.10999 ✋1
-‣29: Are you talking about Jupiter Team 1 Leader Dumor?
