At Han Seoha’s awkward smile, Jo Yonghwi read the mood. Who could be more uncomfortable and embarrassed than the patient? This wasn’t the time to be ashamed of merely mistaking the affected area.
“I’ll check the injury first.”
After examining Han Seoha’s palms, Jo Yonghwi felt relieved. The skin on his palms was severely scraped, exposing the dermal layer, but it was within the range Jo Yonghwi could treat. It would have been difficult if the flesh had been cut off entirely, so it was fortunate amid the misfortune.
“Are there only three places that need treatment—hands, neck, and lips?”
Jo Yonghwi took in the areas and conditions that needed treatment in order with his eyes. It was a habitual method since the energy he could use was extremely limited.
“It’s enough if you just treat my injured hands.”
“Guide-nim, if the marks remain this severe, they’ll throb and hurt, so it’s better to receive treatment.”
“But it’s not even an injury… You should save that strength for people who really need treatment. I’d feel too sorry if you wasted such precious strength on something like this.”
Jo Yonghwi was bewildered by consideration he’d never heard before.
Incompetent F-rank esper. You even collect performance bonuses for this? Don’t go around calling yourself a healer, you’re making all healers look bad.
Unlike the mockery he commonly heard, Han Seoha worried about and respected Jo Yonghwi’s limited energy even while knowing about it. Being a guide who understood an esper’s heart, he was doubly moved. He barely held back the lump forming in his throat from the sorrows he’d been ignoring.
“I’ll… treat you.”
“Yes, please do.”
He hurriedly used heal on Han Seoha’s palms where dark red bloodstains had dried. Jo Yonghwi’s ability was slow but complete healing without deficiency.
New flesh bubbled up on the scraped palms, replacing pain with itchiness. As he operated his limited energy without waste, his skill at handling waves was extremely delicate.
Watching Jo Yonghwi concentrate, Han Seoha wore a faint smile while tapping on his mental calculator.
‘Even healing ability users who don’t even reach F-rank are talents that can’t be found outside the Association. Being among ability users has made the kid shrink back.’
Experiencing it directly, he could see the possibility that if only the energy increased, the healing range would grow significantly as well. He felt like he understood why Jo Yonghwi was active in the field as soon as his rank rose.
“I’ll treat your neck as well.”
“You really don’t have to…”
“If the congestion is this severe, the heat and pain will last long. If left alone, the bruising will get worse too.”
At Jo Yonghwi’s firmness, Han Seoha declined appropriately before obediently receiving treatment.
Because that crazy S-rank esper really spent three whole hours sucking only on his lips and neck, it went beyond embarrassing to throbbing and stinging pain that was agonizing. He’d said to call the security team if he couldn’t endure it, but then pinned him down with his body so he couldn’t budge and did whatever he pleased.
“Phew, all done. It shouldn’t hurt anymore.”
“Wow, thank you. It really doesn’t hurt at all.”
Han Seoha, perfectly healed even on his lips, smiled brightly and grasped Jo Yonghwi’s hand.
“G-Guide-nim? Ngh…”
At the guiding suddenly flooding into his hands, Jo Yonghwi was flustered enough to tremble. Han Seoha seemed unbothered by this reaction, maintaining the same gentle tone.
“Thank you so much. It probably won’t be much help because of matching rates, but please think of it as payment for the treatment.”
When Jo Yonghwi, who had been trembling, calmed down before long, Han Seoha beamed and let go of his hand. Left alone in the guiding room after Han Seoha left saying he had to go ahead for his next schedule, Jo Yonghwi was confused by the refreshing feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“What kind of guiding…”
Guiding could be this fast and smooth?
Cases where Jo Yonghwi, an F-rank esper, received guiding were rare. He rarely even applied since his energy would naturally recover or his tangled waves would resolve themselves while waiting for matching order. Guides also didn’t want to guide F-rank espers. Even if timing somehow aligned and he received guiding, the heavy and uncomfortable sensation was a terrible thing for both parties. It felt like putting chalk into his veins. He had to endure it tensely with dull pain and swelling anxiety.
Jo Yonghwi, who thought it was because he was an F-rank esper, blankly stared only at the hand that had been held by Han Seoha for a long while.
* * *
The lights at the Ability User Alliance headquarters never went out for 24 hours.
Seoul, which had an unusually high number of A-rank assessed gates, had always maintained an emergency system.
The reality was that all the ambiguous B-ranks were raised to A-rank and claimed as Seoul headquarters’ priority. No matter how many espers were affiliated with the Association, there were also many ordinary espers who commuted. In the end, when they couldn’t digest the workload they’d taken on and a gate wave was imminent, it would usually be passed to Baek Uihyeon as the last turn.
Gates that would require A-rank espers to form parties and conquer over several days were frequently cleared in half a day, let alone a full day, when Baek Uihyeon was deployed.
The Association called that efficiency. Baek Uihyeon also took pride in having contributed to the nation’s stability arriving quickly. Even with the guiding side effects he experienced or schedules that didn’t guarantee sleep time, he considered it the responsibility and duty of one who possessed S-rank ability. However, he rebelled for the first time in his life where even his time to meet the guide he’d barely found was controlled.
Baek Uihyeon, who threw away one schedule squeezed between gate conquests and stormed into the Association, immediately sought out the Association President. With high-ranking officials filling the conference room despite the late hour, Association President Oh Manjung calmly left his seat and greeted Baek Uihyeon.
Upon entering the Association President’s private office attached to the conference room, a sealed room that couldn’t be penetrated even with abilities was implemented.
“Our Baek Uihyeon shouldn’t be at headquarters at this hour, should he?”
“Please guarantee me three hours of free time per day.”
“I’d like to give it to you too. But what can I do? When our hero rests even a little, gates burst open. People die.”
“I’ll withdraw from the Association.”
At Baek Uihyeon’s firmness—he who had always been filled with conviction at the mere mention of gate waves and civilian lives—Oh Manjung let out a hollow laugh with an arrogant posture.
“No matter how much others praise you as a hero, you’re nothing without Association support. S-rank? There are still plenty besides you. The reason we’ve put you forward the most is because your face is pretty, not because you’re special. You need to know your place.”
“Then go ahead and use those S-ranks.”
“You don’t even know the grace of being raised and you’re baring your teeth just because you’ve grown a bit?”
“Even dogs being raised are fed after being sent to hunt. That efficiency you speak of—doesn’t guiding time need to be secured for that very reason?”
“So how many A-rank guides have I attached to you? Are you in your right mind asking to take several hours off just to receive guiding from a mere C-rank?”
“That C-rank is the first guide I’ve ever requested.”
The persuasion or threats from the Association President, who had already grasped the entire situation, couldn’t shake Baek Uihyeon.
Will you disappoint the citizens? Do you intend to put Seoul in danger? The hero’s name will be tarnished. None of it could take priority over the time Baek Uihyeon would spend with Han Seoha.
Even now, the image of Han Seoha trapped beneath him with constantly changing emotions was vivid. He wanted to feel again as soon as possible the sweet-as-honey skin of that lovely person who was sometimes sorrowful, sometimes shy from stimulation, and faithful to guiding.
“Haa, at least go handle the gate first before talking.”
“I’ll receive a definite answer first.”
“Can’t give you separate time, so whether it’s C-rank or whatever, if there’s a guide you want, take them all and live with them stuck to you.”
“Are you telling me to expose a guide no different from ordinary people to dangerous places? I won’t let them anywhere near gates.”
“You can have them stuck to you when you’re moving, not at gates. You’ve been receiving it just fine that way until now, so why are you suddenly throwing a fit?”
“Because they’re not someone to be treated like a battery in that manner.”
Han Seoha was different from other guides.
He didn’t desire luxury goods or high positions in the slightest. Rather, he considered what wasn’t his as not rightfully his and even refused gifts.
Han Seoha’s gentle eyes were directed at the former partner who had abandoned him. Even while emotions toward Ryu Jaegeon still overflowed enough to run to him while becoming covered in blood, he did his utmost in guiding with Baek Uihyeon. Could there really be another person this kind and sincere?
“I’ll clear gates as I do now, but I’ll skip everything except memorial services and consolation visits. And if other schedules are added, I’ll refuse them, so don’t touch my schedule.”
Baek Uihyeon, who unilaterally notified him as if time was precious, quickly left the Association President’s office.
As soon as Baek Uihyeon disappeared, the Association President who had been acting as if his blood was boiling just moments ago put a cigarette in his mouth with a peaceful face as if nothing had happened. A man who approached Oh Manjung silently held out a lighter.
“Association President-nim, shall I dispose of Han Seoha?”
“Who’s that?”
“The C-rank guide, no, my apologies. That was an impertinent remark.”
At the reaction of grinding his cigarette, the man who read Oh Manjung’s displeasure quickly bowed his waist.
“Secretary Han. How much more do I need to raise you before you’re useful? This is why you can’t become Director.”
“I apologize. I’ll correct it.”
“Is your head just decoration? You’re an esper too, can’t you figure it out? He’s someone who’s been worked like an ox for years and treated like a dog, yet does even shit cleanup if there’s justification, but he’s baring his teeth for the first time because of a guide. If something happens to that guide, can you stop him? Our Baek Uihyeon—who will stop him?”
No matter how much they improved the esper control device’s function, handling A-ranks was the limit. Even if they put two or three leashes on S-ranks, they could only sometimes request cooperation, and the only one seated in the Association without a leash was Baek Uihyeon.
“Since he’s C-rank, we can make some excuse to raise him to B-rank and attach him as Baek Uihyeon’s partner. If the guide follows him around directly, what can he do?”
“Wise words.”
“Just looking at the data, he’s a push… very earnest. Find out if there’s anything he wants and take care of it as much as possible, then it’ll be good for both sides, won’t it?”
“I’ll give orders immediately.”
“Right, go handle it.”
When the secretary left his seat, a new person took position like a shadow. The Association President, who wasn’t an ability user, had planted several espers around him as insurance.
“Anyway, they’re so simple-minded and brutish that there’s no one useful for brainwork.”
Intimidation and threats were the last resort.
If you’re going to do it, do it secretly. It should be done without even conversations like this.
