“Worldwide, there are nine SS-rank espers in total including myself, and among them, not a single esper has a pair contract with a guide of the same rank.”
However, while saying this, his insides twisted a bit. While there were no SS-rank espers paired with same-rank guides, there were also no cases of being matched with a C-rank guide.
Do Ganghyun, except for himself alone.
Thanks to that, the words “C-rank” followed him like a tail. Just when he thought he’d gotten down from that damn guillotine, even now after 11 years, the ‘qualification’ controversy continued endlessly because of one innocent guide.
‘I had managed to erase all that talk, fuck…’
It was all a situation that had gone wrong because of Myeong Eunha.
“Guiding depletion when I have a pair guide? …The probability of getting struck by lightning while walking down the street would be higher.”
To the point where he’d rather get struck by lightning if he had to be entangled like this. If that had happened, he might have gotten the title of an esper who survived a lightning strike, but at least he wouldn’t have been the subject of gossip with the low-level word “C-rank” attached.
‘How on earth do I get rid of Myeong Eunha from beside me?’
So now he had to find a replacement. At first, he’d tried to keep him by his side somehow, but now that things had already gone completely wrong, it was absurd.
‘Esper-nim!’
Ganghyun recalled Myeong Eunha running toward him, openly showing his face in front of countless cameras. That moment when he met the brilliant sunlight under a cloudless clear sky.
Until then, there had been an implicit rule between him and Myeong Eunha. A rule to keep an appropriate distance and only be together at night. It was a method chosen because he couldn’t avoid being mentioned together with Myeong Eunha. He wanted to show even in that way that his and Myeong Eunha’s ranks were different, and he’d half succeeded.
As discord theories intensified, it created anxiety, so occasionally they had to fulfill schedules set by the Center together, but that was all. Most people understood that they were a show window pair and were satisfied that he was making minimal effort.
Reactions like ‘How hard must it be since the guide is C-rank,’ and ‘Still, isn’t he at least trying to accommodate for public safety?’ followed, but even the Center didn’t expect more than that.
As a result, the assault incident 3 months ago, today’s interview, all of it was due to Myeong Eunha’s vain greed.
‘Really, why couldn’t he just be satisfied with the present?’
Ganghyun swallowed down the curses that filled his mouth with difficulty. However, he couldn’t stay still in his seat. It was because nausea came the more his thoughts continued. No matter how much it was business, he was irritated at the situation of continuously being captured on the same screen.
“I think this is sufficient, shall we wrap up?”
So he kicked back his chair and stood up. And at that moment,
“It’s the second time!”
He heard a reporter’s shout from far away.
His brow furrowed at the noise that seemed to burst his eardrums, and for a moment after confirming the reporter’s face, Ganghyun’s face crumpled immediately.
[ABC Reporter Hyung Yoongeon]
It was the reporter who had been decorating the portal’s main screen with malicious articles about him recently. So even though they’d deliberately placed his seat in the back, he was deeply annoyed that the man had stubbornly revealed his presence.
“At the time of manifestation, you caused an interpersonal accident against multiple classmates of the same grade. How do you feel now?”
To the point where it was unbearable to listen.
He doubted whether the reporter had even thought before asking the question. The Center must have clearly warned him not to mention the incident at the time of manifestation.
This was a fact that didn’t need to be confirmed. Until now, he had consistently refused to answer any questions related to ‘manifestation’ and had warned them. As this consistent attitude continued, that story became taboo even among reporters.
So the intent of the question thrown by the reporter before him was obvious.
It was mockery and criticism. So blatant that everyone present could understand.
“My feelings, my feelings are…”
In an instant, his vision narrowed and an extreme headache came. Not only did his breathing become rough, but his legs even gave way. He didn’t sink down, but his stomach pulled as if trying to stick to the floor.
‘Damn it.’
It was only a moment before he lost the leash on the wavelength circulating through his body.
And as soon as he realized his wavelength couldn’t be controlled, Ganghyun was suddenly gripped by fear. It was because he recalled 11 years ago, at the time of manifestation. Even knowing that if he shrank like this, the wavelength would rampage even more and become irreversible, he couldn’t stop it.
The basketball hoop that had fallen backward. The broken window. The people who wouldn’t approach. Me, Do Ganghyun, left alone on the sunken podium…
In his blurred vision, he caught sight not of the reporters but of the people from the past, from that day.
‘It’s dangerous.’
Yes, it was dangerous. If an accident happened at this rate, not only the incident at manifestation but all the achievements he’d built up while active as an esper would be torn apart and reevaluated piece by piece. And that wouldn’t be all. What happened today would be delivered to the public more vividly than anything else, raw and unfiltered. Because the victims would be the ‘reporters.’
So when no one had noticed yet, when they were moving their mouths so ignorantly like that, he had to wrap up the situation.
‘…How?’
The problem was that he couldn’t think of a method at all.
‘The wavelength that’s already lost control, what can I do, with those holding cameras before my eyes, what can I do…’
Ganghyun gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He could tell without looking in a mirror. That his face was already deathly pale, and that being caught was only a matter of time.
Soon his nails would dig into his palms and draw blood, and the smell of blood would provide even greater stimulation. That would definitely become the signal.
‘If that happens, then at that time…’
It was the moment he thought everything was over.
“It seems meaningless.”
From beside him, guiding resembling a spring breeze rippled and flowed in. At the same time, his vision brightened and his eyes came into focus.
As he lowered his now-clear vision, he saw Myeong Eunha, trembling yet stubbornly gripping his hand. Even though he must have felt the gaze looking at him, he purposely looked only straight ahead.
Moreover, as if he had no intention of resolving his question, Myeong Eunha immediately opened his mouth toward the reporter again.
“I said that answering the question seems meaningless. What’s the point of saying it when it’s natural to feel difficult and sad?”
Myeong Eunha was even unrestrained, unlike his previous timid appearance. At a glance, his face, stiff with tension, even looked as if he were angry.
“After the accident, Esper Do Ganghyun had difficulty looking at my face. Would such a person not have been like that in the past?”
“But this is already the second time. Even to prevent public anxiety from spreading…”
“We agreed to this interview to prevent that anxiety. In the midst of such difficulty. And both the first and second times were ‘accidents.’ When espers manifest, interpersonal accidents have consistently occurred from the aftermath. Esper Do Ganghyun, despite being SS-rank, actually showed quick control and minimized the damage.”
“The number was an entire grade!”
“Most were merely simple abrasions. Compensation was certainly made, and the victims at the time didn’t make an issue of it.”
A more fierce exchange than expected took place. And quite unexpectedly, Myeong Eunha didn’t back down. He even counterattacked.
“The cause and process of the accidents are different, and the victims say they’re fine—why do you keep mentioning an incident from over 10 years ago, reporter?”
Finishing with, ‘It seems like you’re the one amplifying the anxiety, reporter.’
The winner was decided. The proof was that everyone except the reporter who shouted in frustration was busily moving their hands.
Do Ganghyun couldn’t take his eyes off this entire exchange. To be precise, he couldn’t take his eyes off Myeong Eunha, who was firmly gripping his hand.
His jaw, tensed with all his strength, was trembling even while clenched, and the guiding wavelength coming over through their clasped hands was equally unstable. Considering even the boisterous sound of his heartbeat heard by his ear, he was clearly quite nervous.
And yet…
Nevertheless, he spoke. The one who couldn’t even read the prepared script due to nervousness glared and endured, determined to protect his pair esper.
Solely because of him.
‘Was Myeong Eunha this good at speaking?’
The sight of him stubbornly expressing his opinion, the sight of him speaking long sentences without rest—Ganghyun was seeing it all for the first time. Since he’d always been quietly huddled at the Center as if present yet absent, these were aspects he’d never known. And knowing that all these changes were because of himself made him feel strange.
“……”
Just as he was at a loss for words and lost in thought,
Click!
A camera flash went off. It was the moment the photo to be posted on the portal site’s main page was decided.
It was also the first moment Do Ganghyun, who had never missed a camera even for a single moment, was captured looking only at his own guide.
