“Is there a specific reason you’re avoiding guiding?”
“What? That’s obviously because if you do guiding while taking medication, there’s a high chance the imprint will be released.”
Seo Yuseok, who had opened his mouth while extremely tense, explained reluctantly.
In short, summarizing his words, it was this:
Imprinting forcibly binds each other’s wavelengths through medication, so if you do guiding, that binding site inevitably becomes prominent. It’s not actually visible, but both the Esper and Guide instinctively come to feel the firmly bound area.
And imprint release was the reverse of that—erasing the traces where the medication was used at that binding site. So guiding would be needed repeatedly to reveal that binding site. That’s why this whole mess happened when he cried out in frustration.
‘Binding site…’
Do Ganghyun, who had heard all that explanation, fell into thought.
Since the imprint between Myeong Eunha and himself was an impossibility to begin with, he hadn’t paid it any attention, so he didn’t know much about it—all this knowledge felt new to him.
And the question that was difficult to bring up carelessly in this place surfaced again.
Then for a natural imprint done without using medication—
‘What am I supposed to do with Myeong Eunha?’
The question of how exactly they were supposed to find the binding site between the two of them.
***
A few days later, Do Ganghyun received a phone call. It was from his family member, Do Ganghui, whom he had contacted to resolve his questions after the last Gate raid. Unlike his expectation that she would contact him right away, she had been silent for quite a while and only called after several days had passed.
—You’re right.
And then she brought up what she had to say without any preamble.
The problem was that response was far too insufficient to be an answer to Do Ganghyun’s question. To the point of being incomprehensible.
Do Ganghyun frowned slightly, wondering what she was talking about, when just then a notification appeared on his phone during the call that a file had arrived.
[Natural Imprint and Release]
The brief file name was nothing if not intuitive.
—Unlike a regular imprint, a natural imprint is formed by wavelengths interlocking completely without gaps, so there’s no process of filling in gaps with medication.
While listening to Do Ganghui’s explanation, Do Ganghyun immediately opened the file.
Inside were cases of natural imprints that didn’t exist in Korea but had been reported overseas. However, the countries mentioned in the cases written in the report seemed to lean toward one side, and there was also some confidential content that hadn’t been reported to the academic community.
Do Ganghyun silently looked at this and then bluntly voiced his thoughts.
“I guess your collaborator is American?”
—…Right. But it’s reliable information. They really desperately want you.
“What kind of problem could people who already have two SS-rank individuals possibly have to go this far…”
He muttered with a bitter smile.
Do Ganghui had been silent until then. Though he hadn’t expected it, it seemed she didn’t know much about this either, so he immediately stopped taking a sharp attitude.
Anyway, he was just as desperate as they were. As they both moved cautiously while watching those around them, it wouldn’t have been easy to get the information they wanted. When they hadn’t even found a Guide overseas yet, it would be troublesome if things fell apart from applying too much pressure. Digging into the details could wait until after finding a Guide.
‘So this is why Father couldn’t find a reason even though he was making moves.’
They had tried hard to find out various things like the reason the other side wanted him and their specific purpose, but there had been no news at all—turned out there was a reason: the other party was a bigger player than expected. They probably didn’t get deeply involved so they could immediately withdraw if they confirmed his intentions and it didn’t work out.
“Whatever. So what’s the conclusion?”
Do Ganghyun clicked his tongue and scrolled down quickly. More than these theoretical explanations about natural imprints, the release—that method—was most important.
—As I said a moment ago, like you thought, a natural imprint can’t be released like a regular imprint. The imprint release medication works on the principle of following traces where medication was already used, but you two never used medication.
Do Ganghui explained smoothly, having apparently examined the materials quite thoroughly.
—So you need to designate the range where the medication will work with your wavelength. That range is—
“Something I have to find. Through guiding with Myeong Eunha.”
—Right.
In the end, it meant that to release the imprint with Myeong Eunha, they needed to increase the frequency not of radiation guiding but contact guiding, preferably mucous membrane guiding. Because they would need to leave markers through deep and frequent guiding at the places where the medication would be applied.
Easier said than done—it was practically asking him to prove something invisible. Just from hearing the explanation, he could tell how much delicate control this would require. An Esper of an ordinary rank probably couldn’t even attempt it and would fail.
However, fortunately, his rank did not fall into that ordinary category.
Do Ganghyun recalled the numerous guiding sessions he’d had with Myeong Eunha and tried to gauge how much time he would need to invest.
…It seemed like at least six months would be necessary at minimum. Eventually, he opened his mouth irritably.
“The medication—is it ready?”
“Yes. But Ganghyun, maybe you should think about it one more time—”
“Hang up if you’re going to say useless things.”
Do Ganghyun hung up without mercy.
He’d gotten all the information he needed anyway. The method of delivering the medication would surely come through another contact soon, and additional information could be obtained based on the file he’d received.
“Ha, look at these people?”
Moreover, on the very last page of the file was written the dosage instructions for the imprint release medication. The dosage and timing that would allow him to secretly feed the medication to a Guide in the way he wanted.
He found that cunning scheme interesting. What on earth was the situation in America that they would go this far?
“But according to what’s written here…”
Do Ganghyun stared at the dosage written in the file for a long while and calculated the approximate timeframe.
To proceed without putting too much strain on Myeong Eunha, without getting caught, he would need at least six months to a year.
The time he needed to leave markers through guiding with Myeong Eunha at the places where the medication would be used was also six months. Somehow it matched up perfectly.
‘This feels suspicious somehow.’
However, not doing it wasn’t an option.
Roughly six months. He just had to endure until exactly then. The surroundings were a problem, but sticking close to Myeong Eunha itself wasn’t an issue, so it wouldn’t be difficult. He had a track record of secretly visiting the Guide dormitory and spending nights with Myeong Eunha over the past eight months, so he could just do it like he had then.
There was the difficulty of having to make him take the medication consistently, but that also wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Because after that, he would be able to escape from all these shackles, from Myeong Eunha, forever.
***
Recently, Do Ganghyun had been looking for me much more frequently. And that too, regardless of time and place.
Ding!
The watch worn on my wrist rang, notifying me of Do Ganghyun’s summons. The constant summons function—where an Esper directly calls to request guiding outside of emergency situations or Gate raid schedules—was a feature that hadn’t gone off for me in the past year.
“Haa…”
Thinking of how he always avoided me while being conscious of others’ gazes, this should definitely be a good thing, but his suddenly changed attitude stirred up many thoughts. Especially right before Do Ganghyun’s attitude changed—
‘I’m only going this far because you’re at least useful. Don’t stand out.’
The last conversation we’d had was definitely not good, which made it even worse.
I swallowed a sigh and hurriedly moved my steps. The gazes that followed whenever I walked bothered me for no reason. I had barely managed to walk without caring about those who openly cursed at me, but recently those gazes were mixed with envy, jealousy, and resentment, making me increasingly tired.
With Do Ganghyun summoning me day and night and showing us together, there was no one who couldn’t notice the changed atmosphere.
Talk was already going around at the Center. That since they’d even imprinted, what choice did Esper Do Ganghyun have? While people gossiped about me and Do Ganghyun, saying he’d finally accepted his fate, base words were also exchanged that even an SS-rank Esper was the same in front of a Guide.
So recently when walking around the Center, I would quicken my pace. Though I didn’t have excellent physical abilities like an Esper, locking away my leaking wavelengths tightly and moving around with my presence minimized as much as possible had become a skill of its own.
When I had walked for quite a while and arrived at the building temporarily set up in place of the half-destroyed research lab, that’s when it happened.
“You’re late?”
Do Ganghyun had come out to the building entrance to meet me. Startled at the thought that I’d made him wait, I almost ran the last bit to approach him, and he waved his hand saying there was no need for that.
“I’m sorry…!”
“I’m not scolding you, so don’t run.”
As expected, he had changed too much.
While that appearance was nice, it continued to create a strange sense of dissonance. He had told me not to stand out, yet he was the one taking the lead in doing things that stood out.
‘Does he not care about people’s gazes anymore?’
He had definitely been someone who kept his distance from me to an infuriating degree. He had been pathologically concerned about people’s gazes and how he appeared before them.
I was extremely curious about what kind of change of heart he had gone through. Because his current attitude seemed as if he had forcibly thrown off the obsession that had bound him, using some justification as a shield.
