The superiors’ tearful efforts to dissuade Yoon Kihyun from resigning disappeared after exactly one week. Perhaps they thought the Center would run smoothly even without one A-rank Guide, given his firm resolve to quit.
Whatever the reason, it was good that the messenger notifications that had been pouring in every other day had quieted down. The problem started after that.
Yoon Kihyun, who checked the workload allocated to him, unconsciously closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.
He’d never hoped for a beautiful farewell like those in movies. He’d just wanted an ordinary resignation, but it seemed he’d hoped for too much from such a shabby company.
The International Guide Association’s recommended average daily Guiding sessions were a maximum of 5 times.
Even considering that Korea was a Guide-shortage country that squeezed Guides dry, this was an excessive work order.
[Guide Team 2 Team Leader/Yoon Kihyun/Today’s Guiding Work Schedule – Total 31 cases]
‘Have these bastards gone crazy?’
Based on an A-rank Guide standard, the maximum number of Guiding sessions a team leader-level Guide could handle in a day was around 10 at most.
Even for Yoon Kihyun, who’d been doing Guiding enough to earn the nickname “public property,” 31 Guiding sessions in one day was impossible.
‘This is basically telling me to fuck off, isn’t it?’
Since Guides were always in short supply compared to Espers, the Center’s upper management consisted only of bastards who were masters at squeezing Guides as efficiently as possible. They’d probably tried persuasion for a week hoping to win him over, but when it didn’t seem likely to work, they’d apparently finished calculating something else.
This was nothing but a blatant ploy saying “you’ve fallen out of favor and we’ll make your remaining Center life fucking hell, so try enduring it if you can.”
Even so, there was a limit to holding grudges. It was so one-dimensional and typical workplace bullying that his head actually became calm.
Yoon Kihyun scanned the long, endless Guiding list that had arrived for him, then pressed the “Refuse Guiding” button for the first time.
According to International Guide Human Rights Law, Guides could refuse unreasonable Guiding requests. Guides affiliated with the Center generally refused when they weren’t in good condition or circumstances didn’t allow it.
Since joining the company, Yoon Kihyun had been in the position of doing Guiding that other Guides had refused, and had never once refused Guiding assigned to him.
He’d overworked his body to the point where he sometimes thought he understood why the nickname “public property” had been attached, yet all that came back was this childish work retaliation.
‘Staying any longer wouldn’t have gotten me anything good.’
He was on the verge of tears at the thoughtful care that shook out even the faintly remaining affection he had.
The deputy director and other superiors, who apparently weren’t complete scum of humanity, merely sneered sarcastically via company messenger about the Guiding Yoon Kihyun had refused.
After that, Yoon Kihyun’s Center life was a continuous series of days that couldn’t be called good even as an empty compliment.
Superiors wouldn’t accept greetings even when passing in the hallway, and his nerves were wearing thin day by day from ignoring Espers who whined about insufficient Guiding, wanting to get their fill before his resignation, and bastards who pestered him for his personal contact information.
He couldn’t understand at all why these bastards, old enough to know better, were acting like this.
Yoon Kihyun repeated his commute with a self-abandoning heart. In between, he even took half-days off twice because he absolutely couldn’t endure the pain.
Each time Yoon Kihyun submitted approval for a half-day off, the management deputy director, thinking he’d caught him in the act, personally came to the office to throw a fit.
However, perhaps he didn’t have the confidence to throw a fit even after seeing his pale white complexion, he spouted empty words about giving him a ride home. Of course, Yoon Kihyun didn’t decline.
Because it was a golden opportunity to save on taxi fare and use the annoying management deputy director for free.
Yoon Kihyun’s last day of work after enduring Center life like that. Surprisingly, some of Guide Team 2’s members held a modest farewell party for him.
‘Ah, what’s with this cringeworthy farewell party?’
Yoon Kihyun stared blankly at the small cake with writing that said “You worked hard.”
Looking back, he’d never been a warm team leader the members could rely on. Always busy paying off debts, he’d never properly bought them even one cup of coffee that team leaders from other teams frequently bought, and had been a team leader who only pretended to care about team members’ birthdays or family events.
Because he was an A-rank Guide, he’d received harsh stares for a long time after being given the team leader position at an age not much different from a fresh graduate, yet now this embarrassing farewell party. It felt strange.
“I wonder who’ll cover for us now that Team Leader’s gone.”
“What cover…… Assistant Manager Lee, you do well on your own.”
Yoon Kihyun replied while poking at the slice of cake placed in front of him with a fork. While he was pondering whether to eat it or not, a paper cup containing milk slid over.
“It must have been hard dealing with older team members alone, so after you resign, don’t do anything for a few days, eat delicious food and rest well.”
It was Deputy Park Jeongae. A Guide who could be his mother, she was a team member Yoon Kihyun had unknowingly grown attached to. Yoon Kihyun, who received the milk, smiled awkwardly and replied.
“I was more grateful that you all treated me like a team leader even though I’m just a young punk.”
“What are you saying? If you have ability, it’s natural to be treated accordingly.”
Wasn’t this a Center full of bastards who said that to your face but looked down on you behind your back?
Still, it felt good to have his ability recognized, as if his dog-like hardship hadn’t been completely in vain. Yoon Kihyun’s stiffly set lips loosened a bit.
“By the way, what are you going to do after resigning?”
When one team member asked that, Yoon Kihyun hesitated for a moment.
I’m going to blow through my severance pay and commit suicide.
He couldn’t possibly say that, so he just mumbled that he was thinking of resting a bit.
The farewell party, which consisted only of sharing one small cake and one pack of milk, was small and modest. Not all of Yoon Kihyun’s team members had gathered.
Even so, it seemed like he’d endured those shitty days even one more day because of team members like these.
“……Thank you for everything.”
Yoon Kihyun pulled up the corners of his mouth awkwardly. It was a sincere smile he’d made after quite a long time.
***
A-rank Guide Yoon Kihyun, who had been Guide Team 2’s Team Leader, resigned.
Now there were six A-rank Guides remaining at the Awakened Management Center headquarters. They wanted to bring A-rank Guides working at regional Centers to headquarters, but the regional Center situations weren’t favorable either.
The management deputy director and Guide headquarters director, who had tried hard to stop Yoon Kihyun’s decision to resign, decided to change their approach when Yoon Kihyun’s attitude remained firm.
Even if one A-rank Guide was gone, it wasn’t like all the Guides at the Center had been wiped out, right? Of course, Yoon Kihyun’s work performance and ability were tremendous, but it wasn’t like the Center would be paralyzed without him.
The calculation was that everyone would share the work bit by bit, and in the meantime, they’d train newly awakened rookie Guides well to fill the void.
Their thinking was valid for a few days. Even without Yoon Kihyun, the Center’s Guides faithfully devoted themselves to their assigned work.
There were people who regretted losing one pretty Guide who was easy on the eyes, but no Espers struggling from lack of Guiding were immediately visible.
‘What did I tell you? It runs fine even without that bratty bastard. Rather, the perception of headquarters Guides only got worse because of that bastard. Why of all things was his nickname “public property”? Because that team leader bastard treated Guiding so lightly, all the Espers look down on us.’
‘I heard there are quite a few decent Guides at the Awakened Training Center this time, so there’s nothing to worry about, Director.’
‘This worked out well. Since it’s personnel transfer season, it’s not bad to clean things up while we’re at it.’
Unlike the upper management who were distant from actual work, the team leaders and other Guides had to face increasingly unmanageable Guiding schedules.
At first, they brushed it off as not a big deal, attributing it to the aftermath of gates that occurred consecutively near the metropolitan area. Although it was hard, it wasn’t a workload they couldn’t handle.
However, with accumulated fatigue and a Guiding schedule that showed no signs of decreasing without time to recover, several of them went to the management deputy director as if in protest.
Some even encountered the bizarre situation of having their Guiding refusal rejected.
‘No, Deputy Director. Our team members keep complaining that the Guiding schedule is excessive, and there’s a limit to appeasing them.’
‘Even when I rack my brains distributing it, it’s like this, so what do you want me to do? Everyone knows it’s tough because gates opened in Suwon and Gwacheon.’
‘Even so, this is a bit……’
Around that time, everyone gradually realized things were going strangely.
When they traced back to the point where Guide work suddenly began to increase explosively, it converged on one event.
Yoon Kihyun’s resignation.
But it was hard to understand.
‘Even if there aren’t many A-rank Guides, how many other Guides are there?’
‘I’m not trying to diminish Team Leader Yoon’s hard work, but there’s no way the Center’s Guides can’t share what one person was doing alone, right? Just at headquarters alone, how many Guides are there?’
‘The workload was a lot. Anyway, let’s closely monitor team members showing signs of resignation. The upper management has finished reviewing special incentive payments, so let’s shift the atmosphere toward performance bonuses to refresh things.’
Even so, one person’s absence couldn’t be this big, right? Everyone brushed it off as coincidence and thought things would quiet down once the aftermath of the recently occurring gates near the metropolitan area was wrapped up.
But before long, they had to acknowledge that the existing workload they’d enjoyed really had been built on one person’s sacrifice.
‘I did the calculations, and I think it’s really because of Team Leader Yoon’s resignation.’
‘Why?’
One Guide team leader, who had been appeasing team members’ complaints about excessive Guiding workload, had even calculated backwards.
When they gathered the workload added to them, amazingly, it came out to Yoon Kihyun’s workload. And it was a number of Guiding sessions so difficult for one person to handle alone that they recalculated several times.
As befitting a Center where rumors spread quickly, it flowed into the managers’ ears, but there was no one who could contact the resigned Yoon Kihyun. Because he’d changed his number and disappeared without a trace.
From that point on, meetings where managers gathered frequently involved pointing fingers and faces turning red.
‘These days, headquarters Center Guides’ Guiding efficiency is a complete mess, how are you going to improve this?’
‘We’re also thinking of solutions. Still, everyone is working hard doing overtime, so please refrain from excessive remarks……’
‘Don’t you know the higher-ups nag us when Esper injury rates go up? Today too, I’m coming from getting thoroughly chewed out by the Center Director and the Minister! There are no problems with training, so if this isn’t all aftermath from insufficient Guiding, what is it?’
‘There’s a limit to blaming others. Do you know how many employees among the Guides are currently on sick leave?’
‘That’s what we put you as Guide Headquarters Director to handle! While some people are going in and out of gates risking their lives, this mess happened because you can’t even hold hands and circulate waves!’
‘Look here! We’re also working while sacrificing our health! Bluntly speaking, are Guides people who just clean up after Espers?’
With meetings involving shouting matches continuing each time, the Center’s atmosphere turned into thin ice. Moreover, Espers were dying off as the number of unusual gate occurrences increased compared to the previous year.
Even Jung Sijun, who had returned without major injuries every time he was deployed to unusual gates, was in the intensive care unit due to the aftermath of insufficient Guiding.
“Team Leader, is your wound alright?”
An Esper from Esper Special Team 2 with a cast on his arm visited the hospital room. Jung Sijun was sitting half-upright receiving an IV.
Having been moved from the intensive care unit to a general ward not long ago, he scowled and snapped at his team member.
“Which Guide is coming?”
“……Team Leader from Team 3 is coming.”
“Fuck, shit.”
Jung Sijun spat out curses and rolled his eyes back. Still, since he was an S-rank Esper, the Center assigned him an A-rank Guide.
The problem was that Guide Team 3 Team Leader Seo Jintae wasn’t compatible with Jung Sijun. No, honestly speaking, all Guides except Yoon Kihyun couldn’t properly control Jung Sijun’s waves.
They all lost hold of the waves as a basic matter, and some, flustered, led the waves in the reverse direction, making Jung Sijun grab them by the collar out of frustration.
It meant that even the team leaders, who would have experienced all kinds of unexpected situations, were exhausted from overwork to the point of not being able to follow basic Guiding protocols.
‘Ah…… Yoon Kihyun.’
In Jung Sijun’s mind, turned to mush by painkillers and sedatives, Yoon Kihyun’s pretty face slowly rose up. To be precise……
‘Aheuk, heu…… Just a bit slower, ah!’
When Jung Sijun had sex with Yoon Kihyun after losing his reason while receiving mucous membrane Guiding, his lewd face panting while pinned underneath, and.
‘Number? Why would I?’
When Jung Sijun had visited before Yoon Kihyun’s resignation and asked for his contact information, the image of him listlessly muttering with dried-up pollack eyes, beyond indifferent, appeared alternately.
‘Fuck, why would I be desperate for that public property? Why would I? There’s no way he’s the only Guide in the world compatible with me.’
Jung Sijun suppressed his irritation while trying hard to ignore the pain that seemed to ravage his entire body. Unable to either acknowledge or deny that the face filling his mind was Yoon Kihyun.
