# Chapter 90
A cold silence hung around the dungeon entrance.
“……”
None of the three had uttered a single word.
‘What is it, seriously.’
People can be quiet sometimes. Even Won Jungyeom had moments of silence occasionally.
But something had been bothering Jiwon for a while. Not Jungyeom, but Suhyun, whose face had stiffened.
‘It doesn’t seem like he’s nervous…’
There was no way Suhyun, who took all dungeons seriously, would be grinning carelessly. But the problem was that he looked particularly sharp today.
“…Esper Jungyeom.”
“Yeah.”
“Riska hasn’t arrived yet, right?”
With no appropriate words to suddenly break the silence, Jiwon asked Jungyeom instead of Suhyun, whom he had been glancing at repeatedly.
“Well. Even if Riska were here, I don’t think it would announce, ‘I’m here now.'”
Jungyeom laughed dryly, pointing out that it was a meaningless question.
“That’s true.”
Jiwon nodded matter-of-factly.
He had just wanted to casually bring up something that might interest Suhyun and lighten the mood, not actually check if Riska had arrived.
“Oh my. I’m suffocating here.”
At least Jungyeom’s mouth had opened, so that could be considered fortunate.
Jungyeom chuckled, seemingly having found the silence uncomfortable as well.
“I thought Guide Jiwon was extremely perceptive.”
Then he made a sudden remark.
It sounded as if he knew why the atmosphere was like this, making Jiwon’s eyes narrow.
“But now I see you’re completely not.”
“What should I have noticed?”
It was a somewhat curt question.
He was already feeling a bit down, thinking there was something only he didn’t know between the two.
‘I don’t understand.’
How could he not know what had happened between Suhyun and Jungyeom?
The only connection between them, besides Jiwon, was that they were both Espers. They might have occasionally met alone in dungeons before, but since Riska appeared, Jiwon had always been with them.
So why did he feel so disconnected?
Jiwon slowly closed and opened his eyes, swallowing a sigh. He wasn’t jealous that the two had become close. Rather, it was worse than that.
He was displeased with the fact that Jungyeom seemed to know more about Suhyun than he did, that they shared something different from him.
“Guide Jiwon, you’re really angry.”
Jiwon, who was trying to defend himself by thinking he was just a bit displeased, shook his head quickly to deny Jungyeom’s words.
“What anger? I’m not angry.”
After hearing it, he did feel a bit angry, and he was embarrassed for getting angry over such a petty reason.
“You are.”
“I’m not.”
“Steam’s coming out of your head. You’re so upset.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Woah, are you a pressure cooker? You’re about to burst!”
Unfortunately, Jungyeom didn’t believe Jiwon’s words. It was as if he had already seen through all of Jiwon’s emotions.
“Guide Jiwon has no reason to be angry.”
Jungyeom shook his head and laughed.
Jiwon admitted it wasn’t worth getting angry over. But it somewhat bothered him that Jungyeom specifically pointed out that HE had no reason to be angry.
“Then who should be angry? You, Esper Jungyeom?”
“Oh my…”
Jungyeom made a strange sigh as he looked at Jiwon. Jiwon instinctively turned his head toward Suhyun and then back to Jungyeom.
“There’s steam coming from his head too.”
He meant Suhyun was the one who should be angry.
“What did you do?”
Jiwon asked as if it were obvious. After all, he had nothing to feel guilty about. If Suhyun was angry, it must be because Jungyeom had done something wrong.
“…Yes, I did do something.”
“What did you do?”
“Should I tell you?”
“……”
A blatant look that asked if he was joking right now swept over Jungyeom.
“Wouldn’t it be better for you to think about it yourself?”
But Jungyeom didn’t mind.
“You’d probably figure it out if you just thought a little, wouldn’t you? Why don’t you know?”
“No, what are you talking about?”
“Are you too immersed in your own feelings to notice?”
Whether Jiwon crumpled his face or not, Jungyeom was looking at him as if conducting an experiment.
Jiwon shook his head.
“You’re just trying to brush it off casually, right? Because you don’t want to explain.”
That would be just like Jungyeom.
“I am pretty good at that.”
He seemed very aware of it himself.
“But not this time. If I tell you, it would spoil things and you probably wouldn’t believe me, so I’m letting you figure it out yourself.”
“Haah… I really don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, that seems to be the case. It’s confirmed that our Guide Jiwon lacks perception.”
Jungyeom clicked his tongue, adding that it was shocking how oblivious Jiwon was.
‘What am I supposedly lacking perception about?’
Feeling like he’d only be treated as a fool if he kept asking, Jiwon pressed his lips shut and thought to himself.
His gaze naturally turned toward Suhyun, who was standing at the dungeon entrance. His mood indeed didn’t look good.
‘He was definitely fine before…’
Suhyun’s mood had noticeably soured from the moment they heard about the Riska dungeon appearing.
Since it wasn’t news to be happy about in the first place, Jiwon hadn’t found it strange, but after meeting Jungyeom, Suhyun seemed to have become even more rigid.
‘Did they have a fight, perhaps?’
That couldn’t be.
As soon as he formed that hypothesis, Jiwon immediately dismantled it. Neither Suhyun nor Jungyeom had the temperament to fight.
‘But it’s true that his expression got worse after Esper Jungyeom arrived. Especially right before getting into the car…’
Suhyun had opened the driver’s door but didn’t get in, just stood still watching Jiwon.
‘Did he dislike feeling like a chauffeur? But he’s not the type to care about such things.’
Jiwon had briefly thought that when they got in the car, but it wasn’t like Suhyun.
Then… why was he upset?
With the Riska dungeon right in front of them, he should be worrying about the dungeon, but his head was already full of thoughts about Suhyun. The dungeon had faded from his vision.
‘Sit up straight. Stop whispering.’
When he sat next to Jungyeom, saying he would guide him, Suhyun had openly displayed his displeasure.
Jiwon had realized then that something was off about the atmosphere between Suhyun and Jungyeom, and since then, he had been displeased with the thought that there was something only he didn’t know.
In the end, it meant he hadn’t actually thought about why Suhyun had acted that way.
‘…The conclusion I’m reaching is strange.’
Thanks to Jungyeom, Jiwon, who had been going over Suhyun’s attitude bit by bit, tilted his head. The thought that had gone in a strange direction brought up a hypothesis he hadn’t considered before.
‘He seems like an Esper who doesn’t want his Guide taken away.’
Perhaps Suhyun didn’t like his contact with Jungyeom?
They had decided that Jiwon would continue guiding Jungyeom when the Riska dungeon appeared again.
So maybe… Suhyun was upset at the thought that he had to guide Jungyeom? And that’s also why he became more rigid after Jungyeom appeared.
‘Esper Jungyeom realized that right away.’
So he probably teased Suhyun by joking about being scared and whatnot. That would be just like him.
“Ah…”
Though he hadn’t asked directly and couldn’t be certain, Jiwon let out a short sigh at the plausible conclusion.
When entering an exclusive contract, a Guide is limited to one specific Esper. But Jiwon had to guide Jungyeom, who already had his own Guide.
From Suhyun’s perspective, it could have been somewhat displeasing.
“Oh, have you realized something?”
Having heard Jiwon’s sigh, Jungyeom immediately asked. Jiwon nodded vaguely, avoiding his face that was emanating a “you didn’t even know that?” feeling.
“It can’t be helped.”
It was a reasonably acceptable explanation. Just a bit perplexing.
Suhyun surely knows that no one else can do this job but Jiwon. Yet he showed his displeasure over such a reason?
Unless he accepts it as something that must be done. He’s not the type to create an uncomfortable atmosphere…
“Hmm, you still haven’t realized?”
Jungyeom sighed and asked Jiwon, who couldn’t dismiss his doubts despite arriving at the most plausible conclusion.
His voice was filled with frustration, as if wondering how Jiwon could still not know.
“I know now.”
“No, you don’t. If you really knew, you couldn’t possibly react like this.”
It was especially difficult to understand what Jungyeom was saying today. Was he trying to play twenty questions or something?
“How should I react?”
Jiwon, who had grown somewhat tired, responded in an annoyed voice.
“Hmm, it seems like you don’t desperately want to know…”
“Do you want me to cheer for you like a wildfire?”
“Well, I’ll let it slide. I’ll give you a hint. I hope the smart Guide figures out the rest.”
Jiwon chuckled. After behaving quietly without making a single joke, it seemed Jungyeom’s mouth was starting to run.
“Yes, go ahead.”
“You definitely asked me to do this?”
Jungyeom’s eyes sparkled. With an attitude of “let’s see what you want to do,” Jiwon folded his arms.
“Oh my, is it because I’m getting old? Even sitting on a sofa is hard! My back hurts so much, I need to lie down!”
Immediately, Jungyeom shouted in a voice loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
“Lend me your thighs, Guide Jiwon! Let me use them as a pillow! You know I can’t sleep without a pillow!”
The corners of Jungyeom’s mouth, announcing news Jiwon had never heard before, were about to reach his ears.
