When he rebuked while fully containing that state of mind, Cha Haseong shot back in a bland tone.
“For someone who interpreted it, you’ve always been self-centered.”
“Well, I guess that’s because I’m blockheaded. I regret having grabbed onto someone who said no and even proposing.”
He was sick to death of childishly quarreling situations too.
Even a day filled with affectionate daily life wouldn’t be enough, yet they were engaging in arguments with knives in their mouths, so how could it not be extremely lamentable? It seemed like he could live a much more rewarding life even if he just grabbed the time being wasted day by day and switched it out.
“If I went back, I still would have gifted you the ring though. It was a ring that suited Guide-nim well.”
If possible, with times when he could have pleasant conversations with Cha Haseong. But Cha Haseong seemed not to want that.
“Why gift a ring again? Because you like me?”
“Where is there a moron who gives a ring just for liking someone?”
“…….”
“I told you I love you well over a hundred times. I’m giving it because I love you.”
“That conviction, where exactly does it originate from?”
Before long, Cha Haseong separated his body far from the sofa cushion. And then immediately raised his body. The sound of footsteps pounding the floor reached Yeo Dowoon’s ears.
“Guide-nim?”
Yeo Dowoon was considerably confused when he approached his feet and knelt on one knee. Regardless, Cha Haseong brought his face close to Yeo Dowoon’s thigh and murmured.
“Just, like this…….”
Yeo Dowoon always found his back pitiful. So he had no choice but to place his palm on top of the tautly pulled clothing.
“Just like this, you don’t want to see me being submissive to Dowoon-ssi?”
His shoulder blades were quite plump. Perhaps because his back muscles were fiercely positioned, the texture felt hard and solid. It felt exactly like tracing a mountain range. Yeo Dowoon held on with too much force in his fingers, so it seemed like his hand’s small ligaments would snap one by one.
He had to endure unavoidably. If he applied more force here, he’d break Cha Haseong’s back.
At that moment, Cha Haseong repeatedly rubbed his cheek as if acting spoiled. He who’d snatched Yeo Dowoon’s opposite hand that had been quietly leaning on the sofa left gentle kisses.
Smack, smack. The kisses that landed in succession on the protruding bone joints connecting fingers and the back of his hand were ticklish enough to drive him crazy.
“Espers like to make Guides kneel and act arrogant.”
Cha Haseong spoke intermittently.
Yeo Dowoon, who’d been restless, simultaneously narrowed his eyes. Make them kneel? Who to whom? Though there were a few names swirling around, they were all small fries who weren’t even S-class.
“…Which bastard?”
Yeo Dowoon asked in a voice like the north wind. It was a voice that could also be felt as if pressing Cha Haseong.
“Which damn bastard did that?”
How dare anyone look down on an S-class Guide and act superior? Anyway, those who don’t know their roots are the best at being arrogant, Yeo Dowoon clicked his tongue at the rising irritation.
“If you just tell me the name…….”
It was when he was irritably drawling.
“If I tattle on those people, will Dowoon-ssi deal with them?”
Cha Haseong kept touching Yeo Dowoon’s firm thigh. However, Yeo Dowoon didn’t even have the presence of mind to pay attention to that sensation.
“Those bastards, I’ll make every single one of them kneel before Guide-nim.”
After that, he planned to make them recite slogans like ‘I’m a moron bastard who doesn’t know my place.’ Espers weren’t civilians anyway, so even if he beat them up thoroughly, the aftermath wouldn’t be troublesome.
Yeo Dowoon, who’d quickly grabbed Cha Haseong’s face, spoke with a fierce momentum.
“Hurry up and give me the name.”
Then Cha Haseong brought out an absurdly deflating answer.
“What should I do. It wasn’t that I was the one who suffered.”
His delicate jade hands swept down Yeo Dowoon’s thigh lengthily. Only after that ticklish motion repeated once or twice more could Yeo Dowoon notice the stimulation felt in his sensitive area.
Cha Haseong, who smiled with his eyes closed, continued.
“Who besides Dowoon-ssi could do that to me?”
“…….”
“Acting arrogant just for being an Esper is only possible when you’re at that level.”
“…….”
“Like Dowoon-ssi.”
What is this…, it’s not like he brought someone to play word games. At the whisper that seemed like praise but wasn’t praise, Yeo Dowoon’s mood soured sharply. A grumpy tone burst out naturally.
“This is typical wordplay, Guide-nim.”
Cha Haseong was still in a state of having his eyelids lowered.
Warm breath continuously spread from the nose and lips buried in his thigh. Though it would be useless to snap at someone who wouldn’t listen anyway, Yeo Dowoon didn’t care and spat out.
“Beating your own drum and gong. There’s no substance and it only causes disputes, isn’t it no different from wordplay?”
Yeo Dowoon absolutely couldn’t soothe the heartburn that came up clearing his throat. However, if they quarreled more here, it would end with just hurting each other’s feelings like before.
Therefore, Yeo Dowoon concluded to receive Yoon Minoh’s location as quickly as possible and hurry to move locations.
“Just tell me where that bastard Yoon Minoh ran off to.”
“…….”
However, for some reason, Cha Haseong had an expression as if he’d been heavily hit on the back of the head.
He seemed shocked by Yeo Dowoon’s appearance of making jokes saying he was beating his own drum and gong. The aftermath of the two meaninglessly spouted sentences was quite strong.
“I should slowly get up now, Guide-nim.”
Even though compared to the words he’d heard from him, it was only at the level of children’s play, Cha Haseong couldn’t quite come to his senses. Looking again, he seemed to be experiencing confusion.
But why?
“Guide-nim?”
The situation was extremely ambiguous and vague to determine the cause. It was around the time when only the question of what the hell happened was floating around in his head. Cha Haseong suddenly held a hollow laugh.
“Haha…….”
Soon he put strength into his bent knee and raised his body. Yeo Dowoon obediently raised his head upward according to the widened eye level. Cha Haseong whispered gently.
“Then we’re a relationship that can only do wordplay with each other.”
A face wrapped in conflict that was hard to define drew an artificial eye-smile. It was the moment when an impregnable shadow covered Yeo Dowoon. Two palms silently touched beside where he sat.
Cha Haseong, who’d trapped Yeo Dowoon in his arms, whispered coquettishly.
“If you don’t want to be scolded, it’d be better to just guide.”
“……Who’s scolding whom?”
“Of course Dowoon-ssi, me.”
“…….”
“The Esper scolds the Guide.”
He thought there really was a lack of things that should be obvious in the world.
Entirely based on Yeo Dowoon’s perspective, Cha Haseong looked like a person struggling to hide anxiety. Since he also looked like he was languishing, as time passed, only the heart that pitied him increased.
“I’ll decline scolding.”
So he wanted to speak even more firmly.
“There’s nothing to scold about.”
Cha Haseong, who’d been supporting Yeo Dowoon’s chin as if to overlap their lips right away, flinched and trembled. It was because Yeo Dowoon, who’d secured distance by pushing away the pure white back of his hand far away, notified him in succession.
“From now on, you don’t have to guide me.”
Though it was a decision made without the base’s permission, Yeo Dowoon had already finished preparing his mind.
“At this point…, it seems better to return to a relationship where it’s hard to do wordplay with each other.”
A choked voice stealthily leaked out.
“A relationship where we weren’t caught by the ankle, for both sides.”
He himself, who’d been tightly binding Cha Haseong with the chains called ‘berserk possibility,’ was vermin itself. The words saying he’d rather die with a gun barrel stuck to his head than be caught by the ankle by him wouldn’t leave.
But he could never blame him. Assigning a dedicated Guide to a high-risk Esper with over 50% berserk possibility was entirely for the Esper’s survival.
The Guide was just a sacrifice for that.
“Thank you for everything until now, Guide-nim.”
So Yeo Dowoon decided not to have lingering attachment to his own shabby life. Using a body he couldn’t even handle himself to bind his loved one—wasn’t that really a pathetic thing to do?
But Cha Haseong was just blankly looking down at Yeo Dowoon. What was he thinking now? After the tiring argument with Cha Haseong, Yeo Dowoon tried to recall the sincerity Cha Haseong might be hiding.
“You worked hard all this time. Um…….”
“…….”
“I hope from now on you won’t get wrongly caught by a bastard like me.”
Perhaps he was feeling like his insides were finally refreshed. Yeo Dowoon smiled brightly after giving him a special farewell.
Now it was time to each find their original orbit.
