# Chapter 119
Ten minutes later.
Suhyun’s tightly closed eyelids slowly lifted.
“…Ah, are you alright?”
Choi Sojeong, who noticed this, asked in a trembling voice.
Suhyun’s gaze moved around trying to assess the situation as he faced an unfamiliar face.
But he couldn’t see the face he wanted. The person who should naturally be by his side was missing.
“Where is Guide Jiwon?”
Suhyun asked abruptly as he sat up upon realization. Choi Sojeong’s face contorted, unable to maintain a calm expression after having witnessed Jiwon being carried away.
“He’s outside.”
At his slow and labored words, Suhyun quickly scanned his surroundings. All the ability users who had gathered for today were now in this space that had previously contained only him, but Jiwon was nowhere to be seen.
How did this happen? How were they all able to enter? More importantly, why was Jiwon outside?
The image of Jiwon running toward him covered in blood was vivid. As soon as he recalled this, Suhyun hastily got up.
“W-wait! You need more guiding!”
Choi Sojeong desperately grabbed him. His face, with lips tightly pressed together as if determined never to let go, looked like he might cry at any moment, making Suhyun’s heart sink. An ominous feeling swept over him.
“Let go. I need to see the Guide-nim.”
“No. I can’t let you go. Your wavelength stability is only at 30 right now. We need to raise it more.”
“This much is fine. So…”
“No, it’s not fine! Do you know how badly Guide Jiwon was injured trying to raise your stability! What do you mean it’s fine!”
Choi Sojeong shouted loudly at Suhyun’s nonchalant response, as he had no idea what had happened.
“…Injured.”
At the same time, Suhyun’s face froze stiffly. It felt like his blood was turning cold. Suhyun reached out to remove Choi Sojeong’s hand. His words, meant to hold him back, had instead provoked him.
“Stay still and receive guiding.”
The one who stopped Suhyun was Won Jungyeom, who had earlier taken Jiwon away.
“G-Guide Jiwon, how is he?”
Choi Sojeong, who had been fidgeting anxiously even after hearing that he wasn’t dead, asked Won Jungyeom first.
“What happened to Guide-nim, no, where is he?”
Suhyun asked while still holding Choi Sojeong’s wrist. He was ready to remove his hand immediately. Won Jungyeom, looking at him, spoke again in an uncharacteristically cold face.
“I said receive guiding.”
“Esper Jungyeom.”
“He exhausted all his energy doing guiding to save you and was carried away. He’s receiving treatment now. He pushed himself to raise your stability.”
Won Jungyeom spoke while anxiously chewing his lips, which only heightened Suhyun’s anxiety.
“But if you show up with just a stability of 30, would that make all of Jiwon Guide’s hard work worthwhile?”
“But…”
“He’s recovering through healing-type Espers. He’ll get better with a little rest. He’s being treated.”
Suhyun wanted to leave this place immediately and rush to Jiwon. So Won Jungyeom, who was blocking his way, felt frustrating.
“Please move. I need to go.”
However, Won Jungyeom seemed to find Suhyun even more frustrating.
“Can’t you hear me? I just told you he nearly died trying to save you and was barely rescued.”
“……”
“And you still have to rush over looking like that? Can’t you guess what Jiwon Guide will do first when he sees you?”
Won Jungyeom shouted while thumping his chest. At the same time, the strength left Suhyun’s hand holding Choi Sojeong’s wrist.
He would try to guide him first.
Although Suhyun desperately wanted to find him out of worry, it was obvious what Jiwon would do when they met.
Despite the fact that being driven to the brink of death while trying to save him meant his body had been strained from guiding, Jiwon would still be more concerned about his stability.
“I’m not blaming you, Esper Suhyun. I just… think it would be better if you met after both of you have recovered.”
As Suhyun’s momentum to dash out collapsed, Won Jungyeom’s voice also softened.
It was impossible not to see how worried he was about Jiwon. And that Jiwon’s condition wasn’t very good.
“Just a little more. Let’s try to get it to 50, no, at least to 40. I’ll do my best.”
Choi Sojeong quickly added, grabbing Suhyun. His current stability was just over 30. It was definitely not a level Jiwon would be comfortable with.
Suhyun nodded, exhaling a long sigh.
“Haah…”
Only then did Choi Sojeong sigh in relief, and Won Jungyeom’s body also relaxed. He had been worried that Suhyun might push through regardless.
“You’re both fearless and reckless.”
As he listened to the concern stemming from affection, Suhyun looked at his watch. He wanted his stability to rise quickly so he could go to Jiwon’s side.
‘I didn’t want to hurt Guide-nim.’
Standing alone in this space, having resolved to wait for later, he had thought at least Jiwon wouldn’t get hurt.
But he was wrong. Perhaps his choice had made Jiwon suffer more.
If only he had known there was a way to open the door…
He wouldn’t have acted so recklessly, as Won Jungyeom said.
“…How was the entrance opened?”
Suhyun, taking his eyes off the watch, asked while looking at the Guides attached to the entrance.
“Guide Jiwon opened it. Um, through guiding.”
There were at least five Guides at the entrance. They seemed to be continuously pouring their power to prevent the entrance from closing.
“Was Guide-nim… alone?”
“…Yes.”
“……”
So he opened the entrance alone—an entrance that wouldn’t stay open without multiple Guides working together like that.
“Ha…”
Suhyun exhaled a short breath as if feeling suffocated.
It was all because of him that Jiwon had exerted enough power to die and come back to life. Because he had acted recklessly. Jiwon had eaten away at his own body to save him.
“……”
He had thought it was the best way to protect Jiwon. Due to the pressure of having to bear it alone, his insistence that he couldn’t share the burden with Jiwon had instead driven him to the brink of death.
***
The first thing visible upon opening his eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling.
Feeling dazed, Jiwon blinked slowly.
‘Where am I? Why am I here?’
His thoughts flowed sluggishly, making it difficult to grasp the situation.
‘Hospital?’
It took some time to realize he was lying on a hospital bed.
It was perplexing that he couldn’t immediately recall why he was here.
‘What was I doing?’
Even breathing was arduous. It seemed like he had been crawling because walking was too difficult.
But why did he do that? What did he need to do…?
“…Ah, Seo Suhyun!”
Jiwon suddenly shouted as he slowly recalled his last moments before losing consciousness.
The memory of rushing to save Suhyun, who had been driven to the brink of going berserk, now became clear.
He had eliminated the ore that seemed to contain his power. But he lost consciousness without being able to check Suhyun’s condition.
Was he safe? Was he sure that he had saved him?
“…Guide-nim.”
As Jiwon abruptly tried to sit up out of fear, he suddenly stopped his movement.
“Guide-nim…”
It was because the voice calling him was Suhyun’s.
“Ah…”
Jiwon turned his head toward the direction of the voice with a sigh. Suhyun was standing at least three steps away from the bed, looking at him.
Unlike his last memory, Suhyun’s condition didn’t look bad. Not particularly good either, but at least at a level that could be reassuring.
“…Why are you standing so far away?”
After his anxiety subsided, Jiwon found it strange that Suhyun was standing there blankly without coming closer. Now that he looked, Suhyun’s face was deeply contorted.
He looked like he might cry at any moment.
“…Esper-nim.”
“I’m sorry.”
He apologized while hanging his head low. His slightly trembling shoulders made Jiwon feel sorry for him first.
“Are you apologizing before I get angry?”
Jiwon asked with a small smile. Suhyun still looked at the floor and shook his head.
“It seems like it.”
“……”
“I was about to get angry, asking how you could go in alone, why you were in that state there, but now that you’ve apologized, I can’t.”
“You may. No, please do.”
Suhyun immediately answered Jiwon’s deliberately grumbling words. His voice was full of moisture. He was crying.
“…Come here. I’m fully healed but don’t have the strength to walk that far.”
Jiwon spoke as if soothing Suhyun. But Suhyun stubbornly shook his head. His face, which he had barely raised, had reddened eyes. Jiwon’s face contorted in response.
“I’m not, stable yet… If I get close… I shouldn’t.”
The S-class Esper who had rushed to face Riska alone was now standing before him with a grieving face.
There was no need to ask how worried he had been about him. Jiwon understood it well, having worried about him too.
“Your stability?”
Suhyun nodded. Jiwon smiled as if it was fine.
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. It’s not even 50 yet…”
“So you’re planning to come close only after it exceeds 50? Afraid I might guide you again?”
“……”
“I just won’t guide you right now, problem solved.”
“No.”
His stubbornness was so typically Suhyun.
Jiwon sighed and put strength into his body. The healing-type Espers must have worked hard, as he didn’t feel like he was about to die anymore.
“If you won’t come to me, I’ll have to go to you.”
Jiwon stepped out of bed with labored breathing. And the moment he stood on both feet.
“Ugh…!”
Strength suddenly left his legs, which weren’t properly recovered yet, and his body staggered.
“Ah.”
But of course, Jiwon didn’t fall to the floor.
Gripping the strong arms that embraced him, Jiwon smiled broadly.
“There you are.”
The face he looked up at was indeed wet. Jiwon rubbed his hand.
“We both made it back alive and well.”
The wound that Riska had made on Suhyun’s hand had disappeared without a trace.
Jiwon could now genuinely smile with relief.
