# Chapter 27
Walking through dungeons while holding hands had become quite familiar. Or more accurately, being dragged around had become more familiar.
Jiwon looked around while slowly guiding through their firmly clasped hands. He couldn’t count how many times they had gone in and out, but all the surroundings of the dungeon that Jiwon remembered looked the same.
A place filled with hazy fog where you couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
Jiwon’s vision was completely obscured. Even when battles with monsters occasionally occurred, Jiwon couldn’t see them. It was because he couldn’t distinguish even distances that were practically right in front of him.
“Let’s rest here for a bit.”
“Hmm…, okay.”
Jiwon nodded at Suhyun’s words after confirming there were no monsters nearby. Recently, they had been taking a good rest after reaching the end of the dungeon, but today they decided to rest once more in the middle because they had encountered many monsters.
He roughly understood that it was a terrain with many walls. It could be a maze or perhaps an ant colony.
Whatever it was, they hadn’t discovered the problem yet. The only issue was that the passages were so narrow that even if they wanted to avoid monsters, they couldn’t.
As Jiwon leaned against the wall and sat down, Suhyun sat beside him. Despite being in a dungeon with a clear purpose, sitting side by side holding hands gave him an odd feeling.
It definitely doesn’t feel like father and son.
But they’re not lovers either.
“Ah, by the way, I just thought of something.”
Jiwon, who had been sitting in a daze thinking pointless thoughts due to accumulated fatigue, suddenly opened his mouth as if something had just occurred to him.
“I’ve been wanting to clarify something for a while. Though Esper-nim probably isn’t curious about it…”
Am I being chatty? Still, Suhyun said to rest here, so a few words shouldn’t be a problem, right?
In that brief moment, Jiwon convinced himself.
“I don’t have a lover.”
“…?”
Then he threw out an utterly random statement. With no context whatsoever, Suhyun seemed quite bewildered. But Jiwon continued without minding.
“You misunderstood when you heard the call last time, right? You’re probably still misunderstanding.”
There had been something bothering him for a while. Previously, Suhyun had overheard his phone conversation with the researcher, specifically when the researcher called him “honey.”
Afterward, Suhyun even urged him to go out and meet “him.” At that time, he didn’t have a proper explanation, so he let it be, but now that Suhyun knew everything, there was no reason to hide.
The reason he wanted to bring it up was clear.
“That person is a researcher. You know how researchers pretend to be close to hide their identity, right? The term that person chose was ‘honey.’ I heard later that he was really into some romance movie.”
In the thick fog, Suhyun’s expression was peculiar. After rambling on about everything he wanted to say, Jiwon shrugged.
“Your face is asking why I’m explaining this. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“What’s obvious?”
“Well, when I suggested guiding through hugging before, you flatly refused.”
Suhyun seemed to be asking why that mattered. Jiwon felt wronged and said:
“Wasn’t it because you were uncomfortable with physical contact, even for guiding? And how you apologized to me after the kiss.”
The memories from that dungeon are hazy. But there was a memory that surfaced recently. Suhyun, who had pulled away in surprise while kissing his lips, apologized to him.
How unlike Suhyun that word was. Moreover, he had only craved guiding because of his wavelength, and I was the one who initiated the kiss. Suhyun had nothing to apologize for.
That’s when it occurred to him. The possibility that Suhyun was still misunderstanding.
“Ah.”
Suhyun let out a faint sigh. Jiwon exhaled with a “haah.”
“It’s ridiculous to feel sorry for a nonexistent lover. So, I’m telling you this to say don’t worry about it too much. There’s no need to feel guilty toward anyone.”
After saying it, he felt quite refreshed. He had wanted to clarify this for a long time, but only now had the opportunity.
Now Suhyun would probably worry less when guiding. Although he had never said it, Jiwon was half-convinced of what was on his mind.
“Guilt or something like that…”
Suhyun started to speak indifferently but stopped. Jiwon could see his distorted face. Jiwon quietly waited for his next words.
If he says he never had any, Jiwon planned to respond with “I see.” Of course, he wouldn’t believe it, but there was no need to insist otherwise if Suhyun denied it.
“……”
But no words came from Suhyun. Rather puzzled, Jiwon stared at Suhyun for a while, but Suhyun had completely closed his eyes.
“Huh…”
Jiwon let out a breath in disbelief. It wasn’t because he was upset, but because Suhyun seemed to have readily admitted it, which made him feel a bit strange.
Jiwon, who had been sitting blankly, smiled faintly and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Anyway, after the explanation, he felt completely refreshed.
“?”
However, the two couldn’t rest for long. Jiwon and Suhyun, who opened their eyes almost simultaneously, looked at each other with anxious glances.
“……”
It was because an unfamiliar energy they hadn’t felt until now was flowing in from somewhere.
‘An Esper?’
Jiwon doesn’t easily sense monsters’ presence. But he could feel an Esper’s wavelength from afar. What he was feeling now was definitely an Esper’s wavelength.
“…Is it already that time?”
Jiwon whispered questioningly. Suhyun subtly shook his head. The two’s eyes turned to one place. Toward the Esper who was getting closer and closer.
***
Kim Juyoung’s anger was not temporary. With a personality that hated losing, he was desperate to crush Suhyun, who had inflicted the greatest sense of defeat on him.
He couldn’t beat Suhyun in a direct confrontation. So he targeted Jiwon, the guide. The plan hadn’t changed.
It would have been nice if both had died in that problematic dungeon, but unfortunately, they came out alive, so Kim Juyoung decided to take action himself. He aimed for when Jiwon was in the hospital.
It might be difficult at Suhyun’s home, but a hospital was a different story.
‘There’s no opening.’
However, Kim Juyoung couldn’t even make a proper attempt. It was hard to find a time when Suhyun wasn’t at the hospital where Jiwon was admitted.
This was no different from Seo Suhyun’s home. Suhyun, an S-class Esper, would quickly notice his presence.
‘He neglected him before, but now that he’s received guiding, his heart seems to have changed.’
He had kept Jiwon at a distance as if he would never make an exclusive contract, but once they contracted, his attitude changed 180 degrees. Not just keeping a distance, but he even hated going near him before.
Any Esper would do the same. Why had he been so confident that they wouldn’t contract? When wavelengths reach their limit, one has no choice but to contract, even with someone they dislike.
What was most absurd was that he, an Esper himself, had missed such an obvious principle.
‘Is that them?’
Well, it’s already in the past. There’s no need to hold onto something that can’t be undone. Kim Juyoung just needed to achieve his small objective.
Kim Juyoung took as a hint the fact that Jiwon had been taken to the hospital after guiding Suhyun. The effect of excessive guiding on guides is publicly known.
Then, instead of directly causing harm, it would be a simpler method to make them continuously perform excessive guiding, thereby causing Jiwon to lose his strength.
As if someone was pushing his back to do just that, the opportunity came quickly. He heard the news that the two of them, as an advance party, were entering the dungeon alone.
The intention to check the dungeon without disturbing monsters as much as possible and then wait for the rear party is good. But things don’t always go as planned.
Kim Juyoung’s purpose was to disrupt Suhyun’s wavelength as he fought monsters alone. So he entered the dungeon secretly, despite the hassle.
‘Moon Jiwon never guides to the point of harming his body. For someone like that to guide until he was taken to the hospital means Seo Suhyun forced him.’
An Esper who has directly experienced absorbing guiding never forgets the taste. When the wavelength collapses beyond a certain level, they will try to extract guiding from the guide again.
And if it exceeds the limit… even Moon Jiwon’s great guiding skills would become worthless.
It was a very simple but certain method.
Kim Juyoung smiled wickedly.
Unaware even in his dreams that his reason was numbed by his sense of inferiority.
