Ding.
Right then, a string of messages came in from Hayeong. He had already shared the guiding schedule that had just been arranged. Yujin skimmed through it.
“Baek Dohun is first.”
Baek Dohun, whose file he had just been reviewing, had the earliest slot on the schedule. And what’s more——
“Right now?”
Yujin startled and checked the time. The time Baek Dohun had proposed was today — and only ten minutes from now. Yujin sprang to his feet.
“Team Leader, I just——”
“Yeah, I saw. I’m heading out now.”
“Pardon?”
Hayeong, his face drained white, stepped into the team leader’s office and stopped short with wide eyes.
He had probably come in to smooth things over, expecting Yujin to blow up over the rushed schedule. Yujin gave a light shake of his head and tapped Hayeong on the shoulder.
“If he’s that eager to see me, I’d better get going.”
“Ah……”
“You stay and keep working. Contact me if there’s anything to report.”
Leaving the flustered Hayeong behind, Yujin walked out of the office. Finding the guiding room Baek Dohun had designated wasn’t difficult. He had already committed most of the building directory to memory from the lobby map.
My compatibility rate with Baek Dohun is only 56%.
His compatibility with Baek Dohun, the team leader of Alpha Team 1, wasn’t particularly high. But since he was an S-rank Guide, his efficiency would still far exceed that of most Guides. Yujin kept the thought light and walked on.
Tak.
Yujin stepped into the guiding room and took a look around. It was a small room with a table and chairs sized for two people to sit across from each other. Not much different from the practice rooms he’d used occasionally back at the academy affiliated with the Center.
In the other world, there had been no enclosed guiding rooms like this — guiding had been done anywhere and everywhere. He remembered finding that uncomfortable and struggling to adapt at the time, yet now, after so many years, the sight of a proper guiding room felt oddly unfamiliar.
“Hoo.”
Yujin exhaled softly and sat down. Baek Dohun hadn’t arrived yet. Setting the appointment with barely any notice, and not even bothering to come early.
He wasn’t pleased — but for now, Yujin waited in silence. He had left the moment he saw the message and arrived a little ahead of schedule. Baek Dohun would probably show up right on time.
Knock knock.
Sure enough, after a short while, a crisp, measured knock sounded at the guiding room door. Yujin turned toward it and said quietly:
“Come in.”
At his word, the door opened. A tall man stepped inside.
Oh……
The moment he saw him, Yujin was briefly taken aback.
He had thought he’d grown tired of handsome faces after seeing so many in the world of the novel — but by looks alone, Baek Dohun held his own against any of them. He now fully understood why Yujin Langford had been so fixated on him.
“Ah, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m——”
“Save the pleasantries.”
“……Pardon?”
Yujin had instinctively begun to introduce himself, and he faltered at the cold voice.
Right — he and Baek Dohun weren’t meeting for the first time. To Yujin, this man was a stranger. But Baek Dohun had already crossed paths with Yujin Langford wearing his face more times than he could count.
He should have acted like someone who already knew him. Instead he’d gone and acted like a person meeting someone for the very first time. Yujin reproached himself and nodded.
“Have a seat, Team Leader.”
Baek Dohun responded by fixing Yujin with a gaze of unmistakable wariness. Given that Yujin Langford — occupying his body — had subjected him to every manner of scheme imaginable, the reaction was understandable. But being stared down without a word said was still a little absurd.
“You came for guiding, didn’t you? Or didn’t you?”
“……”
But Yujin knew Espers’ weak point well. For S-rank Espers who were perpetually starved for guiding, there was no greater incentive. The fact that Baek Dohun had been the first to respond to the guiding schedule meant the situation was that urgent for him. Yujin already knew from the files Hayeong had sent over that Baek Dohun had the most dangerous contamination level in all of Alpha Team 1.
After a moment, Baek Dohun moved slowly toward the seat. His stride was razor-precise, as if measured by a ruler. Yujin watched his movements carefully.
The textbook image of a soldier.
Like military officers who had gone through elite training, there was a distinct sharpness to the way Baek Dohun carried himself. Even a cursory glance at his background gave a clear picture of the kind of person he was — and he matched that picture without a single deviation.
Baek Dohun sat down and straightened his back with rigid posture, his gaze fixed on Yujin. Now Yujin understood why Yujin Langford had been so struck by his eyes. Faint traces of blue energy lingered in them — a reflection of his lightning ability. Even now, with his power dormant, that pale blue glow still shimmered faintly, giving him an otherworldly air.
“What are your conditions for guiding?”
Baek Dohun asked in a measured, even tone. At the question, the corner of Yujin’s mouth twitched slightly.
Conditions. For guiding. As a Guide who took his work seriously, those were words he had never even thought to consider.
Not that he worked for free, of course. He would have contracted with the Center for a solid salary. And if he had been providing stable guiding to the Espers of Alpha Team 1, he would naturally have expected additional compensation for that as well.
But all of that was simply fair payment for the work he did. Demanding something extra from the Espers themselves — personally — was something that had never crossed his mind even once. He wasn’t Yujin Langford, who spent his time scheming up ways to torment Espers with his own ability.
“I don’t have any particular conditions.”
“What?”
At Yujin’s answer, Baek Dohun’s face twisted. He had clearly expected an outrageous demand — being told there wasn’t one seemed to catch him completely off guard.
“You expect me to believe that?”
And naturally, Baek Dohun didn’t trust his word. Having been jerked around by Yujin Langford’s whims, that was only to be expected.
“The Center has been putting pressure on me lately. If I keep skipping out on guiding and doing nothing, my position gets a little difficult.”
“……”
Yujin went with the Center as his excuse first. The Director he had met that morning had been anything but threatening — he’d been tiptoeing around like a timid little herbivore. But Baek Dohun was an Esper; he wouldn’t know the details of what went on inside the Center. So Yujin decided to brazen it out.
“You didn’t seem like someone who cared about things like that.”
Arms crossed, Baek Dohun scanned Yujin’s face with sharp, searching eyes — as though he were intent on catching every lie Yujin might be telling.
Go ahead and look. There’s genuinely nothing to find.
He was tired of explaining himself and had no interest in a staring contest, so Yujin simply held out his hand. Baek Dohun’s thick brows twitched.
“As I told the Director, the guiding is contact only. You hold my hand quietly and then you’re free to go.”
“……”
He said it while giving a small beckoning motion with his hand, and Baek Dohun’s expression pinched further. It was plain to see he wasn’t happy about any of this.
But Yujin wasn’t particularly comfortable either. What Yujin Langford had put him through was regrettable — but Yujin was just as much a victim here. He was too mentally and physically drained to tread carefully around Baek Dohun’s feelings and coax him along gently.
“If you say something different later——”
“That won’t happen. Now take my hand.”
“……”
At the blunt reply, Baek Dohun let out a long breath. He slowly lifted the hand that had been resting on his thigh.
His hands were covered in scars, at odds with the clean lines of his face. The fact that even a top-tier S-rank Esper’s wounds hadn’t healed to this extent meant he was in an absolutely critical state. Yujin carefully closed his fingers around Baek Dohun’s large hand.
How has he been walking around like this?
Yujin scanned Baek Dohun’s condition in an instant, clicking his tongue inwardly.
The Espers in the other world had also been in a terrible state from the lack of proper guiding — and Baek Dohun was no different. He looked like he could go berserk at any moment…… It was frankly impressive that he’d been keeping himself together in a body like this. Yujin found himself clicking his tongue without even meaning to.
“I’m going to begin guiding now. It might feel a little uncomfortable.”
Espers who weren’t accustomed to guiding sometimes struggled to accept an unfamiliar energy. Once they adapted, there was nothing better — but getting there was the hard part. Having carefully observed how S-rank Espers in the novel responded, Yujin expected Baek Dohun to react in much the same way.
“Ngh……”
Not long after guiding began, Baek Dohun bit down on his lip. The guiding energy smoothing over his disordered wavelength felt foreign — and his body was resisting it.
On top of that, their compatibility rate was on the lower end. To minimize the risk, Yujin needed to handle the energy with greater precision. In that sense, he was a veteran.
Baek Dohun’s wavelength was erratic — like sparks of lightning jumping in all directions, unpredictable and volatile. Keeping pace with that current while steering guiding energy through it was no simple task.
Even so, it had to be done. He was an S-rank Guide, and he had exactly the ability it took.
“Ugh.”
“Hold on just a little longer.”
Yujin said it coolly, tightening his grip on Baek Dohun’s hand. A scorching current of energy surged and ebbed between their clasped hands. This moment was one Yujin rather liked.
The certainty that his guiding was landing — that it was reaching the Esper. That conviction took shape right at this peak, when guiding was at its most intense. Yujin poured even more guiding energy into Baek Dohun.
