“You’ll be fine, right? You won’t even be bored with the time we have left.”
Boredom is the problem? I just fought a monster and nearly died, and you think it’s fine for me to sit here in a hospital gown taking lessons? Are you out of your mind?
Hee-young genuinely considered whether he could make a run for it on his casted leg. This guy — he’s not just a little crazy. I was completely fooled by that gentle face and considerate way of talking. Of course there’s no such thing as normal in this insane world. What a paradise for lunatics.
Seeing Hee-young flinch, Ha-ram smiled pleasantly.
“I specifically requested a double room too. Since your leg is uncomfortable and it’d be hard for you to get around, let’s just study together here.”
This madman. He even planned ahead.
Hee-young’s internal assessment of Ha-ram plummeted. He looked Ha-ram up and down with a thoroughly exasperated expression. The inexplicable academic fervor and fixation were frankly terrifying. Why is he like this, honestly.
Ha-ram caught Hee-young’s twisted expression and laughed awkwardly.
“Hee-young. I’m truly grateful for what you did this time — but normally, Guides don’t engage with monsters in Dungeons. I won’t ask what kind of life you’ve lived. However, as long as you are a Guide and need to keep entering Dungeons, I’d really like you to stop doing things that dangerous.”
You should ask what kind of life I lived. You’re way too understanding. Ajeossi used to be a gangster.
“This time, luckily, the monster that attacked us was a Kerkoi — an exceptionally weak type of creature — and even among those, it was the weakest and youngest individual, which is why you were able to defeat it. But under normal circumstances, in a situation like that, no one except Espers engages with monsters — not Guides, not anyone. You really could have gotten yourself killed.”
“Ah…. Is that so.”
Hee-young clicked his tongue. Right — it was strange from the start that a monster, which wasn’t a gun, could die so easily — well, not easily, but still — from a knife like that. But what else was he supposed to do. Just sit there and die? No matter how he thought about it, no other option came to mind.
He doesn’t know how to ask other people for help in a dangerous moment. He’s never lived the kind of helpless life where you just hold out your hands and shout to be saved. Either you die, or you make sure it dies first. He’s fought battles where every moment was a matter of life and death.
Even hearing Ha-ram’s explanation, Hee-young didn’t regret his choice in that moment. There wasn’t even a choice to speak of. It was pure instinct. If he were put in that situation again, he would do the exact same thing.
Ha-ram saw the hard set of Hee-young’s expression and inwardly sighed. This won’t be easy. Trusting your life entirely to another person required a great deal more effort than most people realized. And on top of that, for this to happen on his very first Dungeon entry….
That was precisely why trust between a Guide and their Esper was the most important thing of all. The conviction that no matter what happened, your Esper would protect you. The resolve that no matter what happened, you would protect your Esper. That was the starting line for an Esper and a Guide.
But Ha-ram had no intention of naively just telling Hee-young to trust his Esper. A Guide needed to be able to control their Esper. A Guide who only ever gets pulled along will eventually be overturned by their Esper. Just because a Guide held the lifeline of an Esper didn’t mean they were always in the position of power. An Esper’s twisted obsession sometimes led to devastating outcomes. If that could happen even in ordinary human relationships, a relationship that was directly tied to one’s survival was even more prone to it — not less.
Saying “I did it because I loved them” was nothing but garbage. Ha-ram neither believed in love nor, frankly, thought the problem was that Espers loved their Guides. Their love was not an absolution for their obsession.
Ha-ram worried over how on earth he was supposed to teach Hee-young to trust Espers — but not unconditionally. He knew all too well that every single word he said would have a profound impact on Hee-young’s life, which was as blank as a fresh sheet of paper.
The silence between Hee-young and Ha-ram stretched on. At that moment, the door burst open and Deputy Seong and Deputy Shin came rushing in.
“Hee-young! Hee-young! Oh my goodness!”
They called out to him with near-desperate voices, and when they saw Hee-young with casts on his limbs, their eyes welled up with tears.
Oh my, good heavens. Our fairy Ajeossi, hurt like this!
“…Did someone die?”
Hee-young scrunched his face and scolded them. Kids, Ajeossi’s at an age where that kind of wailing is getting on his nerves.
Even hearing the scolding, Deputy Seong pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his eyes. Goodness. That fragile body of his, where did it even have room to get hurt…. He’s the type to just topple forward and collapse on his own without any help…. The staff had been beside themselves all day ever since news of Hee-young’s injury reached them.
How had there even been room for him to get hurt? Even for a long-term Dungeon, it was a safe grade, with Shin-yul — an S-rank — accompanying him, and the original team hadn’t even been reduced in size. The staffing had been more than sufficient — excessive, even. And yet their assigned Guide had come back in pieces, and the pitiful sight of it had them sniffling all day until they finally couldn’t take it anymore and came running.
Hee-young watched the staff making a fuss and realized that Shin-yul, who still hadn’t shown up, was starting to worry him. What — did that kid not make it out of the Dungeon?
“Ahem, well, uh — what about him?”
“Pardon?”
Deputy Seong and Deputy Shin, still blubbering and blowing their noses, blinked their eyes wide.
“Ah, him. Han Shin-yul.”
“Ah… Shin-yul. He’s just briefly at The Center.”
So he did get out. Right — if he himself had gotten out, that guy must have too, no question. Didn’t they say you couldn’t leave until all 1,178 creatures were eliminated? Did he really take them all down? Impressive, I’ll give him that. But this guy can’t even come to check on an elder. What’s his deal.
Hee-young clicked his tongue with a tch. His watch was nowhere on his wrist — no idea where it’d been put — so he had no way to check Shin-yul’s condition either. What is he even doing and where?
The moment Hee-young asked about Shin-yul, the staff members’ expressions visibly darkened. Ha-ram too seemed to have nothing to say and lowered his head, fiddling with the teaching materials. Hee-young’s eyes went wide at the suddenly heavy atmosphere.
“What’s wrong with everyone?”
“Ah, well… Shin-yul. He won’t be able to come visit for a while.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Um, well — because of what happened to you and Ha-ram getting injured in the Dungeon, he’s been referred to the disciplinary committee as the one bearing full responsibility. Since Shin-yul was the team leader, after all.”
At Deputy Seong’s words, Hee-young’s expression went blank.
Why? Is that really such a big deal? Either way, everyone came out with their limbs intact and made it out of the Dungeon — isn’t that enough?
The staff tried their best to smile as Hee-young sat there frozen in shock. High position naturally came with high responsibility — that was what the ranking structure was for. Having heard the full account, it seemed like Shin-yul had barely done anything wrong, so it felt unfair, and yet — that was simply how it worked.
“It’s okay. This time, it’s barely Shin-yul’s fault to begin with, and he’s really only been called in as the person in charge. There won’t be a severe punishment.”
“…….”
Hee-young made a grave expression. Of course — at his age, he wasn’t someone who couldn’t understand this kind of situation. A subordinate’s mistake reflects on the one above them — that was universal across every society. What mattered was that he had absolutely no idea what had gone wrong and what the actual problem was.
And it was only now that Hee-young truly faced reality. Until now, he had been so preoccupied with finding information to get back home, so busy solving problems that directly threatened his survival. Even with someone right beside him offering to pour knowledge into him, he’d tuned it out because it didn’t seem useful for returning home — and naturally, under the assumption that he’d go back, he had only adapted just enough, and no more. No — it was more accurate to say he had been actively refusing. Why should I even learn this. I’m going back soon. He had been irresponsibly turning a blind eye and pretending not to know.
He had to acknowledge it now. Even a body borrowed and a world he was only passing through — the influence ran both ways. If he was being swept along without any footing, he needed to understand the situation clearly if he was going to push back against it. Before whining about things not going his way, he had to face reality. Because regardless of his efforts to return home — right now, he was living here.
Ha….
His mind felt clearer. He’d found the problem — so he just had to solve it. He knew the simple logic of the world, and following through on it was the easiest thing there was. He hadn’t wasted all those years for nothing.
Hee-young looked at Ha-ram. He was still gripping the thick textbook tightly in his hand. Without a word, Hee-young extended his hand toward him and gestured for it. Ha-ram handed it over without resistance. Hee-young flipped through the textbook — thick enough to be a burden to hold with one hand — with a flick, and spoke in an unhurried voice.
“Alright. I should take the lessons. There’s too much I don’t know.”
“Hee-young…!”
Ha-ram’s face filled with emotion. Deputy Shin, caught off guard by Hee-young’s out-of-nowhere declaration to study, gave a round of congratulatory applause even without quite knowing why. Wow, do your best. Take the university entrance exam. At Deputy Shin’s words, Deputy Seong smiled and — through gritted teeth, in a ventriloquist’s whisper — said, read the room….
“Before that — I want to see Han Shin-yul.”
“Pardon?”
“Why, is that not allowed?”
“No, no — it’s not that. It’s just… Shin-yul’s condition might be difficult to look at….”
At the staff member’s words, Hee-young started to ask why? but stopped and instead quietly began to get himself up. Whatever it was, if he had decided to understand things, he needed to follow through. There was no more reliable information than seeing and experiencing something firsthand — so instead of asking pointless questions, he chose to act.
When Hee-young silently began preparing to leave, the staff couldn’t help but make a fuss.
“It’d be wonderful if you went and did some Guiding while you’re there! Shin-yul will really be looking for you! You’re such a caring person.”
“That’s right. There’s no one else quite like you, Hee-young!”
Hearing that, Hee-young’s face went flat.
“You think I’m going all the way there to kiss him?”
“…….”
No — why does Guiding have to mean kissing to you…. You can just hold hands…. What on earth are you thinking….
