They passed through the Supernatural Abilities Security Bureau’s guard post and entered the vast base. The fact that he was no longer going to the guide training building but commuting to the main building made Yeoul’s heart race with excitement.
However, the place where Hyeseong parked the car wasn’t in front of the main building but at the diagnostic examination building. Hadn’t he finished all the examinations yesterday…? Yeoul got out of the car with a puzzled expression.
He wondered for a moment if they were doing another examination, but he immediately recalled what the examiner had told him yesterday while receiving the detailed examination.
‘Since you’ve been evaluated as an A-rank Guide, you’ll now undergo matching rate tests with all A-rank and above Espers registered here. You’ll probably be here continuously for about a week, give or take.’
In that case, it seemed Kang Hyeseong had come to drop him off here. And he’s already so busy… Yeoul looked up at Hyeseong and tapped his forearm.
“Hyung, thanks for dropping me off. I can go by myself now, so hurry and go. You brought me here because I have to do matching rate tests with other Espers, right?”
He stopped walking. A faint smell of alcohol wafted from the cold air inside the diagnostic examination building. Under the dazzlingly bright fluorescent lights, Kang Hyeseong wore a peculiar expression.
“No. You’re only doing it with me.”
“…Huh?”
Yeoul’s eyes widened.
“They’re not having you test with other Espers.”
Having finished his concise explanation, Kang Hyeseong started walking again. Yeoul couldn’t erase his bewildered expression as he followed him. What does that suddenly mean…?
They crossed straight through a corridor lined with several rooms. Passing the section where he’d had his full-body examination right after awakening and the blood test room where he’d undergone detailed testing yesterday, they arrived at a space he was seeing for the first time.
“Let’s go in.”
“Mm-hm.”
Hyeseong knocked on the door. “Come in.” At the clear yet dignified voice heard from inside, a strange sense of déjà vu arose. And the moment they entered the examination room, Yeoul almost let out a cry.
‘That’s the Director…!’
“P-Peace! G… Second Lieutenant Kim Yeoul!”
“Peace. Major Kang Hyeseong.”
Perhaps because he was nervous, he almost gave his trainee rank and name that he’d been using until yesterday. The hand he placed beside his right temple trembled finely. The Director, who had been sitting on the sofa drinking tea, smiled kindly.
“Welcome. Second Lieutenant Kim Yeoul. Major Kang, welcome too. Sit here, both of you. Aide, give us each a cup of tea.”
“Yes, Director.”
Suddenly, sweat began to explosively pour from his palms. His lips dried up completely. He had no idea what all this was about. Only doing a matching rate test with Kang Hyeseong? Suddenly? …And why on earth was the Director in the examination room…?
“Relax. I won’t eat you.”
“…Yes, under… stood.”
The Director looking at Yeoul was just smiling kindly as if finding him cute. Yeoul felt cold sweat running down his back and placed his trembling fists on his thighs. Hyeseong, sitting right next to him, gestured at the teacup to Yeoul.
“Yeoul. Have some tea and relax.”
“Yes! …Understood.”
Kang Hyeseong chuckled softly beside him. Yeoul discreetly wiped his damp palms on his combat uniform pants before taking a sip of tea. How did I end up in this situation, sandwiched between a Major and the Director as a mere Second Lieutenant…
“That’s right. Just be comfortable like when you’re receiving a full-body examination. I just came to see out of curiosity. A-rank Guides are quite precious, you see.”
The Director smiled brightly at Yeoul.
“Especially when paired with an Esper with strong waves like Major Kang, the synergy is tremendous. Second Lieutenant Kim must have heard, right? If you’re evaluated as A-rank or above, you have to do matching rate tests with all A-rank and above Espers.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“But, the person most urgently in need of guiding at the Security Bureau is our Major Kang Hyeseong. Compared to the amount of abilities he uses, he receives almost no guiding.”
“Director.”
Kang Hyeseong’s heavy voice cut off her words. Yeoul flinched and looked to the side. Having interrupted his superior’s words, he was looking at the Director with a piercing gaze.
“Okay, I get it. I’ll stop nagging. It seems like I’m putting unnecessary pressure on you.”
However, the Director didn’t seem to mind. She just chuckled and finished the conversation like that.
“Then take your time preparing and start.”
“Yes, Director.”
The examiner answered respectfully. Yeoul, who had barely drunk his tea before setting down the cup, soon moved with Hyeseong into the examination room inside the reception room.
“Please relax and just lie down comfortably.”
Unlike when receiving a full-body examination, there were two beds. The examiner, who smiled warmly, laid Hyeseong and Yeoul down side by side.
Like before, electrodes were attached here and there on his body. The end of the electrode that started from one split into two branches, one attached to Hyeseong’s body and the other attached to Yeoul’s body.
‘You said it was fine even without receiving guiding. Liar.’
Yeoul turned his eyes slightly to glare at Kang Hyeseong lying beside him. Just a little while ago, even before going to work, Kang Hyeseong had calmly lied to him that it was fine even without receiving guiding.
But the reality was different.
‘The person most urgently in need of guiding at the Security Bureau is our Major Kang Hyeseong. Compared to the amount of abilities he uses, he receives almost no guiding.’
For the Director to say something like that. Even a civilian who knew nothing about abilities would know that Kang Hyeseong was the person with the highest ability usage in South Korea.
And yet he’d received almost no guiding. He was curious about the reason, but how had he managed to endure until now? The danger of rampage that he’d learned about during his training came to mind again. Just imagining it made his vision go dark.
Why?
Did he not have a match with a high matching rate?
Or was there another reason?
‘Suddenly like this… a matching rate test with Kang Hyeseong.’
What was going on? There were more than one or two situations he needed to understand and accept. The Director’s words alone were confusing enough, and this situation of lying side by side with Kang Hyeseong receiving an examination was absolutely bewildering.
How could he, an A-rank, possibly do a matching rate test with Kang Hyeseong, who was S-rank?
It was a situation he hadn’t even expected, but now that it was happening, greed quietly rose up. If possible… I hope it comes out high.
‘If the matching rate is high… that means I can also give guiding… to Kang Hyeseong.’
He’d learned it when receiving theoretical education at the training center. About matching rates with Espers. If the matching rate isn’t high, the rejection reaction can be severe and painful for both parties, so except in emergency situations, guiding can basically only be performed starting at 50% or above.
At 60% or above, guiding can be given and received with reasonably decent efficiency, and approaching 70% means the wavelengths match very well, making it possible to form a pair. An Esper-Guide pair is a kind of contract, also called a dedicated guide.
Usually, the average matching rate between Esper-Guide pairs was said to be around 65-75%. Going beyond that, if they completely trust each other mentally and promise to only accept each other’s waves by performing an ‘imprint,’ the matching rate increases by 5-10% or more.
However, imprinting was said to occur unconsciously, not through will. Moreover, an Esper who has imprinted cannot receive guiding from anyone other than their partner Guide. Therefore, if an Esper unilaterally imprints rather than mutually imprinting, it can actually be poison for the Esper… the content he’d been educated on was recalled neatly in his mind.
“Are you nervous?”
Kang Hyeseong asked quietly. Yeoul shook his head slightly.
“No, I’m fine.”
He answered calmly, but in truth, he was trembling. If the matching rate came out low. If it measured below 50%, he would have nothing he could do for him. And the higher the Esper’s rank, the less likely it was to measure a high matching rate with him.
At least because he himself was A-rank, he could try testing like this, but even so, he’d learned that the gap between A-rank and S-rank was extremely large. Moreover, Kang Hyeseong was an Esper whose wave strength and wave quantity ranked at the very top even among S-rank Espers worldwide.
Honestly, wouldn’t even getting 50% be a miracle…? Thinking that, his confidence suddenly plummeted.
…I don’t know. It’s not like I can do anything about the matching rate by worrying… When Yeoul let out a deep sigh, Hyeseong reached out his hand. Then he grasped Yeoul’s hand with his large hand.
“Don’t worry. No matter how the matching rate comes out, I’m taking you with me.”
It was an ambiguous statement. Yeoul couldn’t answer and just blinked. So Kang Hyeseong was thinking that he was nervous about possibly going to another team…?
Of course, he was also so happy to have become teammates with Kang Hyeseong that it was unbelievable. But… if the matching rate with Kang Hyeseong came out terribly low. Even in that case, would it really be only good to belong to the same team as him?
If he had to watch Kang Hyeseong suffering beside him while being unable to do anything for him, there would be nothing worse for his heart.
“…That’s…”
“Examination complete. I’ll clean you up.”
The dark room brightened. The examiner came in and moved diligently, removing the electrodes attached to the two people. The two sat up and came out of the examination room side by side.
The Director was still holding tea in the reception room. Everyone sat quietly and waited for the results to be printed. Watching the loading graph filling up as it moved upward, Yeoul swallowed. Because no one opened their mouth, the atmosphere was heavy.
Kang Hyeseong’s gaze was calm. No expectation could be read from his composed expression, same as always. The Director was the same. Interest lingered on the face of the woman sitting with her legs crossed drinking tea, but that seemed to be all.
“Among the Guides who have done matching tests with Major Kang so far, there hasn’t been a single person who exceeded 40%. Of course, they were all A-rank or above Guides. I wonder how our Second Lieutenant Kim will do.”
40%…? At the matching rate that was much lower than what he’d heard during education, Yeoul felt dismayed. So that was it, the reason he hadn’t received proper guiding until now. He suddenly understood why Kang Hyeseong was sitting there with such an expectationless face. Even wanting to just exceed 50% was my greed.
“Ah, except for one person.”
…One person?
At the Director’s muttered words like talking to herself, Hyeseong breathed in languidly and looked at her. At the gaze that changed in an instant, Yeoul hesitated for just a moment.
Just as Kang Hyeseong was about to open his mouth, the examiner shouted in an excited tone.
“Director. The test results are out!”
