“…Yeoul.”
As he entered, his appearance was slightly disheveled, as if he had hurried over. Yeoul looked back and forth between the clock and Kang Hyeseong’s face with a surprised expression. He said he’d come in about 20 minutes, but he must have really rushed.
“Hyung… no, Team Leader. How did you get here so quickly?”
“I thought you might be waiting. When it’s just the two of us, you can be comfortable.”
Yeoul carefully observed Kang Hyeseong’s face as he took off his coat and hung it on the wall. As expected, what had seemed like he was struggling at the scene wasn’t something he’d seen wrong. The dark shadows cast under his eyes, his gaze that looked sharper and more sensitive than usual, his complexion that had become even paler.
That familiar bitter smell came from around Kang Hyeseong. Until just earlier, he had wondered what this smell was, but now he understood it well. Yeoul slowly opened his mouth.
“…Hyung. First, I need to take your readings. I’ll start.”
Hyeseong looked very reluctant. He hesitated and tried to open his mouth to say something, but Yeoul deliberately turned his gaze away first. Pretending not to notice anything, he tore open the patch and removed the adhesive sticker.
“Bend your head down for a moment. I need to attach this to the back of your neck.”
“Yeoul. Wait a second.”
“It won’t work with guiding potions or anything like that anyway.”
“……”
“Did you think I wouldn’t know? After using that much ability earlier, a guiding potion? That doesn’t make sense.”
At Yeoul’s quiet but firm voice, Hyeseong couldn’t answer for a moment. He was just looking at Yeoul with surprised and bewildered eyes.
“Stop drinking things like that now. I’m here, hyung.”
He turned on the power for the Esper wave meter and attached the patch to the back of Kang Hyeseong’s neck, who was still stiffly frozen. While the loading bar slowly rose, an awkward silence settled in the guiding room.
“……”
“……”
Should he ask why he had been refusing guiding all this time? If he asked, would hyung answer properly?
His chest felt stuffy for no reason. While watching the loading gauge slowly fill up, Yeoul quietly clenched and unclenched his fists. Hyeseong still had his gaze elsewhere with a complicated-looking expression.
Why did Kang Hyeseong act like a different person only when it came to guiding?
It felt like there was a wall. Between Kang Hyeseong and himself. For Yeoul, who had grown up practically in his embrace for his entire life, it was an extremely unfamiliar sensation.
He didn’t know the reason, but Kang Hyeseong had changed somehow after he became a Guide. It was a very subtle change, but one he couldn’t help but notice. On the surface, he encouraged and was proud of him, but he had no idea what he was thinking inside.
―Beep. Beep.
At that moment, the full gauge appeared with a mechanical sound. Yeoul examined the meter with a careful expression. And the moment he saw the numbers displayed on the screen.
“…What is this?!”
He was so surprised he couldn’t help but shout.
“Hyung, what, what is this? How… how can you be standing here so fine?”
The wave readings displayed on the screen were distressingly terrible. They were readings that had far exceeded the normal range.
An Esper’s wave readings expressed in percentages were considered higher risk the higher they were. 20-40% was considered within the normal range, and above that, they were obligated to receive guiding.
From 60% onward was considered a danger zone. From that point, clear abnormal symptoms like bleeding and fainting began to appear in the Esper’s body.
The moment it exceeded 70%, it was automatically reported to the Ability Security Bureau, and if there was no dedicated Guide, the rampage response team would be urgently dispatched. From 85% and above, it was considered a ‘rampage state’ and they would be forcibly restrained, and if judged to pose a threat to citizens at 90% or above, they could even be ordered to be killed.
But right now, Kang Hyeseong’s reading was 65%. Yeoul couldn’t continue speaking with a serious expression. 65% was clearly a dangerous reading even to him, who had no guiding experience. He had definitely learned during training that at around 60-70%, the Esper themselves would have difficulty even walking properly due to nausea, tinnitus, dizziness, or difficulty breathing.
“This won’t do, hyung. Let’s start guiding right now.”
“Yeoul. Wait a moment.”
As he tried to urgently start guiding, Kang Hyeseong quietly opened his mouth. His voice and gaze were calm to a degree that didn’t match the surprisingly high wave readings.
“My wave quantity is large and the intensity is strong, so there’s a high possibility the Guide will feel burdened. So to be honest, I don’t want to receive your guiding. Because I don’t want to make you suffer.”
“……”
“The Director spoke that way earlier, but I’ve managed to endure until now without a Guide. So Yeoul, you too, I understand you’re worried about me, but you don’t need to try so hard…”
“How can you say that?”
Yeoul roughly put down the wave meter and looked straight at him.
Just a month or two ago, when he had been living as a civilian, he might have believed what Kang Hyeseong was saying now. However, it was different after having already learned about the danger of Esper rampage and the necessity of guiding for a month as a Guide trainee.
Foolish Kang Hyeseong. What do you mean you’ve managed to endure? You’re just enduring by grinding your bones and flesh.
“If the person receiving it is that painful, then what about hyung? What about the insides of the person holding such things?”
“……”
“Is your body made of iron or something? Why do you keep saying you’re fine? To my eyes, you don’t look fine at all.”
Hyeseong, uncharacteristically, couldn’t answer right away. Toward him with a somewhat surprised expression, Yeoul declared in a clear tone.
“I don’t care what you say, hyung. Since I’ve become your dedicated Guide, I’m going to guide you.”
It was their first argument that wasn’t really an argument with Kang Hyeseong. For Yeoul, who had obediently listened to his words all his life, it was difficult to calm his pounding heart.
Yeoul deliberately pretended to be composed and took out the guiding gloves. He didn’t want to show that he was shaken. To protect Kang Hyeseong, to fulfill his duty as a Guide to him, he felt he needed to approach this with an unwavering firm attitude.
With his gloved hand, he carefully took Hyeseong’s hand. It was a hand he could normally hold anytime, but after becoming a Guide, why was it so difficult to hold this hand even once?
Yeoul took a slow deep breath. He closed his eyes tightly and raised his concentration to the maximum. He calmed his complicated mind and tried to feel the still-unfamiliar purification waves.
“…!”
Surprised, Yeoul’s eyes flew open. He could definitely sense it. The energy flowing in very faintly but slowly through his fingertips. However, the moment he opened his eyes, that energy disappeared as if it had never been there.
“Does it hurt? If you’re uncomfortable, stop…”
Kang Hyeseong asked, sharply pulling his hand away. It was a somewhat sharp and urgent voice, but Yeoul didn’t care and strongly pulled Hyeseong’s hand back again. He had felt Kang Hyeseong’s waves for the first time, and he couldn’t let this slip away.
“No, it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t hurt at all, so give me your hand again.”
He was in a hurry. The number 65% was spinning round and round in his head. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath, waiting for the sensation he felt a moment ago to be recreated.
This time, a clearer flow came in through his fingertips. Breathtakingly dense and meticulous waves were slipping in smoothly like a snake.
Senses he didn’t even know existed bloomed all at once, and it felt as if electricity was flowing through nerve endings that had been buried indifferently.
‘This is Kang Hyeseong’s waves…’
Even though the power he glimpsed through his fingertips was only the tiniest tip of the iceberg, Yeoul shuddered at the potential he could vaguely feel.
It was like a fiercely surging tidal wave. The enormous power writhing here and there inside his body. He instinctively felt that if he carelessly pulled the edge of the waves toward himself, he would be completely swept away.
Facing the vast power that was looking at him quietly like a crouched beast, his body trembled. It was human instinct in the face of an indescribable supernatural force.
However, Yeoul tried to relax his body while continuing to take deep breaths. Fear suddenly rushed in at the unfamiliar sensation he had never accepted in his life, but at the same time, what he had heard during training also came to mind.
‘Trainees, don’t forget. When you do guiding for the very first time, the unfamiliar waves entering your body itself can feel like terror, but you are people who can accept and purify such waves. That’s what makes Guides special.’
I can do this. I’m A-rank, and I can sufficiently accept Kang Hyeseong’s waves. That’s why the matching rate came out so high. So I can do it. I can make Kang Hyeseong comfortable… Muttering spell-like self-hypnosis, Yeoul pulled himself together.
‘Don’t be scared… calmly.’
He imagined very slowly extending his hand toward waves like a house-sized tidal wave. That it’s okay, to trust him and come here. Because Kang Hyeseong, before being an ability user, has been with him since he was very young. So believing that his power couldn’t possibly swallow him up.
Suddenly, an unfamiliar sensation began to wrap around Yeoul’s body. Small like a sprout but definitely felt. Waves that looked cold enough to freeze his heart but were actually noble and beautiful like white snowflakes.
‘Just a little more.’
Yeoul drew an image of spreading his arms wide in his head. And he slowly embraced his waves that resembled Hyeseong. Then, something inside him surged violently.
It was a sensation he had lived his whole life without knowing existed. The energy that wriggled powerfully to an unbelievable degree was full of vitality. Feeling his own pounding heartbeat, Yeoul intuited.
This is the purification wave.
Yeoul’s power that sprouted within welcomed Hyeseong’s energy gladly like earth meeting water. The moment the two powers mixed, Yeoul was seized with excitement.
‘What is this…? This is really amazing…’
From that point on, there was no need to try hard to do anything. Like breathing and blinking, the two people’s waves began to harmonize comfortably and naturally.
A thrilling shiver spread through his entire body. He couldn’t believe it. That he was guiding Kang Hyeseong. Not anyone else, but Kang Hyeseong…
‘What is hyung… feeling right now…’
Yeoul threw a trembling gaze at Hyeseong. With the elation that had filled him to the top of his head, things like the argument they had earlier were already in the back of his mind.
“Hyung, how is it? My guiding… is it okay?”
Hyeseong’s gaze, which had been fixed on their clasped hands, quietly turned toward Yeoul’s eyes.
“Since this is my first time guiding, I’m not sure if I’m doing it right.”
Oh no… now that he thought about it, Kang Hyeseong had said last time that it was rude to ask things like this.
He felt a bit embarrassed belatedly, but it couldn’t be helped. The situation was different from back then when he didn’t know anything. Right now, he was Kang Hyeseong’s dedicated Guide, so how he felt was an important matter to him.
“…Good. It’s good for me.”
He slowly parted his lips.
“What about you, Yeoul? Anything painful or uncomfortable? Like your heart hurting, shortness of breath, or your chest feeling tight? Nothing like that?”
“Not at all. I’m completely fine.”
Considering how seriously Kang Hyeseong had warned him earlier, he didn’t feel any pain at all. He just had the feeling that his waves were coming in and that guiding was proceeding smoothly.
Ah, come to think of it, they had said it was good to do wave measurements in real-time while guiding. Yeoul firmly held onto Kang Hyeseong’s hand and attached the wave meter’s patch to his body again. And he looked at the screen with a trembling heart.
“…Huh?”
Seeing the number displayed on the screen, his strength drained. He was a bit disappointed. He thought it would drop dramatically, but it only dropped by a mere 2%…?
“Why did it only drop this much?”
“Yeoul, even this much is amazing.”
Kang Hyeseong asserted in a calm tone.
“Don’t just look at the percentage, you need to look at my overall wave quantity. If you lowered 2% from that, it would be equivalent to lowering several percent from other Espers.”
“Aha… that’s true. Still…”
Whether other Espers dropped several percent, that was outside his interest. At least for this moment. 63% was by no means a low reading. He couldn’t be satisfied with a mere 2% decrease.
“Hyung, this won’t do.”
Guiding gloves reduce excessive contact and rejection reactions. In other words, they were basic protective equipment for Guides. But what he needed right now wasn’t protection but guiding efficiency.
“I’m going to take off my gloves. Let’s do it bare-handed, us.”
