It was before Hyeseong could even open his mouth. Yeoul, who had quickly taken off and thrown away his gloves, snatched and grabbed Hyeseong’s hand.
“Wait, Kim Yeoul!”
Their eyes met as Hyeseong’s widened. Yeoul reflexively used both hands to grab onto Kang Hyeseong, who was trying to shake off his hand violently, as if clinging to him. And he clasped their fingers together firmly and didn’t let go.
Yeoul immediately concentrated and absorbed the waves that were surging violently. Just like he had done a moment ago. And the next moment.
“Uh…?”
His breath caught.
Thump. A clear physical force struck his chest. It was as if his heart had become a drum and an invisible force had become the drumstick.
A strong spark flashed before his eyes. He felt dizzy as if caught in a fiercely whirling vortex, spinning round and round.
It felt as if someone had roughly grabbed his internal organs with their hands and was shaking them about and twisting them. Nausea rose. At the same time as hot liquid flowed from his nose, his clear vision instantly blacked out.
―…oul!
The thread of nerves that had thinned to the point of breaking hesitated at the familiar voice and thickened.
“Yeoul! Kim Yeoul!”
The flow of time felt distant. Was it a few seconds, or was it a few hours? Yeoul blinked his eyes blankly, unable to quite escape from the darkness that had momentarily swallowed him. Despite the fact that he had actually lost consciousness for less than a minute.
It was a hand he often held even normally. Kang Hyeseong’s hand that was always pleasantly cool. Since this hand had held his small hand, it had never once hurt him, so Yeoul didn’t immediately realize that the raw, intense waves that flowed from his hand had caused him to faint.
“Hyung…?”
“Yeoul, Kim Yeoul! Are you coming to your senses?!”
Kang Hyeseong, who had been shaking his shoulders until just before, didn’t seem to be in his right mind. With a frighteningly contorted face, he kept touching Yeoul’s face and checking his condition.
He could see blood smeared on the back of his hand. Likewise, there were dried bloodstains on the back of Kang Hyeseong’s hand as well. Fumbling at the tissue cotton stuck in his nose, Yeoul deduced that he had had a nosebleed right before fainting.
‘This is…’
Yeoul immediately realized what this was. A rejection reaction… had occurred. Was it because there was a difference in rank between Kang Hyeseong and himself…? Or perhaps it was a problem with his own stamina.
Probably, the amount of waves he could handle was limited, but his waves were overwhelmingly strong and plentiful, so it seemed he had gotten into trouble by greedily trying to accept everything all at once.
He could see Kang Hyeseong’s eyes trembling. His frighteningly contorted lips as well. How shocked must he have been? He must have gotten too ahead of himself alone, wanting to quickly stabilize his waves. Since the guiding he had just done had been so smooth, he had let his guard down.
He was about to open his mouth to ask if he had been very surprised, to apologize for startling him.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing right now?”
“…Hyung.”
“Why would someone with a weak heart do something like this? Why!”
Kang Hyeseong shouted fiercely. He stood up abruptly and turned his back on Yeoul with quick steps. His broad back, standing while looking toward the window, rose and fell roughly.
Kang Hyeseong, who whirled back around toward him again, had an indescribable expression. His clenched jaw and temples were bulging prominently.
“Did you learn to do this during training? To guide Espers by throwing your body on the line? If that’s what it is, tell me straight. I’ll bring all those bastards who trained you here and fuck them up.”
His thoughts stopped and his head went blank. Yeoul froze in place, at a loss for words. He couldn’t believe this was Kang Hyeseong treating him so roughly.
“I told you earlier. That it’s dangerous. That I don’t want to burden your body.”
His eyes, grinding out words in a low voice, flashed fiercely.
“Don’t ever do something like this again, Kim Yeoul. I have no intention of receiving any guiding from you other than basic guiding.”
It was a firm declaration and order with no room for reconsideration. A large piece of his heart fell away with a thud at the fact that a voice so unfamiliarly cold and frigid was directed at him. Sad emotions rushed in like a tide.
‘…I’m scared. Kang Hyeseong… seems like a different person.’
Yeoul looked down at his hands with his head lowered. His bare hands without gloves looked shabby for the first time. The backs of his hands with dried nosebleed were trembling slightly.
At that moment, Kang Hyeseong’s pager began to ring noisily. A transmission about Code Red, a gate occurring again in the Seoul area, rang out. “All R1 Team members deploy.” After briefly giving instructions over the radio, Hyeseong spoke decisively.
“Rest in the office. You know my room from earlier, right? If you go inside, there’s a break room. If you rest there, my personal doctor will come to you.”
“Wait, wait a moment. I want to go too.”
Yeoul stood up abruptly from his seat following him.
“You said all team members deploy. I should go too. I won’t be greedy this time, I’ll just do basic guiding when I get there…!”
“That’s an order, Second Lieutenant Kim Yeoul.”
A stiff voice cut off Yeoul’s voice mercilessly.
“If you’ve become my team member, follow my instructions.”
“……”
“I’ll go and come back, so rest.”
It was difficult to read emotions from his dry, indifferent voice. The hand that tapped his shoulder felt only cruel. Yeoul didn’t answer and just quietly lowered his head. Kang Hyeseong looked down at such a Yeoul without saying anything, then turned around and left the guiding room altogether.
Yeoul slowly moved his steps and left the guiding room. He entered the empty R1 office and trudged toward Kang Hyeseong’s office. Regardless of how he felt, since he had become Hyeseong’s team member as he said, there was nothing he could do but follow orders.
His footsteps stopped in front of the desk. Yeoul’s gaze stopped at the last photo among the three frames standing in a row. At the woman standing next to Kang Hyeseong, smiling confidently.
“……”
How had she accepted Kang Hyeseong’s waves?
Was her matching rate much higher than mine? Or did she have better stamina than me? Of course she must have had a sturdier heart than mine.
Could I, who fell so far short of her, fill that empty space…
Suddenly, the future felt unbearably bleak. He said he would only receive basic guiding. Would that really be enough? What Esper in the world would insist on only guiding by holding hands while wearing gloves with their dedicated Guide?
Could he really fulfill his responsibilities as Kang Hyeseong’s dedicated Guide?
After staring at the woman in the frame for a long while, Yeoul finally pulled his gaze away. His footsteps heading toward the break room located inside the office as Kang Hyeseong had instructed were heavy.
***
He could see the spacious bed placed inside the break room. There were even shower facilities attached inside. He thought about washing up and coming out, but couldn’t withstand the rushing fatigue and sat down on the bed. And he closed his eyes while leaning against the wall.
How many minutes had he been like that? The presence of someone could be heard from the office doorway. The sound of clicking high heels grew closer and closer.
As soon as he opened his closed eyes wide, the office door opened. A woman in a white coat smiled brightly and stepped inside the break room, pulling a large machine.
“Hello. I’m Director Kang’s attending physician.”
“Ah…! Hello. I’m Second Lieutenant Kim Yeoul.”
The upper pocket of the coat she wore had the title Professor of Ability Medicine engraved on it. Yeoul quickly corrected his posture, stood up, and bowed his waist deeply.
“I came to check on your condition after receiving a call. Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine now.”
Fortunately, his heart, which had felt as if it had been beaten up, was pounding away healthily as if nothing had happened, and he had no headache or nausea. He was just a bit physically tired.
“I’m glad you’re alright. But just in case, let me run some tests. Ah, you can just stay lying down.”
“Yes…”
Yeoul, who had stood up abruptly, sheepishly lay back down in place. Then the doctor smiled gently as if to help him relax.
“Please relax and make yourself comfortable. Since you’ve formed a pair with Director Kang, I’ll be in charge of Second Lieutenant Kim as well from now on.”
“Ah… thank you. I look forward to working with you.”
Following her instructions, he lay on the bed and rolled up his top. The doctor attached patches to Yeoul’s upper body and turned on the machine.
The examination began to proceed with a button sound. After a short time, a results sheet with graphs drawn on it was printed out from the machine.
“Here, if you look at the graph.”
Yeoul straightened his clothes and sat up. The doctor began to explain calmly.
“This is a graph recording Second Lieutenant Kim’s purification waves. It can read records from up to 1 hour ago. Here, can you see where the purification waves were disturbed by a temporary shock?”
“Ah… yes.”
Yeoul nodded, opening his eyes wide. The waves that had been drawing vigorous wave patterns had lost their regular rhythm at one point and were writhing up and down chaotically.
“How did you feel at this time? Please tell me in as much detail as possible.”
“Well, that is…”
Yeoul explained the sensations he had felt earlier in as much detail as possible. How sparks had flashed before his eyes momentarily, how his internal organs felt like they were being squeezed roughly, how he had a nosebleed… and then he lost consciousness as if electrocuted. As he reviewed his memories, Yeoul unknowingly shuddered slightly.
“I see. You must have been very surprised since it was your first time. You also had a pre-existing condition.”
The doctor, who had meticulously recorded all the symptoms, calmly reassured Yeoul.
“To tell you a few things first so you don’t worry, the internal injuries you’ve sustained now are absolutely not permanent. They’re temporary, so if you rest sufficiently, you’ll recover quickly. Since your matching rate is so high, your recovery speed will be fast too.”
Yeoul listened carefully to the doctor’s explanation and read through the results sheet. As she said, the waves that had been disturbed messily could be seen gradually finding their place over the flow of time.
A sigh of relief came out automatically. Since Kang Hyeseong had acted so frighteningly, he thought he would never be able to guide him again. Even if he got a little hurt or sustained internal injuries, as long as it wasn’t permanent, he would have to gently coax Kang Hyeseong to proceed with guiding… Yeoul steeled his resolve.
