Seo Gangwoo, who had been standing still and quietly observing the commotion that occurred in passing, moved his feet again. Then he arrived at the pharmacy and received the Guide substitute medication he had applied for in advance.
He had developed a tolerance, so the potency of the prescription had been gradually increased, and now even that was losing its effectiveness.
Rather, there were even symptoms of drug addiction from over 10 years of long-term use, but there was no other method, so even knowing it was a meaningless act, there was nothing he could do.
Only after Seo Gangwoo got into his parked car did he finally let out a sigh at the surrounding noise that had disappeared.
He could manipulate the level of noise blocking to observe the surrounding situation while driving, but complete blocking was also possible.
It was quite expensive since he had it custom-made by an Artifact-crafting Esper in America, but it was thoroughly worth the price.
His body touching the seat was still screaming, and unstably expanded senses were detecting everything in all directions, but it was a bit better now that at least the sound was blocked.
Even if he tried to forcibly ignore the pain sensations he couldn’t escape from, unless he lost consciousness or underwent general anesthesia, there was no way that would be possible.
He tore open the Guiding substitute medication case he was holding and took one out. He skillfully tore off the protective cap of the finger-length syringe filled with transparent medication and stuck the needle into his forearm.
Expecting the effect of the medication, Seo Gangwoo, who didn’t need to wait, carelessly put down the remaining medications on the passenger seat and started the car.
It was just time to escape from this cycle of pain.
He had no lingering attachments left.
* * *
It had now been 120 years since Gates appeared on Earth.
Just an ordinary day.
Gates appeared simultaneously all over the world.
The mysterious doors with unknown patterns spat out monsters a month after they appeared, and although the government forces tried to handle it, modern weapons couldn’t kill the monsters.
Cities were destroyed in an instant and people died and were injured. Starting with powerless underdeveloped countries, national survival became difficult, and as cults flourished claiming the Earth was doomed, people lost their reason with arson, violence, and more.
Everyone despaired that now only destruction remained.
About half a year passed, perhaps.
Stories spread that ability users could catch the monsters. At first, people didn’t believe it, but they came to see ability users killing monsters with their own eyes, and the world was enthusiastic about the hope that had returned.
They stood at the forefront and fought the monsters, and the surviving nations did their best to restore the broken social systems.
The moment everyone thought everything was getting better, crisis came again.
Esper rampages occurred.
As they used their abilities, overload accumulated in their bodies, and eventually major damage occurred from the rampages and explosions of Espers who lost their reason. Since they couldn’t not use their abilities with Gates continuously appearing, it was a dilemma.
Espers became both saviors and risk factors.
Fortunately, Guides who could calm their raging wavelengths appeared, and the world entered a stable period again.
The problem was the fact that Guiding efficiency increased the more physical bodies made close contact.
When manifesting as a Guide, that energy itself had purifying properties, resulting in a healthy body that didn’t contract diseases, but unlike Espers, their physical abilities were no different from ordinary people, so they had no ability to protect themselves.
Espers who gained supernatural abilities overnight through awakening were intoxicated by and wielded that power as an outlet, gained authority, and were sensitive and violent due to the continuous bloody battles and side effects that came after excessive use of power.
Coercive and violent acts continued toward the Guides who had to Guide such Espers, and society, desperate for recovery, couldn’t control it.
In an apocalypse-like situation, survival was the priority and the weak were not respected.
The human rights of Guides hit rock bottom, and that state continued for decades.
And the Espers who became heroes fighting monsters at the frontlines and ordinary people didn’t notice.
The fact that the number of Guides was gradually decreasing…
The manifestation of Guides became rarer as time passed, and even when they manifested, the parties involved and their families desperately began to hide it. At that time, Guides were often defenseless dragged to Gates by Espers and left in danger to die, or committed suicide after suffering from violence.
When they realized something had gone wrong over time, they had already crossed a river they couldn’t turn back from.
With insufficient Guiding, Esper rampages continued again, and Espers who couldn’t properly use their abilities couldn’t handle the continuously occurring Gates.
Though not as much as before Gates appeared, people who had returned to daily life as society stably settled down finally began to take active interest in the problem they had been trying hard to ignore.
Nations created Guide protection laws and strengthened the overall system for ability users. Ability users who had been scattered among various guilds, clans, and individual mercenaries all became affiliated with nations, and Espers agreed to this as well.
Some opposed, unable to accept that they had to treat and protect Guides humanely when they had thought of them like slaves, as outlets for sexual desire and batteries at best, but they also had no alternative problem-solving methods.
That’s how the Guide Protection Act was created, and 50 years passed.
During that time, Espers made protecting the few remaining Guides their top priority, and nations spared no social education and support to raise the human rights of Guides.
But was it too belated a measure?
Even now, 50 years later, chronic Guide shortage continued.
Since minimizing Gate damage was the top priority for all nations, Espers who could handle Gates were the power supporting nations, and since what supported those Espers were Guides, they protected them as special management targets.
Guides became increasingly precious, and there were even nations where wars broke out due to Guide争夺战 battles between countries.
As a natural sequence, the relationship between Espers and Guides was reversed.
Socially, as the human rights of Guides rose they became objects of admiration, and Guides who became arrogant from such devoted treatment wielded Espers by holding their leashes with Guiding as a weapon.
Since lives were at stake, Espers had no choice but to be dragged around. Guides weren’t active in Guiding, and Espers suffered from Guiding shortages.
To solve this problem, the Ability Management Headquarters imposed mandatory quotas according to rank and situation, and set high compensation for additional quotas.
Conversely, if they failed to meet the applied Guiding quota, mandatory quotas were additionally imposed as penalties and carried over, and disadvantages occurred such as being excluded from benefits given by the nation, so Guides fulfilled Guiding work equal to the mandatory quota.
After that, the situation finally improved a little. Guides still weren’t very active in Guiding and Espers were suffering from Guiding shortages, but society was maintained without major problems.
And the pair Guide of S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo was a Guide who thought Espers were merely decorations to make themselves stand out more.
Though they weren’t even a pair anymore now.
* * *
In one corner of a room with fluffy cloud-patterned wallpaper and white furniture, a bulge rising over the bed indicated someone was lying down.
What peeked out pointedly over the white blanket was a rather cute tiger face. As the quiet tiger suddenly tossed and turned, the blanket smoothly slid down.
The room’s owner with a handsome face that glimpsed out was sleeping gently with sparkling eyes.
The closed eyelids flinched at the sunlight entering between the curtains and revealed brown irises.
The room’s owner, who perfectly pulled off brown animal pajamas with a tiger hood, squirmed and moved their body. He gave up on wanting to laze around and finally slowly got up with difficulty.
He stretched once with eyes still dazed from not fully waking from sleep, then roughly fixed his messy bedhead.
With fair skin, delicate features, and a height that seemed a bit shorter than the average adult male height, he looked somewhat young, but on the paulownia desk positioned in one corner of the room were books that appeared to be university major textbooks like Introduction to Business Administration, Basic Accounting, and Marketing Theory.
In one corner of the well-used major textbooks, the three characters of the name Kim Jiwon written in neat handwriting could be seen.
Jiwon put strength into his eyes as if trying hard to shake off sleepiness and shook his small head. Then he shuffled in his slippers into the bathroom.
A moment later, whether he had completely blown away sleep by washing his face, he moved with bright eyes and headed to the living room. He passed by Coco the cheese cat who was hastily eating without disturbing her, and approached the kitchen where clattering sounds were coming from.
“Mom, good morning!”
“Oh my, good morning my youngest! Did you sleep well?”
Mom, who had a face exactly like Jiwon’s, greeted the family’s darling youngest child while transferring side dishes into bowls.
“Yeah.”
As he familiarly accepted such treatment as the youngest, scanning with his eyes what side dishes there were and taking out chopsticks with his hands to neatly place them on the table, the other family members appeared sneakily.
“Dad, Noona, come sit and eat!”
“Kim Jiwon, you just put down the spoon last and talk like you set the table?”
“Noona didn’t even put down that spoon. Right, Mom?”
“That’s right, correct. Those who didn’t lift a finger should quietly eat their meal~!”
“Goodness! Really! Tomorrow I’m placing the chopsticks!”
Thanks to having a mom with considerable cooking skills, Jiwon’s mouth was living luxuriously today as well. Eating kimchi stew made with properly fermented kimchi together with beautifully rolled yellow egg rolls was delicious.
The family sitting around chatted warmly while having their meal.
“Meeting Hojun?”
Jisu, his older sister, roughly brushed back her disheveled hair and picked up the egg roll Jiwon had been eyeing and stuffed it in her mouth in one bite. She got it first! Jiwon’s lips pouted at having the egg roll he’d staked out stolen.
“Yeah. He says he’s coming to school today.”
“How diligent from the first day of the semester. They won’t even teach properly anyway since it’s the course adjustment period.”
“It’s nice to go to school after a long time and see friends.”
While listening to the conversation between Mom and Noona with his ears, Jiwon, who had been continuously watching the plate with the egg roll with his eyes, finally discovered a large chunk that had been hidden and quickly snatched it up.
He was satisfied with the perfect harmony of the yellow egg roll placed on white rice and popped it into his mouth.
As expected, it was delicious.
Jisu, who had been glancing at Jiwon savoring the taste with even his eyebrows trembling, held back her laughter.
The parents sitting across also smiled looking at Jiwon like that.
“It’s Monday, Mom. Let’s understand. Noona, cheer up. The weekend will come soon!”
“Youngest, if you tease Noona on a Monday, she might explode, you know? But! Mom has the day off today~!”
“…Both of you are annoying. Ah, I don’t want to go to work!!”
Office worker older sister Jisu’s Monday blues shouting was the signal flare announcing the start of the week.
