Jiwon, who had stiffened, turned his head and carefully checked—as expected, Seo Gangwoo had woken from sleep and opened his eyes. Jiwon’s face became gloomy.
Unaware of Jiwon’s situation, Seo Gangwoo who opened his eyes was surprised by the fact that he had fallen asleep. After his Esper awakening, sleep time was always insufficient. Even that wasn’t quality sleep. After that, with the addiction symptoms of guiding substitute drugs added, his insomnia only got worse and worse.
In the early days of awakening, he had taken sleeping pills. Because of the S-rank Esper’s physical abilities, he had to take ten regular sleeping pills to be able to sleep. But soon he developed tolerance to sleeping pills too, and as his gauge increased, waves would rampage while he slept, creating the danger of rampage, so he couldn’t use them carelessly.
Recently, he hadn’t been able to sleep even an hour for several days. Sometimes symptoms of numbness in parts of his body like hands or legs also appeared. The representative symptoms of guiding substitute drug addiction were insomnia and numbness.
Seo Gangwoo, who recognized the situation, felt regretful about moving away from the small body in his arms, but raised his head from the shoulder he’d been leaning on.
He hadn’t thought he could fall asleep defenseless in front of another person.
“I woke you up, didn’t I?”
“No. …Is your shoulder okay?”
Only then did Seo Gangwoo, who thought of Jiwon’s position, look down worriedly.
“It wasn’t heavy. I’m fine. More than that, show me your watch.”
At Jiwon’s request, Seo Gangwoo lifted his left wrist and showed the watch screen.
“Huh? 83%… It only went down 1%. It’s not dropping much at all?”
To think it only dropped 1% when he’d been guiding for two hours.
Jiwon’s brow furrowed slightly. He thought that perhaps, like other Guides, he also didn’t have a good matching rate with Esper Seo Gangwoo.
Seo Gangwoo knew through guiding that his matching rate with Jiwon was incomparably better than any Guide he’d met until now, but Jiwon thought differently seeing the gauge number that didn’t drop quickly like the Espers he’d met over the past week.
“Um… It seems the matching rate doesn’t work with me.”
Jiwon said carefully to Esper Seo Gangwoo, who was famous for his terrible matching rate.
“That’s not true. Guide Kim Jiwon’s guiding is working well.”
“What? But the gauge number isn’t dropping like this?”
“That’s probably because the accumulated overlap is due to me continuously suppressing the waves. Yesterday, probably… If it hadn’t been Guide Kim Jiwon, I would have rampaged.”
Jiwon’s eyes widened at the fact that though he knew yesterday’s condition was dangerous, he had really almost rampaged.
Oh my goodness—!
If yesterday he hadn’t been on the afternoon shift, if at that time he hadn’t gone out to his private room to wake up, if he hadn’t delayed time texting with Hojun on the way in, if he hadn’t been immature in control and leaked guiding energy… Jiwon, who thought about what would have happened, got goosebumps all over his body.
If the timing had been off even a little and they’d missed each other, with an S-rank Esper’s rampage, the Center and everything would have been turned upside down.
“Then are you saying, Esper Seo Gangwoo-nim, that the matching rate seems to work with me?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s a relief.”
Jiwon’s expression, which had been seriously hardened, relaxed. A small sigh of relief flowed out.
Though the speed at which the gauge lowered was slow like a turtle, as a result it did drop, and though he hadn’t known about the danger of rampage, this too had passed safely, so Jiwon just concluded his thoughts that he just needed to guide diligently.
Then, remembering the message that had come earlier, he reached out to bring over the work tablet and check it. It was a message sent by Team Leader Lee Juyeon, who couldn’t wait any longer after confirming Seo Gangwoo’s gauge had dropped.
-[Guide Kim Jiwon, are you really guiding Esper Seo Gangwoo right now?]
[Yes. That’s right.]
-[How on earth did this happen?!]
[I ran into him in front of my private room. His condition wasn’t good so I guided him first, and then I found out it was Esper Seo Gangwoo.]
-[Ah, we’ll talk about the details when we meet, but can you do a matching rate test with Esper Seo Gangwoo later?]
[With Esper Seo Gangwoo? I can do the test if we do it….]
Though Esper Seo Gangwoo had said the matching rate with him seemed fine, it was hard to believe because the gauge improvement was too slow.
-[Then we’ll proceed with the matching test. However, because of Esper Seo Gangwoo’s situation, I’d like to proceed quietly without catching other people’s eyes—is that okay?]
At the words about not catching eyes, Jiwon, who became puzzled, asked again and received a reply that the circumstances would be explained in detail after the test.
“A message came from Team Leader Lee Juyeon-nim saying let’s do a matching test without catching other people’s eyes. She’ll contact us around 3-4 AM.”
At Jiwon’s conveyed words, Seo Gangwoo roughly caught on to the situation.
“Probably once the matching rate results come out, they’ll recommend a pair with me.”
“A pair?”
“I don’t know if you know, but my matching rate is low with any Guide. If Guide Kim Jiwon has a high matching rate with me, the Center will want to form a pair.”
Seo Gangwoo was already certain that the matching rate with Jiwon would be good.
“I understand that, but why do it without catching eyes?”
“My pair contract termination was carried out through an abnormal process. That’s also the reason other people in the Center don’t know. If Guide Kim Jiwon has intentions to pair, they’re probably thinking to process the pair contract quietly until approval comes through.”
“Uh… Then if the matching rate results are okay, we become a pair?”
“If Guide Kim Jiwon doesn’t want it, you don’t have to do it. Once you contract a pair, it’s not easy to terminate, so you need to decide carefully.”
Seo Gangwoo gave an explanation that was easy to understand in response to Jiwon’s question. Jiwon, who had been staring at such Seo Gangwoo, tilted his head.
“Then what about you, Esper Seo Gangwoo-nim? Is it okay to pair with me?”
“There’s nothing bad for me. Rather, if the matching rate with Guide Kim Jiwon is good, it would be something to be grateful for.”
Though Seo Gangwoo answered like that, in fact, until yesterday he had been in a state of abandoning his attachment to life.
He was exhausted by the endless pain.
In this situation, Jiwon’s appearance was truly an unexpected development. It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t attracted to proper guiding for the first time.
He liked the guiding that felt better than he’d imagined, the subsiding pain, sleeping a rest-like sleep, and the quietness where the noisy presence of people wasn’t heard by his sensitively expanded senses.
His mind was complicated.
Above all.
At the edge of eternal snow where no living creature could set foot, the warmth of the small, soft other person who suddenly appeared and was held in his arms tickled deep in his chest, as he had seemed to be dying alone and lonely while facing the cold wind.
But just because a Guide with a matching rate appeared now, it wasn’t easy for Seo Gangwoo’s motivation, exhausted by the painful life so far, to return overnight.
To trust a Guide who had only just manifested not long ago, his parents’ lives that Seo Gangwoo had seen since childhood, and the experiences with Guides he’d had while living as an Esper blocked him like huge obstacles.
Moreover, he himself was an S-rank Esper.
There were many cases of people sending suggestive looks or attempting skinship to Seo Gangwoo with a hopeful heart even with low matching rates, coveting the tremendous fame and benefits that could be obtained by becoming his pair. At least such things had decreased after the pair contract with Choi Hyerin.
Because his matching rate was terrible, if there was a Guide with a high matching rate, he would have no choice but to be subordinated. Such conditions of Seo Gangwoo’s created a situation where Guides could more easily gain the upper hand.
With the energies suppressed until just before exploding and drugs that weren’t effective due to tolerance, he’d really thought he’d come to the end. Just when he’d let his guard down thinking he could now escape this pain and rest, Seo Gangwoo couldn’t predict what changes the Guide who appeared at that moment would bring to him.
If it was merely an extension of painful time like until now, Seo Gangwoo wanted to quit.
He was sick and tired of such a life now.
On the other hand, he also wanted to feel just a little more of the pleasant guiding that was so unfamiliar to him and Jiwon’s warmth.
“……”
“Hmm…”
Jiwon was bothered by Seo Gangwoo’s passive answer that somehow seemed to speak of himself lowly, but his head became complicated with the decision-making power that had come to him.
He didn’t know what to answer. Having just manifested, there was no way he would have thought about pairs already. Jiwon, who was just getting used to Guide work, needed more time to think.
“…Shall we guide comfortably on the bed for now?”
It felt embarrassing saying it, but it still seemed better than Seo Gangwoo falling asleep uncomfortably during guiding again.
Jiwon climbed onto the bed with slightly awkward movements and hugged Seo Gangwoo side by side facing each other. The discomfort was brief—they quickly found stability and guided.
They fell asleep in between and also ate meals. Before they knew it, the gauge displayed on Seo Gangwoo’s watch had dropped to 79%.
Time passed like that until 3 AM.
A message came from Team Leader Lee Juyeon to come for the test examination.
Seo Gangwoo headed to the research building first. 15 minutes later, Jiwon, who had put on an outer garment, also came out from his private room. Though it was the Center with lights brightly on, fortunately no people walking around were visible.
