Lee Minhyeok, who sat down and began receiving guiding, felt his sharp nerves and pain subside in an instant and his eyes widened.
“What’s going on? Guide Kim Jiwon-nim, did you eat something good?”
“What do you mean something good… Just, well, I’m a bit of a talented person.”
Jiwon deliberately spoke in a coy and haughty manner while shrugging his shoulders, then couldn’t hold back his laughter at the embarrassment and giggled. Lee Minhyeok also laughed at such clumsy brazenness.
“Did something really happen while I wasn’t seeing you? Can guiding skills improve this quickly? No, even an A-rank Guide with several years of experience isn’t at this level.”
Unable to say that he too was surprised by his guiding skills today, Jiwon just smiled sheepishly at Lee Minhyeok who couldn’t close his mouth in surprise.
“But do you know about the rumor going around the center right now?”
Lee Minhyeok, who had been joking with Jiwon while receiving guiding, suddenly said.
“What rumor?”
Jiwon asked with wide eyes.
“There’s a Guide who got out of the same car as Esper Seo Gangwoo. Someone also saw the two of them holding hands and going to the research building together.”
Jiwon, who flinched, blinked his eyes.
“That… it’s Guide Kim Jiwon, right?!”
At Lee Minhyeok looking at him with confident eyes, Jiwon obediently nodded his head.
“I knew it!”
“How did you know?”
“Esper Seo Gangwoo has never come to the center together with his pair Guide. If it were Guide Choi Hyerin, other people would know, and it didn’t seem like it would be among the existing Guides, so what’s left but a newly manifested Guide?”
“Mm, I got caught. Though I wasn’t particularly hiding it.”
“How were you together with Esper Seo Gangwoo?”
“We made a pair contract.”
Jiwon said while showing his pair watch.
“???”
Lee Minhyeok tilted his head. He doubted whether he had heard correctly.
“You made a pair contract with Esper Seo Gangwoo?”
“Yes.”
Lee Minhyeok stared blankly at Jiwon nodding his head.
“Esper Seo Gangwoo has a pair though.”
“It’s been over two months since he terminated the contract with his previous pair, hasn’t it?”
“Huh… What is this? You’re saying Guide Choi Hyerin and Esper Seo Gangwoo had terminated their pair? And it’s already been two months?”
“Yes.”
At Jiwon nodding his head again, Lee Minhyeok’s brow narrowed.
“There was no talk about terminating the pair contract…”
Terminating a pair contract was very rare, so usually everyone would know. There was also a process until the termination was approved, so it was difficult to pass quietly. Especially in Seo Gangwoo’s case, it was even more so because it was difficult to find a replacement Guide.
“I heard the Guide unilaterally notified him. And blocked the rumors too. But now that I’ve made a pair contract, everyone will know. Well.”
“This is really, how are things even going… Then is the matching rate with Esper Seo Gangwoo okay?”
“It came out to 95.8%.”
Jiwon said calmly.
“95.8%?!”
Lee Minhyeok was startled by the considerably high matching rate figure.
“…Good heavens.”
He pondered how to think about this news, then realized there was no use pondering. He decided to think positively about what had already happened.
He had also thought that the newly manifested Guide Kim Jiwon had a good matching rate with him and he liked his personality, so it might be okay to watch a bit more and then pair. Of course, he had only briefly considered that possibility and hadn’t seriously contemplated it.
There was no ability user at the center who didn’t know Seo Gangwoo’s condition.
Espers couldn’t help but know how painful the side effects that followed each time he used his ability were, and everyone admired yet felt sorry for Seo Gangwoo who had been experiencing such a condition for over 10 years.
Though it was just one rank difference, the ability difference between S-rank and A-rank was on another dimension. That difference was much greater than the difference between A-rank and B-rank.
If you happened to go on the same conquest and see it directly, it was an ability so intense that it naturally inspired awe.
However, the stronger the ability, the greater the energy consumed, so the amount of guiding needed inevitably grew accordingly.
Seo Gangwoo’s condition of relying on guiding substitute drugs had seemed even more precarious lately, so when he appeared nearby, Espers had to be tense. This was because some of the explosive energy that Seo Gangwoo couldn’t fully contain leaked out.
Ordinary people and Guides couldn’t feel it, but other Espers could sense it and had to hold their breath while calming their naturally trembling bodies.
If you were affiliated with Center 1, everyone knew that his former pair, Guide Choi Hyerin, didn’t even guide properly despite the matching rate not being that high.
For Esper Seo Gangwoo, pairing with a new Guide with a high matching rate was a good thing. No, it couldn’t help but be a great occasion for the nation as well.
An S-rank Esper going berserk was like another disaster, and with that danger disappearing, they could continue to maintain the S-rank Esper’s stable power.
“There’s really a lot of surprising news. So Guide Kim Jiwon, what do you think of Esper Seo Gangwoo?”
Lee Minhyeok looked at Jiwon with a subtle expression and asked.
“I like him. He treats me well.”
“Wow, Esper Seo Gangwoo treats you well?”
“Yes. Mmm… He’s a bit blunt but should I say his actions are kind?”
At his answer, Lee Minhyeok blinked his eyes.
“That… Esper Seo Gangwoo is kind?! Is it perhaps a different person with just the same name? It’s the Center 1 S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo I know, right?”
“It’s that Center 1 S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo-nim.”
Jiwon answered with a burst of laughter at Lee Minhyeok making a fuss.
“Wow! You two match well. That’s great. Congratulations.”
Continuously unexpected words came from Jiwon’s mouth and Lee Minhyeok was flustered, but he still sincerely congratulated him.
“Thank you.”
“Then are you living together now?”
“Yes. I came out of the Guide-exclusive residence and moved into Esper Seo Gangwoo-nim’s house. I’m in the process of adapting.”
“I see. Somehow I feel like giving you a newlywed gift.”
“What? New, newlywed? No, it’s not like that. You don’t need to give me a gift either.”
Jiwon’s face turned red at Lee Minhyeok’s playful words.
It’s not marriage, it’s a pair, so newlywed?!
It was just something that could naturally pass as a joke, but Jiwon unknowingly stuttered. Because that reaction from Jiwon was amusing, Jiwon was busy flailing and refusing because of Lee Minhyeok who kept grinning and teasing him.
Just because you became pairs didn’t necessarily mean you’d become lovers. However, because they stayed close together and even had physical contact, there were many cases where they developed into lovers or spouses.
Even after Lee Minhyeok left, Jiwon, who had guided three more Espers, flopped down on the bed to rest. It was to fully recover the energy he had used by the time Seo Gangwoo’s examination ended.
Jiwon turned on his watch to check Seo Gangwoo’s gauge, then picked up his phone and left greeting messages to his family and Hojun.
He had already informed them that he had paired with Seo Gangwoo.
As expected, everyone was in an uproar at the unbelievable news, but they quickly accepted it and gave him words of encouragement. His parents told him to get along well, and his older sister Jisu said things like bring him home sometime, and asking if he wasn’t having a housewarming, but she was suppressed by mom’s signature back smashing.
Hojun also worried and was curious about what kind of person Esper Seo Gangwoo was, so when Jiwon told him as it was, he said he doesn’t seem like a bad person and moved on.
“I miss everyone… They’re doing well, right?”
In the case of new Guides, they could usually apply for outings after about a week of work. Jiwon had already passed that period, but decided to postpone his outing application further.
Though he missed his family who he had suddenly started living apart from, he planned to apply for an outing after Seo Gangwoo’s condition became more stable.
Jiwon checked on their recent situations while sending texts back as replies came.
His family said the center came directly yesterday to explain the benefits, and emoticons with flying hearts and shooting fireworks kept coming up saying they were living well thanks to their son or younger brother.
They conveyed the plan that the main family home wouldn’t move separately.
In fact, the current main home was also in a location close to the central district. His father, who worked at a large company, had his work abilities recognized and the company had been considerate enough to help him get a house in the central district.
Of course, they had to take out a large loan, but even just getting it was usually not an easy thing.
Jiwon was texting for a while when he got up from the bed at Seo Gangwoo’s contact that the examination was finished.
He packed the external tablet he received today into his bag, cleaned up the finished strawberry shake, then left the private room.
When he came down on the elevator, Seo Gangwoo was standing in the lobby receiving everyone’s attention.
He was doing nothing but just standing there, but the center’s wide lobby became silent at the presence of S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo.
Though they were in the same space, Seo Gangwoo, who gave off an atmosphere that made it difficult to approach him easily as if he were alone in a different space, discovered Jiwon and approached.
“Did the examination go well?”
Jiwon asked while welcoming such Seo Gangwoo.
