* * *
When Jiwon opened his eyes, he was faced with a familiar white ceiling.
It seemed like a hospital, and since no one was in the single room, he waited. After a while, the door opened and someone wearing a doctor’s coat entered.
“You are Kim Jiwon-ssi, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I am Researcher Han Hyewon from the Ability User Center. Congratulations. Kim Jiwon-ssi manifested as a Guide today.”
“Pardon?”
Jiwon questioned the out-of-the-blue statement.
“Do you remember collapsing at school? After you collapsed, you were taken by ambulance to the emergency room of a nearby hospital, and the simple Guide manifestation test came back positive. After that, you were immediately transferred here to the Ability User Center examination room. Contact was made to your family members, but please note that ordinary civilian guardians cannot enter the Center.”
“A Guide? Me? I’m 22 years old though…?”
Ability manifestation usually occurred between the ages of 12 to 18. Even if it was late, manifestation happened before age 20, so ability tests were mandatory once a year from age 12 through high school.
He had already passed that period, yet Guide manifestation…
“It is a somewhat unusual case, but it’s not like there are no cases of late manifestation. In Germany, a healing ability Esper manifested at age 25, and in America there was also someone who manifested as a Guide at age 27. You must be surprised, but it’s certain that you’ve currently manifested, and since it’s the early stage of manifestation, your energy is in an unstable state. If you’re hospitalized for about one more day and the energy settles, we’ll do a detailed examination to determine your rank.”
Jiwon was flustered by the sudden news.
Still, he had collapsed because of manifestation, not because his health had deteriorated again like before, so Jiwon felt relieved. Rather, if he manifested as a Guide, the Guide energy generated in his body meant he wouldn’t have to worry about getting sick for the rest of his life, so it might be good news for Jiwon and his family.
Anyway, a Guide…
Jiwon’s family was a household far removed from ability users, so it only felt unfamiliar.
“So what happens now?”
“You know that ability users belong to the nation, right? First, we’ll do an examination tomorrow, and you’ll be assigned Guide-exclusive lodging. The Guide Support Team will guide you, but first you’ll receive basic education. You can go out after permission is granted after that. You’ll gradually learn more detailed information while receiving education. Do you have any questions right now?”
“Ah, no.”
“Then, we’ll bring you dinner soon, so eat first and rest well. If your body hurts or anything, press this bell here to call us. Understood?”
Even after Researcher Han Hyewon left, Jiwon sat there dazed, bewildered by this situation.
Then the thought suddenly struck him that he needed to contact home and Hojun, so he looked around and discovered his bag and phone placed on a chair. The phone already had a pile of missed calls.
-Jiwon!
“Mom, I’m awake. They say I manifested as a Guide!”
-Is your body okay? The Center called earlier. My goodness, what is all this?
“I know, right. I’m okay now. They say the energy in my body needs to settle, so I have to be hospitalized for about a day. Tomorrow I’ll have a detailed examination and get assigned to Guide lodging, I guess.”
-Then you can’t come home?
“It seems like it’ll be that way for the time being. They say I receive basic education first and can go after getting outside permission after that.”
-Oh my, what to do… Since it’s a late manifestation, you must be very surprised too, Jiwon?
“Mom, Dad, and Noona must be more surprised than me, right?”
-That’s acknowledged.
“Hehe…”
At Mom’s friendly way of speaking like a friend, Jiwon, whose tension finally eased a little, burst into laughter.
-But anyway, a Guide… will it be okay?
“Right now I’m too dazed to know well. Well, won’t it be okay? If I’m a Guide, my body will also become healthy, and there are no other options anyway.”
-That’s true but…
“It’s okay. Don’t worry. Being a Guide is something others want to be even if they can’t. The good points will be bigger. I’ll let you know again after tomorrow’s examination.”
-Alright. Wait a moment! I’ll switch you to Dad.
After that too, Jiwon soothed his worried Dad and also talked with Noona. After reporting his survival to Hojun, who must have been surprised by his sudden collapse, dinner arrived.
It was bulgogi rice bowl, and it was so delicious beyond expectation that he forgot the complicated situation and focused on eating. Since he’d have to be here until tomorrow, adapting quickly was the best option.
After finishing his meal, Jiwon sat dazedly on the bed, looking back on this surreal situation once more.
White walls and efficient arrangement, the call bell to press in emergency situations.
To Jiwon, it was a space that was both familiar and thoroughly detestable.
Because he hated the silence of the hospital room he was using alone, the drama he enjoyed watching while protecting the live broadcast time was playing on the TV he’d turned on.
If it were home as usual, Mom and Noona, enraged at the villain actor, would click their tongues and then hurl curses they couldn’t even dare put in their mouths while pointing fingers at the screen.
When sad and mournful scenes came out, Dad, who had been sitting quietly alone on the sofa, would redden his eyes and make sniffling sounds. Then he himself would familiarly reach out his hand to pass tissues backward, and would be rolling around lying on the living room floor while receiving and eating the tangerines Noona peeled.
Since there were only a few episodes left until the final episode, the content was heading toward its climax, but it didn’t enter Jiwon’s eyes.
He had told his family and Hojun he was okay, but actually, he wasn’t okay.
Even without clear goals, Jiwon had longed for people’s ordinary daily lives during his long time inside hospitals.
Now a second-year university student entering full-fledged major classes.
Doing group projects that everyone hates, joining the club he’d been eyeing, going to newly opened pubs, buying meals for freshman juniors and playing the role of senior…
After graduation, getting employed at a company and drinking beer with work colleagues after getting off work, waiting for payday while overcoming Monday blues, and if someone compatible came along, even going on dates. Daily lives that were nothing special to others were, each and every one, a bucket list Jiwon wanted to achieve.
No matter how much Guide was a job many people wanted and a precious job that not just anyone could do even if they wanted to, it wasn’t the job he himself had wanted.
That said, it wasn’t that he disliked becoming a Guide. He hardly knew anything about it since he hadn’t been interested in the first place. As much as it was an unknown territory, he was also curious, and it wasn’t that there were no expectations.
On top of that, the benefits given by the nation, the wealth and honor that would naturally follow. He also knew that the work they did was amazing.
However, what made Jiwon feel upset and regretful was this:
The ordinary life he had wished for until now and had expected had become a dream he couldn’t achieve.
Jiwon, who let out a deep sigh, turned off the TV where the drama hadn’t ended yet and lay down on the bed.
Since he couldn’t undo what had already happened, he decided to be sad just for today.
And from tomorrow, he’d just make a new bucket list.
That’s how Jiwon fell asleep while trying hard to soothe his heart.
* * *
The next morning, Jiwon changed into examination clothes and went to the examination room.
Following the guidance of Researcher Han Hyewon whom he’d met yesterday, he underwent detailed examinations with examination machines he was seeing for the first time.
After doing several examinations in succession, to Jiwon who was exhausted and drooping in a chair, Researcher Han Hyewon took out a bottle of apple juice to give him and informed him of the examination results.
“The energies that were unstable after manifestation have all settled down, and according to the rank examination, you came out as an A-rank Guide. And the numbers are high, so it’s A+ rank. Your body condition is okay, right?”
I’m A+ rank? Is that high?
Jiwon was bewildered.
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.”
“There’s a regular examination once a year, you know? Come then and receive the same detailed examination, and business here is finished. If you go to the cafe on the first floor now, the Guide Support Team Leader is waiting, so you can receive guidance. Good work.”
“Yes. Thank you for your hard work too, Researcher-nim!”
He changed out of the examination clothes, gathered his belongings, and went down to the first floor. A refined beauty with a bob cut who had been sitting in a chair in front of the cafe stood up smiling brightly toward Jiwon. Jiwon also bowed his head and approached there.
“Guide Kim Jiwon?”
“Yes. I’m Kim Jiwon.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Guide Lee Juyeon, the Guide Support Team Leader of Center 1. You can call me whichever is comfortable between Team Leader Lee or Guide Lee Juyeon.”
“Yes. Team Leader Lee-nim!”
At the sight of the beauty with an urban atmosphere smiling gently as she spoke, Jiwon naturally became a docile lamb. Following Team Leader Lee Juyeon out of the research building, the scale of the Center, which was larger than expected, came into view.
With Building A in the center, the buildings were separated into Building B research building and Building C training room, and Jiwon and Team Leader Lee Juyeon entered Building A.
“Basic convenience facilities are on the first floor, floors 2 through 7 are Guiding rooms, the 8th floor has offices and education rooms, and the 9th floor is the conference room and Center Director’s office. First, let’s go to the 8th floor to register your Guide identification and assign lodging.”
Jiwon followed behind Team Leader Lee Juyeon closely and toured the inside of the building.
In the considerably spacious lobby, there were various convenience facilities, so it seemed like he wouldn’t need to go outside.
After catching an elevator and arriving at the 8th floor office, he registered his Guide identification and received a temporary ID card. They said he needed a temporary ID card to enter and exit the building until the official ID card came out.
There were various options for lodging, and there were even spacious and luxurious houses, but Jiwon chose the closest place that was suitable for being alone.
It was a 20-minute walking distance, but since there was a shuttle bus in front of the Center, they arrived quickly.
In addition to identification registration, after filling out various miscellaneous documents, Team Leader Lee Juyeon came along to the Guide-exclusive apartment that would become his lodging.
“Oh!”
Jiwon, who entered after opening the front door, let out an exclamation.
