Some felt vicariously satisfied as if watching a perfectly matched celebrity couple, others looked on with eyes like a parent watching the growth of a child who had been a source of worry in the family, and yet others couldn’t hide their rising cheeks as they gushed, imagining the fresh feelings of first love that they could no longer feel.
So sweet, so sweet.
This was how the majority of ability users at Center 1 viewed the two of them.
Thanks to this, when Jiwon clocked in for work, the previously deserted Center lobby became lively with ability users loitering around hoping to catch a glimpse of the two passing by.
Unintentionally having dominated the Center’s atmosphere, Jiwon was completely focused on receiving driving lessons from Seo Gangwoo, oblivious to such phenomena.
They said it was a universal rule that you’d fight if you received lessons from family or acquaintances, and after hearing people around him trying to scare him with that, he’d considered applying with a professional instructor but ended up asking Seo Gangwoo after all.
Fortunately, Seo Gangwoo accepted Jiwon’s request.
What would Esper Seo Gangwoo look like feeling frustrated? What if he really got angry?
Since he had so little emotional expression, even slight changes felt significant, so he was curious about what he’d look like angry.
After being thoroughly captivated by his smiling face, Jiwon, who found joy every day just looking at Seo Gangwoo’s face, had the utterly selfish thought that he wanted to see other expressions too. That’s why he asked Seo Gangwoo for the driving lessons that everyone told him not to do.
The first day of driving lessons.
With excitement about getting to drive and anticipation in a different sense making his heart pound, Jiwon put Seo Gangwoo in the passenger seat, turned on the ignition, gripped the steering wheel firmly with both hands, and exited through the gate.
As expected, there were no cars they encountered from the house until they approached the Center. It was an empty field with no sharp curves, so they could drive smoothly.
At the fairly stable driving, Seo Gangwoo told him to try speeding up. The corners of Jiwon’s mouth lifted at the liberating feeling of stepping on it freely without anything getting in the way.
It felt as if the road was rented out just for him, like there existed a racing track only for himself.
Then as they approached the Center, cars began appearing one by one, and he reduced his speed.
Taking a deep breath, Jiwon deliberately circled the wide surrounding area for practice instead of going straight into the Center.
The vehicles and traffic lights that increased as they went.
Jiwon’s body gradually pressed closer to the steering wheel.
Automatically creating a turtle neck posture, his eyes busily moved between the front and side mirrors with narrowed vision. Flinching at vehicles quickly passing by in the next lane, flinching again at cars changing lanes and merging in.
Seo Gangwoo wrapped his arm around Jiwon’s shoulders that had moved forward and slowly pressed him back against the seat.
“You can relax. It’s no different from before.”
“Phew, yes!”
“Even if an accident happens, the vehicle has shock absorption and shield abilities. Don’t worry.”
Oh! He hadn’t thought of that.
Jiwon blinked. He’d forgotten that all the vehicles at home were artifacts made with real money. He nodded in relief, then soon another problem suddenly came to mind.
Even if I’m okay, what about the other cars?!
If there was an accident, this car packed with magic stones and additional functions would be fine even if it rolled off a cliff, but the other cars might be smashed to pieces just from brushing against this sturdy car.
Screaming silently, Jiwon widened his eyes and looked around.
Unable to even recall the impure intention of wanting to see Seo Gangwoo looking frustrated and annoyed, he was breaking out in cold sweat at the thought that the lives of the other cars running alongside them on the road depended on his hands.
Sudden acceleration is absolutely not allowed. Don’t come near. Safe distance! Keep your safe distance! Everyone!
Jiwon was horrified whenever it seemed another car might get even slightly closer. His palms became slippery with sweat, making it more uncomfortable to grip the steering wheel.
A large hand overlapped his hands. The feeling of firmly holding his hands and the steering wheel calmed his trembling hands and heart that had been shaking as if in an earthquake.
“You’re doing well.”
The pleasant low-toned voice naturally inspired trust.
At this moment, Seo Gangwoo sitting beside him couldn’t have been more reassuring.
After calming himself with several deep breaths, Jiwon focused on driving while checking the surrounding cars with a wider field of vision than before.
In fact, Seo Gangwoo was flustered by Jiwon getting more nervous at the mention of shock absorption and shields. If he’d turned his head right then, he could have seen Seo Gangwoo’s perplexed expression, but Jiwon wasn’t given such leisure.
“Are you alright?”
Seo Gangwoo looked at Jiwon with worried eyes.
“Yes… I was just tense for a moment. In case it was dangerous…”
Not for me, but for the other cars.
Feeling like a bomb on the road, cold sweat ran down Jiwon’s back. But such worries were largely meaningless.
All the vehicles around the Center were owned by ability users, and there wasn’t an ability user who didn’t know that they were riding in Seo Gangwoo’s car. Overtaking? As if Moses’ miracle had occurred, the cars moved aside to the next lane on their own.
“Oh! Why did that car go over there… It was definitely a car going to the Center…?”
In the midst of this, Jiwon tilted his head seeing the car in front exit to another road. A first-year Esper who missed the timing to move aside among the many cars on the road couldn’t bear the pressure of Seo Gangwoo’s car right behind them and hastily exited to a road that would take them on a long detour.
“Something else must have come up.”
“Ah…”
Nodding in understanding, Jiwon didn’t even dream of changing lanes and just went straight.
Fortunately, after going a bit further, the surrounding vehicles decreased, and Jiwon, who succeeded in making a U-turn as if crawling and entered through the Center’s main gate, parked the car in the spacious parking space that had become Seo Gangwoo’s designated spot.
After turning off the ignition, Jiwon finally buried his head in the steering wheel and let out a sigh of relief.
“Ugh…”
This wasn’t what it was supposed to feel like…!
Jiwon had pictured himself arriving at work relaxed and confident before his first road driving, but reality had him making a tearful face at the sight of himself barely getting out of the car while clutching his trembling legs.
“After doing it a few times, you’ll get used to it quickly.”
“R-right? Ha, haha…”
Instead of having his own safety guaranteed, Jiwon, who was bound to threaten all vehicles on the road, engraved safe driving into his mind.
After that, Jiwon continued to take the wheel every time he commuted to the Center. Every time it was nerve-wracking driving, but with the same route and repeated practice, he became much more skilled.
During that time, amazingly, Seo Gangwoo didn’t show annoyance even once.
If Jiwon showed even the slightest hesitation, he’d give advice in a calm voice, and when he fumbled while changing lanes, he’d immediately reach out from the passenger seat to hold the steering wheel, so he couldn’t help but adapt quickly.
Even a professional driving school probably couldn’t have taught this well.
Jiwon, who had wondered if he could see that perfect face show annoyance or a frustrated expression even once, had now given up on that expectation. It was Jiwon’s mistake for not realizing in the first place that it was close to impossible for Seo Gangwoo to show annoyance toward Jiwon.
Today too, Jiwon took the wheel to work, handled several Guiding tasks in his private room, and headed to the physical training room.
Seo Gangwoo had been dispatched to a dungeon gate as soon as they arrived at the Center.
Since he couldn’t go near gates until he received his field license, Jiwon put even more effort into physical training.
“Huff, huff, haaah.”
Jiwon, who had run around the large training room, collapsed like a doll with dead batteries after completing the designated number of laps.
“Now your basic stamina is somewhat established. Let’s start doing other things in parallel.”
“Huff, ugh, really? We’re doing other things now?”
Even while panting with difficulty, Jiwon brightened at Woojin’s words from beside him.
He’d been so focused on building up his stamina, which was among the lowest even among ordinary people, that they hadn’t made any progress at all.
“Yeah, you’re still lacking, but we need to make some progress.”
“Hehehe.”
“Happy about it~? Grinning like that, this won’t be easy either.”
“Yes! I’ll work hard!”
“Of course. Otherwise you won’t pass the license. As I said before, the types of Guide practical exams are: physical fitness test, basic martial arts, special firearms, and swimming. Oh right, can you swim at all?”
“No.”
Jiwon shook his head.
“But why is swimming included in the exam items?”
“Water-attribute dungeons come up very occasionally. It’s not a frequent occurrence, but there are cases where more than half of the dungeon interior is submerged in water.”
“Wow. Just hearing about it sounds difficult. Hyung, but do Guides ever engage in combat when they go to the field?”
“Hm? Almost never. Why? Want to try fighting?”
To Woojin, it was both ridiculous and cute that Jiwon, who was frail and lacking even in basic stamina, was talking about combat.
“I’m just asking?!”
Noticing the teasing tone mixed in, Jiwon bristled and glared at Woojin with his eyes.
“Pfft, Guides almost never participate in combat. Would they make the precious few, extremely valuable field Guides do that? Guard role Espers will rotate and stick with you, and you’ll be armed with defensive artifact equipment. When you go, you just need to focus on Guiding efficiently.”
“That’s true.”
Jiwon nodded, feeling relieved inside. No matter how positively he tried to think about it, he seemed to have no aptitude for combat, which had been a worrying part.
