“Why? Is it strange?”
“Ah. No, it’s not strange, it’s just that the feeling is so, so good….”
When Jiwon burst out laughing at his candid, honest words delivered with a dazed expression, his ears instantly turned red.
“Ah! Sorry for laughing.”
Jiwon apologized, realizing his mistake.
“No, it’s okay!”
His fluffy hair fluttered as he shook his head vigorously from side to side. Jiwon barely suppressed the urge to reach up and mess it up completely.
After carefully examining the inside and even checking the watch, Jiwon finally stopped guiding.
“It’s really over now. You did well.”
At the words delivered like a final period, the young Esper Taehwan froze in place.
His body felt so completely fine that it was hard to believe he had just gone berserk.
He felt distanced from reality for a moment, as if he had just had a brief nightmare.
Although his mind was dazed from everything happening so quickly, he vividly remembered the terrible pain he had just experienced.
The pain of feeling like his whole body would burst.
The frustration of his ability not working as intended despite being his own.
The backs of guides fleeing while calling him a monster.
The coldness of the agents waiting outside the barrier, ready to transfer him to a dungeon gate at any moment if his rampage accelerated.
All those unfamiliar situations had been frightening, lonely, and distressing.
If Jiwon hadn’t appeared to guide him, he would have literally died a miserable death.
And that too, abandoned in a dungeon gate without leaving a trace.
When he reached that thought, something welled up inside him, and his lips twisted. He tried to hold it back, embarrassed by himself, but tears burst forth like a broken dam.
“Huheong, Mooom….”
Gasp!
Jiwon, startled, tried to comfort him from the side, but it was no use.
“Jiwon-ah, why are you making the kid cry?”
Minhyeok approached with a grin, teasing Jiwon.
“No, I didn’t make him cry….”
“How scared must he have been! You should go easy on him. Hey, young friend, did this Guide scold you harshly?”
“Ah, hyung! What scolding? He’s just startled, that’s all.”
“Huheuk, keuk, I, I wasn’t scoldeeed.”
“Uwah, it’s okay. It’s okay. Ah! This one hyung made him cry!”
Jiwon patted the young Esper, who was bigger than him, with one hand to comfort him, and with the other hand, he hit the annoying Minhyeok with fists like cotton batting.
In the middle of the wide training ground, everyone giggled at the comedy-like situation.
Team Leader Lee Juyeon, who had gone near retirement but regained her composure with a brief rest, couldn’t hold back her laughter and staggered before grabbing a pillar again.
Just when Taehwan would finally stop crying thanks to Jiwon’s consoling, Minhyeok would barge in and make him cry again, and when he was barely consoled again, the mischievous teasing would make him cry again, and it was chaos with Jiwon, furious at Minhyeok, swinging her cotton fists.
Watching them, everyone present released their tension and found ease. This scene wouldn’t have existed if they hadn’t stopped this young Esper’s rampage.
“Haah…. It’s tiring to keep laughing when I’m exhausted. Whew, let’s clean up first and then talk.”
Team Leader Lee Juyeon moved her tired body.
The EED also prepared to withdraw.
They informed the Center that the situation was over, gathered the artifact equipment, and restoration Espers repaired the broken or scratched places.
Team Leader Lee Juyeon and Jiwon took care of the retired Guides.
People from the infirmary loaded the Guides onto transport carts and administered IV drips.
Although some Guides hadn’t regained consciousness yet, most had recovered a bit of strength and were sitting up. Except for Woojin, they were all Guides Jiwon was meeting for the first time, but as expected, they were all Guides active in the field.
If they hadn’t bought time with their guiding first, Taehwan would have been transferred to a dungeon before Jiwon could even arrive, unable to withstand the rampage.
“I’m finally greeting you now. Are you feeling a bit better?”
“Hello. I’m okay now.”
They all exchanged light greetings. Jiwon felt both sorry and impressed watching them smile with difficulty.
Taehwan also approached the Guides to express his gratitude.
With teardrops hanging again, he bowed repeatedly as if his waist would fold, and the Guides patted him, saying it was fortunate.
“Esper Kim Taehwan, these people need to rest now, so stop and greet them again next time. They’ll be in the recovery room for a while.”
At Team Leader Lee Juyeon’s words, Taehwan finally stopped greeting and stood quietly at a distance, then assisted with the medical team’s chores.
“Guide Kim Jiwon, I’ll have to do practical classes alone for a while.”
“Yes, Woojin hyung.”
Jiwon looked at Woojin’s still pale face with concern. When retired, it took an average of one to two weeks to recover.
“I’ll try to find a substitute if I can. For now, do what you can alone. Haah….”
Woojin, who would get restless if he couldn’t exercise even for a day, already seemed to be itching.
“Hyung, come when you’re completely better. Don’t come to training just because you feel a bit better. Got it?”
Jiwon, sensing Woojin’s feelings, immediately started cracking down.
“Don’t use me as an excuse! I’ll check with the infirmary. Just do the original schedule, so absolutely don’t overdo it.”
Woojin flinched, as if he had really been thinking of using Jiwon as an excuse.
“Urgh…. I don’t know if I can stand the boredom.”
Despite suffering from severe illness due to retirement, Woojin had only exercise on his mind. Jiwon shook his head as if there was no stopping him.
The scene was cleaned up quickly.
The training ground had returned to pristine condition, and the EED Esper agents had finished preparing to leave.
After entrusting the Guides to the medical team that had arrived on time, Team Leader Lee Juyeon, who had been busily running around checking the situation, also finished her work and approached Jiwon.
“Guide Kim Jiwon. Can we talk for a moment?”
“Yes. You worked hard, Team Leader-nim.”
“Thank you. You really worked hard. If Guide Kim Jiwon hadn’t come, today could have been a real disaster.”
“Not at all. It’s only natural. The other Guides who guided until retirement worked harder than me.”
Team Leader Lee Juyeon, moved by Jiwon who said such kind words humbly despite having done the biggest task, naturally smiled a motherly smile.
Thinking of the Center Guides who, just because they were Guides, were caught up in a sense of privilege, easily looked down on others, and showed arrogant attitudes made the comparison even starker. There were some who weren’t like that, but they were the minority.
“Can I ask you one question about that?”
“About the guiding?”
“Yes.”
Jiwon, who had anticipated Team Leader Lee Juyeon’s question, pondered and organized his thoughts, but unable to reach a conclusion about why he was suddenly capable of this kind of guiding, he explained things as they were.
Hearing about what phenomenon appeared the moment he increased the intensity of radiant guiding, why he attempted it, and the trial and error in the process leading to a successful result, Team Leader Lee Juyeon was shocked.
It was an established fact that the closer to the Esper and the more physical contact, the more efficient the guiding and the better its effects. Radiant guiding, which proceeded without contact with the Esper and quickly dispersed after lingering briefly in the air after being released, had very poor efficiency.
And yet, to move that energy already sent out through radiant guiding according to his will from a distance.
Guides with poor energy sensing couldn’t even properly feel the radiant guiding they themselves sent out.
In that respect, Jiwon had had excellent energy sensing from the beginning of his manifestation. He had succeeded at direct guiding right away without trying many times, and he was also sensitive in feeling the wavelength of the Esper he was guiding.
It wasn’t something that worked just because one had a high rank.
There were many Guides who were A-rank but had poor energy sensing and couldn’t properly do direct guiding, and conversely, there were D-rank Guides who showed high guiding skills with excellent energy sensing.
Perhaps that’s why, even after causing such an incredible feat, Jiwon was amazing yet somehow understandable as he smiled brightly with an expression of “isn’t good just good?”
Jiwon’s excellent guiding skills were already widely rumored within the Center. But she had no idea it was to this extent.
The ability to assess an Esper’s condition.
Excellent energy sensing enough to feel and move the radiant guiding energy in the air.
The delicacy and concentration to calm down explosively raging wavelengths in an instant.
On top of that, the amount of guiding itself was exceptional. That’s why he instinctively performed guiding that no one had ever taught him.
Team Leader Lee Juyeon had seen the guiding Jiwon had just attempted once before.
The guiding that subdued an Esper going berserk with uncontrollable abilities added just like now. That amazing scene.
A guiding unknown to most ability users, reported to be possible by only about five people worldwide.
The World Ability Users Association named it Optatum, meaning “wish,” after the Guide who first attempted it to save their pair Esper, or alternatively, Noble Guiding, likening it to noble and sublime Guides.
And one of those five Guides possessing that ability was in Korea.
“What, so I’m late after all?!”
At that moment, at the sharp voice suddenly heard from behind, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads.
Right there,
Korea’s only S-rank Guide, Do Yura.
