She was the only Guide in the country capable of Noble Guiding.
The EED chief supervisor welcomed Do Yura warmly as she approached with heavy steps, accompanied by two Espers behind her with a cold expression.
Do Yura, who had been exchanging a few words with the chief supervisor, suddenly shouted, “What?!”
Jiwon made a surprised expression upon hearing that the person who appeared late was an S-rank Guide, then looked for Minhyeok, who had come with him, to go back to his private room to rest as fatigue rushed over him.
Though it wasn’t to the point of retiring, he had overexerted himself pouring out a non-negligible amount of guiding. On top of that, the mental exhaustion from doing the new method of guiding, which hadn’t been easy, was considerable.
The young Esper who had been rampaging was safe, and as the situation wrapped up well, his body grew heavy belatedly as if a bear had climbed onto his shoulders.
“Minhyeok hyung, I’m sorry, but could you transfer me to Building A one more time?”
Seeing Jiwon’s tired face, Minhyeok grasped the situation and nodded.
“Of course I can. I’ll take you in front of your private room.”
Minhyeok took Jiwon’s hand and activated his ability.
“Wait a moment there!”
Just then, along with quickly approaching footsteps, someone stopped the two people about to move with a resounding voice.
Because of that, while Minhyeok hesitated, Do Yura grabbed Jiwon’s wrist firmly and squeezed between the two people like a hunter catching a wild rabbit trying to escape into its burrow.
“Guide Kim Jiwon?”
“Yes, yes?”
Jiwon, dazed by the tremendous force as if he’d been wall-slammed in an instant, answered reflexively.
A straightforward, unrestrained attitude and relaxed eyes. In contrast to her graceful and delicate appearance, the energy emanating from her was tremendous.
“That’s right. Nice to meet you. Shall we talk separately for a moment?”
Jiwon nodded reflexively again. Afterward, he sent Minhyeok a look asking him to wait and moved to a corner of the scene with Do Yura.
“Did you really manipulate guiding energy radiated into the air?”
At the question that went straight to the point, Jiwon only blinked his eyes.
Wh-what did I do wrong?
Though he hadn’t done anything wrong, Jiwon, who had gotten completely intimidated, obediently nodded his head repeatedly with his wrist still captured.
Do Yura stared intently at Jiwon’s face. At that gaze, Jiwon gulped.
“Um, why are you…?”
“Ah! Sorry, sorry. I was rude because I have an impatient personality. Shall I introduce myself first? I’m Do Yura.”
Do Yura, who had rushed in desperately worried she might miss Jiwon trying to move, hit her own head in a self-slap while making a belated introduction.
“Ah, hello. I’m Kim Jiwon.”
As Jiwon also came to his senses and greeted her with a bright smile, Do Yura’s eyes widened slightly and blinked.
“I know. Guide Kim Jiwon, I’ve heard a lot about you. I wanted to greet you sooner, but I was busy so I’m only meeting you now.”
To think that the only S-rank Guide in the country, whom he was meeting for the first time today and had only heard the name of, had wanted to greet him.
Jiwon, tilting his head in puzzlement, met Do Yura’s favorable gaze.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
It was an answer as firm as a sweet pumpkin. Do Yura’s eyes sparkled with interest as she watched the puzzled Jiwon.
She had heard stories about Jiwon, who had become Seo Gangwoo’s pair, from here and there. Upon hearing the news that he had cleanly swept away Choi Hyerin, who was selfish and venomous with a solid backing, even if the timing had been good, despite the surprisingly high matching rate, she had guessed that Seo Gangwoo’s new pair Guide wouldn’t be ordinary.
Moreover, she had heard that he had a late manifestation and was now 22 years old, but the Guide before her eyes was completely different from the image Do Yura had been imagining.
To think he’s a Guide with such a soft, small-animal-like atmosphere.
Though his height appeared small for an adult male, perhaps because his lines were straight and his proportions were good, the way he wore the plain shirt and pants looked pretty.
The moment she examined his remarkably compact features, his round brown eyes curved gently in a lovable way.
Even in his briefly moving gestures, his gentle personality showed through.
An impulse arose to reach out her hand involuntarily to his soft-looking hair and mess it up thoroughly.
Though it was completely different from what she expected, she liked it even more. Do Yura’s lips curved at the interesting reversal.
“You can think of me as a colleague who has watched over Esper Seo Gangwoo for quite a long time. When Esper Seo Gangwoo is in a critical state, I’m set to receive a call too. It’s quite a national issue, after all…. Since the calls were so frequent, I couldn’t help but see him often. Of course, after Guide Kim Jiwon appeared, those calls disappeared.”
“Ah, I see.”
The Ability User Headquarters, wanting to prevent the death of an S-rank Esper as much as possible, had put S-rank Guide Do Yura as a countermeasure. Even if the matching rate was low, she was S-rank after all.
Jiwon, who had been nodding, frowned at a thought that suddenly arose.
No! If they were going to do that, they should have made sure Choi Hyerin, who was the pair Guide from the beginning, guided properly.
Probably, being conscious of the backing that couldn’t be ignored, they clearly hadn’t issued proper corrective orders.
“Ridiculous, right? The spectacle of calling an S-rank Guide while leaving a perfectly good pair alone.”
“It really is too much. Why did they handle work that way.”
The damage from that stupid handling went entirely to Seo Gangwoo. The people involved and Choi Hyerin’s side wouldn’t be able to avoid fault no matter what excuses they made.
“Right, it’s too much. From last year, Esper Seo Gangwoo’s condition became more serious, so I was thinking I might overturn the headquarters and everything soon, but fortunately Guide Kim Jiwon appeared.”
She was clearly smiling brightly, but somehow a vicious energy seemed to be felt.
At the feeling of goosebumps suddenly rising, Jiwon, who had been about to get indignant together, quickly calmed his mind.
“You can see how dangerous it is to not have a Guide who can substitute. Because a Guide can easily control an Esper as they please.”
Do Yura’s eyes flashed sharply.
Though the worst pair, Choi Hyerin, had disappeared, there was still only one unique pair Guide for S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo. Because Jiwon was the only Guide whose matching rate fit.
Jiwon knew that too.
That’s why there was also the fact that he was trying to get a field Guide license somehow.
With no other Guide who could guide him except himself, the danger level for Seo Gangwoo was too high to carry out dungeon missions. Moreover, Seo Gangwoo’s situation was more serious since guiding substitute medicine had no effect on him.
There was also the method of excluding him from dungeon gate missions, but when a high-grade dungeon occurred, could Seo Gangwoo keep not entering?
Even if there was another S-rank Esper, what if two high-grade dungeons occurred simultaneously? What if the attack team that entered excluding Seo Gangwoo couldn’t attack for a long time after entering the dungeon? Jiwon was skeptical about whether Seo Gangwoo could avoid dungeon missions even then.
No matter how much he was a hero receiving the support of the citizens, in the end he belonged to the national civil service. If S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo repeatedly avoided missions, the public would certainly take it negatively.
However, all these problems would be solved if Jiwon worked as a field Guide.
At Do Yura’s words, Jiwon renewed his goal once again while also thinking deeply about his own safety. Though it wouldn’t happen, if something were to happen to him by any chance, Seo Gangwoo would be in danger too.
He needed to be more careful about safety. He was practically carrying two people’s lives.
Jiwon’s eyes flashed with spirit as he strengthened his resolve.
Do Yura, who had been carefully observing Jiwon lost in thought with her arms crossed, though it was a bit early to judge hastily, somehow received a good impression from Jiwon. Because the fact that he remained at this scene now proved something.
Well, time will tell more accurately.
More than that….
“Shall we talk again about what I mentioned earlier? Ah, if it’s okay, can we drop the formalities?”
“It’s fine. Please be comfortable.”
Jiwon, who had been lost in thought alone, flinched in surprise and answered.
“Thanks. Then I’ll speak comfortably. You guided the rampaging Esper by moving the radiated guiding energy according to your will while at a distance, right? Could you do it from before?”
“No. I didn’t even know there was such a method. This was my first time pouring out such a large amount of radiation guiding.”
“Hmm. It was your first attempt? And that attempt succeeded right away, even.”
Do Yura, who had become quite serious, rubbed her lips with her index finger.
“That… not all the attempts worked.”
“Not all?”
“About… two or three times out of ten, the guiding worked.”
At Jiwon’s words, spoken carefully while watching her reaction, Do Yura let out a hollow laugh.
Various complex factors were needed to do Noble Guiding. It wasn’t guiding that could be done just because one was an S-rank Guide.
Having a large amount of guiding energy in the body was basic, and the purity had to be high.
Not only that, but when everything like the Guide’s energy sense and mental strength, and the skill of handling energy all came together, only then could one even attempt it.
Information about Noble Guiding was specially managed so that only S-rank Guides, or Guides among A-ranks who showed ability, could train in it.
Do Yura also started training one year after manifesting as an S-rank Guide, and succeeded only after several months. But this new Guide had succeeded in one shot without even knowing what she was doing.
