“The matching test and result report are registered right here, so you don’t need to report your performance separately, Guide-nim.”
“Yes! Thank you. Good work.”
“Good work to you too.”
The two left the matching test room together and got on the elevator.
“What are you doing now?”
“If there are no calls, I’m going to train a bit in the training building. What about you, Guide Kim Jiwon-nim?”
“Well, it’s my work hours, so I have to work.”
“Should I transport you with my ability?”
“Huh! That’s a very tempting offer, but it’s okay. I lack stamina, so I need to walk around a bit. Don’t use your ability for no reason. If I get into that bad habit, I might ask you to transport me every time I see you.”
Esper Lee Minhyeok looked at Jiwon with surprise, as he had naturally expected him to ask to be transported but was rejected. As Jiwon said goodbye and that he’d be going now, Esper Lee Minhyeok smiled gently and waved at him, then turned around and quietly watched Jiwon walk away.
Minhyeok liked the personality of the new guide.
He was cute too.
Of course, there was no way to know if that attitude would continue.
Most guides were full of motivation when they’d just manifested and worked hard to earn work allowances, but they changed after adapting. Though there were differences in timing, most became lazy or their attitude toward Espers changed once they adequately filled their mandatory performance quota.
Of course, there were also guides who remained diligent without changing, but they were in the minority. There was no guarantee that this newly arrived guide wouldn’t be the same.
Still, the feeling wasn’t bad.
Though it might just be a thought from hoping it would be that way.
Folding away his slight expectations, Esper Lee Minhyeok slowly headed to the training building.
* * *
Two days had passed since doing the matching test with Esper Lee Minhyeok. In the meantime, Jiwon had worked hard at his guiding duties and also did matching tests with two Espers.
These days, when he was taking breaks from guiding, he was touring the cafes and convenience facilities within the Center. The amount of guiding wasn’t lacking, but guides always had to be careful of the so-called “retire” state where their energy was instantly depleted. Because of that, they needed to take short breaks and give time for their energy to recover.
Since the Center was so large, there were many places to look around here and there. Today, he planned to visit the dessert cafe he had already scoped out yesterday. There were five cafes just within the Center building, so he was going around as if on a tour.
Since the news about the new A-rank guide was a hot topic, Jiwon didn’t even notice the surrounding Espers glancing at him as he walked around energetically by himself.
Then Jiwon entered Ellin, a dessert cafe with eye-catching modern interior design located in one corner of the first floor. He couldn’t take his eyes off the showcase and approached as if entranced.
Macarons in pretty, colorful shades, slice cakes loaded with strawberries, chocolate pound cakes and various tarts. The glamorous desserts had visuals that made you happy just looking at them.
He was seriously contemplating what to try when a hand tapped his shoulder. When Jiwon turned his head, he saw a welcome face.
“Team Leader Lee!”
It was Guide Lee Juyeon, the Guide Support Team Leader. She was already holding packaged coffee and dessert, having apparently already paid.
“Guide Kim Jiwon, are you doing well?”
“Of course. I’ve mastered the work now! My Center adaptation is perfect! These days I’m doing a Center cafe tour during my break time.”
Team Leader Lee Juyeon looked at Jiwon, who seemed to be doing well, with a motherly smile and recommended a dessert.
“You absolutely have to try the strawberry cake here. For drinks, if you don’t drink coffee, all the ade options are delicious.”
With Team Leader Lee Juyeon’s recommendation, Jiwon’s dilemma was over. Strawberry cake and strawberry ade! Today, it’s unified with strawberries.
“I noticed your performance reports have already gone up a lot in just a few days, but while working hard is good, overworking isn’t okay. You know that, right?”
“Of course. I’m recovering my guiding amount generously before doing it. Don’t worry.”
While waiting after placing his order, Jiwon chattered away to Team Leader Lee Juyeon about what had happened in the meantime. Stories about the Espers he’d guided, doing matching tests, dishes he’d had delivered from the Center restaurant, stories about walking around the Center area, and so on. He chattered away to Team Leader Lee Juyeon, who nodded and listened well, like a son telling his mother about what happened after coming home from school.
He received the packaged strawberry items and left Ellin.
They were about to walk together toward the elevator when the people in the lobby started murmuring. Jiwon looked around, wondering what was suddenly going on. A massive man who seemed to easily exceed 190cm in height was crossing through the lobby, receiving people’s gazes.
“Wow, he’s tall.”
Though he was just walking with an expressionless face, it seemed like an incredible aura could be felt from his movements. He was a noticeably handsome person with an ideal combination of deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge.
But somehow his face looked familiar.
I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere….
“Team Leader, why are people murmuring?”
Jiwon, who had been tilting his head, whispered to Team Leader Lee Juyeon. At that, Team Leader Lee Juyeon also smiled playfully and came close to whisper.
“That person is S-rank Esper Seo Gangwoo. He’s one of the only two S-rank Espers in Korea.”
“Oh!”
The headquarters periodically produced promotional videos, and some received permission or were encouraged by the Center to do external activities, so there were quite a few ability users known to the public. Among them, popular ability users even had more fans than celebrities.
Seo Gangwoo didn’t do much external activity, but because he had outstanding looks and was one of only two S-rank Espers in the country, he appeared without fail in headquarters promotional videos, so there was no one who didn’t know him.
Even Jiwon, who had absolutely no interest in ability users, had seen such promotional videos, so though he didn’t recognize him right away, his face looked familiar.
“The other S-rank Esper is deployed in the frontline area, and Esper Seo Gangwoo belongs to Center 1. He’s known to be among the top ranks even among S-rank Espers worldwide. The problem is his guiding matching rate isn’t good. No matter which guide he’s tested with, most matching rates have come out at 5-20% or below.”
Surprised, Jiwon turned his head to look at Team Leader Lee Juyeon.
“To receive meaningful guiding, you need at least the mid-30% range. They’ve even tested with guides from other countries, but there’s no one who matches, so it’s been tough. The A-rank Guide Choi Hyerin he’s currently paired with has the highest rate at 42%.”
“What do they do if it’s that low?”
“There’s nothing to be done. He’s always managed as a dangerous grade, and the Center is frustrated too. It’s fortunate that even with a low matching rate, he at least has a pair, but….”
Jiwon looked questioningly at Team Leader Lee Juyeon as her words trailed off.
“Hmm…, even with a pair, guiding is severely lacking for Esper Seo Gangwoo. He’s holding on with guiding substitute medicine, but that’s also bad for the body. If overused, tolerance develops and the effectiveness decreases, but Esper Seo Gangwoo is now in his 11th year. More than enough time for tolerance to develop. He’s probably experiencing side effects too….”
Could the matching rate really be that incompatible? If it’s a high rank, the backlash would also be tremendous, yet to be in that state for over 10 years. Jiwon felt sorry for Esper Seo Gangwoo.
An Esper’s abilities didn’t mean they didn’t need guiding just because they didn’t use them. As long as their abilities as an Esper didn’t completely disappear, the waves of energy continued to move even without using abilities, so they needed to receive guiding regularly.
Also, not using supernatural abilities for a long time was dangerous too. If they didn’t release the power outward even occasionally, that also caused backlash. Either way, Espers were in danger without a guide’s guiding.
Since childhood, Jiwon had to endure pain because of his sickly body, making it part of his daily life. Though it would be nice if pain became familiar, the pain felt each time he was sick never decreased. He just endured it, that’s all.
The side effects that Espers experienced, which he’d heard about during training, were all formidable without exception. Espers were revered by people for handling gates with their supernatural abilities, but what about for the people themselves?
A life where you could use abilities like superpowers and earn a lot of money conquering gates. But behind that, you had to participate in life-threatening battles, experience side effects from using supernatural abilities, always live with the danger of going berserk, and were fated to survive on a guide’s guiding.
Jiwon shook his head to dispel the complicated and depressing feeling from empathizing for no reason and returned to his personal private room.
I should eat strawberries and cheer up!
* * *
After collapsing a few days ago, Seo Gangwoo rested at home while receiving guiding substitute medicine. Since it didn’t work properly, he had to use up almost all the medicine he’d barely received.
Though the numbers finally went down a bit, it was just numbers visible to the eye—his condition was poor, so he lay on the bed enduring the pain.
He was sick and tired of the pain that had continued since he awakened as an Esper at age 15.
But there wasn’t much of this left either.
There was no guide with a matching rate, and now using medicine had also reached its limit.
Whether domestic or foreign, he’d done countless matching rate tests hoping a guide with a matching rate would appear, but the results were all disappointing. Rather, there were times when he received a nauseating feeling from seriously incompatible waves.
He’d now given up expectations on matching rate results. For the past year, he hadn’t even properly done tests.
