With a stiff sensation throughout his body, Heewoo frowned and turned his head this way and that. No, in fact, what he tried to move was his entire body, not just his head, but strangely his body wouldn’t move. As if someone was pressing down firmly on top of him…….
As soon as he became aware of this fact, Heewoo’s sleepy eyes snapped open. A cave-like structure that was somewhat dark but had light seeping in. Heewoo, startled, shook awake the huge man before his eyes.
“He, Heichi-ssi, Heichi-ssi……!”
“……Yes.”
When Heichi, who he’d similarly assumed would naturally be asleep, answered with a voice without a hint of drowsiness, Heewoo, who had spoken to him, was even more surprised. Thanks to the sleep room’s characteristic dim lighting and cave structure, Heichi’s face wasn’t clearly visible, but when he barely lifted his head, his face looked just as clean as before going to sleep. So Heewoo thought he hadn’t slept much either.
However, when he belatedly opened his flip phone to check the time…….
8:23 AM.
Unbelievable numbers were waiting for Heewoo. Heewoo had entered <24-Hour Charcoal Fire Kiln Jjimjilbang> with Heichi at 2 PM on Saturday, and even if they bathed and steamed all day long, the time they entered the sleep room was only 8 PM.
So Heewoo had planned to just close his eyes very briefly, for just a moment, then eat a simple late-night snack with Heichi. But that brief closing of eyes had exceeded a full 12 hours.
“I, I slept this long, wh-why……?”
Heewoo fidgeted with a quite flustered tone. He’d never slept this long in his life. When he was young, he had to wake up at dawn to help his grandmother pick up waste paper and go to school, and when he got a bit older, naturally working made sleeping long impossible. So this time too, he naturally thought he’d barely sleep two hours…….
“I deliberately didn’t wake you, but is there a reason you need to wake up early?”
“Ah, no. There’s nothing like that……”
At those words, Heewoo nodded. Today was the weekend and there was no part-time work scheduled in advance, so it didn’t matter at all if he dawdled a bit. However, Heewoo, for whom a life of sleeping in or being lazy was awkward, awkwardly fidgeted his fingers.
Nevertheless, Heichi didn’t care and held Heewoo, who was in his arms, a bit closer, adjusting him deeper into his embrace.
“Then let’s stay like this a little longer.”
“Ah, uh, okay.”
Arms and forearms stuck closely together, chest and stomach pressed together without even a slight gap. Despite the physique difference, he was embraced almost as if swallowed into his arms, yet strangely Heewoo didn’t feel stuffy. Instead, he cautiously raised his head to look up at Heichi and asked.
“Um…… If we’re like this, guiding, that thing…… Does it really work?”
“Yes. ……Does Heewoo-ssi not feel it?”
“Feel what?”
Heewoo looked at Heichi with eyes full of curiosity. Heichi raised his hand and carefully supported and caressed the back of Heewoo’s neck as he spoke.
“Something like power draining out.”
“Mm……”
“Or a feeling of being connected.”
“Uh……”
“I’m not a guide so I don’t know properly, but that’s what I learned from textbook knowledge.”
Faint wrinkles formed above Heewoo’s forehead. Power draining out and a feeling of being connected just from contact. Honestly, it was difficult to feel such things just from embracing. Rather than that, it was more like before…….
The incident at the convenience store.
At that time, it seemed like he felt a sensation similar to Heichi’s description. Of course, at the time the situation was urgent and there was no time to ruminate on such sensations with the amazing phenomena visible right before his eyes.
“Or it might be because the skin surfaces aren’t properly touching. ……Heewoo-ssi, may I excuse myself for a moment?”
“Yes? What do you…… Huk.”
No sooner had the words ended than Heichi swiftly removed the short-sleeved shirt with <24-Hour Charcoal Fire Kiln Jjimjilbang> written on it. While Heewoo froze in surprise, Heichi resumed the position from just before. This time a bit more explicitly, and more directly, their bare skin touched.
“How about this?”
“I don’t think anything’s changed…… Huh?”
Heewoo’s eyes widened. Only Heichi had removed his clothes, and he was still wearing the jjimjilbang uniform so their bare skin hadn’t properly touched, yet the feeling was completely different. Perhaps it was because Heewoo’s loose top had slightly rolled up, exposing his skinny stomach.
Anyway, Heewoo felt a different ‘sensation’ from before. A sensation like power draining out, just as Heichi said. No, somehow a sensation like he was connected to him. Heewoo, ruminating on that sensation, suddenly closed his eyes and began to concentrate on the point of contact.
“H-Hee, Heewoo, ssi…… Wait……!”
“Yes? Uh, huh? Why, what’s wrong?”
At Heichi’s groan that burst out like a death rattle, Heewoo jumped in surprise and opened his eyes. Then he saw Heichi, who had removed his top, breathing heavily with a somehow anguished expression.
Frightened by that sight, Heewoo slowly pulled his butt backward. Though he didn’t know exactly what he’d just done, anyway it seemed to be something that happened because he concentrated. He felt even more sorry, as if he’d conducted an experiment on him without permission.
However, the moment Heewoo pulled his butt back showing signs of retreating, strength went tautly into Heichi’s arms full of muscles. Heewoo, who ended up being held even deeper in his embrace than before, blinked in surprise. He wasn’t…… in pain?
“Um, wait a moment……”
“I cannot.”
“What?”
“……Please wait just a bit. Right now, right at this moment, I cannot.”
Though no one was tying the two together, Heichi acted as if glue had been applied between them so they couldn’t separate. An unusually excited tone could also be felt in his voice, so Heewoo decided to obediently follow his words. There was also the belief that ‘that’ Heichi wouldn’t do anything bad to him.
When Heewoo submissively stayed still, Heichi also began to calm down very slowly, taking his time. Heewoo waited for him with an innocent face that knew nothing.
“Heewoo-ssi.”
“……Y-yes!”
“That sensation you felt just now is precisely ‘guiding.'”
Because they were stuck together so perfectly it was almost complete, Heichi’s voice was heard especially close by. Heewoo nodded, somewhat surprised at the statement that what he’d just felt was guiding. Honestly speaking, all he’d done was embrace him and concentrate his senses on the point of contact, yet that was guiding. It was unbelievable.
“……You’ll have to be careful from now on.”
“Of, of what?”
“Heewoo-ssi is a guide with very high sensitivity and strong guiding qualities, so you might feel you’re doing guiding with just very slight power, but for most espers it won’t be that way.”
“……”
Heewoo, rarely for him, listened carefully to Heichi’s continuing words. Since this was information he couldn’t easily obtain anywhere, he had no choice but to do so even more.
“The majority of guides who have once realized the sensation of guiding often leak guiding unintentionally. Bearing that in mind, from now on be careful not only of direct skin contact but also indirect contact through fabrics or fibers.”
Though he used too many difficult words to understand at once, when ruminated on carefully, it seemed to mean not to let himself come into contact with other people. Still, wasn’t it impossible not to bump into people at all? He was thinking that when—
“Especially Heewoo-ssi needs to be even more careful. Though results aren’t certain yet so I can’t tell you clearly, each time emotions reach extremes, some guiding through the air……”
“Um, Heichi-ssi.”
Heichi, who had stopped mid-speech, looked down at Heewoo. Then Heewoo tilted his head and asked.
“Is this a, a water bottle?”
“……”
From earlier he kept feeling something pressing against his stomach, so when he reached out his hand, there was a water bottle wedged between them. Because of this, Heewoo, unable to endure the discomfort, spoke first.
“Then, just one sip of water……”
It was something he said thinking it worked out well since it was morning and his throat was also dry, but Heichi’s face hardened stiffly. Heewoo, wondering why he was like that, diligently fumbled to remove the water bottle wedged between them.
“……Heewoo-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“……That’s not a water bottle.”
Uh, if this isn’t a water bottle, then what on earth…… Heewoo, still not taking his hand off the water bottle and continuing to fiddle with it, asked with a puzzled face.
“Then what is this?”
“In response to specific physiological stimuli, due to fluid redistribution resulting in transformation of shape and volume.”
“Yes!”
“……It’s a reproductive organ.”
Reproductive organ? Reproductive……organ?
Heewoo, who realized the truth as if struck by lightning, abruptly stopped his fiddling movements. In the dark cave, Heewoo’s pitch-black pupils began to waver, not knowing what to make of it.
