“Are you saying right now that I’m not much help?”
“Yes, you’re not much help. You’re S-rank but you’re not doing your part at all. Always complaining.”
“No, that’s!”
But Ilkyung couldn’t continue his words. He hadn’t been complaining. But no matter how much he was S-rank, he’d lived as an ordinary person until he was twenty-seven, so could that change overnight like flipping the palm of your hand?
“If you’re self-aware, work hard. Finish the remaining hour of the concentration test.”
The Research Team Leader said coldly and then turned around sharply and left the test room. Ilkyung pouted his lips.
Director Ha Daehoon was a somewhat strange person. It was like this when they ate lunch earlier too, but he kept having expectations knowing that he couldn’t rise up quickly in a short period. Right now, he was S-rank in name only, but his capabilities were virtually no different from F-rank.
Stopping the fireball when he manifested was a coincidence. Espers usually manifest like that. In a moment of crisis, the energy hidden inside bursts out and manifests. It was the same for Ilkyung’s noonas too.
After Espers manifested, they had to undergo repeated training like Woo Ilkyung. In the case of telekinesis-type Espers, they had to know how to move objects freely at will. But right now, Ilkyung couldn’t even move a single small paper box as he wished.
It required a high degree of concentration. But today, he felt the limits of his mental strength. It seemed to be because his self-esteem had been mercilessly shredded, and on top of that, Director Ha had stirred things up with unnecessary words.
Ilkyung practiced telekinesis training that wasn’t going well even compared to usual, then just lay flat on the floor. He wished his second noona, who was a teleportation Esper, would come and just take him home. He felt like he’d been through a dehydrator about a hundred times.
“Ah, this is really annoying. Who said they wanted to become an Esper?”
People are truly fickle. When he was young, he whined so much that he felt like he wasn’t part of the Woo family because he didn’t manifest as an Esper. What’s more, just a few days ago, hadn’t he complained in front of Director Ha that his mom only thought about his Esper noonas? But now, it was as if he hadn’t wanted to become an Esper but had no choice, so people’s hearts were truly like reeds.
His mouth tasted sweet. He craved sugar. He wished someone would just put a chocolate in his mouth. How could there not be a single common snack? Weren’t Espers people too? He thought maybe the Center thought of Espers too much as human weapons, and he should report them to the Labor Department.
When people hear the term “ability user Center,” they think it’s quite impressive. People don’t know that ability users often pull all-nighters, and accordingly, the Center’s regular employees also work overtime along with them. Moreover, they also don’t know that even when Center members work that hard, they don’t receive overtime pay or special allowances. Working at the Center was a sense of duty.
He wanted to go home. But right now, he didn’t think he could move a single finger. He wished someone would come and put a cool chocolate drink in his mouth. He really couldn’t even raise his body.
“This is hard.”
Ilkyung just closed his eyes and lay spread-eagled. At times like this, he thought it would be nice to have a Guide. Espers still in training didn’t have Guides assigned to them separately because they weren’t in combat. The fatigue that Espers in training felt came from the depletion of stamina. It was the level of exhaustion an ordinary person feels when they exercise after a long time. So a Guide wasn’t particularly necessary.
Ilkyung recalled that moment on the first day he manifested as an Esper, when Daehoon held his hand. Just by holding hands, his anxious heart completely settled down and calmed. That was how he could feel what the Espers called Guiding.
It wasn’t deep sexual contact, they had just held each other’s hands while riding in a car. When he felt his heart, which seemed ready to explode, find its own pace and the warmth return to his coldly chilled hands, he felt not only physical but also mental stability.
He wondered if they had a good matching rate, or if it was because Director Ha Daehoon was an S-rank who matched well with anyone. And yet, on the other hand, he didn’t particularly want to do a matching rate test. He didn’t know why, but if they showed a matching rate worse than enemies, he felt like he’d be disappointed in its own way.
“Aigoo, I’m dying.”
Ilkyung needed to get up and go, but he had no strength at all. How would he drive? His head hurt because he concentrated too much.
“Huh?”
“Hurry up and suck.”
Ilkyung bolted upright and looked at the person in front of him with dazed eyes.
“What are you doing, hurry up and suck hard.”
A cold straw had pushed its way between his lips. The moment Ilkyung saw Director Ha, he made a tearful face.
“Director-nim.”
In the end, whimpering sounds came out naturally with the straw still in his mouth.
“I know. I know, so let’s take a sip first and then talk. That’s right.”
Like an obedient child, Ilkyung sucked on the straw that Daehoon had put in his mouth. He thought he was going to die, but now he could finally live a bit. Ilkyung emptied half the container in one go.
“Anyone would think you were starved.”
“I really thought I was going to die.”
“I came down because there were rampant rumors that Esper Woo Ilkyung couldn’t even go home and would remain as a Center ghost, and you really almost became a ghost.”
Woo Ilkyung kept the straw in his mouth and bonked his forehead against Daehoon’s shoulder. Even though the sugar had come in and he felt a bit better, he was still too exhausted.
“Is it that hard?”
Ilkyung nodded his head. Daehoon chuckled. So he should have known when Ilkyung usually said he’d exercise but only did breathing. Whether or not a person becomes an ability user, they need to have a certain level of stamina. Woo Ilkyung would collapse and fall asleep even while having sex.
Even though Daehoon hadn’t come yet, Woo Ilkyung would come several times by himself, and then when Daehoon tried to do something, he was busy crawling away to escape. When he tried to lay him down right away and pound into him, his eyes would already be flickering shut as he tried to fall asleep.
“Director-nim.”
“Yeah.”
When Daehoon showed him slightly affectionate eyes, Ilkyung decided that since things had come to this, he’d just be shameless.
“Please take me home. I can’t drive.”
**3. Incidents Everywhere We Go**
Daehoon chuckled. These days, he was starting to get annoyed because of the anti-government forces. The anti-government forces that seemed like they’d be caught soon had multiple bases, and now they expanded their incident areas not only in Seoul but to the Gyeonggi metropolitan area. And after missing them twice right under their noses, Daehoon also started to press the Espers. Daehoon also knew that the Espers’ work was already exceeding its limits. Just one person—he needed an S-rank who could sweep away the anti-government forces’ base all at once, and he wished Woo Ilkyung would do that.
But according to what he received as a report from the Research Team Leader, Woo Ilkyung concentrated somewhat, but his stamina was severely lacking. According to the Team Leader, with this kind of stamina, he’d collapse first before even attacking if deployed. Of course, telekinesis-type Espers entered operations with their abilities, not resolving incidents with physical strength. But without stamina, they couldn’t use their abilities properly.
At those words, Daehoon said to push Woo Ilkyung even if it meant overworking him a bit. He wanted to deploy Woo Ilkyung in an operation right away if his heart had its way, but it was too much. Even now, after just training for a few hours, he was lying flat on the floor unable to move.
“Let’s go.”
“Really? You’ll really take me?”
“If I don’t want to make an Esper ghost at the Center, I have to.”
Woo Ilkyung, who had been whining just moments ago that he had no strength at all, jumped up. His determination not to miss this opportunity was evident.
“Want to eat dinner before going in?”
At those words, Ilkyung hesitated a bit. It was because he remembered that he had also eaten lunch with Director Ha. Ilkyung followed close behind Director Ha and murmured in a small voice.
“But, Director-nim.”
“Yes. Speak.”
“I think we’re together too much today.”
At those words, Daehoon, who had been walking, suddenly stopped.
“Ah!”
