# Chapter 12
“So, you don’t need to go to the Guiding Room.”
“W-wait! What do you mean an Esper I’ll look after?”
“The youngest in our team. Stay with him.”
If it’s the youngest in Dohyun’s team.
Huh? Could it be…
“The one who recently bonded with the rookie Guide?”
“Yeah.”
Jaehee knew about this from what Dohyun had recently told him. Esper Jeong Hyeon-o, who had secretly bonded with a newly arrived Guide and hadn’t yet reported it to the higher-ups.
“But why would you leave an Esper who’s already bonded in my care?”
If it’s a mutual bond, shouldn’t he only receive guiding from that Guide?
“……”
Dohyun didn’t answer Jaehee’s question. Instead, he let out a small sigh.
Dohyun’s lips moved, but he couldn’t easily spit out the words.
Initially, he had planned to find a suitable Esper to send. He didn’t want to send Jaehee to the Guiding Room where Geonwoo might appear at any time.
But when it came to actually sending an Esper, that didn’t sit well with him either. The idea of sending an Esper who was crazy about guiding to quarters where a Guide was alone troubled him.
Being an Esper himself, Dohyun knew well what Guides meant to Espers and was all the more anxious because of it. To the point where he couldn’t trust any Esper.
That’s when he thought of the youngest member who was on probation. Fortunately, since he had already completed his bond, Dohyun could entrust him without worry. After getting his approval, he immediately filled Jaehee’s guiding list with the guy’s name. So that Jaehee wouldn’t have to go to the Guiding Room.
But when it came to explaining all this to Jaehee, it felt somewhat embarrassing. So Dohyun hastily concluded the conversation.
“Just open the door for him later. I’m hanging up.”
Jaehee stared blankly at the phone that had been so abruptly disconnected. Hanging up after only saying what he wanted to say, without even answering his question.
Still, he wasn’t upset. He knew Dohyun was doing this for him. Well, it was a bit surprising to send an Esper who had already bonded, but…
More importantly, right now,
‘What’s going on here?’
The current situation was incomprehensible.
‘Why is it different from the original?’
That question grew, bringing to mind the incident where Dohyun would lose his leg. But that anxiety soon subsided.
That wasn’t supposed to happen now. Besides, it didn’t even take place in the provinces.
‘And it doesn’t seem related to Geonwoo either…’
Jaehee had no way of knowing what was happening. So, an uneasy feeling remained.
Just then, someone rang the doorbell. Jaehee was startled by the sound.
“Who… Oh! Is he here already?”
He knew immediately who it was. After all, he had just heard about it in the phone call.
Jaehee hurried to the front door. Yet, his mind was endlessly preoccupied with thoughts about the Gates occurring in the provinces.
As he opened the door with his mind full of other thoughts, an unexpected figure stood there. Not just one, but several.
“Guide Lee Jaehee.”
Jaehee’s eyes froze solid. A familiar figure stood before him. The staff member who had previously come to make him Geonwoo’s temporary exclusive Guide. He was standing right in front of him.
‘Why?’
But before he could even voice that question, the staff member continued.
“We’ve come to escort you.”
Jaehee was taken aback.
Center staff appearing suddenly.
Incomprehensible words.
Dohyun’s unexpected absence.
A high-level Gate occurring in the provinces, which wasn’t in the original story.
Jaehee’s brow gradually furrowed as he recalled each of these things.
Puzzle pieces that didn’t fit. They were coming together one by one. Having experienced the future once, Jaehee could easily figure out which piece was wrong.
And he realized.
The situation unfolding now.
‘It was deliberate… they sent him away…’
Jaehee’s face contorted instantly.
No Gate occurs in the provinces that would require an A-class Esper. And the Center staff before him needed him. So Dohyun would have been in the way. If someone’s in the way, just remove them. They seized the opportunity when numerous Gates appeared in the provinces, lying about the grade.
‘They planned to buy time by making him clear all those Gates.’
Dohyun would go around clearing numerous Gates to clear what he believed was a high-level Gate requiring an A-class Esper. And by the time he cleared all the Gates, he’d realize it. That he had been deceived.
And by then, it would be too late.
“Ha.”
Jaehee let out a dry laugh at the Center’s scheme.
‘It’s the same. Just like back then.’
That’s how the Center’s higher-ups operated. Without Dohyun, they thought they could easily take someone like him. Just like before the regression… like when they so ruthlessly forced him to live after Geonwoo’s death when he had no will to live.
In their eyes, Lee Jaehee without an Esper by his side was an all too easy tool. They just hadn’t shown it outwardly until now.
Jaehee was seething.
A cold gaze swept over the staff members. A deeply sunken, low voice spilled from Jaehee’s lips.
“If this is about Esper Choi Geonwoo, I have no intention of going.”
The reason the staff wanted to take him away behind Dohyun’s back was obvious. It could only be because of Geonwoo.
But Jaehee was resolute. Unlike before.
Jaehee had hardened. Under Dohyun’s care, even if he couldn’t heal the wounds that had already burst open, he had been able to stand enough to not repeat that pain.
Because Jaehee had something he needed to do.
Protecting Geonwoo.
So Jaehee had been thinking about how to safeguard Geonwoo’s happy future.
The conclusion was one.
Not interfering with the narrative of the main character and the main bottom. That the foreign substance that was himself shouldn’t get in between. Therefore, he shouldn’t get entangled with him.
Even if it was a bond created because of his own pain…
‘I’m sorry… Geonwoo…’
The way to apologize wasn’t by going and pouring out guiding energy, but by not encountering him at all.
Just like the Lee Jaehee in the original story. Like the Jaehee who didn’t appear even in a single letter until the main bottom arrived, despite being in the same space as Geonwoo, Jaehee should be a non-existence to Geonwoo.
“Please leave.”
So, he had changed from before.
The Jaehee who could only hide and cry over unhealed wounds, who couldn’t say anything and only panicked, was gone now.
The Jaehee standing before the staff now was Lee Jaehee who had held the position of the Center’s only S-class Guide since he was 13. On top of that, he was overlaid with the Jaehee who had experienced the future and knew how cruel they could be to him.
“……”
The staff were taken aback at his demeanor. They couldn’t find the words. It was different from when they saw him last time. That seemingly infinitely weak appearance was nowhere to be seen.
Jaehee wasn’t originally the weak type.
Though he seemed mild due to his gentle appearance and being beside the rough Dohyun, making him appear relatively fragile and weak, in reality, he was the Center’s top-tier Guide who had cared for numerous Espers and entered countless high-level Gates.
And yet, from a certain day, he had become weak in a way that matched his appearance too well. He would waver at a single word from the staff, and shed tears to the extent that Dohyun couldn’t put him down after holding him.
With that appearance that matched his looks, the staff had let their guard down in front of Jaehee more than usual. Instead of trying to coax and accommodate him, they tried to bully and manipulate him according to their will.
But now, that demeanor was nowhere to be found.
No, rather, he looked even colder than the Jaehee they had known.
But they couldn’t back down just because of that. They had to take Jaehee with them. The staff member firmly grabbed the door that Jaehee was trying to close and stood their ground. Not bothering to hide the coercive tone, they spoke openly.
“It’s because Esper Choi Geonwoo’s condition is not good.”
“I heard he’s already receiving guiding.”
“……”
The staff member couldn’t say anything to Jaehee’s response. He didn’t seem like he would listen even if they explained. Well, it didn’t matter anyway. His intention wasn’t important. If he refused to come, they would just take him forcibly.
The staff member signaled to the Esper who had come with them. A gesture to take him by force.
Jaehee was watching all of their actions, their signals.
Just then,
“Guide Lee Jaehee!”
Hyeon-o Jeong, the Esper Dohyun had mentioned, was approaching from afar.
Whatever he had heard from Dohyun, as soon as he saw the Center staff, he furrowed his brow deeply and came running, looking like he was about to use his abilities.
But the Center staff were unfazed. The Esper they had brought was A-class. Even if he was weaker in combat ability than Dohyun, he could easily suppress a B-class Esper like Hyeon-o who was approaching now.
Because of this, the unnamed A-class Esper ignored the approaching Esper and reached out to Jaehee.
The weakest being here was Jaehee. That’s how they saw it from their perspective.
Seeing this, the corner of Jaehee’s lips turned up in a bitter smile.
‘It’s fortunate that Lee Jaehee in the original story was a villain.’
Jaehee looked up at the Esper holding his arm.
A small, snow-white Guide. A figure that any Esper would want to protect and possess. That’s how Jaehee appeared in the Esper’s eyes.
But Jaehee wasn’t as weak as they thought.
Also, they had made the wrong choice. They shouldn’t have brought an Esper. It wasn’t the Center staff who held the Espers. It wasn’t the higher-ups either.
Only Guides could control Espers.
Especially a powerful Guide. A being standing at the apex of all. S-class Guide Lee Jaehee was the only one capable of that.
Jaehee released his guiding energy.
