# Chapter 23
After the long night that seemed endless had passed, daylight broke. As if they had been waiting for this, an examiner and a Guide came into the examination room where Geonwoo and Jaehee were.
The Guide checked the amount of radiant Guiding energy remaining in the room, while the examiner operated the examination machine to check Geonwoo’s wave readings. Soon after, haa— a deep sigh of relief flowed from the examiner’s mouth.
“Thank goodness. For now, we’ve passed the dangerous crisis. His wave readings are still considerably higher than the normal range, but compared to that time…”
Yes, compared to that time, even this level was something to be grateful for. Readings that had never been seen before in an undeveloped Esper. Despite this, the numbers had kept rising endlessly, making everyone think Geonwoo would soon die.
The examiner checked the readings once more to be certain and then turned to Jaehee.
“It’s good we did as you suggested, Guide-nim.”
Yesterday, when Geonwoo’s wave readings soared to their limit. They were barely able to overcome that crisis thanks to Jaehee’s soothing. But once his senses had been sharply honed, they rejected the energy of people other than Jaehee. Even while asleep, his waves would periodically spike.
So Jaehee had asked to be left alone with Geonwoo. He said they needed to first subdue Geonwoo’s anxiety. That calming him down was the priority right now.
Following Jaehee’s words definitely had an effect. Left alone, Geonwoo’s senses, which had been on high alert, gradually found stability and absorbed both Jaehee’s Guiding energy and the Guiding energy of other Guides that remained in the room. Thanks to this, they were at least able to see readings at this level.
“Still, since the readings are unstable, we should maintain the current state as much as possible…”
But the examiner, who had been speaking smoothly, suddenly trailed off. Ahem, he cleared his throat. His gaze, which had been directed at Jaehee, lost its way and wandered here and there.
There was no choice. Where was he supposed to look?
Right now, Jaehee and Geonwoo were lying in one bed. If that was all, it wouldn’t have been surprising. Following Jaehee who was lying on his side, Geonwoo was also lying on his side. In that position, Geonwoo was embracing Jaehee from behind as if protecting him. The two of them were wrapped tightly in a blanket while pressed close together.
To make eye contact with Jaehee in this state inevitably meant receiving Geonwoo’s gaze. That was the problem. A sharp, watchful gaze. The examiner found it burdensome.
Despite looking not much different from his near-death state yesterday, the way he was looking with murderous intent as if to protect the one in his arms… it sent chills down his spine.
It felt like looking at a predator right before it pounces.
So the examiner quickly averted his eyes. Just like an Esper, as soon as he regained some strength from receiving Guiding, the first thing he did was protect his Guide. Recalling his experiences with Espers, nothing good came from disturbing an Esper in such a state.
The examiner turned his head completely away. And inwardly lamented his situation. Since he was the only one in the examination room receiving Geonwoo’s wariness, he felt a bit envious of the Guide who had come in with him.
‘At least I’m fortunate not to be an Esper.’
Thinking this, the examiner decided he should record Geonwoo’s wave readings.
But suddenly, he saw the Guide standing beside him flinch and take half a step back. His face clearly showed surprise and bewilderment.
‘Why is he suddenly like that?’
There was nothing in this examination room that should surprise a Guide.
‘What did he see to make that expression?’
The examiner, curious, turned his head toward where the Guide was looking. And then,
‘…Choi Geonwoo?’
Unexpectedly, Geonwoo was there. Geonwoo was fiercely glaring at the Guide with a stern look. He was showing the same wariness to the Guide that he had shown to the examiner.
‘He seems to be even more wary of him than me?’
His gaze toward the Guide seemed colder than the one he had directed at the examiner.
Soon, the examiner’s face matched the Guide’s. A look of perplexity bloomed across his face, unable to understand the situation.
‘But, an Esper… being hostile to a Guide?’
This was something he’d never seen before. It was so absurd that he wondered if he was seeing things correctly.
To an Esper, a Guide was a lifeline. Because of this, they instinctively feel affinity toward Guides.
This was also true for Espers with one-sided marks. In fact, these instincts were even stronger in them compared to regular Espers. Perhaps due to the anxiety of not knowing when the one-sided mark might break, despite the Guiding rejection response, they would often show unlimited affinity toward Guides. The instinct to survive made them that way.
But Choi Geonwoo was different.
‘Why does he react differently from other Espers?’
With a Guide right in front of him who should be shown favor, Geonwoo was instead glaring fiercely. He showed no sign of affinity whatsoever. Geonwoo’s current appearance was exactly like saying with his whole body that he didn’t like anyone approaching Jaehee, didn’t like anyone looking at Jaehee, regardless of who they were.
The examiner racked his brain for a long time, unable to understand the situation.
‘Come to think of it, why are his eyes so red? Did he actually sleep?’
His wave readings had decreased a bit, but strangely, his face didn’t look good at all. Geonwoo’s eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn’t slept all night.
‘Could it be that he can’t see the Guide properly because of that?’
The examiner thought this briefly, but soon shook his head.
‘No, it’s not like Espers identify Guides by sight.’
That didn’t make sense.
After working at the Center for several years, the examiner clicked his tongue at his own foolishness for having such a stupid thought.
But no matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t understand why Geonwoo was reacting like that. Just in case, he checked the Guiding levels in the room, but the Guide standing nearby was not even performing radiant Guiding, perhaps because there was still Guiding energy left from yesterday.
‘I really can’t understand this at all.’
Then suddenly, a thought flashed in the examiner’s mind.
‘Could it be that the memory of trying to erase the mark remains strongly?’
Among the hypotheses he’d come up with, this one made the most sense.
Ultimately, although they hadn’t been able to erase the mark, the fact that they had tried was real, so that memory would remain vivid in Geonwoo’s mind. Moreover, hadn’t the Guide cooperated greatly in trying to erase the mark, even performing radiant Guiding?
Given that the Guide had visited the examination room the very next day, he thought perhaps Geonwoo was reacting this way out of surprise, regardless of any affinity.
‘Right. Since the situation had gone to the extreme, he might be wary for a while…’
The examiner nodded at the most plausible possibility. Thus, he forcibly pushed away the strange uneasiness in his mind.
That’s when it happened. Suddenly, Geonwoo’s expression changed 180 degrees.
His fiercely raised eyes, as if they had never been that way, melted gently and folded prettily. A soft eye-smile that seemed like it would melt gradually formed. When combined with a bright smile, it completed the face of a handsome man so radiant it would make viewers blush.
In that moment, it felt as if the top predator had turned into a gentle lamb at the bottom of the pyramid, saying ‘I’m not dangerous, so it’s okay to touch me~ Come on, touch me!’ while wagging its small, fluffy tail to entice people.
The examiner was greatly surprised at this stark change. In his bewilderment, he even looked at the Guide standing next to him with a ‘did you just see that?’ kind of feeling. But the expression of the Guide standing nearby was no different from his own.
Geonwoo’s transformation was that sudden. The Guide and examiner couldn’t understand it.
When did he stop being so vigilant, and why did he suddenly make such an expression?
It was good that his fierce expression had disappeared, but the unresolved question still remained. So the gaze of the Guide and examiner remained fixed on Geonwoo as if nailed there.
Not long after, they were able to see where Geonwoo’s change had originated.
The reason was Jaehee.
At the same time Geonwoo’s expression changed, Jaehee slowly turned his body to look behind where Geonwoo was. Since Geonwoo was holding Jaehee in his arms, he would have noticed such movement immediately. Geonwoo had changed his expression as soon as he knew Jaehee would look at him.
When Jaehee’s gaze fell upon him, Geonwoo completely erased his fierce appearance shown to the Guide and examiner as if it had never been his true self. And like a small puppy seeking its owner’s affection, he put on a harmless smile as if to say ‘please love me,’ and ‘I’m so happy you’re looking at me.’
The Guide’s face reddened slightly at that smile. His cheeks seemed to have heated up unconsciously.
But Geonwoo’s target would have been Jaehee. Unfortunately, Jaehee’s reaction was different from the Guide’s. It wasn’t good at all. He didn’t seem to show any emotion.
Rather, Jaehee looked at Geonwoo with a cold face, even frowning around his eyes. Since he had a look as if something displeased him, the examiner and Guide were perplexed.
Moreover, Geonwoo was strange too.
‘He doesn’t seem to be affected at all?’
Geonwoo, directly receiving Jaehee’s gaze, showed no reaction to Jaehee’s coldness. Instead, he was looking at Jaehee with an even brighter smile.
