# Chapter 34
Taeyun finally closed his eyes tightly and then opened them. He wanted to escape from the sentiments he had sunk too deeply into. That’s what he had to do to gather his emotions. Moreover, Jaehee had raised his head. It was time to readjust his expression. So Taeyun forcibly shook off the memories that were surfacing.
“Don’t worry too much, Guide Lee Jaehee.”
Taeyun naturally raised the corners of his mouth.
“I’ll do my best to find a way.”
Meeting Jaehee’s eyes, he put on the most gentle smile possible.
“And even if I find a way, treatment comes first, so let’s work hard together on the treatment first. I’ll help you with everything I can.”
Taeyun showed his intention to ‘be a support’ in an infinitely affectionate tone.
At those words, Jaehee’s expression changed. A faint sense of relief flashed across his face.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Jaehee bowed his head to express his gratitude. It was very rare for someone of higher rank to bow to someone of lower rank. Perhaps due to the relief of being able to share some of his sense of responsibility and guilt with someone else, Jaehee readily bowed his head.
But Taeyun had no intention of freeing him from guilt by saying, ‘It’s not because of you, Guide Lee Jaehee. You don’t need to feel responsible. This is all the upper management’s doing.’ This level, just enough for Jaehee to lean on him, was good.
“It’s nothing. I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do.”
Taeyun spoke kindly with a seemingly good-natured face. Then he slightly shifted his gaze to check the time displayed on the examination machine. His brow furrowed very subtly.
“Then let’s end for today, and I’ll come again at the same time tomorrow.”
Taeyun rose from the chair. It was time to leave. There was somewhere he absolutely had to go.
Maintaining his smile, Taeyun headed toward the examination room door. But suddenly he stopped in his tracks. As if remembering something, Taeyun turned around and asked Jaehee with a worried face.
“By the way, are you not injured anywhere?”
“Injured?”
Jaehee expressed confusion at the sudden question. Recognizing that he had omitted too much of the explanation, Taeyun immediately added:
“I heard you had some trouble with the upper management staff.”
“Ah… yes.”
“You’re not hurt anywhere?”
“No. Fortunately, I’m not injured.”
At that, Taeyun smiled with crinkled eyes as if relieved.
“That’s good. That you weren’t hurt, Guide-nim.”
After saying that, Taeyun greeted him and left the examination room.
The corridor was quiet. Walking alone along that path, Taeyun looked down at his left hand. He had been holding hands with Jaehee all day to receive guiding. Taeyun lowered his hand and clenched it into a fist.
His face was now completely devoid of any trace of a smile.
***
Taeyun moved stealthily to the meeting place.
The room where he had to meet someone was noisy. There were sounds of objects hitting the wall and breaking.
Taeyun took a deep breath and then opened the door and entered. The room was in complete chaos. The man who was standing in the middle of the room smashing objects turned his head at Taeyun’s appearance.
“You’re late?”
An irritated, casual remark flew from the man. Thud, thud, footsteps approached where Taeyun was standing. In response, Taeyun immediately bowed his head and was about to offer an excuse for being late.
But,
“I’m sorr-“
Slap-! Taeyun’s head was turned to the side.
“So, how’s Choi Geonwoo’s condition?”
The man who had slapped Taeyun’s cheek shook his hand a couple of times. He was wearing an expression that showed he was deeply displeased about having been kept waiting.
Seeing him, Taeyun gritted his teeth and then relaxed. He suppressed his emotions and maintained his composure with practiced ease.
“His body is severely damaged, so it seems it will take quite some time to treat him.”
“Is that so? Well, I guess that makes sense. He was in a near-death state, so he couldn’t have recovered completely already.”
The man nodded slightly as if recalling Geonwoo’s condition when he last saw him.
“But it’s fortunate. That he didn’t die. It would have been such a shame if he had died just like that.”
A faint smile spread across the man’s face, as if somewhat satisfied. But soon that smile faded.
“But how was I supposed to know? I didn’t know the guiding rejection would be that severe. He should have just accepted the guiding as it was being administered. Instead, he rejected the guiding and ended up like that. Such a hassle.”
The man spoke in an irritated tone, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, ‘Don’t you agree?’
“We nearly killed an Esper with top-tier potential.”
The implication followed that it would have been truly regrettable.
“Ah, right. What about Lee Jaehee?”
The man suddenly mentioned Jaehee. In that moment, the man gave off the impression that he didn’t even want to say that name. A grinding sound of teeth could be heard, as if he was feeling some kind of resentment.
“Why is he next to Choi Geonwoo?”
“He said it’s because of guilt.”
“Guilt?”
“Yes. He said it’s his fault for giving the guiding, and he wants to take responsibility. He wants to safely erase the bond while ensuring Choi Geonwoo doesn’t die.”
At those words, the man laughed loudly.
“Ah, really? That’s good news. I was worried he might just leave, not caring whether the Esper lives or dies. But it seems that’s not the case. He’s quite responsible in his own way.”
Impressive. Clap, clap, clap. An exaggerated clapping sound followed. Then the man looked at Taeyun and smiled very brightly, showing all his teeth.
“Even so, like other guides, he’ll eventually run away to save himself.”
A mocking sneer, as if imagining that scene, appeared on the man’s face. After sneering at the thought of Jaehee for quite some time, the man sat down heavily in a chair and let out an irritated sigh, as if the fun had gone out of it.
“Haa, this has become quite bothersome. If the guiding rejection had been a bit weaker, this would have been wrapped up already. How amazing can an S-class Guide’s guiding be, that he clings to it even in that state?”
The man mussed his hair as if disgusted. His tone was strongly tinged with incomprehension. In response, Taeyun suggested a way to resolve the matter more easily.
“Then, what about erasing Choi Geonwoo’s bond now and making him form a one-sided bond with a lower-ranked guide…”
The artificial guiding energy created by the upper management couldn’t directly create a one-sided bond with an Esper. It could only overlay on top of a one-sided bond that a guide had already created with an Esper.
That’s why Taeyun was suggesting to erase the one-sided bond created by the S-class Guide, create a new one-sided bond with a lower-ranked guide, and then overlay that bond. That way, the guiding rejection reaction would be relatively weaker, making it easier to overlay the bond.
“That won’t work.”
But the man cut off Taeyun’s words and spoke firmly.
“With an S-class Guide openly available at the Center, why should we do that?”
The man spoke while roughly pushing up his fallen bangs.
“Moreover, the bond being overlaid becomes more solid when the rank of the guide who created the one-sided bond is higher. If the guide’s rank is high, it might take a bit longer to overlay the bond due to guiding rejection, but in exchange, you can create a more solid leash.”
That was why they coveted Jaehee. If an Esper received guiding from and formed a one-sided bond with the only S-class Guide at the Center, they could create a very solid leash when overlaying the bond. Then it would be that much easier to handle the Esper.
“Well, I didn’t know the guiding rejection would be this fierce.”
The man clicked his tongue.
“But the leash is better when it’s stronger. That way, we can safely handle monsters like you. Don’t you agree?”
An unpleasant laugh filled the room. Knowing that Taeyun couldn’t escape his grasp, the man was spilling everything freely.
“Ah, and what about what I told you? How did Lee Jaehee seem?”
The man, who had been laughing for a while, suddenly stopped and asked in a sharp voice.
“Were there any strange things?”
Tap, tap, the approaching man spoke while hitting Taeyun’s chest.
“Even after receiving guiding to the point of almost depleting his energy, there were no particularly unusual aspects.”
“Really? I see… So that’s how it was.”
The man said while stroking around his chin.
“They say he handles Espers however he wants. Unbelievable, right? That a Guide, not even an Esper, did that.”
The following words were: I couldn’t believe it at first when I heard it. I thought they were lying because they couldn’t bring Lee Jaehee in.
“But thinking about it, if a Guide has such an ability, it would naturally be guiding.”
Because that’s the only thing that makes them different from ordinary people.
“So find out while receiving guiding.”
The man said this and then grabbed Taeyun’s collar, roughly pulling him towards himself. Then he spoke forcefully as if to make sure Taeyun heard him clearly.
“You need to find out to stop it. That’s the only way to prevent Lee Jaehee from acting recklessly again!”
The man, who had been connecting each word, seemed to recall something and scrunched up his face, unable to contain his anger. He did not hold back the source of his anger.
“I’ve already experienced failure once because of Lee Jaehee.”
The man continued, forcibly suppressing his anger. As if old memories kept tormenting him, his face became more and more distorted.
“And this time, I almost failed again because of Lee Jaehee!”
As if that fact was unbearable, the man gritted his molars so hard they made a grinding sound.
“So this time, you have to do it right. So we don’t fail again!”
After saying this, the man reached for the table next to Taeyun. He grabbed the flower vase on the table and threw it against the wall. The glass shattered, creating a loud noise, and amidst it, the man’s venomous words mixed in.
“Failure should end with Kang Dohyun alone. We cannot fail with Choi Geonwoo too!”
