# Chapter 21
“Who… are you?”
It was the face of a man I’d never seen before. The man smiled, stood up, and offered me his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Guide Park Garam. Finally seeing you in person. I’m Cha Hyeonseok, Director of Esper Department 1.”
“Ah, hello.”
I shook his hand. Cha Hyeonseok’s hands were rather long and slender, but his palms were extremely rough, which felt strange. I pulled my hand away a bit quickly. Cha Hyeonseok didn’t seem to mind.
“I heard there was trouble with Haewon. I wanted to meet you before he came down, so I took the liberty. Please forgive me.”
“No, it’s fine. I understand.”
It made sense that he’d want to see my face, since an esper from his team had such poor relations with their pair guide that disciplinary action had to be taken. I didn’t need to witness it to know how much Director Kim from Diplomatic Management Department must have raised hell.
Cha Hyeonseok calmly began to speak.
“Did you know that Haewon has been experiencing tinnitus since the Chicago gate incident?”
“Tinnitus? No. He never mentioned anything like that.”
“I figured he wouldn’t say anything. Haewon has been dependent on medication for a long time without proper guiding. There are various side effects because of that. Among them, tinnitus is a more serious symptom than you might think. Espers’ physical senses are far more developed than ordinary people’s, and for an SS-class like Haewon, it’s beyond imagination. Even if he doesn’t show it, he’s probably experiencing terrible pain every day.”
I felt more dumbfounded than sympathetic. So he was suffering like that, yet still treated me that way? Or perhaps those who were already being named as potential next Unified Directors were going out of their way to defend him.
Either way, my luck was terrible. I looked at Cha Hyeonseok. My eyes conveyed my innocence. My expression said, “How was I supposed to know if he didn’t tell me?”
Guides can’t directly feel an esper’s pain. We can share it to some extent, but that’s only a few percent of the pain they actually feel. And since the guiding between Haewon and me had all taken place in urgent situations, I couldn’t properly feel anything.
“I’m not blaming Guide Park Garam. I’m just asking if you could be a little more lenient with that socially awkward kid.”
Director Cha Hyeonseok was courteous. But ultimately, he was asking me to put up with Kim Haewon’s bullshit and do my best. Being known to have a special relationship with Kim Haewon, Director Cha would have likely spoken to him as well. Though how much that bastard would listen was another question.
“Chief Secretary Hwang Changho said the same thing. That his senses aren’t developed in that way, that he’s awkward with such things, that he’s not good at apologizing, so I should understand.”
“…”
Those are all just excuses. Nothing but orders to endure his rudeness. I continued with sharp words. Anyway, Director Ham already disliked me, and the Esper Department only cared about their own espers, with no interest in guides. There was even less reason to get friendly with Director Cha.
“Director Cha. Isn’t it actually that attitude from Esper Department 1 that’s making Kim Haewon-ssi such an insolent person? Understanding? I’m not going to understand. If he acts rudely, I’ll point out that he’s being rude, and if he does something wrong, I’ll tell him to apologize.”
The administrators in the Association couldn’t be trusted. If it were Department 17, which manages C-class, we might get along well because it’s a minor position, but the Department 1s were different. The positions they could rise to were as different as heaven and earth. These people were obsessed with how to manipulate their subordinates to improve their own achievements.
I shouldn’t be fooled by differences in speech and behavior. If Ham Minho was the type to openly build accomplishments, Cha Hyeonseok was the type to do it quietly and cleverly. They were equally disgusting to me. When I closed my mouth, he called my name with a sigh.
“Guide Park Garam.”
“So instead of wasting time like this, comb through the entire country and find another guide. One with a high matching rate with Kim Haewon. Who knows? I might go back to being C-class overnight.”
That was actually what I was hoping for. Cha Hyeonseok seemed to think I was joking and laughed hopelessly. Cha Hyeonseok was a man with pretty dimples. Perhaps because he had the overall image of a well-raised young master, the deeply set dimples suited him well.
“If you felt any rudeness from me in our conversation today, I apologize.”
“No, I should be sorry for causing you concern. Anyway, please put your efforts into finding another guide. That would be much better for Esper Kim Haewon’s condition. You can do it. Fighting!”
When I emphasized my words, Cha Hyeonseok smiled once more with an indecipherable meaning. Then he said he should go and began to walk away. He grabbed the doorknob and continued.
“Still, it’s fortunate.”
“Pardon? What is?”
“That Guide Park Garam is Haewon’s first pair guide.”
I looked at him as if to ask what kind of curse that was, but Cha Hyeonseok left the guiding room like a handsome male lead from a drama. I examined the guiding room. The bed was soft and plush. On the nightstand was a low-intensity lamp, a stand-type with no corners, just rounded all around, which looked quite unique.
Since Kim Haewon hadn’t arrived, I was alone opening drawers and looking inside when I found items I never expected. They were none other than adult products. Gels of unknown purpose and rubber products for contraception were stored in large quantities.
“Wow, they openly prepare these things?”
While thinking they were thorough in strange areas and examining the products, the door opened. I tried to quickly put back the items I had taken out, but failed. Everything fell on the floor and the bed, causing a mess. A bottle containing an unidentified liquid rolled across the floor and stopped at Kim Haewon’s feet. Kim Haewon picked up the bottle.
“Smooth and Hot?”
“Ah, um! Th-that’s not something I brought. It was here, and I was just looking at it!”
Kim Haewon threw the plastic bottle at me with an expression that didn’t hide his discomfort. I caught it and immediately tucked it into the nightstand. I also picked up the numerous condoms that had fallen on the floor and stuffed them in haphazardly.
“You’re really something.”
“Well, who enters without knocking? I dropped them because I was startled.”
“So you were aware it was something embarrassing for others to see?”
“Rather than embarrassing, it’s just… awkward. Well, if you want to look at them together, go ahead.”
“I’ll pass.”
Kim Haewon said, completely turning his gaze away. He went to sit on the sofa on the opposite side of the bed. I hurriedly picked up all the condoms, put them all in, and went to wash my hands. Kim Haewon was sitting and seemed to be working on a small tablet PC.
It was awkward seeing him for the first time since that day, but work was work. I went near Kim Haewon and scratched my head.
“I’ll guide you.”
“Nothing to say first?”
“What do you mean?”
“What happened with the temporary guide?”
“Ah, that was put on hold. They said you requested it. But why do you keep speaking informally to me?”
Despite being younger than me. Moreover, I joined before him, so I was his senior in many ways. Even if he was a high-flying class, still. Kim Haewon rolled his eyes away and said.
“I don’t see any particular reason to speak formally.”
“Fine. Do as you please.”
“Why are you…!”
“You’re not going to say something ridiculous like you can speak informally to me but I can’t to you, right? Give me your hand.”
“…”
“Before we start guiding, I only do hand guiding during contact guiding. Unless it’s an urgent situation like the Chicago gate incident where we need to increase the contact area, I’ll only use this method.”
“…That’s what I wanted. I don’t want more contact either.”
Kim Haewon said in an unnecessarily loud voice. It sounded like his pride was hurt. Well, he had called guides filthy and said other things, so it made sense.
“It’s not for any other reason, but because this method has the fewest side effects and allows for more sensitive guiding. In complicated cases like yours, instead of trying to sweep everything away at once, we need to untangle the knots one by one from the outside. For that, delicate guiding is best.”
Kim Haewon looked at me. Then he abruptly blurted out.
“Looks like you’re not just some guide who’s been goofing off.”
I forced a smile and took the hand he reluctantly offered.
“Your other hand too.”
“Why.”
“Since I’m not just a guide who’s been goofing off, I guide with both hands. Hurry up and give it here.”
I grabbed Kim Haewon’s hand as if snatching it. Kim Haewon looked at me with both his hands suddenly in my grasp. I looked at Kim Haewon’s eyes dryly and continued.
“Starting guiding.”
I had said those words thousands of times. But thinking that the other person was Kim Haewon, there was a slight tremor. I slowly began to grasp his energies.
It felt like entering somewhere filled with dark, sticky things. I started to refine them one by one. While thinking it was impossible in my head, as I started catching them one by one, changes began to occur within my body.
I could feel a transparent and open energy flowing from within me. I felt the source of power that I hadn’t known when I was C-class.
Energy gushed out like water springing from beneath my sternum, the center of my body. When it touched Kim Haewon’s tangled energy wavelengths, an exclamation escaped Kim Haewon’s lips.
“Ah.”
Is this what a 98% matching rate feels like? I clearly felt the energy I sent cleanly purifying a part of Kim Haewon. It was such a refreshing feeling that it almost created a kind of pleasure.
This was a kind of thrill I had never felt before. I wanted to continuously give the overflowing energy within me to Kim Haewon. It felt like even if I gave it all away, an inexhaustible source of energy would remain within me.
With my eyes closed, I removed the sticky energy wavelengths entangled in his body one by one. But then, suddenly, Kim Haewon pushed me away.
