# Chapter 6
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. You don’t have any friends, right?”
“That’s off-topic. I refuse to answer. Please refrain from crossing the line like this in the future.”
Kim Haewon turned his attention to his tablet PC as if I wasn’t worth engaging with. I clicked my tongue and continued.
“I thought so. You don’t seem like someone who would have friends. Does your mouth grow thorns if you don’t talk like that?”
“That sounds like sarcasm. If you have complaints, please state your requirements clearly.”
“And if I do, will you listen?”
“If they’re reasonable.”
“So you’ll just do whatever you want.”
When I muttered this, Kim Haewon narrowed his eyes. His expression showed he was extremely displeased.
“I believe I told you not to use vulgar language.”
“What, is everything Kim Haewon esper says the law? Do I have to pay a fine if I don’t obey?”
“We cannot maintain a pair relationship with this uncooperative attitude.”
“Ah. Then let’s quit.”
Kim Haewon looked at me as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His face was full of contempt.
This man had lived as an SS-class esper since his manifestation. Wherever he went, he received VIP treatment as the minimum standard, and there was nowhere that didn’t listen to what he said. That’s why he treated people so imperiously.
But that wasn’t my problem.
At this point, if anyone should feel regret, it was Kim Haewon, not me. I could just wash my hands of this guide job and be done with it, but wasn’t he the one who had finally met a guide with a high matching rate? He was the one who should be making a good impression.
“Why? Don’t like that? I have nothing to lose.”
“Are you threatening me with our matching rate? Guiding for an SS-class esper is a national duty.”
“Who says? Is that in the law? I’ve never heard of such a law…”
“Are you an elementary school student?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Hah…”
Deep frustration was evident in Kim Haewon’s sigh. The atmosphere suggested he might strike my face if I made one more sarcastic remark.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t afraid of him. But from the moment he questioned my professionalism, our relationship had already soured. However, since I didn’t intend to quit right away, I spoke first.
“If I’ve offended you, it’s only human nature that you should be offended too.”
“What do you want?”
“What I want is clear. Don’t question my professionalism. Guiding is my job. It means this isn’t an area where Kim Haewon esper can judge my expertise.”
Kim Haewon let out a snort and met my eyes.
“For someone who was a C-class until recently, you’re remarkably confident.”
In Kim Haewon’s eyes, I could see his desire to attack me verbally. But if he thought the fact that I had been a C-class guide would be a significant blow to me, he was mistaken.
Espers might enjoy ranking themselves as A, B, C, D, but guides didn’t. At least, I didn’t.
I met Kim Haewon’s eyes and continued.
“If you have a problem with me being C-class before, why don’t you quit right now?”
“You…!”
Kim Haewon stood up and glared at me. In an instant, the room grew cold, and a chill rose. The once-warm hospital room suddenly felt like it was 10 degrees below zero. Cold breath was visible even when standing still.
“I told you not to speak informally to me.”
“I told you not to question my professionalism.”
There was an invisible tension between Kim Haewon and me, like a taut string. After glaring at me for a long time, Kim Haewon withdrew the cold energy and continued.
“Who paid you? How much did you get?”
“What?”
“My family will soon present a contract. It will be an amount you’ve never dreamed of, so it’ll be hard to refuse. I mean it’s not good to agitate me by getting worked up over the measly amounts these small fry offer. Do you understand?”
I could only gape at his words. His outpouring of accusations contained many misunderstandings. On the other hand, I could roughly guess what kind of world he had lived in.
It must have been a dirty world like those seen in dramas or novels. A world of money and power, contracts and deception, relationships strung together like a chain of sausages. If that was all that made up his world, his reaction wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
Of course, the fact that I was being suspected in this way was extremely offensive.
“Did I hit too close to home?”
He spoke to me with a contemptuous expression. I was still open-mouthed, watching him. He was a type of person I’d never seen before. His mental world seemed to consist only of money, fame, and power. After observing him for a while, I continued.
“But seriously, you don’t have friends, right?”
“I don’t need things like friends.”
“Okay. Live like that, then.”
After finishing my words, I flopped down on the bed. His social skills were atrocious. What must it feel like to receive worldwide praise despite such a personality? How many people know his true nature? Thinking these thoughts, I crossed one leg over the other knee and swung it.
“What is this improper posture?”
“Now you won’t even let me lie down as I want. This is my hospital room, you know?”
“Our conversation hasn’t ended yet.”
“What more is there to say? You’re like talking to a wall.”
“What did you say? Who are you calling a wall?”
Kim Haewon flared up. I made a gesture of alternately poking him and myself with my index finger and spoke slowly.
“I, am calling, you, a wall.”
“How can there be a person like this?”
Kim Haewon revealed his inner thoughts as if he couldn’t understand. He truly seemed dumbfounded. I smiled and continued.
“Right here.”
“Are you joking now?”
“I’m not joking. Kim Haewon esper isn’t even fun.”
I sat up. His bluish-gray eyes seemed to ripple like water. They were hard to recognize as human eyes. It was as if there were waves inside his pupils. It was probably a symptom resulting from his difficulty in handling his unstable wavelength. Looking into those eyes, I stopped my sarcasm.
It seemed that organizing my thoughts and getting rid of him quickly would be better for my mental health.
“I’ve never taken money. I have no intention of taking it in the future either, so explain that to your family. And guides affiliated with the Association are prohibited from making contracts outside the Association. What you’re talking about, that’s corruption. If I report it, you’d be finished in an instant.”
Kim Haewon tilted his head as if he didn’t understand my words at all.
“If you haven’t taken money, why are you acting like this toward me?”
“Kim Haewon esper has been rude to me. So I’m pointing that out.”
“Comments like asking if I have friends don’t fall into that category.”
“That was pure curiosity.”
“It didn’t seem pure.”
“That’s Kim Haewon esper’s subjective judgment.”
“We cannot maintain this kind of pair relationship going forward.”
Kim Haewon turned away as if he was about to go to the Association to cut me off immediately. I swallowed a sigh and continued.
“Is there an alternative?”
“…”
“Even if you comb through the entire country, there wasn’t a single guide with a high matching rate with Kim Haewon esper. Then suddenly, my matching rate got high. Isn’t this almost a miraculous opportunity given from heaven?”
Kim Haewon looked at me and said coldly.
“Miracle?”
“…”
“It must be a disaster.”
Kim Haewon left the hospital room. As the door shut with a thud, I finally relaxed my tense body. He disappeared down the corridor with his straight posture.
The thought of having to live as a pair guide with that ill-mannered person made my future look bleak. But just as Kim Haewon had no alternative, neither did I.
Most of what Kim Haewon said was true. Guiding for an SS-class esper was an immense duty that transcended national obligation. It was a job for one of only ten heroes in the entire world.
It also meant that I couldn’t quit being a guide at will, even if I wanted to. If I did, I might be killed by their massive fanclub.
“If neither of us has other options, wouldn’t it be better to just get along?”
But it didn’t seem like it would work with that blockhead. Like talking to a wall. I shook my head as I watched where Kim Haewon had disappeared.
“Who’s the one who really received a bolt-from-the-blue disaster?”
If we’re talking about unfairness, I had it worse. My life, which had been going well, was flipped upside down in an instant.
“Is this what happens when you write one hateful comment? Getting entangled with someone who spouts hate comments to your face?”
Looking at it that way, wasn’t this truly a real-time serialization? I shook my head with such gloomy thoughts.
Still, when I first met him and felt faint, I had pitied him. The thorny wavelengths residing in his body had stirred compassion in my heart. However, to the person actually involved, such actions were only worthy of ridicule.
Kim Haewon dislikes me. He doubted my guiding skills and professionalism, which until recently were at C-class level. Moreover, he thought I would switch sides to people he considered enemies if offered a large sum of money, and he had already assumed I had done so.
Kim Haewon’s way of thinking resembled the wavelength inside his body. A wound that had never been treated, festering. And the sharp thorns that grew on top of it. I closed my eyes as I recalled this.
“Maybe I was too harsh. Ah, I don’t know. Why should I care?”
I turned over and tried not to think about it. But I couldn’t help but think about it. The moments when sharp words were exchanged remained vivid in my memory. Just as I was about to distract myself by playing a mobile game, a notification sounded.
[Notification] Chapter 2 of <I’ve Been Possessed by a Real-Time Serial Novel> has been uploaded.
I definitely deleted the novel application, so how did I get the notification? I was puzzled. But after having that argument with Kim Haewon, I was curious how this story would be written.
Should I click it or not?
I stared at the notification for a long time.
