# Chapter 7
I ended up clicking on the banner notification. I was curious. Whether the novel was truly reflecting my situation, and if so, how much had been written about it. It seemed better to know the future if possible.
I quickly scrolled down.
“Wow. This is insane.”
A curse naturally escaped my lips. Kim Haewon’s and my situation were written so accurately that it seemed like someone had transcribed it.
Not only our conversations but also his savage expressions and emotions.
*Haewon felt such humiliation for the first time in his life. He thought it was remarkable how that seemingly pure and clear face could spit out such vicious words so well.*
*Those round eyes suddenly filled with aggression, and it seemed like he was just spouting words recklessly.*
*Haewon didn’t like Garam. It was the first time someone had treated him this way. He slammed the hospital room door and headed straight to the center.*
*He needed to ask for Garam to be removed as his pair Guide immediately. But as Garam had said, there were no alternatives. Haewon slammed his fist down on his desk.*
*His secretary, Hwang Changho, furtively observed the situation and curled up his posture like a pill bug. Haewon didn’t have the best personality, but he never got angry without reason.*
*’He’s about to completely blow his lid… Didn’t he say he was going to meet that Guide today? What happened?’*
*Changho watched Haewon nervously while doodling ‘ㅠㅠ’ on the documents he was reviewing.*
*But Haewon didn’t even notice him. It was because Haewon’s mind was completely filled with Garam. Haewon didn’t want to think of it as interest in Garam. He wanted to strongly deny it.*
*He just wanted to solve this disaster with no alternatives, that’s what he wanted to think. But Garam’s face wouldn’t disappear from his mind.*
“What’s with these cheesy descriptions?”
The expressions felt extremely strange. It was like sentences suggesting that Kim Haewon disliked me, yet still had some interest. It was thoroughly unsettling, but I tried to ignore it just as Kim Haewon had done. Fortunately, Kim Haewon wasn’t floating around in my head.
I reread the sentences that bothered me and then opened the Association application. I was curious if the name of Kim Haewon’s secretary in the novel matched reality. I pressed the button to view Kim Haewon’s Esper information.
Kim Haewon (27 years old, male)
– Affiliation: Esper Department 1
– Classification: SS-class
– Attributes: Water, Ice
– Pair Status: Y (Park Garam/S-class/Matching rate 98%)
– In Charge: Hwang Changho, Chief Secretary
The secretary’s name in the novel matched Kim Haewon’s actual secretary. This wasn’t something I could just dismiss. Information about S-class Espers and Guides’ administrative staff wasn’t easily accessible.
If I were still C-class like before, accessing Kim Haewon’s information would have been impossible. It was only because I was also S-class that I could obtain this level of information.
What on earth was going on? How did the author know Secretary Hwang Changho’s name? Could one of the forces trying to defame Kim Haewon be behind this absurd situation? Did Kim Haewon mistakenly think I was part of that force? But how could my sudden promotion to S-class be explained?
I needed to stay calm. I tried to take several slow, deep breaths. But within seconds, my temper flared.
“Argh! How can I stay calm! The name is exactly the same!”
No matter how much I tried to reassure myself, my mind wouldn’t settle. I considered discussing this with Kim Haewon, the person involved, but our relationship was already as strained as it could be. If I wasn’t careful, I might be blamed as the mastermind behind all this.
Given his completely tactless attitude, he seemed like the type who would do that and more. Out of curiosity, I checked the comments section. Even if I didn’t know, Kim Haewon was a globally famous figure. If someone saw this novel, they would surely notice something strange.
[Reader1] Haewon. You’re really rude and delicious^3^ What kind of foot towel will you become^_______^ Can this noona look forward to it?
Foot towel? Is that referring to something used to wipe feet? Why would Kim Haewon become a foot towel?
[Reader2] A restaurant for uncomfortable viewing has opened lololol applause lololol fun from chapter 1
“A restaurant for uncomfortable viewing? What does that mean?”
I thought I had kept up with the times, but I couldn’t understand what the comments meant.
[Reader3] Can someone please knock me out. Wake me up around the ending
Out of the three, the only comment I could understand clearly was the one asking to be knocked out. I could figure out that they weren’t literally asking to be knocked unconscious. However, I didn’t have the energy to find meaning in the others.
The common thread among them was that they treated Kim Haewon as if they didn’t know him, as if they were encountering him for the first time through this novel. Even in countries with different languages, everyone knew “Kim Haewon.”
Unless they were collectively mocking someone, what was this? I gave up trying to understand.
“Let’s just delete the app and not look at it.”
That seemed like it would bring the most peace of mind. I could tell that Kim Haewon hated me without confirming it through this novel. He was the type to express his feelings clearly.
It seemed unlikely that our relationship would improve in the future, but it didn’t seem like it would be a major problem. I had met countless people over the past 20 years. Among them were Espers and Guides who maintained their pair relationship well for years despite usually being at odds. I could just live like that too.
“Let’s not worry about that guy or the novel about him. Don’t worry.”
With that thought, I looked for the novel application again and moved my finger.
This time I would delete it completely. I didn’t know how it got reinstalled, but next time, even if the banner notification rang, I was confident I wouldn’t click it.
However, just as I was about to delete the novel application, another notification popped up.
[Alert] <I’ve Been Possessed by a Real-Time Serial Novel> Chapter 3 has been uploaded.
Chapter 2 clearly ended with what I had experienced until today. That meant Chapter 3 was the future. The future? As soon as that word came to mind, I clicked the notification without any hesitation, completely forgetting my resolution not to worry about it.
*In the novel, Kim Haewon acts as if he doesn’t have a pair Guide after that day. He doesn’t look for a guide. Since gates dangerous enough to require his deployment don’t open frequently, it wasn’t a big problem.*
*In the novel, Park Garam actually rejoices at Kim Haewon’s behavior and enjoys a life of leisure in the hospital room. Due to memory loss, abnormal behavior, and the concussion incident, he was already classified as a special management person by Guide Department 1, so discharge was not possible.*
“If this reflects reality, it’s a very good development.”
For the first time, I found something I liked about this novel. If things proceeded this way, it seemed flawless. But as I moved to the next paragraph, my expression immediately hardened. As if the calm before the storm had ended, an incident was beginning.
“This is it. The Chicago Water Lord Gate.”
As soon as I saw the word “Chicago,” I recalled that story. It was an incident I had read about in the novel. This incident happens shortly after the protagonist becomes the pair Guide of an SS-class Esper. Although his ability remained at C-class, he gains the Esper’s trust by rescuing him at the cost of being severely injured.
“I thought it was too peaceful…”
This author liked to insert absurd incidents to make the protagonists gain insights. In developments like those in a boy’s manga, the protagonists wail, nearly die but survive, clash fiercely, and grow.
It was a very entertaining story when I read it without thinking. But considering it might be directly applied to my life, I couldn’t be more depressed.
The gate that appeared in Chicago had a disaster rating of “Eul.” It was so dangerous that only S-class or higher could participate.
The US government immediately made an emergency request to SS-class Espers. The first country to respond was Korea. The Korean government, valuing the Korea-US relationship, wanted to win the favor of Chicago through Kim Haewon.
Just in time, Haewon had acquired a pair Guide with a high matching rate, so the risk of him going berserk was low. Haewon followed the government’s decision without complaint.
However, he didn’t inform Garam. Since he had fought alone until now, he thought he could handle it sufficiently. Taking along such a loose-lipped Guide would only tire him out.
Of course, the ecstatic experience when Garam had guided him, when everything before his eyes brightened, was still vivid. But he absolutely did not want to ask Garam to come along.
His secretary, Changho, looked at Haewon with worried eyes.
“Are you sure it’s alright not to contact Guide Park Garam?”
“Absolutely not. I don’t need such cheap guiding.”
Haewon packed plenty of medications he had been taking as substitutes for guiding.
Chapter 3 ended with the scene of Kim Haewon leaving for Chicago without telling me. I couldn’t take my eyes off the final scene of Chapter 3.
If reality progressed according to the previously serialized novel, Kim Haewon would definitely need guiding. Medications wouldn’t be nearly enough.
The monsters inside the gate that he had to face were “Water Lords.” Water-type monsters born from the energy of the lower Chicago River. Even within the same element, attacks weren’t completely impossible. The problem was that the water they controlled had a strange concentration that Kim Haewon couldn’t handle. In other words, they were the worst opponents who made it impossible for him to use water even though water was everywhere.
