Left alone, Han Seoha mulled over the words Baek Uihyeon had left behind.
They had done guiding many times before, but Baek Uihyeon had never mentioned showering. Occasionally he would give off the pleasant scent of someone freshly washed, but he had never specifically left Han Seoha behind to step away.
This was a warning. That today would be different from usual.
No matter how naive Han Seoha was, there was no way he wouldn’t understand.
‘I wonder how the Han Seoha of this time would react.’
In the past, he might not have noticed. He might have naively waited, thinking it was really just a shower, and gotten devoured.
No, he wasn’t that stupid. Like a timid small animal, he might have been startled by the small warning and tried to flee.
‘No, that’s not right. Han Seoha wouldn’t abandon an Esper who needed guiding.’
That made it even more heartbreaking. He wanted to protect the Han Seoha who had damaged his own body caring for and embracing selfish Espers. Back then he couldn’t, but now he could.
In a way befitting Han Seoha. While not getting hurt.
To do that, he needed to indulge Baek Uihyeon’s sulking to some degree.
Today Baek Uihyeon’s waves had been quite rough. Not as much as during the matching test, but enough to agree it had been a difficult day.
Since there was no way Baek Uihyeon would lose his reason and pounce on him at this point, if he just soothed his hurt feelings a bit, they wouldn’t cross the line. He wasn’t a foolish Esper who would completely antagonize the Guide he was pursuing.
‘There probably aren’t surveillance cameras in S-rank accommodations, though.’
The fact that it was lodging within the Association bothered him. With all sorts of bizarre abilities, there was no telling what kind of precautions might be in place. There probably weren’t many abilities secretive enough that S-rank Baek Uihyeon wouldn’t notice them, but you never knew.
‘Whether they’re monitoring or not, what I need to do is the same anyway.’
He was used to acting like Han Seoha even when alone. Having organized his thoughts while staring blankly at one spot as if dazed, Han Seoha raised his head to start showing signs of nervousness. The sound of water coming from the bathroom. The crumpled uniform fallen on the floor. He hurriedly stood up as if belatedly realizing that he was sitting on the bed.
He moved toward the door as if to leave the room, then stopped hesitantly. After checking his watch, he paced around the room before timidly calling out to Baek Uihyeon in front of the bathroom door.
“Um, Baek Uihyeon-nim.”
Even at Han Seoha’s call, quieter than the sound of water, Baek Uihyeon responded immediately.
“Did you call for me?”
Han Seoha swallowed his breath at the moisture that rushed out through the door that opened in an instant. Water dripped down from Baek Uihyeon’s soaking wet hair and bare body, hastily covered only at the waist with a towel.
“Seoha-ssi?”
“Ah, yes. Um, it’s not urgent but…”
The robust body drenched in cold water felt strangely hot. At the end of the refreshing scent of body wash, there seemed to be a sticky smell clinging to it. Even though that couldn’t be, he couldn’t bear to look at Baek Uihyeon’s flushed yet composed face.
“Um, if you’re having a really hard time, maybe another Guide…”
“I’m fine.”
“But your waves are rougher than usual.”
“That’s why I need you to look after me a little more, Seoha-ssi.”
At the faint coquettishness mixed into Baek Uihyeon’s light tone, Han Seoha didn’t know what to do. Baek Uihyeon’s wet lips lightly grazed down Han Seoha’s bridge of his nose and pressed against his lips as he bowed all the way down to avoid eye contact. Accepting the lips and tongue that were more moist than usual while stumbling backward, Han Seoha found himself already lifted in Baek Uihyeon’s arms.
Carried gently to the bed like a bride on her wedding night, Han Seoha was trapped by Baek Uihyeon’s sturdy body covered only by a single towel, unable to move an inch.
Baek Uihyeon didn’t rush. Yet Han Seoha couldn’t shake the feeling of being cornered. Licking and overlapping lips, meeting eyes, then deeply intertwining tongues again—it felt like a kiss between lovers.
The act that hid nervousness and revealed only pure affection gradually released the tension from Han Seoha’s rigid body. When the lips that descended to his earlobe playfully nibbled before biting down gently, he even laughed.
“Does it hurt?”
“Not… hurt, but it tickles.”
“That’s a relief. If it feels too much, refuse me. I won’t do anything Seoha-ssi doesn’t like.”
Baek Uihyeon’s gentle declaration gave him trust. Throughout the usual biting and sucking at his neck, Han Seoha had been obediently offering it when he raised his head at the sound of his watch ringing. Looking up at a place higher than his own wrist, it was ringing from Baek Uihyeon’s wrist gripping the headboard.
“Huh?”
The waves that had become precariously rough had finally surged to the warning level.
“Why, why is it suddenly like this?”
Grabbing Baek Uihyeon’s wrist to check the numbers on the watch, Han Seoha tensed at seeing him smile gently.
“You seemed anxious, so I destroyed some things nearby that were interfering.”
“What? I didn’t say anything… Ah…”
An S-rank Esper’s ears didn’t miss even the light footsteps of a Guide pacing in the living room. The Esper who had presumed the Guide’s anxiety had destroyed surveillance devices in other rooms or spaces using only his senses. If the precariously balanced wave levels had rapidly worsened in that process…
‘Just how many eyes and ears had been directed at Baek Uihyeon.’
A person indifferent enough to leave them alone had destroyed them all just because a Guide seemed a little anxious.
Han Seoha swept back Baek Uihyeon’s forehead, now ambiguously damp with what could be water or sweat, as if he didn’t understand.
“You said today was hard for you. Why do such reckless things?”
Due to the control devices installed within the Association, using abilities required several times the usual effort even for an S-rank. Baek Uihyeon, in a state of chronic guiding deficiency, had to exert enough power to change his wave levels. And he had endured all that just to reassure the C-rank Guide he was courting.
“You always make time for me, so I wanted you to be comfortable.”
“Why on earth would you do this for someone like me?”
“You’re the only Guide I want.”
To think an S-rank Esper was the first to say the words Han Seoha had most wanted to hear. It was a phrase he’d waited for so desperately that he felt sorry for being the one to receive it.
Han Seoha could also read the emotion contained in Baek Uihyeon’s serious gaze. The desperation nestled within the composure was the sincerity of an Esper who had met his Guide.
Recognizing that earnestness, Han Seoha deliberated. If he could be this reckless for his sake, wouldn’t it be okay to yield his side to some degree? Having made his judgment, Han Seoha drew up his emotions as they were and let tears well up. Then he buried his face as if embarrassed by the suddenly surging tears and lay face down.
“I’m sorry. Why am I suddenly crying…”
Baek Uihyeon kissed the nape of Han Seoha’s exposed neck more deeply than usual as he buried his face in the pillow. He pressed his lips down with a stickiness that made a sucking sound, then released them, biting and swallowing the sniffling Han Seoha’s sweat-dampened skin to his heart’s content.
Baek Uihyeon’s smile faded at the delicate body that flinched but didn’t pull away. With those clear eyes watching him gone, the desire he’d barely suppressed bloomed.
The waist exposed by clothes riding up from tossing and turning to hide tears was so slender it seemed it could be grasped in one hand. Wondering if a man’s waist could really be this thin, when he placed his hand there it flinched and stiffened. At Han Seoha’s response of not pulling away, Baek Uihyeon’s hand naturally moved to his round bottom. Perhaps because he was lying face down, it looked even rounder, and even though covered by clothes, he could feel its softness.
Would it be okay if he just used one hand? Grasping it while conjuring up that absurd excuse, the desire he’d barely suppressed raised its head at the soft yet elastic flesh caught in his grip.
The scraps of fabric touching his palm were in the way. Fully feeling the flesh gripped in his hand would be easy. Baek Uihyeon knew that with just a little force, he could devour something sweeter and softer than any skin he’d tasted before.
Yet Han Seoha’s quietness, not even resisting, bothered him.
Let’s just do it like this. Even knowing it would work out if he did, Baek Uihyeon couldn’t ignore Han Seoha’s silence.
“Seoha-ssi.”
Baek Uihyeon cleared his throat at a voice so low it surprised even himself.
“Seoha-ssi.”
“…Yes.”
Ah. He’s frightened.
Baek Uihyeon removed the hand that had been kneading like freshly made rice cake and embraced Han Seoha as if covering his back. Pulling the completely trapped Han Seoha into a full embrace, he desperately summoned his patience at the delicate body trembling finely.
“I told you. I won’t do anything you dislike.”
“Hic, yes.”
“You can say you dislike it. I don’t know what your previous partner was like, but I won’t do it.”
“Jaegeon was…”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t bring up that name anymore. I know how to be jealous too.”
At Baek Uihyeon’s deliberate movement of pressing his lower body against him, Han Seoha desperately nodded.
From the firm presence that couldn’t be ignored, Han Seoha grasped Baek Uihyeon’s patience. At the sight of Han Seoha not moving an inch to avoid stimulating him, Baek Uihyeon was instead more stimulated and slowly moved his body to press his member against the soft bottom.
“Should we… should we kiss?”
“Do you want to?”
“Yes, yes. Please.”
Han Seoha’s attempt to hurriedly turn his body, feeling it would become dangerous at this rate, was only half right. Rather, facing each other made them touch more intimately, increasing the embarrassment.
Baek Uihyeon didn’t bother to bring up and resolve this situation first. It was far better for him to blush and be shy than to be frightened and cry.
* * *
Baek Uihyeon, who had stayed pressed close until dawn, headed straight for the Gate after checking his normalized watch.
To Han Seoha, who came chasing out half-asleep in a daze, he kissed him and when Han Seoha murmured as if moved by the words “Take care. When are you coming back?” he even taught him how to check his schedule.
Not long after Baek Uihyeon left like that, Han Seoha, who had wiped away his drowsy expression, sat in front of the desktop as he had been taught. Pretending to look for the schedule, his eyes and hands were busy checking materials that an S-rank Esper could access.
It was fortunate to be able to approach in this way the materials he had once planned to investigate through Association-related routes.
The materials an S-rank could access were considerable. He freely viewed even classified documents, and erasing traces was easy too.
Thanks to Baek Uihyeon, who had destroyed all surveillance devices out of consideration for Han Seoha, Han Seoha’s eyes fixed on one spot for the first time as he scanned as much necessary information as possible without worrying about the aftermath.
Project Echo
Found it.
This was the hint that could pinpoint the location where his body was hidden during this time period.
It was absurd how easily he’d found it, but the process itself of a C-rank Guide reaching this point couldn’t have been easy. Han Seoha felt like cheering at the information he’d reached through effort and coincidence. After quickly checking only the contents, he opened several more pages before closing them all.
As if he’d opened various things out of curiosity but gotten bored.
