The information he’d seen on the monitor just moments ago brought on anxiety. If he had his way, he would have copied all the data, shut himself away, and dissected it line by line.
‘Calm down. There’ll be more opportunities ahead.’
He couldn’t waver and get excited every time. He couldn’t be this lucky every day.
Han Seoha, who until the moment of his death blamed his own weakness rather than hating Espers.
‘I can’t forget the essence. Han Seoha’s happiness is the top priority.’
He mustn’t ruin that.
Let’s acknowledge that he can’t save Han Seoha’s mind, or soul, right away.
He forgot his worries and erased his anxiety.
After a short time, Han Seoha reflected in the mirror smiled faintly. He raised his collar to try to hide the congestion filling the area around his neck, but the pajamas belonging to someone else—he didn’t know when they’d been changed onto him—softly lost their shape. His hand kept going to the area around his neck as if embarrassed even though no one was watching.
When he came out of the bathroom and saw the thoroughly crumpled bed sheets, heat rose to his face. Unable to properly look at them, he bowed his head deeply and barely managed to pull over his own shirt that was draped over the edge of the bed and changed into it.
Baek Uihyeon’s quarters were cleaned daily, so there wasn’t a single piece of laundry lying around. Not knowing what to do, he wandered around the house as if lost, taking in the broken pieces that didn’t match the tidy home. They were probably one of the surveillance devices Baek Uihyeon had destroyed, but he pretended not to notice and wandered around before sitting obediently on the sofa.
Now that the guiding was over, he should return to his quarters. But he didn’t want to go back alone to the temporary quarters he shared with Jeong Iro. Being alone in a shared space was lonely. That said, if he returned to the guide quarters, he could face jealousy given that he had a partner.
‘Using that excuse to stay, I need to gather as much information as possible that Baek Uihyeon can access, making it seem coincidental.’
Even coincidences become suspicious when they pile up.
Let’s not overdo it. Even today, the project he’d discovered moments ago was tempting enough that he’d had to remind himself several times.
‘I need to adjust my relationship with Baek Uihyeon too.’
The S-rank’s access privileges were bigger than expected. According to the original plan, he should have maintained an appropriate distance from Baek Uihyeon, but the situation had changed. He needed to give a bit more leeway and naturally gain opportunities to access the Association’s key locations to gather information.
As it happened, they’d had deeper skinship than usual. A guide feeling anxious about his partner’s absence and relying on a kind Esper would seem natural.
“Haah…”
As if being shy, he buried his face in both hands to organize his thoughts, then was startled by his watch alarm and raised his head. It was well past midnight into the early morning hours—there was almost no reason for the watch to ring at dawn. His current partner Jeong Iro was in treatment so was offline, and Ryu Jaegeon’s connection had been terminated so there was no way it would ring.
Anxiously checking his watch, an unexpected name appeared.
“Baek Uihyeon?”
The only case where a numerical warning for an Esper who wasn’t a partner would be sent to a guide was for emergency guiding. The alarm rang first for guides who were close by.
“83?”
At a number higher than he’d ever seen before, Han Seoha ran out without time to think.
‘Crazy, it already went up to 84. At this rate, he’ll literally be a bomb.’
The displayed location was the reinforced room that was mandatorily installed at every center. It was a place designed for rampage from the start.
Who would run to a place where they put an Esper and randomly called guides?
The time it took from Baek Uihyeon’s quarters to the reinforced room at an ordinary person’s sprint was just over ten minutes, but the number had already gone up again.
‘What the hell has he been doing for his numbers to be this crazy?’
He already knew Baek Uihyeon was worked around the clock. Even so, in the past, Baek Uihyeon had never rampaged or caused an accident. Because he trusted his memories, he ran toward Baek Uihyeon unconditionally, true to the kind Han Seoha. He was inwardly flustered that he was the only one running toward Baek Uihyeon, passing several hesitant guides.
‘Why isn’t anyone running when an S-rank is in this state?’
This meant that he, a C-rank, had to shoulder the entire burden. That was too dangerous a gamble.
‘I could suffer reverse guiding.’
Had it really been true that Baek Uihyeon had never caused an accident?
Even with the reinforced wall between them, the Esper’s rampaging waves were so clear he couldn’t bring himself to do it. An Esper wearing thick protective gear and guarding the door welcomed Han Seoha, a guide.
“Thank you for coming. You can enter right away.”
“Wait a minute. You’re C-rank, right?”
Guide uniforms had different colored labels by rank, making them stand out immediately. The Esper who had been about to open the door at the yellow C-rank badge stopped and didn’t hide his irritation.
“Don’t you know the emergency assembly is only up to B-rank?”
“I’m sorry. I was just worried…”
Even while apologizing continuously, Han Seoha didn’t leave, and the Esper warned him.
“You’re in the way standing there. Go back.”
“But Baek Uihyeon-nim is inside.”
“So what. Are you going to guide him or something?”
When Han Seoha didn’t deny it, another Esper looked incredulous and approached threateningly.
“Are you crazy? Do I really need to tell you what happens when a C-rank nobody approaches an Esper on the verge of rampage?”
“If I see even a B-rank guide coming, let alone an A-rank, I’ll leave.”
His face was flushed from running all the way here and full of anxiety. Despite being scared enough to have teary eyes, Han Seoha didn’t step back even one step, and the Esper who had at least been using polite speech gave a look to the other Esper.
“If it’s a C-rank guide, isn’t that the person? The one Ryu Jaegeon ghosted.”
“What? That bastard hangs around with an A-rank guide, what C-rank… Ah.”
The rumor that had spread wildly even among Espers immediately came to mind. Even the latest information that an S-rank Esper was following around a C-rank guide who had guided an A-rank Esper for a whole year.
Even in the midst of this, the alarm rang noisily and Han Seoha’s body leaned forward as if about to leap out.
“Have you tried guiding Esper Baek Uihyeon?”
“Y-yes. He had normal numbers until a few hours ago, I don’t know why it suddenly got this severe.”
“Hmm, a C-rank guided an S-rank.”
According to protocol, only B-rank and above could be deployed for emergency guiding, but since the other party was an S-rank Esper, everyone was protecting their bodies and not showing up. If they waited a bit longer, one of the five who had partnered with Baek Uihyeon would probably appear, but there was no telling when that would be. Even wearing protective gear, they didn’t like guarding with a bomb at their backs without any response.
Pushing a C-rank at an S-rank Esper with dangerous numbers was risky, but since the person in question was so desperate and even had experience, if the compatibility just matched well, it would be reasonably okay.
“I can let you in, but no matter what, I won’t open it again until the numbers hit 80.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll work hard.”
The two Espers who positioned the bowing Han Seoha in front of the door located Baek Uihyeon’s position in case he might burst out. After confirming his statue-like appearance sitting on the edge of the bed, unlike his rampaging waves, they opened the door in one go, pushed the guide in, and locked it shut in an instant. Even though it was a short time, they were shocked enough by the rampaging waves, but through the gap in the small reinforced window, the visible guide staggered yet slowly approached Baek Uihyeon.
“Really an unusual guide.”
“He’s famous, isn’t he. Han Seoha.”
“If it’s that C-rank, I’ve heard of him.”
It’s not like some fairy tale about a prince or princess. They’d let the exaggerated rumors go in one ear and out the other. The feeling of becoming a gatekeeper witnessing a fairy tale in reality was strange.
“Still, the rank difference can’t be ignored.”
“That’s right. It’s like giving water with a ladle to a desert. You need to bring at least a water tank.”
Could a C-rank guide really provide meaningful guiding to an S-rank? Perhaps he’d suffer reverse guiding and become beyond help. But the guide couldn’t possibly not know that.
“Geez, do high-rank guides come with gold bars attached or something? Why are they all so slow?”
“It’s nothing new. I don’t even expect it.”
Lightly criticizing the other guides who still hadn’t come, they stood with their backs to the door they had to guard. Along with slight worry that the guide who threw himself in worrying only about the Esper wouldn’t get hurt.
Those Esper bastards with no basics.
He’d pushed forward expecting to be stopped, of course, but was too easily shoved inside. Even so, he couldn’t back down and moved forward. Approaching Baek Uihyeon, who was like a mass of enormous waves, with a tearful face, Han Seoha was prepared to have his neck bitten.
But he couldn’t move carelessly at the reddish eyes that watched quietly like a beast that had forgotten even to breathe, sitting on the edge of the bed. As if waiting for prey until it completely entered its territory.
‘With Baek Uihyeon in that state, there’s no way it’ll end with just the neck.’
It took a great deal of determination to take one more step toward an Esper whose reason had flown away, leaving only instinct.
But he had to do it.
Whether it was the Han Seoha of the past who felt sorry for Espers, or the current Han Seoha who needed to use Espers, it was naturally something he had to do.
“Baek Uihyeon-nim, I’ll help you.”
I’ve come to ease your pain.
When he added a frightened smile to Han Seoha’s kind heart, the beast bared its teeth like a smile.
