“Aha.”
“I apologize, but all Guides in the common guiding room are sequentially assigned their designated Espers through the allocation system. Unless it’s an emergency, unless it’s an emergency—”
The Section Chief tried her best to regain composure as she recited the regulations. Showing the pager threateningly to call security guards was a bonus. It meant not to make any more threatening moves.
Thunk.
At that moment, the man threw something toward the Section Chief. The Section Chief, who caught it reflexively, made a dumbfounded sound for a moment.
“…What’s this?”
“Yes yes, I’m that emergency~.”
“That can’t be, why is this……”
With a dazed voice, the Section Chief’s hand dropped limply. Wondering what was going on, I glanced sideways and saw a card overlapping with the pager. It was an ID card proving an Esper’s identity.
Name: Hyun Yoonseo Classification / Status: Esper / Emergency Serial Number: KR181538 Ability: Flames Rank: S-rank
It clearly said emergency.
‘…Hyun Yoonseo?’
And that was also the name of a person even I, who had only manifested about a year ago, would know. To be precise, I only knew the name, but in any case, it was certain he was someone who couldn’t be treated carelessly.
With that meaning, I made eye contact with the man blankly, just like the Section Chief.
“Can we have a conversation now?”
Then the man—no, S-rank Esper and the Center Director’s grandson Hyun Yoonseo, who had never once shown his face to the media—brought his face close to mine.
“Guide. Myeong. Eun. Ha.”
***
“Ha, you’re so tiny I can’t even say anything.”
Hyun Yoonseo, who entered the separately prepared room, kept running his hand over his face. Even though he was the one who had visited the common guiding room looking for me. While it was fortunate he wasn’t threatening me with his initial momentum, it was just as frustrating for me since he only said incomprehensible things.
More than anything…….
“I’m not small.”
I wasn’t that small. Although I didn’t gain a superior body like an Esper, I was a proper adult male over 177cm tall.
“See, I told you he has a temper.”
“……”
“Anyway, try guiding. Let’s see if it’s good enough to make you blink to death to match with Do Ganghyun.”
Hyun Yoonseo, who said that, suddenly sprawled on the bed. Emergencies often couldn’t be resolved with broadcast or simple contact guiding, so it was a bed prepared in anticipation of mucous membrane guiding.
It was a furniture arrangement with nothing particularly strange and a natural attitude an Esper could show, but I raised my guard to the maximum. I even took another step away from him.
“You said you wouldn’t do anything.”
Those outside wouldn’t have heard, but he clearly told me. That he wouldn’t do anything, so just go along with the act appropriately. That’s why I followed him, who absolutely didn’t look like an emergency.
“I have to turn this off. I asked Grandpa to put up the emergency, but anyway, to turn it off, there needs to be a change in wavelength.”
Hyun Yoonseo boldly showed the wavelength measurement device attached to his wrist. The watch-shaped measurement device showed a stable guiding level of 82%, but the screen itself was glowing red indicating ‘Emergency.’ Previously, the ID card had also displayed ‘Emergency’ in electronic ink, and I wondered if they were linked.
“It’s sensor recognition. Since I forcibly activated the emergency code, just attempting guiding will properly recognize my guiding level and turn it off.”
‘I won’t eat you, so don’t worry.’ Hyun Yoonseo added with a snort.
“……It’s preferential treatment.”
“I know. I never particularly denied it either.”
“Do you know I’m C-rank? How do you know if there will be a change or not……”
“Come on, I’m telling you your guiding is delicious—?!”
As I answered without confidence, Hyun Yoonseo shouted angrily.
My legs instantly lost strength. It was partly because I was so startled, but it was due to his momentum that burst out for a moment.
“Ah, sorry. You little squirt said something so absurd.”
“……”
“Anyway, try it quickly. If the emergency code doesn’t change within an hour, Grandpa said he’d send someone.”
I stared at him sprawled on the bed, feet fidgeting, then slowly released my wavelength. Seeing how he specifically searched for ‘Myeong Eunha,’ there clearly seemed to be something, but if what he wanted was just this kind of guiding, there was no problem at all.
‘Still, there’s a rank difference……’
It seemed difficult to achieve change with simple broadcast guiding.
“Give me your hand.”
“Hand?”
“Yes, you asked to be guided.”
Hyun Yoonseo handed me his hand in bewilderment. I intertwined my fingers through his hand, which covered mine and more. Then I gathered the wavelength I had released and transmitted it through our joined hands.
“Ha, fucking……”
Then a suppressed curse burst out from beside me. Wondering what was happening, I tilted my head, and powerful force was transmitted through our joined hands. This was enough to say I was caught.
“If you weren’t a guy, I’d at least check the matching rate.”
On top of that, an insane remark.
“……I already have a pair though.”
“You think that’s a problem? You’re not even imprinted, just a pair, what of it.”
“The rumors are dirty too.”
“Yeah, I’m dirtier~.”
Truly befitting the Center Director’s treasured offspring.
“No, more than that, I said I won’t eat you?”
‘I only do it with women?!’ Hyun Yoonseo shouted angrily. It was truly an utterance so full it was bursting.
Unlike Espers, the number of Guides was woefully insufficient, and Espers were always thirsty for guiding. Although preferences could differ depending on wavelength and matching rate, there was no place for gender to come between that.
Whether my thoughts showed outwardly, he added with a snort.
“At my level, I can afford to be picky about this much. It’s not like I’m someone who doesn’t have a Guide with matching wavelength.”
While saying that, Hyun Yoonseo glanced up and down at me. I knew he was mentioning Do Ganghyun through me, but I didn’t needlessly acknowledge it. As if he hadn’t particularly wanted my reaction, he continued speaking.
“I have good backing called Grandpa, so do I need to change my sexual orientation that I’ve had since birth?”
It was a question with a predetermined answer from the start. Unlike Do Ganghyun, he wasn’t in a situation where he had to receive guiding only from a specific Guide, and he had backing strong enough to manipulate the computer system and brazenly barge into the common guiding room.
There wasn’t a single wrong word, but needless defiance arose.
‘I wish Do Ganghyun had also been like Esper Hyun Yoonseo……’
I wish he had said it was because I was a man.
My body flinched at the thought that suddenly came to mind. As my wavelength wavered accordingly, Hyun Yoonseo’s gaze lingered on me for a moment before disappearing.
Somehow, I felt like I might cry.
“……Then why did you look for Guide Myeong Eunha? There’s no one who doesn’t know you’re a man.”
An unexpectedly sullen voice came out.
But it wasn’t wrong. As much as I occupied the seat next to Do Ganghyun, the Republic of Korea’s only SS-rank Esper, my personal information was also disclosed to the public in detail. Not only gender, but face, age, family relations—all information was floating around. Even if they might not recognize my face right away, if they knew my name accurately, they couldn’t not know my gender.
“To piss off Do Ganghyun.”
“…Pardon?”
“It’s obvious. What the hell did he do to show precursor symptoms of rampage and get isolated when he has a perfectly fine Guide? Thanks to that, I was playing around overseas enjoying the good life when Grandpa suddenly nagged me to come back to Korea.”
“……”
“He even cut off my card, so I had no choice but to come back, and that bastard Do Ganghyun is walking around the streets perfectly fine? But Grandpa tells me not to even think about getting on a plane again. So I have no choice but to beat up the cause.”
I absolutely couldn’t find words to say.
Judging by his attitude, I also thought the Center Director might come out strong, but if he was helping with computer manipulation and letting him loose in the Center to this extent, such crackdown didn’t seem to be the reason for calling him back.
And coincidentally, there were events that occurred during the time he mentioned.
Do Ganghyun who was sticking with other Guides.
The dropped matching rate.
The secretly started clinical trial.
No matter how secret, it wasn’t something the Center Director couldn’t grasp. Since there were no meaningful results yet, it would be reasonable to have an S-rank Esper on standby just in case.
‘Still, I don’t think they’d ask an S-rank to stop an SS-rank Esper’s rampage.’
Whether he cherished his grandson or not, it was an impossible task.
Probably, rather than considering Esper Do Ganghyun’s rampage, there was a high possibility they were conscious of public opinion. The absence of the firmly holding SS-rank Esper was bound to cause anxiety. I thought it might be a measure to divert public attention by having him rotate through appropriately light Gate conquests and prevent future gossip. In reality, it would also reduce Do Ganghyun’s burden, so it would prevent rampage too.
‘Is the deadline until the clinical trial ends?’
I thought it would roughly match up.
However, I couldn’t convey this to Hyun Yoonseo. As mentioned earlier, the clinical trial was being conducted in utmost secrecy.
Still, there were words that must be conveyed.
“It’s useless.”
“What?”
“I said it’s useless. Although we’re a pair, Esper Do Ganghyun has absolutely no interest in me. Rather—”
He loathes me. I couldn’t bring myself to say the rest and lowered my head.
