For a moment, I wondered what the rest of his words he swallowed were.
“That’s right.”
However, Do Ganghyun, who had been running his tongue over the inside of his mouth, soon only showed a hollow laugh.
Before I knew it, the strength drained from his hand that had been holding me. Whether he had been supporting me quite firmly, my body lost balance and swayed. Do Ganghyun, who was watching my appearance without missing anything, covered his face with one hand as if incredulous.
“So that’s what it was.”
Then he disappeared from before my eyes in an instant. Just like when he first appeared, very quickly.
‘See, I told you I was right.’
I suddenly felt as if I could hear Esper Hyun Yoonseo’s confident laughter in my ear.
***
“Shit.”
Do Ganghyun spat out a low curse. He was currently in a state of great shock, and no matter how much he thought about it, no words came out of his mouth except curses at the truth that converged into one.
In fact, whenever he thought of Myeong Eunha, he always had nothing to say except curses like now. To that extent, the existence called Myeong Eunha was nothing but irritating things to him.
Not only the low rank of C-grade, but he couldn’t even hide his feelings for him in front of others, and showed his laughter carelessly. Despite being indecisive and caught up in rumors, working in the common guiding room using hospital bills as an excuse wasn’t enough, and now even the matching rate decline problem.
But all this irritation was—
“Ha, it’s not even funny.”
Because of himself who couldn’t control one heart. Isn’t that really not funny at all?
I, of all people, Myeong Eunha?
No matter how out of it he was, he was incredulous at himself for having such thoughts.
“Some useless thing appears and unnecessarily……”
This was all because of one damn loach that returned to the country recently. He was already in a sensitive state due to guiding side effects and matching rate decline problems from associating with clumsy ones, and he clearly got caught up in the scheme beautifully.
“It’s ridiculous.”
Right, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. It was just that Myeong Eunha was so rare, that despite how he looked, he was the only Guide who could guide him. That’s why. There was no other explanation.
“It’s really ridiculous.”
And it shouldn’t even exist.
With those words, Do Ganghyun hastened his steps. Not knowing that the excuses he lined up to hide one truth had grown this long, not even knowing what he was running away from.
Buzz buzz—.
As he hurried to leave the common guiding room, a low vibration rang from his pants pocket.
Do Ganghyun flinched like someone whose secret had been discovered. It was because that vibration seemed to be interrogating him for turning away from the truth.
However, when he soon realized it was simply a phone call, his tension deflated.
[Do Ganghui]
“Of all times to call……”
What fucking timing.
“What.”
Do Ganghyun answered the phone while sighing. Ignoring the call bothered him because of the aftermath that would come later given who the other person was, but answering the call wasn’t particularly appealing either.
—What do you mean what, I called to see how you’re doing. And couldn’t you be a bit warmer to your older sister who’s contacting you after a long time? Where would it hurt?
“Just the main point briefly.”
—Seriously, that temper of yours……
True to someone who adds ten words for every one word, Do Ganghui added interjections to every statement.
—You caused an incident. And quite a big one at that.
What was she talking about? Do Ganghyun glanced at the common guiding room building visible in the distance. Since there wasn’t just one or two incidents he’d caused recently, he couldn’t get a sense of what she was referring to.
‘I just caused another incident a moment ago.’
Surely she wasn’t talking about the incident he just caused. There was woefully insufficient time for news to spread. So there would be no need to mention this.
“Why is that.”
—Why? You’re asking why, now?!
“If you’re going to nag, I’m hanging up.”
—……Let’s try looking for a Guide overseas instead.
Just as he was about to hang up, an absurd proposal suddenly came through Do Ganghui’s mouth.
“Are you dreaming with your eyes open?”
Do Ganghyun gradually became irritated. He had no choice. The option of turning his eyes overseas was an option he had given up long ago.
If he left the condition of his home country, a Guide with matching wavelength might appear. So he even thought about emigrating and half carried it out. Since he had both the wealth and power to attempt it, there was no reason to hesitate. He hadn’t considered failure, and it was also a time when he didn’t think such a shitty reality would come.
However, his awakening rank grabbed him by the ankle. The rank of SS-rank Esper, the ninth in the world and the first to manifest in Korea, became a huge stumbling block.
There’s no idiot in the world who would just let go of someone who raises national power just by possessing them. While the whole world was watching, there was also no country that would accept an SS-rank Esper bearing the risk.
Non-SS-rank Esper possessing countries didn’t have the power to withstand other countries’ checks, and possessing countries didn’t particularly need to step forward ‘now.’ The one in need was none other than Do Ganghyun himself.
And taking advantage of this, the Center moved quickly. The result was this pathetic state as you can see.
‘But what? Overseas?!’
Do Ganghyun was beyond irritated and angry. His emotions boiled even more because it was someone who should know better saying this.
“You should only talk nonsense in moderation.”
—I’m not just saying this. A helper appeared.
“…A helper?”
—That’s right. This time is different from back then. Your Guide is also C-rank so the rank is low anyway. 10 years, or was it 11 years? You’ve endured enough.
10 years without a Guide, 1 year with Myeong Eunha.
Do Ganghui was evaluating all those periods collectively as a time Do Ganghyun had to endure. It wasn’t wrong, but Do Ganghyun somehow couldn’t easily say words of affirmation.
—Connect it with the recent incidents and accidents and say you can’t endure anymore. If you say guiding depletion, there’s sufficient justification too.
‘Public opinion won’t be a problem either.’ The words that followed greatly irritated Do Ganghyun.
So right now, wasn’t she saying to claim that even with Myeong Eunha present, his limits had come because the rank was low?
Particularly—
“……Isn’t that unnecessary?”
His mouth opened before he even finished thinking.
—What?
“No, I mean. If we’re going to leave anyway, we can just quietly go, so why drag in Myeong Eunha who’s staying still?”
—……Hey, Do Ganghyun.
“What.”
—Make your attitude clear. You said you were embarrassed and hated the C-rank Guide. That no matter how well it goes, the total amount of guiding is insufficient so it’s hard.
“……”
—That’s why you’ve been pulling all kinds of shit for the past year.
Do Ganghui harshly evaluated his attitude.
In reality, there were many hardships Myeong Eunha went through because of his stubborn attitude. No matter how low the rank, how could anyone treat the only Guide of an SS-rank Esper carelessly? It was all under Do Ganghyun’s tacit consent, because he was dismissible.
For the same reason, his family was the same. They weren’t openly hostile to Myeong Eunha like others, but they weren’t favorable either. They just never got involved at all as if following Do Ganghyun’s will. That included Do Ganghyun’s shitty behavior of playing around with Myeong Eunha.
It couldn’t be helped. For them, Do Ganghyun as family was the priority, and it was also true that Myeong Eunha’s rank was disappointing.
From the beginning, they had no intention of any intervention as long as Myeong Eunha’s guiding didn’t stop.
—Do you like him now?
But what was this supposed to mean?
Do Ganghui clutched her throbbing head.
This wouldn’t do. The helper who agreed to help them had clear desires and wasn’t someone who could cancel the deal with simple change of heart. If they were going to stop, they had to stop now.
“……Are you crazy?!”
At those words, Do Ganghyun jumped. He also felt strong resistance.
—Never mind then. Anyway, make your attitude clear. You’re a bit confused right now.
“What’s there to be confused about, really……”
‘What fucking nonsense……’ Low curses filled the space between the two. However, deep silence soon followed.
In that time, Do Ganghyun recalled Myeong Eunha smiling brightly while looking at him. Also the appearance of his body pressed against Esper Hyun Yoonseo.
For a moment, an unidentifiable emotion surged up, hitting his throat.
—Got it, so hand over your wavelength data by this week. You know what you need to do without me saying it, right?
That’s why it was. Why the answer came out easily.
“Yeah.”
That’s how Do Ganghyun gave his answer, not knowing his face had turned completely red.
***
It took quite a long time for the commotion to be settled. Even though it was a short clash that occurred in a small one-room space, since it was a battle between an SS-rank and S-rank Esper, the aftermath was large. Due to this incident, the common guiding room building lost its function, and there was much property damage including the destruction of ability control devices. It was fortunate there were no casualties.
“Did they say I have to exclusively handle Esper Do Ganghyun for the time being?”
At that moment, the Section Chief who approached nearby spoke to me. She had a complicated expression looking at the new workplace temporarily set up with containers on a nearby site. I followed her gaze and took in the deteriorated environment of the common guiding room.
