Since guiding was premised on physical contact, a bed was also prepared on one wall of the research lab, and Do Ganghyun sat at the head of the bed like someone with nothing to worry about, leaning comfortably against the wall.
However, knowing his fastidious personality, I keenly noticed from his sitting posture where the boundaries permitted to me were.
I bent my waist to bring my body closer, but aside from our breaths drawing near, there was no contact. Despite the uncomfortable position, this was exactly how far we could go—where even placing a hand on his shoulder wasn’t allowed.
I left my throbbing heart behind and steadied my breathing once. Then I very slowly pressed my lips together. I didn’t know when I had closed my eyes. I was just busy controlling my wavelength for the guiding that was about to begin. So it wouldn’t become turbulent following my heart, so it would maximize efficiency in a short time.
So I should slowly part my lips—.
‘…Hm?’
Was it because I hesitated too much? Do Ganghyun’s lips that were touching mine didn’t open.
While worrying about what mistake I had made, I simultaneously tried to lick his lips with my tongue and wedge my way in through the gap. It was an unconscious action.
For a moment, his body seemed to stiffen, but my bewilderment was too great to notice this. However, despite such efforts, his lips never opened in the end. The frustration hadn’t faded, so I opened my eyes with furrowed brows.
“—!”
Then I locked eyes with Do Ganghyun, who was looking up at me from right in front of my nose. Literally right in front of my nose.
‘Since when exactly?’
I really wondered since when he had been watching me with his eyes open.
However, it wasn’t easy to convey that question since I was holding his lips in my mouth. To make matters worse, I tensed my jaw from being startled.
Crunch!
Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I squeezed my eyes shut. Following this, I seemed to bite down even more strongly on Do Ganghyun’s lips in my mouth.
The fishy scent of blood brushed past the tip of my nose, and my body that lost balance ended up bracing against his shoulder.
Thud, Do Ganghyun’s body fell backward helplessly.
I was startled and quickly pulled my lips away and straightened up. I spread both hands wide and desperately claimed it wasn’t intentional.
“I’m sorry! I was surprised, I was surprised. It really wasn’t intentional…!”
The next words couldn’t continue.
As if he had been waiting for this moment, Do Ganghyun suddenly pressed his body close, cupped my cheeks, and kissed me roughly.
The fishy metallic taste and saliva mixed in my mouth, adding to the confusion.
Thump-thump.
The loud sound of my heart no longer bothered me. No, I didn’t have time to worry about it.
Our closely facing gazes, the bloodstains spreading on both his and my face, the sensation of tracing over even teeth, our synchronizing breaths.
With a start so different from usual, I had a strange intuition that this time I might be able to quench his long thirst.
Soon, when I slowly closed my eyes and focused on the flowing wavelength.
Beep—!
A short mechanical sound rang out, and the black lines attached to our bodies lost power and fell off. And the red numbers I belatedly encountered.
[Matching Rate 82%]
It was the end of the grueling clinical experiments, the moment when meaningful results emerged.
***
“How about adjusting the contract period?”
The Research Director suddenly proposed. He was in an extremely excited state, but seemed to barely be holding onto his reason as he continued speaking.
Yet the fact that he made this proposal in a place where Do Ganghyun was absent felt somehow spiteful. It was even more so because I sensed a hidden agenda.
‘He must think Do Ganghyun is difficult to handle.’
This time I truly hardened my expression.
The period specified in the contract was clearly until the matching rate recovered. I didn’t know at the time, but hoping for complete recovery of the matching rate in a ‘clinical experiment’ rather than it rising by a certain amount was actually absurd. Nevertheless, since we had achieved this, there was no need to continue the contract any longer. There might be side effects I hadn’t thought of.
Of course, when the contract was made, it was no different from having no choice. But now the situation had changed, so I needed to take a strong stance.
No matter how safe they said it was, I had clearly experienced side effects. I fell into the past and wandered around looking for places to reminisce about memories, my rational judgment toward Do Ganghyun became blurred, and I dreamed of being with him every night. It meant I had properly judged that going further than this was dangerous.
“Guide Myeong Eunha may not know, but this experiment has surpassed the level that can be called a success. No, it should be correct to say it’s a process toward great success. The experiment isn’t finished yet, so do you think it’s right to terminate the contract like this?!”
‘At this rate, we can produce results that will turn the world upside down!’ In the end, the Research Director let out a sound like a scream. Completely forgetting the fact that such achievements couldn’t possibly be important to me.
“The contract period was clearly until the matching rate recovered.”
I asserted there would be no more experiments.
The Research Director, who belatedly read my signs, made a coldly cooled face. It was a face that already felt tired at the thought of having to persuade this foolish and ignorant person.
“Anyway, Guide Myeong Eunha isn’t in a position to worry, is he?”
And that mindset showed in his attitude.
“Position?”
“The medicine, you still need it, right? I know you haven’t even heard your grandmother’s voice yet.”
“…The condition for participating in the clinical experiment was that you would support the new drug needed for my grandmother!”
I shouted urgently. I could say with certainty this was the first time I had raised my voice argumentatively like this.
At this, the Research Director showed an interested expression, but soon opened his mouth with a sneer.
“We agreed to support only during the contract period.”
“There was no such—”
“There was no mention of supporting even after the contract ends. Normally in such cases, we only need to fulfill it during the contract period.”
I was at a loss for words. I could know without having to look in a mirror. That my face must have turned white.
In my head, my grandmother’s smiling face and the image of her lying like dead in bed alternately came to mind. I felt like the ground beneath my feet was caving in. I thought for the first time I had obtained what I wanted by throwing my whole body into it, but even that wasn’t complete.
‘Embarrassing.’
I was ashamed and humiliated at myself for signing without even confirming something like this. It was even more so because if I tried to argue right and wrong, I was in a position where I wouldn’t even recover my principal.
“Think carefully. The medicine isn’t the only thing you’ll gain.”
“……”
“If we continue the experiment like this, the matching rate might exceed 90%. At 90%, it’s a number where theoretically, natural imprinting wouldn’t be strange. A C-grade Guide imprinting with an SS-grade Esper, don’t you understand what this means?”
The Research Director lowered his voice secretly, as if throwing excellent bait.
However, the word itself was more concerning than that.
Imprinting.
It was a possibility I had thought of the moment I matched with Do Ganghyun, and just a few months ago, it was also something I dreamed of while spending nights with him. But it was a feeling I abandoned the moment I realized that all those nights were actually just me dreaming of the future alone.
Now I know. Do Ganghyun, who shudders at just the pair relationship, wouldn’t be able to endure this. The proof of that was right now, this moment—’Do Ganghyun’s absence’ from this place.
‘Of all times……’
Rather than being happy at seeing numbers that went beyond recovery and exceeded the existing matching rate, he showed an expression of dismay. Then he jumped up from his seat before I could even ask what the problem was.
‘Would it be too much of a leap to say he looked like he had a headache because things weren’t going as planned?’
Perhaps he wanted to terminate the pair contract with me on this occasion.
Imprinting with such a Do Ganghyun?
That was like a poisoned chalice. A seat next to an SS-grade Esper that anyone would covet, but a seat that was only glossy on the outside.
Above all, imprinting was done through imprinting drugs. Natural imprinting was literally a concept that only existed in theory.
In the end, it meant the Research Director’s words were nothing but a beautiful but useless apricot. Used only to persuade me right now and then ending there.
‘He really looked down on me properly.’
To the extent that he thought I would move with just this much.
Beyond humiliation, I felt drained. It couldn’t be helped. In the Research Director’s eyes, I appeared ignorant enough to fall for this. When the other person saw me as only that level from the start, there was no reason to be humiliated about having my level exposed.
On top of that, thinking that I heard all these words because I couldn’t control my one feeling toward Do Ganghyun made me feel hollow.
I wondered if my emotions were that nakedly exposed, enough to be exploited this blatantly, but the biggest thought was……
‘Is it that unreasonable, for a C-grade Guide and an SS-grade Esper to be connected……’
I was gauging the possibility between Do Ganghyun and me.
This was because the Research Director’s words sounded like mockery. No, it actually must have been mockery.
‘I was someone who harbored feelings so excessive that I deserved to receive such mockery.’
Only now did reality seem to come into proper focus.
Belatedly, I thought I absolutely must not extend the contract. My grandmother’s treatment weighed on my mind, but the medicine had been useless all along anyway. Since it was only a temporary measure, and if she couldn’t even open her eyes, there was no need to cling to it while throwing away body and mind. Grandmother wouldn’t want that either.
