Even having come to this point, the fact that I’d disturbed Do Ganghyun’s mood kept bothering me. I thought my situation was pathetic, but there was no time to reflect on and evaluate myself like this.
“I knew someone was there!”
I could hear words shouted like a scream penetrating the excellent soundproofing.
If I hesitated like this, Do Ganghyun, feeling that my presence hadn’t disappeared, would surely come out and chase me away. Based on the Guide’s words, it seemed he hadn’t realized who I was yet, so it was right to leave before things got more miserable.
What am I going to do by avoiding this place right now? He’ll figure it out soon anyway.
The only ones who could open the door lock of an assigned room in the Guide dormitory were either the pair Esper or the person themselves. Even if the door had been open, it meant the visitors were predetermined. Since the Esper side was kissing in that same location, he would soon realize that I had visited.
When my thoughts reached that point, my steps crossing the corridor gradually slowed and tears suddenly welled up. The problem was that my current position didn’t allow me to show tears just anywhere.
The modifiers describing my position within the Center were varied.
The one who, as a C-rank Guide, occupied the seat next to the Republic of Korea’s first SS-rank Esper Do Ganghyun, thereby giving him ‘another first.’ An existence like a foreign substance that couldn’t properly fit in even among fellow Guides. A freeloader who manifested at a late age and thus lacked even common sense of the field…
Recently, the modifier ‘parasite’ who clung to Do Ganghyun to cover Grandmother’s hospital bills had been added, so I needed to be careful with my behavior. If I displayed sadness, I’d receive uncomfortable looks saying I got caught rather than concern. I needed to at least get out of the dormitory.
So that’s why everyone looked at me like that.
Hadn’t I been receiving strange looks since entering the building?
They already knew. The sight of a Guide letting an Esper into the Guide dormitory, where Espers couldn’t freely enter without special reason. And that the person who appeared following that touch was Do Ganghyun.
They probably didn’t know the two people’s meeting was taking place in my room, but if I caused a commotion here, everyone would find out. I hated that more than anything.
As soon as my thoughts were roughly organized, I quickly moved my legs. Even while escaping the dormitory building and roaming throughout the entire Guide building, I didn’t know where I was moving. I could only feel that I was getting farther from the dormitory.
Before long, as presences disappeared one by one, the tears I’d been holding back by straining my eyes even as my vision blurred finally flowed down. My cheeks became wet in an instant, and sobbing filled the surroundings.
Just as tears were about to pour out like that,
“This place is…”
My current location came into view.
It’s the smoking room.
It was the smoking room located inside the Guide building.
Most Guides stayed away from cigarettes for the sake of Espers with sensitive senses, so it was a place with virtually no actual users. A place that existed for a truly small number of smokers. At the same time, it was also a place that reminded me of my first meeting with Do Ganghyun before I manifested as a Guide.
Now I can’t even properly convey that first meeting.
The place I’d run and run to escape Do Ganghyun ended up being a place that brought to mind memories with him. An even greater sense of injustice came over me.
So, that’s why, all the more, that place is one that shouldn’t be touched…
I sat down with ragged breaths.
Although Do Ganghyun had said harsh words to me when we were first matched, he hadn’t shown this attitude from the beginning. Regardless of rank, Do Ganghyun was an Esper suffering from severe guiding depletion, and I was the only Guide who could alleviate it.
This is that C-rank?
Those words he’d spat out then must have been anxiety stemming from my rank. I understood it that way. The Guide who appeared after 10 years being C-rank would have brought more emptiness than joy.
In fact, Do Ganghyun, who had firmly rejected me, appeared secretly by visiting the Guide dormitory not long after. It was two weeks after we’d formed the pair contract.
Ding!
[Unlocked.]
I noticed the intrusion thanks to the signal sound of the door lock being released. I wondered if it could be called an intrusion given that he’d boldly entered through the front door, but since I’d encountered him in a place I’d thought only I would enter and exit for my entire life, I interpreted his unfamiliar visit as an intrusion.
Do Ganghyun naturally leaned against the entrance wall and just gazed at me quietly. His attitude was as if he was deciding how to deal with prey placed before his eyes. It felt even more so because his angry muscles were visible above his combat uniform.
Whether it was right after conquering a Gate, traces of ability use were visible on him—his disheveled wavelength and eyes were the evidence. His reddish-brown eyes with gold mixed between the irises gleamed brightly, and the raw, unfiltered wavelength made my vision ripple.
When I momentarily lost my words and quietly looked at him, the sensor lights, tired of the long wait, lost their glow.
Esper Do Ganghyun?
What’s with that awkward and tacky way of addressing me.
Ah, I’m sorry…
I hurriedly lowered my head. Then his toes, which shouldn’t have been visible at the end of my gaze, came into view.
He’d escaped the entrance in an instant and positioned himself right in front of my nose.
Are all SS-ranks like this?
Whether in appearance or ability. That pointless thought occurred to me.
However, I belatedly realized that the place he’d come to find me was the Guide building, and moreover, the dormitory famous for its thorough security. However, to point this out now, he seemed too natural positioned in that place.
Um… excuse me, but what brings you all the way here—
Even as I opened my mouth, I thought ‘no way.’ However, because of a slim possibility of ‘what if,’ it was hard to give up hope. My heart had already started pounding noisily.
There’s only one reason an Esper would come to see a Guide, what else could it be.
…
By the way, your heartbeat is noisy, isn’t it?
The conversation ended there.
Do Ganghyun skillfully thrust his leg between my thighs and pressed firmly against my center. Naturally, my spine straightened stiffly and an excited moan flowed out. However, even this soon disappeared, consumed by our pressed lips.
Even when I lifted my heels to avoid the stimulation, it was useless. Just standing on tiptoes couldn’t overcome the natural height difference, and Do Ganghyun didn’t allow it either.
Despite having memorized the guiding textbook word for word, a Guide facing an Esper in actual practice was utterly powerless. When my breath became labored and my consciousness blurred or my concentration broke, guiding would often stop, and only then would Do Ganghyun stop his pursuit and give me room to breathe. The sight of his furrowed brow caught in my vision as I gasped for breath couldn’t have made me happier.
I don’t know for what reason, on that day, in that place, Do Ganghyun came to find me. Only the memory exists of how his energy was desolate like a parched desert, to the point where not a single sprout could emerge, and how I felt sorry for him.
And starting from that day, Do Ganghyun occasionally came to find me secretly like that, avoiding people’s eyes.
For well over a year and three months.
Once, I asked Do Ganghyun. Why we had to have such secret meetings. I said that if necessary, we could cohabit with the Center’s support, and if he didn’t want that, I would visit his exclusive guiding room.
Around this time, talk of us being a showwindow pair was going around, so I wanted to reveal my relationship with him in front of everyone.
I have many eyes following me for various reasons. Even without doing anything particular, my position as an SS-rank Esper makes it so. Among them are those desperate to grasp my weakness.
Are you saying I’m your weakness, Esper?
To be precise, your safety would become my weakness. I’d have no choice but to hand over the leash. If it becomes known to the world that we’re close, something unbearable will happen. Do you understand what I mean?
That was the answer I heard then. Cold and indifferent enough to cool the heat that had been rising.
But I could fully understand. What Guide would oppose when he said he’d keep his distance to protect me with my low rank?
Moreover, he did his best for me every moment. Every time he visited the Guide dormitory, he brought priceless gifts and expressed his affection toward his Guide with tender words. He took it for granted to share the day’s events before sleeping. Above all, weren’t we already bound as a pair? I had no choice but to trust him.
Thus, the meeting that began in late winter, past the New Year, continued until spring of the following year.
It was enough time for warm winds to enter my heart and for love to sprout. Since the seed had already been planted before I manifested as a Guide, perhaps it was a foreseen matter.
Above all, wasn’t it Do Ganghyun himself who provided quality sunlight and water to the land where the seed was planted? So I believed without doubt that we felt the same way about each other.
Going out to meet him would be okay, wouldn’t it?
That misconception rashly made me move my steps.
