A reporter raised their voice and cut in.
“……”
“Is there absolutely no possibility that this incident occurred because Guide Myeong Eunha, a C-rank guide, provided insufficient guiding to Esper Do Ganghyun, who is SS-rank?”
“As I mentioned earlier, since I’ve been consistently managing him…”
‘Managing him…’ I repeated like a broken record, unable to continue.
Could I really say there was absolutely no ‘possibility’ to the reporter’s question?
I had managed his wavelength through continuous intimate relations with Do Ganghyun, but the guiding really might have been insufficient. He was always thirsty for guiding. The wavelength readings shown by machines might not be everything, and he might have been mentally struggling. After all, he ultimately couldn’t accept me, a C-rank.
In reality, all of these incidents had occurred because I, a C-rank, had tried to stand by his side in front of everyone. So perhaps the reporter’s question was correct in a way.
“Well, what I want to say is, so…”
As my thoughts reached that point, my eyes gradually began to redden. I knew that just showing tears in this situation would cause many misunderstandings and speculations to run wild, but there was no way to stop it.
“Tsk.”
In an instant, I heard Do Ganghyun clicking his tongue near my ear. I could tell without even facing him. That his patience had reached its limit.
“Worldwide, there are nine SS-rank espers in total including myself, and among them, not a single esper has a pair contract with a guide of the same rank. Moreover, for the past 10 years, I’ve been conducting gate strategies relying on medication without a pair guide. There were no particular incidents either. And you’re asking if I experienced guiding depletion when I have a pair guide?”
Do Ganghyun stared intently at the reporter who had asked the question.
“I can’t say the possibility is absolutely zero, but… the probability of getting struck by lightning while walking down the street would be higher.”
At words that were close to a warning not to talk nonsense, the hall fell silent for a moment.
After that, a fairly smooth interview continued. The reporters focused on filling their content with substance rather than inflating useless suspicions and offending the SS-rank esper’s mood.
So the focus shifted to Do Ganghyun rather than me.
Picture-perfect model answers continued in response to questions about difficulties in the recent gate strategy, what he would show in the future, achievements, and such. It was truly a sight befitting someone who had stood in front of cameras for over 10 years.
“I think this is sufficient, shall we wrap up?”
In the moderately relaxed atmosphere, Do Ganghyun rose to his feet. It meant they should be satisfied with this much accommodation and leave.
That applied to me as well, so I was awkwardly getting up when—
“It’s the second time!”
Suddenly, a shout was heard from far away from the podium.
Having risen awkwardly, I was startled and plopped back down into my chair, while Do Ganghyun, with his superior physical abilities, revealed his irritation with deeply furrowed brows.
“What?!”
“This is the second direct interpersonal accident caused by Esper Do Ganghyun’s abilities. At the time of manifestation, you caused an interpersonal accident against multiple classmates of the same grade, didn’t you?”
“……”
“At that time, you vowed that such a thing would never happen again, so how do you feel now?”
A question sharper than the one that had come at me earlier. And it was content that hadn’t been agreed upon in advance.
Naturally, there was no obligation to answer, and no need to engage. Although Do Ganghyun was particularly cooperative compared to other high-rank espers, that was only relatively speaking. In situations where lines were crossed, he fully displayed his personality without reserve, so I thought this time wouldn’t be much different. He should have definitely stormed out…
“……”
Do Ganghyun stood still and said nothing. If he had at least gotten angry saying it was rude, it would have been brushed off as nothing, but as the unnatural silence continued, a strange current flowed through the hall.
I unconsciously glanced to the side where Do Ganghyun was. Even so, he was standing while I was sitting, so I could only see around his waist at best.
However, I could see his hands trembling as he clenched his fists with all his strength. My gaze naturally moved from his hands to his arms, from his arms to his shoulders, from his shoulders to his face.
‘Huh?’
For a moment, I thought I’d seen wrong. Because Do Ganghyun’s face, which I’d managed to capture in my field of vision, was deathly pale. It was an expression I’d thought I would never see from him.
And I understood without difficulty what his face meant.
Fear.
That was fear.
Since my parents passed away, my grandmother received a terminal diagnosis, and I’d felt disdain from those around me for the past 3 months until recently, I couldn’t mistake it.
‘Why on earth…’
Unable to sort out my confused emotions, I looked around. From when we entered the interview venue until now, nothing had changed. Then that meant his abnormal reaction was solely because of the reporter’s ‘question.’
Fortunately, it seemed no one had noticed this situation yet. But it was only a matter of time. The more unstable his mental state became, the more his wavelength would become disturbed, and eventually it would show outwardly.
The reason I noticed so quickly was simply because I was next to him, because I was his pair guide, because for the past 4 years including the 1 year we spent together at the Center, I had only looked at him.
“My feelings, my feelings are…”
While I was at a loss for what to do, Do Ganghyun muttered as if talking to himself. It sounded eerily creepy.
An esper’s wavelength is naturally affected by its owner, the esper. Called a second emotional or sensory system, it was heavily influenced by emotions rather than reason, and also served to show psychological states. No matter how excellent an esper was at controlling their wavelength, they experienced difficulty with control when emotional upheaval occurred.
Sure enough, before long, his uncontrolled sharp wavelength began constricting my entire body. As my eyes squeezed shut, his disturbed breathing could be heard close by. I couldn’t tell whether it was because his breathing had become rough, or because his upper body had really tilted and reached my ear.
But at this rate, everyone would be in danger.
“Esper Do Ganghyun! Please answer!”
“What, is he not feeling well?”
“Something seems wrong.”
“How did you feel when you faced your collapsed pair guide? Please comment!”
Whether they knew my feelings or not, the reporters took advantage of the strange atmosphere and poured out sharp questions again. Those who were quick-witted murmured and assessed the current, but most were pressing their shutters thinking of an exclusive.
It was because there was quite a distance between the seats where the reporters sat and the podium.
‘Ah, no…!’
I snapped open my tightly closed eyes and looked straight ahead. It was hard to open my eyes due to the flashes bursting in time with the shutter sounds, but I gritted my teeth and endured.
Right now, when they felt something strange but couldn’t yet know since they were ordinary people. Right now, I had to handle the situation.
‘If the problem is the question asking about feelings at the time of the incident, then perhaps—’
And so I opened my mouth toward the reporters. While carefully grasping Do Ganghyun’s hand beside me and flowing guiding into him.
***
‘Damn it.’
Do Ganghyun’s current mood was very poor. No, even long before that, his mood had hit rock bottom. It was a familiar feeling. It had always been like this since manifesting as an esper.
The 10 years without a pair guide, the 1 year since meeting Myeong Eunha. A total of 11 years had been unsatisfactory. Recently, it was even worse because he hadn’t even received proper guiding. He was on edge, and everything was irritating.
Nevertheless, the reason he showed his face on camera like this was only one.
Public opinion.
Because they held the knife handle that even an esper’s abilities couldn’t stop. If he let his guard down even a little, they would clamor so noisily, biting and hanging onto people at any time, giving him grief.
So Myeong Eunha sitting beside him, unable to answer properly, was nothing but grating.
“Do it properly.”
The brief encounter at the lodging this morning—even that was only guiding in appearance, but his physical condition had improved, so he’d stopped at just this much scolding.
“Well, what I want to say is, so…”
But as expected, Myeong Eunha was Myeong Eunha. What kind of answer could he give while trembling like that?
“Tsk.”
Ganghyun clicked his tongue lowly.
He’d stayed quiet because it looked better for Myeong Eunha, the victim, to come forward directly, but having this frozen appearance spread wasn’t good. The people before him weren’t ordinary people but ‘reporters.’ If they saw an opening, they would immediately put him on the guillotine and drop the blade. He’d experienced it enough to make his teeth grind, so there was no need to doubt.
‘Can’t even do this one thing properly.’
So even to avoid experiencing the same thing as in the past, he had to step forward himself.
Moreover, Myeong Eunha, who had been trembling from earlier and whose guiding wavelength had become unstable, was no small concern. Right now, when guiding occurred unintentionally just by being nearby due to their high matching rate, he found himself irritating for not being able to ignore Myeong Eunha’s state.
Eventually, after glancing to the side several times, Ganghyun belatedly opened his mouth. Perhaps because of his experience standing in front of cameras, not having a script wasn’t a problem.
