Yoon Kihyun blinked a little slower than usual.
White steam was rising from the mug. He blankly stared at the steam scattering here and there in the lunchtime sunlight pouring through a window on one side of the cafe, then calmly gathered his composure.
“Why are you curious about that?”
“Ah, I don’t mean it in a bad way—I was just wondering if I could be added to Kihyun-ssi’s options.”
As Yoon Kihyun had guessed, Seo Igyeong wanted to hire him as a personal guide. That’s why he was making this proposal now while Jung Sijun was away.
Seo Igyeong’s proposal was clearly made with high regard for Yoon Kihyun’s guiding skills, but the timing was inappropriate.
It had only been a week since Yoon Kihyun had re-registered at the center as Jung Sijun’s guide.
Even if Seo Igyeong offered better conditions than Jung Sijun, Yoon Kihyun’s reputation for accepting that proposal would probably be even more miserable than it was now. Yoon Kihyun didn’t want that.
The stories he already heard just from coming and going to the center as Jung Sijun’s personal guide were accumulating subtle stress. He’d decided to not show it and not care as much as possible, but people’s hearts don’t move that easily.
Sometimes he wanted to stand in the middle of the center’s hallway and shout about what he’d done so wrong.
He wanted to get angry, asking if those whispering behind his back would take responsibility for his loans and medication costs, why they had so much interest in other people’s business.
But he just didn’t. Because Yoon Kihyun knew better than anyone what would happen after that.
“As Kihyun-ssi well knows, Team Leader Jung’s language is a bit aggressive, isn’t it? I’m a little concerned, and I also want Kihyun-ssi’s guiding no less than Team Leader Jung…”
“Team Leader Seo Igyeong.”
Yoon Kihyun cut off the sophistry Seo Igyeong was laying out in a gentle tone and met his eyes. Whether the pigment was a bit light, Seo Igyeong’s eyes in the sunlight were a clear brown.
Looking only at his outward appearance, the expression “gentle” suited him, but unlike his exterior, there was something sinister about his insides. He was definitely a different type of person from Jung Sijun, whose inside and outside seemed the same.
“I understand what you’re proposing, but I have no intention of doing that.”
Yoon Kihyun politely declined Seo Igyeong’s proposal. He had no intention of even listening to the conditions.
If he had to say, he wanted to keep faith with the contract he’d made with Jung Sijun first. Without Jung Sijun’s proposal, he’d probably be executing his suicide plan right about now.
Whatever the past, he was at least aware that Jung Sijun’s proposal had made him dream of a future again and renewed his will to live. Dealing with Jung Sijun was still awkward. Sometimes it was bothersome.
But if asked whether he despised or disliked him as before, enough to want to cancel the contract before even a month had passed since signing the contract… that wasn’t it either.
Part of why he’d disliked Jung Sijun was his freewheeling attitude of doing as he pleased and his vulgar manner of speaking, but also because he’d heard that he was the first to coin the derogatory nickname that circulated around the Awakened Center.
However, after living with Jung Sijun’s explanation and judging directly, he’d reached the point of determining that story was likely distorted.
Moreover, considering the monthly salary he offered, the settlement money he deposited from time to time, and even the gradually improving change in his manner of speaking, Jung Sijun might be awkward but wasn’t hateful.
Should he say it felt like he’d gained an immature younger brother since the kid kept chattering away? If he had to divide between liking and disliking, it was like that.
“You’re refusing without even hearing the conditions?”
Seo Igyeong laughed awkwardly as if Yoon Kihyun’s straightforward refusal was unexpected.
Yoon Kihyun hesitated for a moment. Regardless of his intuition that even if he heard the conditions they probably wouldn’t be better than Jung Sijun’s proposal, it felt slimy, like giving a clue that would reveal his annual salary.
When Yoon Kihyun made an expression showing he wasn’t very willing, Seo Igyeong sluggishly continued.
“I’m a bit curious about just how good Team Leader Jung’s conditions are for you to be like this.”
He had absolutely no intention of blabbing about the conditions Jung Sijun proposed here. Yoon Kihyun looked down at the mug, which hadn’t decreased at all since he’d only moistened his lips a little. He had to choose his words on how to respond.
Whether he liked it or not, he’d be seeing Seo Igyeong’s face coming and going to the center, so he didn’t want to create a situation where they’d be at odds. But he couldn’t quite erase the impression that just by making this proposal, he was looking down on him to some degree.
“That’s something difficult for me to tell you.”
“Ah, this isn’t easy. I was in a rush because I want Kihyun-ssi so badly.”
Seo Igyeong obediently backed down a step and smiled softly. But Yoon Kihyun’s expression showed no signs of softening.
Ignoring a few glances directed his way, he slowly leaned his upper body forward. It was when Seo Igyeong’s cologne smell mixed beyond the faintly rising chamomile scent.
“In the guiding room, if Team Leader Jung happens to act rudely or anything…”
At the way he oddly dragged out his words, Yoon Kihyun stared at Seo Igyeong’s face.
Seo Igyeong still had that good-natured-looking face. Wasn’t it a face that looked too kind for someone arbitrarily making assumptions about another’s guiding room situation?
At that subtle and unpleasant sense of discrepancy, Yoon Kihyun slowly opened his mouth.
“Since when were Seo Igyeong-ssi and I on terms to easily open up and talk about things like this?”
“…”
“As far as I feel, we weren’t at all.”
“…Ah.”
“This conversation is unpleasant. I hope you won’t come looking for me with this kind of business in the future. I’ll get up first.”
Yoon Kihyun immediately stood up from his seat and bowed his head to Seo Igyeong, who was looking up at his face with a dazed expression.
“The tea you bought me was good.”
At the courteous greeting, Seo Igyeong let out a small laugh and looked at the back of Yoon Kihyun’s head as he moved away without regret.
Then he turned his head to check the mug Yoon Kihyun’s hand had touched. Contrary to saying he’d enjoyed it, the drink was still full in the mug.
Ah, this makes me feel competitive too.
Seo Igyeong buried his back in the sofa. Getting firmly rejected actually made things clearer.
Certainly, Yoon Kihyun was too valuable a talent to give up like this. There wouldn’t be many people who could replace his excellent guiding ability and handsome appearance.
Lost in thought with his arms crossed, he lightly tapped his forearm with his index finger and recalled Yoon Kihyun’s face looking up at him.
The gaze that had looked at him coldly gave him an indescribable feeling. It was like receiving guiding from just an eye contact alone.
***
Doesn’t the Awakened Center give bonus points to people who are rude or crazy? Otherwise, how could everyone with some rank have something wrong with them like that?
Yoon Kihyun headed to the guiding room while mulling over his irritated impression. The time remaining was awkwardly too much to head to the Chinese restaurant Jung Sijun had reserved.
When he’d left the guiding room earlier, he’d expected that if he finished his conversation with Seo Igyeong and then moved, the timing would work out. But because he’d flatly rejected Seo Igyeong’s rude proposal and come out, he had time to kill.
While returning to the guiding room, judging that he needed to calm his mind before eating to avoid getting sick, his eyes met with a few people glancing at him.
They didn’t have the courage to openly approach and ask what he’d talked about with Team Leader Seo Igyeong, but those sticky gazes staring slyly with faces that made no effort to hide their curiosity.
What the hell is wrong with these bastards? When you awaken as an Esper, does your brain go a bit crazy?
Even closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Seo Igyeong’s face gradually rose above the pitch-black void. That greasy face grinning as if a screw was loose somewhere.
The more he mulled over the short conversation with Seo Igyeong, the more his mood sank into the mud.
Because he couldn’t quite shake off the feeling of being looked down on. He’d thought at most he might be relaying a proposal on behalf of the Guide Headquarters Director to test his return to the center.
But to think he’d make a proposal that seemed to urge contract termination, not satisfied with just making assumptions about his situation under the pretense of being concerned about him.
What the hell does he see people as…
Aside from the words and actions arbitrarily guessing at the guiding room situation, Seo Igyeong gave off a somehow creepy feeling. He wasn’t the type to usually trust his intuition blindly, but he felt an unknown sense from Seo Igyeong.
Even if his years of service at the Awakened Management Center were relatively short, he prided himself on having experienced most things worth and not worth seeing. His intuition toward Espers was also generally not wrong.
That intuition was giving him a hint. That working with Seo Igyeong wasn’t a good choice.
Such a headache.
The headache that had been a bit calm for the past few days was starting again. Around the time Yoon Kihyun was catching his breath with his forearm covering his eyes, the guiding room door burst open. There was only one guy who flung that door open like that.
“Why aren’t you checking your messages?”
Yoon Kihyun glanced at Jung Sijun, who was nagging as soon as he entered, and slowly checked his phone.
He didn’t know what kind of amazing message he’d sent to make such a fuss. On the phone he unlocked and checked, a bunch of messages Jung Sijun had sent had arrived at intervals of a few minutes.
One after finishing the gate attack, another saying he was moving, another asking if he’d gone to the restaurant first.
Anyway, the messages reporting and asking about all kinds of situations felt noisy. Even though they weren’t voice messages.
Come to think of it, when had the messages arrived? He hadn’t turned on the notification sound, but the vibration must have gone off—had he fallen asleep for a moment without noticing?
…Ah, is it because I was stressed out by that Seo Igyeong bastard just now?
Yoon Kihyun decided to blame it on Seo Igyeong. Then he suddenly stared intently at Jung Sijun’s face. The longer his gaze lingered on his face, the more Jung Sijun’s face twitched oddly.
“Wh-what is it?”
The face stammering and flustered unlike usual looked quite cute. It was the exact opposite reaction from the greasy, smirking face with different insides and outsides from just before.
Inside and outside the same, honest and rude.
I’d rather guide this guy than guide Seo Igyeong.
Yoon Kihyun thought that and looked at Jung Sijun’s dazed face a bit longer. Unlike before when looking for long irritated him, strangely, right now it seemed like peace of mind was coming.
