“Ah, you scared me.”
Yoon Kihyun shrank his shoulders and turned to look at Jung Sijun. The guy who had stuck close behind Yoon Kihyun’s back with his head lowered grinned.
“Were you surprised?”
“Of course I’m surprised when you suddenly talk to me from behind.”
“I didn’t know you’d be this surprised, sorry. But anyway, what did you two talk about?”
In the midst of trying to answer that it was nothing much, the elevator arrived at the lobby. People who’d been completely focused on this side couldn’t delay going to work either, so they sluggishly headed to the elevator.
Seo Igyeong did too. Whether he didn’t want to have a long conversation with Jung Sijun, even when his eyes met Jung Sijun’s, he just shrugged his shoulders.
Jung Sijun also stood stuck close to Yoon Kihyun’s side as if he hadn’t expected an answer from Seo Igyeong. Still, his eyes glaring fiercely at Seo Igyeong remained the same, as if he couldn’t let his guard down.
As soon as they arrived at the guiding room, Jung Sijun started chattering.
“Did you talk with Team Leader Seo Igyeong for long?”
“No. He just apologized for making that scouting proposal. I didn’t respond with nice words back then either, so we ended it appropriately.”
“What was that about the Guide Headquarters Director?”
Jung Sijun asked while taking off his coat. He must not have heard the entire conversation, but he must have been nearby when the Guide Headquarters Director was mentioned.
“Just what you heard. All he did was ask me to pass along his regards. Apparently Team Leader Seo had a meal with him yesterday.”
The Guide Headquarters Director. Jung Sijun’s eyes narrowed.
He was a guy who was constantly watching for any opportunity to somehow get Yoon Kihyun reinstated at the center.
Every time they met at meetings, he’d been busy holding back fists that kept wanting to fly out while he spouted nonsense like asking for Yoon Kihyun’s phone number or asking if he could arrange a meal together.
When it seemed like it wouldn’t work on him, he might have subtly told Seo Igyeong to probe.
“Want to commute together from now on?”
At Jung Sijun’s proposal, Yoon Kihyun just blinked his eyes.
How would they commute together? Was he suggesting carpooling?
“There might be more guys pestering you in the lobby than you think. If you’re with me, it’ll be less, won’t it?”
“Would it… really be that bad?”
Actually, he did frequently hear whispering sounds in the lobby. That was only for a day or two though. Hearing similar sounds every time, it had become a bit boring now. It felt like listening to an infinite repeat playlist with a fixed pattern.
“If it’s bad, tell me. I’ll stand right next to you and keep watch.”
Just because Jung Sijun was standing next to him, was there any guarantee those who would whisper wouldn’t do so?
Yoon Kihyun fell into thought while pouring hot water into citron tea.
Certainly, today the murmuring voices had decreased quite a bit as soon as Jung Sijun arrived. Had it been because they were watching Jung Sijun’s reactions?
Well, he was someone who lived as he pleased without minding even the higher-ups at the center, so having him standing there might be effective. But it wasn’t to the extent that he wanted to commute together every day.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t just keep thinking about it all the time. From what I see, Yoon Kihyun-ssi thinks too much.”
His grumbling was quite blatant, as if Seo Igyeong really didn’t sit well with him.
For the relationship between the only two S-rank Espers at headquarters to be like that. Somehow the center seemed to be running without the two of them fighting each other.
Yoon Kihyun, who had been mulling over the short conversation with Seo Igyeong, recalled the face that had honestly admitted his fault.
He hadn’t thought that Seo Igyeong would apologize to him. No, honestly, he hadn’t even hoped for an apology. Because it had ended with a conversation where both were slightly rude to each other.
Even so, it was unexpected that he’d offered an apology first.
It was refreshing that of all people, an S-rank Esper, who was no different from being in a position of power at the Awakened Management Center, had done so. Though it was still a bit unsettling not knowing his true feelings.
“But Team Leader Seo was more unexpected than I thought.”
“Unexpected?”
When Yoon Kihyun muttered while pulling out the spoon that had been stirring the citron tea with a clinking sound, Jung Sijun’s eyes widened.
“People who cleanly admit they made a mistake aren’t common, you know.”
When you’re a newbie, you live with “I’m sorry” at the end of every sentence like a fixed template, but once you rise to a certain rank and gain seniority, doesn’t it disappear subtly?
Moreover, getting Espers with a strong sense of privilege to acknowledge their wrongs and apologize was even harder. It wasn’t for nothing that Yoon Kihyun had left alone the strange nickname attached to him when he worked at the center.
At that time, he didn’t have the energy for it, but it was also because he’d given up knowing the physiology of how the Awakened Management Center operated.
There was a clear hierarchy between Espers and Guides.
Espers were destined to inevitably die someday without a Guide’s guiding. Nevertheless, they stood above Guides. Because only Espers could attack gates.
Espers would die someday if they didn’t receive guiding, but they wouldn’t die immediately. However, if Espers didn’t attack gates, Guides and non-Awakened people would die immediately.
Whether the Espers’ characters were ruined or not, if they didn’t risk their lives going to gates, people would die either way.
Since even the unit count of people dying differed vastly, it was natural to treat Espers better than Guides.
He thought it would have been nice if Guides’ treatment improved a bit more, but…
It’s not something I can do anything about alone.
Anyway, he couldn’t deny that just the fact that Seo Igyeong plainly admitted his fault made him seem like a decent person.
Moreover, he’d learned through the guy in front of him that you can’t judge a person with just a few short words of conversation. Though he was still a guy with a rough mouth who lived as he pleased.
“Huh, not common? There’s one right here. Didn’t I cleanly admit things? Huh?”
As he strode over and thrust his face forward, Yoon Kihyun subtly stepped back.
“You could just say it, why do you have to thrust your face forward?”
“Because you keep acting like you’re looking elsewhere! You promised me. That you’d keep your loyalty for the most part.”
“If someone saw this, they’d think I said I was going to Team Leader Seo Igyeong. We just exchanged a few words, why are you like this?”
It wasn’t just a day or two that Jung Sijun acted like this, but today in particular he was making a fuss badly. At this rate, he might really say he’d receive guiding outside.
Meeting outside would be a bit…
Since he was a guy who was constantly scheming to get close to him, if they met outside, there was a possibility the guiding schedule could degenerate into a date.
As soon as Yoon Kihyun sat on the sofa, Jung Sijun quickly seized the seat next to him and began whining in earnest.
“It’s because I’m anxious. That Guide Headquarters Director ahjussi is going around with his eyes wide open trying to bring Yoon Kihyun-ssi back to the center right now.”
Jung Sijun narrowed his eyes and scrunched his face as if imitating someone. It oddly resembled the Guide Headquarters Director, so a chuckle escaped.
“Why would I return to the center when I can make a living just guiding Team Leader Jung alone?”
“Ah, exactly! If you just take care of me, I give you a lot of money and feed you well. Right? I treat you well, but the Guide Headquarters Director doesn’t think that way, so wouldn’t I get heated up?”
His chattering from the side seemed to make the headache strike again. When Yoon Kihyun pressed his temples firmly and looked at him as if telling him to stop, only then did Jung Sijun’s voice subside.
“…But aside from the Guide Headquarters Director, that Seo Igyeong bastard is also kind of creepy. I’m saying he seems like he’ll be persistent.”
Just when he thought the Guide Headquarters Director was over, it was Seo Igyeong again. Like a round song, it seemed he planned to keep watch over the two guys alternately.
When Yoon Kihyun showed no particular interest, an anxious Jung Sijun continued grumbling.
“No, I’m serious. Listen to me. There aren’t really cases where both Seo Igyeong and I are both not at the center, more than you’d think.”
Jung Sijun’s argument was this.
According to the Awakened Management Center’s operating principles, to prepare for a possible high-grade gate occurrence, it was common for one S-rank Esper or an equivalent team to standby at the center.
Special Team 1, led by Team Leader Seo Igyeong, and Special Team 2, led by Team Leader Jung Sijun, didn’t often both leave their posts to attack gates.
So every time he was away, there was a possibility that Seo Igyeong would frequently pull tricks equivalent to what he did last time. It seemed quite plausible, but Yoon Kihyun was skeptical.
“…I’m grateful that Team Leader Jung thinks highly of my abilities. I’m grateful, but Team Leader Seo didn’t seem that interested in me.”
At Yoon Kihyun’s indifferent retort, Jung Sijun let out deep sighs.
No, I’m going crazy.
Yoon Kihyun, whose face was killer and guiding was excellent, had a tendency to evaluate his own worth too low. Perhaps it was because he’d been overworked at the center and lived hearing the shitty nickname of public property.
“No. Think about it logically. It hasn’t even been a month since Yoon Kihyun-ssi started working as my personal guide, yet he went to find someone like that and asked to be added to the options. But you still say that doesn’t look like interest?”
“What I’m saying is that he didn’t seem interested enough to propose again after being rejected once.”
“Ah! That’s because Yoon Kihyun-ssi doesn’t know well what kind of bastards Espers are!”
Whether it is or isn’t, is this something to get angry about?
There’s no reason for Team Leader Seo Igyeong to do that.
His wavelength wasn’t picky like Jung Sijun’s, and since he was also an S-rank Esper, he’d receive guiding better than other Espers, so why would he?
There was no reason to spend personal money to hire a guide. It was obvious he’d just proposed in a probing way out of curiosity. Since interest naturally arose when you became the subject of gossip one way or another, it couldn’t be helped.
No matter how he thought about it, Jung Sijun’s claim had no basis.
Whether Jung Sijun’s face was getting increasingly fierce or not, Yoon Kihyun subtly turned his head. Not knowing that before long, he’d have to admit that Jung Sijun’s prediction was accurate.
