***
Somehow, the number of people who knew that Yoon Kihyun had an illness had increased to two.
Jung Sijun and Seo Igyeong.
Of all people, it had to be two who didn’t get along with each other, which made him anxious.
Judging by how people he passed on his commute didn’t whisper about him, Seo Igyeong seemed to have a tight lip. Though he couldn’t guarantee how long that would last.
After Seo Igyeong had confessed on the rooftop—unprompted—that he disliked Jung Sijun, they occasionally exchanged messages.
To be precise, Kihyun gave him his number and replied appropriately so that Seo Igyeong, who wanted to get closer to him, wouldn’t become more bothersome.
They were at the level of occasionally running into each other in the lobby and exchanging brief small talk. That was it. Yet even that seemed to displease Jung Sijun, who grumbled frequently about it.
Only after Kihyun told him firmly a couple of times that he had absolutely no intention of switching personal guide positions did Sijun finally calm down.
‘I really hope Jung Sijun talks a little less today.’
Wishing in his heart that his employer’s chatter would diminish, Yoon Kihyun arrived at the Center and ran into a welcome face in the lobby.
“Team Leader…”
It was a member of Guide Team 2, where Yoon Kihyun had worked as team leader. This person had also attended the modest farewell party on Kihyun’s last day at the Center.
When their eyes met, the person came running over hurriedly, making Kihyun smile without realizing it.
Having awakened as a guide right after becoming an adult and joined the Center, this person hadn’t yet been tainted by society. How long had it been since he quit, and they were still calling him Team Leader?
“I resigned, so what ‘Team Leader’?”
Seeing Yoon Kihyun, whose criticism came out before a greeting, Hyun Juho of Guide Team 2 at the Awakened Management Center shook his head.
He knew that despite talking like that, Kihyun was someone with a lot of hidden affection. The type who secretly took care of people from behind while never showing it in front, so people just didn’t know.
“Ah, your personality really hasn’t changed at all.”
“Have you been well, Juho-ssi?”
“Don’t even get me started. Without you as Team Leader, I feel like I’m dying.”
Hyun Juho let out a whine. It wasn’t empty words—he really was having a terrible time without Yoon Kihyun.
The new team leader was negligent, and the fatigue accumulated from the increased workload was indescribable. But the beauty before his eyes just smiled faintly, as if thinking it was just lip service.
“Deputy Park Jeongae is doing well, right?”
“Ah.”
As Hyun Juho’s complexion darkened, Yoon Kihyun’s voice lowered.
“Is something wrong?”
“Well…”
Seeing him hesitate and glance around, it was clear something had happened.
***
Saying it would only take a moment, Hyun Juho took Yoon Kihyun to a cafe outside the Awakened Management Center. Stopping Juho from insisting on buying coffee and handing over his own card, Yoon Kihyun looked at his former team member sitting across from him.
“…You must be busy, I’m sorry. Team Leader.”
“How long has it been since I quit, yet you keep—”
At Yoon Kihyun’s criticism, the young guy who still had baby fuzz pressed his lips tightly shut.
Whenever Kihyun saw Hyun Juho, who would turn twenty-one next year, he kept overlapping him with his younger self. The clumsy version who knew nothing and was completely intimidated from making mistakes.
“What happened to Deputy Park?”
He’d run into his former team members a few times while going to and from the Center. But it was just greetings from afar or perfunctory words like it was good to see they seemed well. Yoon Kihyun wasn’t the type to approach team members warmly first anyway.
“Actually…”
Hyun Juho began hesitantly, then for no reason looked around before whispering in a small voice.
“Ever since the new Team Leader took over, our team atmosphere has gotten really bad.”
“For example?”
“He keeps giving us impossible guiding schedules and tells us to finish them all today, or he rejects our guiding refusals and sends them back…”
The Center’s situation was far more of a mess than expected.
Upper management rejecting a guide’s guiding refusal? He had no idea what they were thinking.
“So Deputy Park has been on sick leave since last week. Team Leader Yang tried not to approve it, so they got into a huge fight again…”
At the mention that he’d tried not to approve the sick leave, Yoon Kihyun blinked slowly.
“Team Leader Yang Jaemin did that?”
“…Yes.”
The person who took over Guide Team 2 after Yoon Kihyun’s resignation was Yang Jaemin, a fifth-year B-rank guide.
Though not an A-rank guide, he was a veteran guide who’d been at the Center for a long time and had been evaluated as having decent leadership. His impression from working with him briefly during the handover was honestly hazy.
“I’m sorry. You’ve already resigned, but seeing your face made me so happy and I had nowhere to vent…”
“You don’t need to apologize to me.”
At the clumsy appearance of someone looking around awkwardly and floundering, Yoon Kihyun smiled slightly as if it were nothing. Perhaps relaxed, a smile spread across Hyun Juho’s baby face.
“Somehow being like this with you, Team Leader, reminds me of the old days. When I made a guiding mistake and got grabbed by the collar, you protested on my behalf and bought me coffee here.”
“I did?”
“You don’t remember?”
“…Mm.”
Yoon Kihyun answered with an awkward smile instead. His memory was hazy. Hyun Juho wasn’t the type to make things up, so such a thing must have happened, but if asked if he remembered it clearly, he couldn’t recall it well.
“You helped out here and there so much, you probably don’t remember. Ah, I think I need to go back now.”
Hyun Juho checked the time and hurriedly stood up. Perhaps finding the coffee Yoon Kihyun bought him precious, his expression as he emptied it in one go looked almost solemn.
Watching the back of Hyun Juho running toward the Center after saying goodbye and that they should meet again, Yoon Kihyun fidgeted with his fingertips.
Deputy Park Jeongae’s sick leave bothered him, but there was nothing he could do to help as someone who’d resigned. Guide Team 2’s matters had to be resolved within Guide Team 2.
‘But when was Juho-ssi grabbed by the collar?’
It wasn’t common for a guide to be grabbed by the collar by an esper. No, to be honest, if such a thing happened, it would be a happening worth discussing for a long time.
No matter how much espers looked down on guides, grabbing someone by the collar? It was definitely outside common sense.
Yet he couldn’t remember it at all. No matter how much he racked his brain, it was the first time he’d heard of it. Like that day when he couldn’t remember anything the next day due to drinking too much.
‘…Could there be more things I don’t remember?’
Yoon Kihyun couldn’t get up from his seat for a while after that.
It felt like something didn’t add up—an unpleasant feeling crawling over his skin.
***
Ever since he began suspecting there might be problems with his memory, he’d had nightmares night after night.
The content was similar, but all were dreams related to his father’s ossuary. One day his father’s urn had a crack in it, other times the urn was filled with water. When he woke from the dreams, he felt unsettled.
Making his only son sit on a pile of debt with hospital bills and then dying should have been the end of it, but even in death, his father had the talent to appear in dreams in the form of an urn and disturb people.
Seo Igyeong
The weather’s crazy
It’s cold today, so dress warmly when you come out
After perfunctorily replying to Seo Igyeong’s morning message, which had almost become routine, Yoon Kihyun arrived at the guiding room, deliberately pushing aside the unsettling dream content.
As he sat on the sofa to catch his breath, Jung Sijun burst through the guiding room door with another strange thing.
“Take it.”
“What is it?”
“I asked around and apparently the amount you can lump together as settlement money is less than I thought. They said it could be a problem if I transfer more than that amount.”
As he kept holding a paper bag in front of his face, Yoon Kihyun had no choice but to accept it.
Just from the tone, it sounded casual, like he’d bought some snacks from a nearby convenience store, but the luxury watch brand logo embossed on the paper bag bothered him.
Surely he didn’t bring a bundle of cash in here?
When he peeked inside the paper bag, he saw a high-end box. The logo visible at a glance was also from the same brand as the paper bag.
“It’s nothing much, I just went to the store and thought it would suit you well, so I bought one.”
“What are you sorry about this time?”
Jung Sijun, whom he glanced at while turning his body slightly, averted his gaze as soon as their eyes met and mumbled.
“Just, well. Overall…?”
Great. Before, there had at least been perfunctory excuses like saying something harsh or making a few bad comments behind his back.
But now even that was gone. For Jung Sijun, settlement money had merely become an excuse for one-sided gift-giving.
“But it’s almost been a month since we started working together, right?”
At the somehow unsettling opening, Yoon Kihyun just slowly nodded.
“So, I’m just going to speak casually to you?”
Jung Sijun’s gaze still lingered near the guiding room sofa. The guy who usually stared intently at his face even outside of guiding suddenly couldn’t make eye contact.
“Speaking casually means…?”
When Yoon Kihyun asked back, Jung Sijun grumbled in response.
“Ah, whatever. I’m just going to call you hyung. It’s not like calling you hyung will make guiding efficiency worse.”
Jung Sijun was still obsessed with honorifics.
Isn’t he tired of that damn ‘hyung’ talk? Yoon Kihyun looked up at Jung Sijun’s face, dumbfounded.
When their eyes met, the guy’s face started turning red again. It was simply astounding.
