***
Yoon Kihyun arrived in a city he’d only visited a few times for business trips. It was an unfamiliar city. That’s why it appealed to him. Because even if he died here, there’d be no one who would recognize him.
Yoon Kihyun looked down at his entire fortune contained in a 21-inch carrier.
The studio apartment he’d lived in until then happened to be near the end of its contract period, so he packed his things without renewing the contract. After throwing away unnecessary items, the traces of 28 years of desperate living didn’t even fill one carrier.
‘Life, fuck……’
He’d never thought it was a great life, but he’d never thought it was a pathetic life either.
Despite a somewhat poor family environment, he hadn’t gone astray and took care of himself on his own, and after luckily awakening as a Guide, he thought he’d lived quite fiercely.
At the Center, he received an enviable salary and was recognized for his skills and rank at a young age, even attaining the team leader position, yet all that remained in his possession was a few sets of clothes. Even after earning that much, when he thought about the loan he ultimately couldn’t repay, he couldn’t help but feel futile.
Should he have just hardened his heart and pretended not to know his father?
He made an insincere attempt at imagining this and glanced at the scenery of the unfamiliar city.
Cities with steady tourists regardless of season seemed to silently embrace people with their own stories. Of course, that tolerance was only for people with money.
As expected, submitting a resignation and resigning properly was the right choice. Yoon Kihyun smiled slightly, thinking of the severance pay and salary remaining intact in his bank account.
***
The accommodation was a wonderful place—a 10-minute walk would bring you to the sea.
Arriving at the accommodation by taxi, Yoon Kihyun left his carrier standing roughly and lay down on the bed. His whole body ached, and the taxi driver’s reckless driving added motion sickness on top of it, making him feel like death.
‘Let’s sleep first and then think about what to do.’
After quitting the Center, his mind also grew more relaxed. Yoon Kihyun immediately sought sleep on the unfamiliar bed. Except for tossing and turning a bit because the rustling sound of the hotel-style bedding was irritating to his ears, it was quite a decent nap.
After waking up, he changed his phone number and then checked the calendar in his phone that had been quiet the whole time. The schedule he’d set up before remained as it was.
Looking at the calendar densely filled with days when rent, utilities, credit card bills, and loan interest were withdrawn, Yoon Kihyun added one new schedule.
He didn’t give it a separate name, but it was midnight on the 30th.
Yoon Kihyun decided to die at that moment when the last day of the month transitioned to the first day of the new month.
Because if he didn’t set it definitively, he felt like he’d drag out time halfheartedly and get entangled in even more troublesome matters.
Adding the studio apartment deposit to his salary and severance pay, Kihyun ended up with more money than he’d thought. It wasn’t enough to pay off all his loans, but it was certainly an amount that couldn’t be ignored.
How fickle the human heart is—once a large sum of money came into his hands, the will to try living wriggled up from one side of his heart.
‘Wouldn’t it be okay to endure for a few months with this and somehow figure out a way to live? It’s not like people are just told to die. If I first get a room at a goshiwon and go to interviews at private Guiding companies and get in, even if I can’t earn like before……’
He had these thoughts, if only for a very brief moment. But soon his head cooled down.
Even if he rented a goshiwon room and passed an interview at a private Guiding company, what then?
The best way to make the most money as a Guide in Korea was, without a doubt, to work as a Guide affiliated with an Awakened Center.
There were private Guiding companies, but because the number of affiliated Espers was significantly small and the pay was also low, the Guiding allowance was woefully insufficient. Moreover, the treatment of Guides at private Guiding companies couldn’t be said to be better than the Center, even as an empty compliment.
He thought he’d finished rather warmly with some team members on his last day of work at the Center, but the bullshit the Guide Headquarters Director had spouted kept bothering him.
‘Team Leader Yoon, I didn’t see you that way, but now that I look, you’re really something else. If you conduct social life like that, you’ll get badly hurt later. I guess you have no intention of working as a Guide in Korea at all?’
At the time, he didn’t care what that old man, who quit actual work and only busied himself with office politics and entertaining golf, babbled. Because he was only thinking of dying anyway and had concluded that the Center would be the end of his last social life.
However, as soon as he thought about changing his mind and trying to live, the fear that that dog-like old-timer would ruin his life assaulted him.
He’d need to leverage his Guide experience for easy salary negotiations, but private Guiding companies would do reference checks too, so it was unfavorable in many ways.
‘Ah, forget it. If I’ve decided once, I should die. Everything hurts like shit and there’s no fun in living, so what’s the point of living longer?’
After deciding on the day to die with a light heart and pulling himself together, before long Yoon Kihyun became lenient about everything again.
Right, since he was going to die anyway, what meaning was there in whoever threw a fit?
Time to spend money was already insufficient, so wasting time in useless places was inefficient.
***
Splurging the money in his hands and playing around was surprisingly suited to Yoon Kihyun’s aptitude.
‘It would’ve been nice to be born as a rich family’s child. If I’m born again next time, can I be born in a rich family?’
Even when such useless idle thoughts remained in his head for a moment, he thought what meaning was there in worrying about such things?
The streets of the unfamiliar city where he strutted around tipsy after drinking in the afternoon were surprisingly still kind to Yoon Kihyun. So much so that he met several people asking for his contact information even though he must have reeked of alcohol.
‘It’s a weekday afternoon, doesn’t anyone work?’
Kihyun walked slowly, shoving the note with contact information he’d received unexpectedly into his pocket. He’d been drinking hopelessly from midday, but he didn’t particularly want to meet anyone.
It wasn’t that he was averse to one-night stands; he just wasn’t interested in anyone.
When he worked at the Awakened Center, mucous membrane Guiding had led to sex more often than expected. Since there was no way a Guide could beat an Esper’s physical abilities, naturally Yoon Kihyun was the one who got pinned down.
After sex, most felt awkward even seeing each other’s faces in the hallway, while some suggested dating or becoming sex partners. Of course, Yoon Kihyun was too busy making a living to even pretend to listen.
‘Where should I have another drink?’
Lately he’d been drinking so much he was worried he might die of alcoholism first. Drinking made the pain fade, but it was also good because it kept stray thoughts away.
While walking around looking for a place to have another drink, he ended up flowing into a quiet alley where people had gathered in clusters.
“Entry is prohibited from here due to a gate occurrence nearby.”
When he saw the police officer telling him to detour, he sobered up as if cold water had been poured over him.
Of all times, he’d mistakenly wandered into a place with a gate.
“Eh, then are the Espers inside there? I heard that color isn’t a big deal, on YouTube.”
“Students, please step back. It’s dangerous.”
Beyond the rowdy-looking students gathered in small groups, the entrance of the eerily undulating gate finally came into view.
The gate that had formed near a residential alley wasn’t a very high rank, as the student pointed out. But it also wasn’t a rank to be taken lightly.
Whether it was an occupational disease, he felt like he should be on standby inside that order maintenance line right away, so while glancing around the gate area, he spotted one familiar face.
“Huh? Team Leader Yoon?”
It was Guide Team 3 Team Leader Seo Jintae. He also recognized Kihyun and greeted him, taking a few steps toward the temporarily set up order maintenance line.
“Oh oh, they seem to be coming out?”
“So fucking fascinating, wow.”
The surroundings became noisy in an instant. As human forms poured out in a rush from beyond the undulating gate, the smell of blood spread thickly around them.
“……Team Leader Seo, where are you! This way!”
“Oh, coming now!”
At someone’s shout supporting an injured person, Seo Jintae urgently turned and ran toward the gate.
On-site Guiding, he must be having a hard time.
From now on, that side would be busy for a while, but for Kihyun, it was the perfect timing to leave taking advantage of the commotion.
However, since people had been gathered there from the start, getting back out of the narrow alley wasn’t easy.
It wasn’t even enjoyable viewing, yet at the word that people had come out of the gate, wondering what was so fascinating, more and more people gathered and it became a mess.
In the midst of being trapped in the suddenly swollen crowd unable to move, someone abruptly grabbed Yoon Kihyun’s wrist.
“……As I thought, it is Team Leader Kihyun!”
The one who grabbed Yoon Kihyun was none other than Seo Jintae. Having missed the timing to blatantly pretend not to know him, Kihyun had no choice but to give a small nod, and Seo Jintae, clinging to his arm, muttered.
“I’m in a rush, just help me out for a bit. Team Leader Jung’s waves aren’t settling well right now. Please?”
Where Seo Jintae’s gaze led him to turn his head, an unlucky bastard was lying on the ground bleeding profusely. Although the distance was quite far, he could recognize him at a glance.
The bastard Seo Jintae referred to as Team Leader Jung was Jung Sijun.
The very young bastard who’d been the first to attach the dog-like nickname “public property” to Kihyun.
‘Ugh, of all people, that bastard.’
Yoon Kihyun began to seriously contemplate whether he should shake off this hand even now and run away.
