# Chapter 29
When those pitch-black eyes gently curved into a smile, it was like flowers blooming out of season. Despite his build, his delicate face gave the impression that he might break if touched too roughly, yet here he was worrying about an A-class Esper like Dohyuk walking home at night. It must be because he’s so gentle that other Espers look down on him and bully him despite his S-class status. Dohyuk frowned. The space between his brows that Junseo had carefully smoothed out wrinkled again.
“Shouldn’t I be the one escorting you home?”
“Why?”
“The prettier someone is, the more weirdos tend to approach them.”
At his serious tone full of concern, Junseo finally burst out laughing.
# Chapter 29
Thanks to eating eight servings of ribeye at a beef specialty restaurant with Junseo yesterday, Dohyuk arrived at work with glowing skin, only to be greeted by a friend with bloodshot eyes.
The first words from Seungmin, who rushed over like a wild cheetah the moment he spotted Dohyuk, were neither “hello” nor “good morning.”
“You crazy bastard. Why aren’t you answering your phone? Choi Dohyuk, you son of a bitch!”
Simultaneously, the attention of everyone around fell upon Dohyuk and Seungmin. In truth, Dohyuk had noticed all sorts of glances directed at him throughout his commute to headquarters. Suspecting that Seungmin might be the cause of these strange glances filled with unusual curiosity and mischief, Dohyuk, with an Esper’s quick reflexes, covered Seungmin’s mouth as he kept trying to yell.
“Yu Juns…!”
“Park Seungmin. I don’t know what’s going on, but calm down. I think we should go inside and talk.”
Dohyuk whispered to Seungmin with a puzzled voice, then led him into his private room while still covering his mouth. Fortunately, Seungmin stopped resisting, seemingly aware that he had just drawn attention in a corridor where quite a few people were passing by.
After finally locking the door, Dohyuk turned to Seungmin with a tired face. The atmosphere this morning was remarkably different, enough to unnerve even Dohyuk, who rarely cared about others’ gazes. If stares alone could put holes in his body, Dohyuk might have died with his body full of holes when he boarded the elevator at headquarters’ annex building this morning.
“What’s this rumor about you?!”
As soon as Dohyuk removed his hand from Seungmin’s mouth, he shouted angrily. His hair was wild, as if he had rushed out after only washing his face at the dormitory—hair that would normally have been styled with spray. Seungmin’s over-processed hair from frequent dyeing was rough and puffed up.
What on earth happened that made him abandon all the accessories he usually wore and come flying here? Unable to think of anything no matter how hard he tried, Dohyuk narrowed his eyes slightly.
“What rumor? Explain it as concisely and simply as possible.”
Accepting Dohyuk’s request, Seungmin spoke as concisely and simply as possible. His face flushed red as if he couldn’t believe it himself.
“They say you and Yu Junseo had s-s-s-sex, ah, fuck, in the guiding room!”
Dohyuk frowned in shock.
“…Sorry to go back on my words, but could you explain in more detail?”
Seungmin kindly obliged Dohyuk’s request once more.
“They say that Junseo got rejected because he lacked experience, and on his way to cling to you, he witnessed you fooling around with someone else, and then an enraged Junseo dragged you into the guiding room, and the two of you did, uh, that! That thing! Is it true?”
Dohyuk’s expression wrinkled even more. It was all the more frustrating because even Seungmin seemed half-skeptical of this absurd false rumor.
“Do you really think it’s true?”
Seeing that Dohyuk looked quite wronged from Seungmin’s perspective, he suppressed his suspicion that was slowly rearing its head again and rubbed his lips firmly with his fingers. But that didn’t last long. As if unable to contain his anger, his sharply torn eye corners jerked upward again.
“Then why is there such a rumor? What the hell are you doing with Guide Yu Junseo, that cra—I mean, with Guide Yu Junseo?”
Watching Seungmin who kept referring to him as “Guide Yu Junseo” even in his latter statement, Dohyuk didn’t even have time to feel the strange satisfaction of “So the effect of my repeatedly pointing out Seungmin’s missing honorifics is finally showing.”
Dohyuk recalled yesterday’s incident in the guiding room corridor, which he barely remembered as he was dragged around as if bewitched by Junseo, according to the five Ws and one H.
Junseo, yesterday, in the guiding room corridor.
‘I know that I don’t have much experience, so you might not be satisfied with someone as experienced as you, hyung.’
Remembering that sorrowful expression as if he had been swallowing back tears, Dohyuk came to a conclusion. The potential for misunderstanding couldn’t have been more abundant and generous. It must have been great fodder for the headquarters staff who were too busy to watch dramas.
“This is driving me crazy.”
Although the rumor was greatly exaggerated, he couldn’t claim complete innocence since Junseo’s actions were enough to cause misunderstandings. Having finally realized what all the glances this morning meant, Dohyuk closed his eyes tightly, feeling his whole face burning.
Sure. It would be strange if the person who had filmed a cheating scene in a morning drama yesterday just boarded the elevator with a nonchalant face.
While he could deal with it himself, he was at a loss for how to handle the rumor that also entangled Junseo. Come to think of it, he hadn’t explained anything to Guide Kwon Jihun either. And he didn’t even have his phone number. As Dohyuk was still pondering with his eyes closed, Seungmin’s voice reached his ears. His voice had risen higher than usual, as if he’d caught Dohyuk in the act.
“Wait, it’s true, isn’t it? It’s true! You did it! What did you tell me before? Huh? You said you felt really good while receiving guiding, didn’t you? I never imagined it would be Yu Junseo! I never expected it! If I had known you were doing that with Yu Junseo, I would have packed lunch boxes and chased after you to stop you!”
“…What do you mean ‘doing that’? Park Seungmin. This room isn’t soundproof, so please shut up.”
Dohyuk groaned. Of course, he had once hinted to Seungmin about Junseo. But Dohyuk hadn’t said anything so vulgar. It made him wonder if this is why verbal transmission is dangerous. Misinterpreting Dohyuk’s uncomfortable expression, Seungmin chattered on.
“Do you even feel any shame? When I told you to get a hobby, I didn’t mean to jump straight into dating. And with Yu Junseo of all people? After raising you with backbreaking effort, you go and pick that weirdo…”
“Guide-nim.”
When Dohyuk corrected him, Seungmin looked like he was about to burst into tears with frustration.
“Fine. Dating Yu Junseo Guide-nim is the hobby you found?”
“It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean it’s not? You filmed a whole drama episode yesterday. Is he into you or something?”
Only Dohyuk felt secretly guilty, having used Junseo as spank bank material several times because he actually did have dark intentions. Dohyuk tried to appear as calm as possible.
“What could that bright and pretty guy possibly lack that he’d have dark intentions for a log of a man like me? And anyway, both Junseo and I are men, so how did such a baseless rumor even start?”
“Look at the way he acts! Even though same-sex marriages are a minority, isn’t it also narrow-minded to doubt just because we have the same equipment? Are you from our grandfather’s generation or something?”
Dohyuk, surprised to find his friend so woke, closed his mouth momentarily with a bewildered face. Eventually, a voice full of fatigue leaked from between his lips.
“What do you mean doubt? He seems interested in the matching rate, not me. I told you, high matching rate. It’s all curiosity.”
It can’t be helped. By your late twenties, you start to realize the reality and sort out what your league is. From Dohyuk’s perspective, right now Junseo was just extremely curious about the 88% matching rate, nothing else. Plus, since Dohyuk was the only Esper who wasn’t uncomfortable with his guiding, it was understandable that he was following Dohyuk around like a puppy.
In truth, Dohyuk himself was the problem. Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it? Though it wasn’t the right proverb for this situation, Dohyuk felt like he had suddenly become a cat about to drop dead.
From someone else’s curiosity, not even his own!
That naively innocent Guide probably had no idea how sticky and ugly an Esper’s fixation on a Guide could be, and was just poking around out of curiosity. Once an Esper matching his level appeared, he’d quickly lose interest and leave. That’s the kind of thinking Dohyuk had been doing all night.
“But why did he supposedly shout in the workplace corridor that he would try harder to be more satisfying next time?”
Dohyuk, who had been lost in thought, frowned at the surging headache.
“No, how did this rumor even start? Even if we were dating, which we’re not, why would someone say such things in the corridor?!”
“So it’s a false rumor?”
“Of course it’s a false rumor. This is really driving me crazy. How far has the rumor spread?”
“I thought you were the type to keep your mouth shut even about unfair rumors, but this one bothers you?”
“This isn’t just about me.”
“Ha. Right, Yu Junseo is involved. Really, why did you have to have a high matching rate with a Guide like…”
Looking at Seungmin clicking his tongue, Dohyuk also sighed.
“Tell me about it. It’s such a waste. I’m not even S-class.”
“No, fuck. You’re not the problem here!”
