“Don’t you care about Dawoon hyung’s opinion at all?”
Yeoul approached Ryu Taeha with fervor.
“If the leader tells him to receive it, then fuck, does hyung have to shut up and receive it?”
“What’s the reason not to receive it?”
Ryu Taeha looked at Yeoul, who was half a span taller than him, and raised his sharp chin.
“He needs guiding, and if the existing method doesn’t work, we have to try another way.”
“So why are you the one deciding that!”
Yeoul was angry at Ryu Taeha for proceeding without asking Dawoon. Moreover, he was even more irritated knowing that even if Dawoon didn’t want to, he would follow his words.
“Lower your voice. Many eyes are watching.”
Ryu Taeha, taking a step closer to the grumbling Yeoul, strengthened the barrier.
“Just try forcing a guide in front of Dawoon hyung.”
The cold air leaking from the excited Yeoul made the room chilly.
“I’ll kill them all.”
The last words were conveyed only to Ryu Taeha. The sound didn’t reach the others. Ryu Taeha had erased the sound with his ability.
“Yeoul-ah, let’s watch our words. There are many ears listening here too.”
“I warned you.”
Yeoul’s blue eyes, lifeless with killing intent, stared at Ryu Taeha while holding a chill. Even his toneless voice contained murderous intent.
He was serious. Any bastard who carelessly laid hands on Dawoon hyung’s body, whoever they were, he would kill them all.
No matter how nicely they packaged it as guiding, in the end, it was sex. Yeoul didn’t want Dawoon to have sex he didn’t want.
He wanted to beat to death the leader who recommended it as if it were natural too.
First, he should think about finding another way somehow.
Yeoul’s eyes glaring at Ryu Taeha became even fiercer. A sigh mixed into Ryu Taeha’s smile as he looked at him.
“I don’t understand.”
He shook his head with an expression like dealing with a child throwing a tantrum.
“Mixing bodies for guiding is something everyone does. To survive. Why attach meaning to that kind of sex?”
If he had only said up to here, Yeoul would have somehow endured and listened. At Ryu Taeha’s continued blunt remark, Yeoul’s eyes finally flipped.
“If Dawoon disliked sex, maybe I’d understand. But he’s not even a virgin, so why are you so—”
At that moment, Ryu Taeha, who lightly dodged Yeoul’s fist flying at his face, grabbed his wrist and twisted it. At the same time, he also bound his leg that rushed at his opposite cheek with a barrier.
“Hyung, stop…!”
Ryu Jin, who intervened at the precarious moment when Yeoul was about to activate his ability, stopped his hyung.
“Don’t fight. Ye, Yeoul Esper-nim too… please calm down.”
The air in the observation room sank coldly.
The researchers, thoroughly frightened by the espers’ confrontation, had already evacuated to the control room.
And they weren’t the only ones who had left.
“Hyung… Esper Dawoon left.”
“What?”
Ryu Taeha and Yeoul looked at the bed in unison.
Dawoon, who should have been sitting on the bed, wasn’t visible. Dawoon, who had even neatly arranged the blanket before leaving, had received the researcher’s permission and returned to the dormitory first.
“He really left?”
Yeoul, who urgently crossed over to the control room, asked the group of researchers.
“Ah, yes.”
The researcher who had been organizing the pads attached to Dawoon’s body answered. He said a teleport esper was called and he had just disappeared.
“He said he had to feed the cat and left in a hurry.”
“What food?”
The group of researchers, overwhelmed by Yeoul’s expression that looked like it would explode any moment, avoided eye contact and looked at each other.
“Uh, that… cat food…. Right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Cat food.”
“I heard it too. Cat.”
“Cat?”
Ryu Taeha, standing at the control room entrance, joined the conversation. Ryu Jin standing beside him also made a puzzled face.
A cat when they’d never brought in a pet. They thought Dawoon had made a strange excuse because he wanted to go to the dormitory quickly.
“Is hospitalization necessary?”
At Ryu Taeha’s question, the researcher who nodded conveyed words to all the Sau Guild members.
“Since Esper Dawoon’s basic wavelength is on the stable side, we’ll just conduct examinations periodically for a while.”
Thanks to being a healer with low risk of going berserk, hospitalization or quarantine measures weren’t imposed. However, there were a few precautions.
“Please maintain the guiding intensity as is until he says he’ll do it himself.”
Yeoul glared at Ryu Taeha. It was a look questioning whether his words weren’t right.
Ryu Taeha listened to the explanation with a calm face.
“Rather, there’s a greater possibility of adverse effects if we try forcibly. Instead of doing contact guiding, gradually increase the dosage of guiding medication.”
The researcher additionally recommended that Ryu Jin, the guide in charge, monitor Dawoon’s wavelength readings more closely. Ryu Jin nodded earnestly and also recorded Dawoon’s medication cycle in his phone memo.
“And for the time being, ability usage should be reduced as much as possible.”
The researcher’s gaze moved to Guild Leader Ryu Taeha.
He cautiously broached the subject, asking if it would be possible to exclude Dawoon from field missions for a while if possible. He was careful even while bringing it up, knowing it was a busy time due to the overheated gate problem.
“Currently, avoiding stressful situations is most important. Since he’s in a state most vulnerable to psychological burden, please prioritize Esper Dawoon’s psychological stability above all else.”
It was a common recommendation, but for Dawoon, it was the hardest thing to keep.
Due to his sensitive personality, Dawoon tended to get stressed more easily than others. When it was severe, he would break glass cups even if just the weather was bad.
Recently, he had become surprisingly calm, but his sensitive nature couldn’t improve in an instant.
“What if hyung wants to work?”
Yeoul, who had been silently quiet, spoke up.
The researchers, who didn’t understand the unexpected question he threw, all froze together for a few seconds. Dawoon’s personality of avoiding work was rumored even to the annex.
“If that… happens by any chance, rather than forcibly stopping him, persuade him as much as possible in the direction of recommending rest….”
“Yes, understood.”
Ryu Taeha, simply cutting off the researcher’s rambling words, created a transport gate.
“We’ll try.”
With that answer as his last, he took Ryu Jin and disappeared.
“……”
Yeoul, left alone, ground his teeth. He cursed Ryu Taeha, who had left him behind, with his eyes and stormed out of the control room.
Only the innocent researchers wiped cold sweat at that murderous aura.
So that’s why it wasn’t working.
Dawoon, blankly passing between convenience store display shelves, was deep in thought. After sweeping up all the cat food and snacks from the convenience store near the dormitory, he also put food to fill his own stomach in the basket.
Unlike his hands quickly putting in items, his eyes were unfocused as if his soul had left. It was the face that came out when he was absorbed in thought.
“Um… Esper Dawoon. Are you sick somewhere?”
The convenience store employee, who recognized Dawoon of Sau Guild, asked cautiously while scanning the items’ barcodes. Dawoon, who listlessly took out his card, inadvertently affirmed.
“Yes, I think I’m sick.”
He didn’t know he was sick. No, he knew better than anyone that Jeong Dawoon had a frequently ill body, but he didn’t know he would be sick in this way.
Something that had never appeared in the novel—guiding rejection.
Dawoon gathered the words he’d heard from the researcher in his head and reorganized them.
This time too, he naturally thought guiding wasn’t working because of Jeong Dawoon’s weak body. But rather, the cause was himself.
One month since entering the novel. Because time had passed frantically, he hadn’t had the leisure to look at his condition in detail. He hadn’t felt the need to either.
He thought he was adapting well to the unfamiliar environment and lifestyle in his own way. But that wasn’t the case.
Right. It wasn’t enough that he suddenly entered the novel world, and he became an esper, so naturally his body or mind would be shocked.
An adaptation period was needed….
If he’d known, he would have taken care of his mental health and meditated from the start, but he hadn’t even thought of it.
Well, it’s fine to do it now. Dawoon sighed softly, trying hard to think lightly.
“Esper Jeong Dawoon!”
At that moment, the convenience store employee, who had been waving at Dawoon standing blankly, raised his voice and shouted. It was because even after calling him five times, there was no response as he remained blank.
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. Card here.”
Dawoon, whose focus was belatedly corrected, hurriedly inserted his card into the payment terminal. The convenience store employee looked at Dawoon’s complexion with a worried face.
“Are you really unwell? You look seriously tired.”
“No, I’m fine. It’s because I’m hungry. I’m not sick.”
Dawoon corrected his words, realizing he’d needlessly caused worry, and received the heavy bag. It was a weight that couldn’t be heavy for him as an esper. Nevertheless, the convenience store employee showed excessive kindness.
“If it’s hard, shall I carry your luggage? It’s almost shift change time, so I can step away for a moment.”
Dawoon, who smiled and shook his head, was about to head for the door when the plastic bag slipped right out of his hand.
What kind of strength is this strong. Dawoon’s eyes widened for a moment, wondering if the convenience store employee was an esper.
However, the convenience store employee was an ordinary civilian. Then just as he turned his head wondering who on earth dared to snatch the bag away, a familiar voice rang out from behind.
“Do your work.”
Ryu Taeha, who suddenly appeared out of thin air, gestured with his eyes toward the employee. The plastic bag was held in his hand.
Dawoon looked indifferently at Ryu Taeha, who had come all the way to the convenience store, then headed outside first.
Behind Ryu Taeha, who naturally followed, the convenience store employee greeted heartily. Thank you, please come again!
“Don’t go there again. That bastard’s an alpha.”
Ryu Taeha, who gestured with his chin toward the convenience store door, approached Dawoon’s side and walked alongside him.
“I have eyes too, you know? He’s a beta.”
“His behavior is like an alpha. Be careful. His eyes looking at you were impure.”
“Aren’t you busy?”
“Why are you alone again?”
When Dawoon tried to take the plastic bag, he hid it behind him and lowered his voice.
“Why are you going around when your body’s not well? If you need something, make me do it. …But what’s this?”
Ryu Taeha, who had been nagging about why he was wandering around alone without leaving a teleport esper anywhere, frowned. He stared at the plastic bag full of cat supplies with puzzled eyes.
“Cat food.”
“I’m asking why you bought this.”
“I bought it to feed a cat.”
“Where’s the cat?”
“At the dormitory. I picked it up by chance.”
“…There’s a cat at our dormitory?”
Ryu Taeha had already been to the dormitory. He had come all the way to the convenience store looking for Dawoon, who wasn’t at the dormitory.
And the cat Dawoon was talking about wasn’t at the dormitory.
“Dawoon, are you doing other drugs behind my back?”
Ryu Taeha said something absurd, as if he thought he was seeing things.
“It’ll be hiding in the room. It comes out when I look for it. So hurry up and give me the bag.”
Dawoon urged, saying he had to go quickly and feed it.
The reason he deliberately sent the teleport esper ahead was because he wanted to get some outside air even for a moment. His insides were so stuffy that if he went home like that, he felt like he’d get a fever.
Thinking that Ryu Taeha had ruined even his brief walk made his anger rise for no reason.
“Give it to me!”
“It’s heavy. I’ll carry it.”
Ryu Taeha hid the snatched plastic bag behind his back. Does that person have time to spare or what.
“Go and work. What if a gate opens again?”
“I’ll go when I get called. That aside, stand still for a moment.”
Ryu Taeha, who stopped Dawoon, suddenly bent his knees and sat down.
Dawoon, flustered at his crown suddenly visible, was about to ask what he was doing, but seeing the shoes in his hand, he soon closed his mouth.
“Why did you leave without shoes?”
He grabbed Dawoon’s ankle and took off the examination room slippers he wore instead of the ruined indoor shoes. From the small bandaged feet, the faint smell of disinfectant came.
Ryu Taeha, gently holding the injured foot, personally put on the shoes he’d brought from the dormitory. Dawoon put strength in his legs, meaning he would put them on himself, but Ryu Taeha’s strength was greater.
Eventually, Dawoon, who gave up and entrusted his feet, spoke calmly.
