* * *
Before leaving, Wonho reiterated his instruction to Haebom and then walked out the door.
Left alone, Haebom simply stared blankly at the front door that had just been opened and closed.
Haebom blinked his large eyes in confusion.
If Wonho had left without saying anything, he wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
But because of those last words, he found himself hesitating.
“Go upstairs to sleep? My room is on the first floor…”
He furrowed his brows.
But after a brief moment of contemplation, he decided it wasn’t worth thinking about.
Wonho had told him to sleep, but he had no intention of doing so.
After all, he had slept the entire day yesterday.
Even if he lay down now, he doubted he would fall asleep.
It was only a little past ten in the morning—there was too much time left in the day.
He didn’t particularly enjoy going to work, but he preferred meeting people at the center rather than lazing around at home.
Everyone he had gotten to know after coming here was at the center, after all.
Casting a glance toward the second floor, Haebom quickly shook his head and went into his room.
Only then did he realize that the clothes he was wearing weren’t his.
But they didn’t seem like Wonho’s either—the size seemed too different.
If Wonho wore this, it would probably be skin-tight…
“Pfft…”
The mental image of Wonho in a tight shirt made him burst into laughter, and he instinctively covered his mouth with both hands.
No one was home, but he still felt guilty for laughing alone.
Clearing his throat, he suppressed the urge to chuckle and changed into his usual guide uniform, which had become surprisingly comfortable.
Then, he stepped out of his room, did the dishes that Wonho had told him to leave alone, and left the house.
Upon arriving at the center, the first place Haebom headed was his guide office.
He was on his way to the research lab to meet Jin Seyoung when a sudden realization made him stop in his tracks.
‘Team Leader Jin Seyoung knows all of Wonho’s rampage levels…!!!’
Haebom froze in place in front of the research building.
Jin Seyoung might not know the exact details of how the guiding had happened, but given the drastic drop in the numbers, she could easily make an educated guess.
And knowing Jin Seyoung’s personality, there was no way she would just let it slide.
It was obvious she would tease him about it.
Realizing this, Haebom swiftly changed direction and headed to his guide office instead.
After Haebom had fainted, Wonho had rushed to Jin Seyoung, meaning Jin Seyoung didn’t need to guess—she already knew exactly what had happened.
Unaware of this, Haebom managed to unknowingly avoid becoming the target of Jin Seyoung’s teasing.
Of course, dodging it today didn’t mean he could escape it forever.
“Ugh… It should be fine to go in, right…?”
Standing in front of the guide office, Haebom hesitated.
Since passing out, he had spent all his time sleeping and receiving IV fluids, so this was his first time entering the office again.
He wasn’t familiar with the cleaning system in the office, and he had no idea what state his workspace would be in.
That uncertainty made him nervous.
Cleaning could be done later, but if there were obvious traces of what had happened between him and Wonho, he might just want to crawl into a hole and disappear.
But he couldn’t avoid it forever.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he opened the door.
“…Huh?”
Something felt off.
The guide office was spotless, as if nothing had ever happened.
Had it all been a dream?
No, that was impossible.
Even though he had been pretending not to notice, his thighs still stung.
And then there was that indescribable sensation in a certain… area.
It wasn’t painful, but… ugh.
There was no good way to describe it, so he just shook his head to clear his thoughts.
In any case, the event had definitely happened.
Which meant someone had cleaned up.
And that was even more embarrassing.
It would have been much better if he had done it himself.
But what’s done is done.
Though he was curious about who had cleaned it, he didn’t really want to know.
Letting out a small groan, Haebom shuffled into his pristine office and sat down at his desk, turning on his computer.
The best way to clear his mind was to work.
He had rested enough and was feeling good, more than capable of guiding other espers.
As soon as the screen lit up, Haebom checked the guiding records and frowned deeply.
[Guiding Request: Choi Yoonseo (G) -> Wonho (E) = Request Completed -> Total Guiding Time: 3 minutes]
As soon as the program started, he couldn’t understand why this was the first thing that popped up.
Was it because Wonho had never received guidance from another Guide before?
Had Wonho ever been guided by Choi Yoonseo…?
Why was the total guiding time only three minutes…?
Haebom felt an inexplicable sinking sensation in his chest and pressed his lower lip hard with his upper teeth.
“Ah….”
Maybe he bit down too hard—there was a sharp sting.
When he wiped his lip with his hand, he saw blood.
He quickly grabbed a tissue from the desk and wiped it away.
Checking the time, he realized it should be around when he had fallen asleep. P
robably… though, to be fair, there hadn’t been much time yesterday when he was actually awake.
It felt strange, knowing that after telling him to rest, Wonho had gone to see Choi Yoonseo.
Haebom had always known that Wonho liked Choi Yoonseo.
He also knew that the only reason he had done this was to receive high-quality guidance from a Guide with a high compatibility rate.
No, he thought he had known.
But if he truly understood, then why did he feel this terrible?
To put it simply, all he had ever wanted was to guide Wonho so he wouldn’t suffer and could live well.
And yet, even though things had gone exactly as he had intended, the feeling gnawed at him.
“I don’t know. I should just focus on work.”
Shutting off the guiding records, Haebom switched his status from “off” to “on” to receive guiding requests.
But not long after, instead of a request, his phone rang.
“Hello?”
— Haebom, what are you doing at the office? You’re off today. Who even comes in to work on their day off?
“…Oh, I… I didn’t realize today was my day off.”
The caller was one of the people Haebom had been trying to avoid.
Through the phone, Jin Seyoung’s playful voice rang out.
Even though he couldn’t see her, he could vividly picture the mischievous smile that must be on her face.
Haebom suddenly felt like she was standing right in front of him.
His face flushed, threatening to burn up.
— Stop sitting around in the office and come to the lab. I’ll get you some coffee.
“…Okay.”
— I’ll be waiting. Hehehe.
Her teasing laugh lingered in his ears, making him even more self-conscious.
Hanging up, Haebom turned his status back to “off.”
Normally, Guides setting their work status wouldn’t trigger a direct response from a researcher.
But in Haebom’s case, Jin Seyoung always kept an eye on him.
Not to mention, Wonho had already scolded her about letting Haebom guide other Espers, so she was being extra cautious.
She also figured that Wonho probably hadn’t properly explained the vacation system to him.
“Haa….”
Letting out a long sigh, Haebom shut down his computer and turned off the office lights.
He took a slow look around the empty room before dragging himself toward Jin Seyoung’s lab.
* * *
