* * *
“Guide Hamin, did something happen?”
“Sniff… it’s just…”
“…!”
Raon looked down at Hamin’s face in surprise.
His eyes were red and swollen, like he’d been crying for a long time.
The tears that had paused briefly seemed to spill out again the moment he saw Raon.
Caught off guard, Raon didn’t know what to do.
Standing in front of the door like that could lead to misunderstandings from passersby, so he gently ushered Hamin back into the hospital room.
Thankfully, Hamin had been assigned a private room, so there was no one else inside.
“Try not to cry and tell me. Did someone say something to you?”
“No… hic… No one said anything.”
“Then why…?”
Looking around, Raon spotted a box of tissues on the bedside table.
He pulled out a few sheets and carefully handed them to Hamin.
“Sniff… I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay. Just take your time and tell me.”
Hamin’s sobs gradually subsided in response to Raon’s calm voice.
Sniffling, he finally opened his mouth.
“It’s just… I feel so stupid and pathetic.”
“What do you mean?”
“You believed in me… but I blacked out in the gate. I didn’t do anything. I just fainted like an idiot…”
The memory seemed to overwhelm him again.
He clenched the tear-soaked tissue in his hand and looked devastated.
Raon watched him with a heavy heart.
He hadn’t expected Hamin to lose consciousness in the gate. In the original story, he had approached Dojin bravely and performed the Guiding without a hitch.
He had assumed it would go the same this time too.
Maybe it wasn’t Hamin’s fault.
Because Raon had paired with Siwoo and entered the irregular gate earlier than in the original timeline, everything had shifted.
If anyone was to blame, it was Raon for changing the flow of the story.
And Hamin wasn’t pathetic at all. Inside a gate, even the smallest thing could be fatal.
The fact that he had only fainted and wasn’t injured or killed was already a relief.
“How is that stupid? You got out of that chaos unharmed. That alone is impressive.”
“But a Guide is supposed to… guide…”
“I won’t lie—it’s a shame that didn’t happen. But you’ll have more chances.”
This irregular gate was just the beginning.
Far more dangerous ones would appear soon—ones far worse than this gray-hued gate.
Dojin’s condition still worried him, but right now, they needed every hand they could get.
If they were going to rely on Dojin, Hamin had to go with him into the gates.
Looking at him seriously, Raon continued.
“I’ve been given partial authority over personnel for a special team to deal with irregular gates. I plan to include you in the Guide team.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. But if you don’t want to, I won’t force you.”
“No! I want to! Please let me join the team!”
Hamin’s voice came out in a rush, as if afraid Raon would change his mind.
His eyes sparkled with renewed determination, and Raon nodded.
“Alright. Then rest up and get ready to come back soon.”
“Yes.”
In truth, Hamin wasn’t injured badly enough to require hospitalization.
The government had admitted the Guides for show—claiming it was for their protection—because this was the first time in ten years that Guides had entered a gate.
It seemed Hamin had suffered more emotionally than physically.
Thankfully, he looked brighter now, as if he’d started to forgive himself.
“Next time, I’ll make sure not to disappoint you.”
There was a fierce determination in Hamin’s eyes as he lifted his head.
Raon, unable to look directly at that intensity, shifted his gaze slightly.
“Really.”
“…Alright, get some rest.”
He patted Hamin’s shoulder a few times, then left the room.
He was relieved that one of the main characters hadn’t lost heart and was bouncing back.
Raon walked slowly down the corridor.
“…Excuse me.”
Having finished his report, Dojin left the commander’s office.
The head of the Espers Association and commander of the Special Unit didn’t blame Dojin for what had happened at the irregular gate.
He simply repeated that it was a one-time mistake and told him not to worry.
But that did nothing to lighten Dojin’s heart.
As he walked down the corridor, countless eyes glanced his way.
Eyes that once looked at him with admiration and awe now felt… different. With his heightened senses, Dojin could perceive the shift more clearly than anyone.
“…Haa.”
He raised a hand to rub his deeply furrowed brow and changed direction.
Before returning to his quarters, he decided to get some fresh air.
He stepped outside and headed toward the designated smoking area at the building’s edge.
“Heh, no way. That can’t be true.”
Some others were already there—Espers in the same military uniform.
They hadn’t noticed Dojin approaching and were chatting away, completely absorbed in gossip.
“I’m telling you, it’s true. My classmate actually went into an Irregular Gate this time.”
“You mean Major Yoon Siwoo handled that? He was that impressive?”
At the familiar name, Dojin flinched.
The espers chatting away were faces he recognized—young espers from external teams.
His gaze darkened as he looked at them.
“I heard it was insane. He made it rain inside the entire gate and froze a monster that even Team Leader Seo Dojin couldn’t lay a finger on.”
“But wasn’t Major Yoon’s ability never that powerful?”
“He got paired with an S-class guide recently.”
“Oh, right. That did happen.”
Dojin knew he should reprimand them for carelessly talking about what was practically military classified information.
But instead, he remained hidden, watching from the shadows.
The espers continued.
“S-class guides must be incredible. How does someone’s power get that much stronger just from pairing?”
“Don’t get your hopes up. It probably won’t do much for you anyway.”
“Damn. Well, he is an S-class esper. I guess the synergy really kicks in for those types.”
S-class guide.
Dojin remembered Raon’s face, the same one that had glared at him coldly.
The same one that had kissed Yoon Siwoo as he lay on the brink of death, after turning Dojin away.
“At this rate, he might get a special promotion to colonel soon.”
“But what about Team Leader Seo Dojin? You can’t have two colonels on the same team.”
“Not sure. From what I hear, higher-ups are just watching how it plays out…”
Perhaps they were starting to realize the sensitivity of the topic, because their voices dropped.
Still, Dojin could hear them clearly.
“Still, it’s impressive. A promotion to colonel at that age?”
“He awakened early and enlisted early. Plus, he’s S-class.”
“Now he’s paired with an S-class guide. From here, it’s nothing but smooth sailing. God, I’m so jealous.”
The espers stubbed out their cigarettes in a sand-filled ashtray, grumbling.
Their faces, though, brimmed with envy.
“I heard there’s a team reorganization coming up. Probably gonna revolve around those two.”
“Of course. Man, I wanna get in that new team.”
“Like they’d take a nobody like you.”
“Says you.”
Laughing and bantering, the espers drifted away from the smoking area.
Dojin, who had silently listened to every word, finally stepped out from the shadows.
“…Han Raon.”
He softly spoke the name that should have been his.
The guide who once longed for him, desired only him.
Wasn’t it always Raon who clung to him with such fierce possessiveness?
Dojin could still remember the way Raon had held onto him—those greedy eyes filled with longing.
He used to find that disgusting.
But now… now it wasn’t.
Now, it only made him want what he no longer had.
This wasn’t whimsy or greed.
If anyone had been pushy and refused to let go, it was Han Raon.
Dojin was simply reclaiming what should have always belonged to him.
That’s all it was.
Dojin raised his head, eyes blazing with intensity.
“Hmm.”
Raon stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair.
Once both he and Siwoo agreed to proceed with insertion guiding, everything moved fast.
Seokhyeon had insisted they use a dedicated guiding room instead of just picking one of their quarters.
It made the whole thing feel oddly formal.
Grumbling to himself, Raon glanced around the spacious room disguised as a “guiding suite.”
Far more luxurious and expansive than their normal quarters, it looked more like a hotel suite.
Maybe it was set up like this to help ability users feel more at ease.
He stared listlessly out the window at the city lights, then moved toward the bedroom.
Siwoo must’ve finished showering too, right?
Tilting his head, Raon opened the bedroom door.
“…What are you doing?”
“…!”
* * *
