The sound of steady breathing echoed in the room.
Hajin gazed at Suhyeon, who was curled in his arms.
The sleeping face of his lover was pale, marked with deep exhaustion.
He had been so incredibly angry just moments ago, but that angelic, sleeping face had softened his heart and washed the rage away.
“…Sigh.”
Hajin let out a long breath.
He had been truly furious that Suhyeon would try to save a mere monster without even considering his own safety.
Truly, if the only reason were that Suhyeon wanted to save that single puffball sleeping soundly without a care in the world, Hajin would have already taken him abroad.
Whether there were monsters or not, foreign countries would welcome two S-class talents with open arms.
—Even if it’s not just to save the puffball, if this power can really do something about monsters or things from the Gate… then I want to do it so I can learn the strength to protect my own body.
The reason he hadn’t forced the issue was that there was a logically acceptable point to Suhyeon’s argument.
Hajin looked down with his blue eyes, taking in every detail of his lover.
While part of him wanted Suhyeon to lean on him for everything, it would ultimately be a good thing if Suhyeon had the power to protect himself.
Thinking back to the kidnapping by that damn Shin Seojun, if a similar situation ever arose, Suhyeon wouldn’t have to be a helpless victim.
Of course, he intended to stay glued to Suhyeon 24 hours a day to ensure such a thing never happened again, but there was no harm in his lover possessing defensive strength.
Nevertheless, the “field” was a place where anything could happen.
If Suhyeon were an Esper with ordinary abilities rather than this unprecedented, unknown power, Hajin might feel a little less anxious.
He needed to hunt down and kill Shin Seojun, but he also felt like killing the higher-ups of the Association who were piling these worries onto him.
Letting out another sigh as his thoughts grew complicated, Hajin gently stroked Suhyeon’s fair cheek with his finger.
As if welcoming the warmth of the touch, his lover turned his head slightly more toward Hajin’s hand in his sleep.
The problems remained unresolved, but with that single movement, Hajin felt an illusion as if all his negative emotions were melting away.
Ding.
It was then that Hajin’s phone vibrated with a short notification.
To avoid waking Suhyeon, he reached out with one arm and picked up the phone he had tossed aside.
Several names appeared on the messenger window at once.
[Is Suhyeon okay?]
[Lee Nahyeon is being stubborn. She won’t listen to reason.]
[Is Suhyeon really going out because of that monster? For real? It seems the higher-ups are really determined. I have a hunch about something…]
They were messages from the Association President, Headquarters Chief Chae Yihan, and Asher Delveron, in that order.
The rest were various texts he could ignore. Practically speaking, none of them were helpful.
Frowning, Hajin was about to click the messenger window of the employee tracking Shin Seojun’s whereabouts when his phone rang again.
It was an official notice from the Association.
As if it had been delivered to Suhyeon as well, the other phone on the bed chimed briefly and the screen lit up.
[Notice to Guide Chae Suhyeon. To verify the monster’s safety and your abilities… Location and time… Espers… A total of … will be accompanying…]
It was another message in the form of a command.
Originally, it should have been sent only to Suhyeon, but a rude copy had been sent to him as well, as if mocking him for being so protective.
“Seriously, has everyone lost their minds…?”
Hajin tossed the phone back onto the bed carelessly.
As he pulled Suhyeon closer, the Guide’s unique sweet scent faintly brushed his nose, gently soothing his frayed nerves.
A sense of stability filled his chest, but his blue eyes looking past the bed sank coldly.
It seemed that the Association’s intentional pestering of Suhyeon wasn’t just about using him as a Guide, but rather that they had some ulterior motive.
Whoever was leading this, the way they kept poking at Suhyeon was pathetic…
They were hovering right on the edge of the line, and if they took even one more step, Hajin wouldn’t stay still.
When it came to his lover’s safety, he would tear them apart in his own way, even if it meant being hated by Suhyeon himself.
The first priority was Shin Seojun; whether the Association’s higher-ups would be second remained to be seen.
If he had it his way, he would burn it all down and just spend his days idling away with Suhyeon.
After sleeping for about two hours, Suhyeon left the house following the Association’s guidance to prove he could properly control the puffball.
Hajin had returned to his usual state, his anger seemingly completely gone while Suhyeon slept.
Suhyeon, with Hajin sticking close to him, moved to the location designated by the Association with Lee Jeonghyeon’s help.
With a flash of white light, they arrived in an instant at an empty field in Chungnam.
It looked similar to Yeoju, the place where the Gate accident had occurred.
While being held by Hajin, Suhyeon took the puffball out of his pocket.
“Kkyuu.”
He had to transform this brightly chirping puffball into a monster and demonstrate proper control over it.
‘Can I do it?’
Concern rose reflexively.
He only knew that it had gulped down his energy as if receiving guiding; he didn’t really know what this power was.
But Suhyeon had to succeed.
He had persuaded Hajin with the desire to save the puffball and the thought of learning to protect himself using that power.
Vrooooooooom!
As Suhyeon looked down at the puffball with a calm gaze, a loud engine roar erupted from afar.
The sound drew closer, causing Suhyeon and Hajin to look up.
In the distance, a red jeep kicked up a cloud of dust as it sped across the unpaved field.
The car didn’t slow down even as it got closer.
Suhyeon flinched, and Hajin quickly pulled him back.
The car swerved narrowly—almost hitting them—and screeched to a halt.
A man with dyed red hair hopped out of the driver’s seat.
“Hey there, Mr. Guide. I’m Esper Lee Kyujin. We saw each other earlier, right?”
The man who introduced himself as Lee Kyujin looked at Hajin and Suhyeon, waving his hand with a grin as if his reckless driving was perfectly normal.
—The Guide wants to save the monster, and for the Association to find a reason to save it, they need the Guide’s mysterious ability. It’s a win-win, right?
He was the man who had confronted Hajin this morning, siding with Suhyeon going to the field.
Before coming here, Suhyeon had been told that five or six Espers would come to observe the monster and his power, while preparing for any potential situation.
This man, with his eyes curved into thin slits, seemed to be one of them.
“You certainly seem to be a skilled driver,” Hajin remarked sarcastically, his mood already sour.
“Hm? That’s right, I am a good driver.”
The man brushed it off effortlessly.
While Hajin growled and glared at the man, white light flared again, and Lee Jeonghyeon arrived with the remaining Espers.
Once the Espers had gathered in an awkward formation, Lee Kyujin looked at Suhyeon with a smirk.
“Good luck, Mr. Guide. Thanks to you, I get to have a fascinating experience. It’s an honor.”
“…Should I just begin?”
At the Esper’s attitude, which suggested he start immediately, Suhyeon looked back at Hajin.
Hajin nodded. Since this was an unprecedented situation, there seemed to be no established protocol.
‘Is it really okay to do it in such a haphazard way?’
Suhyeon blinked at the strange feeling and then opened the palm that was holding the puffball.
“Kkyuu!”
The puffball cried out as if it had been cramped in his grip, its fur fluffing back out.
The Espers flinched and slowly backed away from Suhyeon.
The man named Lee Kyujin, who was grinning for some reason, did the same.
Only Hajin remained, hugging Suhyeon’s waist from behind.
“Can you do it?”
“…I don’t know.”
“If anything feels even slightly off, you have to tell me immediately. Understood?”
Hajin was clearly worried.
Suhyeon nodded obediently and looked at the puffball in his hand.
It was strange.
Now that the stage was set, unlike before, he didn’t feel afraid or nervous about failing to control the monster.
“Kkyuuuu.”
When Suhyeon looked at it, the puffball chirped happily.
Suhyeon slowly bent his knees and crouched down.
Hajin, who was stuck to his side, crouched down with him.
Feeling Hajin there as a pillar of support, Suhyeon carefully placed the puffball on the ground.
“Kkyuu?”
As soon as it touched the earth, the puffball rolled to the right, then back to the left. It seemed to tilt its head in confusion.
Suhyeon reached out a finger.
It sank into the soft fur.
The puffball stopped rolling and looked up at Suhyeon with its tiny black eyes.
Those small eyes sparkled.
‘It definitely absorbed guiding energy.’
Taking a small breath, Suhyeon began to release the guiding energy surging within his body.
A twitch.
The puffball reacted as if the method was correct.
“Guiding…?”
Behind him, Hajin let out a faint whisper, having felt the wavelength.
“Kkyuuuu…”
However, Suhyeon soon had to furrow his brows.
The puffball’s reaction was only momentary.
After that initial twitch when the wavelength hit it, the puffball simply let out a long cry and showed no further change.
This happened despite the strange intuition inside Suhyeon screaming that this was the right way.
‘Is this not it?’
Suhyeon tilted his head.
He had an intuition, but since he didn’t have exact knowledge, he couldn’t be sure of anything. Suhyeon watched the puffball intently and tried flowing guiding into it again, as if feeding it.
This time, too, nothing changed.
The puffball just wiggled its soft fur.
‘What should I do?’
Suhyeon paused.
If the puffball didn’t transform into a monster, they couldn’t even begin.
Troubled, Suhyeon looked down at the creature.
“Kkyuu, kkyuuuu?”
But as if it had been waiting for that exact moment, the swaying, fluffy fur suddenly stilled.
Just as Suhyeon blinked at the cry—which sounded quite different from before—a faint light shimmered through the puffball’s fur and then died down.
