Lee Jeonghyeon, who now knew all too well where he was headed, let out a reflexive sigh, but he approached cautiously to avoid upsetting Hajin’s mood.
Having returned to the Association’s basement in an instant, Hajin strode through the deserted corridor where the occasional sound of gunfire echoed.
There wasn’t much time left until Suhyeon’s training session ended.
Hajin chewed over his first meeting with Suhyeon once more.
Back then, he had foolishly wondered if he was under hypnosis or some ability, doubting his own mental state, but now he knew with certainty.
Suhyeon was a person who would never appear twice in his life, the first and last person to make Hajin feel this way.
It was a kind of instinct.
No, rather than an instinct, it was a fact.
—……Administer it.
—Aaahhh!!
He was the only person who had managed to break through the defensive walls built from those memories, the only one who had made the near-impossible possible.
He was the one who taught Hajin the meaning of serene peace, where not a single unpleasantness or irritation could be felt.
A man who seemed created specifically for Hajin: Chae Suhyeon.
Therefore, Suhyeon was Hajin’s only person. He wanted Suhyeon to look only at him, to show that lovely face only to him, to touch only him, to laugh only when with him, and to let his guard down only when they were together.
If he could, he wanted to lock him up and hide him away where no one could see him.
So that Suhyeon wouldn’t even spare a glance for someone like Asher Delveron.
Hajin realized that this, too, was a form of anxiety.
“……Hajin?”
Thus, when Hajin stepped into the training center and saw Suhyeon immediately approaching him the moment he was spotted—ignoring Asher Delveron completely—he felt a deep sense of relief alongside a surge of even more intense emotion.
What on earth did he eat to grow up looking so fresh every day, looking like someone he wanted to just swallow whole in one bite?
The way those round, light-brown eyes looked up at him was incredibly pleasing.
“……Why are you hurt?”
“……Ah.”
Hajin had even forgotten that his cheek was injured.
When he touched his face, he could feel that the wound had already scabbed over with dried blood.
“Does it hurt? You came back after closing a gate, right? You’ve never been hurt before…… ah, first, the guiding…….”
Suhyeon, who was usually quiet regardless of what he saw or heard, stammered in rare panic.
Along with that, the sight of Asher Delveron abandoned in the distance looking pathetic caused Hajin’s anxiety to subside.
Hajin leaned down to make it easier for Suhyeon to touch him.
He couldn’t have been more satisfied with the sight of his own reflection filling Suhyeon’s eyes.
He had never received concern from others and had always thought such things were pathetic, but Suhyeon’s worry was sweet.
He wanted more of that attention.
He, who used to think nothing was more contemptible than being touched by humans or monsters, momentarily thought… maybe I should come back injured from now on.
Then, without hesitation, Suhyeon gripped his chin and kissed him, even though Asher Delveron was watching them both intently from across the room.
A sweet taste, scent, and guiding poured into his body.
Hajin exhaled a satisfied breath and met the eyes of Asher Delveron, who was glaring savagely at him over Suhyeon’s shoulder.
He watched quite leisurely as Asher’s green eyes contorted, and Hajin curved his own eyes while tightening his hold on the waist of the kissing Suhyeon.
Since Suhyeon’s gaze was occupied, he didn’t need to hide his satisfaction at the sight of the “fox cub” who had dropped his facade to reveal a vicious glare.
‘This belongs to me.’
“Mmn…….”
As if marking his territory, Hajin intertwined his tongue with Suhyeon’s, closing his eyes to savor the rushing sweetness.
He was unaware of the way Asher Delveron’s eyes flashed as he watched them.
Returning to the present, Suhyeon—who was still largely unaware of the psychological warfare between Hajin and Asher—was feeling quite grateful to Asher as the training neared its end and his progress became visible.
He felt like he should offer some small token of thanks.
A meal…… Hajin would likely throw a fit, so maybe buying a coffee would be appropriate.
Bang! Bang!
With those thoughts, Suhyeon cleared the monsters and stepped out of the simulation.
It felt strange to think this was the final session.
“……?”
He noticed something was wrong when Asher, who usually would be chatteringly praising him or suggesting improvements while his earrings jingled by the console, was nowhere to be seen.
There was no sound.
“……Asher?”
He blinked and called the name, but there was no response, as if the room were empty—until.
“…….”
A sound similar to a groan reached Suhyeon’s ears.
It was so faint he wouldn’t have heard it if he hadn’t been listening closely.
With a sense of foreboding, Suhyeon narrowed his eyes and walked behind the console.
“……Asher?”
“Ugh…….”
Asher was slumped over, leaning against the back of the large console.
His face was pale, eyes closed, brow furrowed as he let out intermittent groans.
“……Asher, Asher? Open your eyes. Asher.”
Suhyeon, frozen for a moment, snapped out of it at the sound of another ear-piercing groan and shook him.
However, Asher only groaned a bit more and couldn’t open his eyes.
He had no idea what was going on.
—Ugh, I’m tired.
Asher had looked a bit fatigued when he arrived in a hurry right before training started, panting as if he’d been rushing.
……First, the medical wing.
“……Ugh, gasp,”
As Suhyeon knelt down and reached for his phone to call the medical wing, the slumped Asher suddenly gasped and snapped his eyes open.
“Oh, did I collapse? Jeez, uh, I didn’t mean to, ugh—.”
Muttering with his green eyes wide, Asher tried to push himself up from the floor but stumbled again.
Before Suhyeon could catch him, he hit his head on the floor and collapsed again.
“Are you okay?”
He didn’t look okay at all.
Suhyeon, unusually panicked, didn’t know what to do but managed to speak.
“To the medical wing—,”
“No, th……is isn’t a health, issue…… uh, no, ugh……,”
Asher stammered through a furrowed brow before groaning again.
Even though he had regained consciousness, his condition looked critical.
If it wasn’t a health issue, then what—ah. Just as Suhyeon realized something—
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!
A sharp alarm blared from Asher’s wrist.
Suhyeon flinched at the sound he had never heard before.
“Asher!”
Asher seemed to have lost consciousness again as his head fell limply to the floor.
40%.
The screen of the watch on his wrist turned on, showing the value to Suhyeon.
Suhyeon stared at the unrealistic number on the screen.
40%?
He remembered that when he had just begun to handle guiding waves, the level at which Hajin had collapsed after stubbornly holding out was 44%.
Even then, Hajin’s level hadn’t been this low.
Suhyeon felt his blood run cold in an instant.
Vrr—.
Suhyeon looked up as a vibration sounded nearby.
A cell phone dropped on the floor was vibrating. It was Asher’s.
The screen flashing white said “Master.”
Asher’s master—he had heard it mentioned in passing—was the Association President.
The phone rang incessantly and urgently.
Asher had once mentioned he had a pair.
That meant, unlike Hajin, Asher normally received guiding.
After a brief pause, the phone rang again, this time displaying “Pair.”
The phone vibrated anxiously as if begging to be answered.
It didn’t matter why Asher hadn’t received guiding or what had happened.
Suhyeon realized that the current situation was beyond serious.
They were in the training center, and it was far too long a distance to the sector where the guides stayed. Let alone moving Asher?
That was impossible.
Waiting for someone to arrive after contacting them seemed like it would be too late.
In the end, he was the only one.
It was his first time attempting to guide someone other than Hajin.
There was a moment of hesitation, but—
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!
The thought vanished as the watch alarm blared harshly once more.
Suhyeon swallowed his dry saliva.
A pale hand reached out and rested on the solid shoulder.
“Where is that crazy man……!”
As soon as Lee Jaeram arrived at the Association, he stormed into the Team 2 office.
He was in a rare state of panic—extremely so—for someone who usually handled any guiding situation with a sly smile.
“Mr. Lee Jaeram?”
The Team 2 Esper remaining in the office blinked in confusion.
“Asher, where is Asher?”
There was no time for explanations. Jaeram asked urgently.
“The Team Leader? I don’t think he’s back yet…… weren’t you together?”
Jaeram gritted his teeth.
“He should be back at the Association. Is there any place you can think of??”
Trying to find someone by foot in this Association building with over 100 floors was madness.
Jaeram’s voice turned sharp.
He had sent a barrage of texts, but that damn Asher Delveron hadn’t checked any of them, nor was he answering calls.
“Uh…….”
It was natural to be confused since no explanation was given, but as the nameless Esper just stood there stammering, Jaeram clenched his teeth.
“His levels were in the 50% range, and he just came back here!”
“……Wh-what??”
Not anyone else, but that Asher Delveron, who was so sensitive to guiding levels that he would harass everyone around him if they dropped.
Only after Jaeram let out a shrill shout did the Esper grasp the situation, his face turning pale.
“Ah, uh, how…… ah, the training room, the training room!! He’s been going to the training room a lot lately! I’ll report it right—right away!”
An S-class Esper roaming around without guiding, especially near a dangerous threshold, was a living disaster.
Jaeram sprinted toward the basement as if he had been launched.
His body, not known for its stamina, let out a silent scream.
He loathed running and sweating, but this was an emergency.
Jaeram bit his red lips hard.
