High-ranking dedicated guides are obligated to respond to summons during Association emergencies.
There had certainly been such a clause in the contract when Suhyeon signed with Hajin.
It seemed this was exactly that kind of situation.
“Suhyeon-kun!”
The Association President came rushing out the moment Suhyeon arrived.
His face was grim, a testament to the severity of the crisis.
Beside him stood Yihan, looking thoroughly displeased.
His expression was a mirror of Hajin’s, who had spent the entire car ride muttering that Suhyeon didn’t need to go.
—It’s an obligation, he said. And I don’t think I can stay hidden forever.
—I will make sure you stay hidden. You’re going to be my dedicated guide for the rest of your life; why would there be a reason for anyone to know?
When Suhyeon had worriedly voiced his concerns, Hajin had consistently promised to protect him forever.
For a fleeting second, Suhyeon actually believed Hajin could pull it off, but he ultimately decided to help.
As always, he wanted to live selfishly—quietly, peacefully, and ideally doing absolutely nothing while staying holed up in Hajin’s house.
But he still had lines he wouldn’t cross.
If the President, who had kept Suhyeon’s identity hidden and allowed him to work only with Hajin and a few others, was calling him personally, things had to be dire.
It meant even mobilizing every available guide hadn’t been enough.
If he could help, it felt right to do so, obligation or not.
“……I’m sorry. I didn’t want to call you in like this, but even after calling every available A-rank guide, the guiding rooms are paralyzed. Even that… boy says he’s struggling…….”
The President spoke in a somber voice.
Suhyeon couldn’t quite catch the name he mumbled at the end, but the man’s face was shrouded in darkness.
“Of course, I will compensate you appropriately. You’re in a position where your name can’t stay hidden forever, but I’m sorry that the timeline was pushed forward like this.”
He began to lead the way, offering to guide them to the floor where the guides were gathered.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened with a clear chime, revealing a corridor heavy with the scent of disinfectant.
At the end of the hall was the entrance to the Association Guiding Room.
“Suhyeon.”
Even though they had reached the door, Hajin called out to him once more, clearly hating every second of this.
His concern remained solely focused on what would happen once Suhyeon’s identity was revealed.
Suhyeon gave him a faint smile.
“Even if something happens later, you can just protect me, Hajin.”
“…….”
Whether that soft logic appealed to him or not, Hajin shut his mouth tight like a sulky cat.
“I’ll protect you too!”
Asher Delveron, who had been trailing behind them, tried to wedge himself into the conversation without an ounce of tact, only to flinch and dodge a fireball Hajin threw over his shoulder without even looking back.
“For now, Hajin-kun and Asher-kun, please wait outside.”
The President, still mumbling apologies to Suhyeon, turned to address the two Espers before swiping his card at the entrance.
“……Go on then. Don’t overexert yourself, and if any Esper shows even the slightest resistance to your guiding, call me immediately.”
“See you soon, Suhyeon!”
“You, just get lost already.”
“I don’t want to.”
Suhyeon expected Hajin to throw a fit about not being able to go inside—Espers were generally barred from guiding rooms—but he surprisingly let Suhyeon go with ease.
“Why do those bastards get to have Suhyeon’s guiding…….”
Though he did continue to grumble with a pouting face, clearly unhappy that Suhyeon would be guiding others.
Beep.
The door to the guiding room opened smoothly, and Suhyeon stepped inside.
“Nnggh…….”
“……Hey, can you hold on?”
“……Excuse me, could you take us first?”
“Please keep the order!”
The room must have been soundproofed, because as soon as the inner door opened, Suhyeon faltered at the cacophony of noise hitting his ears.
The scene looked like a university hospital waiting room.
Waiting chairs lined one wall, while the other was filled with numbered rooms.
The smell of disinfectant he’d caught in the hallway now aggressively pierced his nose.
There were so many people that chairs were in short supply.
People groaning because their levels had dropped too far, a middle-aged woman screaming to be seen first, a man nervously shaking his leg while clutching a bandaged wound he hadn’t even finished treating before rushing here…….
‘Are all of these people Espers?’
“From Team 5 onward, the number of members per team is quite large. Having three teams gathered like this… and even this is after the most critical cases have been handled. Normally, they would have evacuated immediately after the rank error, but communication was cut off, delaying the response. It’s a miracle the death toll was so low…….”
With a dark expression, the President stopped in front of one of the rooms.
He gave a slight nod to the staff member checking the Esper queue and opened the door.
“Yes, you can go now.”
“Thank you……!”
It seemed someone was already inside.
While he was splitting the work with other guides, the realization that he had to help guide the sea of Espers filling the hallway caused tension to settle on Suhyeon’s shoulders.
But Suhyeon didn’t yet know that the crowd wasn’t the problem.
“It will be different from when you guide Hajin-kun. Because there are so many Espers, you should only raise their levels to the minimum they can withstand to avoid overexerting yourself.”
The Esper inside finished their session and left, pulling the curtain aside.
The President held the curtain and ushered Suhyeon further into the room.
In the sun-drenched room, he saw a man sitting at a desk with his back turned.
He appeared to be a guide.
“It’ll be hard to gauge on your own, so this guide will help you. He’s talented and quite experienced.”
The man turned around gracefully.
“Hello.”
Thump.
Suhyeon froze, feeling a terrifying sensation as if his chest were being crushed by something heavy.
It was a familiar face.
All the tension he’d been holding, the people in the hallway, the guides, the Espers—every thought filling his head vanished into white noise.
A man with a pale face and a snake-like smile.
Lee Jaeram.
Why?
“This is Guide Lee Jaeram. Aside from yourself, he is the strongest…….”
“You said your name was Suhyeon, right? Nice to—”
Suhyeon’s ears went numb.
The President and Lee Jaeram were saying something, but it only sounded like a muffled buzzing, as if he were underwater.
—Hm? I don’t want to be the bad guy.
—……Lee Jaeram!!!
A memory he hadn’t thought of in a long time pierced through his muffled ears.
“……?”
“……-kun? Suhyeon-kun? Are you alright?”
Suhyeon gasped for air and snapped back to reality.
He blinked.
The President was staring at him with wide eyes.
His muscular hand was on Suhyeon’s shoulder, as if he had shaken him a few times.
Cold sweat dripped down Suhyeon’s spine.
“……Ah, yes. I’m okay.”
Suhyeon managed to force the words out.
“If it’s too much, tell me anytime. Guiding while you’re not in good health can be fatal.”
“……I’m fine.”
The President seemed completely unaware of the relationship between Lee Jaeram and Suhyeon.
Suhyeon took a slow, deep breath.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
His heart was beating so fast it made his chest ache.
Memories replayed in his mind, pushing his mental state to the limit, but Suhyeon bit his lip and held his ground.
Perhaps he had moved on enough, or perhaps the passage of time had healed him slightly.
He didn’t panic as much as he had when he reunited with Do Yejun.
At the same time, he re-realized the fact that Lee Jaeram was a guide.
A long-forgotten memory—the very reason he had felt negatively about guides in the first place—belatedly came to mind.
He didn’t know if the man was still Do Yejun’s guide or someone else’s, but Lee Jaeram was a guide.
Which meant it wasn’t strange at all to run into him at the Association.
“……Alright, I see. Then, I’ll leave it to you, Jaeram-kun.”
Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t made too much of a scene.
The President watched Suhyeon carefully before stepping back.
Behind the President’s back, Jaeram curved his pitch-black eyes into a gentle smile.
Clack.
With the sound of the door closing, Suhyeon was left alone with Lee Jaeram.
“Hello, Suhyeon. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
The smooth voice slithered into Suhyeon’s ears like a snake.
Time passed where every minute felt like an hour, and every hour felt like a day.
Guiding the Espers wasn’t a major problem.
It was much easier than guiding Hajin.
Although his stamina was gradually draining due to the sheer number of people, that wasn’t the main issue either.
The problem was the man beside him.
Suhyeon’s entire focus was on Lee Jaeram.
Lee Jaeram said nothing.
Not a single word was exchanged between them, save for one brief moment in the middle where he mentioned they only needed to fill the levels to a certain point.
Suhyeon couldn’t understand why they had been placed in the same room.
He had to endure the feeling of Lee Jaeram’s gaze staring intensely at his side from time to time.
Every time it happened, his heart hammered, fearing the man would bring up the Gate or Do Yejun, but for better or worse, Lee Jaeram remained silent until the end.
“Good work today, Suhyeon.”
At the end of an eternity-long day, the guiding work finally finished.
“……Good work.”
Whether his voice trembled or not didn’t matter.
Suhyeon stood up, desperate to get out of the room as quickly as possible.
But just as he was about to open the door and leave—
“I heard you became Esper Shin Hajin’s dedicated guide?”
“It seems the Gate brought you an unexpected stroke of luck.”
Whispers and laughter, laced with unmistakable malice.
