* * *
“Him”… no way—
Seo Jaewon turned his head, following Joo Youngha’s gaze.
At the end of that stare was Min Yoomin, looking utterly dumbfounded.
Looking around in disbelief, Min Yoomin asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it:
“Me?”
Joo Youngha ignored him entirely, still staring at Seo Jaewon with those shimmering eyes.
Min Yoomin clearly didn’t even qualify as part of this conversation.
“You’ve been talking to him a lot today…”
Joo Youngha trailed off, eyes still on Min Yoomin.
His expression was blank, but there was something oddly pointed about it.
“Hey, Joo Youngha—”
Before Seo Jaewon could say anything in response, Min Yoomin freaked out and bolted.
“Sara! I have a question!”
“Oh wow, you’re finally interested in me?”
HHwi Sara lit up as Min Yoomin clung to her like a lifeline.
Apparently, he’d decided a clingy esper was better than a weird esper.
Smart choice.
With Min Yoomin running interference, Seo Jaewon was trapped.
Joo Youngha was still staring at him.
“Jaewon.”
That honey-colored gaze landed softly on him.
Were his eyebrows… twitching with tension?
Cold sweat dripped down Seo Jaewon’s back.
‘God, this is insane. He’s not a kid…’
While he had his eyes squeezed shut for a moment, a soft hand—glove now gone—slid around his wrist.
Seo Jaewon gritted his teeth.
“Where’d you lose your gloves this time?”
He’d been emotionally tossed around by this guy all day.
His voice came out a little sharper than he meant it to.
Not that Joo Youngha seemed to care.
“Dunno. What about guiding?”
Joo Youngha’s fingers slithered into Seo Jaewon’s palm like a snake.
The smooth, soft texture made the back of his neck prickle.
“…Later.”
Joo Youngha pouted.
“When later? You said you’d do it earlier.”
“That was…”
Another drop of sweat rolled down his back.
‘Think, Seo Jaewon. Think.’
If you wanted perfect control, you had to be consistent with rewards and consequences.
Changing your word only encouraged bad habits.
Even with a dog—if you say “paw” and it gives you one, you give it a treat.
If you keep making it perform tricks without rewards, it stops listening.
Same logic applied here.
No one wants to follow orders for free.
Why would Youngha be any different?
“Well… I guess I have no choice. A promise is a promise.”
Yeah. Just do it. Get it over with.
No matter how he felt, now was the time to act strategically.
If he didn’t handle this somehow, there was no telling when Joo Youngha might lose interest in guiding again and start acting out.
In that case, it was better to eliminate the risk now, while he was still relatively calm.
Besides, Seo Jaewon had been bothered by his strangely tired expression and the low energy levels showing on his watch.
Either way, this was something he had to take responsibility for—as a guide.
Seo Jaewon bit off his gloves, yanked them off, then grabbed Joo Youngha’s hand and pulled him closer.
While he was at it, he laced their fingers together too.
He didn’t forget to add a little threat along with the gesture.
“You’d better do what I tell you from now on, got it?”
Joo Youngha rolled his eyes lazily, then suddenly broke into a satisfied smile, as if he hadn’t been sulking just moments ago.
“Yesss~”
Their fingers entwined more tightly, and his body heat seeped in warmer and heavier.
Hey, quit wiggling your fingers!
As Seo Jaewon started walking forward, still holding his hand, Joo Youngha followed behind him with a bright grin.
Doing a guiding session while on the move wasn’t exactly uncommon in the field.
It wasn’t like they could stop the entire strike team every time, so this might be a good chance to practice.
He had crammed some guiding theory that morning.
The ‘Guidebook for Guides’ had actually contained some useful tips.
‘Try focusing on small sensations, like body temperature. Relaxing will help the energy flow naturally.’
Seo Jaewon tried to focus on Joo Youngha’s body heat.
Almost immediately, he felt warmth spreading through his fingertips.
Like blood rushing through a limb after being numb—his skin tingled and prickled slightly beneath the surface, and a mild dizziness washed over him, then faded.
Suddenly, a soft pink system message popped up in front of his eyes.
!QUEST! Guide Joo Youngha. (51/100)
The moment he began the guiding, the number started climbing steadily—as if it had been waiting for him.
The number “100” didn’t seem to refer to how many times he had to guide, but rather some sort of quantified progress.
He’d been worried he’d have to do this a hundred times—thank god that wasn’t the case.
As he let out a sigh of relief, a line at the bottom of the message window caught his eye.
It was shimmering faintly.
It was the quest reward.
At the end of the day, the most important thing for a guide was compatibility rate.
Unless you could maintain at least around 50%, you weren’t really of much use.
Especially with someone like Joo Youngha, who had such massive energy reserves.
Trying to purify that with their current 30%-range match rate would be a never-ending task.
Like trying to filter the ocean with a coffee filter.
‘Nngh…’
He’d have to keep guiding him whenever he had a chance, if only to collect that match rate bonus.
!QUEST! Guide Joo Youngha. (66/100)
He still wasn’t sure what exactly the number was based on, but it definitely wasn’t increasing too quickly.
He counted silently—it was going up by about 1 or 2 per minute.
Better than being based on number of times, at least…
The fact that it had gone up by 51 overnight suggested it had spiked when he passed out yesterday.
Maybe the amount gained was related to the intensity of the guiding session.
Still, he had no desire to test that theory.
If it drained him like that every time, he wouldn’t survive many more.
Still, the process was gradually getting easier.
Seo Jaewon had always prided himself on being good with physical tasks.
His nerves, which had been on edge from focusing on both his surroundings and the guiding, began to calm down.
Joo Youngha’s energy—so overwhelming at first—was now starting to melt naturally into Seo Jaewon’s breathing.
It was a little taxing, but it felt like things were moving at his own pace now, rather than being pulled along by Youngha.
Like walking a strong dog that had finally learned to heel.
Maybe guiding was like a muscle—you had to train it.
Seeing the numbers rise gave him a small sense of satisfaction.
Before long, he even had the mental space to throw out a quip.
“Stop shoving it in like an idiot.”
“If you just relaxed, everything would slide in, Jaewon.”
“…Relax where, exactly?”
At that moment, HHwi Saul, who’d been trailing behind, whispered quietly.
“Guys, please start using subjects in your sentences…”
Subjects?
Right.
Seo Jaewon had a lot to say about Joo Youngha’s speech habits too.
He jumped at the chance to back him up.
“Exactly. Joo Youngha, you need to start talking like people can actually understand you. You’re not a preschooler. You’re a fully grown Esper, and your sentences are that short?”
At this point, Joo Youngha was already banned from speaking at public events like interviews.
For the sake of Esper dignity—or so the team said—any Esper who couldn’t at least hold a human-level conversation shouldn’t be given a mic, regardless of rank.
Joo Youngha just gave a halfhearted reply.
“But you understand me.”
“Of course I understand. That’s not the point!”
HHwi Saul smiled and chimed in.
“Let’s just… not talk anymore, guys.”
They continued bantering like that as they climbed higher into the dungeon.
So far, it was peaceful.
The place seemed to be filled entirely with thick vegetation.
The mannequins that had startled them earlier were still scattered around in small clusters.
Unmoving.
They were creepy at first, but everyone quickly grew used to them.
!QUEST! Guide Joo Youngha. (73/100)
Wandering through the dungeon like that, the quest number had steadily risen.
Glancing back, Seo Jaewon saw Joo Youngha quietly following him with his lashes lowered.
Maybe it was the guiding, but his pale cheeks now had the faintest hint of pink.
It was honestly kind of impressive to see life returning to someone who usually looked like a marble statue.
Even when he was just pouting, people would whip their heads around for a second glance—now he was even more dangerous.
If only he smiled like this more often.
Then, even when he acted like a brat—well, okay, he’d still be annoying.
“Face like that, and yet…”
With a personality like his, it was hard to put him to good use.
Seo Jaewon couldn’t help sighing in frustration.
They could praise him as a “protector of the people” or whatever, but at the end of the day, Espers were just public servants living on the government’s dime.
The Dungeon Management Bureau was always scrambling to justify even a sliver more of the budget.
That meant they invested heavily in not just results, but also image.
And when it came to PR, there was no resource as cost-effective as a handsome Esper.
That’s why every branch kept pushing their young, good-looking Espers in front of a camera whenever they could.
In terms of looks and power, no one came close to Joo Youngha… but putting him in front of the public was basically a guaranteed disaster.
“Do you like my face?”
Joo Youngha smiled sweetly and yanked Seo Jaewon’s hand toward him.
“…What? Hey—!”
Before he knew it, Seo Jaewon had spun around to face him.
Then Joo Youngha grabbed his other hand too.
“This is what you like?”
* * *
