* * *
“This document details the legal protections available for guides. There’s no need to worry.”
Maybe in the past, things were different, but nowadays, strict laws ensured that Espers couldn’t mistreat their guides.
Jin Seyoung, not fully grasping Haebom’s hesitation, flipped to a page outlining the protections and showed it to him.
Haebom carefully read through it.
All guiding rights belonged to the guide.
However, guiding was also an obligation.
While a guide could refuse or consent at their discretion, they were still required to perform a certain number of guiding sessions per month.
Since guides were paid by the state, it was only natural.
After thoroughly reviewing the remaining documents, Haebom finally accepted Jin Seyoung’s proposal.
Until he found a way to return, he needed a place to stay.
He had no other choice.
“You’ve made the right decision. Now, let’s proceed with the rank assessment and compatibility test. Your new identity has already been processed, so you’ll only need to wait about two days for it to be issued. Shall we go?”
“Huh? Oh, uh… okay.”
It was already processed?
Haebom felt lightheaded.
What would they have done if he had refused?
Then again, this had never really been a choice for him in the first place.
Unlike Haebom, whose expression had darkened, Jin Seyoung looked far too pleased—like he had just pulled out a long-aching tooth.
There was no doubt in his mind: the compatibility between Wonho and this unsuspecting young man would be off the charts.
Just looking at the state Wonho had been in after his first guiding session was proof enough.
With satisfaction, Jin Seyoung handed one copy of the signed contract to Haebom and placed the other into a folder before leading him toward the guide ranking assessment room.
“Oh, Team Leader! You’re here? Right this way.”
“Thank you. Yoon Haebom, just follow this staff member. I’ll wait for you here.”
The ranking assessment room was on the second floor of the main building.
As soon as they entered, a Center staff member greeted them enthusiastically.
The process was smooth and efficient—there wasn’t much for Haebom to do.
All he had to do was step through the door connecting the waiting room to the assessment chamber, lie down inside a large cylindrical machine, and stay still.
The machine would do the rest, reading the guiding energy within his body.
Tense, Haebom lay inside the machine, waiting for the examination to be over.
After some time, there was a click, and the lid of the machine slid open.
The staff member standing nearby quickly reached out a hand to help him up.
Haebom took it, stepping out and following the staff member back to the waiting area, where Jin Seyoung sat on a sofa, waiting for him.
“Please wait a moment. The results will be out soon.”
“Okay….”
A short while later, the staff member abruptly shot up from their chair, their face flushed with excitement.
They checked their monitor screen multiple times, as if unable to believe the results.
“Team Leader! This person’s rank is S-Class! I’ve never seen an S-Class guide before!”
The staff member, after double and triple-checking the results, hurriedly printed them out and handed them to Jin Seyoung, their voice trembling with excitement.
Jin Seyoung’s expression also lit up at the news.
Meanwhile, Haebom, the person in question, just looked at them both with a deadpan expression.
‘S-Class?’
That was higher than the female protagonist’s A-Class ranking.
But aside from guiding Espers, what use was an S-Class ranked Guide?
He couldn’t see what was so great about it.
Jin Seyoung, after thoroughly reviewing the report, turned to Haebom and congratulated him on awakening as an S-Class guide.
Haebom, however, still felt nothing but unease.
Without wasting time, they moved straight to the research lab, where the compatibility test would take place.
“Haa… This is all too much.”
Haebom felt as if he had been completely swept up by Jin Seyoung.
No, he had been swept up—so much so that he ended up taking the compatibility test.
The real problem was that there had been no way for him not to get caught up in it.
The compatibility test was conducted one-on-one with an Esper.
There was a method that involved running data to generate results, but typically, the test was carried out through direct guiding like this.
They tested the compatibility of Espers who didn’t have a pair within the branch, prioritizing those in urgent need of guiding.
Haebom didn’t even need to ask who would be walking through that door.
Among all the unpaired Espers in this center, there was only one whose need for guiding was the most urgent.
If Haebom’s gaze could set things on fire, he would have burned the door down just by staring at it.
Creak—
The door slowly opened. And then—
A flash of gleaming, blood-red eyes.
Bang!
The moment their eyes met, the door slammed shut with a deafening noise.
Haebom, completely taken aback, could do nothing but widen his eyes and blink in disbelief.
~Flashback~
Bang!
Wonho slammed the door shut with such force it sounded like it might break.
He was utterly taken aback—not because he had shut the door, but because of the resonance that followed.
Thud, thud, thud.
His own energy rippled outward, echoing just as loudly as the door’s impact.
It was a sensation he had never experienced before.
He already knew exactly who was on the other side of the door.
And yet, he was shaken.
Most research teams were assigned to multiple Espers, but Wonho’s case was different.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Jin Seyoung’s entire team existed solely for him.
Having awakened as an S-class Esper at a young age, Wonho had to be constantly monitored to prevent him from losing control.
Jin Seyoung’s team had spent years researching ways for Espers to survive without a Guide.
But even after all that time, they had found nothing.
There was simply no way for an Esper to live without a Guide.
Machines and drugs designed to mimic a Guide’s guidance had their limits.
No matter how similar they seemed, they were fundamentally different.
A Guide used their abilities to purify the accumulated impurities in an Esper’s body.
In contrast, machines and drugs merely suppressed them.
And suppression only led to the Esper’s body breaking down.
The more the body deteriorated, the sooner their inevitable rampage would come.
“Wonho, this time, even if you refuse, you don’t have a choice. The Center won’t turn a blind eye to your independent actions anymore. And neither will I.”
Wonho recalled Jin Seyoung’s expression just before he had come here.
He understood that she was worried about him.
But that wasn’t why he was here.
He had come to meet the person responsible for rendering his hard-earned decision meaningless.
It had been five years since he awakened as an Esper at sixteen.
Because of his early awakening, he had to leave his family behind and relocate to the Center.
His parents had worried, but overall, it hadn’t been too bad.
Back then, the idea of becoming a hero who would save the world had seemed pretty cool.
A thought that only a child could entertain.
But that wasn’t all—what excited him the most was the prospect of finally meeting his Guide.
Someone who would be his and his alone.
* * *
AHHHHH