* * *
Haebom, who had changed into fresh clothes, was too distracted to even tell whether the hangover soup was going into his mouth or up his nose.
He was worried Jin Seyoung would bring up last night’s events again.
Still, since the meal had been prepared for him with care, he couldn’t just leave it untouched.
So he diligently chewed and swallowed.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“I enjoyed my coffee too. Come over here for a second?”
While Haebom had been eating, Jin Seyoung had been organizing data.
Now, he called him over.
After tidying up his dishes, Haebom obediently pulled his chair next to Jin Seyoung’s and sat down, looking at him expectantly.
“This is a graph showing Wonho’s condition from after your last guiding session up until just before yesterday’s session. And this here—this is the data from early this morning. You can see the significant difference, right? And this graph quantifies the instability of his wavelength.”
Jin Seyoung methodically explained each graph and chart one by one.
The conclusion was clear—Wonho needed Haebom’s guiding.
However, Jin Seyoung was well aware of one crucial fact: it wasn’t Haebom who was avoiding guiding.
It was Wonho.
“Now that the ice has been broken, if he’s willing, he’ll accept guiding. Ideally, it should be every day, but let’s at least aim for every other day. Even if it’s just simple contact guiding. If that doesn’t work, we can resort to remote guiding, but it’s not very effective, and it’s much harder on you, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“…Alright…”
Jin Seyoung patted Haebom’s shoulder reassuringly, telling him not to feel burdened.
If Wonho tried to run, he promised he’d personally make sure he sat down in front of Haebom.
Encouraged, Haebom clenched his fists with determination.
Once the discussion ended, Haebom also underwent tests to check for any fluctuations in his guiding energy and overall physical condition.
Since he was an S-class Guide, his energy levels were more than sufficient to guide Wonho—but it was unclear how much an Esper suffering from guiding deficiency might have drained from him.
Guiding energy was directly tied to a Guide’s life force, so all Guides were required to undergo regular health check-ups.
In Haebom’s case, he had only recently become a Guide, and his partner was none other than Wonho—so he had been tested again in less than a week.
Fortunately, everything was normal.
The doctor advised him to rest adequately after guiding and recommended that he not only continue his Guide training but also start exercising daily, beginning with simple walks.
The Center put great effort into providing benefits for Guides—because Espers could only survive if Guides were there to support them.
One such benefit was access to exercise facilities.
The entire basement floor of the Guide Office building was a fitness center, and Haebom was strongly encouraged to visit sometime this week.
He had never been a fan of working out, but with no other choice, he nodded begrudgingly.
After leaving the lab and completing his training session, Haebom was told to take the rest of the day off.
But he had already made up his mind—starting today, he would guide Wonho every single day.
Technically, yesterday was the last session, meaning today he hadn’t guided him yet.
Whether or not Wonho would cooperate was another matter, but for now, Haebom decided to send a guiding request through the Gear.
[Guiding Request: Yoon Haebom (G) -> Wonho (E) = Request Sent]
This wasn’t his first time sending a guiding request through the Gear.
Over the past week, he had pressed that button countless times—only to be rejected just as many times.
One thing Pairs could access through the Gear was each other’s location.
Espers could track their Guides, and Guides could track their Espers.
Of course, simply taking off the Gear would prevent tracking—but according to what Jin Seyoung had told him, Wonho absolutely could not remove his Gear.
The reason?
Well, probably because he had gone into a Gate planning to self-destruct.
From Haebom’s perspective, the Center’s approach to this whole situation felt off.
Wouldn’t it have been easier to just push Choi Yoonseo into guiding Wonho?
Then again, the male lead, Na Hyunjoon, was also an S-class Esper, so maybe they were trying to keep him happy.
If it came down to losing one or the other, they might have decided Wonho was the more expendable option…
Ding—
[Guiding Request: Yoon Haebom (G) -> Wonho (E) = Request Accepted]
[Location: Guide Hall, 8th Floor, Room A]
“…Huh?”
Haebom blinked at the words on his Gear.
Then he blinked again.
He even rubbed his eyes, thinking he might be seeing things.
But the words didn’t disappear.
“Request… accepted?”
Not a rejection—but an acceptance?
Haebom, who had been sprawled out on the couch, shot up to his feet.
Of course, he had sent the request with the intent to guide Wonho.
But he had been so certain he’d be rejected that he was already mentally preparing to just go home and wait for Wonho to return.
But now it had been accepted?
Did the sun rise from the west today?
He had woken up late with a hangover, so he hadn’t even seen where the sun was.
But that wasn’t the issue.
It didn’t matter whether the sun rose in the east or the west!
The issue was that Wonho was on his way to his office.
Now that things had settled in his mind, embarrassment finally caught up to him.
He had been too preoccupied this morning to think about it properly, but… what happened last night between them was… something like that.
He couldn’t quite remember how things had escalated to that point, but he could only assume it happened because he had been trying to guide Wonho.
There was no way someone like Wonho—who had been running away from guiding—would have initiated anything himself.
In the end, it must have been his drunken self acting recklessly.
No matter how long he had to deal with this, one thing was clear: if he wanted to survive in this world, he had to guide Wonho.
Eating, sleeping, wearing clothes—it all cost money.
If he weren’t a Guide, he knew exactly how his life would have turned out, so he refused to dwell on that thought.
Guiding didn’t have to involve that kind of contact.
Yesterday had been a mistake.
As long as he didn’t make the same mistake again, it would be fine.
Wonho was a man, and so was he.
As long as he didn’t drink, nothing like that would happen again—at least, that’s what Haebom believed.
But that was only because he had no idea what state Wonho fell into when he was guided by him.
Not to mention, Wonho had spent so long fixated on the female lead.
He was a man.
Choi Yoonseo was a woman.
And Haebom still wasn’t entirely comfortable with a world where gender didn’t matter when forming a Pair—or even when becoming lovers.
Beep—
Someone rang the bell at Haebom’s guide office.
Since the guide office was a private space for guides, anyone trying to enter had to scan a guide ID, esper ID, or at least a staff ID on the sensor outside.
When they did, the tablet inside would display their name, affiliation, and other details.
Once Haebom checked the information and pressed the unlock button, the visitor could enter.
These security measures existed because crimes against guides had been common in the past.
It was to prevent espers from forcing guides into guiding against their will.
There was also an emergency call device inside the guide office.
It was meant for situations where an esper went berserk or attempted to force guidance.
On the first day of guide training, they explained all of this thoroughly, emphasizing that it was the most crucial system to understand.
[Visitor: Wonho (E) # Pair: Yoon Haebom (G) ………]
The name of the visitor appeared on the tablet.
* * *
