Beep— A sensor sounded, and the door burst open.
Since he’d accepted the guiding request, the guy just barged in like that.
A man who clearly had no sense of manners at all grinned and waved.
It had already been four days, but there was still no news that Wonho had returned from the Gate.
Refusing the request wasn’t an option.
It wasn’t like he’d caused any serious problems aside from being sleazy and annoyingly clingy.
But from today onward, Haebom had no intention of just quietly putting up with it.
“Did you sleep well? Guide, I couldn’t sleep ‘cause I missed you. So let’s do our best today, yeah?”
“…Have a seat.”
Haebom pointed to the seat in front of him with a tilt of his chin, wiggling his heavy right foot.
The man shrugged and took the seat across from him, reaching out his hand.
Even in this situation, it was irritating how he waited for Haebom to place his hand on top first.
“Esper Cha Minjun, initiating contact-based guiding.”
Hiding the irritation boiling inside, Haebom placed his hand on Cha Minjun’s and pressed the start button with a calm expression.
‘Don’t snap, don’t snap,’ he repeated to himself, releasing his guiding energy.
Normally, Minjun would’ve started spewing nonsense the moment the session began, but today, strangely enough, he was quiet.
What’s this? Still, since it made things easier for him, Haebom just let the guiding energy flow.
The originally scheduled session was two hours.
‘At this rate, we might actually go the full two hours?’
There had never been a guiding session with Cha Minjun that passed by this quietly.
Something was off today.
Haebom glanced at him—he seemed lost in thought.
Ten peaceful minutes passed, just as Haebom had wished, and about an hour in, Minjun’s fingers began to move.
‘Of course,’ Haebom thought.
‘A dog would quit crapping sooner than this guy behaving properly.’
“Guide, how about just coming over to me? I’ll treat you real good.”
Haebom frowned and stared at him.
‘Treat me real good, huh?’
He already knew what Minjun had done to Chanyang and the other guides.
Not that it mattered—Haebom had absolutely zero, not even the tiniest, interest in being anyone’s guide other than Wonho’s.
Even if the esper weren’t trash like this guy.
“Don’t know if Chanyang told you, but I’m really good at fucking. Guide, if you try it once with me… you’ll change your mind.”
“We’re done here. Guiding session is over.”
“Why? I’ve been well-behaved today. Let’s go the full two hours. If you don’t like holding hands, we can do something else.”
The way his tongue licked his lips while sending that sleazy gaze—it was disgusting.
Haebom jumped up, goosebumps crawling over his skin, and hit the end session button.
As he tried to move away, Minjun stood up too and approached.
Haebom swallowed nervously.
The moment Minjun reached out to grab his arm—
“Wha—!”
Haebom let out a shout and lifted his heavy right foot, slamming it between Minjun’s legs.
CRACK.
The sound was unmistakable.
“FUCK!”
Minjun let out a scream from the sudden burst of pain.
Even if espers had bodies like steel, they still had weak points—eyes, throat, and for men… yeah.
Haebom watched him writhe in pain and quickly removed the weighted band he’d strapped around his right leg.
He had made sure to wear one that was especially heavy.
“You crazy bastard—! I go easy on you and you think you can climb all over me?!”
“Take care of your dick, will you? Don’t go waving it around wherever. Pretty sure I heard a cracking sound. Maybe you should check if your eggs are still intact?”
Cha Minjun’s bloodshot eyes glared at him, but Haebom only shook his head.
He’d already pressed the emergency call button for the on-duty esper.
Tossing Minjun the pager, Haebom walked out of the guiding room.
He had tried to endure it until Wonho returned—but he couldn’t anymore.
He had already submitted an outside leave request.
The head of the Guide Department initially refused, saying newly awakened guides were easy targets, but Haebom insisted he just needed to grab something from home, and they reluctantly approved it.
But Haebom’s destination wasn’t home.
He got straight into the elevator.
Peeking toward the guiding room, it didn’t look like Minjun was chasing after him—probably still recovering.
Once the doors closed, he pressed the button for the first floor.
As the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened, a strange feeling washed over him.
Something… familiar.
Nostalgic.
It made him want to cry for no reason.
No, not just want—he was crying.
Even though he didn’t step out, the elevator doors started to close again.
But before they could shut, a hand reached through.
Because of the hand, the doors opened once more.
“Wonho, not this time.”
Jin Seyoung gave Wonho a sidelong glance as he tried to head right back into the Gate the moment he came out of it.
Letting out a deep sigh, Seyoung noted that at least, unlike before, Wonho was consistently taking her guiding medication.
Should she be relieved about that?
Once news got out that Wonho had returned from the Gate, articles would start flooding in again.
There wasn’t much time to stop them.
But more than the press, something else was more urgent.
“…Like I said, I’m taking the meds properly. I’m keeping my wave levels under control. I’ve done everything you asked, Team Leader. So why not?”
“That’s what you’re going with? Are you crazy? At least try to find your bonded guide. Tell me where and how you even met him.”
At the mention of the bonded guide, Wonho bit his lower lip.
He rubbed at his throbbing temples, nausea rising in his gut.
When he closed his eyes, Haebom’s smiling face floated into view.
It had already been six months since Haebom disappeared, yet the memory remained as vivid as ever.
Maybe it was because he was an esper… or maybe it was just his own obsession preserving the memory.
If even his memories of Haebom had started to fade, there was no way he could’ve endured this long.
Seyoung clenched her lips shut, looking at Wonho, who said nothing.
She knew exactly who this bonded guide was.
Wonho wasn’t the only one who’d been searching everywhere for the name Yoon Haebom over the last six months.
But no matter how seasoned Jin Seyoung was, bringing back someone who didn’t exist in any records was beyond him.
“Forget the Gate. Go to Busan.”
Wonho, who had just been envisioning Haebom’s face behind his closed eyes, suddenly scrunched his brow.
When he opened them, Seyoung was staring at him with a firm expression.
Letting out a long sigh, Wonho sat up from his bed.
“Someone already cleared all the active Gates. There won’t be any new raids for a while. So no point pushing it.”
“…Why Busan?”
His forehead stayed furrowed under the effects of the guiding medication—just like it had been for the last six months.
Ever since Haebom vanished, it had never relaxed.
Even though Seyoung knew Wonho had already bonded with another guide, he couldn’t bring himself to give up.
“An S-class guide awakened there. Since you’re already bonded, you can’t be matched here. So go to Busan and get your compatibility tested in person.”
