* * *
“I heard you got a guide. An S-rank, no less.”
“…Don’t talk to me. We’re not close.”
Wonho clenched his jaw and shot him a glare.
He wasn’t sure why he was so irritated.
Was it because Na Hyunjoon had brought up that tiny guide?
Or was it something else?
Na Hyunjoon smirked as he watched Wonho glare at him, then turned away as Wonho stormed off ahead.
His lips curled into a crooked grin.
“Interesting.”
“Should we look into it?”
“Well… wouldn’t hurt. Let’s go, then.”
As if he had never smirked maliciously in the first place, Na Hyunjoon now wore a pleasant smile.
He tilted his head toward the direction Wonho had gone, and the two Espers behind him nodded before setting off after Wonho.
There wasn’t much they needed to do anyway.
When they entered a gate with Na Hyunjoon, all they had to do was follow him.
But today, thanks to Wonho’s unexpected presence, even Na Hyunjoon had barely used his powers.
Instead, he simply followed Wonho’s lead.
If they took a different route, they could clear the gate faster, but Na Hyunjoon deliberately chose not to.
It was as if he wanted to let Wonho rampage freely.
This gate usually took two days to clear, but with Wonho charging ahead, not even stopping to rest, it was already nearly finished.
Now, only the final boss—the strongest monster—remained.
Wonho gritted his teeth.
Originally, he had planned to stay in the gate longer.
But he had moved too quickly because he didn’t want to be around Na Hyunjoon.
Damn it.
Now escaping into the gate had been pointless.
The moment he left, he would have to receive guiding again.
“…Fuck.”
Even with his eyes shut tight, he could still see that face, staring up at him with those ridiculously large, round eyes.
He clenched his fists.
And yet, no matter how hard he tried to block it out, the image kept creeping into his mind.
The one thing he never wanted anyone to see—his change—had been exposed to the last person he ever wanted to notice it.
Fwoosh!
Crack, sizzle! Screech!
With a darkened gaze, Wonho glared at the monster engulfed in blue flames.
Fire. The one element he could never use.
And yet, it burned brilliantly before him.
What a flashy display…
“I want to get out of here quickly. Yoonseo is waiting for me.”
Na Hyunjoon approached, smiling with his eyes curved into crescents.
Wonho’s scowl deepened.
What a useless person.
Leaving behind the monster, which had crumbled into ashes, Wonho turned toward the newly opened exit gate.
The sound of footsteps followed as Na Hyunjoon and his lackeys trailed after him.
Buzz—
After finishing another regular guiding session, Haebom was sprawled across the guide office’s couch when his phone vibrated.
He sluggishly got up and stumbled toward where he had carelessly tossed it.
[Team Leader Jin Seyoung]
“Hmm?”
They had just seen each other earlier—why was he calling now? Curious, Haebom answered.
— Haebom, were you resting well?
“Yes. What’s up?”
— Wonho is out of the gate. He’s heading straight to the center. You should come to the main lobby in an hour. You can take him home directly from there.
“Got it.”
After the short call, Haebom tossed his phone back onto the sofa.
If Wonho was arriving in an hour, he would need guiding soon.
Would he actually accept it this time?
The man had literally run away to a gate to avoid guiding.
It would be nice if he were as cooperative as the Espers Haebom had guided over the past two days.
Then again, if he himself had such a reaction toward another man…
Wouldn’t he want to run, too?
No—‘run’ wouldn’t even be the right word.
Haebom forcefully erased the memory of drunkenly reacting to Wonho that night.
No more thinking.
Time to rest.
With that, he collapsed onto the bed.
After about fifty minutes, Haebom abruptly sat up in bed.
Feeling refreshed at the thought of earning his meal, he made his way to the main building’s lobby.
As he arrived, he noticed a small group of people gathered there.
‘Choi Yoonseo…?’
To be honest, ever since he had seen Choi Yoonseo that day, Haebom had been actively avoiding her.
If she were to approach him and strike up a conversation, he didn’t think anything good would come out of his mouth.
Even when reading the novel, he had never taken a liking to her—probably because he had empathized too much with Wonho.
But now that he was seeing her in person, his feelings about her became even more complicated.
The more he received guide training, the more intense those emotions became.
The pain Wonho had endured was truly unimaginable.
Haebom couldn’t fathom how someone could even function normally after suffering so much.
Since the novel was told from the perspective of the female protagonist, Choi Yoonseo, it never went into deep detail about the pain Wonho experienced.
That applied to the male protagonist’s suffering as well.
Choi Yoonseo had always considered herself the most important person in the world.
Of course, everyone saw themselves as the center of their own universe, but that didn’t mean they could just ignore the pain of others.
Haebom couldn’t understand how, even after undergoing this training, people could still turn a blind eye to what Wonho had been through.
That was precisely why Haebom had chosen to accept regular guiding.
There were always Espers suffering—not just Wonho.
It wasn’t that Haebom was some saint with an overly compassionate heart.
He was simply doing a job he was getting paid for, and if he was going to do it, he figured it should benefit as many people as possible.
In the end, it was all just work for money.
It wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart.
Haebom never considered himself a particularly good person.
If it were unpaid volunteer work, he wouldn’t have done it.
He had his own problems to deal with—how could he afford to help others?
“…Hello.”
Haebom had spotted Choi Yoonseo standing a little distance away from the group and had no intention of approaching her.
But before he knew it, she had already walked up to him and greeted him first.
“Ah, hello….”
Haebom was flustered by her sudden greeting but couldn’t just ignore her.
The moment they exchanged pleasantries, he could feel eyes naturally turning toward them.
Though the lobby wasn’t exactly crowded, the attention still made him uncomfortable, and he awkwardly shifted his gaze around.
“We met before, right? I’m Choi Yoonseo. I’m Wonho’s friend. I heard your name is Yoon Haebom—is that correct?”
Hearing his name come out of the female protagonist’s mouth felt incredibly strange to Haebom.
He had no idea how she knew his name, but he nodded anyway.
“That’s right.”
“Nice to meet you. Feel free to ask me anything—whether it’s about the guiding work or about Ho.”
Choi Yoonseo smiled brightly as she spoke. She was so dazzlingly pretty that Haebom could understand why she was the female lead.
Even if she weren’t a guide, she would have been immensely popular.
In fact, if she were just a regular person, she probably would’ve been even more popular.
Espers had to deal with the major obstacle of matching rates, after all.
“Oh? Isn’t that Esper Na Hyunjoon over there? Guide Choi Yoonseo, I think Na Hyunjoon Esper just arrived!”
Just as Choi Yoonseo was about to say something else to Haebom, someone from the group she had been standing with called out to her.
Judging by his white uniform, he was likely another guide.
Na Hyunjoon? Oh!
* * *
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