* * *
“Did he… find out?”
Seo Jaewon flinched. Min Yoomin, failing to notice his reaction, continued speaking.
“Don’t you have some kind of superpower, like turning back time? Or maybe the fact that you became a guide is actually a superpower, or something like that.”
“……Heh.”
He said it jokingly, but it was strangely sharp.
Was this intuition of his actually a superpower…?
“Why are you looking at me like that, Hyung?”
A strange impulse rose within Jaewon.
Perhaps there was at least one person who knew about this?
Or maybe there was someone who would listen to his story seriously?
“Hey, Yoomin. By any chance…”
“Yes?”
“Do you believe in things like reincarnation?”
If Min Yoomin laughed, Jaewon planned to laugh it off as a joke too.
However, Min Yoomin’s expression suddenly turned grave.
He straightened his posture and leaned across the table.
“Hyung…….”
Min Yoomin’s face, which Jaewon thought would immediately snap back with a joke, became dead serious.
He leaned in closer as if sharing a deep secret.
‘No way?’
Is he actually listening seriously?
Does he know something?
Jaewon felt himself becoming serious in turn and leaned toward Min Yoomin.
Min Yoomin spoke with a heavy face.
“Don’t have bad thoughts. Life as a guide isn’t so bad.”
“…….”
“Hyung, I’m serious! Are you listening?”
“No, it’s not like that. Just…….”
How on earth was he supposed to explain this?
It seemed Min Yoomin understood it as him talking nonsense because of the shock of becoming a guide.
Seo Jaewon simply gave up on the explanation.
“……It was a joke.”
“Aha, I thought so! That’s a relief.”
Though he replied that way, Min Yoomin looked half-doubtful.
‘Is this going to end up in my team leader evaluation later?’
Min Yoomin seemed to decide to bury it for now and didn’t bring up the subject again.
After that, it was a fairly pleasant coffee time.
Mostly, Min Yoomin chattered while Seo Jaewon just listened.
How long had it been since he met someone and drank coffee without any specific purpose?
He found it fascinating that he could act so naturally, and it was surprising that he could actually enjoy it.
“Oh right, there’s a gathering of fellow rookie guides tonight. Do you want to come? You said you don’t have any guide friends, Hyung.”
“No, I have plans. Invite me next time.”
……It definitely wasn’t because he felt like an old man intruding on a group of kids.
Rather, he felt it was a shame to miss a chance to meet other guides.
Usually, there are tips you can only learn from those actually doing the job.
It probably wouldn’t be a meeting to share guiding information but a gathering to drink and goof around, but even that was quite tempting.
“Ah, you said you were going home.”
“Yeah.”
Since he finally had a day off, he planned to go to his parents’ house.
It wasn’t for any particular business; he just felt like doing it.
In truth, Seo Jaewon didn’t consider his regression a personal gain.
Even if he had just died, he wouldn’t have had many regrets.
And somehow, he felt that he shouldn’t view this event as a stroke of personal luck.
But if there was one thing he was greedy for… it was his parents.
“You said your parents run a galbi restaurant, right? That’s nice.”
“What’s so nice about it? I just end up working the whole time I’m there.”
His parents had run the galbi shop for 30 years and closed it shortly after Joo Youngha died.
They said it was because of the recession, but since it was a local business, their son’s reputation must have had an impact.
Sometimes, that fact felt more bitter than the sadness of his own situation.
‘They suffered a lot because of me.’
Since he had returned to the past, he intended to avoid being an unfilial son.
It wasn’t an active gain, so he thought this much would be okay.
It’s just a result that follows if everything goes well, right?
‘When I go this time, I’ll help out with work a lot and talk with them.’
He wanted to spend a cozy time with his family after a long time.
Forgetting all about work…….
Ding!
Just then, a familiar notification sound rang out.
“?”
No way……?
!Quest! Have an enjoyable time with Joo Youngha.
[Time Remaining – (04:00:00)]
That ‘no way’ was actually happening?
‘No, I’m not doing it now.’
He couldn’t take Joo Youngha to his house.
Seo Jaewon tried to blur his focus and waited for the system message to disappear.
‘I’ll just do it after I get back.’
“……Damn it!”
“What’s wrong, Hyung?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing.”
……Well, I guess I can just introduce them to the guy who ruined my life.
Guiding doesn’t come for free.
If there was a convenient way like a quest to raise the matching rate in one go without long training, there wasn’t a guide alive who wouldn’t be tempted.
Even more so if the quest wasn’t even guiding, but just hanging out on a day off to raise the matching rate by 5%—that was practically a gift.
‘I’m worried about leaving Joo Youngha alone anyway.’
It was like killing two birds with one stone if he watched him to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.
Seo Jaewon rationalized it to himself as he brought Joo Youngha to his parents’ shop.
And yet…….
Why did he feel like he was losing out on something……?
“We were so worried when Jaewon said he was going to be a guide. He used to say he’d rather die than not be an Esper…….”
“Father, I didn’t ‘choose’ to do it, I ‘became’ one.”
‘I didn’t have a choice…….’
But his father was stubborn.
“Sure, do you have to take an exam to be a guide? If you were going to study, you should have done it sooner.”
Seo Jaewon gave up on explaining and just flipped the meat.
The sweet scent of the marinade wafted up.
The parents’ interrogation had been continuing for over an hour now.
He wasn’t sure if his parents’ faces were bright because they looked ten years younger or because of Joo Youngha.
He had been worried because Joo Youngha lacked social skills, but it was a useless concern.
“You both must be having a hard time. Is it very tiring?”
“If it’s tiring, Jaewon likes it.”
“Joo Youngha…….”
Except for comments like that……. Seo Jaewon clenched his fists under the table.
Because he answered with a beaming, pretty face, the adults just laughed it off.
It seemed they heard it as a joke.
‘I wish it were a joke for me too…….’
“Jaewon, you haven’t brought a friend like this even once? I told you I’d grill meat if you brought friends over.”
His mother, returning from the kitchen, said as she placed a steamed egg on the table.
The yellow steamed egg was clearly twice as puffed up as the ones on the other tables.
“……He’s just shy.”
Answering with a forced smile, Seo Jaewon just gulped down cold water.
He didn’t even have a moment to feel family affection or anything.
“Is Jaewon doing his guide job well? I’m worried he’s holding Youngha back.”
“It’s okay even if he’s not good at it. Being with Jaewon feels good.”
“Pffft!”
Seo Jaewon spat out the soybean paste stew he had just taken a sip of.
A slight look of reproach appeared on Joo Youngha’s innocent smile.
This crazy guy! Saying things that could be misunderstood in front of my parents!
The tension of having to put Joo Youngha in an interview seat came back vividly.
Stubbornness, lack of cooperation, bombshell remarks……!
He had let his guard down because the guy was smiling.
He wished he would just shut up, but for some reason, he was smiling and chatting away.
Every time he opened his mouth, Jaewon’s heart trembled.
……Fortunately, or maybe not, his parents didn’t seem to notice anything strange.
“Jaewon, you should help out a bit when a pale boy like this is struggling.”
“No, pale or not, he’s taller than me.”
Adults didn’t seem to care much about anything else as long as a pretty, handsome young man answered them politely.
“Jaewon is a bit blunt and lacks tact.”
“Mom, you said you were busy…….”
The conversation quickly jumped from one thing to another and flowed toward irrelevant topics.
Since when had the soju bottle been sitting there……?
As he was dazed, letting the conversation go in one ear and out the other, something soft and warm tapped Seo Jaewon’s hand under the table.
‘What?’
It was Joo Youngha’s hand.
‘Will you stop?’
He tried to give him a look, but the guy ignored it and tapped Jaewon’s hand a few more times.
Then, he even hooked his finger onto Jaewon’s index finger and slowly began to pour energy in.
This shameless bastard! How dare he try a guiding stunt right in front of my parents?
Seo Jaewon’s eyes widened.
He had just learned from Min Yoomin that this was incredibly rude.
Usually, guides are said to be able to block Espers even if they try to force energy in.
Since it’s related to self-protection, most guides can do it reflexively even without special training.
However, perhaps because he awakened late, Seo Jaewon couldn’t do it properly.
When Joo Youngha said right after the regression that he was ‘wide open,’ this is what he meant.
He was wide open so the energy could be shoved in at will.
‘He used me without even telling me properly, this jerk.’
He wondered why the guy kept touching him; it turned out he had been stealing guiding like this all along.
He could have at least said something!
If Min Yoomin hadn’t told him, he would have continued to be subjected to forced guiding.
Seo Jaewon glared at Joo Youngha and firmly grabbed the guy’s smooth hand.
‘It won’t go your way anymore!’
‘I know how to ‘close’ now too.’
Seo Jaewon firmly pushed back the energy that Joo Youngha was trying to slide in.
Joo Youngha raised an eyebrow slightly, then gave a faint, ominous smile.
‘Ah, that face……. What is it this time?!’
Looking at that expression made him feel uneasy.
He had a bad feeling.
No, it wasn’t just a feeling; it was a certainty.
Nothing good ever happened when that guy made that kind of face.
Sure enough, Joo Youngha, who had been tilting his head quietly, met Seo Jaewon’s eyes.
Only then did Jaewon realize the guy’s intention.
‘Ugh! This crazy bastard is really—!!!’
* * *
