* * *
Q: In a situation where an Esper is on the verge of losing control, what’s the most effective method of guiding?
“…K-Kiss?”
“Wrong. That’s incorrect. This is literally Guiding 101—how could you mess this up? Did you not review at all, Han Haeram?”
“But, Instructor, it says here in the cautionary notes—”
“‘Time and place don’t matter—whether it’s a Gate, outdoors, or a public space.’ What about that part? We just went over this. If the Esper dies right then and there, or worse, explodes, everyone nearby could die too. Remember that from the last lesson?”
“…Yes, I know. But still…”
“When your life’s on the line, you think you get to pick whether the water’s hot or cold?”
“So you’re saying… we’re supposed to have sex? Even in the middle of a Gate?”
The instructor gave Haeram a once-over, eyes sweeping up and down his hospital gown like he’d just said something idiotic.
And without fail, what always came next—
“Do you not want to manifest and live, Han Haeram?”
A cold, merciless question that never failed to follow.
Espers wield power beyond human limits—but such power comes with side effects that rebound like a boomerang.
An overloading Esper is like an engine that overheats endlessly until it explodes.
Unable to cool themselves, they boil from within, and to them, a Guide is like coolant.
Their raging heat fades as the Guide’s touch—skin to skin—flows into them.
Blood, once boiling, begins to cool, soothed by the Guide’s body heat and fluids.
No one can fully explain the strange, mysterious link between Espers and Guides.
But the more pleasure, the deeper the emotions they share—the more efficient the Guiding becomes.
If someone told you the bare skin of a Guide could stop a transcendent being from self-destruction… who would believe that?
Unless they experienced it firsthand.
“Ahh! Nngh—!”
Haeram gasped, completely thrown off balance the moment he felt something thick and hard forcing its way into his most private place, filling him up deep inside.
His already-wide eyes grew even rounder in shock.
‘What the hell is this?!’
Like a fish skewered on a spear, his body twitched and flailed, only to have a large hand press firmly down on his abdomen.
“Haeram, stay still.”
“Nngh—!”
When he looked up in fear, eyes trembling, the man furrowed his dark brows and met his gaze directly—as if he’d been waiting for it.
Behind those jet-black eyes, a crimson glow pulsed.
The uncontrollable power was overtaking the man’s body.
‘…Seo Jungwoo, the Esper?’
Drip. A bead of sweat fell from him onto Haeram’s cheek, and wherever it landed, a wave of heat flared up.
Looking down at Haeram’s stunned expression, Jungwoo gave a short, scoffing laugh.
His next thrust was rough, jerking Haeram’s hips upward.
Haeram reached out, trying to push him away, but Jungwoo didn’t budge.
The frail Guide-to-be couldn’t even leave a scratch on the Esper’s firm chest.
“Always acting like it’s your first time, even after doing this over and over… that’s kind of new.”
“N-No… nngh—ahh!”
Haeram cried out in disbelief.
‘What kind of dream is this?!’
Guiding—with sex, no less?
Something only done between the closest of partners?
‘Me and Seo Jungwoo? What the hell am I even doing with him right now?!’
His wide eyes darted back and forth in panic.
His mouth hung open, speechless.
He shook like a rowboat caught in a storm, overwhelmed by the intense, foreign sensations overtaking his entire body.
“Ahhh—ngh!”
Amid the wet, lewd sounds of skin slapping against skin, Haeram’s voice kept breaking out in shaky moans.
He screamed so much his throat felt raw, completely unaware of where he even was anymore.
Ah… the instructor had been right all along.
When an Esper’s on the verge of rampage, location doesn’t matter.
And a Guide swept away by that storm of sensation… no different.
But the thing is—I’m not even a Guide yet…?
‘Why the hell did I have that dream? Especially with Seo Jungwoo, of all people…’
Haeram tilted his head, sitting on the treatment room’s sofa.
He furrowed his pretty brows, thinking and thinking about the dream from last night—but couldn’t make any sense of it.
How could he dream something like that and still claim to be sane?
“…”
“…Haeram?”
Snap!
A loud snap of fingers right in front of his face echoed like thunder.
The force was so strong it even stirred the air.
Haeram flinched, rubbing his forehead like he’d just been flicked.
The man in front of him chuckled, exhaling a quiet laugh.
“Haeram, are you still half-asleep?”
“Instructor Seo Jungwoo… ?”
“Yeah, I’m right here. Why are you so out of it today? Can’t focus on training at all.”
Well, you showed up in my dream last night.
Doing all sorts of unspeakable things.
Just thinking about it made Haeram’s stomach tighten again, and he found himself rubbing his lower belly without realizing it.
It had been aggressive—borderline violent—but what truly unsettled him was how much pleasure he’d felt.
Was it because he’d been hospitalized for so long?
Had the strong medication twisted his brain into some kind of pervert?
Dreaming of sex he’d never even had before, and with him?
With Seo Jungwoo, of all people?
‘Even if I manage to manifest, there’s no way I’d be paired with someone like him. I don’t even want that…’
A high-rank Esper’s partner?
No thanks.
That sounded like a fast track to hell.
‘I’ve lived a decade as a terminal patient. If becoming a Guide cures me, all I want is to live quietly, a long and uneventful life.’
So what kind of deep-seated desire brought about that kind of dream?
Even if someone paid him, Haeram wouldn’t want to be a combat Esper’s partner.
If he could just manifest and shake off his death sentence, he’d run far, far away from death itself.
His cheeks flushed red. It was his dream, sure—but part of him really wanted to blame ‘Seo Jungwoo’ for it.
Ten years since failing to manifest and being stuck with a mysterious, incurable illness.
Just as he was about to give up, the government had shoved him into a strange training program.
That was nearly a year ago.
Something about stimulating the dormant Guide gene hiding deep in his body using Espers.
A last-ditch experimental treatment, supposedly.
Expensive clinical meds weren’t working, so now they were trying to “wake up” his Guide gene through physical contact with Espers.
They called it ‘Mind Training’.
That part didn’t bother him.
He had nothing to lose.
The government was offering it for free—he’d have been crazy to turn it down.
Especially when all he had to do was touch an Esper instead of popping risky pills every day.
The real issue?
The Esper assigned to train him was way too much.
Why someone like Seo Jungwoo, a high-tier combat Esper, had voluntarily holed himself up in some hospital for a year to be Haeram’s partner… no one could explain.
And every day, they had to hold hands, touch foreheads, exchange skin contact to “stimulate the waves”—it was all too much…
Across from him, Seo Jungwoo smiled that familiar, gentle smile, black eyes curling sweetly.
The kind of look that made Haeram feel like he’d seen the dream too—and knew everything.
Yeah, when someone like that keeps provoking me every day with a face like that, how could I not end up dreaming things like that?
Haeram’s dreams had always been simple—just getting cured, manifesting as a Guide, and maybe working at the Center.
So that kind of sex-guiding dream?
Definitely not something he wished for.
* * *
