* * *

“…”

“I get it. You’ve sorted everything out and suddenly find yourself overwhelmed now that you’re better. I understand you’re in a difficult position for various reasons, but those people are the ones you risked your life to protect. The ones you love. They’ll understand. You can’t keep avoiding them forever.”

Maria handed my phone back to me.

The screen was filled with pictures of Eunsoo, his eyes brimming with tears.

For a moment, I was speechless.

My chest tightened as emotions I couldn’t articulate welled up inside me.

My thoughts spiraled, tangled and chaotic, as if my mind was disconnecting from reality and drifting far away.

I managed to speak, barely.

“No, not yet…”

I forced a faint smile, my face awkward.

I wanted to reach out. I wanted to return to the people I loved.

But… I couldn’t.

My shoulders slumped involuntarily.

Seeing this, Maria gave me a firm pat on the back.

For an Esper like him, it was probably light, but I nearly doubled over from the force and had to brace myself by tensing my shoulders.

“Alright. Take your time. You have plenty of it.”

‘Plenty of time, huh…’

It was a strange feeling. I never thought I’d hear those words in my life.

In both my previous life and this one, I’d always lived as if being chased, constantly preparing for the possibility that I might not see tomorrow.

I blinked, momentarily stunned, then laughed quietly.

“…Okay. I will.”

---

About six months had passed since I’d become a wanted man with a bounty on my head, eventually ending up relying on Polwel for refuge overseas.

Maria wasn’t wrong.

‘…Looking back now, I wonder if it was all really necessary…’

Did I truly have to go to such extremes? Maybe there had been a way to resolve things peacefully.

If there hadn’t been a bounty, perhaps I could have approached the situation differently.

But with such an enormous bounty on my head, the relentless pursuit made me feel like I’d committed some heinous crime.

Fear consumed me, and all I could think about was escaping.

Not getting caught became my only priority.

I’d even used the excuse of “restoring relationships to how they were in the original” as justification for my actions.

It started well enough.

The illegal drug dealer, Kim Jaewoong, wasn’t inherently a bad person, and we had a prior connection.

I proposed a deal: the return of his lost ledger in exchange for access to his network.

When I clarified that my intentions weren’t malicious, he was wary but didn’t view me as an enemy.

The next group I met were children—orphans from a crime-ridden area, neglected by irresponsible parents and never guided properly.

They were twins on the brink of losing control.

After stabilizing them with emergency care, I earned goodwill by connecting them with adoptive parents they’d meet later in the original story.

Through those connections, I managed to board a ship.

At the time, my destination was a small island off the West Sea, a quiet area frequented by moderate, unregistered Espers.

My plan was to lay low there until the chaos surrounding the bounty died down.

‘But then pirates hijacked the ship, and everything fell apart…’

That incident taught me a painful lesson: you can’t blindly trust the original storyline.

Whether it was the butterfly effect of my presence or simply inaccuracies in the source material, I was completely unprepared for what happened.

In the modern world, pirates are typically rogue Esper groups.

If they discovered I was a Guide, the consequences would be horrific.

Add in the bounty and my now-recognizable face, and I spent every day on edge, feeling like my life was slipping away.

That was when Maria Polwel appeared before me.

How he found me, I couldn’t be sure, but I suspected it had to do with Elizabeth Polwel’s unique abilities.

While her powers didn’t work on me, the very absence of my presence in her foresight might have been enough to pinpoint where I was.

Maria appeared like a hero swooping in to save citizens in peril, swiftly subduing the pirates and handing them over to the coast guard.

Then, she turned to me with a proposal.

“Heewoon, you don’t have anywhere to go, right? Then why not stay with us for a while? My grandmother said to bring you along if you’re willing.”

And so… what started as a simple act of receiving help turned into fully depending on them.

They even negotiated on my behalf regarding immigration issues.

It was resolved smoothly—just requiring me to wear a bracelet that disabled my guide abilities while staying abroad.

Considering how complicated guide immigration matters usually were, I had been prepared to face the worst.

To have it end like this was a relief.

As I finally let out a breath of relief, Maria made another suggestion.

“If you don’t have any special plans, why not join me on a trip? Don’t worry about the costs. In exchange, I’d just need a little help with my work. We’re always short-handed, you see. Most of the people in my family are too full of themselves to lift a finger….”

I couldn’t find a reason to refuse, so I gladly accepted.

While she called it a “trip,” it was really more of a business trip.

Maria’s schedule was always relentlessly packed.

Unexpectedly finding myself acting as Maria Polwel’s assistant, I ended up spending a chaotic two months by her side.

And at the same time, those two months became a very special period in my life, filled with experiences I’d never had in either of my lifetimes.

I visited tourist attractions I’d only ever seen in pictures or on TV, attended performances, and participated in local festivals.

I tried all sorts of unusual foods.

There were so many new things to see, hear, and taste that it was overwhelming, but the mere act of experiencing something new felt like a blessing.

Every day felt like a dream.

I was grateful just to be alive.

“Eunsoo seemed to be doing well, so I could enjoy myself without worries.”

Perhaps because of his dramatic debut, Eunsoo quickly rose to fame.

The public’s interest in him and the way the Administration treated him were so different from the world of “The Genius Guide’s Melancholy” that it almost felt like a different universe.

This was fortunate for me.

Even without direct contact, I could keep up with news about him through articles and online communities.

It was comforting to know how he was doing, even from afar.

“Of course, there’s the downside of coming across all kinds of ridiculous hate comments…”

No matter how much trolls cursed or mocked him, our Eunsoo was thriving beautifully.

Every photo I saw of him left me stunned by how much he’d changed.

I might be exaggerating a bit, but his growth seemed even more remarkable than that of Hope—no, Heesoo.

Lately, he’d taken to wearing sharp suits, as if he were emulating Cha Junseong’s style.

And, well… it suited him.

His already impressive physique and increasingly defined features stood out even more.

What’s more, it wasn’t just his looks.

His abilities were extraordinary.

While he was a great guide, he was also so powerful that even the strongest Espers couldn’t compare.

And within a short time of debuting, he had already proven his competence by handling major cases.

It was no wonder people were drawn to him.

Thanks to him, public perception of guides had significantly improved.

“How could anyone not fall for this kind of Eunsoo?”

He was my pride and joy.

It made me happy that he was becoming famous even faster than in the original timeline.

As his first fan, I wanted more people to love and cherish him.

“…I miss him.”

Even as I obsessively collected his photos and kept up with his updates, living as a fervent fan and an “online parent,” there was still an ache that couldn’t be filled.

Eunsoo once said it too—that some things can’t be satisfied just by looking.

Until I saw him in person, touched him, and held him in my arms, this longing wouldn’t fade.

So… Maria’s suggestion was perfectly reasonable.

I was excessively attached to and fond of Eunsoo.

The chances of me forgetting him were practically zero.

If he was looking for me too, it would be better for both of us to get in touch.

Even if he didn’t forgive me for leaving without a word and hated me for it, that was something I’d have to accept.

It was the price I had to pay for my actions.

I could handle that.

“But…”

I was afraid—afraid of what might happen if I faced something beyond what I could endure.

“Sigh…”

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly.

Once I had composed myself, I knocked and opened the door to the office.

Just as on the day we first met, Elizabeth Polwel sat quietly bathed in sunlight.

“Good morning, Lizzie. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I did. Good morning to you too.”

“You’re going to review the case about Korea’s Seo Shinwoo, right? I’ll organize the documents and send them over.”

“Yes, please. Also, it seems something significant has happened in South America. Could you look into that as well?”

“I’ll have it ready by this morning.”

“No rush. Take your time.”

I sat at my desk and turned on the computer.

As a guide unable to perform his duties, there wasn’t much I could do.

Without a proper visa, I couldn’t even look for a job.

But it felt wrong to rely on them while doing nothing, so I’d asked for anything to keep me busy, even if it was just cleaning or dishwashing.

This was the task they’d given me.

* * *