* * *
Faint moonlight poured into the Association’s hospital room.
Suhyeon blinked, shaking off the remaining drowsiness.
As he lifted his stiff upper body, the blanket that had been covering his shoulders slipped off.
“…Ah,”
Suhyeon let out a small sound without realizing it.
Hajin was awake.
He was sitting up, leaning against the bed frame.
Although Yihan had firmly assured him it was no big deal, seeing Hajin awake brought a surge of relief incomparable to before.
The moonlight scattered shimmering light across Hajin’s pale, bluish face.
Soon, as Hajin slowly turned his head—perhaps because of the moon—his originally bright blue eyes seemed to shine even more intensely.
“Are you awake?”
Suhyeon was the first to speak.
Usually, it was Hajin asking this question to a collapsed Suhyeon, but now the roles were reversed.
Hajin seemed to notice this as well, a hint of awkwardness appearing in his slight smile.
His hand toyed with Suhyeon’s fingers before grasping them.
Suhyeon obediently interlaced their fingers.
“Did you… guide me?”
At the low-voiced question, Suhyeon nodded.
Hajin’s blue gaze was filled entirely with Suhyeon.
Suhyeon stared back at him for a moment before using his free hand to press the call button.
“I’m glad you woke u—,”
CRASH!!!!
Before he could finish his sentence, Yihan burst in with a noise so loud one might believe the hospital door had been destroyed.
“You crazy bastard, you’re awake?”
“Hajin.”
Behind Yihan, who spat out a curse the moment he entered, stood the Association President with a stiff, hardened expression.
Hajin frowned. Normally, Suhyeon, who disliked such atmospheres, would have frowned along with him, but since he could guess why these two were acting this way, he stayed quiet.
Hajin collapsing was Hajin’s own fault.
While Suhyeon hated anyone scolding Hajin, he felt that this time, the man needed a bit of a lecture.
Suhyeon quietly moved his chair further back, away from Hajin.
“Your body.”
“It’s fine.”
Click, click.
Yihan roughly flipped on the hospital lights and asked sharply.
Hajin, not even blinking, answered nonchalantly.
Grinding his teeth even more at that, Yihan pulled the needle from the now-empty IV bag.
He must have pulled it roughly, as Hajin’s brow twitched.
“A bastard like you doesn’t even deserve an IV.”
“Hajin, do you realize how rash you were?”
After Yihan came the Association President.
“I know you are a thorough person, Hajin. There haven’t been issues until now, and I haven’t interfered because I know why you act the way you do… but this time, you were reckless. What would have happened if Suhyeon hadn’t learned to handle guiding waves in time, or if your levels had dropped to the 30% range before you could receive guiding?”
The President, who usually laughed heartily, glared at Hajin with a piercingly serious expression.
“…I know.”
Suhyeon expected a fierce retort, but surprisingly, Hajin seemed to acknowledge his mistake.
His answer came after a brief silence.
“Phew, as long as you know. For the next few weeks, you are to manage your guiding levels so they don’t drop below 70%.”
However, at the President’s next instruction, Hajin’s face crumpled as if he had never given a submissive answer.
“What does that mean—?”
“I know it’s not impossible now that Suhyeon is here. We let it slide before because there was no choice, but I hope this doesn’t happen again. You know how troublesome it is when an S-class asset like yourself is like this, don’t you?”
Hajin’s gaze briefly brushed past Suhyeon.
The corners of his blue eyes remained tightly furrowed.
“Even if it is possible, to Suhyeon—,”
“Suhyeon?”
The President cut Hajin off mid-sentence and turned his head toward Suhyeon.
Suddenly called upon, Suhyeon blinked.
“I know I need your permission for this. I am aware your contract was established on the ridiculous condition of maintaining a 60% level, and I know guiding Hajin is extremely difficult. However, you’ve guided him once already, and now that you know how to control the waves… would it be difficult to maintain Hajin’s levels for a few weeks?”
Suhyeon looked at Hajin for a moment.
Having only guided someone once—right before Hajin collapsed earlier that day—it was hard to judge.
But he didn’t particularly feel like he couldn’t do it.
Suhyeon shook his head.
“I think it’ll be okay.”
“Is that settled then, Hajin?”
“Suhyeon, if it’s hard, you don’t have to do it.”
The blue gaze ignored the President’s words and flew straight to Suhyeon.
“It’s okay.”
But Suhyeon didn’t back down, and Hajin shut his mouth with an expression of great dissatisfaction.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll tell you in advance: this is an instruction as the Association President. I expect you to follow this for at least a month.”
Only after Suhyeon nodded brightly did Hajin very, very slowly nod his head.
“Phew, that gave me a scare. Young people shouldn’t torment an old man like this; my heart was pounding. Right, Suhyeon.”
‘Old man, my foot,’ Suhyeon thought he heard someone mutter, but he brushed it off as an illusion and looked up.
“I didn’t expect to congratulate you like this in the middle of the night, but I’ve seen and heard. Congratulations on becoming a full-fledged guide.”
‘Was this really something to be congratulated for?’
Certainly, there was a sense of thrill and relief in being able to guide, but guiding was something any guide was naturally supposed to do.
Feeling a bit awkward, Suhyeon fiddled with the back of his neck.
“From the Association’s perspective, it means we’ve gained an incredible asset. In the future, please ask for anything you need or want from us. We can grant almost anything. Here, take this as well.”
What Suhyeon unexpectedly received from the President was a small terminal.
It looked similar to the machine that detected guiding levels used during his training.
“It’s a terminal that all dedicated guides carry, synced with their dedicated Esper’s watch. You can immediately check the Esper’s location and guiding levels. Of course, the Esper can also track the guide’s location.”
‘So things like this exist.’
Suhyeon accepted it carefully.
The President nagged Hajin a few more times before saying he’d said his piece and vanished in an instant, leaving only a wish for a good night.
Yihan looked like he wanted to pour out more curses, but he simply growled that he was exhausted because of Hajin and stormed out.
Once again, only Hajin and Suhyeon remained in the room.
Suhyeon pulled the chair he had moved away back to Hajin’s side.
The others had scolded him a lot, but still.
“Don’t do that again.”
Hajin, who had ignored Yihan and the President with a scowl, gave a barely visible nod.
Like a child wanting a reward, he slid his fingers between Suhyeon’s again.
Suhyeon willingly gave him his hand.
“…If it’s a burden to you, Suhyeon, don’t do it.”
Hajin’s words, spoken after a long silence while holding hands, lacked context, but Suhyeon understood them perfectly.
“I hate you being in pain more. And of course, I won’t overdo it.”
Hajin leaned his body toward Suhyeon.
Since the bed was low, it created a posture where he looked almost cradled in Suhyeon’s arms.
Hajin was large and heavy, but Suhyeon soon adjusted his body to support him.
It felt like a grumbling child acting cute. Suhyeon found himself stroking Hajin’s hair.
The fine texture of the black hair repeatedly slipped through his fingers.
The series of commotions thus came to an end.
The peaceful night flowed quietly by.
Rewinding time to a few hours before Hajin woke up—shortly after Suhyeon had moved the collapsed Hajin to the ward.
Asher Delveron came to a dead stop while walking down the 23rd-floor hallway.
“Asher?”
A teammate called out to him, but Asher didn’t move a finger, focusing all his senses on his sense of smell.
A scent he had encountered once before—one he had turned the Association upside down looking for until a few weeks ago—was faintly drifting through the air.
It was a scent on a completely different level from his own dedicated guide’s; something cool and light, yet sweet, as if it held the essence of spring.
“Can’t you feel anything?”
His teammate frowned for a moment.
“I don’t feel anything. Is there something there?”
It seemed Asher had noticed because he was exceptionally sensitive to guiding waves.
‘I’d almost forgotten, but this sets a fire in me.’
Asher swept his brilliant blond hair back.
His earring reflected the sunset light, scattering sparkles.
The day a guide of unknown name and identity had covered the entire Association building with their guiding scent, as if they had triggered an outbreak.
Since that day, when everyone in the building—Esper and guide alike—had felt that enormous energy, Asher had searched the Association like he was hunting a rat.
However, strangely, he couldn’t find a thing.
Even when he shook the President, the man only laughed and revealed nothing.
No one among the Association’s registered guides possessed that much guiding energy.
It meant they were clearly hiding something.
The last thing he had discovered then was a rumor that might or might not be related: that on the day of that “outbreak,” Shin Hajin, an S-class Esper like himself, had been seen running to the ward holding someone precious in his arms.
And lately, strange rumors were circulating that Shin Hajin was keeping someone very close to him.
That blue-eyed jerk and ‘precious’?
He had naturally thought it was nonsense.
There seemed to be no connection, and he hadn’t had the time to dig around that rude bastard because he had been assigned to a business trip.
And after returning, he had been busy moving between Gate sites, leaving no room to look into it.
He had almost forgotten it, but to have his memories and desires dragged out like this.
Along with the memory of the immense stability he felt that day, desire reappeared in Asher’s eyes.
Shin Hajin.
Whether that rumor was related or not, for some reason, he wanted to dig into him one more time.
Asher’s intuition reacted to the fact that the germaphobic, ill-mannered brat had carried someone in his arms.
If it were Shin Hajin, he was certainly capable of silencing everyone involved.
* * *
