I want to be your guide chapter 2

“Guide Yeo Jungyun, beginning the guiding session with Esper Seo Hoonyoung.”

After finishing the report in the predetermined order, the man waiting for the guiding eagerly reached out his hand.

Jungyun dodged the man’s attempt at unauthorized contact and made a point of waving the pager.

“Unauthorized contact with a guide during a guiding session is prohibited.”

“…I’m sorry.”

The man’s rationality returned at Jungyun’s sharp warning, and he apologized.

Jungyun put down the pager and, maintaining an appropriate distance from the man, began a non-contact guiding session.

Five minutes passed since the session began. By now, some effect should have been visible, but there was no noticeable change on the man’s pale face.

‘As expected, the difference in levels can’t be helped.’

Jungyun sighed and reached out to the man, reluctantly deciding to go for direct contact guiding since the radiation guiding had no effect.

“Do you consent to contact guiding?”

“Yes, I consent.”

The man quickly grabbed Jungyun’s outstretched hand as if he had been waiting for it.

Energy began to flow out through their joined hands, and Jungyun frowned at the unpleasant sensation.

Fortunately, the guiding seemed to be working smoothly, as the man’s previously pale complexion gradually returned to its normal color.

However, as the guiding progressed, what started as light contact was becoming more blatant.

‘I think it’s about time to stop.’

Sensing danger, Jungyun subtly loosened his grip. Just as the man, ignoring safety distance, tried to grab him again, an alarm sounded at a timely moment.

“Guiding session complete.”

Without hesitation, Jungyun released the man’s hand. The man quickly regained his composure and returned to his place.

Jungyun turned off the alarm and nodded slightly to the nervous man.

“Thank you for your effort.”

“…Thank you for yours as well.”

After exchanging the customary greetings, Jungyun turned to check the list, while the man got up slowly, dragging his feet.

Jungyun, accustomed to ignoring the lingering gaze of the man from behind, focused only on the list. It was only after the man left that Jungyun held his throbbing head.

“…Ah, I want to rest.”

Jungyun muttered that he wanted to rest, as if it were a habit, and sat down heavily in his chair.

With five minutes still left until the next Esper arrived, he took a moment to catch his breath, only for an impatient Esper to knock on the door.

Knock knock—

At the sound of knocking, Jungyun straightened up from where he was leaning back in the chair and let out a long sigh.

It would be nice if people understood that just as Espers need rest after using their abilities and experiencing side effects, guides also need breaks after guiding.

“Come in.”

In the end, he had to welcome the Esper without any rest.

Only after putting up the [Break Time] sign did the flood of impatient Espers finally stop. After thoroughly sanitizing his hands with disinfectant, Jungyun leaned back deeply into his chair.

Having conducted guiding sessions nonstop since the morning, the list he had been crossing off was already more than halfway complete. However, there were still many left.

If he wanted to leave work on time, he had to finish on schedule, but he was starting to feel the pressure. He really wanted to keep his punctual end of workday, but it was becoming precarious.

“I want to go home.”

No sooner had he said this than someone knocked on the door. Hadn’t they seen the [Break Time] sign? Feeling his rest disrupted, Jungyun deliberately didn’t respond.

“Yeo Jungyun.”

Through the crack of the unauthorized open door, Wooyeon poked his face in. At the sight of the familiar face, the expression on Jungyun’s face, which had hardened in response to the intrusion, relaxed.

“What are you doing? Let’s go out.”

“Now?”

“Yeah. I’ll buy you a coffee, come on.”

Even though it was just the same coffee from the break room as always, Wooyeon was acting as if he were offering to treat Jungyun at a fancy cafe, which made him smile at Wooyeon’s brazenness.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Feigning reluctance, Jungyun put on the coat that he had carefully laid over the chair and left the guiding room. The stuffy air changed completely once he was out the door.

The guides’ break room was simple. A few tables, a coffee vending machine, and a useless TV that played the same advertisements over and over. That was the entirety of the break room.

Settling into a corner seat, Jungyun sipped the iced americano Wooyeon had brought from the vending machine.

Though the beans were cheap, the taste wasn’t too bad, and it was the drink Jungyun typically enjoyed lightly whenever he was in the break room.

“I’m exhausted. No matter how much I do, it’s never-ending.”

Wooyeon grumbled and bit down on the plastic straw with a crunch.

Because of the unending line of Espers visiting the guiding room since they started work, there wasn’t even time to drink water, Wooyeon began to vent his grievances about headquarters, like a tape stuck on repeat.

“Instead of spending money on the Esper project, they should focus more on improving guide welfare. If they offered more money, people would volunteer on their own. Otherwise, they should change the law to make guide assessments mandatory.”

Unlike Wooyeon, who passionately poured out his thoughts, Jungyun merely nodded. After Wooyeon finished his heated monologue, he asked the silent Jungyun.

“Don’t you have any complaints about headquarters?”

“I have plenty.”

“Then why are you so quiet?”

“Because you’re saying everything.”

At Jungyun’s words, Wooyeon made a groaning noise and gulped down the americano with melted ice. Then, sprawling over the table, Wooyeon drummed his legs like a child throwing a tantrum.

“They’re telling us to die, really. No matter how you look at it, that’s what it is.”

Guides assigned to a team or partnered exclusively with an Esper had relatively more relaxed schedules, but C-grade guides like Jungyun had to endure a grueling, relentless daily schedule.

Even if they wanted to voice their dissatisfaction with headquarters, they couldn’t leave their lifelong jobs, so they never honestly expressed their feelings in the annual surveys.

This is what you call a vicious cycle. Jungyun agreed with Wooyeon’s words repeatedly.

“How many do you have left today?”

“Ten, I think.”

“Wow, you’ve worked hard.”

“It’s my job.”

Jungyun replied in a detached voice.

Guiding is conducted through physical contact between guides and Espers. While rank and compatibility rate greatly influence the guiding, the most crucial factor is the guide’s emotional state.

Therefore, when guiding, Jungyun tried to exclude his emotions as much as possible. Treat it purely as work, with no personal feelings involved. That was the principle of Jungyun, a guide with three years of experience.

“Aren’t they going to change that?”

At Wooyeon’s grumbling, Jungyun put down the empty paper cup he had drained and turned his gaze to the television.

Today, for the first time, a smile melted across Jungyun’s face as he watched the endlessly repetitive advertisement.

The man’s face, smiling beautifully in the sparkling background, filled his field of vision. [Government-affiliated Espers are guardians protecting citizens.] A phrase fitting for a third-rate hero movie poster was emblazoned beneath the man.

Looking at the man’s face on TV, a bright spark appeared in Jungyun’s eyes. As if discovering an oasis in the desert, Jungyun’s gaze was intense as he watched the man on the screen.

“Stop staring. You’re going to wear it out.”

“How many times have I even seen it?”

“I haven’t counted, but it’s been more than a thousand times.”

“It’s always new, no matter how much I watch it.”

“There really isn’t anything new about it.”

Despite Wooyeon’s mocking, Jungyun’s eyes remained glued to the screen.

If the man’s face in the advertisement wore out from being watched so many times, it would have already melted away without a trace.

The advertisement, which he watched so many times that he memorized all the movements and lines, was the result of the government’s project to “reduce Esper hate.”

It’s been five years since the project began to show that the unregistered Espers, who engage in indiscriminate acts of terrorism, are different from those belonging to the government headquarters.

The results have been negligible, but at least the man in the advertisement, Choi Domin, has become famous worldwide beyond just being an Esper.

“That Choi Domin, he’s notorious for having a bad temper. He’s also famous for treating his guides like crap. If he were a celebrity, there would’ve been a huge controversy about his personality by now, but he should be grateful he’s an Esper. The government covers for him.”

Wooyeon pouted and started cursing the man on the screen, Domin. It wasn’t the first day Wooyeon had bad-mouthed Domin, but Jungyun frowned at Wooyeon’s increasingly harsh words.

When he first became a guide, Jungyun was filled with anticipation, hoping he might guide Domin someday.

However, his dreams, which had swelled like a balloon, quickly deflated. As a C-rank guide, Jungyun never got the opportunity to guide Domin.

Now that he’s been a guide for three years, he’s long abandoned her foolish hopes, but he still occasionally imagines that if he got the chance to guide Domin, he might die from a heart attack.

“Let’s go in now.”

Though he’d only seen it ten times, Wooyeon insisted that it was already late and urged Jungyun to hurry. Even though Jungyun never got tired of watching it daily, he lowered his head in disappointment and stood up.

Patting down his crumpled clothes, he turned his back to the screen. Suppressing the urge to turn around again, Jungyun trudged away heavily.

It was time to return to the stifling guiding room.