FETCH 23

“Then, good luck today as well.”

Closing the door to the Center Director’s office with a soft thud, Jaechan offered his parting greeting through the closing gap. Two weeks had already flown by since he joined the Center.

On the night of his first day. Han Kang’s words—that things would have been better before he awakened as a Guide—were still pricking his heart like a thorn, but Jaechan was nonetheless adapting to the Center without any issues.

Over the past two weeks, he had also learned a fair amount about how to perform guiding.

Generally, to resolve the inconvenience of having to visit a guiding center every time, Espers used commercially available guiding drugs.

This was because, except for the rare lucky case of having a Guide with a high matching rate nearby, taking guiding drugs on schedule had become common practice. However, for Espers selected for the national team, such acts were strictly prohibited.

This was strictly forbidden because there was no telling if illegal drugs used to push limits might be included, and since the discovery of cases where players could manipulate transcendent powers to berserk levels after taking drugs in consultation with a Guide, then play through matches while receiving guiding.

As interpersonal guiding was the principle, almost all guiding was conducted through physical contact, though that was usually when power levels exceeded a certain threshold. Ordinarily, performing guiding through radiation guiding was the general practice even inside the Center.

The next level was contact guiding. This referred to guiding methods involving light touches or skinship like hugs, and a higher stage than that was mucosal guiding—for instance, kissing.

The highest level was insertion guiding. This was a method used in extreme emergencies, primarily consisting of sexual intercourse.

He had fully mastered all of the knowledge, but the problem was Han Kang. Since they were matched as a dedicated pair, he naturally had to guide him after training, but whenever the intensity tried to rise even slightly, Han Kang would stubbornly refuse the guiding.

Jaechan found it questionable.

Just why?

Jaechan tilted his head repeatedly as if he simply couldn’t understand. He had seen Han Kang receive guiding multiple times himself. Of course, each time, all the Esper did was offer his back or hold out a hand…

Still, he was doing it to stay alive, so Jaechan wondered if there was really a need to refuse to that extent. He felt a bit annoyed, but he composed his emotions, thinking that perhaps Han Kang just needed time to prepare himself mentally.

In any case, it was guiding that had to be done eventually, so there was no need to be impatient, right?

Mmm, he hummed for a few minutes. From behind him, the sound of light, steady footsteps—tap, tap, tap—approached. Suddenly, a large body hugged Jaechan tightly. The cool scent emanating from the person who had drawn close was terribly familiar. Jaechan didn’t even bother to look back.

“Let go.”

“It’s honey.”

Jaechan pushed away Han Kang’s hands, which were wrapped tightly around his neck, and gave a lukewarm response. After saying those harsh words, Han Kang was acting just as usual again. As if he wasn’t the one who had spoken on the phone that day, he continued to rub against him and nuzzle his lips.

And yet he refuses the actual guiding.

Jaechan glared at him out of petty spite, but Han Kang only blinked, asking, “Honey, why are you looking at me like that?”

Even inside the Center, Han Kang showed no intention of fixing his habit of calling him “honey.” Perhaps because of that, a rumor had already spread like wildfire throughout the Center: “I heard Jeon Jaechan and Han Kang call each other honey.”

“Where are you going? To the office?”

“Yeah. You? Isn’t it time for your training?”

“Break time. The Director wanted to see me for a moment.”

Jaechan’s eyebrows twitched at the unexpected words. Since he had just walked out of a meeting with the Director himself, it felt strangely suspicious that the Director had summoned him.

This was because Jaechan, who had sought out the Director voluntarily today, had made only one demand. He said he would do whatever he was told, but requested that, regardless of anyone else, the fact that he had awakened by taking a drug be kept secret from Han Kang at the very least.

Han Kang had been so repulsed by the mere fact that he had awakened as a Guide; given his attitude, the fact of Jaechan’s clinical drug administration had to be kept a secret until the day he died.

But would the Director change his stance immediately after making a promise? He didn’t seem like that kind of person, so Jaechan pushed Han Kang toward the Director’s office while detaching him from his body.

“Go on in. He’s probably waiting.”

“Okay. The teammates aren’t bullying you?”

“Bullying me?”

Bullying him? Far from it; the teammates treated him with extreme care. At first, their attitude—being so kind it was almost excessive—was a bit puzzling. But after living at the Center for nearly two weeks, Jaechan realized one fact.

Most of the teammates couldn’t handle Han Kang. He had no way of knowing exactly how Han Kang behaved at the Center to make them all recoil like that, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand at all.

The guy was quite reckless, after all.

Jaechan glared at Han Kang once more. Because of the rumor that he was “Han Kang’s honey,” his position within the team was “Han Kang’s Disposal Unit.” If Han Kang had even a slight problem or raised even a small complaint, it immediately became Jaechan’s responsibility.

Despite being only in his second week on the job, people would give him the solution verbally and then send him off to Han Kang. As a result, it was nice to be with Han Kang, but it led to a series of bothersome tasks.

Sigh. Jaechan let out a light sigh to clear his chest, turned around, and waved his hand—flutter, flutter—at Han Kang.

“Hurry up. See you after training.”

“Why after training?”

“Guiding.”

“Ah… Guiding.”

He asked even though he knew.

Since his expression clearly said “I don’t want to,” Jaechan opened his eyes determinedly. At that, Han Kang scurried into the Director’s office as if running away. Opening the door wide without even knocking, he said, “I’m here,” and closed the door.

Jaechan wondered who on earth enters the Director’s office like that, but since it was Han Kang, he just accepted it.

.✦ ݁˖

The office he arrived at was somehow bustling. While he looked around with wide eyes to gauge the mood, Jaechan’s eyes sparkled when he heard the term “resident Guide” being mentioned frequently.

“Jaechan’s eyes are sparkling again. Do you want to do it that badly?”

The team leader, Ji Sangtaek, spoke up with a friendly smile.

The teammates found staying a week as a resident Guide to be extremely bothersome. Well, since they weren’t exactly getting off work nor were they technically on duty, he supposed it could be disliked.

When he heard about it from Han Kang, he said they just eat together, chat, play, and then sleep, but even that could feel like work to them, so he understood.

But Jaechan was different.

“Yes, I want to do it. When do I start?”

Jaechan sincerely wanted to be a resident Guide.

A resident Guide was a sort of duty where the Guides assigned to the team took turns staying at the dormitory. Since Espers are constantly exposed to the risk of going berserk, the Guides stay on standby at all times just in case.

The period was one week, and he thought that if they lived together in the Esper dormitory, Han Kang wouldn’t be able to push him away if a situation requiring guiding arose.

Wasn’t it a golden opportunity? Regardless of whether Han Kang went berserk or not, it was also a chance to show himself more properly as a Guide.

“Then shall we let Jaechan do it? He’ll have to try it eventually anyway, and we can’t keep him from it forever. Today’s person in charge is…”

“It’s me.”

While Jaechan’s eyes were sparkling, someone next to him raised their hand, indicating it was their turn. It was Guide Shin Jieun, a very capable female Guide who was in charge of Team Zero member Cho Youngwoo.

“Right. I think it would be good for him to go with Jieun and learn a bit by her side.”

“I don’t mind. Jaechan, you want to?”

Jaechan nodded his head vigorously. He heard voices around him clicking their tongues, saying it was their first time seeing someone volunteer for overtime, but now was not the time to worry about that.

“Well, they say he’s Han Kang’s honey. What’s so hard about a married couple being together, right?”

At Ji Sangtaek’s mischievous addition, Jaechan’s face flushed hot. Not just honey, but a married couple. He knew it was just words to tease him, but because he felt both good and provoked, Jaechan bit his lip hard.

“Then this week, Han Kang’s honey and Youngwoo’s darling will be doing it.”

Han Kang’s honey aside, were Shin Jieun and Cho Youngwoo dating too? He vaguely knew that Guides and Espers get involved, date, and even get married, but he didn’t know they were in that kind of relationship.

Before Jaechan could even stare at Shin Jieun with wide eyes, she hit Ji Sangtaek’s body hard—smack!

“Ah, Team Leader!”

“Ouch, ouch. You, hitting the team leader. You’re just jealous because I have a dedicated pair on the same team.”

Ji Sangtaek, unbothered by his teammate’s insubordination, soon said, “I’ll get the approval,” and returned to his seat.

A resident Guide.

In that moment when he resolved to hold onto Han Kang and try proper guiding this time.

“…Ah.”

Jaechan blinked.

It was because he wondered how on earth he should tell Han Kang. It wasn’t exactly a fact he couldn’t tell, but perhaps because he had heard those harsh words, his heart was already fluttering just thinking about mentioning anything related to guiding.

Ah, whatever. It’s work, so what does it matter?

Jaechan immediately pulled out his phone and opened the message window with Han Kang. When had he sent it? Han Kang’s message was the first thing he saw.

「Kang: What are you doing after work today? Let’s have dinner together」

It seemed he intended to go out.

“No chance.”

「I’m leaving work with you」

The “read” mark appeared as soon as he sent the reply. A symbol indicating he was typing appeared next, but Jaechan’s message was one step faster than Han Kang’s reply.

「I’m the resident Guide this week」

As soon as the message was sent, the typing symbol disappeared.