FETCH 35

Naturally, there was no way he could feel good. Wasn’t this kind of treatment the same as ignoring him as a person before treating him as a biological specimen?

“A research log is a bit…”

When Jaechan revealed his uncomfortable feelings exactly as they were, Kim Daeyoung laughed, asking if that was how he felt.

It wasn’t a nuance that suggested he agreed, however. Jaechan didn’t pay much attention to Kim Daeyoung’s behavior, which felt like a subtle snub. He looked down at the notebook silently before picking up a permanent marker that was rolling around on the table. He struck through the ‘Research Log’ part with several lines and added different words.

[Clinical Guide Daily Routine Report]

Once he corrected the wording, it looked fairly plausible.

Satisfied with himself, Jaechan let a grin spread across his lips. Kim Daeyoung, sitting opposite him, offered an unenthusiastic voice, saying, “That is better, I suppose.”

Leaning back in his seat, the man rested his hands on his knees with his legs crossed. It was an attitude that didn’t hold a single drop of respect for Jaechan.

“Since this is the first case of manifestation through clinical means, every single move of Guide Jeon Jaechan is important information for us. You know that, right?”

I know it all too well.

Respect or whatever else, Jaechan just wanted to end this face-to-face meeting with the Center Director as quickly as possible. To make matters worse, a scratching or gnawing sound—as if someone were clawing at the door—began to echo through the Center Director’s office.

From the very beginning when he joined, Jaechan was someone who had answered nearly a hundred questions as sincerely as possible (even if he wasn’t perfectly meticulous, he tried anyway). Furthermore, how had the researchers looked at him during his past month of life at the Center?

The gazes, which anyone could see were not exactly kind, had practically monitored his every move. Naturally, Jaechan felt the reality of his own position more vividly than anyone.

“Yes.”

“Are you still taking the medication?”

“No.”

Jaechan shook his head apathetically and met his eyes with a look that asked if there was some sort of problem.

“Why?”

The man was staring at him as if he were truly, purely curious.

What do you mean ‘why’? He was the one wondering why that question was even being asked. The clinical trial was something he participated in for the sake of manifestation, and since he had manifested properly, was there any reason to keep taking the medicine?

As he blinked his eyes, the man let out a humming sound from his throat and pulled his body forward. Uncrossing his legs and leaning his upper body slightly toward him, he looked up at Jaechan. Simultaneously, he made a peculiar smacking sound with his lips.

“The guiding waves will only continue to come out if you take the medicine, right?”

“Ah.”

Is that so?

Well, since he hadn’t manifested by his own power in the first place but had manifested by borrowing the power of drugs, the man’s words did have some logic to them.

“Then I’ll keep taking it.”

Jaechan nodded his head as if it were no big deal. At any rate, there was plenty of medicine left at home. The Center was a place that had handed them out by the dozens of bottles at a time. No matter how diligently he took them, the amount was so vast that he had been in a difficult spot wondering how to throw the leftovers away.

Thinking it was actually for the best, Jaechan recalled the drugs hidden on top of the cupboard. Wondering if he should just take them after breakfast, lunch, and dinner like before, he flipped through the log.

Inside the notebook, countless columns were printed to record wake-up times, bedtimes, menus for each meal, and the amount of medication consumed. At the very bottom, an item labeled ‘Special Remarks’ was also visible.

“What should I write in the Special Remarks?”

“You could write about things like what happened today.”

“Like the guiding?”

“Exactly.”

Then today, I guess I should write something like ‘Han Kang Rampage Level 1 Guiding’ or something like that.

Anyway, there was nothing difficult about it. Jaechan nodded his head slowly. Now that the talk was roughly finished, it felt like he had to leave, if only to quiet down Han Kang who was making a fuss outside.

It was just as Jaechan was slowly getting up.

“But.”

The man’s low voice grabbed his ankles once again.

Jaechan, who had stopped with his buttocks slightly lifted in the air, pressed himself back down into the sofa in an awkward posture. His heart was becoming increasingly hurried, but Kim Daeyoung was still acting leisurely. The way he seemed to have all the time in the world looked perfectly complacent.

He acted like that even though he was the one talking about how Han Kang’s personality was this or that just a moment ago. Looking at him now, it seemed like he didn’t even care all that much about Han Kang’s personality.

“You’re saying the waves came out well even without taking the medicine?”

“Yes.”

“How about when you were staying as a resident Guide?”

“I did well then, too.”

Jaechan offered light answers in succession. The man let out a humming sound from his throat. Resting his chin on his interlaced fingers, he seemed to be contemplating something carefully.

“It is quite unexpected that the guiding waves are persisting.”

It was the moment Kim Daeyoung added those short words.

“Why is that unexpected?”

In the conversation where only the two of them had been talking, a third party’s question suddenly intervened.

At that moment, the chill running down his spine was likely not an illusion.

Having finally picked the lock on the door, Han Kang was striding into the Center Director’s office. Jaechan, whose body had frozen like a statue, couldn’t say a word and just stared at him blankly.

How much did he hear? Did he hear everything? Did he find out I’m taking medication?

While he just scanned the air with a confused gaze, Han Kang naturally took the seat next to Jaechan and stared at the Center Director sullenly.

On the other hand, the Center Director met Han Kang with a rather relaxed expression. He added nonchalantly that he had picked the lock again.

“I asked why it’s unexpected that the waves are persisting. Wasn’t he judged as an S-class?”

Han Kang leaned completely back against the sofa with his legs crossed, just as Kim Daeyoung had done. Picking his ear with one hand, he was acting arrogantly as if telling the man to try saying in front of him whatever it was he had discussed with Jeon Jaechan.

Was even this insolent behavior of Han Kang familiar? Kim Daeyoung answered indifferently as if he didn’t care.

“I just said it because it’s impressive that he’s a rookie doing so well without it straining his physical strength.”

“What’s so impressive about that? If he manifested as a Guide, it’s only natural for him to do that much.”

“Indeed, perhaps it’s because he’s a Guide whose frequency matches yours, Han Kang, that he’s special.”

“Whatever…”

Unlike the two who were exchanging conversation comfortably as if there was nothing to worry about, Jaechan was stiff and frozen, unable to do this or that, simply feeling restless.

He was born with a nature that couldn’t tell a lie to save his life. His temperament, which believed it was better not to speak at all than to lie, shone even in this situation, making him unable to say anything.

“Suspicious.”

The words that broke out suddenly targeted Jaechan immediately.

Jaechan laughed awkwardly and looked back at Han Kang.

“What’s suspicious?”

When he replied in as normal a tone as possible, Han Kang’s handsome eyebrows twitched up and down. It was an action that clearly showed his disapproval, but because of that, Jaechan opened his eyes even more blankly.

Since it would be even more awkward to laugh and ask ‘What’s wrong?’ at a time like this, it was his best effort to hide the suspiciousness Han Kang mentioned.

“Does the Center Director usually call Guides separately for interviews like this?”

He didn’t know why he was asking him that, but Han Kang was looking directly at Jaechan as he asked. Jaechan scratched his cheek lightly. He didn’t know how Kim Daeyoung acted with other Guides, but he was conscious of the fact that his own interviews were frequent.

When he shrugged as if he didn’t know, Kim Daeyoung opposite them burst into a hearty, boisterous laugh.

“He’s young, the youngest among the Guides. And since he came in as an S-class from the moment he joined, I’m especially fond of him.”

He thought the man was just an arrogant person, but Jaechan felt a surge of respect for the diplomacy that was steeped in seasoned experience.

If it hadn’t been for Kim Daeyoung, he would have already confessed the truth that he manifested through clinical trials and had to keep taking medication in the future.

“Was I not pretty to you?”

Han Kang suddenly asked Kim Daeyoung. Kim Daeyoung, who had been sipping from a small cup of steaming tea that he had poured at some point, let out a loud cough. Shock was dripping from his slowly rising gaze.

Jaechan’s eyes looking at Han Kang weren’t much different. Thinking what on earth he was talking about, he looked at him with a strangely distorted expression, and Han Kang grumbled with his lips pouting out.

“You didn’t call me like this. I was younger, and I was S-class as soon as I entered, too, but the treatment is different, isn’t it?”

“…Are you jealous right now?”

“I’m saying it’s suspicious, honey.”

“Ah, what’s suspicious, what!”

Feeling a pang of conscience, Jaechan stood up abruptly, acting with exaggerated flare.

As he flailed around even pointing fingers for no reason, Han Kang laughed softly and pulled Jaechan’s hand down. It meant he roughly understood, but the suspicious look in his eyes as he watched Jaechan did not change.

He knew better than anyone that adding more words or arguing here would do no good. Despite how he looked, Han Kang was surprisingly quick-witted.

Having packed the notebook the Center Director gave him, Jaechan pushed Han Kang’s back repeatedly and left the Center Director’s office with him. He could hear Han Kang’s complaints about not pushing so hard because he might fall, but he just wanted to leave the Center Director’s office even a second sooner.

He was so anxious he felt like his blood was drying up.