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I think I wanted to become that kind of person when I was young, but to wish for that now, the path I’ve walked is too vivid. Just as Kang Juha killed monsters inside the Gates, I have harmed other people. Paradoxically, it was for the sake of justice.

My mood began to sour. This is why I usually try not to think about anything.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re a good person to me.”

There was no wavering in Kang Juha’s words. It was to the point where I wondered how he could be so certain.

“…Since you overexerted yourself yesterday, we’ll skip the treatment today. Instead, you said you are aware of the fact that you are an Esper, right?”

“Yes.”

“Have you tried using your supernatural power?”

“Actually, I had something to tell you because of that.”

“Yes.”

Well, I had already expected there would be difficulties in using his supernatural power again. Since his control would be diminished, his guiding consumption would likely be high as well.

I was wondering how much guiding medication I had left from the Medical Bureau… but the words Kang Juha returned with put me to the test once more.

“I don’t know how to use my supernatural power.”

“Pardon? No… excuse me?”

“I know that I know how to use supernatural power. I think I even went out on missions. But I can’t remember at all how I used it.”

It was becoming increasingly difficult to manage my expression. Asking how to use supernatural power. Just when I thought I had finally crossed one hurdle, it felt as if someone was mocking me, saying the hurdle I just crossed was merely the level of a small neighborhood hill.

An Esper who doesn’t know how to use their power. What kind of nonsense is this, Mister Doctor?

Wait a minute. I’m that Mister Doctor…?

Just in case, I had even released the last restraint on Kang Juha’s wrist, but Kang Juha said he couldn’t feel a thing. Thinking perhaps it was due to a lack of guiding, I even gave him a guiding injection, but he just looked at me while blinking his eyes with an expression of total ignorance.

“So this was guiding medication.”

“Yes.”

“I just thought you were giving it to me because I was in pain.”

“It’s similar. Espers need guiding when they are in pain.”

It seemed certain that Kang Juha’s memory had errors here and there.

And those errors appeared to stem from the fact that while he recognized himself as an Esper, he was in a state of almost total ignorance regarding life as an Esper. Both in not knowing how to use his power, and in the way he seemed to have no clue about guiding medication, despite having likely encountered it far more than other Espers.

“Guiding will fill up within ten minutes now, so try using your supernatural power based on the sensation you feel then.”

This was a rehabilitation method frequently used when Espers reached a state of power exhaustion. Though a Guide providing direct guiding would be much faster than medication, Kang Juha didn’t have a Guide.

“Okay.”

Answering docilely, Kang Juha stared blankly at his wristwatch.

“Teacher, you’re an Esper too, right?”

“Yes.”

Since it wasn’t a particularly sensitive question, I answered without hesitation, but Kang Juha’s expression changed subtly.

“Then Teacher, do you need a Guide too?”

“Yes.”

“…Are you married?”

“No?”

“What about a lover?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Then what about a Guide you’re seeing?”

“…”

“Do you have one?”

“If you mean the Guides I receive guiding from, then yes.”

I had only conveyed the facts as they were, but Kang Juha looked at me with the expression of a five-year-old kid who had just been told that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

Is this something to be that shocked about?

Kang Juha stared intently at my face to a burdensome degree. Then he let out a deep sigh, looked at my face again, and let out another sigh.

No, what is this? It feels strangely unpleasant. Why are you looking at a person’s face and sighing?

“Playboy.”

Kang Juha muttered in a voice that was barely audible.

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t know you were that kind of person…”

“Pardon? What are you talking about?”

“Not just ‘a’ Guide you receive guiding from, but you have ‘Guides’?”

“Yes. What about it?”

Unless one had a dedicated Guide, most received guiding from Guides whose schedules and ranks matched.

One could submit a request for a specific person, but doing so might tangle the guiding schedule and prevent one from working properly. There was no need to receive guiding from a specific Guide while going as far as to take such a risk.

“What about it?”

Mimicking my words, Kang Juha asked back as if he were appalled. I just stared at him blankly, not knowing how on earth to react, and Kang Juha let out another deep sigh.

“I thought Teacher would be popular… but still, an Esper who receives guiding from Guides is just too…”

“…Too?”

Up until this point, I had no inkling of what kind of ridiculous thoughts Kang Juha was having.

Kang Juha looked at me with an expression that asked if he really had to say this with his own mouth.

“It’s promiscuous.”

“Pardon?”

Reflexively, I had no choice but to pick at my ear.

It was a word I had never heard once in my entire life. If one were to choose the descriptor that least suited me among all existing adjectives, it was a word that everyone who knew me would likely say in unison.

Promiscuous? Me?

“Me?”

“Yes… How could you just… with multiple Guides at once…”

“…”

I stood there dazed, not even having a clue where to start correcting him, and Kang Juha seemed to take that as a confirmation. It was because he made a face as if he were about to cry, like someone who had been jilted.

But then, what on earth are you imagining that makes your face turn red and makes you scan my body up and down? Seeing that, it became certain that Kang Juha was not in his seven-year-old ego.

“I have never done it with multiple people. I do it with one person at a time.”

“…Then you swap them out every time?”

“Ha, what… I just receive it as it is assigned. I don’t do anything promiscuous. Just what do you think guiding is?”

“It’s holding hands and kissing.”

“…”

“And doing other things, too.”

“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but I only go as far as contact guiding by holding hands.”

“Ah.”

A short exclamation escaped Kang Juha’s mouth. Then, he looked at me with a gaze different from before and let out a low laugh.

“I see. Then you don’t have a Guide you like, either?”

“Me?”

What kind of novel question is this? I had once heard Juyoung ask, “Team Leader, have you ever liked someone? No, wait, can you even like someone?”, but I had never heard a question asking who I was liking.

“Yes. You, Teacher.”

“I don’t. And ten minutes have passed. Would you like to try using your supernatural power?”

If I kept humoring him, I felt like we would just talk about useless things all day and night, so I used the time as an excuse to cut off the questions. Kang Juha didn’t pester me further, perhaps satisfied with that. Or maybe he noticed my signal that I was getting tired of answering.

“…You said I’d be able to feel the guiding once ten minutes passed, right?”

“Yes.”

“What do I do if I don’t feel anything?”

“Pardon? That’s impossible.”

Even I, with guiding anesthesia, could distinguish what was guiding when I received it. I had never heard of an Esper who could not detect guiding itself anywhere in the entire world.

“It’s true though…”

As if he thought not being able to feel the guiding was his fault, Kang Juha muttered in a completely dejected voice.

“Wait a moment. Let me check the levels.”

I pulled out the Esper-exclusive guiding meter I had tucked in my pocket. I wrapped the bracelet-like device around his wrist and pressed the measurement button; the rectangular bar began to fill up with green.

“Breathe in and out calmly.”

Kang Juha obediently took deep breaths as I instructed. Before long, with a beep sound, the guiding level measurement finished.

64%. It wasn’t sufficient, but it was fair. Rather, looking strictly at the levels, Kang Juha’s guiding level was more stable than mine right now. That meant the problem wasn’t the guiding…

“It seems your sense for guiding is temporarily paralyzed. I’ve never seen a case like this, so I’m not sure what to do…”

A case I’ve never seen? If Kang Juha weren’t an S-Class combat Esper precious to South Korea, and an elite agent who was thought to have died after being caught in a Gate and going missing six months ago, I might have welcomed the current situation with open arms.

I would have researched this case to publish a paper, or done something else, and used it somehow…

But to have a case I’ve never even heard of occur in a patient I’m currently pouring my heart into—to the point of performing the bizarre act of reading fairy tale books just to return him to his original state? This is enough to drive one crazy.

“As expected… I’m the problem, right?”

“…”

Yes.

In my heart, I wanted to answer exactly like that.

“I’m sorry.”

However, looking into Kang Juha’s face, where it wouldn’t be strange if he burst into tears at any moment, I couldn’t say anything. A face that looked like it was about to cry was always just a nuisance to me, but my stomach had never churned like this before.

Is it because of how he looks, after all?

All those who had blubbered in front of me until now were poorly made like roughly kneaded clay, but Kang Juha looked like a product made by a god who spent three days and nights burning with artistic soul, showing the world’s unfairness in stark detail.

Oh… maybe that’s it. Humans are naturally weak to visual stimuli. It wasn’t surprising that my brain produced a reaction independent of my will.

“It’s alright.”

I suddenly wondered if there was a scientific study showing that people automatically become kind in front of handsome individuals.