IMPRINT 45

Now accustomed to the routine, we headed out from work together and arrived home. Kang Juha unlocked the door with the spare key and opened it for me first, and I naturally stepped inside and took off my shoes.

“Would you like to eat dinner first, or shower first?”

“Hmm… I’ll shower first. What about you, Mr. Kang?”

“I’ll shower first too.”

We scattered to different bathrooms.

Just as I had begun washing, I realized too late that the shampoo in this bathroom had run out. It was because I had placed the new bottle of shampoo I bought for later in the bathroom Kang Juha was using.

There were no more spare bottles left, and since Kang Juha had already entered his bathroom to wash, my hair was already soaking wet and dripping. Essentially, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I was wondering if I had no choice but to wash my hair with bar soap today.

Knock, knock.

“Teacher, you’re out of shampoo in there, right?”

A voice like a savior reached me. I immediately turned off the shower tap and spoke.

“Yes!”

“I haven’t started washing yet, so I’ll leave the shampoo in front of the door.”

I immediately stepped out of the shower stall and opened the door.

“Just squeeze some out for me and take the bottle back. I can go buy more tomorrow.”

If Kang Juha needed it for his shower anyway, I thought it would be better to just give me the amount I needed now instead of him having to go back and forth unnecessarily.

Thinking that, I held out my palm toward Kang Juha… but instead of shampoo being squeezed onto my hand, thump! The bottle fell to the floor with a heavy sound. It almost fell right onto my or Kang Juha’s foot.

“That startled me. Did it slip?”

I bent down to pick up the shampoo bottle, but Kang Juha’s state was somehow strange. He was frozen stiff as if he had become a plaster statue. His gaze was hazy, and I couldn’t even tell where he was looking.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

I waved my hand in front of Kang Juha’s eyes, but far from his complexion returning to normal, he covered his eyes entirely with both hands.

“Are you always, always this unguarded?”

The words he blurted out urgently even contained a hint of resentment, which was very flustering for me to hear.

Suddenly? Why bring up being “unguarded” here? Was it because I opened the door while showering?

“…Are there robbers these days who break in using shampoo as an excuse? Even if that were the case, I’ve never heard of a robber wandering around the Center.”

If a robber entered the Center, that would be the day South Korea completely collapsed. It was a place responsible for the nation’s prestige and security; a robber was a ridiculous notion.

The space between his tightly pressed fingers slighly widened, and Kang Juha’s pupils were revealed. Thinking that he was worrying over nothing, I calmly continued the explanation.

“Furthermore, this neighborhood is an area where only those at the team leader level or higher live, so even if you can’t see it, the security is quite strict. So there’s nothing to worry about.”

“…”

“I’m also an S-class Esper, so I won’t be easily defeated no matter who the opponent is.”

“…Sigh.”

Kang Juha let out a deep sigh, buried his face in both hands again, and shook his head slowly. I didn’t know why, but the tips of his ears looked red as if they were on fire.

Having been hit by the cold air, my wet body was starting to get chilly. I quickly squeezed some shampoo onto my palm and handed the bottle to Kang Juha.

“It’s cold, so let’s talk later.”

Then I closed the door, the culprit of the cold air, and quickly turned on the tap. I felt like I could live again once the warm water heated my body.

After finishing my shower and even drying my hair, the sound of water from the bathroom Kang Juha had entered continued. It was true he started washing later than me, but even considering that, it seemed he was washing for a bit longer than usual…

When Kang Juha finally appeared after a long while, his face was ripe and red like a persimmon.

“It’s hot out; did you wash with hot water?”

Even if it was only early summer, it should be quite hot; he washed with hot water?

Without a word of reply, Kang Juha walked over to the refrigerator with large strides and took out an ice cup. It was one of the ones I had bought as a set with drinks from the convenience store in the Center; he didn’t even pour a drink and just crunched and swallowed the ice inside the cup.

“Does cold water not come out in that bathroom by any chance?”

I wondered if the plumbing was broken or something. Just as I was about to worry, Kang Juha spoke. One of his cheeks was bulging with ice.

“The cold water comes out fine.”

“Then why…?”

“Because I sang the national anthem in my head.”

In your head… the national… anthem?

It took a little time to understand the meaning of his words. As I blankly turned it over in my mind, it suddenly occurred to me that he had mentioned the words “national anthem” to me once before.

Now, when was that… Ah, when Kang Juha asked if I could make him dream the dream he wanted.

“Did you have dirty thoughts?”

As soon as the memory surfaced, the words popped out of my mouth before I could help it.

“…”

Kang Juha neither affirmed nor denied it. Therefore, that is a 100 percent affirmation.

“No, why?”

My wonder lasted only a moment. I recalled the fact that my sexual desire was significantly lower than other Espers and let out a low sigh.

“No. It can happen. Hmm, it could definitely happen. You’re a healthy adult male, and an Esper at that…”

I didn’t know if I was saying this to Kang Juha or to myself, but for now, I was trying my best to understand his position.

I wasn’t particularly curious about someone else’s sex life, but there was a certain degree of inevitability to it. Because in order for an Esper to receive Guiding from a guide, they must have physical contact.

The development of an Esper’s sexual desire was a type of survival mechanism. If I had to pick, I was the one who had fallen behind.

I hadn’t considered it because I didn’t think I would end up living with an Esper. If we were to stay together in the future, would it be better to know to some extent?

“It’s not my fault.”

“I never said it was your fault, Mr. Kang …”

“Because the teacher is too unguarded.”

“…Excuse me?”

I felt like Kang Juha and I were talking about different things right now.

“Wait, just a moment. This is a bit strange.”

“…”

“I don’t see what connection there is at all between Mr. Kang having dirty thoughts and me being unguarded.”

Could it be…

No way…

…Could it? No, right? That’s just me being over-self-conscious. Seong Yihyeon, let’s prevent being over-self-conscious and reclaim a happy life.

“…”

“…”

A very awkward and very strange silence followed. For a long while, both Kang Juha and I stared at random spots, unable to meet each other’s eyes.

“…It’s good to be healthy. Yes, healthy… Health is the best, after all, yeah.”

For now, I decided to drop it.

I couldn’t sleep properly. Since Kang Juha entered my house, I haven’t used my ability once while sleeping, but last night, I seriously contemplated whether I should use it.

After tossing and turning for a long time, I finally fell into a light sleep, but then the wake-up alarm went off immediately; I almost said “Mom, 10 more minutes” even though I’m not a high schooler. It was funny. I didn’t even have a mom when I was a high schooler.

As I sat blankly on the bed with a face that had turned haggard overnight, Kang Juha brought me a cup of lukewarm water. After I finished the water and just blinked my eyes, the cup that was in my hand disappeared and a toothbrush was held out.

After brushing my teeth and getting out of bed to go to the bathroom, the blanket and sheets were neatly arranged, and the clothes to wear for work were placed neatly on the floor.

Honestly, I admit it. The reason I don’t dislike Kang Juha staying in my house is because he knows everything I want to an excessive degree.

Moreover, his hands are so fast. Before I could even say anything, he presented what was needed before my eyes.

“…But is it really okay like this?”

Among the clothes to change into, there was also underwear. Since what I wear and what Kang Juha wears are more or less the same, there’s nothing particularly embarrassing, but perhaps because of what happened yesterday, the neatly folded underwear kept catching my eye today.

“I guess underwear is a bit much, right?”

It’s funny to care about such things, but I don’t have a generous enough personality to share things like this so openly. I’m sorry, but I left the underwear Kang Juha had prepared back in the drawer and took out something else to wear. Kang Juha wouldn’t know this much anyway.

“Shall we go to work?”

“Yes.”

Fortunately, in the training sessions that followed, Kang Juha did not experience Guiding Shock. We did occasionally run into the Alpha Team, but cases of seeing them in group training like that first time were rare. For the most part, it seemed like they were doing unit training with two or three people.

Unlike the first day, they barely paid any attention to us. More often than not, they would just watch their training videos in the waiting room in silence and leave, or they would leave without even doing that.

Naturally, from my side, creating useless friction would not help Kang Juha’s peace of mind, so I was simply grateful that they avoided us first.

Kang Juha said the training was too easy, and in fact, he completed the scenario clear before the training end count even started.

But regardless of what Kang Juha said, I insisted on the low difficulty.

Everyone already knows that Kang Juha is good at what he does without having to prove it. What was important now was making sure the Guiding inside his body flowed smoothly. It was closer to training the Guiding system by repeating the process of moderately consuming and then recharging Guiding.

And so today, after throwing Kang Juha into a training scenario where several low-level monsters appeared, I began to observe by comparing his recent training videos with previous ones.