PARADOX 5

The janitor, Yeo Hanseo, stood a good distance away from his original spot, watching the bustling crowd.

To be precise, he was watching Gu Jeyi, who stood in the center of it.

Gu Jeyi was dealing with the people approaching him with a calm expression. His attitude was exactly in the middle—not too intimate, yet not feeling too distant either.

Good grief, how could that person be only 21 years old?

He was the kind of human for whom it wouldn’t have been strange if his first words at birth hadn’t been “Wah!” but “Mother, thank you for giving birth to me.”

Is that what happens when one grows up exposed to the public’s attention from a young age?

‘Wait, at what age did that fellow awaken?’

It felt like it was a very young age, but he couldn’t remember exactly.

Hanseo pulled out his newly purchased cell phone.

As soon as he typed ‘Gu Jeyi’ into the search bar, numerous related search terms popped up.

[Gu Jeyi Esper]

[Gu Jeyi S-class]

[Gu Jeyi Age]

[How many abilities does Gu Jeyi have]

[Gu Jeyi Fashion]

[Gu Jeyi Wealth]

Yeo Hanseo ignored the list of related searches and typed in ‘Gu Jeyi awakening when’ to find the answer.

The phone showed a mountain of information in an instant.

Among them was a useless post like this:

1. 1. What rank would a 15-year-old middle schooler Esper get?

Hello. I’m a middle school student who just awakened as an Esper and went for a rank test. The results come out tomorrow, but I’m curious.

What rank will I be? There’s a saying that if you awaken at a young age, you’re stronger. Esper Gu Jeyi awakened at age 5, too.

They say 15 is on the younger side even among Espers… will I get A-class?

└ Age has nothing to do with rank. I awakened at 15 just like you and I’m D-class. Good luck.

It seemed Gu Jeyi had awakened at the age of five.

Usually, the age one awakens as an Esper is late teens to early twenties. Since he had the nickname “Youngest Esper,” Hanseo knew he had awakened early, but he didn’t realize it was that early.

He clicked on a few other posts, but other than his age, it was all information he already knew. It was only natural, as he had searched everything about Gu Jeyi as soon as he gained access to the internet.

Still, just in case there was a fact he didn’t know, he scrolled down to skim through, and one photo caught his eye. It was Gu Jeyi standing in front of numerous microphones while soaking wet. His features were the same, but his cheeks were still chubby with baby fat.

It was when Gu Jeyi first succeeded in clearing a Gate. Hanseo also knew when this was taken because he had seen the photo before.

It was a famous fact that Gu Jeyi had been active since a young age. Of course, this country had a conscience and didn’t leave the disposal of monsters to a 5-year-old. However, since they couldn’t just let him live blended in with ordinary people, they had him stay in the Center’s exclusive facilities from childhood.

And 10 years later, the first S-class Gate appeared.

At that time, all Espers failed to clear this Gate that had appeared on the seabed.

In a moment of despair, 15-year-old Gu Jeyi was deployed and cleared the Gate; with that as a catalyst, his name became engraved in the minds of the entire nation.

“Hmm.”

Hanseo stared at the photo of 15-year-old Gu Jeyi and then looked up again.

Before he knew it, Gu Jeyi had disappeared. The crowded lobby had become quiet again.

Anyway, seeing the living Gu Jeyi was quite a novel experience.

Over the past month, there were times when he felt suspicious about whether he had truly returned to the past, but seeing Gu Jeyi alive and well made him feel like his stomach, which had been pierced by him in the past, was starting to ache.

Hanseo scratched his stomach for no reason.

‘At any rate, I’ve succeeded in approaching the target.’

Now all that was left was to wait for the right moment.

Ring!

His phone rang like a signal. It was a text message.

[Korea Supernatural Management Center]

Yeo Hanseo is a ‘Subject for EGI Testing.’

According to relevant laws, please ensure you undergo the test following the schedule below.

A smile spread across his lips as he checked the contents of the message.

“Esper Gu Jeyi, I will conclude the guiding.”

Gu Jeyi slowly opened his eyes. The guide sitting directly across from him flashed an awkward smile at him.

“How do you feel?”

Gu Jeyi did not answer immediately and checked his watch. The special machine in the form of a watch, which allows one to check the state of an Esper’s energy waves, informed Gu Jeyi of his condition in detail.

[85%]

This number represented the instability of the Esper’s energy waves.

It had been 86% before he came here, so it had dropped by 1%.

The headache that felt like a needle being driven into his brain didn’t seem to have disappeared in the slightest, but since he thought he would have to carry this level of side effect for the rest of his life, he didn’t even feel a sense of regret.

Gu Jeyi gave a light bow toward the guide.

“It’s a bit better. Thank you.”

“No, I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.”

The guide added awkwardly, as if he himself knew he hadn’t been helpful.

“I’m an A-class guide in my own right, but I guess it’s hard to see much effect with a 10% matching rate.”

“It is sufficient for me.”

“Well, as expected, how about proceeding with contact guiding instead of radiation guiding? Esper Gu Jeyi is an adult now, and as you know, contact has the best effect among guiding methods…”

“I’m fine.”

Gu Jeyi stood up and opened the door to the guiding room.

Veins appeared on the forehead of the guide, who had been staring blankly at Gu Jeyi.

The guide’s lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but he soon adjusted his expression and rose from his seat.

“…Thank you.”

On the surface he was smiling, but he had an air of wounded pride.

“I’ve thought this since the first time we met, but Esper Gu Jeyi seems a bit different from other Espers.”

Seeing as he added that one final remark, it was certain.

Then again, it was understandable since the guide had gone out of his way to suggest contact guiding first, only to be rejected. And wasn’t he an A-class guide who wouldn’t be rejected anywhere?

Espers had a tendency to become excessively weak toward a guide, who was their lifeline. No matter how much an Esper lived for their own pride, in the end, they were in a position where their lives ebbed and flowed according to the whims of a guide, so it was unavoidable.

Whether S-class or F-class, the desire to live is the same.

Because they want to live, they become desperate.

“Well, I like that about you.”

“…”

“Please call me again next time. I’ll be waiting.”

Leaving behind words that were closer to asking for a date than a business closing, the guide departed.

Gu Jeyi knew that the guide, whose name he couldn’t even properly remember, had been putting effort into him for several years.

It wasn’t simply because he coveted the title of ‘Gu Jeyi’s Guide.’

Whenever there was a chance, he would look at Gu Jeyi’s face as if licking it, send intimate text messages to his private phone number, and even lean his body against him while pretending it was an accident; anyone, not just himself, would have been able to notice his affection.

But he didn’t feel any interest. It might be because that guide was of the same sex. In the sense that he felt zero interest in the body of a man who possessed the same parts as him, Gu Jeyi considered himself heterosexual. Not that he had ever liked a woman, either.

Whether it was a woman or a man, his dislike for contact was the same. Perhaps because he had entered the Center at a young age and grew up exposed to those who touched him freely as if he were some kind of object, a rejection response arose the moment he touched others.

He had tried contact guiding once, thinking it would be better than now, but he stopped because the mere touch of hands made nausea rise up. It was also because it didn’t produce results significant enough to endure the revulsion.

His maternal uncle clicked his tongue, wondering if he’d ever be able to date at this rate, but was dating even the issue? He didn’t even know when he might die.

Gu Jeyi habitually swept the inside of his molars with his tongue. He could feel a slightly protruding part. He imagined the moment the worst happened, but as expected, he felt no fear or worry. He knew this about himself was strange, but he didn’t want to think deeply about it.

He didn’t know when he had become like this. When he was young, he certainly liked certain things, and there seemed to have been things like hope and faith in his heart. Because he had even believed that one day his guide would appear and end this endless pain.

Yes, there was a time when such hope maintained his life. But what he realized as time flowed by was only the fact that he had to live on even without hope.

From the day he gained that realization, he…

Ring-ring.

Just then, his watch rang. It was a Gate appearance alarm.

Gu Jeyi stood up mechanically. As soon as he stepped out of the guiding room, he ran into a janitor standing in the hallway.

Ordinarily, he would have thought he was just cleaning and wouldn’t have taken much interest, but he was strangely bothered. It was because of the janitor’s gaze, which was staring at him with an unusual intensity.

He was used to people looking at him, but the janitor’s gaze felt somewhat different from that.

“…”

Gu Jeyi stopped walking without realizing it and looked at him.

Unusually, he seemed to be a young man, though it wasn’t certain because half of his face was covered by a mask.

Before Gu Jeyi could properly figure out the meaning of the gaze he sent, the janitor suddenly bowed his head.

“Ah, hello. Are you heading out?”

His voice sounded as if he were pretending to be composed but was slightly nervous. It was the typical reaction of people encountering him.

‘Is it hypersensitivity after all?’

Ever since the year his instability level stopped dropping below 80%, Gu Jeyi had always suffered from hypersensitivity.

He replied late.

“Yes. Well then, keep up the good work.”

“You too, Esper Gu Jeyi!”

Gu Jeyi, his interest having faded, quickly passed the janitor by.

Without noticing the meaningful expression on the janitor’s face, hidden beneath the mask.