SOFTIE 11

“Th—that’s right! I heard the Leader lost his parents to a magic beast!”

Just as Park Gunwoo said, Yeonwoo had lost his parents to a magic beast. Furthermore, that incident triggered his awakening as an Esper, changing his childhood in an instant.

Because of that, Yeonwoo loathed the existence of magic beasts.

“Right. So there’s no way Yeonwoo would bring a magic beast out with him.”

Yeonwoo remained silent.

As everyone said, he hated magic beasts. He blamed them for everything—the reason he got caught up in the Gate, the reason his parents died, and even the fact that he awakened as an Esper. That’s why he killed and killed.

“Kkyu, kkyuit…?”

“I don’t hate you.”

The cry rang out once more, audible to everyone. And Yeonwoo was acting as if he were soothing someone.

“Hey, did you guys hear that just now?”

“Sensitive as always. How am I supposed to talk if you notice before I even say anything?”

Kang Hana’s sixth sense was at a level even Yeonwoo couldn’t understand. She, too, had lost her parents to a magic beast.

Because of that, she displayed a desperate sense of loathing toward them. Yeonwoo could feel the slime trembling uncontrollably, like a vibrating pulse.

It looked as though it were overwhelmed by anxiety or shivering with fear. Yeonwoo soothed it, assuming it was because its life had been threatened.

“It’s okay, I’ll protect you. Come out here. I’ll introduce you to my team.”

At Yeonwoo’s words, the slime peeked its head out tentatively. Everyone saw the form of the slime as it emerged. Just as Kang Hana said, a magic beast had appeared.

“…Kang Hana, move!”

A shadow beneath Shin Yoosung stretched out in a straight line, aiming for the slime. Yeonwoo dodged backward. Park Gunwoo and Min Haeyoon were flustered by the sudden fight, while Ma Seongtae’s eyes demanded an explanation and Choi Minjae stared at Yeonwoo with a puzzled gaze. Yeonwoo let out a sigh.

“Control your tempers. You’re scaring my kid.”

These hot-tempered guys were giving him a headache.

“What do you mean ‘your kid’! I’m telling you, that’s a magic beast! Are you blind?”

“What are you thinking?”

Kang Hana and Shin Yoosung spoke one after the other. Though they had attacked the slime, it was nothing more than a move to observe Yeonwoo’s reaction. If they had truly intended to kill the slime, this place would have been turned into a wasteland.

“Yeonwoo-ya, you… you really brought a magic beast. Why…”

Ma Seongtae asked with a face so pale it looked as if he might collapse at any moment.

Hana was reason enough. Because it’s my pair Guide.

Yeonwoo stared at Ma Seongtae. In order for this child to be recognized as a pair Guide, he needed Ma Seongtae’s help.

“Now, everyone say hello. My—”

At that moment, the slime shot forward like a bullet with a shoong sound. Standing proudly in front of Yeonwoo, the slime puffed up its body as if threatening Kang Hana.

No matter how one looked at it, it appeared hostile toward Yeonwoo’s team members.

“Kkyu! Kkyuit!!”

“Oh? Showing your true colors, I see!”

Kang Hana rolled up her sleeves, ready to take it on. The slime stood boldly in front of Yeonwoo as if protecting him. Yeonwoo let out a laugh as the slime’s feelings reached him.

“Haha, how cute. I appreciate you trying to protect me, but there’s no need.”

“Kkyu!!”

The slime continued to cry out as if protesting, but Yeonwoo nonchalantly picked it up and held it out toward his teammates. He had to finish what he couldn’t say earlier.

“Hey, that thing, right now…!”

“I’m introducing it to everyone. This is my pair Guide.”

Kang Hana’s shout was cut off by Yeonwoo’s words. Having been vigorously pointing her finger at the slime, she now clamped her mouth shut at Yeonwoo’s statement.

“A Guide.”

Choi Minjae’s voice, chanting the words as if in a lament, woke everyone up.

“Are you crazy? How can a magic beast be a Guide?”

“How do you think I, who was in a state of rampage, was able to return? It’s because I received Guiding. This child is the one who did the Guiding.”

He had dropped a massive bomb. Everyone looked back and forth between Yeonwoo and the slime with expressions of disbelief.

“It was being broadcast live earlier, didn’t you hear? I said I found my pair Guide. This is that child.”

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the slime. However, the fact that a magic beast was a Guide was not something easily accepted. Kang Hana, in particular, swept her hair back roughly.

“As far as I can see, you’ve lost it. By chance… fine, by a one-in-a-million chance, the rampage stopped. A magic beast as a Guide? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Mister! Mister, do you believe that?”

“I haven’t heard of it either, but…”

“Right, there’s no way a magic beast can be a Guide! You’re mistaken! Or were you hypnotized? Do we have to kill that beast for you to come back to your senses?!”

Yeonwoo took a breath. He knew it would be like this. But it was more unpleasant than he had expected. No matter how much he cherished his teammates, he couldn’t suppress the rising anger when they didn’t just hurl criticism at his Guide, but said it had to be killed.

Blue veins popped out on the arm holding the slime. Electric currents, looking ready to attack at any moment, spread in all directions beneath his feet.

“Kang Hana. Didn’t I just say a moment ago that this child is my pair Guide? Did you not hear me?”

He could not go back to a life without a Guide. What kind of fool would throw away the comfort he had already felt?

Yeonwoo was no fool.

Even if everyone screamed otherwise, he alone would believe. Even now, this child was faintly soothing him.

The ones who didn’t know were the idiots and the fools.

“Listen well, everyone. If anyone says once more that a magic beast can’t be a Guide, or that it has to die—I will take that as an invitation to fight me.”

“You… you!”

Kang Hana tried to step toward Yeonwoo, but Choi Minjae stopped her. Yeonwoo struggled to suppress his rage. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand their reaction.

A magic beast was an existence that had to be killed, a threat to the lives of the citizens. However, the slime before him was his Guide.

“Hana-ya, stop.”

“What? Why!”

“We can check if it’s a Guide or not before killing it. That much should be fine, right?”

“……Well, it’s not like this child isn’t my Guide.”

There were many ways to prove this slime was a Guide. As long as the Guiding energy Yeonwoo had felt existed, it couldn’t not be a Guide.

“Mister, please help me test if this child is a Guide. And don’t tell the Guide Association.”

It would surely boast a high matching rate. If that happened, they wouldn’t be able to reject this child.

The higher-ups were always searching for Yeonwoo’s Guide—to suck him dry to the bone. There was a possibility they would use this child. The Guide Association was practically in league with them.

It Guided me.

The rank must be high. It’s probably at least an A-rank. There’s no telling what they might do using this child as a Guide.

The only one he could trust was the Association, where he had grown up thinking of it as home, and the Association President. He had worked hard to make it that way.

At that moment, Kang Hana rushed forward as if she couldn’t accept it.

“How can I…!”

Thump—!

Yeonwoo sent Kang Hana flying as she rushed in without hesitation. She was knocked unconscious as the wall of the Association building—famous for its sturdiness—crumbled.

“Ha, Hana noona!”

Min Haeyoon looked over Hana in a panic, but she had merely been knocked out by a direct hit to the head; there was nothing seriously wrong. Yeonwoo said as he stroked the slime’s head:

“Anyone else want to object like Hana?”

A silence fell, accompanied by a chilling frost.

˖°𓇼🌊⋆🐚🫧

Ttap-ttap-ttap-ttap—

“Mister, stop shaking your leg. It’s distracting.”

“…Right, I have to admit what needs to be admitted.”

“Weren’t you the one who couldn’t admit it?”

The first was Yeonwoo, and the second was Kang Hana. Shin Yoosung snickered as he spoke to Hana, who had been rampaging earlier saying she couldn’t accept it, but was now quietly conceding.

“I have no choice but to admit it. I saw it.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Shin Yoosung’s gaze turned toward Yeonwoo’s measurement device. The decrease in contamination—that was the most definitive evidence. Thus, they had no choice but to accept the words that the slime was a Guide.

Though they loathed the existence of magic beasts, it was better than Yeonwoo dying from a rampage.

“Hana-ya, thanks.”

“…Whatever.”

Kang Hana had a temper as hot as her abilities, but she cooled down just as quickly. She was the type to quickly admit what needed to be admitted. If anything, the one in a state of chaos was Ma Seongtae.

The reason he had watched silently even when Kang Hana was causing a scene was not because he had accepted the slime as a Guide.