It happened around the time when spring was halfway over and the weather had grown warm—almost hot.
Tired of the endless bickering, Rion had finally resolved to treat Yu-won like he was invisible and spent some time avoiding him altogether.
When Lee Yu-won wasn’t around, Rion couldn’t say he was doing well, even as a platitude—but at least he wasn’t dead. So he figured he could survive without Yu-won’s guiding.
Better to suffer physically than mentally, right? With that in mind, Rion started steering clear of Yu-won. But that damn Yu-won was persistent—he chased Rion down just to keep picking fights.
“Ugh, stop following me already. Are you my pair or something? I’m sure you’ve got a ton of guiding requests—go help those people instead.”
“Other people have guides even without me, but you can’t manage unless I help. Am I wrong?”
“Tch. Aren’t you just full of yourself. I’ve got plenty of people who can guide me, even without you. I’ll just ask Kang-woo hyung. Now move.”
Rion gave Yu-won’s shoulder a shove to push past, but Yu-won didn’t budge. Instead, he blocked Rion with a solid arm, not giving an inch.
“There’s a time and place to be stubborn. You can’t even take care of your own health—how do you expect to protect the rest of the world?”
“…I can take care of myself. And FYI, I did just fine while you were gone. Someone might think you’re personally responsible for keeping me alive.”
Rion scoffed and shook the health drink pack in his hand mockingly.
“I’ve been getting by just fine on Kang-woo hyung’s guiding and some meds. So, Mister Lee Yu-won, why don’t you go offer your precious S-rank guiding to someone who actually wants it?”
The drink in his hand wasn’t a guiding supplement—it was just a normal health drink. But Rion doubted Yu-won, who didn’t give a damn about him anyway, would notice.
“…Ha.”
Yu-won let out a short sigh. His gaze lingered on the drink pack for a long moment.
If he stares that hard, he’ll see the label.
Startled, Rion quickly hid the drink behind his back and raised his voice.
“If you’ve said your piece, move. I’ve got a dispatch call to respond to.”
Seizing the moment when Yu-won’s attention flicked elsewhere, Rion shoved past him. This time, Yu-won yielded easily, muttering under his breath.
“That stuff’s not going to cut it.”
Rion ignored him and walked out of the Center.
And just like that, he continued working without receiving any guiding from Yu-won.
He figured he’d have to face him eventually when entering a Gate, but during regular operations, they didn’t cross paths.
Kang-woo’s guiding room was far from Yu-won’s, and thanks to the guiding request system, Rion could easily check whether Yu-won was currently in his office or not. It wasn’t hard to avoid him.
But life, of course, doesn’t always go according to plan.
Rion, dragging along an unusually exhausted body, made his way to the Center.
“You don’t look so good lately… Why not just get guiding from Yu-won?”
“I’ve got pride, you know. How could I do that?”
Rion grumbled as he received guiding from Kang-woo as soon as he arrived at the Center.
Just like before, when Yu-won wasn’t around, Rion relied on exercise, all sorts of health supplements, guiding medication in controlled doses to avoid resistance, and occasional light guiding from Kang-woo to hold himself together.
But maybe it was because he’d once experienced what top-tier guiding felt like—his body wasn’t recovering the way it used to.
He kept telling himself it was all in his head, but the thought crossed his mind more than once: maybe he really should swallow his pride and just get guided—no matter how humiliating it felt.
Still, pride was pride. The last thing he wanted was to go crawling back to Yu-won.
Unless they happened to run into each other and had no choice, he wasn’t about to go looking for him.
“You keep this up, and something serious will happen.”
“With you taking such good care of me, I won’t die or anything.”
“That’s a supplement, not a miracle cure. For God’s sake, at least look after yourself for the sake of all those fans who drop this stuff off at your place.”
Kang-woo tapped the box next to Rion as he spoke.
At some point, boxes of health products had started showing up in front of Rion’s dorm. At first, he thought Kang-woo had sent them, but during a conversation, he realized that wasn’t the case and was left puzzled.
“You’re popular, right? You’ve got fans even in the Center… It’s probably one of them.”
“Still, who is it? If someone gave me something, they’d usually just hand it to me directly. This is the first time someone’s doing it all secret-like.”
Rion stared at the box. If he knew who it was, he’d at least say thank you. But even after months of this mystery person leaving gifts at his door, he still hadn’t figured out who it was.
“Maybe they’re just really shy. Either way, think about people like that and take better care of yourself. I bet you’re the only one treating their matched Guide like this.”
“A matched Guide’s gotta act like one first. Anyway, don’t worry too much. I’ll be seeing his face tomorrow whether I want to or not.”
Rion held up his phone in front of Kang-woo’s face.
Displayed on the screen was a message listing the personnel assigned to tomorrow’s Gate.
“You’re going in without guiding?”
“Once I’m in, I’ll have no choice but to get guided. So I’ll just pretend to give in and get it over with.”
Rion shrugged nonchalantly.
Kang-woo looked at him like he was hopeless.
“You’d better get guiding the moment you step in. You’re in worse shape than before Yu-won even showed up.”
“How could four weeks without guiding be worse than four years? You’re being overprotective.”
“It’s not overprotectiveness—it’s just facts. Don’t brush it off like nagging. Get guided as soon as you go in. You’ve been warned.”
“Okay, okay. I got it.”
Rion raised his hands and mimed plugging his ears as he stood up.
“If I rest up before heading into the Gate, I’ll be fine. There’s nothing else going on today, so I’ll just go home and sleep.”
“Yeah, if you’re not going to listen, at least get a good night’s sleep.”
In the end, Kang-woo surrendered with a sigh, shaking his head. Rion looked unstable, sure, but he didn’t seem to be in immediate danger either.
“He should be okay…”
Kang-woo murmured as he watched the door Rion had exited through.
But of course—trouble hit inside the Gate.
The Gate itself wasn’t particularly dangerous. The problem was the sheer number of monsters crowding the entrance.
The fight started before Rion had a chance to pretend to give in and get guided.
And with his condition already poor, he became nothing more than dead weight—literally.
“Kang Rion, can you get me airborne? If not, fall back with the Guides. Seo-ha, you take the front.”
“Yes.”
Even as Seo-ha responded, Rion couldn’t believe what was happening.
This was a power he used effortlessly before, yet now it felt like lifting a ton. His body was heavy, and honestly, he wasn’t even sure he could get Gwang-hyeon off the ground.
He hadn’t felt this useless since becoming an Esper. Not even during his first Gate.
Am I really just going to sit here like this? I should at least do something.
“…I’ll lift you. No matter what.”
Thankfully, Gwang-hyeon had enough experience to manage, but if the party had been made up of rookies, someone might’ve gotten seriously hurt.
Rion barely managed to gather enough energy to lift Gwang-hyeon off the ground, and by the time the battle was over, his legs gave out and he collapsed.
“It’s a guiding deficiency. Yu-won, over here. Seriously, how the hell do you go without guiding until you get this bad? You’re insane.”
Gwang-hyeon muttered as he helped Rion upright.
Rion, slumped and limp, raised his bleary eyes forward.
Even during the four years he’d lived in chronic guiding deficiency, he’d never crashed this hard.
Why now?
Through the haze, he saw Yu-won rushing toward him.
He couldn’t make out his expression clearly, but—well, he was probably thinking how pathetic Rion was for being so stubborn until it got to this point.
“Ugh…”
“Are you even guiding him properly? He looks totally messed up.”
“I am guiding him… but his energy’s a complete wreck. It’s like pouring water into a bottomless jar…”
Yu-won’s voice, laced with panic, echoed in Rion’s ears.
Yu-won sounded dumbfounded—Yu-won, of all people. Could his voice even do that? Or maybe he was the dumb one now.
As his thoughts drifted, Rion’s consciousness faded again.
“It’s probably way too much guiding deficiency. Contact alone won’t fix this. If we don’t escalate, he’ll go berserk within the hour.”
Yu-won had already pulled Rion close, letting guiding flow into him, but Rion wasn’t stabilizing.
If physical contact wasn’t enough, they’d have to go to the next step.
“…I get that you’re not thrilled about this, Yu-won. But we can’t all die in here just because Rion’s being stubborn. Even if you hate it, just close your eyes and…”
The next step beyond simple contact was mucous membrane contact.
And the easiest form of that was a kiss.
Gwang-hyeon glanced at the hesitant Yu-won and pleaded.
“Just think of it as emergency treatment. Like CPR or something.”
“…”
Yu-won stared at Rion’s face, unreadable.
But then, hearing something approaching, Gwang-hyeon urged him again.
“If a stronger monster shows up while we’re like this, we’re screwed. It’s not like you’re going to catch a disease from kissing him. Just do it, quick.”
Yu-won bit his lip for a moment—then, as if making up his mind, he gathered Rion into his arms.
Rion, still barely conscious, stared up at Yu-won with hazy eyes.
“…Emergency treatment. CPR.”
Yu-won whispered under his breath and slowly lowered his head.
