“Wow. If someone had told me before we started living together that I’d end up calling Lee Yu-won ‘cute’ someday, I would’ve cursed them out and asked if they were crazy.”
Rion made a big fuss, looking embarrassed even by his own words. Who could’ve known things would turn out like this? He fanned his slightly flushed face with his hand as he spoke.
“Seriously, you never know where life’s going to take you.”
“You could end up in an even closer relationship than this. Why are you getting embarrassed already?”
“Closer than this? If someone heard you, they’d think we’re gonna end up dating or something.”
Well, who knows? Jin-ha shrugged.
“Still, I’m glad things are going well.”
“Yeah. Living together definitely seems to help.”
“It does. I mean, it’s not just anywhere—you went through an S-rank Gate together. You kind of develop a sense of camaraderie. I got really close with the people on my team too.”
“Oh, right. Come to think of it, you’ve been hanging out together a lot lately. Especially with Min-hyeon.”
“Yeah. We even shared a tent in the Gate, and he’s actually pretty fun.”
“Min-hyeon? He’s a good guy, but isn’t he pretty quiet?”
“That’s exactly why you want to poke at people like that.”
“Seriously, your personality……”
Rion shook his head as he watched Jin-ha grin. Well, to be fair, Min-hyeon’s reactions were pretty entertaining when you teased him.
“If you keep messing with him, he’s going to apply for counseling with the Center Director soon. He’s super close with the Center Director—basically works like his personal secretary.”
“That just makes it even more fun.”
“You’re really impossible. Oh, by the way, Gates have been kind of quiet lately. It felt pretty busy up until last week.”
“We need days like this to survive. Dealing with an S-rank Gate was already exhausting, and then we went straight back to work. We rested a little, but it wasn’t nearly enough.”
“Peace is nice. Sending only the others into Gates makes me feel kind of guilty too.”
Rion nodded. He was more used to working than resting, so being unable to work for this long left him pretty bored—but still, nothing beat peace and quiet.
If things slowed down for reasons like this, he’d welcome it anytime.
“Still… it kind of feels like the calm before the storm.”
“Hey. Don’t jinx it. Why would you even say that?”
“I’m just saying. It hasn’t been that long since the S-rank Gate—there’s no way that kind of chaos would break out again already.”
Jin-ha laughed at the way Rion flinched and stiffened at his words. He really was serious about work—jokes like this never landed when it came to Gate-related stuff.
“So then, everything’s going well. Why do you look so conflicted?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. From what you’re saying, things seem to be going exactly the way you planned… but your face says you’ve got something else on your mind.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Rion’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked up at Jin-ha. Objectively speaking, things were going pretty well. His relationship with Yu-won had improved, and Gates had been relatively quiet lately—there wasn’t much to worry about.
But still, there was something that bothered him. Other goals were progressing smoothly, but one thing hadn’t advanced at all.
“He really seems to hate being touched by other people.”
“Touched? Well… that happens. Everyone’s different.”
“No, but we’re a matched Esper–Guide pair.”
Rion said it with a serious expression. Moving into Yu-won’s place and trying to improve their relationship hadn’t been solely about their matching rate—but it was at least a secondary goal.
And the road to achieving that goal was still long and rough. Even something as simple as putting an arm around his shoulders—something Rion had assumed would be easy—was impossible. Yu-won still flinched just from someone getting close.
“I mean, shoulder-to-shoulder contact is something you can do with anyone. Sure, he might not like physical contact, I get that… but the fact that he freezes up just from someone getting close feels a bit much.”
“Does it piss you off?”
“It’s not that I’m annoyed… it’s more like I feel a little hurt.”
Rion puffed out his lips slightly as he spoke. They seemed to be getting closer, yet physical contact was still off-limits—it was hard to understand. Was he really that uncomfortable to be around?
Living together had revealed a lot of Yu-won’s good points and unexpected sides, but the more Rion noticed those things, the more the disappointment quietly piled up.
It felt like Yu-won was drawing a line—keeping a clear boundary between them.
“So what, what do you want to do that makes you this upset?”
“Hey. Don’t get any weird ideas.”
“Weird ideas like what?”
“You know exactly what you’re doing. Why do you keep pushing it?”
Disgusted, Rion smacked Jin-ha on the head. Jin-ha made a big show of acting hurt, but Rion ignored him and continued.
“Even with guiding that uses the same level of contact, they say efficiency goes up when the area of contact is wider and when there’s a strong trust relationship between the people involved.”
“Ah… yeah, I’ve heard that too. But your matching rate’s already good, and you’re S-rank—does it really matter?”
“If we’re going to do this anyway, I want to do it well. I heard from senior pairs that once efficiency is fully maximized in a matched relationship, just being next to each other can function as guiding.”
“You really have nothing but work on the brain.”
Jin-ha shook his head like, You really are you. He watched Rion sulking, muttering “shoulder-to-shoulder…” under his breath, then generously draped his arm over Rion’s shoulders.
“What’s so hard about this, huh?”
“Exactly. And if just putting a hand on someone’s shoulder is this hard, how long do you think it’ll take before hugging’s even an option?”
“You’ve got a long road ahead of you.”
Jin-ha said that while keeping his arm over Rion’s shoulders as they walked down the Center hallway together.
Rion was on his way back from the Training Center—he’d been told he looked bored with nothing to do and should at least mentor the rookies.
“Oh, right. Among the new hires starting next month, there’s a healing-type Esper. A-rank, apparently.”
“A healing-type? That should lighten Min-hyeon’s workload.”
“Not really. Healing-types are always busy. He might even hate it. If he’s the only one, they usually won’t send him into Gates unless it’s unavoidable—but if there are two, the chances of being sent in go way up.”
“Ah, I see. Still, he seemed to handle things pretty well inside.”
“He has to—it’s his job. But that doesn’t mean he likes it. That’s just how it is. How many people in this line of work actually do it because they want to?”
“You, for one.”
Jin-ha pointed at Rion as he said it. I like this job? After a brief pause to think, Rion answered.
“It’s not that I enjoy going into Gates, or that I love this job exactly… It’s just something that needs to be done, and something I can do. So I do it with a sense of responsibility. I think most people are probably the same.”
“Yeah… even you can’t find this kind of work fun all the time.”
They’d been joking around the whole time, but after that unexpectedly serious exchange, the two of them nodded quietly. Jin-ha’s arm, however, was still resting on Rion’s shoulder.
“Oh—sunbae. Hello.”
“Hey. Speak of the devil.”
“……Were you talking about me?”
As they walked down the hallway, Min-hyeon appeared from around the corner. Jin-ha raised one hand and greeted him casually.
Not knowing what Jin-ha had said about him—but suspecting it wasn’t anything good—Min-hyeon frowned slightly. Jin-ha leaned his head subtly toward Rion and said,
“Well… a little.”
“Where are you coming from—”
Rion, wearing an irritated expression, started to speak to Min-hyeon, then noticed the person following just behind him as they rounded the corner. It was someone he hadn’t expected to see with Min-hyeon.
“What? Why are you two together?”
“Oh, I heard one of the new recruits is a healing-type, so I went to take a look too. Yu-won said he had something to take care of over there for a bit.”
Min-hyeon spoke casually and gave Yu-won’s shoulder a light tap. Rion had no idea when they’d gotten so close, but they certainly looked it.
“……”
At that moment, Rion’s gaze locked onto Min-hyeon’s hand where it had touched Yu-won’s shoulder.
What the hell… I thought he just hated being touched by anyone, but he didn’t react at all when Min-hyeon did it.
“We were heading together.”
“Looks like you two have gotten pretty close?”
“Ah… since the talk about setting up a Gate-front standby team started, we’ve had a lot to discuss together.”
“Well, I mean, I’m supposedly your 99 percent—no, wait… 98 percent—matching-rate Esper. Shouldn’t you be treating me like that too?”
Rion said it as a joke, forcing himself to sound casual and unconcerned. Min-hyeon, thinking it was nothing serious, replied just as lightly.
But Rion hadn’t said it to get a reaction from Min-hyeon. His eyes were fixed on Yu-won.
What kind of answer is he going to give? He might just take it as a joke, but…
It felt strange. Just a few months ago—no, even just a month ago—he never would’ve imagined a day when Lee Yu-won could make him feel this restless.
And yet, seeing Yu-won stay perfectly still while someone else touched him made Rion feel unexpectedly hurt. The sensation was strange, unfamiliar.
“For someone who says that… you’re pretty close with another Guide yourself, hyung.”
Yu-won spoke with a faint smile, the corner of his lips lifting slightly. It didn’t look like a sneer—but it wasn’t a pleasant smile either.
Yu-won’s gaze was fixed on Jin-ha’s arm draped over Rion’s shoulder.
