A Small Boat on the Sea (9)
Noona Hae-yoon looked back and forth between me and Sa Hae-geon, then said in a low voice,
“Do-min, just a moment.”
I detached Sa Hae-geon from my shoulder and carefully followed Noona. Her expression wasn’t very good, which suggested she was about to lecture me. That was understandable, considering how casually Sa Hae-geon had been behaving.
On his first day at work, Sa Hae-geon had been clinging to me in ways that seemed unbelievable for a typical Esper. Was he feeling anxious outside after not acting this way at home? Whatever the reason, he had become much more clingy.
Unless a Guide has a specific pair Esper, they should treat all Espers equally. But I had been maintaining distance with other Espers while being soft toward Sa Hae-geon, and I wondered how that might have appeared to Noona Hae-yoon.
‘…It probably looked like I was showing favoritism.’
I had no excuse if Noona Hae-yoon was going to scold me. After all, I was the one who had allowed this situation. After leaving the training grounds, Noona stood in a corner of the hallway and beckoned to me. When I respectfully clasped my hands together, she tilted her head.
“What? Why are you being so formal? This is a bit much.”
“Huh? Weren’t you going to scold me?”
“Scold you? Who would scold whom? …Don’t tell me, me scolding you?”
“…Yes.”
Noona Hae-yoon looked at me with a bewildered expression before bursting into laughter.
“Why would I scold you? I just called you over because you seemed uncomfortable.”
“Ah…”
“I’ve heard about your situation with Esper Sa Hae-geon from the Guide Center Director, so I understand roughly. So don’t worry too much. You’re the only Guide with a high matching rate for him, so what can you do, right?”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. Esper Sa Hae-geon does seem to be acting a bit too clingy, but even that… well, what’s a twenty-one-year-old without some cuteness?”
The point was a bit off, but I nodded as if I understood.
“Anyway, go to the Guiding room with Esper Sa Hae-geon and take a rest. I’ll talk to Team Leader An. Training should be done at a measured pace. Is there any need to push someone to the limit on their first day?”
I actually thought the training was a bit excessive for a first day too, but I was afraid my judgment might be biased, so I hadn’t dared to say it out loud. But to think Noona Hae-yoon had been thinking something similar!
Noona Hae-yoon glanced behind me and shrugged.
“Have fun. It’s a good time for both of you.”
“What?”
Before I could grab her, Noona finished speaking and quickly walked away. As I was about to follow her back to the training grounds, a familiar figure entered my field of vision.
“Hyung.”
It was Sa Hae-geon. He strode over to me and asked,
“Did you get scolded? I’ll go explain. I can just say that I acted that way because I met someone I knew in an unfamiliar place, wouldn’t that work?”
“Huh? What?”
Sa Hae-geon’s expression was very serious, though I had no idea what misunderstanding he was having. He seemed to think I had been called aside by Noona Hae-yoon and severely scolded. Well, I had thought the same thing, so how much more worried must Sa Hae-geon have been?
It seemed he had been anxious that I was being scolded because of him and had followed me to explain.
“No, it’s nothing like that. She just told me to take a rest with you. She said she roughly knows about our situation.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Why would I lie to you?”
“That—”
“Yes. But I haven’t lied since that day, have I? And I won’t in the future either. So it’s fine, right?”
As I took the initiative, Sa Hae-geon pressed his lips together and nodded.
“Follow me. I’ll show you where the Guiding room is.”
I led the dazed Sa Hae-geon to the Guiding room. The third floor, where the Guiding rooms were located, often offered various sights, and today was no exception.
As soon as we arrived on the third floor, we witnessed an unseemly sight. An Esper was wobbling out of a Guiding room without properly adjusting his pants. This Esper from Field Team 2 glanced at us before casually disappearing to the lower floor.
Not only that, but faint moans—so slight they could be compared to a thread—could be heard from various parts of the third floor. If my ears, with senses not much different from an ordinary person’s, could hear them, then Sa Hae-geon, being an Esper, must have heard them too. However, when I glanced at Sa Hae-geon’s face, it was just expressionless.
‘…Did he not hear?’
Just when I thought I might end up having an awkward break time with Sa Hae-geon, this was actually fortunate. I decided to act a bit boldly.
“We can go into this room. Normally you need to make a reservation, but I have a separate room.”
“Do you have so many Espers to Guide that you need a separate room, hyung?”
“Well, um… not a small number. But they all receive radiative Guiding. Almost no Espers have received contact Guiding from me. So you, Hae-geon, should know that you’re privileged.”
Sa Hae-geon’s stiffly set mouth crumbled just slightly for a moment. I seized the opportunity and grabbed his wrist, leading him into the Guiding room.
“Hyung, you don’t grab other Espers’ hands so eagerly, do you?”
“No. Of course not. I only grab your hand eagerly. So stop asking.”
Sa Hae-geon just moved his lips slightly before lowering his gaze. I felt like I was finally figuring out how to handle Sa Hae-geon. He didn’t know what to do whenever I took the initiative or moved in a direction different from what he expected. Especially in situations like this, he often became embarrassed.
The Guiding room assigned to me was a moderately sized space, neither too large nor too small. I led Sa Hae-geon to a table placed on one side. While he obediently sat down in a chair, he scanned the coffee machine, bed, sofa, small refrigerator, and TV hanging on the wall inside the Guiding room one by one.
His gaze, which seemed to be looking for something to criticize, made my throat feel dry for some reason. After observing the Guiding room for a while, Sa Hae-geon spoke up.
“You really didn’t do other Guiding, right?”
“Ah, yes. Like I said. Should I provide evidence? Would that reassure you?”
“Do you have evidence?”
“Yes. There’s a record kept every time Guiding is done. Of course, some people might make false entries, but I’m honest.”
“I want to see it. This is… not because I don’t trust you, hyung, but just because I’m curious. So don’t misunderstand.”
“I won’t misunderstand.”
Seeing his curious eyes made me smile. Occasionally, Sa Hae-geon showed childlike aspects like this. And rather than appearing childish or immature, it felt like just one of Sa Hae-geon’s charms.
I handed Sa Hae-geon the tablet PC used to record the Guiding journal. He examined the tablet with interest before turning it on and starting to read the journal. Even though the journal only recorded basic information like the date and method of Guiding, the Esper receiving Guiding and their condition, and any other special notes—really nothing special—Sa Hae-geon read each entry carefully.
Finally, he put down the tablet PC with a satisfied smile. However, when our eyes met, he quickly adjusted his expression and spoke in a grumpy voice.
“Hyung, you must have been really busy.”
“…Ah, well… I was.”
“Then until the S-class dungeon is resolved, you won’t go to the field much, right?”
“Probably. I think I’ll only go for high-ranked or dangerous dungeons.”
“I’m not sure if I should think of that as fortunate.”
“I feel the same way. Ah, should I give you some coffee? Or tea? I also have juice.”
“Just water is fine for me.”
When I took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and handed it to him, he thanked me and gulped it down. He must have been quite thirsty. After emptying a 500ml bottle of water in an instant, Sa Hae-geon pulled out a tissue from the table, wiped his mouth, and looked at me.
“Hyung.”
“…Yes.”
“What do we do now?”
“Um… good question?”
I had come to the Guiding room following Noona Hae-yoon’s words, but there wasn’t much else to do.
“What did the team leader Guide tell us to do?”
“Just to have fun and come back…?”
“Doing what?”
“…I’m not sure.”
Looking disgruntled at my ambiguous answer, Sa Hae-geon called out to me.
“By the way, hyung.”
“Yes.”
“How much does the team leader Guide know about our situation?”
“Well…”
It was difficult to bring up personal matters carelessly outside of home, especially at the center, for fear of someone overhearing. I looked around briefly before answering in a small voice.
“I think she just heard from the Guide Center Director that you have a somewhat unique constitution. The Guide Center Director probably doesn’t know the details either. And since your mother doesn’t know the intimate details…”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“Yes.”
An awkward silence flowed for a moment, and Sa Hae-geon, who had been pursing his lips, broke the stillness.
“Hyung.”
“Yes.”
“Please finish the Guiding you couldn’t complete earlier.”
Saying this, he got up from his seat and dove into my arms. Sa Hae-geon’s soft hair fluttered and tickled my cheek. But something felt strange. While it was clearly my cheek that his hair touched, my left chest also felt ticklish.
“Hyung.”
To make matters worse, when Sa Hae-geon whispered near my ear, my heart began to beat as if it would burst. I had no idea what was causing these occasional strange reactions in my body.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
Do-min is soooo dense it’s painful but cute