[80]
“Where is this place?”
January mumbled, touching his head as he woke up groggily.
His stomach churned as if experiencing a terrible hangover.
“It’s the hotel where I’m staying.”
January was startled by the unexpected response and turned around.
When his eyes met the brown ones, he remembered that he wasn’t alone. And in an instant, the events of yesterday came rushing back.
“Ah…”
Seeing January covering his face with trembling shoulders, Chris calmly suggested:
“Try drinking this.”
When Chris brought a cup to January’s hand, his fingers could be seen gripping the handle. January’s hands were shaking so much that he used both to hold the cup as he brought it to his lips.
‘It’s sweet.’
“…It’s sugar water.”
“You looked like you’d throw up if I offered you food.”
Chris answered plainly and added:
“You need sugar in your brain to be able to think.”
“…Thank you.”
It seemed a bit random, but he hadn’t expected that reasoning.
“What happened to that place yesterday?”
“I moved you out and then cleaned up.”
“Cleaned up?”
“It’s not too difficult to make it look like an unfortunate accident caused by a wild animal.”
“Because of me… such a risk.”
January muttered with a pale face.
“This is the Spring continent, so not many people know about my ability. Even my colleagues from Northern Light won’t think it was my doing.”
“So you’re not someone who helps everyone within reach.”
Though said jokingly, it was half January’s hope.
The only person he could rely on right now was this Esper.
He couldn’t afford to upset the man who had helped conceal the scene.
“I only help those I want to help.”
Chris’s answer sounded quite perfect.
‘Do all Guides live with this sense of security?’
A feeling like jealousy surged as he recalled a fact he had tried not to think about.
“…What should I do now?”
“It would be best to take a break from work for a while, just in case.”
“Take a break from work?”
He had just paid off a debt recently. He had no money on hand.
Of course, he had emergency funds and living expenses, but they were left at “home.” As well as the ampules, his means of livelihood.
Newly realizing how desperate his situation was, January asked:
“Won’t you take me to Northern Light…?”
“Do you want to go to Northern Light?”
“No. Rather…”
January mumbled.
“I heard all Guides are protected by Northern Light. I thought I had no choice…”
“It was like that before. But things are different now.”
“I, I see.”
January muttered.
It might actually be for the best. Escaping from Northern Light would likely be difficult.
What if they pointed a real “guiding detector” at him?
His fraud would be immediately exposed. And Chris would look at him with betrayal.
‘Betrayal?’
It felt awkward even as he thought of it. Chris didn’t seem like someone who would match such emotions.
‘Rather than that… he would be disappointed.’
The guilt he had numbed began to prickle.
“I want to know if it’s okay to just slip away like this.”
“In cases of illegal activities, they usually attach monitors.”
January realized his mistake at those words.
If he didn’t “go to work” when he should, of course the manager would track him down.
There had been cases of employees running away with just the drugs.
Every single one of them was caught and brought back.
The managers weren’t the type to make examples, but rumors about those who were caught this way were silenced completely.
No one dared speak about where they disappeared to or what happened to them.
At that time, the “manager” only raised the price of drugs for one employee who went looking for a friend. The employee, who was already buying drugs on debt, quickly went bankrupt. After being dragged away by the manager, there was no news of him ever again.
So silence about those who disappeared became a kind of unwritten rule. Of course, there were more rules:
Never show the drug to others, especially customers.
Don’t be curious about those who escaped.
Don’t leave the business district without contacting the manager.
Pay your debts on time.
“All this is for your safety.”
On the day an employee went completely bankrupt, the manager called them and said:
“We’re trying to protect you all as much as we can.”
Lies.
January thought so but couldn’t say it out loud.
The customer who came that day was very satisfied with the newly compliant employee.
January found those people disgusting.
But what was most disgusting was himself.
‘Why can’t I escape?’
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why. He had tried to live diligently, but at some point, he made a fatal mistake that couldn’t be undone.
He tried to erase the stain by himself, but no matter how much he scrubbed, the black, dirty mark only spread. It wouldn’t disappear at all.
‘Is it inevitable?’
January slowly gave up.
Between being able to escape but not doing so, and not being able to escape at all, the latter felt more comfortable.
“It should be… fine for now. But after tonight…”
January muttered with a pale face.
“Then we need to move quickly.”
Chris spoke as if it wasn’t a major issue. January almost felt relieved without realizing it.
“I brought you here because there was no suitable place… but a hotel is a place where anyone can come and go.”
‘That’s a major issue!’
January made a woeful face.
This man looked calm and composed, but his focus was off in strange ways.
“I heard that the front desk shouldn’t disclose guests’ identities.”
“Dangerous people can come and go disguised as travelers.”
If unlucky, they could even be assigned to rooms on the same floor.
Yuri usually dealt with this problem by renting an entire floor.
‘That’s not an option for me.’
Chris lowered his eyes, thinking deeply, and then asked:
“Is there nowhere else to hide?”
“Y-yes, there is.”
January nodded.
That place would probably be fine.
After January pointed to a location on the map Chris pulled up, Chris immediately grabbed his coat, surprising January.
“Are we going now?”
“We’re leaving right away.”
“Are you confident you won’t get lost?”
“Yes. But January has something to do as well.”
“Me?”
Someone like me?
January thought he would be fortunate if he wasn’t a hindrance to this Esper.
So being told there was something he could help with made him feel uneasy.
“In this situation, the composure of the person being escorted is also important.”
“…Ah.”
“No matter what happens, don’t run away alone. Don’t get more than five meters away from me. If their goal is to extract you, that would be fortunate, but…”
The man trailed off. January, who easily guessed the rest, nodded.
“I won’t separate from you at all.”
He was confident in surviving by any means necessary.
“Good.”
Chris smiled broadly. At that refreshing smile, January felt his heart sink.
As the two crossed the hotel lobby, nothing happened.
January wondered if he had been too anxious.
No matter how formidable the organization was, January had been obediently receiving customers until just last night.
It wasn’t as if the dead person could run and tell on him. There was no way trackers could be following him already.
Chris and January moved with leisurely steps, like people out for a stroll.
“Shouldn’t we run?”
“That would only draw attention.”
January, who had been anxious, seemed to gradually relax at the scene that wasn’t much different from everyday life.
But Chris wasn’t relaxed.
“Six… gazes looking at us.”
Chris’s sixth sense even identified a driver in a passing car.
It was strange.
There hadn’t been any such issues until he brought January to the hotel.
Were they programmed to follow once someone left a specific district?
As January looked around, he saw someone leaning against a streetlight across the street rolling up their sleeve.
A thorny vine tattoo peeked out from underneath.
The person, who gave them a meaningful look, was seen entering an alley.
‘Huk.’
January unconsciously swallowed.
“Are you alright?”
Chris, seeing January’s shoulders stiffen, intuitively knew that January had spotted the tracker.
“N-need to go.”
The fact that they didn’t immediately grab him by the hair but entered the alley meant they were giving him a chance to return on his own.
“You can’t go.”
Chris restrained him.
“But if they think I tried to escape… they’ll chase me to the end.”
“I will protect you.”
January, who was fidgeting nervously, raised his head at those words.
“Didn’t I tell you? If you need help, say so.”
Chris grabbed the wrist of a pedestrian walking toward them and twisted it.
In the twisted hand, a blade flashed in the sunlight. Chris quickly pulled January’s body and began to move.
The two still walked as if they were just taking a stroll.
January felt like he was dreaming. Every time Chris suddenly pulled his hand to change positions, a tracker would invariably attack.
Chris, who subdued the opponents with minimal movements that others wouldn’t notice and threw them into alleys, changed routes several times along the way.
A car rushing toward them suddenly crashed into a fire hydrant, causing water to gush out.
January almost forgot the situation as he saw a rainbow shimmering over the small fountain.
‘A rainbow.’
It felt like he might escape from the reality that was closely pursuing him.
That was the illusion he had.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
