The last article seemed to be the only useful piece of information he could find by searching for Espers online. Afterward, he tried looking up the Guide Corporation, but all he found were general descriptions of the organization’s surface-level duties—nothing at all about Guiding or Guides themselves.
Ho-eun stopped typing and stared at the screen for a long time.
It was too clean. The Espers reported by the media were frozen in the past.
Even today, he had met several Espers, yet there wasn’t a single mention of any new Espers anywhere.
The government was clearly hiding them on purpose. Compared to the U.S., where there was no hesitation in revealing Espers and Guides, Korea strictly limited any public exposure of them.
Pouring himself some coffee, Ho-eun muttered under his breath that this was the one thing he hadn’t wanted to do, and then opened international websites to start searching in English.
His dismal TOEIC score flashed before his eyes. The nausea hit him like a relapse of English anxiety, but undeniably, there was far more information available on non-Korean sites.
With simultaneous translation far beyond his brain’s capacity, he opened up a translation site like a lifeline and began going back and forth between the windows. Before he knew it, evening had arrived.
He was jotting down everything he’d learned in his notebook when the front door opened—his parents had come home from work. Normally, they would’ve looked at him with disappointment and asked what he’d been doing all day. But today, they simply observed him quietly.
On the dinner table, there was meat for the first time in a while. That one dish said more than a hundred words—it told him he’d done well on the interview.
“I got in.”
As if simply commenting on the taste of dinner, Ho-eun said it in a calm, straightforward voice. A brief silence lingered around the table, then faded.
“The Guide Corporation?! Oh, that’s wonderful!”
“Hmm. Looks like we’ll have to go shopping for clothes.”
A rare flush of color rose in his parents’ cheeks. Their faces, filled with anticipation, made Ho-eun smile awkwardly. It pained him that he couldn’t tell them it was a dangerous job.
“I’ll buy clothes later. I’ve got about a month of internship starting tomorrow… I just want to rest today.”
“Starting work right away? It must be a busy place. What are they going to do if our Ho-eun is swamped from day one?”
“It’s actually better to start when it’s busy. You’ll learn faster. Listen to your seniors.”
His mom’s worried voice and his dad’s words of advice were full of affection.
He explained that he’d be living in a dorm for a month during the internship with his peers, and that afterward he’d be converted to full-time. His parents, thrilled, silently placed bulgogi on top of his rice.
He feared they might ask if he’d taken a written exam or if there had been a second interview, but they were too focused on the joy of his acceptance to question it.
After dinner, they made phone calls to relatives and friends, proudly announcing that their son had landed a job at a public institution. Unable to bear listening to more of their bragging in the same space, Ho-eun fled to the bathroom under the pretense of preparing for work.
After his bath, he packed a suitcase with everything he’d need for the month.
Daily necessities, clothes, the camera he’d recently bought, and the laptop he’d barely touched since graduating. Finally, he hung a black umbrella by the front door.
Returning to his room, he collapsed onto the bed as if drained, and found the notebook he’d thrown down earlier lying beside his pillow.
“……”
Ho-eun picked it up and began carefully reviewing the information he’d gathered.
1) Espers are beings with superior genes compared to ordinary people.
Espers are said to possess vastly heightened senses. Because of this, even the slightest noise can feel like unbearable noise pollution, and their sense of smell is so sensitive that simply existing can be a torment for them.
2) Espers have shorter life spans than ordinary humans.
Using their abilities comes at a cost—it wears away at their lifespan. According to overseas statistics, most Espers don’t live past fifty. In nearly every case, the cause of death was ability overload.
3) Guides are unique beings capable of healing Espers.
Guides are said to resolve both of the issues listed above through an ability called “Guiding.” Guiding is a power contained within the Guide’s body. Simply having a Guide nearby calms the hypersensitive nerves of an Esper and can even prevent ability overload before it happens.
The exact nature of Guiding is a state secret in every country, so no one knows exactly how it works. Physically, Guides are just ordinary people. They don’t have enhanced senses, and there are no cases of their lifespan being shortened from using Guiding.
Because their ability is invisible and their outward appearance no different from regular people, finding a Guide is even harder than finding an Esper.
Unlike Espers, who can be identified through genetic testing, past Guides were only detectable by Espers themselves.
However, recent studies based on extensive experimentation have found that Guides tend to have elevated hemoglobin levels—despite those levels being unstable, they don’t show any physical abnormalities.
“……No way. Could all these health checkups just be a method to find Guides?”
Ever since he was a student, Korea had been obsessive about health screenings. It had gotten to the point where the results from a pre-employment medical check were considered essential documents in job applications.
“Wait a minute.”
Come to think of it, the interviewer had mentioned that his blood test had shown Guide-specific traits.
“Don’t tell me…!”
It felt like he’d just uncovered the starting point where his life had begun to unravel. Ho-eun clutched his head in despair.
“Haa… I can’t take any more of this. I’m so sleepy…”
Maybe it was because he’d used his brain more than usual—his eyelids began to droop slowly. As the strength left his fingers, the notebook slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
Thunk—
The sound jolted his eyes wide open again.
“Wait, I need to upload!”
Just as he was about to crawl into bed, Ho-eun shot up in a panic.
He’d nearly forgotten about YouTube because of the job offer.
If he was going to be stuck under surveillance for a month, he wouldn’t be able to upload anything. The video he’d planned to release once he hit 200 subscribers was still sitting dormant on his computer.
Current subscriber count: 189.
He’d worked hard uploading videos in hopes of making it big on YouTube, but his faceless mukbangs—where he didn’t cook, didn’t show his face, and only focused on eating—failed to attract attention.
After realizing just how much his content was lacking, he decided to completely change his style. He pivoted to a VLOG format, mimicking the trending style of YouTubers these days, with better filming and editing.
He’d put a lot of effort into the newest video, but now that he had a job, YouTube would have to go on hold.
“Still, it’d be a waste not to upload it.”
The video he’d meant to post to celebrate reaching 200 subscribers was now going to become his farewell video. The sudden goodbye left his heart in turmoil.
Though he wasn’t sure any of his subscribers would even see it, he posted a notice saying that due to work, he wouldn’t be able to upload for a while.
“It’s a shame, but what can you do? I’ve got my first day of work tomorrow—time to sleep.”
Normally, he would’ve monitored the video’s performance in real time, but his brain, overwhelmed by thoughts of work and his new role as a Guide, was begging for rest. So just for tonight, he didn’t check it.
He had no idea at the time just how big of a mistake that would be.
He hadn’t even considered that his face might’ve shown up in that final video, breaking the faceless format of all his past mukbangs.
As the video went live, views climbed faster than usual and comments began to pour in—but that was a story for later.
***
Dressed in a crisp white shirt and black slacks, Ho-eun stepped out of his house with a serious look on his face and a suitcase in hand.
Instead of the black sedan he’d seen yesterday, there was a teleporting Esper standing outside, waving at him.
“Uh… hello.”
“Just call me Paul. Good morning, Mr. Ho-eun.”
Feeling awkward from yesterday’s hand-kissing incident, Ho-eun gave a stilted greeting. But realizing that hesitating here would only make things weirder, he reached out and took Paul’s hand naturally.
Since his parents would be leaving for work soon, he intended to teleport before they ran into each other.
Paul looked a bit surprised at how casually Ho-eun grabbed his hand, as if he were already used to superpowers, but quickly activated his ability with a knowing nod.
It was Ho-eun’s third time teleporting, and it seemed he was getting used to the queasiness. He handled it better than the first time.
‘Already here? A trip that would take a while by car, and we’re here in seconds. What a convenient power.’
But the place they arrived at wasn’t the Guide Corporation.
“Where are we?”
“One of the local branches of the Korea Esper Association. Your internship will take place here.”
As he looked around, the area seemed even larger than a university campus. The size of the place—several buildings, convenience facilities, even a park—made it seem like he could live his whole life without ever leaving.
“This is a site used by Espers and Guides when doing field work. Aside from the Seoul headquarters, there are three branch offices: Incheon, Busan, and Jeju. You’ll be stationed at the Incheon branch.”
“There are more branches than I expected.”
“Let me show you to your dormitory first.”
After passing through the main gate and walking for about ten minutes, they reached a low-rise apartment building. Much like the Guide Corporation’s facilities, tall buildings were rare here.
“From the left, they’re Buildings A through E. You’ll be staying in Building E.”
Of the five apartment buildings—each about ten stories tall—they entered the one farthest in and took the elevator.
Paul stared at the ascending floor numbers. It had been years since someone had moved into the 10th floor of Building E.
Normally, new Guides were assigned to spacious apartments, but due to internal personnel issues, many current employees hadn’t vacated their units, leaving only this one available.
What Ho-eun didn’t know was that the person living in the neighboring unit was infamous among everyone at the Incheon branch.
“Room 1010 is yours. Once you’ve dropped off your luggage, I’ll take you to where the other interns are gathered.”
Paul handed him a key card for the door lock.
Ho-eun tapped it against the reader, and with a beep, the door opened. He quickly stashed his suitcase by the shoe cabinet and looked around the apartment.
The place looked to be around 50 pyeong (approx. 1,780 sq. ft.), and it was fully furnished with all the necessary items.
The clean, white-toned living room caught his eye as he roughly scanned the interior, then he grabbed his suitcase and opened the innermost door.
As expected, it was the largest room in the apartment.
A double bed sat by a wide window, and as he ventured deeper inside, he discovered a walk-in closet hidden behind the room. Beyond that, there was even a private bathroom.
‘Is it the Esper Corporation that’s rich? Or the Guide Corporation?’
They’d given him an apartment this size to live in alone.
“How much money do they make to afford rent and salaries like this?”
As he slowly took in the interior, he suddenly remembered that Paul was still waiting outside. Deciding to save the house tour for later, he rushed out the front door—and that’s when he noticed the unit across from his.
Room 1009.
These days, the idea of neighborly bonds felt almost outdated. But if the person living across the hall was a coworker, shouldn’t he at least say hello?
Just as Ho-eun stepped toward the opposite door, thinking to introduce himself—
“Elevator’s here!”
“Ah, coming!”
He decided to greet the neighbor another time and hurried toward the elevator.
