“Haa… haa… Just a little more… please…”
I couldn’t hear him. No, I refused to hear him.
“Can’t you just do a little more? Please… haah! I’m seriously losing my mind here.”
“Back off. For now.”
I tried to pry Kim Seong-gyeong off me—he was practically glued to my side—but once he’d had a taste of Guiding, he wasn’t about to let go.
Instead, he clung to me even harder, hugging me like he was trying to crush me, pleading for more.
“Please, just a little more… hff… I have to protect the others…”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously.
What was I supposed to do with this?
Even in this state, he was worried about everyone else. It wasn’t just noble—it was borderline idiotic.
But this was Kim Seong-gyeong. The male lead for a reason.
He was the only Esper who treated the protagonist with genuine kindness. While other Espers obsessed over the Guide MC, demanding physical contact and forcing Guiding sessions, Kim Seong-gyeong just wished for the protagonist’s happiness. Even if he couldn’t receive Guiding himself, he was fine—as long as the protagonist could smile.
The kind of guy who’d suffer in silence for someone else’s sake. And I could never ignore someone like that. That’s why I’d ended up siding with him—just a little.
Damn it. I didn’t mean to get this involved…
But if I kept Guiding him, I’d only be dragging myself in deeper. So what now?
“If I go into a rampage, there’s no stopping it… haa, so please…”
Would it really hurt to give him just a bit more?
Tomorrow, the protagonist will appear anyway.
Kim Seong-gyeong falls for him at first sight. Like fate itself.
Nothing would change just because I did a bit of Guiding before they met.
And if the timing went off and he rampaged before the protagonist showed up, that would be a much bigger problem. I might even get caught in the crossfire.
So—just a little. Just enough.
I let out a heavy sigh, finally making up my mind.
“Alright. I’ll do it. Just for a little while.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes. But let’s move over there. Also, I’m not a high-ranking Guide, so I can’t guarantee this will help.”
“It is helping! Just touching you like this already feels… so good.”
Kim Seong-gyeong, who said that so confidently, suddenly realized what he’d blurted out and flushed bright red.
I led him behind a big tree, sat him down, and held out my hand—an invitation to hold it.
But instead of taking it, he stared at my hand for a moment, then reached out and cupped my face.
“…Um, Kim Seong-gyeong?”
I asked you to take my hand. Why are you grabbing my face?
“I’ll be gentle.”
Gentle with what?!
I blinked, completely confused, as his face leaned closer… and closer…
Wait, wait, wait—what?!
His lips pressed firmly against mine like he was stamping a seal.
“……”
My mind went blank. What the hell was happening?
Suddenly, a scene from the book flashed through my head.
The first time Kim Seong-gyeong met the protagonist—handholding wasn’t enough for him. He always received Guiding through kisses. The moment he realized the protagonist was a Guide, he kissed him to get it.
Why the hell had I forgotten that? Still, I didn’t think he’d start with the lips.
I’ve never even had a first kiss—hell, I’ve never even pecked anyone! I’ve been single since birth, too busy with missions.
But there was no time to stay stunned. That soft kiss didn’t last. Kim Seong-gyeong parted my lips, sliding his tongue in with practiced ease, twining around mine like he knew exactly what he was doing.
I’d never had a kiss this deep, this intense. My head felt like it was floating.
Like he was proving that he really did receive Guiding through kissing, his movements were smooth—expert, even.
“Mmgh…”
Sticky sounds and the intoxicating sweep of his tongue made a helpless moan slip out of me.
And as if that wasn’t enough, he tilted his head and pushed even deeper, tongue reaching farther into my mouth.
Shit.
This wasn’t the time to be dazed from my first kiss. This was a legitimate medical procedure. I needed to start Guiding—now.
But how much was enough?
I’d only ever Guided with my hands before, so I had no clue how far I needed to go with a kiss. Whatever. Screw it.
Just like when I’d knocked out Kang Biso and Guided him afterward, I poured my energy into Kim Seong-gyeong, overwhelming his unstable aura and working to soothe it.
“Mmgh—”
I couldn’t breathe. Kim Seong-gyeong had no intention of letting go.
Unswallowed saliva trailed down my chin, dripping onto my collarbone.
The more I tried to calm his aura, the more frenzied his tongue became—overcome with excitement, practically going wild inside my mouth. The second the Guiding began, he clung to me with a feverish intensity, biting gently at my tongue, exploring my mouth like a man possessed.
I wanted to stay focused on the Guiding, but the heat of his breath, the aggressive swirl of his tongue—it was getting to me. I could feel myself starting to get swept up in the moment.
Shit. This is dangerous.
This feeling—just like the one I’d had with Kang Biso. My breath came faster, my body flushed with heat.
Once I sensed that Kim Seong-gyeong’s chaotic energy had stabilized, I cut off the Guiding.
But he didn’t even notice. He just kept clinging, like he couldn’t stop. I pushed against his shoulder, putting some distance between us, and as our lips finally parted, a long string of saliva stretched between us… then snapped.
“Haa… haa…”
Color had returned to Kim Seong-gyeong’s once-pale face, but his eyes were still fixed on my lips.
“More… I need more.”
“Just—haa… enough!”
He immediately leaned in again, like he couldn’t help himself, but I quickly shoved his face back.
“Guiding… haa… is over.”
“Already? But I… I feel like I still need more…”
He licked his lips slowly, and his eyes glinted with raw hunger.
His expression was pitiful, like a kicked puppy—but the look in his eyes was different. It wasn’t a plea. It was predatory. Like a beast staring down prey.
Kim Seong-gyeong wasn’t some sweet, harmless sheep. He was a predator in disguise—waiting, biding his time, until the moment his prey stepped too close.
The way he looked at me, like I was something he could sink his teeth into, made me instinctively scoot back.
At some point, I’d ended up practically in his lap. I pushed gently against his chest with my fists.
“That’s enough. Back off.”
“But…”
“We’ve got to find food now, remember?”
“…Okay.”
Never in my life did I imagine my first kiss would be with Kim Seong-gyeong. I’d always dreamed it would be with a small, cute, bunny-like girl.
Nope. That? That wasn’t a kiss.
That was a procedure. Medical. Nothing more.
I didn’t kiss Kim Seong-gyeong—I performed mucosal contact therapy to stabilize a patient. That’s all.
And it just so happened that, for him, that was the most effective method.
Still, seeing the color return to his face was a relief.
I got up to start looking for food, and Kim Seong-gyeong followed, stretching his limbs and making satisfied noises.
“Amazing. I feel incredible.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I haven’t felt this good since I first awakened as an Esper…”
“Well, good.”
You sucked my energy dry—of course it worked.
As he flexed and checked his condition, I turned away. The kiss still lingered on my lips, and the heat still burned low in my body. I didn’t want him to see that.
This kind of excitement would pass with time. Suppressing this stuff was part of the job. If I couldn’t handle a little leftover arousal, I had no business calling myself a Special Agent.
I mentally recited the national anthem and started walking ahead. Kim Seong-gyeong hurried after me.
“Wait—let’s go together! By the way, what’s your name? How old are you? Where do you live—?”
“Keep your voice down. You want to attract monsters? My name’s Hwang Seol-bin. You don’t need to know my age or where I live.”
“But—!”
“Shh. Move. Didn’t you say you wanted to save people?”
As I kept cutting him off, he looked at me like I’d just kicked his puppy. His face said everything he was thinking—but I pretended not to notice and kept walking.
Thankfully, he finally got the hint and stopped trying to talk to me.
We scavenged silently for whatever edible scraps we could find, then made our way back to our original spot.
***
“Captain…”
“What do we do… what do we do…”
“Captain. No—Hyung!”
“We have to go get him… right now…”
“Hyung! Kang Biso!”
“Would you stop yelling?! We’re in the middle of a goddamn crisis!”
Kang Biso finally snapped, yelling at Kang Bijun, who’d been calling his name nonstop.
Ever since the Guide he’d planned to kidnap fell into an S-Rank dungeon, he hadn’t been right in the head. Days had passed, and he still hadn’t come to his senses. He paced back and forth like a dog that needed to pee—over and over again.
Kang Bijun sighed, suppressing yet another breath of frustration as he tried to calm his brother down.
“The first search party’s already inside. The second wave just deployed.”
“They still haven’t found him yet.”
“…Once the third search begins tomorrow, they’ll get him.”
“The dungeon’s just bigger than we expected. That’s probably why he hasn’t turned up yet.”
“We’ll find him soon…”
Kang Bijun had been about to tell him to be patient, to wait just a little longer—but then Kang Biso suddenly came to a halt. He froze mid-step, and Bijun immediately clamped his mouth shut, watching cautiously.
Kang Biso stood stiffly, his fists clenched, eyes locked on Bijun with the kind of look that made his blood run cold.
That face—he knew it well.
It was the face Biso always made right before doing something crazy.
Shit. What now?
“I’m going in.”
“Hyung, come on. Have you lost it? Did you forget you’re the leader of ZEC?”
“I didn’t forget.”
“So let’s say you go in and find that Guide. Then what?”
“Then…”
“You really think you’ll get to kidnap him? More like you’ll get caught.”
“That’s your part to figure out.”
“…What?”
Kang Bijun stared at his brother, stunned speechless by the sheer audacity of that line.
“Just set up a fake identity for me. Tomorrow. That kind of thing’s easy for you, right? I’ll get in, find him, bring him out. You handle the cleanup. That’s not too hard, is it?”
“Why is it that you always make the mess, and I’m the one stuck cleaning it up?! You think this is easy?!”
“I need that Guide. I told you—we’re a perfect match. I haven’t run an official test, but I can feel it. Our matching rate must be through the roof.”
“……”
“Just this once. Help me out. Please?”
There were barely any Guides out there who matched well with Kang Biso. Hell, there might as well have been none. He’d always scraped by—barely surviving on pitiful scraps of Guiding. Constant strain, constant danger.
Now, for the first time ever, he was saying he’d found his Guide—and he was begging.
That wasn’t playing fair.
How was he supposed to say no to that?
“…Alright. Let’s call it Operation: ‘S-Rank Dungeon Guide Heist.’ I’ll handle the planning. Try not to screw it up, Deputy Commander.”
Of course he only pulled rank when it suited him.
Kang Bijun muttered under his breath, glaring at the back of Kang Biso’s head as he strolled off like he hadn’t just dumped a mountain of trouble on him.
He did feel a little sorry for the poor Guide who was probably about to spend the rest of his life locked up by his brother.
But it couldn’t be helped.
With a sigh, Kang Bijun got to work—quietly offering his condolences to the unfortunate soul who’d just been marked.
