There had never been a day as peaceful as this in Lim Haeyul’s life. During the semester, he had to juggle both studying and part-time jobs, and during breaks, he would work three, sometimes even four part-time jobs at once, always busy.
But now, he spent his days leisurely, either lying blankly on the bed or occasionally studying English. It was all thanks to Cha Jae-woo, who had wired him a sum of money so large that he couldn’t have earned it even if he worked his entire life.
“This time…?”
Naturally, it was only right that Haeyul felt a strong sense of responsibility for the contract. When he first moved into this house, he had genuinely believed he might die from exhaustion, but that fear had long since vanished.
It was thanks to Kim Sol, who had passionately trained him, that he had become quite proficient at controlling his guiding. He had also already received permission to guide Cha Jae-woo.
“What is?”
“I tried channeling everything at once this time. Doesn’t it feel like the guiding worked better than before?”
As a result, Haeyul’s focus had completely shifted toward Cha Jae-woo’s guiding. He was so desperate to guide well that even he found himself admirable.
“Can’t feel a damn thing.”
“Haah…”
Of course, no matter what he tried, the amount of mana he could transmit was limited, so it wasn’t like it would make a huge difference. Changing the method only adjusted how much mana was delivered at once. In the end, it only affected whether the guiding session was a little faster or slower.
“So you’re saying… there’s no improvement at all…?”
Even though he already knew the answer, Haeyul asked again out of pure stubbornness. Meanwhile, Cha Jae-woo, who had already grasped the full extent of Haeyul’s mana quantity and guiding ability, stood up from his seat. He must have decided that, since Haeyul’s mana was depleted, there was no point in sitting around any longer.
“None. No matter how many times you check, it’s the same.”
Cha Jae-woo frowned, just like he always did during guiding sessions.
‘That’s exactly why I check.’
Every single time, he looked at Haeyul like he was wondering if this was really the best he could do. Haeyul swallowed down the words he desperately wanted to say, feeling his chest grow heavy.
The hardest thing about living in Cha Jae-woo’s house was exactly this. Until now, Haeyul had always been someone who said what he needed to say. But in front of Cha Jae-woo, no matter how many complaints and grumbles welled up inside him, he simply couldn’t voice them.
After all, who in their right mind would dare complain while staring at those massive hands, veins bulging, knowing full well that the owner was an S-Rank Esper like Cha Jae-woo? You’d have to be a complete idiot.
“Still… it would be nice if there were even the slightest improvement…”
The one giving the mana sounded even more disappointed. Regardless, Cha Jae-woo, having finished his business, had already opened the door, ready to leave the room.
“Even if you do get better, it’s not like it’ll be noticeable.”
His flat voice stated the plain truth, devoid of any emotion.
“But it could be noticeable! Maybe if I do something, anything, the guiding could suddenly improve! Why are you so sure it won’t…!”
Haeyul, overwhelmed with frustration, raised his voice before hastily clamping his mouth shut. Not that it mattered — he had already said most of what he wanted to. Apparently, he was the idiot who dared to complain in front of Cha Jae-woo.
Cha Jae-woo’s pitch-black eyes stared straight at him. Haeyul bit his lower lip and lowered his head. Sometimes, when Cha Jae-woo stared at him like that, every fine hair on his body stood on end in terror. Even though Cha Jae-woo had never actually harmed him, the fear was instinctive.
“Then try your hardest. If you can manage anything better than the pathetic excuse for guiding you’re doing now, that’s fine by me.”
Even now, Cha Jae-woo didn’t lose his temper with him. He simply threw out a sneering remark and left the room. Only then did Haeyul lift his head, roughly running a hand over the back of his neck, burning hot with pent-up rage.
“…Tch. If guiding doesn’t work out, why don’t you just gather up all those Guides like last time and live glued to them again!”
He spat out the words he couldn’t say in front of Cha Jae-woo, and only then did the boiling heat inside him subside. He sat down on the bed, then sprawled out flat on his back.
Though he was frustrated, the lingering feeling of regret was even stronger. Despite what he said, Haeyul knew very well that no matter how many Guides with less than a 20% match rate Cha Jae-woo surrounded himself with, it wouldn’t be of any real help.
If it had been effective, Cha Jae-woo would have continued living like that. There would have been no reason to keep Haeyul in this house. Or, at the very least, Cha Jae-woo could have received guiding from those Guides and from Haeyul, but the fact that he wasn’t doing that only proved that Cha Jae-woo’s claim — that they were useless — wasn’t a lie.
‘Acting all tough.’
Haeyul pouted his lips once before rolling over and burying himself deep into the bed.
Still, was there really no way? Was this truly the best he could do?
If he asked Kim Sol, he would only be met with a suspicious glare. Lately, Kim Sol seemed far too busy being on guard, worried that Haeyul might end up developing feelings for Cha Jae-woo.
As if that would ever happen. Sure, Haeyul was a Guide and Cha Jae-woo was an Esper, and there was occasional physical contact between them, but wasn’t Kim Sol completely forgetting the simple fact that both of them were men?
“Wait… maybe Cha Jae-woo actually likes men…?”
Judging by Kim Sol’s behavior, it wasn’t an entirely unreasonable assumption. That would certainly explain why he was so ridiculously on edge. Now that he thought about it, back when he first set foot into this house, didn’t he catch a glimpse of a man in Cha Jae-woo’s bedroom…?
The memory was hazy and unclear. The moment he noticed bare skin, he had whipped his head around so fast out of sheer panic that he deliberately erased the scene from his mind.
Regardless, Kim Sol’s worries were unnecessary. Even if Cha Jae-woo did like men, Haeyul liked women. There was no way — absolutely no chance — that he would ever fall for Cha Jae-woo.
“I just… I just want to do a better job guiding him, that’s all.”
Their matching rate was so high; wasn’t there some way to make things even better? Even though Cha Jae-woo’s condition was slowly improving, Haeyul couldn’t help but crave faster, more perfect stabilization.
Knowing it was probably futile, he once again pulled out his phone and searched for information about guiding. But with Espers already rare, and Guides even rarer, it wasn’t like there was an abundance of information out there.
Still, he wanted to find even a tiny clue. He also kind of wanted to wipe that smug look off Cha Jae-woo’s face by proving his guiding could make a difference.
However, the search was a complete bust. All he learned from the internet was that, even after more than a month of living at Cha Jae-woo’s house, public curiosity about them hadn’t faded, along with a bunch of unclear rumors he hadn’t wanted to know in the first place.
***
[Title: Was it even true that Cha Jae-woo had a Guide?
Author: Anonymous]
Even if the Guide is only D-Rank, with a matching rate that high, shouldn’t he have cleared at least one Gate by now? He’s just holed up at home, not even appearing at a Gate. Was it all just a rumor to begin with? Feels like they lied about having a Guide when there actually wasn’t one.
[Comments]
― Huh. Why would anyone lie about that?
  └ (Author) Because people are scared shitless that Cha Jae-woo might go berserk?
  └ Nah, doubt it. Probably just because the Guide’s D-Rank — not strong enough to clear Gates, just barely maintaining stability.
― Agreed with the comment above. Looks like they’re just keeping him stable for now. Still doing Guide testing, too — probably not going to send him to a Gate until they find someone better than a D-Rank.
  └ Kinda pathetic for an S-Rank Esper, honestly.
  └ Fr, though. Even if he’s just stable, shouldn’t he have at least cleared one Gate by now?
― By the way, does Cha Jae-woo have connections? Even if he’s an S-Rank and almost went berserk, forcing a nationwide Guide test seems a bit extreme. Feels like he must have backing.
  └ Nah, if it was an S-Rank berserk situation, the authorities would’ve scrambled to find a Guide regardless. Don’t think it’s about connections.
  └ ??? Clearly, some people don’t know. Cha Jae-woo’s the grandson of the KE Group chairman.
  └ Huh??? KE??? Cha Jae-woo???
  └ He’s the KE heir???????????
  └ Is that even true??
  └ Seriously, it’s real. Look up KE Group Chairman Cha Seong-ju — you’ll see Cha Jae-woo listed under family relations.
  └ Holy crap?
― (photo) Wow. It’s true.
  └ Why are so many people only finding this out now?
  └ Honestly, it’s weirder not to know.
     └ But if he’s KE’s grandson, why only now are they doing a nationwide Guide search? What were they doing until now?
  └ Exactly — at that level, they should’ve done it a long time ago.
― Damn, what doesn’t Cha Jae-woo have? He’s got everything except personality.
― I thought his house was insane because Esper salaries were crazy high.
  └ Esper salaries are good. Especially for an S-Rank — foreign countries are probably fighting to recruit him.
     └ Seriously, this guy lacks nothing.
  └ Well, except a proper Guide. All he’s got is one D-Rank Guide…
  └ lmaooo ffs
― Even if he’s from the KE family, they probably wouldn’t support him. Why do you think Cha Jae-woo’s family info doesn’t show up immediately when you search him up? They’re practically estranged.
  └ Super well-known, but I guess a lot of people didn’t hear about it.
     └ First I’m hearing about it. Why’d they cut ties? Is it because of Cha Jae-woo’s personality?
  └ LMAO
  └ ffs, sounds believable but nah. His dad, Cha Jae-yeon, broke ties first because he wanted to marry someone Cha Seong-ju didn’t approve of.
  └ Ohhhh…
  └ 2 Ohhhh
  └ 3 Ohhhh
― Just looked it up — there’s even an article. KE Group Chairman Cha Seong-ju kicked his son, Cha Jae-yeon, out. But then the dad died.
  └ Yeah. But they never disclosed the cause of death. After that, Cha Jae-woo awakened as an Esper and was brought back into the KE fold.
     └ Heard Cha Seong-ju couldn’t stand the woman so much that even now, he barely acknowledges Cha Jae-woo.
― Makes sense. KE Group’s also famous for suing at the drop of a hat if you even slightly badmouth them. That’s why people just say “KE” instead of spelling it out. Funny how no one gets sued for bashing Cha Jae-woo though — guess they really did cut ties.
     └ True. If they still cared, they would’ve sued the entire country by now.
     └ Not me, though.
  └ ? lol same
― Anyway, weird how there hasn’t been any news about Cha Jae-woo’s Guide since the initial announcement. First there were all kinds of rumors, now it’s like he disappeared off the face of the earth.
     └ Creeped me out just now — what if he’s dead?
  └ wtf
  └ Nah, maybe he just sucked all the mana outta the D-Rank Guide and now they’re looking for another one.
  └ No way… right?
― Either way, it’s about time Cha Jae-woo showed up at a Gate. How long is he planning to just laze around? He’s got a Guide, even if it’s a D-Rank — he should be doing something.
     └ For real, dude’s just living it up now.
  └ Maybe he’s busy having a really good time with his Guide. lol
