A Gate had opened in a civilian district. Though it was only a Blue Gate, the fact that it appeared in an area where one had never been seen before put the Central Bureau and the Ability Association on high alert, drawing them to the site.
With the new drug originally developed for Hyun Tae-oh now distributed to all Espers, Guides were no longer required to remain on standby in the field. Still, for one-on-one missions, Pairs or partners continued to accompany Espers as a safeguard against unforeseen incidents.
As Espers gathered for the Emergency Assembly, Guides waited together inside the Guiding Room. The drug could suppress Rampage, but any Esper who used medication still needed their wavelengths stabilized afterward. Thus, whenever Rampage was detected mid-battle, the Esper immediately swallowed a suppressor and teleported to the Guiding Room for Guiding.
The new system not only made field operations smoother but also greatly improved Guide safety, which left everyone satisfied. Guides especially enjoyed the change—they could now relax and chat comfortably while waiting, instead of being thrust into dangerous situations. Some even joked that this downtime was the real perk of the job.
“Hey, wait. Tae-oh’s birthday is coming up, isn’t it?”
Lee Jun-hyung, who had been playing a game on his phone, leaned over when he noticed Kang Chi-yu staring seriously at his calendar.
The date was marked: Hyun Tae-oh’s birthday.
“It’s Tae-oh’s birthday?”
Min Yu-hyun, sitting across from Chi-yu while watching Ol-bae and Cheese on his home webcam, chimed in.
“Yeah.”
Chi-yu let out a short sigh.
“So what are you thinking about then? Planning a surprise?”
Jun-hyung shut off his game and asked.
As always, he had a way of seeing right through people.
“I just… want to make it a birthday he’ll remember. But I can’t think of anything.”
“What did you used to do before you were dating?” Yu-hyun asked.
“I’d go to his place, make him seaweed soup, light candles on a cake, give him a present.”
“And now you want to do something different?”
“Yeah. It’s the first birthday since we started dating.”
“There’s probably only one kind of birthday Tae-oh would never forget,” Jun-hyung said.
Yu-hyun nodded knowingly.
“Just one. That simple guy.”
“…What do you mean?”
Chi-yu asked, suspicious. Both men smirked.
What they meant was “event underwear.”
At first, Chi-yu scoffed, thinking they meant Tae-oh wearing it. But Jun-hyung corrected him: You’re the one who has to wear it. His smile vanished instantly.
Event underwear? That was far too much. He’d never worn anything like it, and the thought of standing in front of Tae-oh like that without collapsing from embarrassment was impossible.
Still, with Yu-hyun and Jun-hyung insisting it was exactly the kind of thing Tae-oh would want, Chi-yu couldn’t help but start listening.
“There’s also the apron-only idea, but that’s more a matter of taste,” Yu-hyun suggested.
“Yeah, that one’s hit or miss,” Jun-hyung agreed.
Chi-yu struggled to follow their back-and-forth but listened intently all the same.
“Tae-oh might actually go crazy if you just wore one of his shirts with nothing underneath,” Jun-hyung said.
“Right, right. That could really do it for him.”
Chi-yu pictured himself in Tae-oh’s shirt. With their size difference, it would easily cover down to his thighs. Compared to the other ideas, that at least seemed possible.
But Jun-hyung shook his head.
“That alone’s too plain. You said you want to make it memorable, right? Then it needs to be shocking—something that’ll really knock him flat.”
“So… event underwear really is the best option?” Yu-hyun pressed.
“Well, it depends on the design, doesn’t it?”
“I know a site,” Yu-hyun said, pulling out his phone.
Chi-yu stared at him in disbelief.
“…Why do you even know that?”
Ignoring him, Yu-hyun pulled up the page and showed it to the others.
“See? Clean, tasteful enough, and not too extreme.”
Jun-hyung leaned in. “Oh, not bad.”
Chi-yu glanced over reluctantly. He honestly couldn’t see what was supposed to be “not bad” about it.
It looked like a men’s underwear shop running a buy-one-get-one promo. Front and center was a purple string in the shape of a T, unmistakably intended to be underwear.
Chi-yu hadn’t even finished wondering how such a thing could possibly cover anything before his attention was stolen by the free pair that came with it.
That one was only a waistband. In other words, a “T” paired with a “—.”
If you wanted to complain it wasn’t even underwear, well… apparently you could attach mesh to it. Though of course, the mesh was sold separately.
“This? You call this okay??”
Chi-yu’s voice came out raw with disbelief.
“It can be fun as a one-off. I actually tried it once when I was with Moo-young…”
Both Yu-hyun and Chi-yu froze, their eyes snapping to Jun-hyung. He had mentioned his deceased imprinted partner so casually, as if it were nothing.
“I even thought about doing it for Do-il’s birthday later. He’d be into this kind of thing. …Why are you two staring like that?”
Jun-hyung looked between them.
“So… you’re okay now?” Yu-hyun asked carefully.
Jun-hyung tilted his head, then realized what he had just said so naturally. A faint, deflated smile touched his lips.
“Ah. Yeah. Do-il told me not to bury it like that.”
When they started dating, Beom Do-il had asked him not to erase Jeong Moo-young’s memory. He’d said: If I can help you heal, that’s enough for me. But don’t force yourself to forget him out of guilt. Even if he still has a place in your heart, that means those memories matter. Don’t smother it—don’t let it eat away at you later.
After all, Moo-young had been someone Jun-hyung had loved deeply enough to imprint with. Losing him left no chance for a clean goodbye.
Meeting someone new allowed him to heal slowly. But if he tried to push that unresolved love away out of guilt, it would only fester and wound him more deeply in the end.
Listening, both Yu-hyun and Chi-yu thought Beom Do-il must be an exceptionally considerate man.
“…This one’s definitely Do-il’s style,” Jun-hyung added.
Do-il’s taste, apparently, was a bright red thong with an elephant face on the front. Chi-yu quickly averted his eyes, unsettled by Do-il’s eccentric preferences.
***
The civilian Gate took longer than expected to suppress. The Central Bureau split its Espers into two groups: one inside the Gate to block beasts from escaping, the other outside to guard civilians.
Whether it was because so much time had passed since the last Gate or because Gates themselves had evolved, even this Blue Gate felt as difficult as a Red.
While Espers fought to contain it, Guides worked in shifts. With their energy needing time to replenish, rotation was unavoidable.
Yu-hyun and Chi-yu took the first shift with Line A. Jun-hyung, assigned to Line B, stayed at Tae-oh’s house in the meantime, looking after Ol-bae, Cheese, Beom, Jun, Hayangi, and Catdog.
The animals were gathered there since Catdog still refused to leave the house.
When Line B’s Guiding shift began, Yu-hyun and Chi-yu returned to Tae-oh’s house to rest and care for the animals.
“You’re really going to confess?”
Chi-yu asked, catching Beom in his arms as the little one chased after Jun.
Yu-hyun nodded.
“Do-jae’s not the type to bring it up first. And I don’t want things to just fizzle out like this.”
Chi-yu muttered agreement. “Yeah, Yoon Do-jae’s definitely not the type to make the first move.”
“So… how should I do it?” Yu-hyun asked carefully.
Confession advice wasn’t exactly Chi-yu’s specialty. Coming up with a good idea was harder than he thought. But since Yu-hyun was asking seriously, he couldn’t brush it off.
“Hmm… how about this?”
“What? Hold on—let’s go to the study. If Tae-oh suddenly teleports back, that’d be awkward.”
“Ah, right.”
Chi-yu led him to the study, where they sat down on the sofa to talk in earnest. Neither of them realized this would soon lead Tae-oh to a serious misunderstanding.
As the two wracked their brains on how Yu-hyun could confess to Yoon Do-jae, Tae-oh teleported home, exhausted.
He stopped short when he saw the animals scattered across his living room—sleeping, grooming, tumbling around.
Did they gather them all here because of the Gate? he wondered, glancing around in search of Chi-yu.
Then, from the study, he heard Yu-hyun’s voice.
[I’ve liked you for a long time. Maybe even since filming PairBorn.]
And immediately after, Chi-yu’s voice.
[I like you. I don’t know when it started, but I know it won’t change. So… will you go out with me?]
The blood drained from Hyun Tae-oh’s face.
