I Want To Be Your Guide – Chapter 4
“Fuck.”
As soon as the car door closed, Junyoung’s shoulders trembled slightly at the harsh curse that poured out from the backseat. Domin had said he needed to go to headquarters early this morning, and sure enough, trouble had erupted.
“Did something happen?”
“Don’t ask.”
At Domin’s curt reply, Junyoung quickly shut his mouth.
There were two main reasons why Domin visited headquarters: one was when his team had a meeting, and the other was when he was called by his dedicated Guide.
While he wasn’t in a good mood even when there were team meetings, the days after meeting his dedicated Guide were far worse.
He would nitpick at trivial things, shout, and frequently use his abilities to put people in difficult situations. So today, Junyoung needed to be careful even with his breathing.
Though they should be leaving soon to avoid being late for the next schedule, Junyoung was so concerned about Domin’s mood that he couldn’t even start the engine.
After cautiously checking Domin’s condition through the rearview mirror, he carefully started the engine, only to feel Domin’s fierce gaze piercing the back of his head.
“It’s noisy.”
“…Sorry.”
Junyoung quickly turned off the engine again. Once more, a suffocating silence filled the car.
Domin tried to calm his anger with deep breaths. However, the memories that surged up whenever he tried to suppress them made it difficult to settle his emotions.
“Ju Saeon, that son of a bitch.”
When the headquarters first matched him with a B-rank Guide instead of an A-rank as his dedicated partner, Domin had genuinely protested. But the only answer he received was that they couldn’t assign an A-rank Guide to Domin, who spent so little time in the field.
Although he was displeased with everything about the situation, Domin had no choice but to receive Guiding from Saeon. From the moment they first met, Saeon’s gaze had been unsettling, and as Domin had predicted, before a full year had passed, Saeon confessed his feelings and even made the absurd proposal that they form a mutual Imprinting.
Domin naturally rejected him.
Despite his personality, he had declined politely, saying he couldn’t accept Saeon’s feelings without getting angry, but after that, Saeon’s attitude completely changed.
He would frequently threaten Domin with Guiding and try to manipulate him with it.
*That bastard*
[Come by 12 today. If you don’t, I won’t provide Guiding for a week.]
Today too, Domin had received Saeon’s message at the crack of dawn. Since Saeon threatened not to provide Guiding for a week if he didn’t come, Domin had pushed back all his schedules and headed to headquarters despite his lack of free time.
But after making him waste his precious time in front of an empty Guiding room, Saeon didn’t even answer his calls. If he hadn’t learned from a passing C-rank Guide that it was lunchtime, he might have broken down the tightly closed door.
“That crazy bastard, who does he think he’s treating like his dog?”
In Domin’s case, the side effects after using his abilities were much more severe than others. Since the stabilizers provided by headquarters were useless for him, he tried his best not to use his abilities, but things never go as planned.
Although he didn’t encounter terrorists as frequently as the field team did, as a public figure whose identity was disclosed to the public, he experienced many incidents, both large and small.
As a government-affiliated Esper, he had to prioritize the protection of civilians from the moment a terrorist threat was detected. That inevitably required the use of his abilities.
When he was suffering from pain so intense he could barely breathe, if Saeon were to refuse Guiding, Domin would have to get on his knees and beg while crawling on the floor.
Since this had actually happened a few times, he had no choice but to play along with these ridiculous antics and cater to Saeon’s moods. But there’s a limit to everything, and Ju Saeon had crossed the line long ago.
“Maybe I should have broken his neck…”
Junyoung urgently turned around upon hearing the murderous muttering. At Junyoung’s pleading look begging him not to do such a thing, Domin waved his hand dismissively, telling him to just look ahead and mind his own business.
The glances through the rearview mirror continued to irritate Domin even after Junyoung had turned back around. Sighing, Domin used his ability to turn the rearview mirror in the opposite direction. Even that small action of turning the rearview mirror made his fingertips tingle with pain.
“What’s the next schedule?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. What’s the next schedule?”
Junyoung took out a notebook from his bag on the passenger seat. As Domin listened to the tightly packed schedule, his irritation grew even more. These bastards at headquarters must think he had ten bodies, always trying to push him without giving him a moment to rest.
“Ah, fuck.”
Unable to contain his anger, Domin used his ability to return the rearview mirror to its original position. Startled by the suddenly rotating mirror, Junyoung’s eyes widened.
Domin kicked the driver’s seat where Junyoung sat frozen in stupidity and said in a sharp voice:
“Are we going or not?”
“…Oh, yes, of course.”
Junyoung hurriedly started the engine and drove off. As Domin was trying to calm himself by watching headquarters recede through the window, his phone rang.
*That bastard*
[Thanks for coming today *^^* See you again.]
After completely draining him emotionally, the message saying “see you again” made Domin struggle to resist the impulse to shout at Junyoung to turn the car around.
* * *
Jeongyun, who usually watched the repetitive advertisements with sparkling eyes, wasn’t even glancing at the television today. Wooyeon wondered if Jeongyun found the advertisements boring now that he had seen Choi Domin in person a few days ago.
“Hey, Yeo Jeongyun.”
“…”
“You’re completely out of it.”
Despite Wooyeon’s words, Jeongyun gave no response and just sighed deeply, staring into empty space.
Unable to bear it anymore, Wooyeon waved his hand in front of Jeongyun’s face, which finally elicited a reaction.
“Couldn’t sleep yesterday?”
“No, I slept well.”
Wooyeon narrowed his eyes and examined Jeongyun’s face, which looked tired to anyone who saw it. Jeongyun smiled awkwardly and took a sip of coffee from his paper cup. The coffee had gone cold during their conversation.
Jeongyun chewed on the rim of the paper cup with his teeth, but eventually put down the cold coffee without finishing it.
“How much of your quota do you have left today?”
“I haven’t even done half.”
“You? That’s unusual.”
Wooyeon asked with wide eyes.
True to his reaction, normally by this time Jeongyun would have completed more than half of his quota, but today he couldn’t concentrate because of the thoughts filling his mind.
He had clearly given up his inflated dream of helping Domin with Guiding, just as Domin had once saved him. But the moment he actually faced Domin, the dream had been so sweet that it wouldn’t leave his mind.
If he could just have one opportunity to provide Guiding for Domin—even while knowing how meaningless it was to even consider such a scenario—his mind wouldn’t stop thinking about Domin. How foolish.
“Wooyeon.”
“Yeah?”
“What if…”
“Say it quickly.”
The impatient Wooyeon urged Jeongyun.
They say sharing your worries halves them, but this situation was different. If Wooyeon brushed off the story about Domin as nothing significant, Jeongyun would end up getting hurt rather than finding comfort in sharing.
Jeongyun closed his parted lips and stared at the cold coffee in his cup. Why did his faintly reflected image look so foolish?
As he touched the rim of the paper cup that he had been chewing on, Jeongyun finally mumbled that it was nothing.
“Why did you stop talking?”
“It’s nothing important.”
“Your face doesn’t say it’s nothing.”
“It’s not. It really was nothing.”
At Jeongyun’s strong denial, Wooyeon narrowed his eyes. He seemed to want to keep questioning, but seeing Jeongyun’s unhappy expression, he stopped asking.
Wooyeon told him to share when he was ready, and Jeongyun weakly nodded.
“His face looks annoying no matter when I see it.”
At Wooyeon’s sudden remark, Jeongyun turned around to see Saeon entering the break room with B-rank Guides following him like devoted followers.
Why did the saying “when the tiger is away, the fox becomes king” suddenly come to mind? Jeongyun thought, watching Saeon naturally sit in a chair vacated by his followers.
Even among the group of B-rank Guides, Saeon was special. And what made Saeon special was his title as the dedicated Guide for Choi Domin of the Black Team.
Saeon knew this too, which is why he subtly enjoyed flaunting his close relationship with Domin. As if it was Choi Domin who was special, not himself.
“Is this from Choi Domin?”
Though he had tried not to pay attention, at the mention of Domin’s name, all his senses turned in that direction. Saeon must have shown something, as exclamations full of envy erupted.
“Hey, be honest. Are you dating Choi Domin?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
Saeon said with a shy smile. Though it was a denial, it wasn’t a complete one, and the ambiguous answer made people start adding their own comments.
That Choi Domin suits him well, that they’re a match made in heaven, that many dedicated Guides and Espers end up dating, that they should just go ahead and Imprint on each other.
“Imprinting? How could you say that?”
“Choi Domin doesn’t receive Guiding from anyone but you anyway.”
“Try subtly hinting at it. He might like it.”
“Seeing how he came looking for you last time, maybe Domin has feelings for you too?”
“No way, Domin’s not that kind of person.”
The friendly conversation using Domin’s name so casually made Jeongyun’s mind more complicated.
Although headquarters strictly prohibited relationships between Guides and Espers during Guiding and forbade one-sided Imprinting, mutual Imprinting could occur if both the Guide and Esper agreed, and it became a commitment similar to marriage.
Since Domin had only ever received Guiding from Saeon, nothing would change if they Imprinted. With the steady stream of scandals between them, people would say they saw it coming and bless the couple. Everyone except himself, of course.
“Jeongyun.”
Snapping back to reality at Wooyeon’s call, Jeongyun discovered the paper cup in his hand had been crumpled beyond recognition. The unfinished coffee was leaking out, wetting his hand and making a mess on the table.
“…Ah, I need to wash my hands. I’ll go ahead.”
Jeongyun left the break room under the pretext of washing his hands. He wanted to escape from Ju Saeon’s presence as quickly as possible.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
