I hesitated before crawling on my knees to the edge of the blanket and stopping there.
“Guiding is impossible at that distance.”
“I know.”
“……”
At my answer, Jeong Seyeon braced his hands behind him on the floor and swept his hair back. Under his gaze that seemed to urge me to continue speaking, I licked my dry lips and opened my mouth.
“If you’re uncomfortable, hyung, you don’t have to Guide me.”
“Am I not needed?”
“That can’t be…!”
“Then use me.”
“You’re only doing this because of your younger sibling’s actions. I wish you wouldn’t feel responsible for that. There’s no need to force yourself to Guide like this.”
Unable to face Jeong Seyeon, I hung my head and voiced what I’d been thinking all along. I thought speaking would bring relief, but admitting it with my own mouth only twisted my insides.
‘Is this what being a Nolbu is like?’
Just like with Do Wonjin and Yang Garam, I’d wanted Jeong Seyeon to understand me too and willingly extend his hand to me. In the past, I hadn’t been so desperate for Guiding, but perhaps because I’d held it once and knew its taste, my greed grew endlessly.
“Ah.”
Lost in thought, Jeong Seyeon’s hand entered my field of vision, and before I could react, my head suddenly lifted. Jeong Seyeon had grasped my chin.
He stared piercingly at my face and said one thing.
“You’re wrong.”
Strength entered Jeong Seyeon’s hand gripping my chin.
“I’m not kind enough to force myself to Guide you.”
“Ah……”
The fingers gripping my chin parted my lips and entered. His fingers were thick, quickly filling my mouth. I should have pushed them away naturally, but from the moment they entered my mouth, he began Guiding me, so I had no choice but to leave his fingers rummaging through my mouth as they were.
‘Why is he Guiding in this way……’
At first I was conscious of his piercing stare, but as the energy flowing into my mouth grew increasingly intense, it became difficult to think of anything else. As I felt Jeong Seyeon’s characteristic warm energy spreading throughout my body, I found myself instinctively sucking on his fingers like candy.
‘This feels strange.’
The fingers that had been pressing and rummaging through the tender mucous membrane gradually made squelching sounds as they stirred inside my mouth. My mouth, heated and burning from the friction, was feeling his fingers too intensely. My tongue and palate, and the discomfort that surged each time his fingers went deep enough to stimulate my throat. It was my body, but something felt off somewhere.
“Hnngh……”
In the midst of it all, my body receiving the Guiding became limp, and I kept losing strength in the arm propping me up on the floor. It seemed even more so because mucous membrane contact was more effective than skin contact. Perhaps because I’d been continuously receiving his Guiding, which flowed more densely than usual, my consciousness gradually blurred. I wasn’t even aware of the drool pooling at the corners of my mouth flowing down.
“Even drooling like that, does it taste that good?”
His voice was as leisurely as when he’d ask how his cooking was while eating a meal. I tried to answer, but because of Jeong Seyeon’s fingers in my mouth, only muffled moans leaked out. When I barely lifted my eyes to look at him, Jeong Seyeon clicked his tongue briefly and withdrew his fingers from my mouth. As soon as his fingers left, my head collapsed toward him, and Jeong Seyeon caught me in his embrace.
Having Guided me this much, Jeong Seyeon must have been quite exhausted too, yet he lifted me up without even letting out a single sigh. I bit my tingling lips.
‘How much energy did he pour into me?’
Not only was my body heavy like waterlogged cotton, but my eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. Forget nightmares—at this rate, I felt like I’d sleep like the dead and wake up. Jeong Seyeon’s energy output had been that substantial, and for me right now with no rampage risk level to lower, it was excessive Guiding. Jeong Seyeon wouldn’t have done it unknowingly, so he must have done it on purpose.
‘He said he wasn’t angry, but who’d believe that when he does this?’
Yet rather than being unpleasant, I actually felt reassured. I’d worried that his emotions might be so dried up that he couldn’t feel them at all, but he was someone who could feel and express emotions like everyone else.
Though my eyes were closed, I was still conscious, so I could fully sense Jeong Seyeon lifting me up and laying me down properly on the bedding. At those caring touches, I felt a bit guilty for unintentionally pretending to be asleep.
‘This is why I want to be Nolbu.’
I didn’t want to let go of any of them—Do Wonjin, Yang Garam, or Jeong Seyeon.
Because I’d been so lonely in my past life.
‘So what if it’s excessive Guiding, so what if he’s not a dedicated Guide? As long as I’m happy with it.’
My rational judgment was greatly clouded by the excessive Guiding, but I felt pleased with the conclusion I’d reached and dozed off.
I frowned at the sunlight tickling my eyes. The cheerful chirping of sparrows announced a peaceful morning, but seeing the unfamiliar room, my drowsiness vanished completely and I sprang up from my spot.
“Oh, right.”
The absurd events that had happened to me yesterday flashed by like a silent film. Looking beside me, Jeong Seyeon’s spot was empty—he must have already gotten up.
“What time even is it?”
Normally I would have checked my phone’s clock as soon as I opened my eyes, but unfortunately I couldn’t. Because Jeong Seyeon’s younger sister had both my clothes and my phone. As what she’d done to me came back to mind, my brows furrowed automatically. Yesterday I’d let it go because she was Jeong Seyeon’s younger sister, but the more I thought about it, the more outrageous it was.
‘When I see her, one flick to the forehead is reserved.’
If she were a boy, I’d spank her bottom or give her a knuckle to the head like I would to a younger sibling, but since she was a girl that wouldn’t do, so I’d specially reduced her sentence.
‘Come to think of it, I couldn’t contact anyone either.’
Something more important than checking the time occurred to me. Without my phone, my whereabouts had unintentionally become unknown—that was the problem.
‘No wait, hyung is here, so the others must know I’m here too.’
One of the rules we’d established was that we must contact each other when coming home late or staying out overnight, and that suggestion had come from Jeong Seyeon. There’s no way he wouldn’t have told them about me.
‘Right, I’m going home anyway. It shouldn’t be a big problem.’
Thinking simply, I tidied up the bedding. I opened the door to go wash up, and right in front of me lay neatly folded clothes.
“Aren’t these my clothes?”
Remembering all the trouble I’d gone through without this one set of clothes, my teeth automatically ground together.
‘Jeong Se-eun. Just let me run into you. One forehead flick.’
Sharpening my blade of revenge in a petty way, I picked up the clothes. Checking the pockets, fortunately my phone was still there too. However, the battery must have died because it wouldn’t turn on. I remembered it being almost fully charged when I left home, so this was strange.
In any case, I shoved the currently useless phone back into my pocket and headed to the bathroom. Until then, it had been a peaceful morning scene.
“Hyung, did you sleep well?”
When I finished washing up and returned to the room, there were unexpected guests.
“Yang Garam? Why are you……?”
“Our Jeongjae didn’t cry because I wasn’t here last night, did he?”
“……Even Do Wonjin.”
As I stammered like a country bumpkin at their sudden appearance, a ‘meow!’ startled me and I turned my head. And I met eyes directly with Joo Seolhyeon. He was holding Serubi as if it had become a complete one-plus-one deal with him now.
‘Lucky cat. Why don’t you just change owners at this point?’
As I narrowed my eyes at Serubi comfortably nestled in Joo Seolhyeon’s arms, the creature noticed my look, wriggled out of Joo Seolhyeon’s embrace, and came running toward me.
Though I couldn’t say it with watching eyes, I pretended to be unable to resist and picked up Serubi who was desperately acting cute, but my face stung. I didn’t even need to look. It was Joo Seolhyeon.
Looking around again, the scene in Jeong Seyeon’s house hadn’t changed. It wasn’t close enough to easily come from Seoul to here, and I couldn’t imagine this combination making the long trip together amicably.
‘I’d more readily believe they all fell from the sky together.’
Jeong Se-eun vaguely came to mind as a suspect, but what connection could there be to bring all the Guides here? While pressing down on Serubi’s back as it tried to climb onto my shoulder, I looked around at everyone.
“How did you all get here?”
At my question, everyone’s gaze turned to Yang Garam.
“Youngest. What are you doing?”
Do Wonjin said with a smirk, and Yang Garam scratched the back of his head while avoiding my gaze.
“Hyung was with someone I don’t know—as if school would matter. I was worried so I followed right away.”
Yang Garam spoke as if it were nothing, but the content itself was problematic. While I debated whether to address this or not, Yang Garam’s story continued.
Yang Garam, who had followed me and Jeong Se-eun, witnessed Jeong Se-eun using her ability on me, and when he tried to grab her as she attempted to flee, he was teleported along with her. With Yang Garam’s interference disrupting her plan, Jeong Se-eun had intended to hold Yang Garam only until I was discovered by Jeong Seyeon, but afterward Yang Garam made such a fuss saying he wouldn’t leave until she took him where I was, that she eventually brought him here.
‘Jeong Se-eun did cause trouble, but Yang Garam’s no slouch either.’
Though much was left out of the explanation, it seemed Yang Garam hadn’t pestered Jeong Se-eun through ordinary methods. Imagining how Yang Garam, given his personality, would have charged at her recklessly to find out where I was, I felt slightly sorry for Jeong Se-eun this time.
‘I was going to flick her forehead once when I saw her, but I guess I’ll let it go.’
That was enough to make my heart more generous.
“But how did Do Wonjin and Joo Seolhyeon end up coming too? And Serubi?”
“We have that rule about notifying in advance for overnight stays, right? So before coming here, I stopped by home once. Then the hyungs got me by the nose and this is how it ended up.”
As Yang Garam let out a sigh and Do Wonjin put him in a headlock for being cheeky, I glanced at Joo Seolhyeon who had been quiet this whole time. His gaze was fixed on Serubi making biscuits on my chest.
‘It is a bit surprising that even Joo Seolhyeon came.’
Though I’d worried them first, I’d never thought they’d come all this way out of concern for me. I’d thought I had no expectations, but now that I was actually receiving this kind of attention, I felt both secretly bashful and my chest felt tight. I should express these feelings too, but unaccustomed to such things, I fiddled with Serubi’s ears for no reason and said quietly.
“Thanks for worrying about me, everyone.”
Do Wonjin and Yang Garam, who had been fooling around, looked at me, and Joo Seolhyeon’s gaze also shifted from Serubi to me. In the room where brief silence had settled, Do Wonjin’s refreshing laughter spread.
“Did you secretly use an ability or something? What if you suddenly turn into a tomato? Guiding call?”
“Ah, really, why are you so lovable, hyung?”
Do Wonjin’s teasing voice, Yang Garam casually saying embarrassing things, and Joo Seolhyeon frozen for some reason after looking at my expression—they all strangely filled my entire vision. Just as I thought it would be a perfect picture if only Jeong Seyeon were here, refined footsteps sounded beyond the door.
“Meal is served.”
My heart pounded at the familiar low voice. When the door opened, Jeong Seyeon stood there holding a seven-course meal table. He gave me a small nod, then entered the room carrying the table.
As everyone sat around the meal table, the perfect picture I’d envisioned was completed.
‘What do I do?’
My heart, which had started pounding from when Jeong Seyeon entered, wouldn’t calm down easily. I didn’t know what this overwhelming emotion was, but though it was a scene I’d always seen, today especially something was filling me up inside until my ribcage felt tight. It was truly strange to think I felt full when I hadn’t even touched the rice yet.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
