# Chapter 63
With tension and anxiety, Jaeha couldn’t even refuse and just froze up, while Jiho remained relaxed.
“Sunbae, you need to stop the guiding.”
Jiho’s breath could be felt through the gap between his fingers each time he spoke, making it impossible for Jaeha to respond even if he wanted to. Jiho’s fingers rested on Jaeha’s lips and moved very slowly. But if time continued like this, their lips would end up touching through the gap between his fingers.
“It’s my first time playing hard to get over something that’s not even a kiss, just a peck.”
‘If this can be called playing hard to get, this guy is a genius at it.’
Jaeha’s determination to somehow control the guiding that had been impossible until now surged.
But if their lips so much as brushed against each other, he would kill him. With that resolve, he strained until his eyes turned red, trying to stop the guiding that was leaking out continuously, but it was useless.
“You can do it, Sunbae. I’d be grateful if we could go further, though.”
Beads of sweat formed on Jaeha’s forehead as he struggled with his lips tightly closed, not wanting even his breath to touch the other.
Feeling the energy rapidly flowing through his fingers touching Jaeha’s lips, Jiho thought that if he had known this sensation during his manic state, he would never have let go.
“When I touch you, it’s hard to hold back. I want to touch you more and be closer, but you don’t feel anything, do you?”
He didn’t want to be hated as much as he wanted to touch. He wanted to build affection over time, but the situation was pushing him. If Jaeha had any affection for him, he wouldn’t want to back down, but anyone could see Jaeha was disgusted, which was disappointing.
Knock, knock.
Fortunately, before Jiho’s patience ran out, a knock announcing the appointed time was heard. Jiho backed away cleanly with a smile.
“I like you, Sunbae. Though you probably don’t like me yet.”
With a light confession, he even helped Jaeha up and fixed his disheveled clothes. After a moment of disorientation, as Jiho moved away to open the door, Jaeha jumped up and escaped from the sofa.
“You, you, Gaeho, you bastard.”
“It used to sound like a nickname, but today it sounds like an insult, Sunbae.”
“It is an insult, you bastard!”
Jiho admitted to himself that he had blinders on as Jaeha’s face, red with anger, looked like he was blushing.
“I didn’t do what you really dislike, so calm down.”
“What do you mean you didn’t do anything! You almost did everything… Huh?”
Jaeha, who had been yelling, hadn’t heard the knock and was surprised when Jiho opened the door.
Haeil, standing at the door in uniform, smiled faintly at Jaeha. His smile was more awkward than usual, suggesting that he had heard their entire conversation.
“I’m fully charged now, so I’ll go work for a bit. Since Sunbae Dojoon is coming in the afternoon, if you need to leave before then, contact me. I’ll fly over from wherever I am.”
“Yes.”
Haeil’s short answer was even stiff. Unlike the troubled smile he had shown Jaeha, his cold response to Jiho reminded him that Haeil was also a competitor.
They would likely meet often since they were sharing Seo Jaeha, but if Haeil was going to be uncomfortable, there was no reason for Jiho to be friendly either. But there was no need to be hostile, so Jiho used his characteristic cheekiness to brush it off.
“It’s harder than I thought. Do your best, fighting!”
As Jiho was about to leave with a smiling face, Haeil, who had been staring at him expressionlessly, stopped him with a monotone voice.
“Esper Kyun Jiho, we might need to have a separate conversation about this matter.”
“About work? Or personally?”
“I’ll determine how to respond after checking if there was any coercive behavior. Even if you have a privately intimate relationship, proper procedures for guiding should be followed.”
After thinking for a moment at Haeil’s rigid attitude, Jiho smiled deeply and waved his hand.
“I was worried about leaving Sunbae, but I’m relieved that you’re the responsible type.”
Jiho wasn’t concerned about the warning directed at him. This was milder than dealing with a girlfriend with a police brother. He had thought he was facing a gangster brother, not a police officer.
After watching Jiho leave casually, Haeil turned his head and looked at Jaeha inside the room. Making eye contact with Haeil standing at the door, Jaeha came to his senses, ran over, and pulled his arm.
“Gilma hyung, let’s go to my place.”
“The lodgings, you mean?”
“Yes, I can’t stand being here anymore. It’s too cringey.”
His brother disliked other people entering, but made an exception for Haeil. Jaeha was glad that his brother’s trust in him was so good. They might need to borrow Jiho’s room again when Dojoon arrived, but he thought it might be better to go to the guiding room than to do this.
But since the guiding room was temporarily closed because of whatever Jaeyoon had done, he had become like a refugee, wandering here and there.
Back at the lodgings, Jaeha downed a cup of water first, which helped him regain his senses. Only after seeing Haeil standing blankly did he pour another glass of water and offer it to him.
“We don’t have juice or anything. The filtered water is cool though.”
“Thank you, Jaeha.”
While taking the cup, Haeil used his other hand to wipe off water droplets on Jaeha’s chin and lips. As their skin made contact, guiding started rapidly with a slight pain.
Haeil, still holding Jaeha’s chin, made a troubled expression.
“You haven’t practiced at all?”
“Haha, nope.”
If it had been Jiho’s hand, he would have immediately swatted it away since his hands weren’t both caught, but looking at Haeil’s serious face made it feel like he was being examined or tested. As Jaeha became awkward and just rolled his eyes, Haeil’s hand slowly moved away. In the awkward atmosphere, Jaeha immediately sat on the sofa and extended his hand.
“Let’s start the guiding right away.”
“You must be tired from guiding with Esper Kyun Jiho. You can rest first.”
“No, your condition isn’t good, so let’s do it quickly.”
The sofa was smaller than the one in Jiho’s room, so when the two sat, they were closer together. Sitting close enough for their knees to touch, they held hands and the familiar sensation of guiding quickly followed.
“You must have been busy. Looking at how much has accumulated in the meantime.”
“Jaeha, try to stop the guiding.”
“What?”
When he tried to let go, Haeil held firmly with just enough force not to hurt.
“Gilma hyung?”
“I heard you need to practice controlling guiding. Try to stop it while still holding hands.”
“That’s true, but you need the guiding urgently, right?”
“Thanks to your practice, it’s going well. If it stops, we can start again. Let’s work on it together.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll try.”
Though it was a vague practice, he needed to do guiding anyway, so he concentrated while holding hands. Despite concentrating, he could only feel the energy flowing out through his fingertips and palms, unable to stop it. It wouldn’t work in just one day, and as he was trying to relax, Haeil’s low, deep voice calmly offered an opinion.
“I’ve been thinking that it might be difficult because it’s too abstract. When an Esper uses abilities, it’s mostly about releasing mana outward, so they can control it without specific instructions. What if you approach guiding the same way? Start by trying to cut off the wave from your fingertips one by one.”
Jaeha was newly impressed by Haeil’s serious demeanor.
His attitude was completely different from Dojoon, who said he’d follow Jaeha’s wishes and left everything to him, or Jiho, who wanted to progress at his own pace. Of course, Jaeyoon had explained it theoretically, but he didn’t even hold Jaeha’s hand.
Feeling that this was an environment where he could practice properly, Jaeha concentrated.
“When you focus, you can feel the flow. It starts fast like rapids, but as you get used to it, it slows a bit and then becomes faster again.”
Haeil’s calm and deep resonance made Jaeha feel more composed.
“Even just one finger is fine. Even if we’re touching, ‘cutting off’ might be an appropriate expression.”
Though it was just theory, Jaeha closed his eyes and concentrated on the voice that conveyed trust as if imparting truth. Haeil’s gaze moved to the defenseless Jaeha’s lips, which he had deliberately avoided.
Hearing the conversation between the two outside Jiho’s room, he had to restrain himself from breaking down the door instead of knocking. The guiding wave from Jaeha, which he had already experienced, was tempting and hard to resist even from outside the door. Haeil was surprised and confused that such exclusive desire or rough emotions could arise in himself.
He hoped that Jaeha would gain control as quickly as possible so others wouldn’t know this sensation. As he struggled to contain his feelings that were becoming dark, he felt a sensation as if their touching fingertips were separating. More precisely, the flow of mana disappeared.
“Huh? Is this it?”
“I think you’ve succeeded.”
“Really? This easily?”
Though surprised, Jaeha, who learned sensations quickly once he grasped them, cut off the guiding from each of his held hands one by one. It was very slow and clumsy, but the sensation of being forcibly pulled disappeared with a snap, which was clearly a success.
“I think it worked.”
“Excellent, Jaeha.”
Haeil’s warm smile as he sincerely rejoiced and praised him made Jaeha smile broadly too.
“Thank you, Haeil hyung!”
His way of addressing him changed instantly from “Gilma hyung” to “Haeil hyung.” He had been mixing up the names since the last guiding, but it was because he was so happy about the success that his emotions were running high.
It had been embarrassing and wasteful to have precious Espers taking turns standing guard. Now that he knew the method, with practice, he could move around while hiding that he was a guide. An excited Jaeha hugged Haeil.
“I’ll try this too.”
Haeil, whose cheek naturally touched Jaeha’s neck, didn’t refuse. This time it wasn’t easy, so he could also take advantage of the guiding being done.
“It’s still hard to do it while hugging. But I guess it’ll work with practice?”
“Yes, Jaeha.”
“So I needed proper guiding to be able to control it. Those guys were just playing around, that’s why it wasn’t working. With Haeil hyung, it worked right away.”
“I’m happy because you’re happy, Jaeha.”
“Now let’s try with the arm.”
Having tasted success once, Jaeha was excited. Finding Jaeha’s joy pleasant to see, Haeil gave him his hands, arms, whatever he wanted, and spent time with him.
* * *
After that, they practiced quite often, but it was still difficult to reach the level of guiding control that Jaeyoon wanted.
Even cutting it off upon contact failed when Jiho deliberately clung to him, forcibly continuing the connection. Still, Jaeha continued his efforts. There were plenty of Espers to guide and opportunities to practice. While life bustled outside with Espers and ordinary people, Jaeha’s time at the lodging was peaceful.
Eating with his brother and practicing guiding with those he was friendly or becoming friendly with now felt like a routine. Just as he was becoming accustomed to this peacefulness, news came that multiple gates had burst open simultaneously.
It was a big enough event to completely shatter their daily lives.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
