# Chapter 55
“…What?”
Not understanding Domin’s sudden words, Jeongyun asked again after a slight delay.
After taking off his shoes and coming inside, Domin headed to the utility room. He brought out a travel bag from there, opened it wide, and started stuffing in clothes from the closet. The bag quickly filled up.
“I just told you. Pack your things right now and let’s go to my house.”
Even though Jeongyun finally understood what Domin had said, he still couldn’t comprehend it. Despite the situation… suddenly saying to come to his house.
For safety, it would be better to go to headquarters. In fact, there was a rule that in such emergency situations, Guides should go to headquarters and request personal protection.
Domin must know this too.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you putting on your shoes?”
Domin urged Jeongyun, who was standing still in confusion. Unconsciously staring blankly at Domin, Jeongyun asked in a voice full of questions.
“Why… should I go to your house, Choi Domin?”
“…”
Domin paused as he was about to open the door to leave, confronted with this reasonable question.
As Jeongyun said, even if his location had been exposed, there was no need to flee like this. Government Espers would guard the area until at least tomorrow.
So why had he suddenly suggested going to his house? And so impulsively.
While Domin was frozen in shock at his own actions, Jeongyun carefully spoke, trying to calm his pounding heart with a thought of “maybe…”
“If you’re worried about me—”
“No. I was being shortsighted.”
Cutting off Jeongyun’s words, Domin took off his shoes and went back inside.
“Hurry up. You need to give me Guiding.”
Sitting on the sofa as always, Domin gestured to Jeongyun. Seeing him try to start Guiding as if changing the subject, it seemed he wanted to move past what had just happened as if it never occurred.
‘If he doesn’t want to talk about it, there’s no need to ask further.’
Actually, when Domin had said to come to his house, Jeongyun wanted to follow without hesitation. But unfortunately, Jeongyun wasn’t in a position to do so.
It took several days just to get moving approval from headquarters for a Guide. After that, even after finding a house, they could only move in after thorough safety inspections.
Roughly estimating, it would take well over a month, and Jeongyun wasn’t confident he could keep his feelings in check while spending such a long time with Domin. He had just barely decided to separate professional and personal matters, but in one day that resolve would crumble.
‘I shouldn’t be greedy. I know this.’
Gathering his thoughts, Jeongyun approached Domin as if nothing had happened.
Domin grabbed Jeongyun’s slender wrist and had him sit beside him. The two stayed like that for a while, just their hands touching.
“I’ll be going now.”
While Jeongyun was waiting for the next stage of Guiding, Domin abruptly announced the end of the session. Since they had only held hands so far, Jeongyun was about to ask if that was enough, but Domin didn’t give him a chance to question and headed straight for the door.
Domin hastily put on his shoes and left, leaving Jeongyun all alone. Had Guiding ever ended this quickly before? Not in his memory.
‘He must be busy.’
Though he tried to swallow his disappointment, it didn’t feel good to have their first Guiding in a week end so quickly. Because Domin was so busy, there was no knowing when the next Guiding would be.
“…Ah, I should have told him.”
Because Domin left in such a hurry, Jeongyun couldn’t tell him that he was still giving Guiding to Hwayeon, nor could he ask if he could take on more work at headquarters. Once again, things had slipped by.
Lying down on the sofa, Jeongyun gently closed his eyes. His heart was pounding. From surprise, from fear, briefly from excitement, and now… from disappointment.
Jeongyun placed his hand over his chest, which was filled with mixed emotions, and exhaled. This eventful day had come to an end.
* * *
The next day.
Arriving at headquarters, Jeongyun went to the office to get moving approval.
Opening the transparent glass door, he met the eyes of staff who had just arrived. Jeongyun nodded slightly and approached the staff member who looked most friendly.
“I’d like to… apply for a Guide relocation.”
“Have you already decided on a house to move to?”
The staff asked in a bright voice.
Shouldn’t he get approval first and then find a house to move to? Confused by a procedure different from what he’d heard, Jeongyun stammered his question.
“I heard it takes some time to get approval… Shouldn’t I do that first and then look for a house?”
“It used to be that way, but the process has been simplified lately, so you need to find a house first.”
In the end, he couldn’t apply, but thanks to the friendly staff, he learned about the necessary documents and the correct order. Only after thanking them several times did Jeongyun leave the office.
Today, he headed straight to the Center without stopping by the Guiding room. Since he had packed his Center access card along with the stun gun yesterday, there was no need to visit the Guiding room.
As always, Hwayeon was standing at the Center’s main entrance. Fortunately, today he wasn’t wearing thin summer clothes but a thick-looking coat. Jeongyun was glad he had spoken to the researcher in advance.
“Jeongyun hyung! Let’s go see the Center Director!”
“Huh? Now?”
Hwayeon, grabbing his arm, urged Jeongyun to hurry.
Jeongyun found himself running toward the Center with Hwayeon. His head was full of questions about why they suddenly needed to meet the Center Director.
“Center Director!”
Without knocking, Hwayeon burst open the Center Director’s door and called out in a loud voice. The Center Director, who was enjoying his morning tea time, frowned at Hwayeon’s unauthorized entry.
“How many times have I told you to knock before entering?”
“Ah…!”
Hwayeon, who had stopped abruptly, belatedly knocked on the door. Hearing the meaningless knock, the Center Director gave an equally meaningless permission to enter with a small sigh.
Hwayeon, smiling brightly, stood in front of the Center Director with Jeongyun.
“I brought Jeongyun hyung.”
“Good job. Now Hwayeon, would you step outside for a moment?”
At the Center Director’s words, Hwayeon’s face stiffened. He immediately said no and sat down on the floor, putting Jeongyun in a very awkward position.
Hwayeon, whose memories had been lost due to manifestation pain, was also taking separate socialization classes at the Center. Jeongyun had thought he had become much more mature, but it seemed that was a misconception. He was still a child.
“Hwayeon, calm down and get up first.”
“…No. The Center Director promised that if I brought Jeongyun hyung, I could stay with him. He lied. Jeongyun hyung, scold the Center Director.”
“That’s not… No, you can’t do that.”
While Hwayeon was throwing a tantrum about not leaving, the Center Director continued his leisurely tea time ignoring the commotion, and Jeongyun was suffering in between.
“Hwayeon, the Center Director seems to have something to discuss with me—”
“Traitor, liar.”
“Min Hwayeon, you can’t speak to the Center Director like that!”
Shocked, Jeongyun lightly hit Hwayeon’s back.
Hwayeon closed his mouth and looked at Jeongyun with tears welling up in his eyes. Jeongyun was about to apologize, thinking he had gone too far, when the Center Director, having finished his tea time, laughed out loud.
“Stubborn kid. Just sit quietly next to Guide Yeo Jeongyun.”
Having received the Center Director’s permission, Hwayeon jumped up from his seat. Then, as if nothing had happened, he wiped away his tears and sat on the sofa before Jeongyun.
“Sit here, Jeongyun hyung.”
Hwayeon smiled widely and patted the seat next to him. They say children are more cunning, and Jeongyun felt completely tricked. After glancing at the Center Director, Jeongyun sat beside Hwayeon.
Fortunately, the Center Director seemed to be in a very good mood.
“It seems Hwayeon really likes Guide Yeo Jeongyun.”
“Well—”
“Yes, I like him.”
Hwayeon answered proudly without hesitation.
Jeongyun subtly grabbed Hwayeon’s thigh, giving him a look to please be quiet. But Hwayeon only tilted his head, unable to read Jeongyun’s signal.
“Hwayeon, have you told Guide Yeo Jeongyun about that?”
“No, not yet.”
“Then may I tell him?”
After thinking about it, Hwayeon nodded vigorously.
The Center Director, smiling warmly, looked at Jeongyun. Tense in the otherwise comfortable atmosphere, Jeongyun straightened his back even more when his eyes met the Center Director’s.
“Actually, Hwayeon’s team assignment results came out yesterday.”
“Already?”
Even though Hwayeon’s grade was high, he was still just an inexperienced Esper in training. He would have many shortcomings for field deployment, so the team assignment seemed premature.
“Do you know which team?”
“…I think I have a rough idea.”
The Gray Team, probably. Not only were A-class Espers rare, but Hwayeon’s ability was fire-based, rarely found anywhere in the world. Moreover, since Hwayeon’s fire couldn’t be extinguished by water, the Gray Team assignment was an obvious result.
“Three months from now, when Hwayeon becomes an adult, he will officially become a team member and start activities.”
It was fortunate that there was a grace period until he became an adult. Even if it was a bit tight, it might be fine if he became familiar with handling his ability by then. For that, they needed to increase Guiding time from now on.
While Jeongyun was busy adjusting the Guiding schedule in his mind, the Center Director exchanged glances with Hwayeon. Ahem, clearing his throat to focus Jeongyun’s attention, the Center Director continued.
“Guide Yeo Jeongyun probably knows better that Hwayeon’s ability is still unstable. So you also know that he needs more and more frequent Guiding at the beginning.”
“Yes, I know.”
As the Center Director said, recently manifested Espers benefited from frequent Guiding. Since Guiding had the effect of stabilizing abilities and calming side effects, there were often cases where intensive Guiding was scheduled for a set period.
But that was the job of the Guides assigned to the Center, not Jeongyun’s role. He wondered if they were planning to change Guides so suddenly, but the Center Director’s next words completely deviated from Jeongyun’s expectations.
“So, I’d like to ask Guide Yeo Jeongyun for intensive Guiding until Hwayeon officially joins the team. Would that be alright?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
