# Chapter 31
“Heerim-ssi! A-are you okay?!”
“Haa. Ha. Were you worried about me?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course! Let me see. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Heerim looked completely fine except for his somewhat damaged clothes. Fighting back tears that threatened to burst out, I urgently reached my hand toward him. Heerim slightly twisted his shoulder to avoid my hand.
“…?”
“I’ll finish it off and come back, so stay right here.”
Heerim, who spoke to me with composure, leaped over the sand wall and charged straight at the monster. Right into the monster’s mouth. It happened so quickly that I had no time to react.
*Gulp.*
The monster had no reason to reject Heerim, who had volunteered himself as prey. The skin of the middle head that swallowed Heerim in one bite bulged. While I was dumbfounded by this unbelievable situation, the monster stealthily sent its tail in my direction. I couldn’t move from my spot. The shock of seeing Heerim willingly get eaten by the monster was so great that all my thoughts had stopped.
“Hu, huuk.”
By the time I came to my senses, the enormous tail was coiled around my body. It was so large that just one loop around me was enough to cover me up to my mouth. The cold, smooth scales were so creepy that I nearly fainted.
If the monster applied any pressure now, I would surely be crushed to death. No, I might suffocate before that.
“Hmmph, mph. Huuk. Huk. Huk.”
Fearing the monster might squeeze if I struggled too much, I only managed to free my head to barely secure some air.
“Heerim-ssi! Heerim-ssi?! Can you hear me?! You’re not dead, right?!”
By now, for some reason, I felt certain that Heerim was still alive. With the groundless conviction that he wouldn’t leave me behind to die alone, I called his name like a madman.
“Heerim-ssi—!”
Along with my near-scream, I heard something cracking from somewhere. Then, the monster holding me stiffened and released me. I crawled away from the monster, unable to stand up.
*Splaaash—!*
I could see blood gushing from the monster’s body. I watched the situation unfold, my body trembling.
*Crack.*
“KEHEEEEK. KAK.”
Each time there was a cracking sound, the two snake heads writhed in agony.
“KIEEEEEEEK—!”
Soon after, the monster’s tremendous scream echoed in the darkness. Then its body split apart, and Heerim walked out from between the pieces. The monster, its body and head separated, turned to ash and disappeared.
“Jaeo hyung.”
Heerim walked over to where I was sitting. He looked so clean that it was hard to believe he had just entered the monster’s body and cut his way out.
“Hyung. You know what? Snake skin is disgustingly tough…”
Heerim smiled faintly and extended his hand to me. My heart was beating so fast I was getting a headache, and I was angry at Heerim for being so frivolous. Instead of taking his outstretched hand, I pushed myself up from the ground.
“You call that a joke? If this was your plan all along, you should have told me beforehand! You scared me.”
“Haha. I don’t die easily. I’ve experimented a lot. Oh, but without you, I might have…”
Heerim looked dejectedly at his hand that I had rejected while muttering. He didn’t have a single scratch from the monster, but he looked quite exhausted, perhaps from using too much power.
“Give me your hand. I’ll guide you.”
Swallowing a sigh, I took Heerim’s hand that I had deliberately avoided earlier out of anger. Heerim’s slumped shoulders twitched.
“But I’m really sleepy.”
“What?”
“Can’t I sleep a little and do it when I wake up?”
Heerim pulled his hand from mine and stepped back. Rejected for guiding, I blinked slowly, trying to interpret Heerim’s statement about “sleeping a little.”
“Heerim-ssi?”
*Thud.*
Before I could interpret his words, Heerim literally collapsed as if falling asleep. I immediately went to his side. His breathing was irregular.
“I need to guide you now!”
Fortunately, having experienced something similar before, I wasn’t too flustered. Calmly, I took Heerim’s hand and let my energy flow into him.
“Urgh.”
Heerim groaned painfully with his eyes closed. It seemed that just holding hands wasn’t enough to fill his energy. I tried guiding a few more times, but the energy clumped together and wasn’t properly transmitted. I had experienced this situation before too.
“…”
After contemplating for a moment, I looked at Heerim’s lips. From previous experiences, I knew that more intimate contact was necessary to transfer significant energy. So I intended to guide him by kissing him.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Just as I was about to press my lips against Heerim’s face.
*Thud—!*
Heerim opened his eyes and suddenly pushed my shoulder forcefully.
“Ugh. That hurts… Heerim-ssi. What are you doing?”
“I don’t want to.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Heerim refused guiding with a determined expression despite his pale complexion. Meanwhile, his breathing became more labored. I grew anxious, fearing he might go into cardiac arrest again.
“Heerim-ssi. Stay still. You need guiding right now.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why are you being so stubborn all of a sudden? You look really bad right now, you know?”
I held my throbbing shoulder and suppressed my anger. Having learned how important guiding was for an Esper like Heerim, I couldn’t just stand by.
“I don’t want to. The kiss.”
“Why are you acting like this?!”
I raised my voice, unable to understand why he was being so stubborn when he looked like he was dying. Heerim bit his pale lips firmly and whimpered.
“Because you’ll hate me.”
“What?”
What is he talking about?
“I know. You’ve been avoiding me since our last guiding kiss.”
“…”
I couldn’t deny that I had drawn a line with Heerim. But the reason for drawing that line wasn’t just because of the kiss. The biggest reason I pushed Heerim away was fear of him casually becoming a part of my daily life. I wanted to live an ordinary, smooth life. Heerim didn’t fit into that life.
“You said you’d be my friend. You said you wouldn’t hate me… Urk.”
“Heerim-ssi? Are you okay? Can’t you breathe? Quickly, let me guide—”
“No.”
“Ah! This time I won’t avoid you or hate you! So please accept the guiding!”
My patience reached its limit, and I burst out in anger at Heerim, who was acting like a child throwing a tantrum at a supermarket, refusing to go home.
“If you refuse this time, I’ll never guide you again… Mmph!”
I was planning not to guide him anymore if he continued to be stubborn, even if he died, but as if he’d been waiting for this, he grabbed the back of my neck and captured my lips. After flailing my hands for a moment, I quickly matched his breathing and infused him with energy. I could now kiss Heerim quite skillfully. It was bitter to realize that I, who had never dated before, was becoming accustomed to kissing Heerim.
“Feeling better?”
After finishing the brief guiding, I checked on Heerim’s condition first. Despite the brief kiss, his condition had visibly improved.
“Yes. Just now I was so sleepy and exhausted I nearly lost consciousness, but I’m fine now.”
Heerim, whose hair had already returned to black, sat up and spoke. I recalled the first time I had guided Heerim. It was an unintentional guiding. Back then, Heerim had remained unconscious for a while even after receiving my energy. Compared to that time, current Heerim quickly regained his energy with just my brief kiss. It seemed that my role as a brake was working effectively. At this rate, might there come a time when he wouldn’t need my guiding anymore? If that happened, I thought I could leave the Earth Peace Research Institute without guilt after a year.
“You recover quickly now. You’ve improved a lot compared to before, right?”
I asked Heerim with some hopeful expectations. Heerim nodded, unaware of the intent behind my question.
“Yes. That’s because you filled up my nearly depleted energy. But the amount of energy I can use has also grown, so ordinary guiding might not be enough for recovery anymore. Later on, we might need to increase the intensity of the guiding.”
“What…?”
Well, this was an unexpected answer.
Increasing the guiding intensity beyond this? What would I have to do besides kissing? A fear of the unknown, greater than when I faced the monster, enveloped me.
Unable to ask what higher-intensity guiding entailed, I froze in place. Heerim gently placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Everyone will be looking for us, so shall we get out of here now?”
“Ah! The dog! We need to find the dog!”
“I sent it out. It probably met its owner by now.”
“You were able to send it out?”
“Huh? Yes! I’m an Esper, remember!”
“If that was possible, why didn’t you just send me out first? Why did you have to…”
“Oh. You’re right. I didn’t think of that.”
Heerim blinked his eyes with an innocent face. Having been chased by the monster and nearly eaten after being wrapped in its tail—when there was an easier way out—I bit my lip, feeling an inexplicable sense of grievance.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
