# Chapter 25
He looked at me with an expression that suggested I was talking about someone else, then smiled.
“I’m not trying to pick a fight. I’m just curious why you’re being nice to Ha-min. Could it be that you’re becoming friends with Ha-min to get close to me?”
“…Excuse me?”
I thought he was joking and smiled slightly.
Then I realized his expression was serious.
“What? Isn’t that it?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Well, if you ask with such a serious face, that makes me feel bad. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting close to me. No, I’m a good choice, right? Wait! Was that a joke just now?”
Now Tae-young was the one looking perplexed as he asked seriously.
“Which part?”
I genuinely couldn’t understand what he was talking about, and to anyone watching, it would have seemed like we were having a tense disagreement about something serious.
“Then why are you being nice to him? Are you interested because he’s a Guide? Do you like Ha-min?”
“I might like him. And I don’t think I need to answer that question.”
“As Ha-min Guide’s Esper, I think I have the right to know. There must be over ten truckloads of Espers trying to use Ha-min because he’s my dedicated Guide. Think about how hard that must have been for Ha-min Guide. Ha-min Guide would have thought people were being kind and opening up to him because they liked him. How hurt would he have been when he realized he was just being used?”
Is Tae-young really such a sensitive character?
He spoke again as if he needed to make sure I understood.
“Eunwoo. Don’t try to use Ha-min. If you want to approach me, do it with your own strength.”
“Ha…!”
I sighed deeply, unsure of what to say in this situation.
“I think you’re seriously misunderstanding. Doesn’t thinking that way mean you’re looking down on Ha-min? You’re assuming that Ha-min is someone not worth befriending unless it’s to get close to S-class Espers.”
“Uh… Is that how it comes across?”
Tae-young tilted his head and then agreed, saying that could indeed be the case.
“That wasn’t what I meant. Eunwoo, you speak well. You don’t look like you would.”
“What do you mean I don’t look like I would? You say strange things.”
“It’s a compliment. You speak better than you look.”
Eventually, he sighed.
“I see now that I might not be good with words. When I talk with others, no one questions me, and everyone seems to understand right away. Ah, so is the problem with Eunwoo?”
Watching him speak as if in deep contemplation made me smile.
I couldn’t have imagined he would think that deeply about Ha-min, and I was truly grateful.
By the time we arrived, I felt a bit regretful, wondering how time had passed so quickly.
“I hope I didn’t take too much of your time.”
While saying this, he subtly observed my expression.
“Not at all. It was good to hear many useful things from you.”
“Then shall we go again next time? I know a few more places we could go together. Today’s place didn’t seem great for a quiet conversation. Actually, I only received recommendations and had never been there myself. And I had no one to go with.”
He wanted to explore restaurants but didn’t want to go alone, so he was asking me to join him?
Well, there was nothing wrong with that.
When I slowly nodded, he looked at me as if surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes. I’d also like to keep hearing about how the stabilizer research is progressing.”
“Ah! Yes. I’ll keep finding out about that for you.”
I watched him leave with a pleased face before returning to my quarters.
I thought maybe he wasn’t as bad a person as I had thought.
***
A few days after returning to the Center, something was delivered to me.
There was no sender name, but it wasn’t hard to guess who had sent it.
Four sets of clothes similar to what diners at the restaurant had been wearing.
Along with various types of shoes and watches to match the outfits.
Even though I wondered if I’d ever wear them, I enjoyed examining each item for a while before carefully hanging them in my closet.
“What an interesting person, Tae-young.”
I thought I could put it out of my mind after closing the closet door, but I was wrong.
The new clothes kept appearing in my mind, and I eventually opened the closet again.
Then I tried on each outfit one by one, looking at myself in the full-length mirror attached to the closet, feeling quite satisfied and smiling involuntarily.
“I look good.”
It felt strange to realize these weren’t clothes meant to make someone beside me look better, but clothes that enhanced my own satisfaction.
I wondered if he had even considered that.
The clothes Tae-young sent were not only luxurious but also practical and comfortable, making them seem like something I could wear often.
A smile naturally formed as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
Seo Eunwoo looked very good.
***
News spread that a dungeon where a “Gate” had appeared had completely disappeared, and the Center decided to reassess the Espers’ grades.
I sensed they wanted to check my grade again, but I had no intention of revealing my ability.
The Espers showed excitement, wondering if once-established grades could change.
However, as the measurements began, no one’s grade changed.
People seemed to think the Center was doing unnecessary work, and they soon returned to their daily routines.
Although some people still had measurements pending, the atmosphere suggested there would be no surprises.
Then, when it was my turn to be measured, people gathered from all around.
The S-class Espers watched me observantly from the best seats.
“Esper Seo Eunwoo. D-class.”
As the staff’s voice came out dryly, Tae-young silently approached.
“Measure again.”
The staff lifted their head as if annoyed, but when they met Tae-young’s rebellious glare, they began measuring again.
Regardless, I was still D-class.
The S-class Espers looked at me as if this couldn’t be possible, and I was about to leave with a triumphant expression.
Just then, someone somewhere said that Ha-min should be measured too.
“Ha-min seemed like an Esper too.”
It was probably one of the people who had been beaten by Ha-min before, speaking in a mumble from behind others without showing themselves.
They seemed to think that just lighting that small fire would be enough to get Ha-min tested.
Kyun In and Tae-young also seemed to think it necessary, so they told the staff to test Ha-min, and the staff called him.
The investigation had started with the intention of finding out if any Espers had experienced changes in their grades, but it had somehow turned into an examination of whether Ha-min had awakened.
Ha-min, the person in question, came forward looking tense.
“Guide Ha-min. Please step up.”
At those words, Ha-min nervously stepped onto the scanner.
This shouldn’t have been done in front of so many people, but that day, many things changed.
Ha-min kept swallowing nervously as the measurement began, and the person in charge wore an indifferent expression.
However, the eyes of the man watching Ha-min and the monitor, with an expression that seemed to question whether a Guide could transform into an Esper, gradually began to show unusual interest.
“This… what is this…”
Everyone present was looking at him.
“He’s an… Esper. His Esper ability has awakened…”
His emotion wasn’t just excitement.
Ha-min was an Esper.
And the Center had been unaware of this fact all this time…
The fact that they didn’t know Ha-min was an Esper meant that those responsible for verifying whether someone was an Esper had made a mistake.
Everyone knew how serious that mistake was.
As the news spread, officials within the Center rushed over.
Many people were surprised for their own reasons.
“What grade is he?”
The Center director asked urgently.
“That’s… it shows as ‘measurement impossible.'”
“What do you mean ‘measurement impossible’? Are you saying his ability is so minimal that his grade can’t be measured?”
The person doing the measurement quickly shook their head.
“No, Director. Guide Ha-min’s—no, Esper Ha-min’s grade cannot be measured because it seems to be off the scale. The wave felt is much stronger than D-class.”
“Are you saying Ha-min… exceeds S-class?”
This time, Kyun In asked.
Even as he spoke, he seemed to wonder what he was saying.
“What kind of ability is it?”
Even Shim Woo-jin, who rarely got involved in others’ affairs and mostly showed no interest, couldn’t just observe at that moment and approached them asking.
“It seems to be… an amplification ability.”
“An amplification ability…?”
Tae-young repeated in disbelief and looked at Ha-min.
Ha-min, with rounded eyes, looked at them as if wondering what they were talking about.
He seemed nervous and was slowly moving toward me, and I, understanding his tense state, went to stand beside him.
“What’s an amplification ability?”
Woo-jin asked, tilting his head as if finding it strange.
It was understandable because there had been no Espers with amplification abilities in the Center until then.
What was even stranger was that I had no knowledge of this fact either.
If even I, who knew the novel’s content reasonably well, didn’t know this, then Ha-min was…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
