# Chapter 75
“Will there be significant backlash?” At Byun Tae-young’s question, we all shook our heads.
“That much is necessary. It’s not like we’re risking our lives to conquer dungeons just so those people can live safely. I think it’s obviously necessary. They receive all the benefits of being Espers without contributing anything. As Espers, they probably pay only 5% in taxes.”
Espers were taxed at a 5% rate due to their social contributions, while ordinary people were taxed at 15%.
Guides were also taxed at 15% without any distinctions. While on the subject, when I mentioned we should also change the tax rate for Guides affiliated with the Center, Tae-young nodded.
“We should discuss that too. It’s not our decision to make, but if we push for it, government officials won’t be able to ignore us. We could handle this issue the same way. If Topaz doesn’t accept our demands, we’ll tell them we’ll increase their tax rate.”
“I thought we were going to expel them from Central.”
“Ah… right. That’s what we said. Should we just raise their taxes instead?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to impose a fine in that case?”
Tae-young said it was a good idea, then suddenly looked at me.
“Seo Eunwoo. Keep your mouth shut from now on. You shouldn’t contribute any more ideas here. It’s already complicated enough just dealing with current issues, but when you’re with us, other matters quickly multiply. Lee Ha-min, take Eunwoo back quickly.”
Then, as if he thought I might say more, he got up first and hurried away.
“Topaz seems to be handled that way. Then I’ll look into ways to find unregistered Espers. What are you going to do, Eunwoo?”
“I guess I’ll manage the S-class Espers’ wavelengths.”
“Good. Let’s meet for dinner then. Don’t be late.”
Since our first conversation had been in the dining hall, and we’d promised to eat together from then on, that promise was being incredibly well kept.
Thinking it might be difficult to see the S-class Espers if I just waited for them, I went looking for Kyun In and Shim Woo-jin.
Kyun In was presiding over a lengthy meeting, so I quietly entered the conference room, sat beside him, put my hand on his back, and performed Guiding.
Though I entered without saying anything, no one found it strange. Even Kyun In only wondered what I was doing at first, but accepted it comfortably afterward.
Only while Guiding could I tell that Kyun In was quite exhausted. His wavelength wasn’t unstable, but his body and mind were tired.
As an Esper, he could overcome that level of fatigue with his abilities, but even that required using his power.
When I finished Guiding and stood up, Kyun In looked at me and nodded. There wasn’t time to exchange even a single word, but the look we exchanged was enough.
Shim Woo-jin was even busier, creating mental images for the teams assembled to conquer each dungeon and helping them memorize tactics.
The Espers seemed quite tense because they knew these dungeons would be different from previous ones, and Woo-jin was expending more mental energy to reassure them.
“I think that’s enough now. Could I see you for a moment, Esper-nim?”
Woo-jin followed me without saying anything.
“Your wavelength is unstable. You’re using too much of your ability right now.”
“Is that so? I did feel a bit strained, but I thought I could still endure.”
“Let’s go inside.”
“For Guiding? Do we need to do it properly?”
Woo-jin seemed a little surprised. He wasn’t surprised that it needed to be done properly, but that he hadn’t realized his own condition.
He told the Espers to train enough to improve their condition without overexerting themselves, then followed me.
His office didn’t have much furniture, and the most noticeable things were an audio set and speakers positioned throughout the room.
“You can listen to music while receiving Guiding.”
“It’s fine even if we don’t.”
Once we were alone in the enclosed space, he seemed awkward. I felt the same way.
I had thought Woo-jin might have overused his abilities, but the situation was more serious than I’d expected.
“How far…”
He seemed about to ask about the intensity of the Guiding, but after asking, he closed his mouth as if he felt awkward.
“You’ll need to undress.”
“Uh…”
His face turned bright red.
Thinking about it, it was truly funny. Only an extremely small number of people knew that the S-class Espers here had never received this kind of Guiding before.
At first, I misunderstood them too. If I hadn’t seen Ha-min’s Guiding, or heard directly from Tae-young, I would have believed for a while that the S-class Espers had also been receiving Guiding involving intimate physical contact.
“…”
Woo-jin’s face continued to redden endlessly. So much that I wondered how much redder it could get.
“You know how to kiss, right?”
I said it trying to calm the atmosphere, but it seemed I said the wrong thing. His face burned even brighter.
“It’s better to finish quickly. You know what? Your wavelength is fluctuating even more now.”
“You’re right. It really does seem that way. This is too harmful for the body. So… Guiding.”
After speaking, Woo-jin burst into an empty laugh as if he found himself ridiculous.
“Ha…”
Then, as if realizing we couldn’t keep this up, he took a deep breath as if to gather his resolve.
“Ah. You said to undress.”
With that, he took off his shirt completely.
Until then, I was quite composed, but when he suddenly did that, I felt tense.
I should undress too.
It would be best if we embraced tightly with our upper bodies bare.
I removed my clothes clumsily.
Woo-jin glanced at me once, but seemingly embarrassed to keep looking, he slowly turned his body away. His toes were now completely pointing sideways.
If left alone, it seemed like he would never embrace me first, even if a new day dawned, so I finally approached him first.
I reached for his shoulder and moved closer to embrace him, but he flinched and stepped back.
“Ah, um…”
He looked at me as if he felt sorry for his reaction. He seemed to be thinking that it might feel like rejection and hurt me.
“At this rate, you might go berserk? You could be recorded as the first Esper to go berserk from tension during the Guiding process.”
“This won’t do. I’ll turn on some music.”
He moved to find the remote, and I sat on the sofa waiting for him.
I was just sitting with my back against the cushions and my arms on the armrests, but when he turned on the music and looked back at me, he flinched.
The distance was only a few steps, but that distance wasn’t easily closed.
Will he make it by today?
“Esper-nim. I’m kind of busy.”
“Ah. Yes… th-that’s right…”
He blushed again, perhaps embarrassed by the fact that he was the only one attaching so much meaning to this Guiding.
Thinking this would never end, I got up from the sofa, approached him, and boldly kissed him.
“Ah, haa…!”
I felt him raise both arms in surprise. Regardless, I explored his lips. I wrapped around and sucked his uncertain tongue.
“Umh…!!”
He seemed unsure what to do with his hands, but eventually he gently held my waist. Then he slowly caressed my back, and a bit later, pulled me in much more passionately.
He put his hand in my hair, running his fingers through it, then embraced me tightly. Our bodies pressed together without any gap.
His hands were already moving down below my waist. We were still wearing pants, but his hands, which had been caressing over my clothes, came up to my waistband and slipped inside.
“I-I don’t think we need to go this far, Esper-nim.”
“Are you sure?”
His voice was unbelievably seductive. However, I gently pushed his chest away as I spoke.
“Yes, I’m sure. You’re stabilizing.”
“Not even kissing?”
“I can do a bit more mucosal Guiding.”
“You mean kissing?”
“I mean mucosal Guiding.”
Like a child who realizes their cotton candy is a bit smaller than expected, a slight dissatisfaction appeared on his face.
“Alright. Let’s continue with the mucosal Guiding.”
Somehow that sounded extremely enthusiastic. And he overlapped his lips with mine without hesitation.
When he finally released me after persistently sucking as if he would inhale my mouth, my lips felt numb.
I thought it was finally over, but I was mistaken. He had only stopped momentarily to catch his breath, and that was just the beginning of a long, long time.
Perhaps afraid I would say it was enough if he let me go, he didn’t release me for a while.
His desperate struggle to avoid hearing that it was over continued for several more minutes.
We were both S-class Espers, but I was a physical enhancement type. So I thought that if I wanted to push him away with force, I could certainly do so.
However, using that much of my ability would inevitably hurt him, and I couldn’t show such hostility toward Shim Woo-jin.
Woo-jin cleverly exploited that gap.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
