# Chapter 58
“Tch, that’s unfair.”
“If it’s unfair, should I stop the Radiative Guiding too?”
“No! No way. Keep going. I think my levels haven’t dropped enough yet.”
Puppy panicked at the suggestion of withdrawing the Radiative Guiding. It was different from the first time he’d experienced it. Back then, with the overwhelming Guiding, he’d fallen asleep before he could even feel it.
Even so, the residual effects had been good enough to make him shiver, but experiencing the Guiding while conscious was even better.
Hajin deliberately spread the Guiding thinly to allow it to absorb more thoroughly, then stopped at an appropriate point. There was still Guiding remaining in the air, and lowering the levels too much could be a hindrance later.
When the Guiding that had started spreading from Hajin disappeared, Puppy let out a soft sigh of disappointment.
Trying to absorb every last bit of the Guiding that remained in the air, Puppy couldn’t take his eyes off Hajin.
‘Contact Guiding would probably be amazing…’
Puppy, who was looking at Hajin like a well-prepared feast, used all his willpower to resist the impulse.
“Let’s go now.”
Following behind Puppy who turned around first, Hajin confirmed that his theory was correct. While Radiative Guiding wasn’t ineffective, it was certainly less stimulating than Contact Guiding.
‘If what I just did had been Contact Guiding, I’d probably be pinned underneath that guy by now.’
Even Alpha Team, who would die for Hajin, showed signs of being unable to resist their impulses during Contact Guiding. If they were like that, the man before him wouldn’t likely restrain himself.
Hajin decided to use this Radiative Guiding to his advantage. It was ironic that he’d been told he would never need to use it.
The place Puppy led him to was a space so large it would be embarrassing to simply call it a garden.
Somehow, there was sunlight pouring down that felt like real sunshine, and where there should have been a ceiling, there was sky instead.
“Is this… outside?”
Hajin asked Puppy while feeling the breeze. As if he had expected this reaction, Puppy laughed loudly and answered.
“Hahaha! Unfortunately, it’s not outside. It’s a space the headquarters put great effort into creating. We’re people too, so we need to feel the sun and wind, right? For an Esper of my level, going out wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s different for others.”
Hajin realized that what he thought he knew about this place had been an illusion.
No matter how diverse the abilities of Espers were, was it really possible to create such a space with just those powers?
‘…Escape isn’t the issue.’
Did the Association even know about this level of technology? Though Hajin hadn’t spent a long time there, somehow he felt certain they didn’t.
‘If the Association and anti-government forces were to clash head-on…’
Hajin couldn’t guarantee the Association’s victory. While the Association’s side might be stronger in terms of raw power, with such extraordinary technology, who knew what trump cards the other side might be hiding.
‘I hope I’m just being paranoid…’
“Aren’t you going to look around?”
Seeing Hajin standing still, lost in thought, Puppy approached and thrust his face close.
When Hajin reflexively backed away from the man who had come close enough for his breath to be felt, Puppy openly showed a hurt expression, but Hajin ignored it, pretending not to see.
“I will look around. I suppose it doesn’t matter where I go, right?”
“Yep~”
Anyway, Puppy would be guarding the exit, so it didn’t matter where he went. Hajin hadn’t gotten his hopes up since hearing this wasn’t outside.
He just wanted to find a space where he could be alone to comfortably enjoy the sunlight and wind, even if they were artificial.
It felt like walking through a well-maintained park, and though he knew the reality hadn’t changed, he couldn’t help his mood improving.
Hajin realized that he had been tense and stiff when he felt his shoulders suddenly relax.
Sitting on a bench some distance from Puppy, he closed his eyes. If Puppy had lied and claimed this was outside, he might have believed it—that’s how realistic the place was.
‘Ah, I’m sleepy.’
Basking in the sunshine, drowsiness crept up on him. His body felt comfortably loose, and he thought that if he could just sleep for thirty minutes like this, he would have no other wishes.
“Going to sleep?”
The sleepiness vanished instantly. Hajin tensed up and straightened his relaxed body.
“…Why did you follow me?”
Having his momentary peace disturbed, Hajin asked abruptly. In response, Puppy protruded his lips, pretending to be deeply hurt, and grumbled.
“Is this somewhere I’m not allowed to be? Why are you reacting like that? It’s hurtful.”
If Hajin had been in a deeper sleep, he might have snapped back, asking what kind of relationship they had for him to feel hurt, but since he wasn’t that deeply asleep, Hajin swallowed those words with an internal sigh.
‘I thought I could relax a bit, but that’s gone down the drain.’
When no reply came from Hajin, Puppy sat down right next to him, their hips touching.
Watching him subtly wiggle his hips to get closer, Hajin briefly considered going somewhere else.
But knowing that Puppy would just follow him again, he simply closed his eyes again. Though sleep had fled, the sunshine was pleasant, and he wanted to enjoy this moment rather than waste time arguing.
“Huh? Are you sleeping?”
So even when Puppy chattered away beside him, Hajin didn’t respond.
The thing next to him was a talking puppy. It was better for his mental health to think of it that way. Since his actual name was Puppy, it made it even easier to think so.
“Are you really asleep…?”
Being in a drowsy state made his breathing similar to that of someone sleeping, so even an S-rank Esper who could normally discern the breath or heartbeat of someone close was deceived. Of course, Hajin hadn’t actually intended to deceive him.
Puppy turned completely to face Hajin and began observing him more thoroughly.
It was inexplicably fascinating to examine each feature perfectly arranged on his small face.
‘Oh, his eyelashes are so long. I bet they’d lift up if I placed a toothpick on them.’
At that moment, a breeze blew and scattered Hajin’s hair, causing his bangs to catch on his eyelashes.
Hajin’s fine brow furrowed at the ticklish, uncomfortable sensation. Without even thinking, Puppy reached out and carefully brushed the hair away.
Seeing the furrowed brow naturally smooth out up close, Puppy felt a strange tickle inside his chest and raised his hand to scratch the itchy part.
‘He really is pretty…’
After examining his eyelashes, Puppy’s gaze gradually moved downward. After spending a long time admiring his straight, neither too low nor too high nose, his gaze finally reached the slightly parted lips.
Those lips, seemingly without the habit of being bitten, were smooth and appetizing with a pink hue, as if lip balm had been applied.
Through the parted gap, well-maintained, even teeth were visible. A bit further inside would be a soft tongue.
Gulp.
Somehow, looking at Hajin’s lips made Puppy’s throat burn. He could have simply looked away, but strangely, that wasn’t easy.
It felt as if he were under some kind of ability, but he instinctively knew that wasn’t the case.
Puppy was caught in a dilemma. He wanted to press his lips against those lips, to thrust his tongue through that gap and ravage the innocently resting tongue inside.
But the instinctive warning that crossing this line would mean no return kept making him hesitate.
Even for someone as thoughtless as Puppy, he couldn’t ignore the warnings sent by his instincts without any consideration.
However, contrary to his mind, which was trying to hold onto a semblance of reason, his body was honestly moving closer and closer to Hajin.
A shadow fell across Hajin’s face as he reclined with his eyes closed. He thought a cloud might be passing, but then remembered there wasn’t a single cloud here.
So what was this? The moment he opened his eyes to check:
“What, mmph!”
Hajin discovered Puppy, who had suddenly come close, trapping him between his arms, and although he opened his mouth in surprise, he couldn’t stop the kiss.
He kept trying to push him away by grabbing his shoulders, but Puppy, as if not even feeling that slight force, focused on the kiss.
“Mmm, mmph…”
It was burdensome enough just to keep his head from being bent back any further. But regardless of Hajin’s groans, Puppy, who had lost his reason to the kiss, was too busy satisfying his desires to care whether Hajin was struggling or not.
Instead, as Hajin’s head tilted further back from weakening, Puppy supported it and kissed him even more deeply.
Without giving him a chance to breathe, with their noses pressed together hard enough to be flattened, Hajin was about to lose his breath completely.
“Ngh…!”
Just as he was literally about to suffocate, Hajin managed to turn his head and break free, then swallowed air while coughing repeatedly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
When will the next chapter be free? 😭🥹