# Chapter 15
“…”
He looked at Woo Sihyun with furrowed brows. Since he was sitting and Woo Sihyun was standing, their eye levels didn’t match. Woo Sihyun was looking down on him while standing in an arrogant posture.
As always, Woo Sihyun was hostile toward him. But at the very least, this was an office that other part-time lecturers used too, and he was in the position of a professor, plus Woo Sihyun had brought a friend along, so he thought Woo Sihyun would show some basic courtesy.
‘…If only I knew how Ko Eungyo normally treated Woo Sihyun.’
Actually, Team 11’s preparatory report was so excellent that it didn’t require any pre-presentation feedback. But the reason he had specifically called for Team 11’s leader was partly because it was the procedure he had established, and partly because Team 11’s leader was Woo Sihyun.
Since Woo Sihyun was his—or more precisely, Ko Eungyo’s—Esper in Ko Eungyo’s “my,” he wanted to have a proper conversation with him at least once.
At first, it’s true that he had tried to blindly avoid the two Espers who would surely know Ko Eungyo well.
But his thinking had changed.
Although he didn’t know how long he would remain in this body, he had become quite interested in this lecture that he was now running with his own hands. It didn’t matter how much the students hated him. He had always been the type to see things through to the end once he took on a task, and he always achieved notable results. If a junior couldn’t carry out instructions properly? Just push them harder. Until they get the job done right.
So he needed to know what kind of person Ko Eungyo was, and what kind of relationship he had with “Woo Sihyun” and “Lee Seungwoo,” who seemed to be important pillars in his life. Of course, this doesn’t mean he had fully committed to pretending to be Ko Eungyo.
It’s just that Jang Iju’s body had died and disappeared, and it was too absurd to go around saying that one day he woke up in someone else’s body, so he couldn’t actually tell people that he was Jang Iju. But anyway, life had begun… and he was looking for a compromise.
In other words, he wanted to maintain relationships with the Espers in “my” as they were before, or actually, a little better, so that it would be fine even if Ko Eungyo returned.
Why did Woo Sihyun, who was Ko Eungyo’s Esper, dislike Ko Eungyo so much?
“…Let’s move on to the feedback. I didn’t call you here for us to enjoy looking at each other.”
Seeing the face that broke into a sneer just from eye contact, he couldn’t help but feel irritated. Even though he wondered how much Ko Eungyo must have groveled to Woo Sihyun for a person to act that way, he absolutely couldn’t adopt the subservient attitude that Ko Eungyo was presumed to have taken.
He had never behaved that way, and even if he tried to put on such an act, it would look very awkward.
Still, he had to pretend to be Ko Eungyo… He flinched at his own words that came out in irritation, but Woo Sihyun said nothing and just stared at him with arms crossed. Lee Seungwoo, standing next to him, also had a surprised expression.
“…”
Lee Seungwoo. The Esper whom he had first felt was his “destined partner.” He was someone with more expressive changes than Woo Sihyun. It wasn’t an innocent feeling either; it was as if he deliberately showed it since there was no need to hide it. Cunning if you’d call it cunning, confident if you’d call it confident.
Did Lee Seungwoo not feel the sense of destiny from him as Ko Eungyo had?
He suddenly became curious, but instead of asking that, Ko Eungyo brought up the topic of the presentation.
“Since everyone in Team 11 is a Center ability user, let’s skip the preparation process that was mandatory for other teams. Instead, please show the S.M.T., even if briefly. I don’t know about the rest, but T must be shown in detail. I think that would be very helpful for the other students.”
He finished speaking while scanning through Team 11’s preparatory report, but the answer that should have come did not. When he raised his head, he saw an expressionless Lee Seungwoo and Woo Sihyun whose sneer had frozen and hardened.
‘…Am I asking for too demanding a schedule?’
Well, to proceed with T, one would naturally have to do the rest of the process as well. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he added:
“Since there are two S-class Espers in the team, not just high-class Espers, you should be able to do it, right? If it’s really difficult, you can just do it up to the midpoint.”
“No.”
This time too, it was Lee Seungwoo who answered.
“We will do it. S.M.T.”
Although he was smiling politely, it felt like the atmosphere had become distinctly unpleasant. He, too, knew that it was impossible to completely clear a large gate within a week.
But since this wasn’t a real gate but a mock gate simulation, the strength of monsters could be adjusted. As Ko Eungyo was about to share a tip that hadn’t been given to other teams, the name “Seo Yeeun” caught his eye.
‘Well, I don’t even need to tell them this.’
If this was the Seo Yeeun he knew, she was one of the rookie Guides who had been living in the mock gate simulation for a year. Ko Eungyo said, not hiding his emerging smile:
“I know there’s Guide Seo Yeeun in Team 11, so ask her for help.”
“Ask Guide Seo Yeeun for help?”
“Yes. Since she’s a Guide in the same team anyway…”
This time it wasn’t Lee Seungwoo who answered. It was Woo Sihyun. Woo Sihyun, who seemed to know no other way to speak except with sarcasm, responded normally?
He sensed something ominous. As he slowly shifted his gaze from the preparatory report, he saw two pairs of eyes staring down at him as if something seriously wrong had happened.
‘What’s going on?’
What he saw then was a long arm extending toward him. For a moment, he thought Woo Sihyun might strangle him.
Creak.
An unsettling sound reached his ears.
“Did I hear that right?”
A low growl was heard. He looked up at Woo Sihyun with a slightly surprised, blank expression. Instead of Ko Eungyo’s neck, Woo Sihyun was gripping the backrest of the chair he was sitting on, and it looked like he might break the chair at any moment. The one stopping him was Lee Seungwoo. He appeared to be holding down Woo Sihyun’s hand to prevent him from swinging his fist.
“You need to calm down, Sihyun.”
It was a voice muttering under his breath. Because the distance between the three of them was so close, Ko Eungyo could clearly hear Lee Seungwoo’s whisper.
What followed was a suffocating silence. No, that’s not right. It wasn’t simply silence. It was like the calm before a storm. Woo Sihyun seemed unable to contain his anger. He froze up at the Esper’s gaze fixed on him.
Finally, just as Woo Sihyun’s flashing eyes came almost right up to his face.
Someone cleared their throat. When he looked up, he saw gazes directed at them.
At the sight of professors showing discomfort, Woo Sihyun slowly removed his hand. When he went back to his original position, the gazes that had been watching them disappeared.
Lee Seungwoo was still standing next to Ko Eungyo. Examining Ko Eungyo’s complexion. He realized that he was being observed by Lee Seungwoo.
“I think it’s because Sihyun hasn’t received guiding for quite some time.”
“…”
“Were you surprised? Professor.”
A soft voice tickled his ear. Ko Eungyo, with a pale face, took his eyes off Woo Sihyun and looked at Lee Seungwoo.
What should he say? Remaining completely frozen like this would seem strange. But even though he opened his lips, he only gaped like a fish, unable to make his voice pass through his vocal cords.
He struggled to squeeze out a sound.
“…No, I…”
“I thought this kind of thing would be nothing to you, Professor, but it’s strange.”
His head seemed to spin at those words. Nothing? This was clearly an act of violence. He hadn’t actually swung, but it came right up to the brink.
Could it be that Espers often took violent attitudes towards him? His palate felt parched.
An Esper to a Guide. And his Esper in “my” at that…
The corner of his eye trembled. This was an attitude he could never accept. Would Woo Sihyun and Lee Seungwoo change their attitude if he pointed this out? The answer came immediately. No.
This was a relationship that needed to be severed immediately. This was not a relationship that should continue just because Ko Eungyo liked Woo Sihyun.
Ko Eungyo seemed to have clearly adored Woo Sihyun. The fact that such a Woo Sihyun treated Ko Eungyo like this was truly beyond imagination. He thought at most Woo Sihyun just disliked him. Don’t most people soften their hearts, even if they’re not favorable, towards those who like them?
Suddenly, such a thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he had entered Ko Eungyo’s body in order to cut off relationships with these people.
Just because his tone was gentle didn’t mean Lee Seungwoo was also well-disposed toward Ko Eungyo. Though he stood close, he didn’t touch Ko Eungyo at all. Espers are beings who orbit around Guides like satellites, trying somehow to brush fingers with them even once.
He heard the sound of common sense being overturned.
“When are you going to give us our guiding?”
A slow voice asked. It was a question entirely inappropriate to the situation, beyond common sense.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
