“Wow. Guess since you’re not in HR anymore, you don’t even say hello now?”
The voice was surprisingly light for a middle-aged man. It didn’t match the heavy tone from earlier when he said it had been a while. That’s when Ho-eun noticed—standing behind Department Head Eom Tae-seok was another man, about the same age as Bae Yeon-woo, wearing a sneer.
His name tag identified him as Eom Seong-chan, Team Leader. Both he and Eom Tae-seok were Espers.
As soon as Eom Seong-chan appeared, Bae Yeon-woo’s expression twisted like he’d just swallowed spoiled food.
“You haven’t changed a bit, Yeon-woo.”
“Haa…”
Yeon-woo let out a sigh thick with disdain, and the atmosphere immediately turned tense. Ho-eun held his breath, worried even the sound of breathing might be too loud.
“So, you walked out on your own back then, and now you’re crawling back in? Must be fate, huh?”
Eom Seong-chan’s voice dripped with malice—anyone could hear it. Normally, Yeon-woo would’ve snapped right back, but he stayed silent.
Ho-eun considered stepping in to defuse things, looking around anxiously.
This morning, Nam Woon-soo had told him Yeon-woo and he were both from the HR Department. The two men standing in front of them now must’ve been former colleagues. With no idea what had gone down between them, Ho-eun could only sit there frustrated, unable to act.
“Pfft—kek!”
As Ho-eun parted his lips to say something, Nam Woon-soo suddenly choked and spat out a stream of water, making Ho-eun leap toward Do In-ho in surprise.
“Damn it! You got it on me!”
“Cough, cough—S-sorry! I—it just went down the wrong pipe…”
Nam Woon-soo stood as if to wipe Eom Seong-chan’s now-wet shirt, insisting it wasn’t intentional. But as he stumbled, he reached for the only thing nearby to steady himself—Eom Seong-chan’s jacket.
—Srrrip.
The result was a disaster. His pants soaked, chest exposed, and—most ridiculous of all—a pair of nipple patches fully visible.
“…Pfft.”
Bae Yeon-woo, head lowered, started chuckling under his breath. That single laugh broke the tension like snapping a rubber band.
He swept his bangs back and raised his head. The harsh, tightly-wound expression he’d worn all morning had completely vanished.
“Haah.”
He let out a deep breath and gave Nam Woon-soo a glance, chuckling again, still in disbelief.
“You son of a bitch, Nam Woon-soo! Didn’t I tell you to stay the hell away from me?!”
“Yeah… sorry… I just—it’s been so long, I choked.”
Not that Eom Seong-chan’s face was that choke-worthy.
If Eom Tae-seok’s features were strong and masculine, Eom Seong-chan looked vaguely similar—except with a fuzzier, weaker impression.
Next to the sharply charismatic Eom Tae-seok, he seemed soft. Or to put it less kindly, like someone you didn’t have to take seriously.
“Long time no see, Department Head.”
Completely ignoring Eom Seong-chan’s increasingly red face, Yeon-woo stood and faced Eom Tae-seok. Even though Tae-seok was about as tall as Do In-ho, Yeon-woo still had to look up at him.
“Right. Looks like you’re doing well in PR.”
“As you can see.”
Yeon-woo slung an arm around Nam Woon-soo’s shoulder.
“HEY! Are you seriously gonna keep ignoring me?!”
“Enough.”
Eom Seong-chan reached to grab Yeon-woo by the collar, but Tae-seok calmly caught and restrained him. The dull thud of his arm being stopped carried weight.
“There are other people present.”
“Tch…”
“Still as rude as ever, I see. Must be nice having someone to back you up, even after four years.”
Yeon-woo looked at Eom Seong-chan with his classic what a pain in the ass expression. Eom Seong-chan returned a sharp glare full of resentment, but—as Eom Tae-seok had pointed out—Do In-ho and Ho-eun were here, too.
“Hello, I’m Kwon Ho-eun, a new Guide…”
Sensing it was the right moment, Ho-eun quickly introduced himself. Eom Tae-seok turned his gaze to him, stroking his neatly trimmed beard.
“Ah, so you’re Kwon Ho-eun.”
He extended his hand politely, and Ho-eun took it. His hand was massive.
“Hm? Interesting.”
As soon as their hands touched, a sharp jolt ran through Ho-eun’s fingers, making them instinctively curl.
Gently grasping Ho-eun’s wrist, Do In-ho pulled his hand free from Eom Tae-seok’s and smoothly inserted his own for a handshake.
“Do In-ho.”
Eom Tae-seok scoffed through his nose at the move.
“You know that Espers don’t like contact with each other.”
“Oh? I didn’t know.”
As Eom Tae-seok batted his hand away, Ho-eun started sweating nervously across the bridge of his nose.
He opened and closed his tingling hand over and over.
“Department Head Eom is S-Class, so it’s best not to make contact.”
Kang Him-chan, still standing with the tray, quietly explained. It wasn’t Ho-eun’s first time meeting an S-Class Esper. Do In-ho was right next to him, after all. But the discomfort he felt from Eom Tae-seok had been entirely different.
Same rank, yet a totally different energy—it made him realize just how important resonance really was.
“D-Department Head, it’s been a while… I hadn’t seen you around lately…”
“There was a family event. That’s why I’ve been absent.”
Do In-ho and Nam Woon-soo had recently joined the HR Department to monitor Esper suspects. Even for them, this seemed to be their first encounter with Eom Tae-seok.
“I heard the details from the meeting earlier. Tsk. If I’d been around, PR wouldn’t have had to get involved.”
“Right? I was surprised when the HR Department asked us for cooperation. Guess the team leader’s not doing his job properly.”
Clearly seizing the opportunity to throw shade, Yeon-woo smirked.
“Okay, that’s it—!”
Smack!
The sharp sound of skin hitting skin cracked the air. Eom Seong-chan’s head whipped to the side. Everyone turned to look—Nam Woon-soo’s hand was still raised.
“?!!!”
Eom Seong-chan looked completely shocked, his eyes wide like they’d pop out. Meanwhile, Nam Woon-soo stood there calm as ever, showing his palm to Seong-chan’s face.
“Th-There was a mosquito…”
Sure enough, there was a squashed mosquito flattened against his palm, blood and all.
“Huh. I guess they’re still around in autumn.”
Eom Tae-seok muttered as if it were no big deal, utterly unbothered by the slap.
Guide Kang Him-chan grabbed a wet tissue from the table and wiped down both Seong-chan’s cheek and Woon-soo’s hand. Then he fetched mosquito spray from the supply room and began spritzing the area.
“Department Head, how about continuing this in the conference room?”
Paul, now standing next to Ho-eun, flashed a gentle smile as if he’d used his ability to slip over unnoticed. His interjection derailed the mood, and Eom Seong-chan lost his chance to blow up.
“Sounds good. Baby, you too.”
Baby was apparently referring to Kang Him-chan. As they headed to the conference room, Paul gently tapped Ho-eun’s elbow.
“You seem to be adjusting well. I’m glad.”
“Paul!”
“You remembered my name.”
“Of course I did. You were basically the first Esper I met.”
Paul opened his mouth to reply, but Do In-ho stepped between them.
“Hyung… they’re all waiting.”
Realizing everyone else was already seated, Ho-eun rushed to join the meeting.
When Paul reached to close the door, Do In-ho—grabbing the opposite handle—looked him up and down.
“I’ll close it.”
“Huh? Are you sure?”
“And I’m the first Esper he met.”
“Sorry?”
“Not you. Me.”
With that, Do In-ho closed the door in Paul’s face.
“Tsk. Don’t go messing with someone else’s Guide.”
“Me?!”
Paul’s voice echoed from behind the partition in disbelief.
“Section Chief, I was just being friendly to someone I knew.”
Trying to defend himself, Paul was interrupted as a green vine sprouted from the floor and handed him a document.
“Ugh—what the?!”
“You’ve been here a year, right, Assistant Paul?”
Paul turned toward the man tapping his fingers on a desk like piano keys. The long, elegant fingers belonged to Moon Ji-hoon, a section chief in the HR Department. His ability allowed him to grow and control vines from the ground at will.
“For now, just go with the flow—even if things get messy.”
Moon Ji-hoon rarely went into the field, since his main job was interviewing Guides and Espers. But no one knew more about how the office ran than he did.
“If possible, pretend you didn’t see or hear anything.”
Paul reluctantly nodded. Earlier, when he was sitting at his desk, he’d been straining to eavesdrop on the loud voices at the guest table. Then came the sound of a slap. Frustrated that he couldn’t see what happened, he used his ability to instantly relocate to the reception area.
And what did he find? His own boss, Team Leader Eom Seong-chan, getting slapped.
From what Paul knew, Eom Seong-chan wasn’t the type to take that lying down. His temper was so infamous that Paul had seriously considered transferring departments because of him.
The fact that it was Nam Woon-soo who slapped him—that was shocking.
For this visit, Paul had been paired with Nam Woon-soo while Do In-ho was assigned to Eom Seong-chan. They were following the standard two-person rule for observing Esper suspects.
Paul’s first impression of Nam Woon-soo? A guy plagued with absurdly bad luck. His awkward speech, his long hair—not in a cool way like Section Chief Moon, but more like something… sinister.
He barely spoke. So seeing him slap Eom Seong-chan with his own eyes? It felt like the twist in a drama.
“Just go deliver the files quietly.”
“Yes, sir…”
Even though it was immensely satisfying to see Seong-chan get slapped, Paul couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on between those three.
As if reading his thoughts, Section Chief Moon kept piling on warnings until Paul nodded ten times just to get released.
Inside the conference room, Paul began handing out documents. When he tried to place one in front of Ho-eun, Do In-ho courteously took it from him and placed it in front of Ho-eun himself.
“……”
Paul stifled the urge to make a face and quietly left the room.
Ho-eun, oblivious to all this, picked up the document and began reading.
“I’ve heard that lately, the HR Department’s been consistently failing to catch Esper suspects. Sounds like its old reputation’s gone downhill.”
It was Bae Yeon-woo who spoke first. Maybe the tension had eased thanks to Nam Woon-soo, but he was back to his usual snarky self.
“What? If it’s anti-government suspects, that’s your job!”
Eom Seong-chan barked back.
“If I were still in HR, I’d have taken care of the anti-gov ones too.”
“You son of a—!”
BANG!
Bae Yeon-woo rested his chin on one hand and gave Seong-chan a look of utter contempt. Just as Seong-chan raised his voice again, Eom Tae-seok slammed his palm on the table.
“!!”
Startled, Ho-eun wasn’t sure if he was in the HR Department or some chaotic circus.
