Even as he spoke, he kept pressing kisses between his words. Their lips met lightly, making soft smack sounds.
“Waiting is hard, but…”
“……”
“You’ve made it this far. I believe you’ll get through this, too.”
It wasn’t that he doubted Hye-seong—he just hated waiting. He clearly had no doubt that he’d get the answer Hye-seong wanted to give, eventually.
While Hye-seong looked up at him with unsteady eyes, Yoo Ji-ho wrapped his arms around him again.
Their lips met, but his tongue didn’t enter. He simply pressed soft kisses against Hye-seong’s lips. When Hye-seong turned his head, Ji-ho kissed his cheek instead, leaving noisy smacks behind like a trail.
It was the first time he’d been barraged with kisses like this, and Hye-seong’s face flushed uncontrollably, his mind going completely blank. Yet against his thigh, the firm bulge pressing insistently into him hadn’t eased one bit.
“Hngh…!”
Just as his knees began to give way, Ji-ho slipped his tongue between Hye-seong’s lips. The warm, slick muscle brushed the inside of his mouth, and Hye-seong, losing strength, let his lips fall open. From there, he simply accepted it.
Holding him tight by the waist, Ji-ho devoured everything—his saliva, his breath, sweeping through his mouth like he meant to take it all. And when his tongue finally pulled back, he bit down lightly on his lips.
Then, as he leaned in once more, it felt less like kissing and more like something else entirely. Hye-seong’s mind went hazy. At some point, Ji-ho’s hand had slipped under his loose t-shirt, caressing his waist with knowing familiarity.
At this rate, they were going to end up in Ji-ho’s room.
But sleeping with someone who knew how he felt—it still didn’t feel natural to Hye-seong.
“Hngh, Yoo Ji-ho, wait… just a sec…!”
Gathering what little clarity he had left, Hye-seong pulled his lips away and pushed at Ji-ho’s chest with all his strength. Surprised by the force, Ji-ho grimaced and eased the tension in his arms. His immovable body finally drew back slightly. Hye-seong ducked his head, stammering.
“I wish I could do it too… but… it just feels too weird…”
At those words, Ji-ho sighed and looked off into the air. Hye-seong wished he hadn’t heard it, but that sigh rang louder in his ears than anything else.
“Honestly, I don’t get it.”
“……”
“These days, nothing you do makes sense to me.”
He said it gently, stroking Hye-seong’s hair. Then, he carefully cupped Hye-seong’s chin and lifted it, forcing eye contact.
His voice had turned cold, but his eyes still burned with the heat from earlier. He looked angry—but his voice remained gentle, like always.
“Didn’t you like spending all that time with me during vacation?”
“…I did.”
“Me too.”
Ji-ho gave a small, affectionate smile. Hye-seong blinked at him in a daze.
“…You did too?”
“Honestly, it was more than that. If I could, I’d want to keep living like that…”
“……”
“Just the two of us. Together.”
It hit like a blow to the head. Hye-seong’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Truth is, I probably would’ve said something first. Told you not to go back to the dorm, to just stay here instead.”
“……”
“But then you said it—that you liked me.”
Words he’d never even imagined hearing.
Hye-seong had only thought of himself as a burden, someone who owed Ji-ho. Nothing more.
“So I really thought this situation was perfect. But then you kept saying you wanted to stop, and I couldn’t understand it.”
“…You thought this was perfect?”
You think… it’s a good thing that I like you?
All this time, he’d only worried that his feelings might make Ji-ho uncomfortable. But now his heart, which had been calming down just moments ago, was starting to shake in a completely different way.
“Why… why would you think that…?”
Ji-ho laughed, as if it was a ridiculous question. He looked at Hye-seong affectionately and answered.
“Because if you like me, you’ll want to stay by my side for a while longer. I won’t have to worry about you going somewhere else. So why are you already thinking about walking away?”
“……”
“You get to be with the person you like for a while, and even if you stop liking me later, you can still stay on as my Guide. Being my Guide pays well, right? So I’ll be able to keep getting guided by you now and in the future.”
“Ah…”
Hye-seong stared, lips parted. Even after hearing everything, it didn’t make sense. He had to turn it over in his head several times.
It felt like a wall had suddenly risen between them—no, not risen, but revealed. A wall that had always been there, massive and immovable, that he’d been too blind to see.
“This works out for both of us. So stop saying it’s not okay and think it over. Whether you like me or not, I don’t care.”
“……”
“We’ve been guiding like this all along. It might feel weird now, but you’ll get used to it.”
Ji-ho said it lazily, then rubbed his lips against Hye-seong’s cheek again as he sat frozen in place.
Is this really something I can just get used to…?
“You’re still my Guide, aren’t you? There’s no need to overthink this. Just try it.”
“Still…”
Even saying that word felt foreign to him. But fear was already creeping in.
When he cautiously looked back at Ji-ho’s eyes, that intense, instinctual hunger he used to see every day before meals was still there. Ji-ho had just returned from combat. He was starving for guiding—there was no denying it. It was a raw, undeniable Esper instinct, and Hye-seong knew that better than anyone.
Whether he liked Ji-ho or not, he was a Guide.
Someone who provided essential guiding for Espers in need. And now, knowing even a glimpse of what Ji-ho was really thinking, a strange fear settled into his chest.
It hadn’t even happened yet, but he was afraid that if he refused now, Ji-ho might just turn around and spend the night with some other Guide.
The image of Ji-ho in Jeju, lying beside someone else, surfaced in his mind.
Espers were just that kind of people—it was natural for them. He knew that. Even though Ji-ho wasn’t his to begin with, he still couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him with someone else.
Back in Jeju, he’d believed it was absurd to feel this kind of jealousy. That’s what had made him decide to quit.
But now, the same desire made him want to hold on instead.
“Then… I’ll…”
So this is what unrequited love feels like. Even though he knew this wasn’t like him—even though it went against everything he believed—he was still being dragged along helplessly.
“I’ll try to… get used to it. Being next to you, Yoo Ji-ho.”
Hye-seong nodded, his eyes filled with uncertainty. Ji-ho answered him with a beautiful smile.
***
Maybe, with time, he’d be able to think of sleeping with Ji-ho as nothing more than a job.
That’s what being a Guide was all about, wasn’t it?
Hye-seong decided to hope for that—cling to the possibility. It might be hard now, but maybe with time, it’d get easier.
Espers saved the world using their superhuman strength and abilities. And Guides saved them—by offering the stability only they could provide.
There were countless Guides in the world, and there always had been.
If every single one of them put their heart into each guiding session like he did, the world would have fallen apart by now.
It wouldn’t be easy at first. But maybe, as time passed, just like the other professional Guides out there, he too could…
“Ah—ahhn…!”
His head tipped back with a sharp cry before he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.
Just when Ji-ho’s lips seemed to be moving elsewhere, they returned to tease the hardened bud of his chest, sucking hard. At the same time, the swollen cock nestled insistently between his thighs, pressing in.
Hoping that being compliant would make things end quicker, Hye-seong had relaxed his body since earlier.
That soft tongue licked his nipple like it was playing with a tiny bead. Then suddenly, teeth. His mouth fell open reflexively. And just as quickly, that hot tongue came back, enveloping the stinging spot in warmth.
All while Ji-ho’s lower half pressed in tighter—his cock grinding firmly against him.
“Ah… ngh!”
Even though the stimulation was focused on such a small area, it felt like his brain was melting, oozing into nothingness.
He tried twisting away, but it didn’t help. Eventually, Hye-seong pushed hard at Ji-ho’s head. But Ji-ho brushed the hand away effortlessly and continued sucking and licking like he’d marked Hye-seong’s chest as his own.
His cock was already leaking, dripping precum as if ready to plunge in at any moment.
“I can’t calm down… because you said you’d stay my Guide.”
He was the same way after Hye-seong confessed.
Hotter than usual. Like he’d felt genuine joy hearing those words.
Like—maybe—he had even a sliver of real feelings for him.
All those carefully buried thoughts started bubbling up, too easily.
“You’re not leaving, right? You’re going to stay by my side, just like before?”
“Mm—wait, stop, aaah!”
The endless stimulation—licking, sucking, switching sides—went on and on, until Hye-seong’s tiny nipples were so swollen that even the lightest flick of a tongue made him gasp and tremble.
