5
“Check the vitals!”
“The temperature is too low!!”
“When is the Director coming?”
The Guide Center lobby was in a state of emergency. It was absolute chaos. Guides running around frantically without knowing what to do were making the lobby even more of a wasteland.
Temperature is low? Should we attach a hot pack or something? That won’t work, you idiots! The guides were muttering, prescribing ineffective remedies.
Ten minutes earlier, an S-class esper with a youthful face had burst through the Center’s doors carrying SSS-class Woo Minjae in his arms.
“Please save him!”
After shouting that, the S-class esper dropped the famous Woo Minjae and collapsed himself. Above them, on a large screen, a video of Minjae emitting white light and saving people was playing.
The guides looked back and forth between the screen and the floor. After one second of silence, an emergency was declared in the Guide Center lobby.
“Hey, listen carefully!”
“Wait a minute. Why is he so heavy?”
Since espers rarely came to the guiding room in such an emergency state, the guides collectively panicked.
Two guides approached the collapsed Jihwan and tried to lift him up but failed, so two more joined them. In the process, Jihwan’s head hit the floor with a thud.
The guides, momentarily frozen and staring at each other, lifted Jihwan again without saying a word.
The two espers were placed on beds and each taken to special rooms. Five people pulled each bed, moving at a speed almost like flying bullets.
Six A-class guides rushed into the S-class esper’s room and closed the door.
However, Woo Minjae, being SSS-class, was showing pre-rampage symptoms with his body becoming ice-cold, and everyone was jumping around not knowing what to do.
“Hey, I’m a bit worried… shouldn’t we go out and close the door?”
“Did someone call the Director?”
“Yes, someone went earlier!”
The emergency special rooms were structured like small bunkers. They were designed so that if an esper went on a rampage and caused an explosion, closing the door would prevent any impact outside.
The guides standing guard in front of Minjae’s special room started to tremble with anxiety.
“…What if we just guide him…”
One of the new guides mumbled in a small voice. Suddenly, the room went quiet.
Receiving the concentrated stares, the new guide rolled his eyes and quietly hunched his shoulders.
“You’re a newbie, right?”
A guide who bumped the hunched newbie’s shoulder with his own spoke. The newbie quietly nodded.
“Yes… I’m sorry…”
“There’s only one person here who can guide an SSS-class. Remember that well.”
“Who… is that person?”
“What have you been listening to all this time? The Director.”
The senior guide snorted as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, then shook his head and looked at the new guide.
Ah… but why is that? The newbie wanted to ask, but he quietly pursed his lips. His already pea-sized courage felt even more shriveled. The newbie tucked in his neck like a turtle.
At that moment, the Guide Center door swung open. And someone entered.
The guides, who were about to get noisy again, all closed their mouths. The newbie, who was about to tactlessly ask who had arrived, fortunately regained his senses.
The person the senior guides had been so desperately looking for had arrived.
The newbie glanced at the senior guides and then looked at the person walking through the open guiding room door.
“Where’s Minjae?”
The highest authority at the Guide Center. SS-class guide Choi Wooseok.
***
Beep- beep-
Machine sounds could be heard. The kind of sound you’d hear in a hospital room. Someone was massaging Jihwan’s body. Not just one person, but several.
Jihwan felt like his entire body was buried in soft marshmallows.
“…nim!”
“Esper Park Jihwan-nim!”
Someone was calling Jihwan. His head still felt soft, as if filled with cotton candy. Jihwan frowned, not wanting to open his eyes.
At that moment, someone lifted his eyelids.
“Ahh!”
Startled by the sudden light, Jihwan curled up, pulled the blanket over himself, and trembled.
“Why are you doing this…”
“We were getting worried when you didn’t respond even though it was time for consciousness to return, thought you might be in a coma. Look at me. No headache or anything, right?”
As Jihwan slowly pulled down the blanket, a hand was thrust in front of his face.
“How many are these?”
Three fingers waved in front of Jihwan’s eyes. Jihwan answered in a dejected voice.
“Three…”
“Yes, vision normal~”
The guide with the singsong voice made a note on a chart. Wouldn’t it be a problem beyond normal vision if I couldn’t see that…? Jihwan asked, feeling slightly indignant, but received no answer.
“Esper Jihwan-nim.”
“Yes.”
“You really come here often.”
“…Yes.”
The guide’s voice became stern. Jihwan looked away with cloudy eyes as he answered.
“Hmm, hmm. Ah, my eyes are a bit dry-“
“You’ve been coming almost every week, right? And today you were about to go on a rampage.”
“…What?? Rampage? Me??”
Jihwan’s eyes widened. The guide let out a scoffing laugh as if in disbelief.
“Did you think you just got tired after losing consciousness like that?”
“Um… yes…”
“Do you remember what happened?”
The guide asked. Jihwan rubbed his dry eyes and tried to recall.
Jihwan had been watching Hero Woo Minjae at a press conference. The moment he thought Minjae looked like he was about to cry, Jihwan’s body moved first.
Jihwan rarely knew how to just pass by people in trouble. But whether it was his misunderstanding or not, Senior Minjae had gotten angry and…
Since Minjae had collapsed right after, Jihwan had been startled and had to carry him in his arms.
He remembered flying around like crazy, but it seemed he had somehow managed to arrive at the Center safely.
“I opened the guiding room door and…”
“Ye-es.”
“And…?”
Seeing Jihwan just staring blankly into space, the guide heaved a deep sigh.
“It’s no longer just your body. It’s national property, so please be careful.”
“Me?”
The guide admonished while putting the pen in his pocket. Jihwan pressed down on the corners of his mouth that were about to rise at those words. National property…! Me…! Mom, I think I’ve made it!
The guide, seeing Jihwan’s twitching mouth, added with a slight smile.
“By the way, I heard you’ve become quite famous?”
“Who?”
“You, Jihwan-ssi.”
“Why me?”
Don’t tell me it became news that I made a bunch of weird mistakes with an SSS-class esper on my first mission. Instead of asking, Jihwan swallowed hard.
“…Because you’re S-class. For details, check the news articles. I don’t want to add any comments. Well then.”
What comments don’t you want to add…? Jihwan became a bit anxious. He nodded and grabbed the wrist of the guide who was about to leave hastily. The guide turned to Jihwan with an awkward smile.
“Um… that… the person who came with me…”
Jihwan hesitantly opened his mouth.
“Director Minjae?”
“Yes!”
“…If you’re asking to go see him, I recommend against it. And you wouldn’t be able to meet him anyway. You should stay lying down here until tonight, considering yourself hospitalized. We need to check your vitals.”
The guide, slipping his wrist out of Jihwan’s grasp, quickly left the special room. Jihwan watched his back, pouting at first, then quietly staring at the ceiling.
“So then?”
The face that had looked at him with a chilling expression kept coming to mind. He must be really angry. Jihwan sighed.
***
“Minjae…! Woo Minjae!”
Someone was calling Minjae. He couldn’t breathe.
“Gasp!”
Minjae opened his eyes. His whole body was trembling. Right in front of his face were sharp eyes with constricted pupils. Minjae took a deep breath and then held it. He couldn’t quite grasp the situation.
Injection, injection… Minjae tried to say something about the nightmare he had been having until just now, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Minjae curled up more, trying to protect himself as much as possible. Shh- A low voice, as if soothing him, could be heard.
Warm hands were massaging his back firmly. Unlike before, the warm body temperature gave him some sense of stability. The hands pressed the back of his neck in acupressure and applied appropriate pressure to his body.
“Breathe.”
A soft, low voice. It was Wooseok. Minjae slowly exhaled, then started to inhale again. The other person seemed a bit relieved too, letting out a small sigh.
An embarrassingly long silence continued. Wooseok kept lightly applying pressure to Minjae’s neck, arms, forehead, hands, etc., injecting guiding energy.
Ah… Minjae quietly exhaled and asked.
“What happened to me?”
“You’re asking me that now?”
Wooseok seemed genuinely incredulous. He seemed even more dumbfounded than when Minjae had suddenly asked him a few days ago, “What did I have for lunch?”
“What happened to me…”
His voice cracked. Ahem, Minjae cleared his throat slightly. I remember being suddenly lifted up from that fucking press conference, flying through the sky, and then having a tussle with that little brat.
“You were in danger this time. What were you trying to do? No, actually, Jinsung, that bastard is the real asshole.”
Wooseok spoke with half scolding, half concern.
When Minjae was young, he had undergone some kind of experiment by the Center. The experiment was forced for quite a long period but ended in failure. As a side effect, Minjae’s guiding levels fluctuated unpredictably. Headaches and occasional hallucinations were an added bonus.
Only the Center Director, Wooseok, and Eunjeong, who had grown up together at the Center, knew about Minjae’s condition. That’s why Wooseok always reacted sensitively when it came to Minjae’s physical condition.
Minjae smiled lightly and patted Wooseok’s shoulder.
“You know what? Thanks. How long has it been?”
“About twelve hours? The sun’s up.”
Wooseok pointed toward the window as he answered. Minjae rubbed his face with his hands and checked the time on his phone. It was 11 AM.
“That S-class who carried you.”
“Who? Ah.”
Minjae frowned as he tried to recall. Why that guy? In response to Minjae’s question, Wooseok raised his eyebrows.
“He’s been getting quite a lot of attention.”
“Let me see.”
Minjae extended his hand toward Wooseok. Am I your errand boy? Despite grumbling, Wooseok dutifully searched for articles on his phone and handed it to Minjae.
-New Hero, Romantic Flight.
-The Man Who Flew Carrying Hero Woo Minjae, Who Is He?
-A New S-class Esper Appears in Korea!
-Top SSS-class Hero Woo Minjae Demonstrates Divine Ability.
Titles suggesting excitement over the newly emerged gossip were lined up in succession. New hero and S-class. It was a rare appearance, worthy of continued attention for a while.
But why now, that’s the question. Minjae recalled that the Center Director had directly mentioned Park Jihwan’s name. Minjae felt ominous. He didn’t want to be further entangled with that S-class.
As he examined the articles, Minjae checked one written about the demonstration of his ability. ‘Divine ability’. Minjae stared intently at those four characters.
I knew this would happen. Minjae thought. It felt like someone was holding a knife to his throat.
“Don’t worry too much about your articles…”
“Wooseok.”
Wooseok, who was sitting next to Minjae looking at the screen together, stopped mid-sentence and looked at him.
“What?”
“Bring me some alcohol.”
“No.”
“My head really hurts.”
Minjae buried his face in the pillow.
“Still no.”
“Aaaah- I’m dying.”
When Minjae made an insincere wailing sound, Wooseok was disgusted.
“Stop saying such unlucky things!”
Aaaah~ As Minjae continued to make halfhearted groaning sounds claiming he was in pain, Wooseok pushed Minjae’s head deeper into the pillow and then left the special room.
At the sight of Wooseok closing the door with a bang, looking like someone who was clearly sulking, Minjae pursed his lips and snickered.
He’s actually quite cute, after all. Muttering, Minjae rolled himself up into the blanket.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
