# Chapter 48
Hajin decided to view Choi Jihyung as an extremely timid person who occasionally did strange things.
‘Still, I should avoid being alone with him from now on.’
“Ah! The table!”
After falling backward, not only did Choi Jihyung not crack his skull, but he broke the table instead. As he jumped up, flustered, Hajin put down the remote control he was holding and headed toward his room.
It was no longer a good situation to watch TV. As Hajin turned around to enter his room, he caught a glimpse of Seo Jihan slightly frowning as if something displeased him.
However, Hajin didn’t pay much attention. For whatever reason, Seo Jihan hadn’t liked Hajin from the beginning.
But contrary to Hajin’s expectation that Seo Jihan would just look at him with displeasure as usual and then leave him be, Seo Jihan glanced at Choi Jihyung once and then approached Hajin’s room.
Although Hajin had decided not to close the door anymore, so it was left open, Seo Jihan steadfastly remained at the threshold without crossing it as he spoke to Hajin.
“Don’t mess with Choi Jihyung.”
At this unexpected statement, Hajin unconsciously tilted his head to the side. What did that mean? Don’t mess with Choi Jihyung?
It was difficult to understand. Was he saying Choi Jihyung was dangerous, or that Hajin was dangerous? Then suddenly, a thought crossed Hajin’s mind.
‘Is he in love with Choi Jihyung?’
It seemed random, but when he thought about it that way, it made sense.
Since Choi Jihyung was also an Esper, he would naturally be drawn to Hajin, who was a Guide. Seo Jihan, being a fellow Esper, seemed to dislike this and was warning Hajin.
Hajin became more convinced of his theory as Seo Jihan looked at him with lowered eyes.
He’s jealous. Hajin almost chuckled at this fresh, innocent reaction. Not out of mockery, but because it was cute. Controlling the corners of his mouth, Hajin nodded.
“I’ll try my best to do so.”
He couldn’t give a definite answer since he would eventually need to do guiding, but he had planned to avoid personal contact as much as possible, so this should satisfy Seo Jihan.
Sure enough, Seo Jihan seemed pleased with Hajin’s response, turning around and heading back to the living room, to Choi Jihyung’s side, who was cleaning up the broken table.
The fact that he went straight to Choi Jihyung confirmed that he was definitely in love.
Seo Jihan looked at Hajin as he nodded, glancing between himself and Choi Jihyung with an understanding expression, and asked.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
Hajin decided to pretend not to know, concerned that Seo Jihan might get upset again if he acted like he understood. Once he noticed, Seo Jihan’s behavior became more apparent.
Thinking about it, Seo Jihan mainly stayed in the living room, and Choi Jihyung was always by his side at those times.
‘Do the others know?’
Judging by how naturally they accepted Seo Jihan staying by Choi Jihyung’s side, it seemed they did know.
‘While he seems unaware.’
Hajin looked at Choi Jihyung, who still glanced at him occasionally and blushed when their eyes met, then turned away.
Sure enough, Seo Jihan was glaring at Hajin with a displeased look.
‘If he’s going to be like that, he should just confess.’
Hajin stopped his teasing observations and entered his room. It was almost time for the puppy to return and suggest going for a walk.
In a moment of agitation, he had been consistently keeping his promise. Although the name “puppy” belonged to the other person, somehow the roles had been reversed.
“Let’s go for a walk!”
The puppy burst through the door they had agreed to call the entrance, calling for Hajin with an excited face.
No matter how he looked at it, the other seemed like a puppy. Both his name and personality.
“What are you, a damn puppy…”
Seo Jihan seemed to think the same, offering a similar observation as Hajin.
Of course, since it was loud enough for Hajin to hear, the puppy, being an Esper too, also heard it, which almost started a fight.
“Let’s just go out.”
“Huh? Ah! Right. Let’s go!”
Although Seo Jihan didn’t seem happy about Hajin wandering around, even if it was just within the headquarters, he didn’t try to stop them. Seeing this, Hajin inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘It seems the word has already gotten out. Even without going upstairs, Seo Juan probably knows already.’
He hadn’t thought he could completely hide it, but it was quicker than expected.
What bothered him most was that Seo Juan would know. Because he knew what Seo Juan’s ability was.
Besides, even with radiative guiding, hadn’t Seo Juan still managed to leave his position after receiving Hajin’s guiding?
He was the person Hajin needed to be most cautious of.
“Haah…”
“Why are you sighing?”
Ah, he meant to keep it to himself. After momentarily closing his mouth due to the mistake, a thought crossed Hajin’s mind, and he carefully spoke.
“It seems Seo Jihan particularly dislikes me.”
“Ahh.”
Hajin had blurted out what suddenly came to mind, but the puppy responded as if he knew something.
Instead of asking directly, Hajin continued to speak.
“An Esper wouldn’t do this to a Guide, but thinking about being alone with him, I can’t help but feel concerned.”
When Hajin indirectly expressed his fear that Seo Jihan might try to harm him, the puppy suddenly burst into refreshing laughter. It was so loud that it startled Hajin.
It seemed like even Seo Jihan would be able to hear this, but the puppy didn’t care and laughed to his heart’s content.
“Hahaha! Ah, that was really funny.”
“Are you done laughing?”
If he was done, Hajin would like to know why he laughed. It didn’t seem like mockery, but he wanted to know the reason. If he had said something wrong, he needed to know.
The puppy, noticing Hajin’s slightly sullen expression, forced himself to stop laughing. Hajin was surprised at this.
He was surprised that the owner of such a simple mind could also read his mood. It wasn’t teasing; it was genuine.
“Ahem. Seo Jihan won’t hurt you. Rather, he probably can’t even touch you.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Hajin asked, not because he trusted Seo Jihan, but because the puppy spoke with the certainty of stating that the sun rises in the east.
Being human, nothing is 100% certain. So it was puzzling what the basis for such confidence was.
At Hajin’s question, the puppy snickered. It was a sneer that matched his appearance quite well.
“That bastard is a fucking coward. Since a Guide committed suicide in front of him after guiding him, he can’t even touch Guides.”
Hajin froze at the story, which was more shocking than he had expected. But the puppy, walking ahead of Hajin, didn’t notice and continued with his story.
“When was it? They suddenly brought in a Guide. He was C-class, but strangely had a high matching rate with Seo Jihan, so that bastard used him exclusively while the rest of us couldn’t use him at all.”
Hajin felt increasingly disturbed by the way they referred to Guides as objects, but he listened carefully to the puppy’s story.
Regardless of how he felt, he needed to know any information related to them.
“…Why did he die?”
“I don’t know the details, but what special reason could there be? He probably wanted to go home, but they wouldn’t let him.”
The puppy said that the Guide cried often. Although he couldn’t see him much because Seo Jihan kept him isolated like he was hoarding him exclusively, whenever he did see him, the Guide was always crying.
“Whenever I happened to see him, he would beg to be sent home. It was pitiful.”
That light, frivolous voice was becoming disgusting now.
Hajin felt suffocated and wanted to beat his chest, but he continued to listen to the ongoing story.
“Then one time, he escaped. Naturally, all hell broke loose.”
The puppy clicked his tongue as if recalling the memory.
“Even though he wasn’t going berserk, Seo Jihan was acting like a madman, and it seemed like the building would collapse, so Seo Juan went to catch the escaped kid.”
“How?”
This was a story he absolutely needed to hear. His instincts screamed that he had to hear what would follow.
Hajin hoped his voice wasn’t trembling too much.
The puppy continued to speak as if it wasn’t a big deal. For this moment, his lighthearted attitude was extremely welcome.
“That bastard’s ability includes tracking. Of course, it has the inconvenient drawback of having to remember each target individually… Well, it’s not my ability anyway.”
Hajin did his best not to show his surprise. But even for someone like Hajin, this time it wasn’t easy to maintain composure.
This was also a warning to Hajin. A warning that it would be better not to think about escaping. The puppy wasn’t helping him because he was stupid.
‘He had something to rely on…’
What good would it do for Hajin to make the best plan? With Seo Juan’s ability, even if he escaped, if he couldn’t meet Alpha Team, he would be caught immediately.
Hajin bit the inside of his cheek.
Moreover, after hearing about Seo Jihan’s past, he hesitated to use a plan that would brazenly use the Espers.
A Guide with a high matching rate begged for help while crying, but they didn’t listen.
If he tried to use them through guiding, he might end up getting caught himself.
“You don’t look well. Shall we go back?”
“…Let’s do that.”
Though he hated to admit it, with his current mood, pretending to be fine would only be a pointless exercise in pride.
As they turned around, Hajin ended up taking the lead this time. He felt a gaze fixed on his back, but Hajin was too busy thinking about what to do next.
Having returned halfway through, they quickly got back to the lodging. Hajin closed the door he had opened and sank into thought.
No matter how he thought about it, the only person left who seemed worth targeting was Choi Jihyung.
Seo Juan was obviously out of the question, and Seo Jihan, with his obsessive tendencies that drove a Guide to suicide, was also not an option.
Somehow, from the beginning, he didn’t seem to like Hajin and was wary of him. If that was the reason, it made sense.
‘I thought that puppy was normal, but he has quite a character flaw.’
He could still almost hear the voice casually mentioning the Guide’s suicide.
‘Indeed, the only one left is Choi Jihyung…’
Of course, he wasn’t an easy target either.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
