Being Ordinary is the Best 7

 Chapter 7

If this were school it would be different, but he was an office worker. Moreover, an office worker with the title of assistant manager, someone with considerable experience.

For the sake of his reputation and future promotion, he had to explain that he’d had unavoidable circumstances.

His department head, who had been furious when a client employee called saying Hajin hadn’t visited them, softened his anger upon seeing Hajin groaning as he came to work with muscle pain that hadn’t healed after just one day of rest, and hearing his lie about a minor accident.

For the next few days, Hajin was busy enough with company work that he gradually forgot about the Espers.

Although it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it was quickly forgotten in the face of the immediate reality before him.

…That’s how it should have been.

“Lee Hajin-ssi.”

He was in the middle of revising a report without even having lunch. Hajin instinctively turned his head at the familiar voice calling his name.

“You are…”

Hajin, who was always expressionless, opened his eyes wide in surprise.

He desperately hoped that his dry eyes, which hadn’t rested for days from staring at the monitor, had finally gone bad. Or that he was experiencing delayed aftereffects from the dungeon.

However, the situation where the man before him was an illusion or mistaken for someone else did not occur.

Cha Jinwoo. Why was he at Hajin’s workplace, standing right in front of his desk?

‘This is insane…’

It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered the possibility of them finding him. He had felt relieved during the past few days when nothing happened, thinking they couldn’t trace him.

Was this Murphy’s Law or something? Why did they have to show up just as he was starting to feel safe?

He couldn’t even pretend Jinwoo was a friend, as the man was dressed in the formal Esper uniform.

The appearance of the impressive-looking Esper made the employees, who were trying to fight off drowsiness while working after lunch, suddenly wide awake.

“Assistant Manager, do you know this person?”

Especially the junior colleague sitting next to Hajin, whose eyes were practically sparkling. He wasn’t a bad person, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that most rumors spread through him. Hajin swallowed hard.

‘Now rumors will spread throughout the company. That an Esper came looking for me.’

Hajin immediately stood up from his seat, excused himself to his department head, and dragged Cha Jinwoo toward a place where there were no people.

But since Espers attract people’s attention wherever they go, they finally stopped only after taking the elevator all the way to the rooftop.

“How did you find me?”

Even for someone as impassive as Hajin, this was something he couldn’t simply brush off. Was someone determined to ruin his career?

When he released the arm he had grabbed rather roughly out of irritation, Cha Jinwoo looked at the retreating hand as if even that was regrettable, and replied.

“You’re not asking why I came.”

What need was there to ask? He must have come looking for a Guide. Hajin didn’t answer, but Cha Jinwoo continued as if it didn’t matter.

“Lee Hajin-ssi, no, Guide Lee Hajin. Please become our Guide.”

“I refuse.”

With the neatly bowed head before him, Hajin answered sharply without the slightest consideration.

It was such a cold answer that if someone had been watching, they would have felt sorry on Jinwoo’s behalf. However, Cha Jinwoo didn’t seem surprised, as if he had anticipated the rejection.

“After receiving your Guiding that day, when we checked the wavelength, the reading had dropped to 0. This is something no other Guide has been able to achieve.”

When the professional talk began, Hajin kept his mouth shut. Though he was a Guide, he didn’t know a single thing about them.

Even now, it was the same. He had only stabilized the wavelength with the thought that he needed to hold their hands and calm them, but what did it mean for the reading to drop to 0, and why was this something other Guides couldn’t do?

‘I need to know about Guides to respond.’

If he had known in advance that his abilities were different from other Guides, he at least wouldn’t have forcibly put them to sleep.

Hajin pondered. It would be better to keep quiet than to reveal his ignorance and put himself at a disadvantage, but when it came to his own affairs, it wasn’t easy to ignore.

Besides, the man in front of him didn’t seem likely to back down easily. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to know at least something?

Hajin finally asked the question he had been contemplating.

“…Isn’t a Guide someone who calms an Esper’s wavelength? So why can’t other Guides bring the reading to 0?”

If it had been a lie, he wouldn’t have come looking for Hajin in the first place, nor would he have provided such information.

“Do you know about the matching rate between Espers and Guides?”

“I’ve heard of it.”

That was a lie. Hajin, who thought matters of Espers and Guides had nothing to do with him, didn’t even know the basics that everyone else knew.

But fearing he might be dragged away if he gave the impression he knew absolutely nothing, Hajin lied without even wetting his lips with saliva.

“Not all Guides can stabilize every Esper’s wavelength just because they’re Guides. The higher the rank and the higher the matching rate, the more easily a Guide can stabilize an Esper’s wavelength. If the matching rate is below 30 percent, there’s no effect at all, and even if it’s above that, you can see some effect, but unless it exceeds 90 percent, the effect won’t be particularly outstanding.”

“To put it simply, it’s like giving just a few spoonfuls of rice to someone who’s been starving for days.” At this easy-to-understand analogy, Hajin’s head nodded automatically.

Hajin was unconsciously focusing on Cha Jinwoo’s explanation.

“And theoretically, only a Guide with a 100 percent matching rate can lower the reading to 0. But you, Hajin-ssi, brought all four of us to a reading of 0. Do you understand what this means?”

Though he tried to hold it back, a sigh eventually escaped him.

No matter how little Hajin knew about them, he wasn’t so stupid that he couldn’t understand what was being explained.

‘I just wanted to calm them down.’

“Perhaps Hajin-ssi is a Guide for whom matching rates don’t matter.”

Although he said ‘perhaps,’ both Cha Jinwoo and Hajin were certain of it. That’s why he had come directly to Hajin’s workplace without warning.

As things became more complicated than he had anticipated, Hajin pressed his forehead.

‘Should I have just not cared whether they lived or died? …No, that’s not right.’

Having momentarily entertained such a terrible thought, Hajin shook his head to clear away the unnecessary musing. He couldn’t undo what had already been done.

What mattered now was how to send this man away quietly and make him lose interest in Hajin.

“Huu, I have no intention of becoming a Guide. I am an ordinary office worker, and I will continue to live as an ordinary person. So please go back. And don’t come looking for me like this.”

“…Hajin-ssi, you really don’t know anything.”

‘How did he know?’

Hajin, who rarely showed surprise, flinched. Had his efforts not to show it all been in vain?

But Cha Jinwoo looked troubled, as if wondering what to do. Nevertheless, his gaze lovingly regarded the flustered Hajin. Having never received such a look from anyone except his parents, Hajin was bewildered.

What had he done to be looked at as if they were lovers?

‘Was my Guiding that good?’

“The reason I’ve taken the liberty of coming to your workplace is because now that we’ve found you, it’s certain that other factions will also look for you.”

“Other factions?”

He had a vague understanding that things would get complicated if his identity was discovered.

There was no way they would simply ignore a Guide who had put four S-class Espers to sleep.

Hajin had never properly measured his Guide rank in his life. However, he knew from his father that he was an S-class Guide.

Yes, he ‘knew.’ But reality seemed more serious than what Hajin had vaguely estimated. Cha Jinwoo continued his explanation.

“Yes. You must be aware of the anti-government factions.”

Even someone as disinterested as Hajin knew about them. As the term suggests, they were factions that opposed using Espers and Guides for dungeon clearance by making them subservient to the government.

They raised the slogan of improving the rights of Espers and Guides, but in reality, almost no one believed it at face value.

How could powerless civilians and Guides appreciate those who kidnap Guides for the sake of “rights improvement” and virtually commit terrorism to fight against government forces?

Only Espers with strong desires for power or showing off voluntarily joined the anti-government factions.

Given that most were like this, people frowned at the mere mention of anti-government factions, and always fled when they appeared.

“That’s not all. The anti-Esper organizations are also targeting you.”

Author: Hyacinthus B

Hyacinthus