Chapter 101
Time flowed both slowly and quickly. Though the repetitive days felt somewhat boring, the dates changed steadily without stepping backward. And so, a week passed, and the day arrived for Song Ji-hyeok’s group to return.
After eating lunch in the cafeteria, I headed straight to the guiding room for the first time in a while. This was thanks to Song Ji-hyeok’s message saying they had just left the dungeon and would arrive in about an hour.
His texts didn’t stop there. Though he should have been tired enough to nap in the car, he kept sending messages.
[What did you eat for lunch?]
[How about seasoned fried chicken for dinner?]
[Someone’s snoring so loudly. My ears are killing me]
[Just got out of the car]
Seeing the message that had just arrived, I jumped up from my seat. Approaching the window to look outside, I could indeed see the transport bus parked in front of the guild building. Song Ji-hyeok was nowhere to be seen, probably already inside.
‘Wait a minute.’
As I sat on the sofa waiting for him to enter, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. My eyes quickly darted to the desk. A white medicine bottle I had received from the doctor a few days ago stood prominently. It contained medication to alleviate guiding side effects.
There was no time to hesitate. I hurriedly took out two pills and swallowed them with water. Almost simultaneously, there was a knock and the door swung open. It was Song Ji-hyeok.
“Welcome back.”
As I greeted him with a bright smile, Song Ji-hyeok strode over and hugged me tightly.
“I’m back.”
The strong smell of blood made me flinch, but soon I returned his embrace, patting his back.
“Good job.”
Next was checking his wellbeing. Slightly pulling away from his embrace, I immediately examined Song Ji-hyeok’s face. There were no visible wounds, and surprisingly, no redness in his pupils either. Was the dungeon relatively easy?
This was good news for me. No matter how high-ranked and strong a Pair Esper might be, every Guide would wish for their safety.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Sit down. I’ll give you guiding.”
Eventually, we sat side by side on the sofa. I gave him a reassuring smile and carefully took his hand. Tension naturally built up as this was my first attempt at guiding since returning.
“Is it okay if I start with your hand?”
“Yes. Do whatever you want, senior.”
Grateful for his understanding, I adjusted my grip on his hand. It might have been my imagination, but Song Ji-hyeok also seemed slightly tense.
“I’ll start now.”
“Don’t overdo it.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry.”
Though I answered calmly, I couldn’t help swallowing nervously. Finally, I slowly began the guiding process. Trying to ignore my racing heart, I focused on mind control.
‘We’re a pair, partners with the highest matching rate. There’s nothing to fear.’
The start was good. As I gradually sent energy, it flowed to Song Ji-hyeok smoothly like a babbling brook, though weak. After about a minute, I could feel the characteristically pleasant, fluffy sensation rising. At that moment, I felt like dancing with joy. I never knew something I had taken for granted could feel so welcome.
With newfound confidence, I let the energy flow more strongly. Still, nothing unusual happened, and Song Ji-hyeok seemed to notice it too. He had been quietly offering his hand, but now turned to me and asked:
“Can I kiss you?”
“Of course.”
Still holding hands, we closed our eyes and kissed. I soon wrapped my other arm around Song Ji-hyeok’s neck. The pleasure intensified quickly from this intimate contact after so long.
The energy flowing to Song Ji-hyeok also grew stronger. Just as I was feeling reassured that there was nothing to worry about and concentrating on guiding—
“…!”
Without warning, I opened my eyes wide and pulled my head back. Something was surging up inside me.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a feeling. A solid mass pushed up toward my face, and something flowed from my nose. Instinctively covering my nose and lowering my head, I saw drops of bright red blood falling to the floor. My immediate thought was, “I’m screwed.”
“Are you okay, senior?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
While trying to calm the alarmed Song Ji-hyeok, I hastily grabbed tissues. I stuffed them against my nose and immediately circulated energy through my body. Normally, stopping a nosebleed was effortless when my body was in good condition.
But the result defied expectations. Despite focusing all my energy solely on my nose, the bleeding only stopped after the tissues were completely soaked.
Sensing instinctively that the nosebleed had stopped, I slowly removed my hand. Relieved that it was no longer flowing, I quickly wiped around my nose with wet tissues. Meanwhile, I hurriedly checked my facial condition in my phone camera. Though he had already seen me bleeding, the aftermath was different. I didn’t want to appear with blood messily smeared on my face.
After quickly cleaning up, I forced a casual smile. Survival instinct kicked in, and words flowed naturally as I tried to somehow overcome this crisis.
“Actually, I’ve developed rhinitis, and I think the membrane weakened from blowing my nose too hard for several days. Sorry.”
“…”
“I’ll guide you again.”
Instead of kissing right away, I tried to gently take Song Ji-hyeok’s hand. But before I could touch it, he pulled his hand back.
“No, it’s okay.”
His clear avoidance made me look shocked without even realizing it. Seeing my expression, Song Ji-hyeok added:
“This much is enough. The monsters were all pushovers, so I didn’t even need guiding. I just came because I wanted to see your face.”
“…”
“More importantly, let’s get up. I’ll take you to the infirmary.”
“No, I’m fine.”
I finally came to my senses and hastily declined. I made sure to smile as well.
“I’d be laughed at for going to the infirmary for something this minor. …Are you really okay?”
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.”
It was somewhat reassuring that Song Ji-hyeok’s eye color hadn’t changed. Just then, as if on cue, his phone beeped briefly.
He seemed to be replying to a message, moving his fingers across the screen a few times before putting it down indifferently.
“Who was that?”
“Friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah. A truckload of guys pretending to check in but actually asking to borrow money.”
Though it didn’t apply to me, I could sympathize completely. I’d heard that when people win the lottery, not only distant relatives but complete strangers start contacting them, and this seemed like a similar situation.
Song Ji-hyeok then loosely interlaced his fingers and asked me:
“What are you doing this afternoon?”
“Work, of course.”
“Is it urgent? Can’t you just take a half day off and go home?”
“No, I can’t.”
“You just had a nosebleed… Sorry. Pretend you didn’t hear that.”
After quietly returning his head to its original position, Song Ji-hyeok lay down on the sofa, using my thigh as a pillow without permission. Seeing his long legs barely fitting, he definitely seemed to have grown taller.
“Did you measure your height again?”
“No. But senior Kim Gitae also mentioned that I seem taller. It’s funny, though—he’s already proven to be shorter than me, yet he insists we’re similar in height.”
“Gitae has always been sensitive about his height. Even more so about muscles.”
“His forearms are as big as his head, making him look incredibly dull.”
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at his merciless criticism. If Gitae had been here now, he would probably have collapsed, clutching the back of his neck.
Fortunately, the subject of our conversation was oblivious. After casually playing with his bangs, Song Ji-hyeok looked at me again. He didn’t just turn his head but rotated his entire body to the side.
“Really, can’t we go home?”
“No.”
Go home.
“You can rest this afternoon, right? Go home and relax comfortably.”
“I want to stay here. Now that I’m lying down, I don’t want to get up.”
“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
“Not really.”
He looked obviously uncomfortable, but I had nothing to say if he claimed otherwise. Song Ji-hyeok continued to persist. He kept trying to persuade me with comments like, “It would be more comfortable to lie in bed,” and “It’s so fun to watch movies while lying down when others are working,” but seeing that nothing was working, he proposed an alternative. He suddenly sat up and met my eyes again.
“Then sit next to me while you work. You can do that much, right?”
He seemed ready to sulk if I refused even this. Honestly, I also preferred having Song Ji-hyeok beside me rather than being alone, so I agreed and went over to my laptop.
There were two document windows open. I casually closed the one dealing with guiding side effects, then grabbed my laptop and mouse and returned to my seat. As soon as I sat down, Song Ji-hyeok showed interest in my laptop screen.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
