146
A week had passed since Siwoo started working in the field.
During that time, there were no beastkin outbreaks. Thanks to the entire Baekya Guild resuming their gate removal missions, the atmosphere in the field quickly stabilized.
Geonho’s presence alone in the area, being worth a thousand men, alleviated the anxiety of many. Moreover, Geonho was handling gates much faster and more efficiently than before. People thought he was doing this to calm the unstable field, but that wasn’t the case.
Geonho was working hard solely for Siwoo. The faster he finished, the more time he could spend with him.
“Wow, are you a genius?”
Geonho’s booming voice echoed around the barracks. He was outside the barracks with Siwoo. Dressed in guide-specific combat gear, Siwoo was swinging a long sword with a solemn expression.
“This is crazy. Why are you so good at this?”
Every time Siwoo swung the sword, Geonho exclaimed in admiration. With each praise, Siwoo’s swings became more powerful and wider. While pretending not to care, Siwoo was taking in all of Geonho’s compliments.
Watching the two from the side, Seojun couldn’t hide his disgruntled expression. He didn’t like seeing Siwoo swinging the sword enthusiastically due to the praise, nor did he appreciate Geonho touching Siwoo under the guise of correcting his posture.
Honestly, he disliked Siwoo holding a weapon at all. What if he got hurt?
“Geonho hyung, isn’t it too early for weapons? I think it would be better to build Guide-nim’s basic physical strength first.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Seojun gently intervened between the two. The sharp blade sliced through the air in front of Seojun as if in warning.
“Shut up.”
Siwoo put force into his voice and gestured with his chin for Seojun to step back. Seojun obeyed without a word.
If only Jihan hyung would come and stop this quickly. Seojun secretly glanced at Geonho, who was showering Siwoo with praise, and watched Siwoo with an anxious face.
Although Siwoo’s form was decent due to his good athletic ability, he lacked strength. Seojun worried that Siwoo might think he was really good and try to face monsters directly.
Ah… I shouldn’t have said that.
Seojun deeply regretted the slip of the tongue he had made to Siwoo two hours ago. In fact, the reason Siwoo was wielding a sword now was all because of Seojun.
It happened when Siwoo was doing push-ups alone while watching Geonho deal with monsters from afar. Guides in combat gear fighting monsters came into Siwoo’s view.
Siwoo’s mouth gaped open at the sight of them swinging swords impressively and dodging monster attacks with forward rolls. Seojun, who had closed that mouth, tried to persuade Siwoo to go back to the barracks for snacks.
[Those people are veterans. They all have over 10 years of experience.]
[But those guys over there look young.]
[Look at their build. They’re clearly from special physical education backgrounds.]
Guides with youthful faces but bodies as capable as lower-level Espers skillfully killed monsters. Siwoo keenly observed these fellow guides who roamed the battlefield alongside Espers.
[They’re different from you, Guide-nim. You don’t need to go that far.]
Seojun tried to divert Siwoo’s attention. He emphasized that guides directly participating in combat were extremely rare and insisted that not just anyone could do it. If he had known this would stimulate Siwoo’s already overflowing enthusiasm, he would have kept his mouth shut.
“Put more strength in your right leg here, yes, like that.”
Geonho placed his hand on Siwoo’s slender thigh, pressing close to his back to correct his sword stance. In a state of intense concentration, Siwoo didn’t even notice Geonho’s pants front subtly touching his behind. He focused solely on the sword.
“Want to cut one?”
Geonho, grinning at Siwoo’s passionate attitude, brought over a baby monster with his psychic power. He chose the least dangerous-looking one.
Filled with confidence, Siwoo took a fighting stance with a shout. Thanks to his good appearance and the many examples he had seen, he exuded quite a charismatic aura.
Geonho whistled, while Seojun sighed. Simultaneously, Siwoo raised his sword high and attacked the monster with his own battle cry, “Hiyah!”
Just before the blade that had missed the monster could hit the ground, Geonho used his psychic power to shove the monster’s neck under the blade. It happened in an instant, so of course, Siwoo didn’t realize this.
“Oh, it’s cut! I killed it!”
Siwoo jumped in surprise at seeing the monster instantly killed. Delighted by Siwoo’s joy, Geonho also smiled broadly and lavished praise on him.
“You two are having fun.”
Jihan, who had just arrived at the scene, watched this spectacle. Seojun finally felt relieved and asked Jihan for help.
“Hyung, please stop them. Guide-nim might get hurt at this rate.”
Jihan gave an OK sign with his fingers. While it was nice to see Siwoo jumping around excitedly like a rabbit, he couldn’t leave them be.
“Geonho, are you underestimating our Guide-nim now?”
Geonho and Siwoo, who had been laughing happily, frowned together and turned their heads. Receiving intense gazes, Jihan revealed the truth with a calm smile.
“What?”
Siwoo made a scary face upon learning that Geonho had moved the monster to help him. His sense of betrayal was as great as his earlier joy.
“You deceived me?!”
“I just nudged it a little. Really, just this much.”
“That’s not true. Seojun, he pushed it about this much, right?”
“Yes, hyung. That’s right. Wouldn’t that mean Geonho hyung killed it?”
Jihan and Seojun joined forces to paint Geonho as a fraud. Siwoo kicked at Geonho, telling him to get lost. Although Geonho said he would teach him properly again, Siwoo’s trust in him had already hit rock bottom.
“You should teach properly. With our Guide-nim’s sense, he’d learn quickly anyway.”
Jihan seized the opportunity to approach Siwoo closely, intending to take on the role of teacher. Seojun wanted to step in too, but he wasn’t particularly skilled with weapons. His combat skills were still lacking compared to his hyungs.
“Let’s see. For our Guide-nim.”
Jihan naturally spread Siwoo’s arms and stroked them as if measuring their length.
“Considering your height, your arms and legs are long, and your body is flexible, so a dagger would suit you better. It takes time to build strength, but you’ll quickly develop a sense for knife-wielding.”
He said that a heavy sword wasn’t suitable for the physically weak Siwoo and helped him choose a new weapon. Since this wasn’t wrong, Geonho, despite his sulky expression, didn’t argue.
“Or do you want to use this? This is more my style.”
Jihan created a weapon with his ability and held it out to Siwoo. It was a whip with white tail fur on the handle. Siwoo immediately plucked off the fur from the handle upon receiving it.
He thought a dagger would be fine, but a whip wouldn’t be bad either. He liked it even more after seeing a veteran guide wrap a monster’s body with a whip and slam it to the ground.
“…Are you really going to use that?”
“Yes.”
Jihan was slightly taken aback seeing Siwoo hold the whip he had jokingly brought out.
“That’s difficult to handle. A sword would be better.”
“No, I like this.”
Siwoo touched the sturdy whip with a satisfied expression. He already looked like he considered it his own.
“If Han Siwoo gets hurt, you’re dead,” Geonho muttered softly towards Jihan, who had given Siwoo the dangerous weapon. Even Seojun, who had been cheering for Jihan, seemed to think this wasn’t right.
But it was already too late. Seeing Siwoo’s sparkling eyes as he held the whip, Jihan swallowed a sigh with a smile. He should have been less playful.
“Ugh.”
Thirty minutes into the new training, a red mark appeared on Siwoo’s arm. He had accidentally hit himself with the mishandled whip and was now cradling his smarting arm.
“Are you okay?”
Geonho rushed over, acting as if Siwoo’s arm had fallen off. Jihan’s expression wasn’t bright either. Seojun quickly brought a first aid kit from the barracks.
“Let me see. Is it bleeding?”
“Guide-nim, let’s apply medicine first. Give me your arm.”
“We should disinfect it first. Let me have a look.”
The three gathered in front of Siwoo and opened the first aid kit. The sight of three large Espers hunched over, searching for medicine, looked quite out of place.
“It’s fine. It’s just a graze.”
“Still, we should apply medicine.”
“That’s right. We should.”
Geonho, not knowing much about medicine, left the first aid kit to Jihan and Seojun while examining Siwoo’s arm. Jihan decided to deal with Geonho later and focused on taking care of Siwoo first.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
Siwoo shrugged ambiguously at Geonho’s serious question. It stung a little, but it didn’t really hurt.
“It hurts a little.”
He wondered why he gave such an answer. Even he was puzzled by his own response.
“Hyung, he says it hurts!”
“I heard. Wait a moment.”
Jihan quickly took out disinfectant and hemostatic tools. The fact that he took out hemostatic tools even though there was no bleeding showed that he was quite flustered too. Seojun, who was even more surprised, was holding medical scissors and a needle, though it wasn’t clear what he intended to do with them. Siwoo found those more threatening than the whip.
Siwoo almost burst out laughing at their foolish behavior. But out of consideration for these guys who were making a fuss for his sake, he didn’t laugh. Instead, he changed the subject.
“What are those things you’re wearing?”
Siwoo’s fingertip pointed at each of their thick wrists in turn.
“Why are you all wearing the same thing?”
What Siwoo pointed out were bracelets. Geonho, Jihan, and even the youngest were wearing identical bracelets.
When he had asked before, he was told they were just bracelets, but that didn’t seem to be the case. They looked special somehow.
“Are they like control bracelets?”
He asked, wondering if they were similar to the bracelets worn by leaders. However, judging by the youngest’s expression, that didn’t seem to be it either.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
