What Kind of Relationship (10)
For not having done much Guiding in the past few days, Sa Hae-geon’s emotions weren’t coming through. While this was a relief, I also felt tense at the thought that the conditions for his emotions transferring to me might be different.
Guiding while making eye contact with him felt a bit strange. Sa Hae-geon, who usually lowered his gaze shyly or looked elsewhere, was now silently receiving Guiding with his lips tightly closed. Perhaps that’s why it felt unfamiliar. An inexplicable tingling arose in my chest again.
Since coming to Sa Hae-geon’s house, my skin occasionally became dry like this. Is it okay for the air to be this dry in an Esper’s house who handles water? It seemed like a good idea to discuss this after the Guiding session.
Why doesn’t he use his innate ability to maintain air humidity without a humidifier? Espers are all the same, so well-off. They should be thinking about reducing utility bills even a little.
Suddenly, Sa Hae-geon, sensing that I was looking at him disapprovingly, asked with a clear face:
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing. Just focus on the Guiding. You can close your eyes if you want.”
“Okay.”
As he answered, Sa Hae-geon gently closed his eyes. His eyelashes, which seemed even longer than mine, fluttered and covered the skin under his eyes. I wondered if it was itchy. Up close, Sa Hae-geon’s eyelashes were dense and thick like a lush forest.
Transparent pale cheeks, a delicately shaped nose bridge, lips with a faint pink tinge full of vitality. It was the first time I’d examined Sa Hae-geon’s features so closely, and it was quite pleasing to look at.
Perhaps because I was too absorbed in looking, I made another mistake with him.
My hand moved on its own, tickling his eyelashes. Sa Hae-geon, who had been keeping his eyes tightly shut, flinched in surprise at my sudden touch. Soon, the deep blue eyes hidden under his eyelids were revealed.
Sa Hae-geon’s pupils trembled finely from side to side, seemingly confused at finding me so close to his face. His pale cheeks flushed red. Sa Hae-geon stared straight at me, holding his breath.
A sudden turbulence arose in the dark eyes looking directly at me. Neither of us spoke. Or rather, it was close to impossible. Strangely, it was difficult to open our mouths.
We stared at each other silently for a long time. We remained like that for over ten minutes, forgetting the reality that we were in the middle of Guiding and receiving Guiding.
“Meow!”
Cream’s cry, as if asking what we were doing, finally brought us back to our senses.
“Uh…”
“…Ah.”
My head felt fuzzy for some reason. How much Guiding had I done? Calculating the amount of Guiding was as natural as breathing for a Guide, a very ordinary task. But this time, I couldn’t calculate at all. Perhaps it was because I had been distracted by examining various parts of Sa Hae-geon’s face at some point.
I had been so focused on observing his pale, clean skin, thin long eyelashes, eyes that seemed to hold the deep sea, and lips full of vitality in turn, that I had momentarily forgotten I was even doing Guiding, so it was perhaps natural.
I sat dazed for a moment, then suddenly stood up and spoke to Cream for no reason.
“Cream, have you finished your grooming?”
“Meow!”
After giving a response I couldn’t even remember to Cream’s meowing, I returned to my room. The clock came into view in my slightly shaking eyes.
12:34 PM. Perhaps because we had a late breakfast, more time had passed than I thought. Since I’m planning to go to the training ground with Sa Hae-geon tomorrow, it might be good to catch up on sleep when I can…
“Maybe I’ll take a nap.”
Muttering that, I lay down on my side, holding Cream who had just followed me into the room. Holding a warm, soft, and gentle living creature in my arms brought a sense of relief. I didn’t care about acid reflux or anything else. What I needed now was proper rest.
Why did I want to rest so much when I hadn’t even done much Guiding for Sa Hae-geon? Is this the aftermath of focusing too much on Sa Hae-geon’s face? My whole body felt overwhelmingly languid. I buried my face in Cream’s soft belly, and with her thin, dense fur sticking to my clothes and skin everywhere, I gradually drifted off to sleep.
* * *
The next afternoon. I was in Sa Hae-geon’s car, heading to the training ground. Since it was my first time going to the training ground without a blindfold, I was absent-mindedly looking out the window. Sa Hae-geon, who seemed to be focusing only on driving, spoke up.
“Hyung, are you feeling okay?”
He seemed to think that I had suddenly gone to my room to take a nap yesterday because of Guiding him. How weak does he think I am…
“I just took a nap to replenish my energy for today’s training. I wasn’t tired or anything. Besides, I usually sleep a lot.”
“I know that, but… you seemed to sleep especially long yesterday.”
It was a bit funny that he knew I tend to sleep a lot. I wonder how much he knows about me. Maybe he knows more about me than I do myself.
“It’s not like that, so don’t worry. I slept well in the dungeon too, you know.”
“That’s good then. By the way, what kind of place is a dungeon?”
“Are you suddenly interested in dungeons?”
I thought he wasn’t particularly interested since he rarely asked about dungeons or the Center except in the early days of confinement, but I guess I was wrong. I tried to choose words that he might find interesting before speaking.
“Dungeons are… fascinating. They have various life forms and environments created besides monsters, so my impressions change every time I enter one.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. While there are places where it’s hard to survive even a single day, there are also places so beautiful that you think you could stay for more than a week. They look just like famous resorts.”
“It seems like you can’t see such places often.”
“Well, that’s true so far, but you never know. There’s been a theory recently that even dungeons that seem to occur indiscriminately have rules. They say dungeons are affected by seasons, weather, temperature, humidity, and region.”
“Do you feel that way too, hyung?”
“Hmm… Well, I think I’ve seen the same dungeon once every 2 or 3 years.”
Sa Hae-geon hummed and nodded at my words, then asked another question.
“Among the dungeons you’ve been to, which was the most interesting?”
“A dungeon with a floating island terrain. It was surrounded by sea, with clouds encircling the island. The clouds must have had a different composition from those in the real world because you could walk on them. It was also fascinating to see monsters that looked like unicorns. It’s one of the places I’d like to visit again.”
I deliberately chose a mysterious dungeon and described it in detail. I’m not sure if it caught Sa Hae-geon’s interest. Of course, not all dungeons are peaceful and mysterious. But I hoped he would find my explanation at least somewhat interesting.
It’s too unfortunate and difficult to spend a lifetime unaffiliated after awakening as an Esper. You never know when a position at the Central Center might open up. Of course, it would be best if a position opened up in the Central Center Field Team 1 that Sa Hae-geon wants so badly, but that wasn’t easy.
After the Shin Woo-jun incident, the Esper Center Director, who was greatly shocked, temporarily suspended the search and recruitment of Espers. As a result, the Central Center was in a very difficult situation where people were leaving but no new talent was coming in.
I glanced at Sa Hae-geon’s reaction and casually added words he might like.
“Let’s go together sometime.”
Sure enough, I could see Sa Hae-geon’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. He gripped the wheel slightly and asked in a trembling voice:
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Really. Why would I lie about that?”
“Then will we share a tent too?”
However, I doubted my ears at the word that followed.
“…Huh? Tent?”
“Yes. In the movie we saw before, the Esper and Guide shared a tent, right?”
“Oh, yeah, they did. But I explained then, remember? Usually, Guides share tents with other Guides, and Espers with other Espers. Most people who share tents are in a pair relationship.”
“Still, just in case…”
“Well… it’s not entirely impossible. If you want, we could share one.”
Of course, when tents were scarce or people were particularly close, they would use tents without such distinctions. I couldn’t be certain such a thing would happen between Sa Hae-geon and me, but I couldn’t dampen the spirits of the guy who was smiling as if he was happy.
