The dorm descended into chaos in an instant. Flattened against the floor, Eun-jo watched in a daze as the bed, desk, door, and walls were all blown away. It was a battlefield—pure and utter mayhem.
Amid the destruction, Jin Mu-seong casually buttoned up his shirt and adjusted his tie with practiced ease. Taking advantage of the moment when the other two were focused on each other, he made his way over to Eun-jo.
“That bastard.”
An icy spear came flying at him, but Jin Mu-seong deflected it with a flick of his finger. Then, with Eun-jo still staring up in shock, he leaned down and kissed his forehead.
“I’ll be back.”
“Don’t go…!”
Back, my ass. Before Eun-jo could let out a full string of curses, Jin Mu-seong was already in the thick of it. With his telekinesis added to the mix, the dorm began tearing itself apart at an even faster rate.
Before long, the ceiling and walls had completely vanished. Eun-jo hadn’t moved an inch, but somehow he was no longer indoors. The moment he realized he was now out in the open, a jolt of panic shot through him, and he leapt to his feet.
“You’re all seriously insane!”
His scream didn’t seem to reach them. None of the three espers came down from the air. As Jung Tae-seok charged forward, stepping over rubble, Park Se-yul slashed at him with a spear of ice. Crack! A pillar struck by the attack splintered down the middle.
“Do you even know where the hell we are?!”
“……”
“You’re wrecking someone else’s Center, for god’s sake! Get down here and talk like normal human beings!”
“……”
“I said TALK, you lunatics!”
Instead of responding, Jin Mu-seong launched himself at Park Se-yul. Park Se-yul dodged the punch by a hair’s breadth and countered by freezing Jin Mu-seong’s forearm.
Boom! Crash!
The battle was so intense it was nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye. Eun-jo stumbled back to avoid flying shards of ice. Thud. His back hit something solid. When he turned, he saw a wooden pillar.
At some point, he’d been blasted all the way from the dorm to the park. As he stood there, stunned, an alarm blared through the Center, and the security team came pouring out.
“Hey!”
Eun-jo sprinted toward the team, shouting. Whether they heard him or not, Jung Tae-seok got there first.
“Ah—!”
In a flash, he snatched the gun from an officer’s holster and leapt back into the fight.
“Jung Tae-seok! No!”
The moment gunfire rang out, the radio chatter among the security team grew frantic. Eun-jo rushed to the team leader at the front and yelled,
“You have to stop them! If you don’t, they’ll level the whole damn Center!”
“We’ve already contacted Central. We just have to wait. Our Center doesn’t have any S-Rank Espers who can stop them.”
The security team looked just as overwhelmed. Local Centers usually only had to deal with things like rookie Espers losing control, so there was no one here who could handle an S-Rank. All the high-level recruits—A-Rank and above—were snatched up by Central the moment they appeared.
“For now, the best we can do is keep civilians safe. We can’t stop an S-Rank. If you get caught in the crossfire… survival isn’t likely. Please, Guide, fall back.”
“When’s Central getting here?!”
“That… I’m not sure…”
“You reported this to the Director, right?”
“All Team A incidents are reported directly to her. She’s probably already on her way.”
“……”
Just then, Eun-jo’s pager started vibrating violently in his pocket. The screen lit up with one name—Director Park Joo-hee. The moment he answered, her calm voice came through.
— Guide Yeo Eun-jo. Are you alright?
“I’m fine, but…”
The Center sure wasn’t. Before he could finish, BOOM! Another explosion shook the ground. The noise must have carried through, because Director Park muttered a curse under her breath.
— Those goddamn bastards…
She barked something at someone nearby, then came back on the line.
— Stay out of this. If you get hurt, it’ll be a far bigger problem.
“At this rate, the entire Center’s going down…”
Kim Dan-seop, his handler, appeared next to the security team leader at some point. Boom. Crash. Each explosion made his face twist deeper in despair.
“Oh no… our Center…”
His voice trembled with disbelief, completely unlike the man who’d been so giddy about Team A just an hour ago. Watching his pale, stricken face, Eun-jo let out a heavy sigh.
He couldn’t let this go on. If he just stood by, those lunatics would tear everything apart.
“As long as I don’t get hurt, right?”
— Guide Yeo Eun-jo. If you don’t listen either…!
“I’ll do what I can. Please take care of the rest, Director.”
— Guide Yeo Eun-jo. Guide Yeo Eun-…
Eun-jo ended the call and quickly scanned his surroundings. Thankfully, there was still a fire extinguisher mounted on one of the remaining walls.
He sprinted for it, prompting the security team to shout after him.
“Guide! It’s dangerous!”
No shit. But if this went on, it would be just as dangerous for everyone. And let’s face it—he had played a part in getting them to this point.
Snatching the extinguisher, Eun-jo charged straight toward the chaos. Through the dust and debris, he spotted the three of them—Boyfriend 1, Boyfriend 2, and Candidate 3.
Taking a deep breath, Eun-jo screamed with everything he had.
“BABY!”
At that exact moment, all three men—locked in midair combat—snapped their heads toward him in unison. Eun-jo didn’t waste a second. He yanked the safety pin from the fire extinguisher, gripped the hose, and slammed down the handle.
Fwoooosh! A plume of white powder burst out, blanketing the area. The three men, suddenly coated in foam like startled cats, froze midair and turned to stare at Eun-jo. When a rough cough escaped him—Cough!—Park Se-yul froze the airborne powder into ice crystals, and Jin Mu-seong immediately dragged them down to the ground. They were as coordinated as they were when they were fighting.
“Eun-jo hyung! Are you okay?!”
“What a stupid thing to—”
“……”
As the three of them rushed toward him, Eun-jo let the fire extinguisher clatter to the ground. There was only one conclusion to be drawn.
If he couldn’t fix this…
Put everything on hold.
His knees buckled, and his body tilted. Just before he hit the ground, strong arms caught him. And with that, his world faded to black.
***
After Eun-jo collapsed, the three men came to a silent, mutual truce.
One—no digging into past relationships.
Two—no physical contact or progression of any kind without Eun-jo’s clear consent. (Yes, that includes touching.)
Three—all decisions would be made according to Yeo Eun-jo’s will.
The ceasefire only happened after Director Park Joo-hee came charging in, screaming bloody murder about how if they kept it up, it wouldn’t be the Center breaking—it’d be Eun-jo’s body. Naturally, the Guide Center Director, Jung Young-soo, who showed up shortly after, gave them a long, scathing lecture too.
Thanks to that, Eun-jo was spared the role of “the guy two Team A Espers and a Team B leader went to war over.” Or rather…
It’s not so much ‘resolved’ as it is ‘pending.’
It felt like the calm before a storm. Honestly, he would’ve preferred getting yelled at. This? This was more like standing barefoot on a sizzling grill, slowly roasting to death.
Eun-jo let out a long, weary sigh as he sat inside the private Guiding Room that his handler, Kim Dan-seop, had arranged. Across from him sat a rookie Guide, mid-sentence, who flinched at the sound.
That’s when Eun-jo remembered—Oh right, I’m in the middle of a session.
He waved a hand apologetically. “Ah, sorry. My head’s kind of a mess right now…”
“No worries.”
The rookie chuckled awkwardly and smiled. “I think I’d be just as rattled if I were in your shoes. Still… even with all that, I’d love to be a Team Guide like you someday…”
The rumor had spread fast—two Espers from Team A and Team B’s leader nearly leveling the Center in a brawl over Guide Yeo Eun-jo. The more time passed, the bigger the story grew. Now, Eun-jo was basically a legend: the mythical Guide with an entire jewelry box in the Guiding Room just to store all his couple rings.
Reactions had split into two extremes. One side was pissed—How could a Team Guide act like that? The other was fascinated—Wait, how could a Team Guide pull that off?! Judging by this kid’s eyes sparkling with curiosity, they were clearly in the latter camp.
Eun-jo scanned the baby-faced Guide. Probably barely twenty. Still had soft peach fuzz on his cheeks. The kind of wide-eyed innocence that hadn’t yet been chewed up by reality.
“Don’t become a Team Guide.”
“Huh? Wh-What?”
“Just stay a Center-based Guide. No, better yet—if you can, transfer to office duty.”
Leaving the flustered rookie blinking, Eun-jo opened his desk drawer—and sighed. Inside was a colorful array of chocolates. He glared at them like they were evidence at a crime scene.
“When the hell did they sneak all this in…”
No one was making a physical move on him, sure—but mentally? He was exhausted. Clause Three of the ceasefire—All decisions follow Yeo Eun-jo’s wishes—had each of the three men trying to woo him in their own way. And the pressure was building.
