2) Nan-gyeom
The beginning of the incident went like this.
Every spring, a large number of newly awakened ability users entered the Center. Their manifestation periods all differed, but after receiving training at regional Centers, they were only assigned in the spring. However, due to severe manpower shortages, the regional Centers were on the verge of collapse, and some people were assigned before even completing their basic education.
To help those people, the Central Center operated a mentor-mentee system. Naturally, the Guide Center Director had no intention of leaving the Guide Center’s star, Yeo Eun-jo, alone…
As a result, Eun-jo ended up taking responsibility for a Guide who had just graduated high school.
Cute.
Inside the Guiding Room. Looking at the rookie Guide, Heo Yu-jin, sitting quietly across from him, Eun-jo’s lips moved faintly.
A white school uniform shirt, an expressionless face above it, and closely cropped hair. He wasn’t the type to act cute or overly friendly, but… there was something about Heo Yu-jin.
Like a carefully peeled potato.
It was similar to the impression he’d gotten when he first saw Heo Nan-gyeom. If that one was a handsome potato, this one was closer to a potato that had just started sprouting.
Focused, brows furrowed, Heo Yu-jin sensed his gaze and looked up at Eun-jo.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No, you’re just cute.”
The more he looked, the more even the way he spoke resembled Heo Nan-gyeom. That particularly neat manner of speaking.
Chuckling softly, Eun-jo lifted the hand they were holding together.
“You just have to do this during Guiding too. As long as you’re holding on, energy transfers over, so you don’t need to worry.”
“……”
“You don’t have to tense up like this either.”
“……Ah.”
Only then did Heo Yu-jin realize he’d been gripping Eun-jo’s hand as tightly as a lifeline. He inhaled sharply.
As he tried to pull his hand away, he suddenly stopped, then slowly interlocked their fingers again.
Still holding hands, Eun-jo turned his gaze back toward the monitor.
After manifesting as an S-Rank, the Espers had gone absolutely berserk, so he’d been excluded from gate missions and outside assignments. Normally, immediate Guiding was the rule, but someone had threatened that if an accident happened, Team A would be wiped out entirely, so things ended up this way.
With outside work reduced, paperwork had instead flooded in. Eun-jo’s hands moved busily as he wrote up the previous day’s Guiding report.
Heo Yu-jin quietly watched him.
His elegant fingers tapping the keyboard, wrists and face pale enough for veins to show through, slightly lowered eyes, and beneath them, neatly shaped lips—his gaze lingered there.
…Pretty.
In person, he was several times prettier than the magazine photos he’d seen after first manifesting. If he hadn’t known Eun-jo was an S-Rank Guide, he would’ve naturally assumed he was an Esper.
When he first faced Eun-jo, he hadn’t even been able to breathe properly.
It would’ve been better if I were an Esper instead.
Why did I have to manifest as a Guide…
Keeping his lips tightly shut, Heo Yu-jin finally spoke.
“…Guide-nim.”
“Hm?”
As Eun-jo’s gaze turned toward him, Heo Yu-jin’s mouth loosened slightly.
“Does anyone ever change abilities?”
“A Guide becoming an Esper?”
“Yes.”
Completely removing his hands from the keyboard, Eun-jo narrowed his eyes.
Then he clasped Heo Yu-jin’s hand with both of his.
“Why? Is someone bullying you?”
Though Heo Yu-jin immediately shook his head, the suspicion in Eun-jo’s eyes showed no sign of fading.
It was rare for a twenty-year-old who had just graduated to enter the Center, so maybe some Esper had been forcing him into Guiding.
Or maybe a Guide could be bullying him too.
Thinking of Kim Min-jae, who’d been demoted to a regional Center again, Eun-jo asked once more.
“You really don’t have anyone bothering you?”
“No. I was just wondering if cases like that existed…”
Only after asking several times did Eun-jo finally sigh.
“Espers might look cool right now, but they’re basically walking time bombs, so it’s not all that great.”
“……”
“They have to risk their lives every time they go through Gates too. Honestly, being a Guide protected inside the Center might be better.”
“……”
“I know holding hands with huge rough-looking guys sounds horrifying. But it’s work.”
“……”
“If you stay around long enough, there’ll come a day when you get to hold a pretty noona’s hand too.”
As if soothing a child, Eun-jo spoke gently, and Heo Yu-jin’s lips pressed tightly together.
Eun-jo lightly patted the back of his hand and turned his gaze away again.
Then—
“…….Then do you also have a pretty noona, Guide-nim?”
“Hm?”
Eun-jo tilted his head.
“Haven’t you heard yet?”
“Heard what…”
Their eyes met, and Heo Yu-jin’s pupils sparkled brightly enough to make him mistakenly think even his own reflection inside them might shine.
Eun-jo’s eyes curved softly into crescents.
“Not a pretty noona. I have five pretty husbands.”
Heo Yu-jin’s body froze solid.
Five pretty husbands…
Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered classmates whispering about it while reading news articles.
That a Guide had appeared in Team A, where only S-Rank Espers gathered. And that four Espers had Imprinted on that Guide.
He’d half believed it was fake.
With a dazed expression, Heo Yu-jin lowered his head deeply.
Then why five?
They said there were four Imprinted Espers. And there was no reason for Eun-jo to lie and say five instead of four.
Heo Yu-jin’s thoughts spun rapidly.
No way.
The closely shaved potato shot upright.
Am I the fifth one!?
After trailing after Eun-jo for two weeks, he’d realized there was practically no one Eun-jo spent time with besides the Imprinted Espers. He only exchanged greetings with a few Center staff members.
If he had to name someone close to him, it would probably be Security Team Guide Park Hee-won.
But it’s not that guy.
No matter how generously you looked at it, those two were just tteokbokki buddies. There was nothing sticky between them.
The only sticky thing between those two was tteokbokki sauce.
Rolling his eyes around, Heo Yu-jin tightened his grip on the hand they were holding.
He was only twenty. He’d never once considered polygamy, but if it was Eun-jo, he felt like he could handle it.
Completely unaware of what the sprouting potato in front of him was thinking, Eun-jo smiled brightly.
“Then I—”
At that moment—
BANG!
The door slammed open.
Startled, Eun-jo’s eyes widened.
“Heo Nan-gyeom-ssi?”
Seeing Heo Nan-gyeom walk in, Eun-jo’s eyes widened even more.
Park Se-yul or Jin Mu-seong barging in at random hours would’ve been one thing, but this was someone who had never once entered first before.
Without answering, he walked in with a rigid expression.
Then he stopped in front of the two of them.
“……”
His eyes lowered to their clasped hands.
His gaze was different from usual, but unfortunately, Eun-jo had become too accustomed to the eyes of all kinds of lunatics to notice.
“What is it? Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No.”
After a short silence, Heo Nan-gyeom shook his head.
If it were up to him, he wanted to say he was hurting and needed to be held, but if he did that, Eun-jo would obviously worry.
“The Center Director asked me to check whether the mentor classes were running smoothly.”
Then his gaze slowly shifted toward Heo Yu-jin.
“I suppose he’s worried because the mentee is young.”
At the word young, Heo Yu-jin’s head whipped around.
Their gazes clashed briefly in the air before separating.
“Uh… the Center Director?”
“Yes.”
That man wasn’t usually someone so considerate.
Even when they’d crossed paths this morning, Guide Center Director Jung Young-soo had only rambled about interviews before disappearing. At the very end, he’d merely asked about Team Leader Park Se-yul’s mood. He hadn’t even brought up the rookie Guide.
“Hm.”
Eun-jo tilted his head.
“So you barged in without even knocking? Like it was some kind of disaster situation?”
“……He said it was urgent.”
No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.
Because the potato who wouldn’t even flinch if the Center Director nagged him to death… was Heo Nan-gyeom.
Looking at him standing there like a wooden totem pole, Eun-jo held out his free hand.
Even without being called, Heo Nan-gyeom placed his hand on top of it like a well-trained dog.
Feeling the firm palm, Eun-jo grinned.
“You’re lying, aren’t you?”
“……Yes.”
Quietly, Heo Nan-gyeom turned his head away.
“Who is this person?”
Heo Yu-jin, who had silently waited, finally asked.
Ever since hearing the word young, he’d been glaring at Heo Nan-gyeom the entire time.
“Ah, our Esper.”
At the word our, both of their expressions subtly changed.
Heo Nan-gyeom’s softened slightly.
Heo Yu-jin’s stiffened.
Without noticing either expression, Eun-jo lifted the hand he was holding with Heo Yu-jin and added,
“And this is our rookie Guide.”
At that moment, a crack appeared in Heo Nan-gyeom’s solid expression.
***
After that, Heo Nan-gyeom stuck to them constantly.
Whether they were going to the cafeteria for lunch, attending lectures for all the rookie ability users, or doing practical exercises—he was there.
Whenever Heo Yu-jin wasn’t around, he’d disappear for a bit, but the moment Yu-jin returned, he reappeared like a ghost.
Even if Eun-jo tried to interfere, what could he say? Heo Nan-gyeom merely stood there silently the entire time, so there was no excuse to chase him away.
Feels like this happened before too.
When they first met, Heo Nan-gyeom had also followed right behind him constantly.
Always offering him that teddy bear-patterned handkerchief whenever he needed it.
The problem was Heo Yu-jin.
Eun-jo secretly glanced at him as they walked side by side.
His lips were slightly puffed out in a visible pout. It seemed Heo Nan-gyeom trailing behind them bothered him.
“When is that person leaving?”
Heo Yu-jin asked while repeatedly sneaking glances at Heo Nan-gyeom.
“Hmm… not sure.”
“If he’s an Esper from Team A, shouldn’t he be busy? I haven’t seen any of the other Espers, so why is he the only one with so much free time?”
“Espers don’t spend all their time working.”
Even while answering him one by one, Eun-jo was just as confused.
After all, among the people hardest to understand, Heo Nan-gyeom ranked second only to Jin Mu-seong.
Moving a little closer to Heo Yu-jin, Eun-jo raised a hand to cover his mouth.
“Is he making you uncomfortable?”
“……”
At the sudden closeness, Heo Yu-jin inhaled sharply.
His gaze locked onto Eun-jo’s face as if nailed there.
In all twenty years of his life, he had never seen someone this beautiful.
There was still plenty of life left to live, but Heo Yu-jin was certain this would also be the last time.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of his heartbeat rang loudly in his ears.
Even when kids his age talked endlessly about dating or anniversaries, he’d never cared.
But no matter how inexperienced he was, even he knew what this feeling was.
“Yu-jin-ah?”
Seeing him gradually redden from the neck upward, Eun-jo tilted his head.
“Your face is…”
The fingers Heo Yu-jin always secretly watched were just about to touch his forehead—
A large hand gently caught Eun-jo’s wrist.
It was Heo Nan-gyeom.
“His face is bright red. I think he ate something bad at lunch.”
“Huh?”
“I think the freshwater snails were bad…”
Naturally, his hand slid from Eun-jo’s wrist to his hand.
Interlocking their fingers, he pulled Eun-jo one step away from the young and shameless Guide.
“I think the freshwater snails in the soybean paste soup had gone bad.”
“D-Do freshwater snails spoil too?”
Completely oblivious to the nonsense he was making up, Eun-jo only looked worriedly at him.
Heo Nan-gyeom gazed at his Guide with affectionate eyes.
“Yes. They do.”
Gently stroking the back of Eun-jo’s hand, he shifted his gaze elsewhere.
“Very young freshwater snails are fragile.”
At the word young, Heo Yu-jin instantly narrowed his eyes.
The shy redness from before had completely vanished.
“They spoil quickly too. That’s why young specimens usually aren’t used. It seems one slipped in by mistake.”
“Not because they’re fresh?”
With a deeply twisted expression, Heo Yu-jin shot back.
Expressionless, Heo Nan-gyeom nodded.
“They were fresh. Right up until the moment before they spoiled.”
Calmly answering, he pulled something from inside his jacket.
Inside a transparent pill case divided by days of the week, medicine glittered.
The multivitamins Eun-jo had prepared for him.
“Take it.”
Only after pressing the pill case into Heo Yu-jin’s hand did he finally start walking away.
Watching his broad back, Eun-jo thought—
Heo Nan-gyeom was acting a little strange.
***
What kind of person even acts like that?
Heo Yu-jin shot a glare at the man who had even followed them into the shared Guiding Room.
Had he assigned someone to monitor him or something? The moment Yu-jin entered the Center, the man appeared beside Eun-jo like a ghost. Before he knew it, he’d blended in and stayed until Yu-jin left the Center.
Today was no different.
Even while Eun-jo was showing him around the Center, Heo Nan-gyeom hovered nearby the entire time.
Having a giant man built like a door standing there like folding-screen wallpaper was unbelievably distracting.
At this point, isn’t this basically pathological jealousy?
People said Heo Nan-gyeom was the most decent one in Team A, but that was a complete lie.
Heo Yu-jin narrowed his eyes.
What decent person looks at their Guide like that…
Leaning against the wall, Heo Nan-gyeom’s eyes constantly chased after Eun-jo.
His face looked indifferent, but his eyes couldn’t lie.
A thick gaze drenched in greed.
An obsessive stare, like he was looking at something that belonged to him.
“You have a pager, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
