Only then did Heo Yu-jin snap out of his thoughts and nod.
When he held out the pager he’d kept in his pocket, Eun-jo grabbed the other side.
“You have to reserve the shared Guiding Rooms in advance. If someone walks in halfway through, it gets awkward for everyone.”
Their fingertips hovered close enough to touch.
Pretending not to notice, Heo Yu-jin moved his hand even closer and tapped the corner of the screen.
“Here?”
“No, this menu.”
Eun-jo caught his hand and guided it farther across the screen.
“All the reservation-related stuff is over here. Maybe because there are so many high-level personnel at the Center, the system’s actually really good.”
“Ah… I heard pagers can do a lot of things.”
“Right?”
They won’t even fix broken Guiding Rooms quickly, though.
Muttering under his breath, Eun-jo tapped the screen. Stealing glances at his neat profile, Heo Yu-jin inhaled slowly. A sweet, ticklish scent, similar to Eun-jo himself, seeped into his nose.
Yu-jin had probably already learned how to use the pager during lectures, but Eun-jo seemed to think reviewing it once more would help. Closing the reservation window, he showed him the Esper schedule chart and location tracker.
Their heads pressed close together.
Who knew what there was to see on such a tiny screen—they stayed glued together for quite a while. Every so often, bright laughter slipped out between them.
At that, Heo Nan-gyeom pushed himself off the wall.
Maybe Eun-jo suited being a daycare teacher better than he did. Kids never felt shy around pretty people. If Eun-jo read storybooks in that gentle voice of his, even adults would gather around him.
The problem was himself.
Now… he didn’t like it very much anymore.
The fact that he wanted to immediately pull that tiny chestnut burr away from Eun-jo proved it.
Sneaking a glance toward Heo Nan-gyeom, Heo Yu-jin edged even closer to Eun-jo.
Then he grabbed the sleeve of Eun-jo’s shirt and tugged it.
“Guide-nim.”
“Hm?”
“Um… I want to try what we learned during lecture.”
“What we learned?”
Without realizing it, Heo Yu-jin swallowed hard before speaking quietly.
“Instead of hand-holding… would it be alright if we practiced other kinds of Guiding too?”
At that moment, Heo Nan-gyeom’s patience finally snapped. He strode toward them. In the blink of an eye, he appeared beside them and wrapped an arm around Eun-jo’s waist.
“Uh…?”
His view suddenly rose. Swept instantly into Nan-gyeom’s arms, Eun-jo blinked rapidly.
“Heo Nan-gyeom-ssi?”
“I’m hurting.”
“What?”
Who? Heo Nan-gyeom?
Staring at him with bewildered eyes, Eun-jo watched as he calmly added,
“I think my Guiding is insufficient. My whole body hurts.”
Avoiding his gaze, Nan-gyeom casually turned toward the door of the Guiding Room.
Heo Yu-jin, who had been standing there blankly, finally came to his senses and grabbed the hem of Eun-jo’s clothes.
“Th-Then what about the Guiding practice…!”
Nan-gyeom abruptly stopped walking and stared directly at Yu-jin’s hand. Under that sharp gaze, the strength drained from Yu-jin’s fingers.
“I’ll help you with that later.”
Without hesitation, he turned and walked away.
***
The place he brought Eun-jo to was another shared Guiding Room directly across the hall.
Though calling it a shared Guiding Room was generous—it was just a room with a single bed for emergencies when contact Guiding was suddenly needed.
Carefully setting Eun-jo down on the bed, Nan-gyeom sat beside him.
“Haah…”
Letting out a low breath, he buried his face into Eun-jo’s shoulder. With that huge body leaning onto him, it felt like being pinned down by an enormous dog.
“Heo Nan-gyeom-ssi.”
“……”
“What’s wrong with you? Hm?”
“……”
No answer came back.
Did his constitution suddenly change or something?
Thinking back to the medical examination reports he’d checked separately, Eun-jo wrapped his arms around him.
Even if it were fake illness, at this point he should’ve said it was fine already. The fact that he stayed silent made Eun-jo uneasy.
“Are you really hurting somewhere? Lift your face and let me see. Heo Nan-gyeom-ssi. I’m seriously worried.”
Flinch.
His body stopped moving.
Instead of replying, Nan-gyeom slowly fumbled around with his hand. After several attempts, he found Eun-jo’s hand and quietly intertwined their fingers.
Seeing him silently lace their fingers together, Eun-jo let out a helpless laugh.
“You used to tremble just from holding hands. Guess you’re used to it now?”
“……I had a good teacher.”
Making sure their hands wouldn’t come apart, he guided Eun-jo’s hand toward himself. Then he pressed his lips firmly against the back of it.
Seeing him rub his cheek against his hand, Eun-jo’s expression turned genuinely worried.
Anyone else might’ve done this, but Heo Nan-gyeom had never acted spoiled before. If anything, Eun-jo was the one who’d been spoiled.
“Hold on, let me look at you.”
When Eun-jo cupped his cheek with his free hand, Nan-gyeom obediently lifted his head.
“You don’t seem to have a fever.”
Starting from his forehead and moving down to his neck, Eun-jo checked him carefully for heat.
The entire nation knew Espers were several times healthier than ordinary people, yet somehow Eun-jo alone seemed unaware. There was probably no other Guide in existence who worried this much over his Esper.
Enjoying his touch, Heo Nan-gyeom slowly closed and opened his eyes. Perhaps misunderstanding that reaction, Eun-jo pulled out his pager.
“Maybe I should contact Tae-seok right now and—”
“Eun-jo-ssi.”
Nan-gyeom wrapped his hand around the back of Eun-jo’s hand still resting on his cheek.
“……”
Meeting those worried eyes, the words wouldn’t come out. When he finally shut his mouth again, Eun-jo turned to face him fully with a frustrated look.
“What? Why.”
“……”
“Just say it already. Heo Nan-gyeom-ssi. Did you do something wrong?”
“No.”
As if. Anyone could tell from his face that he had a lot to say.
The moment their eyes met, Nan-gyeom quietly turned his head away again. That was already the third time he’d avoided his gaze.
Eun-jo mercilessly pulled his hand free from Nan-gyeom’s grasp. Just as he started to stand up, a voice finally escaped from behind him.
“…Am I?”
“What?”
Still staring out the window, Nan-gyeom spoke slowly.
“Am I… pretty?”
“Huh…?”
“Do I… belong among those pretty husbands?”
At the sudden question, Eun-jo’s thoughts spun rapidly. Then, like a lightning strike, a memory surfaced in his head. The conversation he’d had with Heo Yu-jin in the Guiding Room.
“Not a pretty noona. I have five pretty husbands.”
So he was asking whether he was included among those five pretty husbands. Speechless, Eun-jo stared blankly at him.
The longer the silence stretched, the redder Nan-gyeom’s ears became.
Watching the flush spread from his ears down to his neck, Eun-jo finally let out a soft exclamation.
“Is that why you’ve been following me around this whole time? Just to ask that?”
The fact that he’d silently trailed after him without even being able to ask was both cute and heartbreaking.
All this time, Heo Nan-gyeom had never demanded anything. Not Imprinting. Not exclusivity. Nothing. He had simply stayed quietly at Eun-jo’s side.
“You could’ve just asked me. I would’ve answered.”
“It’s alright.”
At last, the gaze fixed on the window returned to Eun-jo. Straightforward and unwavering.
“I’m used to it. I just…”
“……”
“It’s enough if you look back at me like this once in a while.”
Strong arms wrapped around Eun-jo’s waist. Lifting him effortlessly, Nan-gyeom sat Eun-jo down on his thigh. Tucked completely into his embrace, Eun-jo let out a small groan and leaned against him.
“There’s no such thing as getting used to that. If you hate something, you hate it. If you like something, you like it.”
“Then I think it’s the latter.”
Answering with a faint smile in his voice, Nan-gyeom hugged him even tighter.
Eun-jo’s chest felt heavy. Even without saying it aloud, he knew what Nan-gyeom meant by being used to it.
Because he wasn’t an Imprinted Esper. Because he didn’t require Guiding. Again and again, he’d yielded his turn to others. He was always the first to quietly step aside.
Eun-jo had mistakenly assumed he was fine simply because he was someone sturdy, someone who stood firm like a pillar.
He’s still my Esper all the same.
“Mmm…”
Groaning softly, Eun-jo rubbed his forehead against Nan-gyeom’s shoulder.
Holding his warm body close, Nan-gyeom let out a low laugh.
Ridiculous. Pouting, Eun-jo lifted his head. Then impulsively, he planted a kiss on Nan-gyeom’s cheek.
“Why were you confused?”
Kiss. This time, not his cheek but his jaw.
“You’re pretty.”
Kiss, kiss. His lips kept landing one after another.
Arms looped around Nan-gyeom’s neck, he became completely absorbed in kissing him. Every time their lips touched, Nan-gyeom’s face grew redder. Until his neck and ears were completely crimson, Eun-jo continued showering him with kisses as he asked,
“I don’t think I’ve ever even mumbled in my sleep that you weren’t pretty. So why were you confused? Hm?”
“…..I’m not an Imprinted Esper.”
“But I said five. Then who did you think the remaining one was?”
“……”
“Don’t tell me… Heo Yu-jin?”
Correct.
Seeing Nan-gyeom’s wavering gaze, Eun-jo let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Isn’t that too much?”
Park Hee-won or another staff member would’ve been one thing, but a kid who had just graduated high school…
Eun-jo narrowed his eyes.
“What, do I look like some kind of pervert? First of all, the age difference—”
“There’s that much of an age gap between you and me too, Eun-jo-ssi.”
About to snap back at him, Eun-jo abruptly clamped his mouth shut.
That’s not the same thing.
Looking down at his completely transparent expression, Nan-gyeom smiled as if he found him adorable.
“And don’t you overlap a little?”
“……”
“People at the Center said you looked similar too.”
“Who did?”
He already had a feeling.
“Park Hee-won again, wasn’t it?”
“……”
Once again reading the answer from his silence, Eun-jo slumped dramatically.
This is how he repays me for all that tteokbokki?
Just as Eun-jo ground his teeth while imagining Park Hee-won sitting in the Security Team office nibbling snacks as usual—his body was suddenly pushed backward.
When he opened his eyes, he was sprawled across Nan-gyeom’s solid body.
“I want to do Guiding practice too.”
The hand touching his cheek felt hot.
As Eun-jo lifted his head the way Nan-gyeom guided him, their lips immediately met. Like something sliding smoothly into place, a tongue slipped between them. His breath caught.
Every time their lips parted, strands of saliva stretched between them, and heated breaths spilled out.
Even though the kiss was gentle, strangely enough, heat rose rapidly through him. He couldn’t tell whether it was because of the tongue carefully caressing him or the firm body embracing him.
Even while softly sucking on Eun-jo’s lower lip, Nan-gyeom’s hands moved quickly. In moments, Eun-jo had been stripped completely bare.
“Mmngh…”
Letting out a soft moan, he clung to him.
“Were you going to practice like this with Heo Yu-jin too?”
Nan-gyeom abruptly lifted Eun-jo’s body. Against skin white as blank paper, the softly protruding flesh stood out clearly.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Nan-gyeom parted his lips.
“There’s no way, hngh…!”
Tender flesh was sucked into his mouth.
As though trying to make up for all the suffering he’d endured, he bit down as much as he pleased.
Even though his body didn’t require Guiding, it felt like he could finally breathe again.
Every time that thick tongue brushed across his chest, Eun-jo let out breathy moans and flushed deeply.
Whether Nan-gyeom bit gently or soothingly licked over the marks afterward, each touch left Eun-jo dizzy.
Without realizing it, Eun-jo wrapped his arms around Nan-gyeom’s head. At the cute little urging, Nan-gyeom let out a small laugh.
“Hngh, ah…!”
“You’re too kind, Yeo Eun-jo-ssi.”
His hand slid down to Eun-jo’s round ass.
Spreading apart the flesh that fit perfectly in one hand, he exposed the hidden hole nestled between.
“If someone asks you to practice, you just do it for them.”
Gripping the clinging flesh tightly, he rubbed his fingertips against the entrance.
Only then did Eun-jo realize what was happening and jerk his head up.
“W-Wait…!”
“If someone asks you to look after them, you’d do that too, wouldn’t you? Just like you did for me.”
“No, ahh…!”
He stirred at the tightly closed entrance as if it had never known a man before.
His fingers alternated between pushing inward and rubbing along the thick flesh toward his cock, making the hole twitch.
His previously flat chest swelled. His areolas deepened to a darker red, and his whole body burned with heat. The fingers that still refused to go deeper felt unbearably cruel.
Clutching at Nan-gyeom’s head while letting out helpless whimpers, Eun-jo began moving his hips.
“Hah, Heo Nan-gyeom-ssi…”
At that pleading voice, Nan-gyeom’s eyes darkened low. Then suddenly, one thick finger pushed inside.
“Hngh… ah!”
It was as thick as the rest of his large frame.
The moment that broad finger entered him, the inner walls immediately tightened around it as though they’d been waiting, making room.
Every time Nan-gyeom moved his hand up and down, the tight inner walls clung greedily to him.
Knowing exactly how much farther this place could stretch and how tightly it could squeeze only made him more impatient.
As Nan-gyeom hastily pushed in a second finger, a cry burst from Eun-jo.
“Ah!”
Just two fingers already filled him tightly. Nan-gyeom moved his hand quickly against the hole that struggled pitifully to swallow them.
“Ah, hngh, feels good…! Hah!”
“Haah…”
The sight of him trembling in pleasure despite the discomfort was unbearably erotic.
His tightly shut eyes, lowered eyelids, and bitten lips—there wasn’t a single part of him that wasn’t obscene.
The thought that someone else might know this sinful expression too made anger surge violently in Nan-gyeom’s chest.
Wrapping an arm tightly around Eun-jo’s waist so he couldn’t run away, he pushed his index finger deeper into the already stuffed hole.
“It’s full, hngh! Already full…!”
