Chapter 10
I don’t know if horse stance is truly the best, but I’ve risen to the highest position using it, and that training method was most familiar to me.
And it was easier to teach what I knew well and could do well.
I don’t know what’s better in this world, but how could I teach something I don’t know well?
“I’m not sure if you’re talking about the same horse stance I know, Eunwoo.”
“I’m sure you are! Is there any other horse stance? Horse stance is excellent for building endurance. Next is running. If you keep doing horse stance and running, your perseverance will definitely improve.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. Just trust me.”
Looking at Lee Ha-min, who seemed like he wanted to trust me if possible but was finding it difficult, I nodded.
“From now on, do the horse stance here for two minutes—no, thirty minutes.”
At that, Lee Ha-min burst into laughter.
“Eunwoo, sometimes you seem funny. You must have watched martial arts dramas too enthusiastically.”
You think I only watched them?
I lived there.
Lee Ha-min, perhaps not wanting to disappoint me from the start, maintained the horse stance position and endured.
However, it was natural that he couldn’t do it well from the beginning, and after a little while, the muscles in his entire body seemed to be screaming.
I corrected Lee Ha-min’s posture each time.
“Since it’s your first day, let’s make it just 20 minutes today as a special exception.”
“20 minutes?”
While saying that, Lee Ha-min asked how much time had passed almost every 30 seconds.
“Still a long way to go. Not even 5 minutes yet.”
“That can’t be. You must be lying.”
He started by saying things like that, but later he changed his approach.
He said he was a Guide, not an Esper, and he should focus on fulfilling his duties as a Guide.
During that time, he tried to straighten his body several times, so each time I gently pressed down on his shoulders, which made him scream.
“My thighs are about to burst, Eunwoo.”
“Yeah. They won’t burst.”
“Hey, you’re really…!”
It was also a different kind of fun to see Lee Ha-min, who normally looked so docile, getting angry.
“Did you just swear, Ha-min?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t swear. I despise people who swear.”
Though grumbling, Lee Ha-min completed the time I had specified.
I had to give him credit for his perseverance.
“Now let’s go running.”
“Like this, right away? Won’t I die doing that?”
“No. You won’t die.”
“But, Eunwoo, I think I understand why Guides and Espers exist separately in this society. I really think being a Guide suits me, so can’t I just live as a Guide?”
Despite saying that, when I started running first, he hurriedly followed.
“No, Eunwoo. Let’s talk first.”
But to talk with me, Lee Ha-min had no choice but to run too.
***
“…”
Lee Ha-min couldn’t even walk properly.
Whether it was because he hadn’t done such exercise for a long time, or perhaps because it was his first time, his body seemed unable to handle it.
I couldn’t tell how many times he had repeated the cycle of walking a few steps and then collapsing as the strength left his legs.
However, despite saying it was difficult, Lee Ha-min seemed to feel satisfaction in what he had accomplished.
“How am I, in your view, Eunwoo?”
“You’re not that bad. You have very good perseverance. You’ll make a good Esper.”
At those words, Lee Ha-min smiled.
“I don’t think that’s for you to decide.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Thinking it would be difficult to make Lee Ha-min understand right now anyway, I nodded.
As we walked, Lee Ha-min’s stomach made tremendous noises like thunder.
“I’m so hungry. But I feel like I’m getting healthier. I wish I could be a physical enhancement type.”
“Why specifically that? Aren’t other abilities better?”
“Still, I’d like to be a physical enhancement type. I think that’s the coolest.”
It was somewhat hard to understand why he would say physical enhancement type seemed the best when he had always seen S-rank Espers with unique abilities around him, but since there are many things in the world that are hard to understand, I just let it pass lightly.
When we entered the cafeteria, several people approached us.
“The S-rank Espers said to come to their cafeteria as soon as you two arrive.”
An A-rank Esper among those who approached told us.
Normally, he wouldn’t even speak to us and would just acknowledge our greetings when passing by, but whatever the S-rank Espers had said and how they had said it, he seemed to be on high alert.
It didn’t seem like we needed to comply with such a request though.
‘Or do we? Should we?’
Even while the A-rank Esper was speaking, Lee Ha-min’s stomach kept making loud gurgling sounds.
Every time the A-rank Esper was about to say something, the gurgling sound matched his timing, which sounded quite defiant.
It wasn’t like Lee Ha-min was doing it intentionally, nor did he have a special ability to control those sounds, but if such an ability existed, I wondered if there could be a more useless ability. The A-rank Esper seemed to be getting increasingly irritated by Lee Ha-min doing this every time.
To make matters worse, Lee Ha-min even sighed, “Ah, I’m hungry” while he was speaking.
The A-rank Esper looked at Lee Ha-min as if wondering what he had just said, but Lee Ha-min himself didn’t seem to know what he had said.
“Then we’ll be going.”
Thinking that it wouldn’t be good to leave him here, I took Lee Ha-min to the S-rank Espers’ exclusive cafeteria.
As we entered, the lavish and even extravagant scenery that I had only heard about came into view all at once.
One wall was made entirely of glass, which was almost scary.
This is the 4th floor…
Still, the outside view spread out so openly looked refreshing.
Except for the wall made of glass, all the walls and floors were made of black marble, and elaborate chandeliers hung from various places on the ceiling.
Even the smallest decorative item was luxurious, and the eight-person dining table marked the pinnacle of extravagance.
Each piece of tableware was also an expensive product, which made me understand why Kyun In had made those expressions in our cafeteria all this time.
And there I “finally” met Shim Woo-jin face to face, who looked at me with curiosity.
When I saw him in Lee Ha-min’s room, his hair had been tied up, but now it flowed softly as he had let it down. Compared to the two people next to him, his features were stronger, and there was definitely a contrasting atmosphere.
A face that coexisted within the category of beauty despite being completely different.
Because of his unusually thick and long eyelashes, he looked as if he was wearing eye makeup, and his hair was as dark as his eyebrows.
With his large eyes without double eyelids and his clean nose bridge, he was definitely cold handsome material.
As I watched him continuing to look at us while picking up a glass next to him and drinking water, I thought his fingers were exceptionally long and beautiful.
Wondering if I should greet him first, I thought that since I was a lower-rank Esper, I should probably do so, and I bowed my head first.
“D-rank Esper Seo Eunwoo.”
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Shim Woo-jin.”
While the others had been speaking informally from the beginning, he spoke formally, which made him seem different from them.
“I heard from Guide Lee Ha-min. If it weren’t for Eunwoo-ssi, Guide Lee Ha-min would have been in trouble. I should have mentioned that I had requested Guiding first, but I forgot because it was urgent. He’s my exclusive Guide, so they should have contacted me first to ask, but they made an announcement instead? I went and taught them a lesson, so this won’t happen again in the future.”
His voice was elegant and sophisticated.
Even the word “shit” sounded classy when he pronounced it.
“Why is Lee Ha-min your exclusive Guide? You’re talking nonsense.”
When Kyun In spoke, Byun Tae-young shook his head.
“It’s not like this hyung hasn’t been talking nonsense for a day or two, so don’t make noise by fighting. He’s hoping and aiming for that, and you react every time like a single-celled organism, why? When you two are noisy, it sounds like nails on glass, which is irritating. I might just burn both of you, so keep quiet.”
What an impressive youngest one?
At Byun Tae-young’s words, both of them actually quieted down.
Had they been quietly roasted before?
“Now, you two. You haven’t eaten yet, right? But why does Lee Ha-min look like that? Did you just finish Guiding? That can’t be. Did the center assign you to other Espers besides us?”
Byun Tae-young asked with a puzzled look, observing Lee Ha-min’s appearance.
“No.”
Lee Ha-min could have just said he had done physical training, but he didn’t mention that and ended it at that.
This seemed to make all the S-rank Espers curious at once, and they asked repeatedly what had happened.
“I just walked around outside.”
What saved Lee Ha-min was the gurgling sound coming from his stomach.
Byun Tae-young stared at Lee Ha-min as if he couldn’t believe it, but Lee Ha-min continued to maintain a polite and well-mannered expression while his stomach kept making gurgling sounds.
In the end, as if thinking this wouldn’t work, they had the chef bring out the food.
Since I had never been to the S-rank Espers’ cafeteria before, I had no way of knowing what kind of meals they usually enjoyed.
From then on, course dishes started coming out, but Lee Ha-min had an expression that showed he didn’t like how little food was served at a time.
When I quietly pushed even my portion toward Lee Ha-min, he tried to fill his stomach with it each time, and the S-rank Espers were appalled watching him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
