# Chapter 23
Feeling like the atmosphere might turn bad, I approached them. Ha-min spotted me and seemed to quickly wrap up his conversation.
The Guide who was talking with Ha-min turned around and gave Ha-min and me meaningful looks.
Meanwhile, Ha-min ran over to me and asked if I had been waiting.
“Not really. Why? What did he say?”
But Ha-min didn’t answer.
He probably thought the Guide might still hear us since we weren’t far away yet.
Once we were at a good distance, Ha-min started complaining.
“That person is an A-class Guide. He’s the highest-ranked Guide in the Center. There are no Guides measured as S-class. My matching rate is higher than his, but his rank is higher and he says his Guiding ability is much better than mine. He wonders why I’m the dedicated Guide for S-class Espers. He says he can’t accept that and wants to be the Guide for S-class Espers himself.”
I know Ha-min is an S-class Guide, but he doesn’t have an official rank.
When they tested him, it showed ‘measurement impossible,’ which made people uncertain about Ha-min’s Guiding ability.
Then they tested his matching rate with S-class Espers, and it came back high, so he’s been exclusively Guiding S-class Espers since then.
If the S-class Espers had refused, it wouldn’t have happened, but they didn’t push Ha-min away, and until now, he’s been successfully continuing his Guiding.
“It’s not like you decided that, and it’s not like you asked for it, so why is he saying that to you? Even if you agreed, it doesn’t mean he could Guide S-class Espers.”
“Exactly. I don’t understand what he’s saying. What matters is the matching rate, right? I have a high matching rate with S-class Espers. No, wait. Who wants to have a high matching rate on purpose?”
I had momentarily forgotten.
How talkative Ha-min can be.
From now on, he’d probably ramble about this for about three hours.
“Can’t you just let the S-class Espers handle it themselves?”
“They’re not likely to actively step in for my problems,” Ha-min said with a gloomy expression.
Poor thing.
“So what does he want to do now?”
“He told me to talk to them directly. Then he asked me to talk to him. He said if I care about the S-class Espers, I should be the one to speak up first. He says he can Guide better than me and that would benefit the S-class Espers too. But Eunwoo, honestly, I’m not in a position to worry about S-class Espers, am I?”
I burst out laughing at that.
I thought even if everyone else said that, Ha-min would never say such a thing. Why did Ha-min saying that make me feel so proud?
All this time, Ha-min had been someone who would just get stepped on if others stepped on him, and who would feel intimidated if someone raised their voice even slightly. Now he was saying things like this.
“Yes, you’re right. You need to think about yourself a bit more.”
Ha-min seemed even more excited after I took his side.
“But Ha-min, if you become a Guide for someone else, you won’t be dedicated, right? Now you’re a dedicated Guide because they’re S-class Espers, but if you handle other Espers, it would be random. Then you’d have to Guide multiple people, and then…”
“Huh?”
“Then you’d have to Guide multiple people. Your Guiding is special, but if someone’s condition is really bad, you might have to hug them or do mucosal Guiding. Multiple people.”
I didn’t think I absolutely needed to say this, but I felt I should remind him, so I did. Ha-min let out a gasp as if he had a major revelation.
“That’s right… that’s really right…”
Ha-min made an expression like he had no choice.
“The current situation is better. I should just focus on Guiding our Espers well.”
Ha-min said, even shaking his body as if he’d narrowly avoided a disaster.
“By the way, Ha-min. Aren’t you friendly with other Guides?”
“Hm? No, I’m not. They all hate me.”
Ha-min said cheerfully.
It seemed like a sad topic, but he said it so brightly that it made me feel even worse.
“Guides dislike me in their own way, and Espers dislike me in theirs. The Guides seem to think I get special treatment because I’m the dedicated Guide for S-class Espers. But that’s not true at all. They don’t like that I go to the S-class Esper-only dining hall. It’s not like we want to go there. We really don’t want to go. But Guides don’t think of it that way.”
I thought that was the end of the story as I considered how difficult things must have been for Ha-min, but I was mistaken.
“And what about the Espers? Espers treat Guides lower than pets, right? But since I’m not just any Guide but an S-class Esper’s Guide, that seems to bother them. Isn’t that funny too? I haven’t done anything wrong, yet they feel uncomfortable for no reason and blame me for it.”
“I see, Ha-min. That must have been tough.”
Fortunately, the conversation ended there.
It was truly fortunate.
***
Eventually, Tae-young came looking for me.
It was when I was training at the Esper training ground.
I had no choice but to go to the training ground because the Center suddenly required all Espers to fulfill mandatory training hours weekly. Seeing him come, I wondered if Tae-young had something to do with this requirement.
“Working hard, I see.”
He appeared at the training ground looking clean without a trace of sweat.
Moreover, he was dressed in a neat suit complete with a tie.
He was always someone who was hard to find fault with, but seeing him dressed up like that left me speechless.
Even someone with no interest in him would be drawn to that impressive appearance and might let out a gasp of admiration.
“Do you have something going on? Are you going somewhere important?”
I found myself asking such trivial questions.
“Yes. I’m going somewhere important.”
Considering Tae-young’s usual demeanor, I thought he wouldn’t bother responding to such comments, but unlike himself, he was answering.
“I see.”
Thinking I’d gotten a good look at him, I was about to return to my training, but he didn’t seem inclined to leave.
“Eunwoo should get ready too.”
“For what?”
Wondering what he meant, I looked at him, and he nodded.
Does he mean we should leave?
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying let’s go together. I’m going with Eunwoo. To an important place.”
“And where is that?”
“A nice place. Sometimes conversations flow better when dining in a nice place. It’s hard to find a quiet spot within the Center. Someone is always following us around.”
Could it be that he set this during Esper training time to talk somewhere without Ha-min?
Surely he wouldn’t go through all that trouble just to have a conversation with me?
That didn’t make sense no matter how I thought about it.
“Let’s go.”
“I still have training hours to complete.”
“It’s not like you have to finish everything in one day.”
Tae-young was funny too.
We hadn’t even made plans, yet he dressed up and came here thinking I would naturally go with him?
“I’d like to finish today.”
A sigh escaped from Tae-young’s lips.
His face showed he hadn’t expected to be rejected at all.
I was about to completely ignore him and resume my training when I remembered something I had completely forgotten.
I had wanted to ask him to take Ha-min to a dungeon, and this seemed like it might be a good opportunity.
Just a moment ago, I was showing disinterest, but when my expression suddenly changed to look like I had something to say, he seemed to immediately notice I had an ulterior motive.
“What is it?”
“Well, I have a small favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
Then he quickly shook his head.
“No, don’t tell me. Let’s discuss it over dinner.”
He seemed to think that by saying this, I would have no choice but to go with him to that “nice place,” but if it was to get what I wanted, that wasn’t difficult.
However, matching his dress code would be challenging.
I didn’t have clothes that would match what Tae-young was wearing.
“Would it be okay if I wear my uniform?”
“Whatever you’re comfortable with. Will it take long to get ready?”
“What would take long? Shall we meet at the main entrance in twenty minutes?”
“Good. Let’s do that.”
For a very brief moment, a smile appeared on Tae-young’s face.
It was a smile that looked so pure, it was hard to believe he could smile like that.
“What’s this about?”
The more this happened, the more I couldn’t figure out what Tae-young was up to.
“Could it be that the Espers who are leaving the Center have recruited Tae-young? After failing to recruit Kyun In, they reached out to Tae-young, and he caught on? Is that why he’s asking me to come along too? If so, he’s using his head quite well. Was Tae-young a strategic character? Hmm…”
I was deeply lost in thought with wrinkles on my forehead when Tae-young looked at me intently.
“What are you thinking about now?”
“Nothing. I’ll see you at the main entrance.”
Then I hurried back to my quarters.
While opening my door, I unbuttoned my clothes and threw them off as I went to the bathroom.
Since I dislike waiting myself, I also dislike making others wait.
As soon as I entered the bathroom, I showered while thinking about what Tae-young wanted to say and how I should talk to him about Ha-min.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
