# Chapter 22
Domin was in a very bad mood.
Not only was his sleep disturbed by the loudly ringing pager since morning, but also because a sudden summons order had been issued.
His condition was a complete mess since he’d only been able to sleep for one or two hours due to his schedule these past few days. He had barely gotten just one day off, and now this inconsiderate summons order.
No matter how he thought about it, it was clear that the headquarters people had conspired to drive him to death.
“Why on earth—”
Even at this moment, the pager was inconsiderately urging Domin.
Barely suppressing the urge to smash it to pieces, Domin pressed the confirmation button. Only then did the noisy pager quiet down.
“Damn…”
Muttering a curse, he roughly put on the robe he had taken off last night. Getting out of bed, he flicked his finger and his phone flew lightly over from a distance.
After sending Junyoung a message saying something urgent had come up and to hurry over, he went into the bathroom. When he finished a long shower and came out, Junyoung had arrived at Domin’s house.
“What’s going on?”
Seeing Junyoung looking unusually messy today, as if he hadn’t even washed, Domin frowned. Instead of answering, he flicked his finger and the pager flew swiftly to Junyoung.
“A summons order? Domin, did you do something wrong?”
“…I don’t know.”
Despite thinking about it throughout his shower, he hadn’t done anything deserving of a summons order. It would be more accurate to say he’d been too busy working to even cause trouble.
“But there must be a reason for calling—”
“It’s noisy, so just shut up.”
After all his concern, he was told to shut up. Swallowing his words, Junyoung pouted. Seeing that, Domin smirked.
Later, as they were about to leave the house after finishing preparations, the pager rang once more. How urgent could this matter be? Domin’s eyes widened greatly as he checked the pager with a sigh.
“What’s wrong?”
Junyoung approached Domin and glanced at the pager. After reading the summons content on the small screen, Junyoung showed a similar reaction to Domin’s.
“…The one who issued the summons order was the Deputy Director?”
“Damn, I don’t know.”
Holding his throbbing head, Domin first pressed the confirmation button firmly to stop the vibration. A summons from none other than the Deputy Director. There was no time to waste.
“What are you doing? Move.”
At Domin’s urging, Junyoung ran toward the car parked at a distance.
Domin’s mind was complicated. He couldn’t figure out what could be so urgent that the Deputy Director would call him so urgently.
“Start driving quickly.”
As soon as he got into the car, Domin said this while tapping the driver’s seat with his foot.
Though he wanted to ask who Junyoung had been waiting for all this time to be late, as always, Junyoung couldn’t say anything and quietly started the car.
* * *
“Be careful.”
Junyoung looked back and said as he stopped the car. Erasing the concern that had filled his face, Domin nodded weakly and opened the car door.
As he passed through the revolving door and entered the lobby, people who recognized Domin began to murmur. On the monitor filling one wall, a newly filmed advertisement was playing repeatedly.
Normally, he would have stopped briefly to admire his glamorously shining appearance, but now he didn’t even have the mind for that. Domin immediately went up the white stairs leading to the upper floor.
‘Which floor was the Deputy Director’s office on?’
As soon as he got on the elevator, he pressed the button for the floor with the Deputy Director’s office and, unable to wait for the door to close, repeatedly tapped the close button.
[The door is opening.]
Seemingly having arrived at the floor, the firmly closed door slid open with a friendly guidance message. The passage leading to the Deputy Director’s office had all its lights turned off, creating an eerie atmosphere.
‘What a taste.’
Clicking his tongue slightly, Domin flicked his finger and the firmly closed door of the Deputy Director’s office slid open. As expected, it seemed he hadn’t locked the door as if knowing Domin would come.
Entering without knocking, Domin found the Deputy Director standing in front of the window where sunlight was coming in. Erasing the anxiety that had risen, Domin skipped the greeting and immediately expressed his complaint.
“It’s my day off, why did you call me?”
The Deputy Director, Semin, who turned around slowly, smiled brightly at Domin. No, he probably meant to smile, but his facial muscles only twitched slightly, and his face remained expressionless.
“You came?”
Unlike his coldly frozen face, his voice was full of delight. Feeling a disconnect that never became familiar no matter how many times he saw it, Domin avoided the gaze he had been meeting with Semin.
Semin was the only Esper in headquarters who didn’t receive Guiding. Although he was S-grade, meaning his abilities were powerful and thus the side effects would be considerable, he was enduring that pain with only stabilizers.
But stabilizers had the side effect of dulling other senses while suppressing the pain. Because of this, Semin, who had been taking stabilizers for a long time, didn’t have as varied facial expressions as other people.
To be precise, he had become unable to change his expression at will, which is why, like now, his expression and voice often seemed to be operating independently.
“Don’t stand there, sit over there.”
As soon as Semin finished speaking, Domin naturally took a seat at the head of the table. With his hands in his pants pockets, Domin sat askew and gestured with his chin to the remaining seat.
“What are you doing, sit down.”
Even in this situation where the roles of host and guest had been reversed, Semin only smiled faintly. Even that was just a laugh in sound, while his face remained expressionless.
“You’re a bit late.”
“I was getting ready.”
“You could have come casually, why did you come in full setup? It’s burdensome.”
Domin’s eyes quickly scanned Semin. For someone telling him to come casually, Semin himself was wearing a neat three-piece suit.
“I—”
“I had to come to work today.”
“Stop the unnecessary talk and get to the point. I’m a busy person.”
“Shall we?”
Semin, who sat close to Domin, handed over a document envelope that had been placed on the table. When Domin asked with his eyes what this was, Semin urged him to open it first instead of answering.
‘…This makes me uneasy.’
From the looks of it, this seemed to be the reason for issuing the summons order. Could it be that someone had filed a lawsuit against him?
Come to think of it, there was a time recently when he had a dispute with an actor on set and couldn’t hold back from using his ability. Wanting to shut that chattering mouth, he had suspended the actor from the ceiling. Maybe that guy had filed a lawsuit.
‘Damn, I should have restrained myself back then.’
Domin opened the envelope with belated regret.
Inside was a thick stack of documents. Just looking at the volume, he strongly felt it would be related to a lawsuit.
Suppressing a sigh, he took out the documents. Domin turned over the first blank page and slowly read the text written on the paper.
“What is this?”
“Dedicated contract termination documents.”
It was fortunate it wasn’t the lawsuit he had expected, but this was troublesome in its own way. This meant the documents that he thought would have been automatically approved had been returned.
“The document approval failed.”
“Why?”
“Guide Ju Saeon came in person and expressed his refusal. He said he absolutely cannot agree to terminate the contract.”
“…Damn.”
As soon as Semin finished speaking, Domin couldn’t hold back and cursed. That bastard Ju Saeon was clinging to his ankle until the very end.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I should have broken his neck as a farewell gift.’
Since the dedicated contract termination that he had tried to push through had fallen through, it meant that on paper, Domin’s dedicated Guide was still Ju Saeon.
‘Then, what happens to Yeo Jeongyun?’
According to what he heard from Junyoung, Jeongyun had stopped Guiding other Espers after becoming his dedicated Guide.
Which means…
“Damn office workers.”
In the end, they had accepted the dedicated contract with Jeongyun while the termination of the dedicated contract with Ju Saeon hadn’t been finalized. The headquarters office workers really messed up their job.
“As you know, since a dedicated contract is something that requires mutual agreement, document approval is impossible without Guide Ju Saeon’s consent.”
“Those damn—”
“Don’t use harsh language.”
Semin lightly flicked his finger against Domin’s forehead. Despite being this old, Semin still treated him like a child.
“Don’t treat me like a child.”
“But you are a child. Whining and throwing tantrums when something doesn’t go your way.”
“When have I ever done that?”
When Domin demanded an answer, Semin paused briefly before saying “always.” At being told “always,” Domin glared at Semin, full of indignation.
“For now, take this and go find Guide Ju Saeon directly.”
“Why should I?”
“Because it’s your business.”
Since everything Semin said was correct, Domin couldn’t argue. Reluctantly picking up the documents, Domin let out a deep sigh.
“I just need to get Ju Saeon’s signature on the consent form, right?”
Domin hoped that this would finally be the end of his tenacious ill-fated connection with Ju Saeon.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
