# Chapter 30
After that chaotic outing, Jeongyun had been in deep depression for a while.
His body was weakened due to the excessive Guiding, but what troubled Jeongyun even more was that one remark from Domin that he couldn’t forget no matter how hard he tried.
‘Damn it, why did it have to be a C-grade…!’
What was so important about grades anyway? Every time his low grade caused problems with Guiding, he felt wronged, frustrated, and miserable.
‘It’s not like I ever wanted to be C-grade.’
At first, he was just happy being by Domin’s side. But the more time they spent together, the more Jeongyun had to face emotions he didn’t even know he had.
If he had been B-grade, could he have become Domin’s Guide from the beginning?
If their time together had accumulated steadily like with Ju Saeon, he might have become even closer to Domin than he was now. Perhaps they could have been more than just dedicated partners.
‘That’s really just a fantasy.’
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Cruelly, grades were something that wouldn’t change even if you died and came back to life. Once a C-grade, always a C-grade. Reality doesn’t change.
That’s why Jeongyun couldn’t help but despair. His desires grew endlessly, but the more they did, the more clearly he felt the gap between Domin and himself.
To Domin, Jeongyun was just a Guide who became his dedicated partner because of the imprint. That was precisely why he couldn’t cross the line Domin had clearly drawn.
‘I’m so depressed.’
Sitting alone in the Guiding room where no one visited, his depression doubled. Perhaps it was even worse because he had to just hold his silent pager and wait only for Domin.
Any other time, he would have endured his sinking mood by chatting with Wooyeon who visited during every break, but unfortunately, the relationship between the two had become awkwardly strained since that day.
Well, he had ignored the warning not to go and jumped into the smoke to save Domin. If he were Wooyeon, he would have been upset too.
Jeongyun wanted to explain that he had no choice, but Wooyeon wouldn’t understand. From the beginning, Wooyeon hadn’t been happy about Jeongyun becoming Domin’s dedicated Guide.
‘What should I do?’
For the first few days, he just worried as he watched Wooyeon avoid him, not knowing what to do, but he couldn’t stay like this. Regardless of the reason, it was because of him, so he needed to make Wooyeon feel better.
But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find an answer. Jeongyun had never formed such a close relationship with anyone before. So he didn’t know how to make someone feel better.
‘I’m not sure.’
Even after being a Guide for several years, Wooyeon was the only one Jeongyun had been close with. That’s because Wooyeon was the only person who kept approaching Jeongyun, who was always on the outside.
Of course, sometimes it was annoying, and there were times when he couldn’t understand the emotionally rich Wooyeon, but they had gradually seeped into each other’s lives until now Jeongyun couldn’t even imagine daily life without Wooyeon. Wooyeon was important to Jeongyun, though in a different way than Domin.
‘I need to say I’m sorry.’
With his mind made up, Jeongyun decided to find Wooyeon. He left the Guiding room, full of depression like a deep cave, and headed toward where Wooyeon would be.
Knock knock—
After taking a deep breath, he carefully knocked on the door, but there was no sound from inside.
Just as he was about to become depressed, thinking Wooyeon wasn’t opening the door because he knew it was him, he belatedly noticed the sign on the door that said <On Vacation>.
‘So it’s his day off.’
At any other time, Wooyeon would have told him in advance about his day off. But since they weren’t in contact now, Jeongyun had no way of knowing Wooyeon was on vacation.
‘I’ll come back tomorrow.’
Though he had summoned his courage, unfortunately, he had no choice but to wait until tomorrow.
Just as he was about to turn around dejectedly with his shoulders drooping, he saw someone running from the corridor that connected to the Esper wing.
‘Who is that?’
The outfit was unusual for an Esper coming to receive Guiding. The distance was too far to see their face, but the person was wearing white clothes similar to a patient’s gown.
“Stop right there!”
“You can’t go! Come back!”
Several people were chasing behind.
Judging by the white coats like what doctors would wear, they seemed to be Center people. He remembered that the researchers’ uniforms looked like that during the grade assessment.
‘Did they escape from the Center?’
Meanwhile, the person who had crossed over to the Guide wing was running toward where Jeongyun was. As the distance narrowed, the vague face became clearer.
Huh?
It was that boy. The unregistered Esper he met in the rain. The boy seemed to have noticed Jeongyun too, as he opened his already large eyes even wider.
Since it was break time, there were many Guides in the corridor. The boy, who ran like a bulldozer, passed by all those Guides and arrived in front of Jeongyun.
Due to his height, which was a full head taller, a deep shadow fell over Jeongyun’s head. Huff, puff. The boy’s rapid breaths poured down on top of Jeongyun’s head.
Slowly raising his head, Jeongyun met the boy’s eyes. Each time the boy breathed, his chest rose and fell significantly beneath the white clothes.
“…Found you.”
A pretty smile spread across his pale face. Because of the smile that naturally made one lose their mind, Jeongyun didn’t even hear what the boy said.
The boy spread his arms wide and embraced Jeongyun. Even though he wasn’t soaked in rain like before, his boiling body temperature could still be felt through the thin clothes.
‘…What exactly is going on?’
Jeongyun’s confused eyes wavered greatly.
The researchers who had followed looked at Jeongyun in the boy’s embrace, not knowing what to do. To their eyes, Jeongyun probably looked like a hostage captured by the boy.
Calming himself, Jeongyun quickly assessed the situation. First, he could tell that Guiding was taking place while he was in contact with the boy. If so, the reason why the boy suddenly hugged him was because of Guiding.
‘But why did he come specifically to me?’
However, he couldn’t understand why the boy had come specifically to him, bypassing all the Guides in the corridor. Guiding efficiency is better with B-grade than C-grade, and there was a B-grade Guide standing right at the beginning of the path the boy had run down.
Yet, the boy ran to Jeongyun without hesitation. Like a dog running happily into its owner’s arms. Of course, due to the size difference, it was actually Jeongyun who was being held.
‘First, let’s push him away.’
Jeongyun tried to push the boy away, but he wouldn’t budge. Meanwhile, the boy hugged the struggling Jeongyun even tighter and buried his nose in Jeongyun’s neck. Goosebumps rose all over his skin.
“P-physical contact without a Guide’s permission is strictly prohibited. Please step back.”
When Jeongyun stammered this, the boy released his arms that had been squeezing tightly. He hadn’t moved an inch when pushed, but now he let go so easily that it was a bit disconcerting.
“Come back here now. You shouldn’t be moving around recklessly yet.”
At that moment, one researcher who had gathered courage approached the boy cautiously and spoke. The boy glanced sideways and distorted his eyes.
‘…This is concerning.’
Sure enough, when Jeongyun looked down, he saw small flames beginning to rise from the boy’s fingertips. Only then did he recall that the boy’s ability was related to fire.
“Don’t interfere.”
As the boy waved his hand, a huge wall of fire appeared. People screamed and stepped back, and the sprinklers that detected the flames poured water. However, the boy’s flames didn’t go out.
“Aaaaah!”
“Fire!”
When the fire alarm went off, people poured out of the Guiding rooms. As people rushing toward the exit got tangled up, the Guide wing instantly became chaotic.
Fortunately, the flames that wouldn’t go out even with water pouring on them only threatened to keep people from approaching and didn’t show any aggression, but it was uncertain how long this situation would continue.
“What’s your name?”
In this pandemonium, the boy smiled shyly and asked Jeongyun his name. Jeongyun, who had been staring at the unquenchable flames, met the boy’s eyes and answered.
“…Yeo, Jeongyun.”
“I’m Min Hwayeon.”
Min Hwayeon.
When Jeongyun muttered the name quietly, Hwayeon’s cheeks turned red with happiness.
With hands from which the flames had subsided, Hwayeon gently grabbed Jeongyun’s wrist and lowered his waist. The wall of fire that had isolated the two from the world slowly began to diminish. But even after the flames completely stopped, water continued to pour from the sprinklers for a while.
They were soaked from head to toe. Just like the rainy day when Jeongyun first met Hwayeon. It felt like they had gone back to that time.
Hwayeon placed Jeongyun’s hand on his cheek and slowly blinked his eyelashes, which were beaded with water droplets. Unlike before, his red lips, now full of vitality, moved slowly.
“I missed you.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
