# Chapter 52
Returning to headquarters from the center, Jeongyun met Wooyeon in the hallway, who happened to be on break. At Wooyeon’s suggestion to have coffee together, Jeongyun changed direction from his Guiding room to the lounge.
“…It’s so hard.”
Wooyeon whined with his chin resting on the table. On behalf of Wooyeon, who had been complaining about having even more work lately, Jeongyun went to the vending machine and brought back two cups of coffee.
“Here.”
“Ah, thanks.”
As the bitter coffee entered his body, the flavor of tea he’d had with the Center Director disappeared. It was some kind of flower tea, but all he remembered was how its particularly strong fragrance had made it difficult to drink.
While he appreciated the Center Director’s kindness, Jeongyun preferred the cheap vending machine coffee in a paper cup over the tea served in an expensive teacup that felt uncomfortable to hold.
“Would it hurt them to hire more people? The number of Guides stays the same while Espers keep increasing.”
Wooyeon sighed deeply after muttering to himself. The government was making efforts to find Guides hidden among people, but it wasn’t easy.
After all, who would want to do a life-threatening job even with good pay? Who would want to be a Guide when they could hardly go out under numerous surveillance measures in the name of protection?
“By the way, I haven’t seen Choi Domin lately. You are still providing him Guiding, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“But he hardly comes to headquarters.”
“Well…”
He should have responded casually, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie. Jeongyun subtly avoided Wooyeon’s gaze, which was waiting for him to continue. Sensing something was off, Wooyeon’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“You really can’t lie. You know that, right?”
“I do know, but…”
In the end, Jeongyun had no choice but to surrender to Wooyeon’s questioning.
When he admitted that he had been providing Guiding at his home recently, Wooyeon was so surprised that he couldn’t speak for a while.
“…Are you planning to do mutual imprinting with Choi Domin?”
Jeongyun’s eyes widened at the mention of mutual imprinting. When he waved his hands in denial saying that wasn’t the case, Wooyeon got angry, saying that made it even more problematic.
“Do you think it makes sense to bring an Esper into a Guide’s personal space when you’re not even going to do mutual imprinting?”
“But we really just do Guiding and he leaves…”
“Jeongyun, you may not know much else, but you’ve always kept your professional boundaries when it comes to Guiding. So why are you so lenient only with Choi Domin?”
“……”
Jeongyun couldn’t say anything in response to Wooyeon’s words. In all his time providing Guiding to many Espers, he had never mixed emotions into it. He had never been swayed either.
But with Domin alone, he was helplessly wavering. If he mentioned that he had given Domin the right to decide on Guiding, Wooyeon would surely flip out. That was a secret he would take to his grave.
“Even though there’s one-way imprinting, that’s a constraint that only applies to Choi Domin, not to you.”
“…That’s right.”
“Then why are you being led around? In the relationship between Guide and Esper, the one with the choice is the Guide.”
Though he didn’t like the idea of establishing superiority in relationships from the beginning, Jeongyun nodded silently. He did so especially because he knew Wooyeon was saying this out of concern for him.
“We can’t undo the fact that you’ve already let him into your home, but from now on, try to do Guiding at headquarters as much as possible.”
“I should.”
Though he said that, Jeongyun felt he wouldn’t be able to refuse if Domin said he wanted to come to his house again. Wooyeon, hearing Jeongyun’s uncertain answer, didn’t seem to have high expectations either.
“Don’t try to give everything to Choi Domin. You know Espers only do that because of Guiding.”
“…I know.”
Wooyeon’s words reminded him of reality once again. It made his excited feelings subside, reminding him that Domin was treating him well not for any other reason but for Guiding.
Wooyeon patted Jeongyun’s back as he forced a smile, then stood up first, saying he needed to get back to work. Jeongyun stayed in the lounge, using the excuse that he still had coffee left.
After sending Wooyeon off and remaining alone in the lounge, Jeongyun watched the advertisements playing on repeat on the wall-mounted television. At some point, it had changed from the ad featuring the younger Domin to a more recent one.
‘I know I shouldn’t expect anything, but still.’
In the screen, Domin extended his hand. Fragments of light floated up from it and spread in all directions, brightening the dark world. Then, with a smile lifting the corners of his mouth, Domin gazed straight ahead.
It felt like he was face to face with Domin in the screen. Jeongyun moved his parted lips to ask a question to the Domin in the screen, knowing no answer would come back.
“How do you think of me, Choi Domin?”
Just then, the screen changed and darkness fell. It was as if Domin had answered him, saying not to misunderstand because he was nothing. It was devastating.
As he sat for a long time with the cold coffee cup in front of him, someone sat across from Jeongyun.
Feeling the presence and turning to the side, Jeongyun’s face crumpled.
“Let’s talk.”
“No.”
Jeongyun firmly rejected Saeon’s proposal. As he drank the remaining coffee at once and tried to get up, Saeon grabbed his arm.
“Unauthorized contact is—”
“Save that for the Espers. Just sit down, it’ll only take a moment. I don’t plan to talk for long either.”
Jeongyun quickly looked around. Usually, Saeon would be hanging around with B-grade Guides, but seeing him alone now, it seemed he genuinely wanted to have a conversation with Jeongyun.
When Jeongyun sat down again, Saeon’s expression brightened slightly. Jeongyun gave him a look to hurry up whatever he had to say, and Saeon hesitantly began.
“I’ll ask directly. Don’t you want to break the imprinting with Domin?”
Though he had expected it, Jeongyun couldn’t help but sigh in irritation at Saeon’s consistent behavior. He wondered why he had waited so patiently when he knew this was coming. Though he had time to spare, it felt wasted.
“I believe I mentioned before that this kind of conversation makes me uncomfortable.”
“I know, but… hey, don’t leave, sit down. I haven’t finished speaking yet.”
Saeon grabbed Jeongyun again as he tried to leave. In the end, only after receiving a promise not to talk about imprinting did they continue the conversation.
“Before, I thought I should just separate you from Domin no matter what, but not anymore. I’ve given up on Domin. I don’t care about that kind of guy anymore.”
Though Jeongyun didn’t know what had happened between them, Saeon’s voice intensified whenever he mentioned Domin’s name.
Jeongyun listened quietly to Saeon first.
“I’m just worried about you now. How long do you think Domin will be your dedicated partner? Do you know how unpredictable he is?”
“I don’t think that’s for you to say, Ju Saeon.”
“No, I’m saying this with your best interests in mind. Choi Domin just sees you as a convenient Guiding battery that he can use when it suits him. He might be nice to you for a while, but you never know when he’ll change. So, before you get hurt like me—”
Bang! Unable to hold back, Jeongyun struck the table hard.
Startled, Saeon closed his mouth. The paper cup had fallen over from the impact earlier. Fortunately, since Jeongyun had finished the coffee, nothing spilled.
“So if I break the imprinting, you’re planning to imprint with Choi Domin this time?”
At Jeongyun’s words, Saeon subtly averted his gaze. He seemed to have changed his approach after thinking it through, but if he was going to pretend to be considerate, he should have done it properly; it was terribly awkward.
“Let me tell you something too. Don’t approach me about this kind of thing anymore. I’m not interested in listening.”
“When someone is thoughtfully trying to tell you something—”
“And as I mentioned before, stop with the informal speech, calling me ‘you’ all the time. I’m older than you.”
After pointing out Saeon’s informal speech that had been bothering him for some time, Jeongyun picked up the fallen paper cup from the table and left. Saeon muttered something, but Jeongyun pretended not to hear. He didn’t want to bother responding.
Left alone, Saeon looked utterly pathetic. The fact that he came to see Jeongyun despite swallowing his pride and said such things meant he was that desperate.
‘He was more sincere than I thought.’
Jeongyun knew that Saeon liked Domin, but he didn’t realize the feelings ran so deep. And Domin probably knew about Saeon’s feelings too.
‘If you’re going to have a one-sided crush, do it quietly by yourself. Don’t expect anything from me.’
Though it was because of the imprinting, Jeongyun thought that the image of Saeon being rejected by Domin could very well be himself in the not-too-distant future.
Unlike mutual imprinting, one-way imprinting could be broken at any time. It would be painful, but not impossible.
If another suitable Guide appeared before Domin, he would be ruthlessly abandoned. If that happened, would he also go find the other person like Saeon and beg them to give up on Domin?
‘There’s no way I could do that.’
Knowing he couldn’t do that, a hollow laugh escaped him. He envied Saeon for being able to speak up like that. For him, even that much was greed, a luxury.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
