# Chapter 69
Feeling awkward with Hwayeon after what had just happened, Jeongyun couldn’t even make proper eye contact.
Jeongyun promised Hwayeon, who couldn’t hide his disappointment about their parting and had followed him all the way to the main entrance, that he would come tomorrow. Then he tried to leave the Center in a hurry.
“Tomorrow, I’ll come to you, hyung.”
Hwayeon caught Jeongyun, who was quickly moving away. Looking back, Jeongyun finally remembered the conversation they had earlier.
Starting tomorrow, Hwayeon would officially become an Esper in the Gray team. Of course, until he became an adult, he would first go through field adaptation training even after joining the team, but that place wasn’t completely safe either.
Setting aside the awkward feelings for a moment, Jeongyun took Hwayeon’s hand that was gripping his collar. Then, after composing his expression, he looked into Hwayeon’s eyes and said:
“I’ll be waiting, so come anytime.”
“Yes.”
After properly saying goodbye to Hwayeon, Jeongyun headed to the Guide building with mixed feelings.
When he arrived at the floor where the Guide rooms were, the Guides standing there spotted him and started whispering to each other.
‘What’s going on?’
Though he felt uncomfortable with their glances, Jeongyun simply ignored them and headed to his Guiding room. This situation was all too familiar thanks to Saeon and the B-class Guides.
‘There are a lot of people here.’
But maybe it was just his imagination, there seemed to be unusually many Guides outside today. Even though it was peak Guiding time, all their eyes were fixed on one spot.
After passing through the crowd, Jeongyun arrived at his Guiding room and encountered someone unexpected. The other person noticed Jeongyun’s arrival and turned to him.
“I’ve been waiting for a while, Guide Yeo Jeongyun.”
Despite the kind voice, his expression was rigid. Meeting the gray eyes that were much higher than his due to their height difference, Jeongyun bowed deeply to Semin.
“…Ah, hello.”
In response to the awkward greeting, Semin slightly raised the corner of his mouth. Glancing briefly over Jeongyun’s shoulder, he pointed at the Guiding room, suggesting they go inside.
“Just a moment, I’ll open it for you.”
Jeongyun hastily took out his Guiding room key. After letting Semin enter through the wide-open door first, he was about to follow when several Guides who had been watching for an opportunity approached and asked in low voices:
“Why is Deputy Director Hyun Semin looking for you?”
Though Semin had mentioned having a favor to ask, Jeongyun still didn’t know what it was since he hadn’t heard it from Semin yet.
When Jeongyun hesitated without answering, the Guides started speculating among themselves about why Semin had come.
“Could it be that he wants to receive Guiding from you?”
“No way, Deputy Director Hyun Semin refuses Guiding.”
“But if he doesn’t receive Guiding, why would he come looking for a Guide?”
It was already a hot topic that Semin, who refused Guiding, had appeared in the Guide building, but the fact that he was looking for Jeongyun, who was not only Domin’s Dedicated Guide but also C-class, was enough to turn headquarters upside down.
Worried that their whispering voices might reach through the open door, Jeongyun pushed away the hand of a Guide who was holding his arm and went inside. Only after closing the door did the murmuring voices fade.
‘I should have cleaned up earlier.’
If he had known someone was coming, he would have tidied the Guiding room, but now it was a mess.
Jeongyun pushed aside the things scattered on the floor to hide them and brought a guest chair for Semin, who was standing around unable to sit.
“Please sit here.”
“Thank you.”
After Semin sat down first, Jeongyun brought another chair and sat down too. He was wondering if he should make tea when Semin, as if reading his mind, smiled and said:
“You can relax. I’m the one who came suddenly.”
“But still, something to drink—”
“It’s fine, please stay seated.”
Semin made Jeongyun sit back down as he was about to stand up. In that awkward atmosphere, Jeongyun waited tensely for Semin to speak.
“Actually, I was going to contact you first, but time was tight, so I came without notice. Can you understand?”
“I, I’m fine with it. It’s not rude at all, so don’t worry.”
“That’s a relief then.”
After finishing his introduction, Semin took a brief breath, preparing to get to the main point. It seemed likely to be related to the “favor” he mentioned earlier. A favor from the Deputy Director was quite a burden.
“The reason I came to see Guide Yeo Jeongyun today is to ask the favor I mentioned before.”
“What kind of… favor?”
When Jeongyun carefully asked, Semin took something out of his inner jacket pocket. Receiving the paper that was folded along neat lines, Jeongyun carefully unfolded it.
“You know Esper Min Hwayeon, right?”
Seeing Hwayeon’s name written on the document, Jeongyun nodded slowly. Come to think of it, Semin was the team leader of the Gray team that Hwayeon would be joining. In his nervousness, he had forgotten this obvious fact.
“From tomorrow, Esper Min Hwayeon will officially join our team, and according to what I’ve been told, Esper Min Hwayeon is picky about Guides.”
As Semin said, Hwayeon was still refusing to receive Guiding from any Guide except Jeongyun. Of course, he kept trying without giving up, but each time was a failure. Today was no exception.
“The Gray team is often deployed in the field, so the possibility of being exposed to danger is very high. Among the teams, it also has the highest mortality rate.”
Semin continued his introduction about the Gray team in a very calm voice. The more he heard, the more skeptical Jeongyun felt about Hwayeon joining the Gray team.
Though he would be an adult in two months, it didn’t seem right to send Hwayeon, who was still immature in many ways, into such a dangerous situation. Of course, he knew Hwayeon had strong abilities, but a terrorist site wasn’t safe just because someone had strong powers.
“Hwayeon is still young.”
Jeongyun said quietly after waiting for Semin to finish.
In the field, one shouldn’t attack blindly, nor should one only defend. It was a frightening place where split-second judgment determined life or death.
Knowing Hwayeon’s condition better than anyone else, Jeongyun couldn’t erase his worries. If possible, he wanted to ask not to take Hwayeon to the Gray team.
“Understanding Guide Yeo Jeongyun’s concerns, we’ve set a longer field adaptation period for Esper Min Hwayeon compared to other Espers.”
That wasn’t what Jeongyun wanted, but since special treatment had already been given, he couldn’t say anything more. There were countless Espers who went into the field without even that much consideration.
“Could you look at the very bottom there?”
At Semin’s words, Jeongyun looked at the bottom of the document. Among the densely filled spaces, only that spot was empty. It was the place to write the name of the Dedicated Guide.
“Espers in the Gray team tend to have their own Dedicated Guides. However, even when we tried to assign another Guide to Esper Min Hwayeon, he insisted that it had to be Guide Yeo Jeongyun.”
“But I’m already Esper Choi Domin’s—”
“It’s not a mutual Imprinting, is it?”
Semin’s voice was firm as he cut off Jeongyun’s words. As he said, it wasn’t a mutual Imprinting, which was why Jeongyun was still able to provide Guiding to Hwayeon, but being a Dedicated Guide was different.
One couldn’t be a Dedicated Guide for two people at once. Of course, although he planned to terminate the Dedicated contract with Domin soon, he couldn’t be Hwayeon’s Dedicated Guide right now.
Even with a high matching rate, the field situation was different. In cases where abilities had to be used to their limits, as a mere C-class Guide, there would be limitations to what he could provide for an A-class like Hwayeon.
Jeongyun didn’t want to feel the same helplessness he felt when providing Guiding to Domin.
“I hate to say this myself, but I’m a C-class Guide. Wouldn’t it be better to find a higher-ranked Guide than me?”
“We would if we could.”
Semin openly expressed his regret.
If it weren’t for Hwayeon’s stubbornness, they would have already matched him with a higher-ranked Guide instead of a C-class. But Hwayeon persistently refused any Guide who wasn’t Jeongyun.
‘You promised to grant my request.’
Not content with that, one day Hwayeon suddenly contacted them and insisted on making Jeongyun his Dedicated Guide. That’s why Semin had no choice but to personally come find Jeongyun.
Of course, one couldn’t form Dedicated contracts with two Espers at once, but fortunately, there was another way. Whether it was because of his low rank or not, Domin’s Black team hadn’t registered Jeongyun as a team member.
“As Guide Yeo Jeongyun said, though you already have a Dedicated contract, you don’t have a team affiliation, right?”
Although he had already confirmed this in the documents, Semin deliberately asked Jeongyun again. When Jeongyun honestly nodded, Semin naturally smiled and extended his hand to him.
“Come join the Gray team, Guide Yeo Jeongyun.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
