Chapter 33
After leaving the hospital, Uncle went straight to the guild with us rather than home.
There was no guarantee that if something like this happened again, it would end as favorably as it did this time.
We needed to confirm exactly whether this problem originated with Uncle or with those boys, so we could prepare accordingly.
And if it was the boys’ problem, I needed to figure out how I could properly guide them.
“Then since we need to see both of them together, let’s have Yeohoon and Chan-seok go in together.”
It seemed like they wanted to check the matching rate first.
Since there was no need for guiding specifically, Uncle sat in a chair holding Ji Yeohoon’s hand without particularly moving his biger.
The researchers who were checking the graph asked them to let go of hands this time.
“Chan-seok, try moving your biger as if you’re guiding.”
“Okay.”
Ji Yeohoon looked at Uncle with a worried expression, and Uncle smiled, patting Ji Yeohoon’s head reassuringly before moving away.
One of the graphs that had been similar to before suddenly dropped to the bottom.
I hope I didn’t see that wrong.
“Yeohoon, would you step out? Cheong, come to the same spot and let’s try exactly what we just did.”
Uncle proceeded with Yoon Cheong in the same way he had with Ji Yeohoon.
When they were just sitting together without doing anything, the graph showed the same pattern as before, but when Uncle moved slightly away and moved his biger, one of the graphs dropped significantly.
“Why is that happening? Does it normally drop like that? What kind of graph is that?”
“Well~?”
The researchers seemed to be in the middle of analysis, as they were having a long discussion.
I looked on, hoping it wasn’t what I was thinking, hoping this wasn’t really… the matching rate graph.
“It seems fine, doesn’t it?”
“You think so?”
“The matching rate doesn’t suddenly drop when guiding begins. Both Yeohoon and Cheong seem stable, probably because they received guiding from Soo-young earlier, so this graph here, related to the risk of runaway power, has dropped dramatically.”
I was glad I kept my mouth shut as someone who didn’t understand the graphs.
If I had asked whether this was the matching rate graph and if something terrible was happening, I would have created an embarrassing memory.
“But Chan-seok doesn’t have a very high matching rate with either of them. Here, this is the matching rate…”
Everyone’s eyes followed the researcher’s finger as it pointed to one graph among many.
“This graph from Cheong, Yeohoon, and Chan-seok is the matching rate graph. Chan-seok is just under 40% with both of them. The probability of reverse guiding increases dramatically when guiding is done without proper concentration. Still, this shouldn’t have… Chan-seok’s matching rate with other Espers is usually 40-50%… Wait, did Chan-seok try to guide both of them simultaneously in an emergency?”
At that, Uncle nodded with a blank expression, as if suddenly understanding.
“Ah, yes…”
“Honey!”
Auntie shouted loudly.
I thought my eardrum would burst. I rubbed my ear as I heard a ringing sound.
As it turned out, Uncle had plenty of biger because he was an S-class Guide, but his matching rate was just average.
While it wasn’t as low as 10-20%, he usually carefully focused on guiding one person at a time, but when he saw his son and his son’s friend struggling, he had impulsively tried to guide them both.
Uncle, whose heart had momentarily stopped just a few hours ago, was now getting his back soundly slapped by Auntie.
Somehow, we who had been worried now felt more wronged.
“Aish, you idiot!”
“I’m sorry, I was wrong, I was wrong! Seon-young, that hurts!”
“You always do well, so why did you do that?!”
“Well… my son was struggling, and I couldn’t think straight… Ouch!”
“Good job, really!!”
Someone once said something like this.
People are different before marriage, after marriage, and after having children.
Oh Chan-seok, known as the model Guide, made the amateur mistake of panicking and recklessly guiding when his child was in distress.
I looked at him with an incredulous expression, and Uncle, who had been getting his back slapped by Auntie for quite some time, turned his head away in embarrassment.
“Well, at least something good came of this. Now we should accurately check Soo-young’s matching rate too. Seon-young, stop hitting him…”
Since we had time until evening, and knowing the matching rate would make it easier to guide those kids, I also sat in the chair.
Hadn’t I been anxious when trying to guide earlier?
Until now, my guiding had worked well, so there was no need to check the matching rate and increase anxiety, but now it was necessary to check the matching rate to lower the anxiety about reverse guiding.
When I held out my hand, Ji Yeohoon, who seemed to have shed his worries and felt much better compared to earlier, smiled and held my hand.
“Should I not move my biger?”
“Soo-young can do it. We told Chan-seok not to because we were worried about reverse guiding happening again.”
When I moved my biger to Ji Yeohoon, he seemed to feel more comfortable and yawned lazily.
After the graph check was complete, Yoon Cheong came in.
Ji Yeohoon briefly made a face that showed he didn’t want to leave, but he must have been curious too, as he pressed my hand with his thumb a few times before getting up.
I held Yoon Cheong’s hand, moved the same amount of biger, and then separated.
The matching rate came out quickly.
“How did it go?”
I thought it would be high.
We had been close since we were young, and during the last gate, I had felt the guiding went smoothly.
Uncle probably wouldn’t have done it if he had known why he experienced reverse guiding, but earlier I had embraced both boys when they woke up and guided them simultaneously.
And I could do it without particularly focusing on moving my biger.
It would be strange if I wasn’t expectant.
“As expected… you guys really are best friends, huh?”
90%, 91%.
“Wow.”
“Is mine 90%? Why?”
Ji Yeohoon gritted his teeth when he heard that the matching rate with Yoon Cheong was slightly higher.
I had thought it would be high, but even I hadn’t expected it to be this high.
“Is it common for S-class Guides to have such high matching rates? I’ve never seen it.”
“You’re a bit of a special case. I’ve never seen it either. S-class Guides typically average around 50-60%. Having two this high is amazing, Soo-young~?”
“It’s probably because Yeohoon and Cheong aren’t S-class Espers. S-class Guides and Espers rarely match well.”
No, they will become S-class. But I can’t say that…
The two were currently checked as B-class because they were still growing and their graphs were fluctuating.
“Usually with rates this high, imprinting occurs.”
I shook my head at the playful remark.
What imprinting? I said, and the researcher looked at me with wide eyes.
“You don’t plan to imprint with either of them? Looking at people who have imprinted so far, most cases had at least 75% matching rate. Though the hearts also had to match. Sometimes the rate was lower, but that’s the general probability.”
“Not interested. In romance comics and novels they call imprinting ‘destiny’ and stuff, but it doesn’t seem that great to me.”
“Why not?”
“It’s dangerous. If you imprint, you can’t provide emergency guiding to other Espers. And conversely, you can’t receive it either. I heard the probability of reverse guiding increases exponentially. Considering that these guys aren’t even imprinted yet Uncle experienced reverse guiding and we almost lost him forever… I don’t want that to happen to me.”
“Oh, you know a lot~.”
“We learn it at school. There’s a chapter in the textbook every year about the dangers of reverse guiding.”
I put on a haughty expression, fitting my concept of a genius (old-man-in-a-kid’s-body) Guide.
Amusingly, the world tends to describe the imprinting between Guides and Espers as something extremely romantic.
It’s portrayed beautifully on TV, and novels and movies glorify imprinted Guides and Espers who can’t live without each other, beautifying their spectacular deaths. But I don’t want such a pointless death.
I’ve been working hard to make friends with Yoon Cheong and make Ji Yeohoon my little brother, cooking and stewing them along to prevent dying in a gate explosion. So why would I increase my chances of death by imprinting?
I shook my head, and the researcher patted my head saying, “Oh, quite impressive~.”
I’ve been working hard to grow taller, but somehow everyone calls me an old man in a child’s body while treating me like a child.
Then, curious, I tapped a nearby researcher.
“By the way, what’s the highest matching rate recorded between an S-class Esper and an S-class Guide?”
“The highest? Um, 57%? And that was just once; almost all are in the 40% range. Until now, S-class Espers matched well with A- and B-class Guides, and vice versa.”
Ah, I’m screwed.
Once those kids are confirmed as S-class, they’ll definitely become research subjects.
The researcher looking at my graph tilted their head for a moment and ran to the team leader.
They whispered quietly, but the team leader looked at me briefly and smiled.
What’s with my graph? I wondered, and they waved, saying they’d tell me later.
* * *
After the gauge measurement was finished, the researchers who had been watching the children chattering among themselves approached Ji Seon-young and Oh Chan-seok.
“Looking at the graph, it’s one of the phenomena that often occurs in Espers preparing for imprinting. It’s similar to what happened with Seon-young 17 years ago.”
“I thought so…”
“Is it a… semi-imprinted state?”
“Yes. Unilateral imprinting would be more accurate. They probably won’t be able to receive proper guiding from others until it’s resolved.”
Whether due to Esper instinct or not, there are no Espers who don’t welcome guiding.
Even with a very low matching rate, since guiding reduces physical pain and makes them feel more comfortable, many cling to guiding even with low matching rates.
Moreover, with a matching rate of around 40%, the probability of reverse guiding becomes extremely low unless the Esper severely and stubbornly refuses guiding.
However, if reverse guiding occurs despite that not-low matching rate, it’s because imprinting has occurred.
Oh Chan-seok’s expression darkened as he watched the children chattering away.
Oh Chan-seok and Ji Seon-young had almost imprinted with each other.
As lovers who only wanted to guide and be guided by each other, they understood those feelings.
And they had also become a couple who knew very well how imprinting occurs.
But they hadn’t imprinted for a very small yet obvious reason.
Because of the possibility of reverse guiding phenomena like this, and because if reverse guiding occurs and causes problems for the Guide, the imprinted Esper might go out of control if they can’t receive guiding from their Guide.
To avoid worrying the children, they explained it as an incident that occurred because they tried to guide at once and promised to be careful, but in reality, they needed to be careful about guiding itself.
“The fortunate thing is Soo-young’s response. Thanks to his mature personality, it doesn’t seem like complete imprinting will occur.”
“If he’s mature…”
“It’s the same reason why Chan-seok and Seon-young didn’t imprint.”
The pain of reverse guiding that an imprinted Guide receives when trying to provide emergency guiding to another Esper is beyond imagination.
Conversely, if an imprinted Esper tries to receive guiding from another Guide, the other Guide falls into reverse guiding, and the Esper doesn’t receive proper guiding, which could put both in danger.
Knowing this, Ji Seon-young and Oh Chan-seok ultimately didn’t imprint.
They always stayed together, but like in today’s gate, if a problem arose and they were separated, they might need to guide others or receive guiding from others.
For each other’s safety, they couldn’t imprint.
While everyone tries to wrap imprinting in beauty, they had to look at it coldly because it could threaten not only their lives but also the lives of those around them.
“It’s fortunate he’s an old man in a child’s body.”
As long as they were careful, there was no danger yet.
Their matching rate was high, and they got along well, making guiding easy. Given Soo-young’s personality and his proper understanding, he wouldn’t imprint, which was especially reassuring.
“Imprinting can be rejected by the Guide.”
This was not well-known.
Conversely, it was known within Calling because of Ji Seon-young and Oh Chan-seok.
In imprinting, the Esper always imprinted first before the Guide.
Ji Seon-young had imprinted first, but after Oh Chan-seok rejected the imprinting, Ji Seon-young’s imprinting was undone.
Though everyone was made to keep quiet about imprinting by the Association, the Association’s researchers were studying related matters.
Having been a couple who almost imprinted, and remembering how they avoided imprinting, they were even more desperate.
In their hearts, they hoped that Soo-young would continue to handle the two children who wanted to imprint with him as well as he was doing now.
Notes:
Biger – Energy or power that Guides use when guiding Espers
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
