Chapter 36
The guys kept pressing their heads throughout the trip from the car to the restaurant, seemingly in pain.
Even with their sorrowful expressions, their handsome faces just made them look cute.
Especially Ji Yeohoon, who pushed out his lips in a pout when he found out his parents had recorded a video, which kept the aunt, uncle, and me laughing endlessly.
Even at the barbecue restaurant, the guys maintained sullen faces until they’d been fed a couple of wrapped portions of meat, after which they finally started eating, saying it was delicious.
Before heading back to school, we decided to stop by a mart to buy necessary items.
While energetic Espers could run around all they wanted, the uncle and I, with our ordinary human stamina, waved our hands claiming exhaustion, so in the end, only the three Espers excitedly entered the mart.
The uncle and I sprawled out in the café inside the mart and just gulped down drinks.
“How long do you think they’ll take?”
“Hmm, since Seon-young has a lot she wants to buy for Yeohoon, at minimum 30 minutes, at maximum 1.5 hours? I should give you guys time to rest too.”
“…You won’t forget that we need to rest, right?”
“Trust the auntie.”
“Though I wouldn’t really trust her,” he added, and I was also worried they might forget and get lost in shopping.
Normally, Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about exploring the mart, but they said they had things they wanted to buy.
“Didn’t you say your computer was still working well?”
“He’s been looking into different things, saying it’s about time to replace it. It would be better to just assemble one from Danawa.”
“But he insists on using Apple products, so what can we do?”
“Ji Yeohoon always grumbles about Apple being inconvenient for installing games, yet he still does this. Yoon Cheong just ordered a custom PC the day before yesterday, but he says he needs a laptop too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
I clearly told him that if that’s the case, he should just buy a tablet, but he didn’t seem to like that idea.
Seeing my face exhausted from childcare, the uncle looked at me sympathetically and spoke.
“Do you need something sweet? Is your blood sugar low?”
“…I’ll take a honey bread.”
“Okay…”
Actually, the longer the shopping time, the better.
The aunt deliberately asked me if I was tired in front of the guys as she took them along.
Thanks to that, the guys said they’d go by themselves to be considerate of me, and I got time alone with the uncle.
I took a bite with my fork and spoke.
“So the uncle was originally planning to imprint too?”
“Yes.”
I never knew the uncle was a Guide who had rejected imprinting.
I had wondered since the two of them seemed so close, and I was right.
“Originally, Seon-young imprinted on me first. Just like you guys now. I was also planning to imprint because I didn’t want to guide anyone but Seon-young, but then the incident happened.”
The uncle explained the situation at that time.
The aunt, an Esper, imprinted on the uncle, a Guide, first. Afterward, they entered a gate, and the aunt needed urgent guiding, so another Guide guided her. Just like with the two guys, that Guide fell into reverse guiding and was rushed to the hospital.
After seeing another Guide struggle due to reverse guiding, the aunt suggested that imprinting might not be possible. The uncle agreed and rejected the imprinting, which also undid the aunt’s imprinting.
“Why don’t other people know about this?”
“We deliberately didn’t publicize it. The ability to reject imprinting implies the ability to discover how to imprint, you see. If someone has already imprinted, they don’t feel the need to tell others about it. The Association imposes a condition not to inform those who might have the potential for imprinting. I’m telling you separately because you’re in an exceptional situation.”
“Will the Association take me away or harm you for breaking the promise?”
“I originally wanted to tell you earlier, but the Association refused, saying there was a risk. They knew you had been close since childhood, so they thought you might imprint.”
The uncle had been requesting permission from the Association for a year.
Before entering the gate today, after confirming that I had no intention of imprinting and actually wanted to undo it, he felt the need to inform me accurately before it was too late.
The Association granted permission because I had already revealed that I knew the guys had imprinted on me.
“Actually, it’s not difficult. Usually, even with unilateral imprinting, the imprinted parties know each other well or have accumulated a lot of affection.”
The uncle paused in his explanation.
He looked at me, then seemed to gaze at where the guys had disappeared, before looking back at me.
“Soo-young, do you have someone you like?”
“Someone?”
“Yes. Like a school friend…”
“No.”
I feel like an adult among children—who are you trying to emotionally lock up?
Although my body’s age isn’t much different from theirs, this was one of the drawbacks of being a regressor.
What could I do among these children… I shook my head, and the uncle’s face turned serious.
“Rejecting imprinting means blocking it before it happens…”
The uncle’s eyes wavered.
“It, well, you need to have feelings for Yeohoon or Cheong for it to be possible?”
“P-pardon?”
“In other words, you need to emotionally like the two children for rejection of imprinting to be possible.”
“…”
From the context, I could tell that this “liking” wasn’t just simple affection like “they’re cute.”
The first condition for mutual imprinting was the exchange of emotions between Esper and Guide.
That’s why media portrays imprinting as destiny or untouchable love.
According to the uncle, there are no other methods to reject imprinting yet.
He said this method was the only confirmed one, verified by him after finding and checking cases of imprinting rejection following his own experience.
“I should hear about it first.”
The more I thought about it, the more I felt it might not be suitable for me, but if it was the only method, I needed to know about it.
The uncle began explaining with a troubled face.
“Espers often imprint when they feel ‘this Guide is the one I like, I don’t need anyone else,’ so it’s hard to tell when they imprint. But for Guides, the moment of imprinting is precise. Vigor continuously seeks out the Esper.”
“Seeks the Esper?”
“Yes. Literally seeks the Esper. I don’t think I can explain what this feeling is like. It really seeks the Esper.”
To be honest, I couldn’t understand what he meant, and the uncle also looked troubled about how to explain it.
“If it can’t be explained, let’s just assume that’s the case.”
“Hmm, then you’d go to the Esper, right? You to Yeohoon or Cheong. So just go.”
“Isn’t the point not to go?”
“No. First, go. After going, you can reject. By then, you’ll know what to do. To be honest, it’s been over 15 years for me, so it’s hard to explain precisely. When the time comes, you’ll understand…”
Usually, positive answers tend to follow.
Like “you’ll be able to do it when the time comes” or “you can do it”…
But could I?
Anyway, it was clear that the prerequisite for rejecting imprinting was that I had to like them.
To reject imprinting, I first need to like them?
So if I don’t have feelings for them, I can’t undo their unilateral imprinting?
“The more I hear, the less it seems to fit me.”
“Right?”
The Guide also needed to fulfill the condition of having feelings for the Esper.
The problem is that there are two guys who have imprinted on me.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s ridiculous, uncle…”
“I agree.”
In fact, even if imprinting is done by the Esper alone, it’s supposedly impossible without some level of expectation.
There has never been a case of imprinting from ordinary affection; at minimum, romantic feelings are required for imprinting…
“So you’re saying I need to have more than ordinary affection for both of them…”
This is where the biggest error occurs.
No matter how much I think about it, it means these guys (young things, and at puberty age when even the emotion of love isn’t clear, these tiny beings) have romantic feelings for me, and for me to reject them, I have to have romantic feelings for both of them!
Of course, there might be a way to do it sequentially, but that’s also difficult.
Hah, how can I like those brats?
“Those brats…”
Although the uncle knew how I was “raising” these guys, he objected, saying I was being too harsh.
“But how is our Yeohoon like a child? He’s grown a lot now, Soo-young. He’s even taller than you now.”
“…Uncle, I’ve known him since he was 7.”
“You were 8. And Cheong is the same age as you.”
“I checked their homework, taught them, stopped their fights, gave them bubble baths, and remember when they broke the remote control fighting over watching cartoons. I know Yoon Cheong still watches reruns of ‘Green Frog Sergeant’ on YouTube, and I know Ji Yeohoon binge-watched that yokai cartoon even though I told him he wasn’t old enough. Last year, they were still playing ‘Wind Scar’ with other Esper kids in their class.”
“Well, um…”
“Plus, they still don’t listen when I nag them to open their homework as soon as they enter the room.”
“…Maybe it’s time to stop raising them? You’re in 9th grade too. Can’t you tell them to handle things themselves?”
“I can’t because it bothers me.”
If it’s about my feelings, I know well.
I can see in their eyes how much they trust, follow, and like me.
I know this is an important time for these guys who have just entered puberty, but it’s another issue that their feelings are being conveyed to me and that those feelings are a bit different from what I feel.
To me, these two are still just physically grown kids, boys I need to raise more, boys I care for, pretty boys.
They still feel so young to me—how can I flip my emotions like turning over a page so easily?
“And I’m… those kids…”
I’m scared.
Scared they’ll change like before my regression, and I’ll die, and now these two I’ve come to care for will die too.
I closed my mouth without being able to say those words.
I thought I’d gotten better while growing up with these two, but as I looked at the increasingly bright, chilling blue eyes and shining green eyes, I realized I still haven’t forgotten the roaring sound from that time.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
