Chapter 41
Ye Han-dam.
An Esper the same age as me legally, but actually a year older in reality.
Even before my regression, he was one of the Espers whose past wasn’t well known, but he was especially famous for his appearance.
Espers are usually exceptionally beautiful, but Ye Han-dam stood out even among them.
First, you’d be entranced by his face, and second, by his smile.
That much is fine.
What’s wrong with an Esper smiling? It makes you feel good.
The problem was his behavior.
‘You really need to be careful with Ye Han-dam.’
‘…Yes.’
‘Never create a situation where you’re alone with him, and don’t separate from the Association Esper who goes with you.’
‘Yes.’
‘Especially don’t guide him. Many people guide him out of sympathy, but absolutely don’t do it with that guy.’
He was notorious for always causing reverse guiding.
If you let your guard down thinking, “I’ll be fine, we’ve talked and become close enough,” that’s when you’ve fallen into Ye Han-dam’s trap.
Ye Han-dam was an A-class Esper with explosive-type abilities. I met him after I became the first Association-affiliated Esper. Before Ye Han-dam, the Association had no affiliated Espers, but they deliberately incorporated him after he caused problems by triggering reverse guiding.
No matter how much I searched for his past, what kind of person he was before, it was classified as confidential and impossible to find out.
And now Ye Han-dam is also from School 3.
To transfer to School 3, especially in the middle of attending another school, means he must have become affiliated with a high-ranking guild or was predicted to have a high rank.
Yet his past was still shrouded in mystery…
I quickly retraced my memories.
If he was affiliated with a ranked guild, it means something unusual happened to that guild later. That’s the only way Ye Han-dam’s past activities wouldn’t be revealed.
Even Calling, the number one guild, doesn’t classify related information as confidential and discloses everything. So which guild would cover up all past information? Which place could overlook such abnormalities?
I thought of one place.
Chaehwa, ranked 8th among Korean guilds. It was a guild under the Association.
Officially, no Espers work at the Association.
There was no one before Ye Han-dam changed to Association affiliation.
I know this well because I was at the Association.
After leaving Chaehwa, Ye Han-dam was forcibly affiliated with the Association.
He was only affiliated with the Association in name; in reality, it was almost imprisonment.
Due to continuous guiding rejection and reverse guiding, he was forcibly put into a guiding machine and had to use guiding drugs.
“Hello! I’m Yoo Ji-ae. I’m an Esper, close-range attack type.”
And most of the Espers affiliated with Chaehwa…
“Nice to meet you. I’m explosive type. I attack from a distance.”
Had abilities that were strong in lethality or good for subduing others.
All abilities can become ones that subdue or harm people if misused, but those in Chaehwa were particularly strong in that regard.
Still, most had well-rounded personalities and often joined the Association-affiliated guild with the upright belief that they wanted to use their abilities for good. Like Yoon Cheong.
The problem was that this pink-haired madman wasn’t like that.
The kids in the class introduced themselves to Ye Han-dam and greeted him.
His smiling face with kind features definitely stood out.
With his pink hair and sky-blue eyes, he might even look fluffy and cute to some, but to me, who had returned, it gave me goosebumps.
“Oh? You’re a Guide? It’s nice that this school has a good atmosphere between Guides and Espers. Can you guide me in the afternoon class later?”
“Sure~ Of course. But I wonder if there’ll be any need for guiding?”
“I’ll be counting on you.”
If he was indeed affiliated with Chaehwa before becoming Association-affiliated in the pre-regression timeline, the reason Ye Han-dam, who had neither a sense of justice nor a spirit of service, entered Chaehwa was clear.
Because at Chaehwa, he could meet relatively more Guides.
Chaehwa basically only has Espers, and they clear Gates with Guides sent from the Association.
The higher-ranked Guides often work as freelancers rather than being affiliated with guilds, and most move as Gate clearing teams rather than belonging to or being exclusive to one place. (There are unusual cases like Uncle Oh Chan-seok, but they’re still quite common.)
Lower-ranked Guides are more likely to be affiliated with the Association than guilds, and they might attend regular schools, receive only essential Guide education from the Association, and work.
The Association is where most of the D to F-class Guides, who make up the majority of all Guides, are found.
‘That guy is now causing reverse guiding to everyone.’
‘If we don’t take measures, something terrible will happen.’
That’s why he became affiliated with Chaehwa to meet as many Guides coming from the Association as possible.
And to all those many Guides he met, that guy “deliberately” caused reverse guiding.
It wasn’t that reverse guiding appeared because of low matching rates; even with high matching rates of 70-80%, he would smile while causing reverse guiding.
By refusing guiding.
As Guides began to avoid Ye Han-dam, guiding became even more difficult, and as guiding became impossible, the risk of him going berserk increased.
He eventually reached a berserk state, injured several Espers, and died.
Perhaps because he used fire and had a clear appearance, the berserk defense plan itself was named “Belial Subjugation” after the demon Belial who uses fire.
As more Guides were injured by reverse guiding, many Guides’ activities were curtailed, and many Espers had to be deployed due to the berserk state of the high-ranking A-class Esper.
Because of that impact, both the Association and Chaehwa couldn’t respond actively to Ji Yeohoon’s terrorism.
This was because quite a few of Chaehwa’s Espers died due to Ye Han-dam’s explosive-type ability, which easily harmed others.
And now Ye Han-dam has come here?
I secretly clutched my head.
It’s already a headache with a hero and a villain, and now a troll appears.
Why is my life like this?
* * *
“Shall we move? First-year high school students can use the gymnasium for afternoon classes, so if you want, you can play ball.”
“Who wants to play soccer!”
“Hey, badminton is the best.”
“Are you trying to kill the Guides! Do something we can all do together! Do something that doesn’t require strength!”
“How can we not use strength in a gymnasium!”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Espers use only 30% of your strength.”
“Call!”
“Wow, it seems bigger than the middle school gymnasium.”
Someone exclaimed in admiration as we headed to the gymnasium.
Even for a gymnasium, it’s five stories high, and the width is several times that of a regular school gymnasium. There’s also a defensive Esper barrier installed to prevent walls from breaking or dangers, and the walls are quite thick in case the barrier goes down.
It might seem natural or perhaps excessive that Espers need to gather there, but after seeing it several times through elementary and middle school, I’ve become used to it.
Since Ye Han-dam attended a different school, he was looking at the class kids with curiosity, as if this was both familiar and unfamiliar.
I have a very general idea of what Schools 1, 2, and 4 are like.
Guides and Espers keep a moderate distance, and Espers don’t talk to each other unless necessary. During afternoon classes, they don’t even mix words unless it’s time for guiding.
During their time in school together, Guides build up fear of strong Espers, and Espers build up a desire for guiding rather than for Guides.
That was the disadvantage of Esper-Guide schools that I observed.
So I had been quite active in trying to eliminate that during school, and at least the kids in our grade had grown well enough to make me proud.
“Cheong, lift Yoon Seong-jin up once.”
“Why me again?!”
When Yoon Cheong grabbed Yoon Seong-jin with his strength and lifted him, the class kids burst into laughter as if used to it.
Yoon Seong-jin is the biggest and strongest among the physical enhancement type Esper trio.
Still, worried he might get hurt, Yoon Cheong snatched him back in mid-air and sat him on an invisible box. As expected, attention-seeker Yoon Seong-jin was excited, striking model poses.
“Get down now.”
“Okay.”
“Soo-young! Are you going to play badminton too? The kids are saying they will!”
“No, I’ll just watch. I’ll flip the scoreboard.”
Normally, I would have joined in briefly, but now I need to keep an eye on Ye Han-dam.
Even though I know that the current Ye Han-dam, like the young Ji Yeohoon, hasn’t done anything wrong yet, I’m still wary.
The current Ji Yeohoon isn’t the kind of person who would cause terrorism like before my regression, but since I don’t know the decisive cause that made him become a terrorist, it’s hard to say the problem is completely resolved. So I’m always thinking about the worst-case scenario.
And in the midst of all this, if Ye Han-dam appears now… unlike Ji Yeohoon, whom I’ve looked after since he was young to prevent him from going astray, I don’t know how much influence I can have.
What if Ye Han-dam already had negative feelings toward Guides? What if he had already decided to cause indiscriminate reverse guiding?
What if, because of that, Chaehwa and the Association were damaged, and as a result, they couldn’t stop Ji Yeohoon?
“Alright! Han-dam, come over here too. Join our team.”
“No, why? The new friend should come with us.”
“Pink hair is pretty… I like it…”
It was noisy.
Of course, the students who had no way of knowing what kind of person Ye Han-dam was were only thinking about having fun.
That pink-haired person you’re dragging along will later become a target for elimination by the Association, you idiot Baek Da-hyuk.
Ye Han-dam looked awkward, as if it was his first time having friends stick close to talk to him.
I heard that in other schools, and in grades other than ours and the grade just below us, afternoon classes are mostly spent practicing to stabilize abilities.
It’s not the playful atmosphere like in our class or Ji Yeohoon’s class.
Of course, the change in the lower grades was partly due to our class.
“I wish next year would come quickly.”
“You just want to see Yoon-seo easily, right?”
“No, it’s not just that… it’s good for playing dodgeball together…”
“I’ll admit that.”
“It’s only March. Wait a bit.”
The atmosphere had been transformed because I always brought the class kids to play with Ji Yeohoon’s grade during afternoon classes.
And Ye Han-dam, who came today for the first time, looked even more confused by these conversations.
Earlier when he first entered the class, he had the eyes of an Esper staring intently at a Guide student in hopes of receiving stable guiding, but now he was a high schooler with poor social skills, not knowing what to do among kids who wanted to play together.
Just maybe, as a very tentative thought, if the reason this guy deliberately causes reverse guiding is due to something that happened during school life, perhaps these situations could make up for it.
“Have you played badminton before?”
“A little, when I was young.”
“That’s great! That kid over there isn’t good at it either!”
“You must be talking about me. Take this! I’ll serve you a devil’s serve.”
“Umm, next out.”
Among the laughing classmates, Ye Han-dam awkwardly held a badminton racket and moved his body to follow the flying shuttlecock.
“No, no, Han-dam. You need to move a bit slower. Guides have a hard time keeping up if we move too fast.”
“Huh, what?”
“Slowly. Always think of using only about 30% of your original strength.”
“30%?”
“Yeah. You only put in that much strength. It feels like…”
Yoo Ji-ae explained right away.
Ye Han-dam, who had been constantly using his full strength at first, soon relaxed after watching what the other kids were doing.
One important thing here: the Espers in our grade and Ji Yeohoon’s grade had excellent ability control.
Espers who always lived tensely, unable to control the overflowing power in their bodies, became even more stable than before as they learned how to relax.
The probability of reverse guiding was low because they weren’t worried about whether a Guide would guide them.
And since they only used their abilities where absolutely necessary, guiding wasn’t needed every day, and they were at ease because they weren’t forced to suppress or amplify their abilities.
Espers say they still have chronic pain like headaches, but it’s relatively less compared to other grades because they bump into and play with Guide students, which results in non-contact guiding.
From my perspective, it’s puzzling that they all got better just by playing, but based on the teachers’ words that they’re doing well, I’ve just continued to encourage them to behave as before.
“Good job! We won!”
The victory went to the team with Ye Han-dam, who transferred today.
Time passes even without necessarily using abilities or trying hard to do well.
After becoming an Esper, they experience stress trying to control their abilities well among people who fear them due to those abilities, but they release that stress by playing elsewhere.
Moreover, the Guides guided their Esper “friends” in the same class to help alleviate the pain that occurs even without using abilities, and to have more fun.
They guided with positive emotions, smiling in a comfortable atmosphere.
“Me too…”
“Hehe.”
Today was definitely more fun, and the Espers chattered about what they would do tomorrow.
It was only natural for them to sit in a circle with the relatively fewer Guides, holding hands and talking.
And the peace is broken by Belial.
“Ji-hyun!”
“Teacher! Ji-hyun collapsed!”
“Is it reverse guiding?”
“Wake up, Ji-hyun! Ji-hyun!”
The demon who intruded into the peaceful daily life seemed to have too much suspicion to accept the peaceful scene.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
