Chapter 50
9.
Summers and winters were getting longer, while springs and autumns were getting shorter.
It seemed like a national rule that rain would fall as soon as the cherry blossoms fully bloomed. We couldn’t even properly enjoy the flowers before it rained.
I went outside because the two guys kept pestering me to take photos in front of the cherry blossoms.
Yoon Cheong tried blocking the raindrops with his telekinesis while we took pictures, but we deleted them because it was so gloomy without any sunshine.
Fortunately, Yoon Cheong’s parents were discharged from the hospital without further issues, and my younger sibling was born.
The cherry blossoms quickly fell, and just when I thought the fine dust was increasing, it soon became hot.
I thought summer started from June, but with each passing year, it seemed like summer was beginning from May.
I put away my long-sleeved activity uniform and started wearing short-sleeved shirts and shorts.
“Moon Yu-min is the name.”
“The name?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, that’s pretty?”
The name for my sibling born last month had been decided.
Both Mom and Dad apologized for being late in informing me, as they had to stay at the hospital for a while because my newborn sibling was slightly weak.
At the end of May, the day my parents told me my sibling’s name, I immediately told the two guys.
I’d only seen photos of when they were just born, all red and wrinkly, but since it takes time for babies’ skin to smooth out, and they were sick for a while so there was no time to take photos, I was waiting for pictures of them now that they’ve recovered and become fair-skinned.
“I thought it would be a Korean name, but it seems like a surprisingly common name?”
“My name isn’t a Korean name either, so why?”
“It seems like a name that doesn’t particularly distinguish between boys and girls, like your name.”
I liked that the name was rounder than expected.
The existence of my sibling, which clearly showed that things were different before and after the regression, couldn’t help but be lovable.
Moon Yu-min, born on April 17th, blood type RH- B, birth weight 2.8kg—I kept memorizing these details.
“Wait, RH-?”
“Hyung, are you sure you remember correctly?”
“Yes. I’m not wrong, it’s a rare blood type. I need to protect them.”
When I spoke seriously, the two guys stared at me.
“We’ll protect them first.”
“That’s right. We’ll do it. You just take good care of us, Hyung.”
“It’s my sibling, you punks.”
I joked, “Don’t even think about taking them away.”
In fact, since our parents kept looking after each other, these guys were almost like real siblings to my sibling.
At first, only Ji Yeohoon’s parents called Yoon Cheong and me their sons, but nowadays, my parents and Yoon Cheong’s parents also referred to all three of us as their sons.
“But what are the Chinese characters? You use Chinese characters too, Hyung.”
At Ji Yeohoon’s question, my expression became distant.
I never thought the name these guys chose would end up like this.
“The ‘Yu’ from glass and the ‘Min’ from sky.”
“…”
“Or maybe the ‘Yu’ from clear glass.”
“Really?”
“Would I lie about this?”
These guys named my sibling.
Ji Yeohoon, who liked “Yuri,” and Yoon Cheong, who liked “Haneul.”
I said I liked “Ye-in,” but…
Still, the name Yu-min was also pretty, so I could let it slide.
* * *
In the meantime, I applied for guild gate conquests two more times.
When I said I was going, the guys quickly applied too, and we went together both times.
Now that we were in high school, unlike before, they didn’t just assign me to guide Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon.
It seemed like they were also training me to quickly identify who should receive priority guiding, whether I joined the Association rather than a guild, or became a freelance Guide like most advanced Guides.
From my perspective, having experience with the Association, it wasn’t particularly difficult, but from what I heard from high school students at other schools, it seemed challenging for them to grasp.
“So you’re both at School 6?”
“Yeah. How’s School 3? I’m curious since they say it’s the best place. I hear Esper-Guide schools receive Association support, and students with guilds even get scholarships from their guilds, but everyone says it’s still not as good as School 3.”
“Well, first, all schools have dormitories, so let’s skip that, but the food is delicious.”
“Ours is like that too.”
“Do they clean for you too?”
“They clean for you? Not just bathrooms and showers?”
“Yes, our rooms. They even bring snacks whatever you want if you tell them in advance, and they do laundry too. Even ironing.”
“I want to transfer to School 3.”
They weren’t students from the Calling Guild.
However, they were selected students because only a very small number of students who had already completed their training could enter E-grade or higher gates with Korea’s top 10 guilds.
Since the three of us were temporarily affiliated with the Calling Guild, we were immediately approved whenever the timing was right, making this our third conquest in high school.
In contrast, there had been no scheduled gate conquests with external students under the Calling Guild’s supervision all year, and when one finally came up, it required two Guides and one Esper, so the competition was intense.
There were even rumors among students that the guild was looking for new ability users to contract with Calling Guild, as they had set the requirements at B-grade Esper or higher and C-grade Guide or higher.
“But I didn’t expect you to be here…”
“Why me?”
“You’re famous. You and that kid, Ji Yeohoon, who went in today.”
“Me and Ji Yeohoon?”
“And that Yoon Cheong kid who didn’t come today.”
“Why are we famous?”
“The C-grade gate when you were in middle school.”
“Ah, I had forgotten about that…”
After that incident, Ji Yeohoon became more accustomed to controlling his abilities so no more accidents occurred, and Calling did a good job of cutting off excessive focus on me, so there were no major issues.
Yoon Cheong didn’t come today.
When I asked if he wasn’t coming with us, he said he had something to do because the Association had requested help.
‘Why the Association?’
‘It’s nothing special, but apparently they heard about how I moved my parents’ hospital beds before. They asked if I could help in a similar way.’
‘Ah…’
He was a guy with deeper affection than his cool appearance suggested.
Since it was the hospital where his parents had been admitted, he probably wanted to help, so when the Association requested assistance, he said he would.
This was already the third time.
This kid, I wonder if he’s actually getting paid. Even if it’s done with good intentions, they shouldn’t randomly put students to work.
If he says he didn’t get paid, I’ll have to storm in there with his uncle later and tell the Association to at least give the kid some part-time wages.
And the one who looks kind but actually has the coldest heart was apparently finishing the gate quickly inside today.
“Soo-young, did Yeohoon say he wanted to finish early today?”
“Yes. He said he absolutely wanted to eat lunch outside. Last time, the gate elevated and we were delayed, so he couldn’t eat the gyukatsu lunch special. His lips were sticking out this far because of it.”
“I see, he’s fast but just moderately fast, not enough to worry about.”
When Ji Yeohoon entered a gate, the conquest speed was faster than expected.
Even when trying to conquer the gate normally, it was about 15% faster than the average gate conquest time.
In case of accidents or if we needed to come out quickly, for an E-grade gate like today’s, we could exit more than 4-5 times faster, but since gates with students also serve as teaching opportunities, they were a bit slower because the focus was on solving things properly rather than quick clearance.
“How much faster than usual?”
“21%?”
“Oh, then the estimated time is…”
“Calculating what we planned to do today, roughly between 11:30 and 12:10.”
“Ha. I’ll have to make a reservation. I wasn’t going to eat it again since I had it last time.”
I promised to buy lunch if we came out early.
Since Yoon Cheong was only helping in the morning, I sent him a message in advance asking him to have lunch together.
The gate conquest ended normally without any incidents, but there was no reply from Yoon Cheong.
“Hyuuung…”
“Wait a bit.”
Ji Yeohoon quickly ran over, but I pushed him aside and checked the other Espers coming out of the gate first.
Since they were Espers from the guild, people who could guide with S-grade Guide abilities were identified, so guiding wasn’t too difficult.
The other Espers were being intensively guided by Guide students from School 6.
Having a bit more experience, I gave them a few tips.
“You shouldn’t use too much Biger. Since many people went in today, just guide enough to ease the pain somewhat. When you start guiding, you can feel the amount of Biger flowing out, right? When you sense the pulling sensation from the Esper’s side starting to decrease a bit, that’s when you can stop guiding.”
“Soo-young explains everything. It’s convenient.”
“Please, guild Guides, explain it to us…”
“You’re part of our guild too, so it’s fine~”
“I’m a minor and haven’t signed a contract.”
The atmosphere was more cheerful than expected.
It would have been comfortable if not for Ji Yeohoon grumbling that I wasn’t attending to him first.
Because I remembered teaching juniors during my Association days, I explained enthusiastically, but it turned out that the guild Guides weren’t relaying what they should, so only I was talking actively.
“Hyung…”
“Just a moment. You’re not there yet.”
“Hyung, you’re too cold when you’re guiding.”
I’m not going to believe your “I’m hurt” talk when your face doesn’t look hurt at all.
Knowing he was just whining to go eat, I verbally acknowledged him, saying, “Okay, okay.”
Do I see you once every other day?
“Done. Guild Master, Ji Yeohoon and I are leaving first.”
“Okay~ Our prospective guild members…”
“I haven’t signed a contract.”
“Right. Our temporary guild members. Like usual, today’s payment will be deposited in 2-3 days, so check then. Get home safely!”
“Yes.”
I had increased my gate applications since entering high school because we could officially go out.
I was also excited because after lunch, I was going to meet my baby sister for the first time with these two guys.
“Did you make a reservation?”
“Yeah. I hate waiting. I told Yoon Cheong to come right over when he’s done. But why isn’t he responding?”
“Maybe there’s work at the hospital? Not that there are always people who need to be moved like Yoon Cheong Hyung’s parents were back then.”
“That’s true, but what could he have to do?”
A message arrived a little while later.
He said that since there were only Guides at the Association, they had heavy documents to move, so he agreed to help a bit more.
That kid, I told him to grow up to be kind, but it seems his helpfulness has grown quite broad. I told him to come to our house on his own when he was done.
“Let’s eat gyukatsu, just the two of us.”
“Wow~”
“Stop clinging.”
“Can I eat Yoon Cheong Hyung’s portion too?”
“Eat it, eat it all.”
I headed to the restaurant, pushing away Ji Yeohoon who was excitedly hugging me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
