Chapter 59
Yoon Cheong rarely got angry.
The same was true for Ji Yeohoon.
The times when they loudly yelled at each other as if they were angry were usually during games or their typical bickering arguments.
They tended to not get particularly angry with others, letting things slide.
But Yoon Cheong appeared quite angry now.
Ji Yeohoon had also approached, coming in front of me protectively to shield me while glaring at Ye Han-seo.
How should I describe this feeling? To an outsider, it might seem like an excessive reaction.
It was true that when an Esper and Guide were guiding, more points of contact meant more bigar could be sent, making guiding relatively faster.
However, making demands of a Guide against their will was classified as harassment.
And especially since I was only trying to hold hands for guiding when he forcibly pulled me, it was definitely a situation where I should be angry.
My hand that Ye Han-seo had pulled still stung.
He hadn’t held back his Esper strength when pulling the Guide, so my hand couldn’t help but hurt.
“Hyung, are you okay?” Ji Yeohoon asked.
“Yeah. It’s just a bit sore.”
“I’ll tell my mom about it later. When she returns after finishing the other gate, she’ll heal you right away.”
It had been a very long time since I’d seen Ji Yeohoon this upset.
Even when Ye Han-seo first transferred to our school, though Ji Yeohoon raised his voice in anger, his expression wasn’t as heated as it was now.
When Yoon Cheong got angry, his face contorted, and when Ji Yeohoon became very angry, his expression actually hardened.
“What’s the problem? I was just trying to get guiding. Why are you interfering?” Ye Han-seo demanded.
“What the hell is wrong with your head? Do you live without thinking? Have you lost all sense of decency?”
I thought those words came from Ji Yeohoon, but surprisingly, it was Yoon Cheong.
If I looked in a mirror right now, my eyes would probably be twice their normal size.
Wow, so he can talk like that too.
I’d only ever heard him speak in a blunt, expressionless manner.
I thought that this might be the side of Yoon Cheong that Ji Yeohoon always talked about, hidden behind his pretense.
His face already looked fierce normally, but when he scowled like that, he looked extremely intimidating.
Even Ye Han-seo, who was being cursed at, seemed to have lost his words at Yoon Cheong’s intensity, his mouth just hanging open.
“Stay still,” I said.
Seeing that Ye Han-dam wanted to stop Yoon Cheong, I held him back.
“He hasn’t been an Esper for long. The related classes or proper behavior…”
“Do you really think that’s it? Isn’t it more like his personality has completely fallen apart as he’s spiraled downward, thinking his situation is bad?” Yoon Cheong retorted.
“Well…”
“On his first day of transfer, he picked a fight with him. The next day, he immediately ran to the high school section and half-destroyed our classroom. I could say that was because he was a new Esper with uncontrolled power, but this doesn’t seem like an issue of excess power, does it?”
It is one of the basic lessons for Espers.
Of course, flirting with a Guide you like happens frequently, but direct physical contact is a different matter.
When an Esper forcibly uses their power, a Guide cannot defeat them.
Most Espers who awaken with combat abilities have stronger bodies and greater strength than ordinary people.
The reason Guides were protected was not only because there were fewer of them compared to Espers, but because they would be helplessly overpowered if an Esper decided to act maliciously.
“You’re saying he hasn’t had the relevant classes? Yoon Cheong manifested in 3rd grade of elementary school, but Ji Yeohoon manifested in 6th grade and transferred then. Even at that age, the first thing they teach is not to treat Guides carelessly. There are also clauses stating not to touch them without permission.”
“…”
“Even if you manifested early, he just manifested recently, so he must have received education multiple times lately. I can’t understand someone with such terrible character to this degree.”
He was in 3rd year of middle school, sixteen years old.
No matter how miserable his situation might be, or how unable he was to consider others because of it, not everything could be excused.
Because of Ye Han-seo’s behavior, the senior Espers who had deliberately left some slimes behind for guild gate raid finishing education stopped their teaching. They were now quickly catching the slimes to open the gate exit.
Certainly, many among Espers thought of Guides as auxiliary batteries that restored their bodies to normal.
But even with such thoughts, they couldn’t act as they pleased.
It was legally prohibited, and morally as well.
“As soon as you become an Esper, you know. How much stronger you’ve become.”
Even if blinded by anger, he would know his strength was different from ordinary people or Guides.
Then he should know the moral thought that you shouldn’t use that power to force others.
* * *
An official document was sent to Chaehwa.
More precisely, it was like a statement of position. Occasionally, multiple guilds would raid the same gate.
Being different guilds, it was inevitable that disputes or differences of opinion would arise, leading to raised voices.
So even if things were roughly settled on site, after the raid, documents would be sent to the other guild stating that such and such happened so they should apologize, or demanding compensation for certain matters.
If they couldn’t resolve it between themselves, they might take legal action, which often happened when financial settlement ratios after gate raids were involved.
This situation was completely different, and anyone could see that Ye Han-seo was at fault.
Of course, since I was the one who suffered, I personally sent a draft to Calling using my experience from working at the Association, and Calling refined it before forwarding it to Chaehwa.
“He was suspended,” Ji Yeohoon informed me.
“Really?”
“Not for long, just 3 days. It was lifted yesterday.”
After returning to school, when I didn’t go to the middle school classrooms during break for a few days, Ji Yeohoon came directly to the high school classroom.
He said Ye Han-seo hadn’t been showing up for a while and brought back what he had heard.
After the establishment of schools dedicated to ability users, the most important thing emphasized at school was “what Espers should never do when dealing with Guides.”
This came from the logic that people tend to become remarkably rough when they gain abilities, so this aspect needed to be mitigated.
From my perspective, having received education and training outside of school, I wondered if the standard itself was wrong from the beginning.
Shouldn’t they explain why certain actions shouldn’t be taken, rather than just having students memorize prohibited behaviors?
Our class and Ji Yeohoon’s class seemed to understand each other’s abilities and emotions, being careful with one another.
“I think Chaehwa is planning to send Ye Han-seo to a different school. There’s a student with good hearing who overheard it while passing by the faculty office.”
“What’s he doing these days?”
“He’s only in the classroom during class time. I don’t see him anywhere during other times.”
The Association and the school paid great attention to Guide safety.
It was common for Esper students to be fine while Guides ended up half-dead when in the same school.
The first clauses that emerged in advanced countries, knowing that Espers were desperate to receive guiding from Guides, were Guide protection clauses.
Influenced by this, in our country too, the safety of Guides became the first priority that Espers should consider.
“No matter how I think about it, if that bastard is just sent away, he’ll probably be like ‘What did I do wrong?’ He might not understand what he did wrong.”
“You think so?”
“Probably. His memory is stuck in the past and hasn’t grown. That’s why he grew up not considering others at all.”
At my words, both Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon looked as if they couldn’t understand Ye Han-seo.
In truth, I could understand him a little bit, though not completely.
When I think I’m struggling, I can’t see what’s around me.
Thanks to being bedridden in the hospital at twenty-five, I caused a lot of trouble for my parents and people around me.
When it’s hard to take care of myself, how can I pay attention to other things?
In some ways, Ye Han-dam’s words were right.
Ye Han-seo hadn’t been “properly” taught.
How to handle being left alone.
While Ye Han-seo hadn’t done anything right, couldn’t we teach him?
There are things that need to be learned now for the body and mind to grow.
When people get older and their minds and emotions harden, they don’t change easily.
If 16-year-old Ye Han-seo grew up to be a selfish person because of memories and anger from 10 years ago, stopping him before he turns twenty, before another 4 years pass, might be a solution.
“Was there any date for his transfer? Or is it just being discussed?”
“No. I haven’t heard anything specific.”
“Let’s go find Ye Han-seo.”
“Will that be okay?”
Both Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon had worried expressions.
Well, whatever.
“You’ll protect me, right?”
There’s always a reason for my confidence.
As soon as I finished speaking, the two guys, with strangely happy faces, led the way as we searched through the middle school buildings.
“Have you seen Ye Han-seo?”
“Oh, yes. He left after the 4th period ended.”
“Thanks.”
“Um, Oppa, by the way…”
As I was about to leave the classroom, Do Yoon-seo grabbed me.
“Yes?”
“What are Ji-ae unni and Da-hyuk oppa doing?”
“Ah, they’ll come after the afternoon session ends.”
“Okay!”
She’s already blended in, that one.
After sending Do Yoon-seo back, Ji Yeohoon, who was checking ahead, shook his head.
We couldn’t really search every faculty office and such, so we looked at likely places, but his hair wasn’t visible anywhere.
“Yoon Cheong! Can you see him?”
“No.”
Yoon Cheong lifted himself with his telekinesis.
He seemed to be checking the school windows here and there while floating in the air, but apparently not seeing anything, he came back down.
“They say a characteristic of chunibyou is liking high places.”
“Chunibyou?”
“Never mind. Did you check the rooftop?”
“No. The middle school rooftop door has been closed for a long time, so I didn’t check.”
“Let’s go see.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Yoon Cheong grabbed my waist.
I looked at him with a “Why?” expression, and he grabbed Ji Yeohoon’s hand with his remaining hand, saying this was faster.
“Why am I held by the waist while he gets a hand?”
“Because if you fall, it would be a disaster, but if he falls, he’d survive.”
I calmly wrapped my arms around Yoon Cheong’s neck.
Dying is not an option.
I can’t fall, or I’ll become a flower.
As I applied a bit more strength to my arms, my body floated upwards.
It felt like there was something under Yoon Cheong’s feet, but since both my feet were in the air, my fear was doubled.
Ji Yeohoon seemed used to it, holding Yoon Cheong’s hand, and then he looked up and reached out his other hand to me.
“Hyung, want me to hold your hand?”
“Would you?”
I was thinking that even if Yoon Cheong dropped me, Ji Yeohoon would save me, but as the speed suddenly increased, I couldn’t grab his hand.
“We’re here.”
“You’re really mean.”
“We got here quickly, so what’s the problem?”
Ji Yeohoon growled, and Yoon Cheong turned his head with a face that said he didn’t understand anything.
I separated the two of them to either side, telling them to stop fighting.
As expected, we found the ill-tempered middle schooler whose hair was gradually turning silver, looking at us who had suddenly landed.
“Hi? Long time no see?”
Let’s have a talk, shall we?
You rude little bastard.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
