Chapter 87
“There’s no way your memory is wrong, right?”
“No.”
“What exactly do you remember? You might misremember colors. Plus, you weren’t manifested yet, so you couldn’t remember things accurately.”
“But with a uniform like that, it’s impossible not to remember.”
“Like what uniform?”
“It was extremely flashy.”
A memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
There was definitely a uniform with a striking color… intense and eye-catching, but guild members were too embarrassed to wear it, so they only wore activity clothes.
Only the Guild Master liked the uniform, so the members wore comfortable activity clothes while only the Guild Master wore it…
“The person wearing it was completely red. Other guilds’ uniforms are black or somewhat dark, with only logos properly attached.”
It was the Spiral Guild.
The activity clothes weren’t that noticeable with a black background and just a red logo on the left chest, but the uniform was entirely red, which only that guild’s Guild Master liked.
“It’s hard to figure out which guild…”
“It’s Spiral.”
“…How do you know?”
It was impossible not to remember the shock when the Guild Master came to the Association building wearing the uniform, completely ignoring the guild members’ opinions.
I remembered the Spiral Guild members with devastated expressions, saying their guild image was ruined despite being so careful to avoid having the Guild Master’s photo taken until now.
I also remembered the members’ frustrated expressions, saying “Couldn’t they at least make the pants a different color!”
Back then, I just laughed because it was funny…
But in this timeline, the story about Spiral Guild’s uniform hadn’t circulated yet.
I pondered how to answer Ye Han-seo, who had a curious expression.
“Their guild mark is red.”
It wasn’t untrue.
Of course, the trap was that many Korean guilds had red in their marks if you looked at all of them, and Calling also had red in its logo.
“Our guild also has red, but only Spiral has such an intense red.”
Spiral’s logo had a red outline with red inside as well.
Among the well-known guilds, only Spiral was full of just red, so it wasn’t wrong.
“It might not be true for smaller guilds, but it’s probably right.”
If it were Calling, I could have at least checked old materials.
I should have told Ji Yeohoon to just bring the materials when he went to the guild last time.
I had said I would go directly because internal guild materials could be risky to take outside, but now I regretted it.
I should have just promised to dispose of them properly and checked them here.
“There’s something else too.”
“What is it?”
“Besides my brother, there are many Espers who transferred to our guild during their student years.”
That was a fact I already knew.
Chaehwa was one of the guilds with many Espers, and students who hadn’t made up their minds often joined Chaehwa.
But if Ye Han-seo found this well-known fact strange enough to mention, there must be something more to it.
“I didn’t think much of it at first. I thought people moved because our guild was good. I was listed as a provisional Chaehwa member when I was transferred to the Association facility.”
Ye Han-seo was saying he didn’t find it strange since he belonged to Chaehwa from the beginning.
“But students who had clearly said they would join certain guilds when they became adults later said they would go to Chaehwa.”
“People can change their minds.”
“Even people who were already affiliated with guilds where their parents, relatives, or siblings were members?”
“Well, they might have liked it there… Wait, did you just say ‘people’?”
“People. I found out while talking with guild members who are close to my brother recently.”
Normally, I should have had a thought like “now he’s definitely saying ‘my brother’,” but that wasn’t the issue.
Typically, an Esper would choose a familiar guild, assuming conditions weren’t particularly bad and were similar.
Like Ji Yeohoon or our classmate Yoo Ji-ae.
Yoo Ji-ae’s parents weren’t ability users, but they were regular employees at the guild Yoo Ji-ae was temporarily affiliated with.
This was possible because top-tier guilds operated like corporations.
Even at Calling, most researchers and internal document processors were ordinary people.
“But the reason they all became Chaehwa members was the same.”
“The same?”
“Yes, all exactly the same. They either frequently visited the Association or often came to Chaehwa. Usually, those who came to Chaehwa often did so because they became friends with someone who was a member. They said they liked the atmosphere and thought it would be good for developing their abilities.”
Did he know what kind of suspicion he was planting in my mind?
My mind was racing.
There was one possibility.
If Espers who frequently visited the Association or Chaehwa were more likely to think about transferring to Chaehwa, then Yoon Cheong would probably think the same.
‘So will you go to Chaehwa?’
‘No, I don’t particularly want to go there.’
Yoon Cheong had been decisive. Does this mean his opinion might change?
“Didn’t Ye Han-dam become a Chaehwa member because of guiding issues? His guiding wasn’t working. You’d need to meet many Guides to find one who could guide you.”
I suddenly thought of this and asked Ye Han-seo, but he shook his head.
“If guiding doesn’t work well, you should look for freelance Guides. Even though the Association has many Guides, there are limits. There are more skilled freelance Guides than Association Guides.”
That was true.
It was true that the Association had many Guides, but due to its nature, there was more paperwork than guiding, and Gate entry or Esper support took precedence over post-Gate processing.
If someone was looking for a Guide with a low reverse-guiding probability or good skills, it would have been better to find a Guide with extensive experience in Gate raids or standby support, rather than moving to Chaehwa.
Where had my thinking gone wrong?
“Let’s just say that’s the case. All the people who transferred might have genuinely felt Chaehwa was better and moved.”
It didn’t make sense.
Officially, Chaehwa’s treatment of Espers wasn’t as good as other top guilds, so it was strange that Espers would want to join.
Of course, many joined because they liked the guild’s atmosphere and the relative flexibility in raids due to the large number of people.
It was a valid reason.
“You’re telling me this because you’ve seen something directly.”
I spoke as I watched him explaining earnestly.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought me to a place where others couldn’t hear our conversation.
“One kid in our class is going to Chaehwa now.”
Ji Yeohoon didn’t tell me anything like that?
Noticing my expression, Ye Han-seo hastily added:
“They transferred recently. Not long after I arrived. That’s why we became friends. When they first talked about it, they said they were planning to join the guild their distant relative was in. When they heard about Chaehwa, they even said they had no plans to go there because the settlements and Esper treatment were poor.”
Aren’t you being too brutally honest to a Chaehwa member?
It’s fortunate there was no fight, given Ye Han-seo’s personality at the time.
“But then they said they had a friend they got close to at the guild, and they should bring them to visit sometime. My brother, who had never talked about such things before, said he was curious because I hadn’t mentioned close friends.”
“Ye Han-dam?”
“Yeah. I’d never mentioned anything like that before. I was a bit puzzled, but my brother and other guild members said they wanted to see my friend, so we visited together.”
It was somewhat shocking.
The friend Ye Han-seo brought initially came out of curiosity, then started visiting Chaehwa more frequently after becoming friendly with people. Before long, they said they liked the atmosphere and wanted to join Chaehwa after graduation.
“Didn’t you say they didn’t like the settlement system?”
“Yeah. The kid was kind of stingy, so I didn’t think they’d say they wanted to join.”
“You both just brutally state facts, huh?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, continue.”
“Oh, right. If they just said they wanted to come, I could understand. We’re quite relaxed, after all. I thought maybe they liked the atmosphere, so I said, ‘I thought you didn’t like the settlement system?’ But they replied…”
“Don’t drag it out, just say it.”
“They said, ‘Did I say that?'”
With Esper memory, it’s impossible to forget what you’ve said.
Especially for post-manifestation Espers, as long as they don’t forcefully try to forget, they could recreate a conversation down to the breathing patterns with just a little thought.
“It was a little… no, very strange, and I wanted to tell Han-dam Hyung, but then I suddenly remembered that my brother wasn’t originally in Chaehwa either.”
“…”
“Plus, it was my brother who suggested bringing them.”
When I closed my mouth, Ye Han-seo hesitated.
“It seems like something is happening, but I had no one to talk to. I couldn’t tell Ji Yeohoon because he’s not interested in me.”
That’s right. Ji Yeohoon is extremely uninterested in you.
“I heard Yoon Cheong has been going to the Association lately… and among the Hyungs at Chaehwa, some worked part-time at the Association before joining. Plus, Yoon Cheong doesn’t like me either. I had no one to talk to. I might have been the only one thinking something was strange.”
Also, Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon extremely disliked Ye Han-seo meeting me, so he had even fewer opportunities to tell me.
Being from Chaehwa Guild, he couldn’t tell people from other guilds, and he couldn’t tell the Association about these strange situations he noticed. After all, Chaehwa was under the Association.
“So I really wanted to tell you somehow. I thought you might notice something strange since you care a lot about Ji Yeohoon and also Yoon Cheong… Am I overthinking this?”
“No, no. You did well to tell me.”
Somehow, these suddenly unfolding situations seemed to exceed what I could handle.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
