# Chapter 43
This was bad… As time passed, his stamina was dropping. It wasn’t physical stamina, but a problem caused by using energy. Knowing that potions could only eliminate wounds, not restore deteriorated body conditions, Dohyun didn’t even try to make one. Turning off the fire would slow down his stamina decline, but he couldn’t extinguish it, thinking Espers might enter at any moment.
What was strange was the absence of monsters. Despite the darkness everywhere, for some reason, monsters didn’t appear to threaten Dohyun. He couldn’t tell if this was good or bad. If monsters had appeared, he could have at least used his abilities to deal with them, but without monsters, all he could do was keep enduring.
“If you’re planning to dry me to death, that’s the right answer.”
What kind of monster was it? Was it clever? Dohyun looked at the tally marks he’d drawn on the ground, then hung his head low again. His pants were covered in bloodstains. Would he collapse from excessive bleeding after shedding these blood tears? Was he still okay because Espers had good recovery abilities? Dohyun smiled bitterly and closed his eyes again.
But just as he was about to relax, the headache that had been mildly throbbing began to intensify. Dohyun clutched his head and squeezed his eyes shut. Was he really going to die from energy buildup? This is why if one had to awaken, it should have been as a Guide. Since using abilities only required caution with relatively low risk. Of course, having been stamped as an Esper since childhood made this a futile wish.
Dohyun thought he had been right to prevent Haegang from entering the gate when he got caught in it. A person who acted as if he couldn’t stand watching Dohyun be alone quietly at home—if he saw him crouched down, overcome by darkness, wouldn’t he have frowned even more?
Dohyun put his hand under his eye. Despite being in a situation where tears should naturally flow, not even a teardrop formed. No, rather than tears, blood tears from energy backlash were already streaming down first.
“Are you crying?”
Perhaps he had been in the dark for too long. A voice that shouldn’t be audible asked Dohyun. Wondering if it was some kind of hallucination, Dohyun shook his head.
“Then why are you all crumpled up like that?”
I wish he would speak nicely. No, even if he couldn’t speak nicely, at least be moderately aggressive.
While Dohyun himself didn’t particularly enjoy speaking nicely either, he felt Haegang was too sharp. That’s why I’m more scared.
“Am I that scary to you?”
He’s tall, has big hands. How painful would it be if he hit someone with those hands? Of course, Guide Choi Haegang had never hit him. No, he had never even made a gesture like he was going to hit him. But his sharp eyes looked like they could shoot fire if he glared even slightly. What good is a handsome face?
“I’m not particularly accustomed to violence. And yes, I know I’m handsome.”
Of course you should know. Anyone can see you have a handsome face. So much that you might be mistaken for an Esper. But looking up from below, it’s naturally very scary. Usually, any face looks scary when light shines from below, but in Haegang’s case, his already sharp face barely moves, and when he just looks down with those eyes, it’s so frightening…
“True, Esper Baek Dohyun, you said I was scary when you first saw me too.”
“…?”
A chill ran down his spine, and he stopped thinking. Wait, that’s not a voice I should be hearing, right? The footsteps he thought were auditory hallucinations were now clearly audible. Only then did Dohyun truly sense the presence nearby. Nevertheless, he wished someone would tell him he was just hearing things.
“No.”
Dohyun slowly raised his head. The figure that should have been a hallucination spoke. The excessively vivid, all too familiar voice denied Dohyun’s wish.
Why.
“…Would you please tell me this is a hallucination?”
“Unfortunately, I’m real.”
It was devastating. Haegang entering the gate? While he didn’t want to be alone, he had hoped the person beside him wouldn’t be Haegang. Not because he disliked Haegang, but… because it was dangerous. Although he was an Esper who should protect his Guide, his strength was far too inadequate.
Dohyun asked, unable to hide the tremor in his voice.
“…Why did you come in?”
He had clearly pushed him away. He was definitely pushed away, so why? He could endure this himself, but there was no need for a Guide to accompany him through this long ordeal.
“My exclusive Esper is alone in a gate, so I thought I should enter. You cause trouble whenever I take my eyes off you, and now you cause trouble even when I don’t.”
“When did I…!”
This was a situation where Dohyun could rightfully get angry. Why did he think Dohyun had pushed him away? He prevented him from entering because it was dangerous… But in the end, they both ended up in danger.
It was fortunate there were no monsters; if there had been, Haegang, being a Guide, would have been instantly killed. Dohyun, who had been muttering incoherently, closed his mouth. It was because he felt Haegang might get irritated with him.
Haegang approached and extended his hand to Dohyun.
“Let’s start with guiding. Esper Baek Dohyun, you’re covered in blood right now.”
“…You’re not angry?”
“Why would I be angry?”
“Because I said unkind things to Guide Choi Haegang.”
Dohyun was perplexed. Hadn’t he been irritated in all sorts of ways? When someone shows signs of being annoyed with you, wouldn’t you naturally feel bad? But why did this person have such a calm face? Is this really the Choi Haegang I know? Dohyun’s mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts.
“It wasn’t particularly unkind. And it’s not like I haven’t heard such things before.”
If you’ve heard it more than once or twice, shouldn’t you try to change?
“I’ve also said it’s fine because Esper Baek Dohyun often speaks his thoughts without realizing it.”
“……”
Haegang took Dohyun’s hand and helped him up. Simultaneously, the blood flowing from his eyes stopped. Haegang reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and placed it in Dohyun’s hand.
“What good does it do to bottle things up? If something displeases you, say it.”
“…But it’s negative.”
“Do you think I’ll be intimidated by a few words?”
No, I don’t think so. Haegang seemed not to care at all, and Dohyun found it ridiculous that he alone was feeling anxious about the situation.
Among all the people he’d met, had there been anyone like Haegang who remained completely unaffected by negative emotions? Even Chan, who seemed to be friends with every child from class 1 to class 8, would slightly break his smiling face when hearing gossip about himself.
“I don’t care what other people say. I’m not interested in others’ emotions either.”
“Even when I was judging Guide Choi Haegang?”
“The emotion that arose from that is your emotion, not mine. And if you don’t like me, you can just avoid me, can’t you?”
Haegang’s resolute words were a fresh shock. Hadn’t Dohyun always lived being mindful of others’ emotions? And conversely, he hadn’t allowed people to get close out of concern they might hurt him.
“…Guide Choi Haegang, you don’t have friends, right?”
“I don’t appreciate such misunderstandings. I get along with people normally too.”
“But you disliked Espers.”
“Is it necessary to like everyone? It’s true that my future was blocked because of Espers.”
“That’s because of your own constitution as an awakened Guide.”
“The very idea that Guides face restrictions is absurd. It’s just a nonsensical measure to attach Guides to Espers. If Espers didn’t need Guides, Guides could have lived normal lives.”
No, then the problem is with legal processing, not just with Espers, you know. Before Dohyun could speak, Haegang released his hand.
“I get what you want to say, but let’s continue later. More importantly, how on earth did you endure here? It’s chaos around us.”
“Around us?”
Dohyun quickly turned his head. While focusing on his conversation with Haegang, he hadn’t noticed the many presences around them. Goosebumps rose as he looked around frantically, almost screaming.
“T-trees?”
“The fire seems to be keeping them from coming closer.”
Tree-type monsters were surrounding them, glaring threateningly. As Haegang said, they appeared to be watching cautiously, unable to approach because of the sphere of fire.
“Why did you enter such a dangerous place?”
Dohyun confronted Haegang again. Why did you come in, what were you thinking, I can’t protect you, don’t you know what kind of person a non-combat Esper is? After pouring out his resentful feelings, he also complained about being starving, having a headache, and how if they had just stayed outside, people would have eventually come, and so on, rambling disorderly complaints and grievances.
Gradually, his voice diminished. This was because his mind, which had been foggy enough to mistake Haegang for a hallucination, cleared up after receiving guiding. Then he became aware of what he’d done. What have I been saying? Stopping his criticism, he slightly opened his mouth when Haegang asked,
“Are you finished?”
“……”
“You speak well, Esper Baek Dohyun. It would be good if you talked like that normally too.”
Haegang smiled as if finding this more amusing than expected. Instead of narrowing his brows in displeasure and raising only one corner of his mouth in mockery, he raised both sides and his eyes sparkled.
Seeing him smile genuinely for the first time, Dohyun was so startled that he blinked.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
