#57
Is she about my height? She’s incredibly tall for a woman. Ho-woo assessed her height as she stood by the bed and grasped her outstretched hand. He felt nothing from that hand.
“Yes, I know. Nice to meet you.”
Although it was a bit awkward to greet someone while in another person’s embrace, Ho-woo had long given up on escaping the arm around his waist, so he had no choice. If he had been able to overcome an Esper’s strength, Lee Ho-woo would have been dragged to a lab by now.
“More importantly, it seems even the great Oh-yul is human after all.”
Not knowing what expression to make in response to Joo Si-yeon’s attitude as she looked down at him with strange eyes while talking about Oh-yul, the office worker defaulted to his standard social interaction face.
Rather than smiling because he was happy, it was an awkward smile because he didn’t know how to react. She stared down at Ho-woo for a moment before chuckling.
“I have a lot of questions… but I think it might be hard to deal with the aftermath later.”
“If you know, don’t ask.”
“―!”
Ho-woo’s eyes widened at the familiar voice from above. Yul, who had been sound asleep until just now, was awake with cold eyes.
“Yul, I…”
Ho-woo, who was about to ask him to let go of his waist now that he was awake, closed his mouth without finishing his sentence as he felt the soft, smooth touch of lips on his forehead.
“Good morning, Ho-woo.”
Yul returned a languid smile to Ho-woo, who stammered a good morning in response to the affectionate greeting. Then he coldly snapped at the uninvited guests who had pushed their way into the room.
“What business do you have, barging into someone else’s room using the emergency master key first thing in the morning?”
“Well, I just came to work and stopped Si-yeon from breaking down the door, that’s my only crime?”
Choi Seon-woo waved the newspapers and stack of papers he was holding. The newspapers were all those published in the city, and the stack of papers seemed to be resumes with photos attached from what could be glimpsed.
“If you sent a signal and caused trouble, the one responsible should clean it up. The city is in complete chaos.”
“That’s right, many Guides have left this time too, so we’re short on Guides. Assign them to the places that need them first.”
When even Joo Si-yeon took Choi Seon-woo’s side, Oh-yul, looking thoroughly annoyed, slowly got up. Thanks to this, Ho-woo, freed from his embrace, slipped past the three of them and quickly escaped to the bathroom.
His face was flushed red with embarrassment. Only after washing his face with cold water did his mind suddenly clear.
This isn’t the time for this, I need to contact the company, no, not just contact them, I need to go to work.
Since he left in the middle of work without permission, he was definitely facing disciplinary action. Or maybe even a recommendation to resign.
“Haa…”
It was good that he rushed out in one step because he was worried about Yul, but the aftermath was piling up enormously.
It would be fortunate if it ended with just a pay cut; if it went as far as a recommendation to resign, it would be a problem when trying to get a job at another company.
With his head in a muddle, Ho-woo quickly washed his face and wondered what to do about brushing his teeth. He was relieved to find that the toothbrush he had used when he came to this room before was still there, and he finished brushing his teeth thoroughly.
As the sound of water stopped, Choi Seon-woo’s voice came clearly through the closed door.
The soundproofing of the door didn’t seem bad, but it sounded so clear that it felt like he was sitting right next to them listening to the conversation. Ho-woo’s face contorted strangely.
“For now, our dogs are having a field day tearing them apart, so the situation is favorable.”
“Did you handle Kim Dong-cheol’s list of corrupt practices as instructed?”
“I released a few first as you ordered. Let’s see… starting with the most impactful ones… from Guide sexual harassment to some tax evasion cases, so it should burn well for a while. If the firepower drops, we still have plenty left, so we’ll throw them in one by one. You must have had a hard time gathering all this?”
Even Choi Seon-woo’s sinister laughter was so clear that Ho-woo wondered for a moment when he should leave the bathroom.
It seems like they’re in the middle of an important conversation, is it okay to interrupt the atmosphere and go out? But I can’t stay in the bathroom forever.
Ho-woo finally opened the door carefully, trying not to make a sound. His plan to leave without anyone noticing failed as soon as he opened the door, as Oh-yul immediately met his gaze.
“Are you hungry? You should have breakfast.”
Weren’t you in the middle of an important conversation just now?
Thanks to this, Ho-woo, now the focus of both Joo Si-yeon and Choi Seon-woo’s gazes as well, rolled his eyes in bewilderment.
“If you’re in the middle of an important conversation, please continue. I think I need to go to work.”
It was already approaching lunchtime to go to work. Still, he needed to get to the company before being marked as absent without leave.
The thin savings account of Ho-woo, 28, who had just become an assistant manager, was too pitiful to lose his current job.
Oh-yul’s calm and gentle voice reached Ho-woo, who was rolling his eyes searching for his invisible phone.
“Work is important, indeed.”
Yul turned over the papers he was holding so their contents couldn’t be seen and put them down.
“I’ll drive you to the company.”
“Ah, no. I can quickly take a taxi from here. I came by taxi too.”
Although he had to run part of the way due to flooding from the heavy rain, the distance between the industrial complex and the company wasn’t that far.
Ho-woo smoothed out his shirt, which had become wrinkled from being crushed on the bed, and fished out his phone from his suit jacket pocket.
The phone had completely discharged overnight and was turned off. Seeing Ho-woo’s dismayed expression, Joo Si-yeon flicked her hand.
“Give me your phone. I’ll help you.”
She smiled, her eyes narrowing with a hint of yellow. Taking the phone from Ho-woo, almost snatching it, she lightly produced spark-like currents from her fingertips.
“It’ll break quickly if done too often, but it’s fine in emergencies.”
A rapid charger.
“Your face shows exactly what you’re thinking.”
Joo Si-yeon giggled as she handed back the powered-on phone, having read Ho-woo’s expression. Hearing her laughter, Ho-woo scratched his cheek, realizing he might have shown his thoughts too obviously on his face.
“Well, it’s not actually different. My job is basically hugging transformers and exerting force.”
Joo Si-yeon spoke self-deprecatingly, lifting the corners of her mouth in a smile. However, her eyes remained cold without a trace of laughter, sending a chill down Ho-woo’s spine.
“Thank you.”
Since quickly reviving his phone was certainly something to be grateful for, Ho-woo politely expressed his thanks, and Joo Si-yeon smiled pleasantly.
This time it was a pure smile without any chilling feeling.
“You’re welcome, we’re friends after all. Friends help each other out.”
Are we friends? I don’t think so.
“Aren’t we friends?”
Once again reading Ho-woo’s expression like a mind reader, she asked, and Ho-woo mumbled, “Yes, we are friends.”
I need to be more careful with my expressions, this won’t do.
As Ho-woo tried to maintain a calm expression, Joo Si-yeon became even more excited and laughed loudly for a while.
If it weren’t for the timely phone call from the company, she probably would have laughed for much longer. Escaping from her, Ho-woo left the room and leaned against the wall near the door to answer the phone.
He expected to be scolded severely, but instead, he received worried consolation from the other end. They asked if something had happened at home, saying they heard his expression wasn’t good when he rushed out. They were relieved that they could finally contact him.
Hearing Yu Mi-yeon’s gentle words of concern, Ho-woo realized that his efforts in the company hadn’t been in vain. The fact that they were worried first rather than thinking badly of a colleague who suddenly rushed out showed that the relationships Lee Ho-woo had built weren’t bad.
“It’s okay… A friend suddenly said they were sick… They say they’re fine now. I was about to go to the company. Of course, I’ll write an explanatory report. I’m just grateful I’m not getting a pay cut.”
-Okay, come quickly. Do you know how worried I was when I saw you running out with your face pale? They probably contacted your parents through the company’s emergency contact network, so make sure to call your parents too.
Oh no.
Ho-woo inwardly clicked his tongue. The only family registered in the emergency contact network was his father. His father and Ho-woo were now the only family left.
There would undoubtedly be calls or messages from his father among the dozens of missed messages that had piled up overnight.
I’ll have to call him in the evening.
“Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”
It was fortunate that leaving the company without permission had been resolved better than expected, but he lacked an excuse to give his father.
He knew well that Do-hyun was the only friend he had been close with until now, and his father strangely hated Espers terribly.
Ho-woo frowned slightly, feeling a bit of a bad taste in his mouth.
Yes, the fact that Lee Ho-woo himself hadn’t taken any particular interest in Espers until meeting Oh-yul could partly be because of his father. After all, you can’t bring up a topic in front of someone who frowns and looks displeased whenever Espers are mentioned.
He let out a small sigh and looked down at his hand. It still didn’t feel real.
That he had become a Guide, and Oh-yul’s Guide at that.
It was strange, and still utterly bizarre. If you thought about it even a little, it didn’t make sense.
Lee Ho-woo is an ordinary person. He had been so far and thought he would continue to live as a faint presence among ordinary people in the future.
Even now, he was just a salaried worker, relieved by the company’s lenient treatment and anxious about losing the job he had barely secured.
