#98
She put the notebook she had been busily writing in back into her bag. Ho-woo wondered if such a simple conversation could have been done over the phone, but since the person in question didn’t say anything, he kept quiet.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
Before leaving, she gave a light nod to Ho-woo and left the mansion. It was a shorter meeting than the time it took to arrive. Unlike the lawyer who left first, Choi Seon-woo didn’t seem ready to leave, slouching in his seat with a grin. His gaze swept around the house before landing on Ho-woo.
“This is when you really feel that the Captain is incredibly rich. He usually doesn’t spend much money.”
“If you’re going to talk nonsense, your business is done so return to work.”
“No, Lee Ho-woo. Did you know our Captain is actually incredibly wealthy?”
Ignoring Oh-yul’s warning to leave if he was done, Choi Seon-woo drew Ho-woo into the conversation.
“Well, since he’s an S-class Esper, doesn’t he earn a lot…?”
Ho-woo, caught off guard by Choi Seon-woo’s question, glanced at Oh-yul, who was frowning disapprovingly. The man in a neat white T-shirt and black slacks looked classy even without fancy accessories.
“That’s why some people want to become Espers or Guides.”
Since Espers and Guides deal with monsters, they receive salaries that include hazard pay regardless of rank. Because the amount is bound to be large, many people in difficult financial situations even hope for their children to manifest abilities.
Sometimes there are cases where people bring children not yet 15 years old, claiming they’ve become Espers or Guides and demanding they be taken away. Of course, hardly any of them actually turned out to be Espers or Guides.
“The Captain would have earned more if he hadn’t become an Esper, right? He would have raked in money, what a shame.”
“…Hmm. That’s true.”
Well, with looks like that, if he had become a celebrity, wouldn’t he have? Even if he had worked at a regular company, he probably would have been promoted quickly. When Ho-woo reacted calmly as if it was obvious, Choi Seon-woo clicked his tongue, looking somewhat deflated.
“Aren’t you curious about how he would have made money?”
“I think he would have been good at anything.”
Oh-yul let out a light laugh at Ho-woo’s response. As if telling him to continue talking, he leaned back relaxedly on the sofa.
“I think he would have earned more as a celebrity. Oh-yul is handsome, after all.”
Choi Seon-woo looked at his superior for a moment. He had to admit, his superior was handsome.
However, the Oh-yul that Choi Seon-woo knew wasn’t the type to be a celebrity. Rather, if he hadn’t become an Esper, he would have been committing evil acts in society as a subtly crazy person.
You can at least pretend to avoid someone who’s obviously crazy. But what about someone who’s crazy but doesn’t show it? It’s like a buried landmine. Especially if that landmine is a person with money or power, wouldn’t it be even more of a nuisance?
“In my opinion, the Captain wouldn’t have been a celebrity.”
Choi Seon-woo was certain, and Oh-yul agreed with his words.
“That’s right. I probably would have inherited my parents’ company and been working there.”
“Your parents’ company?”
“Just a small company. It’s still operating, but since I’m an Esper, I can’t manage it directly, so I have professional managers running it.”
“If that’s a small company…”
“It’s a small. Company.”
At Oh-yul’s fresh smile with particular emphasis on ‘small’, Choi Seon-woo quietly closed his mouth. This was the line his superior had drawn, and he wisely protected his own well-being.
“Right, a small company.”
It doesn’t seem like a small company.
Ho-woo looked at him suspiciously, but the Espers, skilled at hiding their expressions, had already erased the subtle atmosphere. Though curious, Ho-woo didn’t want to pry into parts Oh-yul didn’t want to reveal, so he changed the subject without pressing further.
“How is Yu Hee-eun doing?”
It was a question asked partly to change the subject and partly out of curiosity about how busy the dedicated Guide of Team 1 might be, but Choi Seon-woo let out a light chuckle.
“Hee-eun’s face has been blooming these days.”
Ho-woo had expected an answer that she was doing okay, but the response was that she was doing much better than expected. Her face is blooming, he says. She must be doing well. As Ho-woo was thinking this, Choi Seon-woo added a comment that seemed somewhat out of the blue to Ho-woo: “It’s thanks to you, Lee Ho-woo.”
“Thanks to me?”
Had he done something for Hee-eun? Thinking back, he could only remember times when he had received help, not when he had helped her. Even racking his brain, he couldn’t come up with an answer. He glanced at Oh-yul discreetly, but he just shrugged lightly.
“Because she doesn’t have to guide the Captain anymore. He’s quite infamous among the Guides.”
“Because of reverse guiding?”
“Oh, you know about that? Well… that’s part of it, and his terrible matching rate plays a role too. They complain that he’s like a sports car with terrible fuel efficiency…”
Choi Seon-woo alternately scanned the somewhat naive-looking Ho-woo and the almost fully guided Oh-yul. As far as he knew, it was rare to see Oh-yul so well guided. Ho-woo, who had conducted the guiding alone, looked fine, and Oh-yul seemed particularly in a good mood.
“You must have done it yesterday, right?”
“…Done what?”
Ho-woo, feeling unnecessarily flustered, opened his eyes wide. He wished Choi Seon-woo would specify what he meant by ‘it’. Seeing Ho-woo’s excessive surprise, Choi Seon-woo narrowed his eyes mischievously.
‘They did it, they definitely did.’
Oh-yul licked the back of Ho-woo’s head with his gaze. Choi Seon-woo swallowed his laughter internally at that sticky gaze. Well, to achieve that level of efficiency, close guiding was the only way. Having waited for 21 years, there was a reason for his shiny face and particularly lenient attitude towards Choi Seon-woo’s chatter.
Moreover, Ho-woo had managed Oh-yul alone. It was something no other Guide had been able to do. A Guide miraculously made to fit him perfectly. What Esper wouldn’t be tempted?
“What’s your matching rate?”
“Matching rate…?”
Ho-woo turned to Oh-yul with a dubious face. He knew there was such a thing as a matching rate, but he hadn’t thought about getting it checked. It would be more accurate to say he wasn’t paying attention to it since things were going well without problems. Like company work that gets glossed over.
“We haven’t done it yet since Ho-woo isn’t an official Guide yet. We’re planning to do it all at once when he gets his Guide qualification.”
“I think it will be high.”
Choi Seon-woo’s subtle gaze, asking if Ho-woo wasn’t curious, fell on him. Ho-woo cleared his throat briefly. He hadn’t been paying attention to it, but now that it was brought up, he was curious.
How well-matched partners were Oh-yul and himself as an Esper and Guide? Would it be higher than that person who was said to have had a high matching rate with Oh-yul before? Ho-woo’s light brown eyes sparkled with curiosity and subtle expectation.
“Why don’t we check it on this occasion?”
Choi Seon-woo’s suggestion was tempting, but it wasn’t something Ho-woo could decide alone. His Esper was lost in thought. The deliberation was brief, and Oh-yul nodded shortly.
“We’ll have to do it anyway, so let’s do it today.”
Ho-woo’s face brightened at the unexpectedly clean-cut permission.
***
Ho-woo rolled his eyes in bewilderment. It was fine up to the point of coming to the corporation for the matching rate test, but there he encountered a completely unexpected situation.
Thanks to Oh-yul contacting the research lab in advance before departure, the doctor who had recently become the new head was supposed to come out to greet them. That wasn’t the problem. The problem arose when Ho-woo arrived at the corporation.
Seong Ha-young, who had greeted Oh-yul warmly, gasped as if seeing a ghost when she spotted Ho-woo. She was so surprised that she let out a silent scream and shook violently.
“Aren’t you Ho-woo?!”
She shouted loudly as if trying to confirm that what she was seeing was real. Receiving a gaze that seemed to ask why he was here, Ho-woo awkwardly greeted her.
“Hello.”
When he had seen her with Do-hyun, she was wearing casual clothes so he hadn’t noticed, but the white lab coat suited Seong Ha-young well. The thick chart she was holding and her hair neatly rolled up into a bun made her look sophisticated, different from the cozy image Ho-woo had of her.
“Ah, no, why are you here…”
Ho-woo quickly supported Seong Ha-young, who was staggering as if dizzy. If he had thought about it a little, he could have realized that Do-hyun’s parents would obviously be here. After all, hadn’t he asked Oh-yul about it? He had been so distracted by the matching rate that he hadn’t thought about it at all.
Ho-woo seated her in a chair inside the research lab, as she looked like she might collapse at any moment. There were quite a few people in the lab, and among them, Ho-woo spotted another familiar face approaching and bowed his head in greeting.
“Uncle, dressed like that, you really look like a researcher.”
“Huh?!”
Of course, Do-hyun’s father, Kim Jin-woo, who spotted Ho-woo, was no less startled than Seong Ha-young, jumping in place. With his eyes wide open, he approached almost running and showed a strange expression mixed with joy and bewilderment.
