After hearing my polite refusal, Song Songi didn’t say anything more to me, and I quickly left the lab, leaving her behind.
“Nothing has changed here at all.”
In the center’s basement, there was an artificial guiding room on each floor for emergency situations. It was like having fire extinguishers installed for fire prevention. I entered the artificial guiding room attached to one side of the 10th basement floor. In the small space, barren to the point of being desolate, only a single capsule-type guiding machine sat alone.
Since I was the only Esper using the 10th basement floor, I was the only one who used this place. After looking around the space that hadn’t changed at all since before my regression, I undressed with practiced familiarity.
The cool air pleasantly enveloped my skin, which had heated up after using my abilities. I laid my naked body in the capsule-shaped machine. Normally, people receive guiding with their clothes on, but since I couldn’t receive guiding from Joo Seolhyeon, I was always in a thirsty state. This method was perfect for getting at least some effect from the low-efficiency artificial guiding.
Lying flat on my back, I reached out my hand to press the button, and the machine started operating. With a humming noise, blue light emerged from the machine and began to rise from my feet upward. It was an uncomfortably rough guiding, like sandpaper scraping away at tangled energy.
‘Was artificial guiding always this unpleasant?’
Meanwhile, the guiding intensity increased, and the blue light turned white, gradually moving up from my thighs toward my chest. I grimaced as much as I could, feeling creepy sensations like bugs crawling on every part of my body the light touched. I gritted my teeth but eventually couldn’t bear it anymore and pressed the guiding stop button.
“Ugh, that feels awful.”
As soon as the capsule opened, I sprang up from my position. I shuddered, rubbing my goosebump-covered arms.
“Guiding always felt bad, but not this severe—that’s strange.”
After my body calmed down a bit, I looked at the pre- and post-guiding measurements at the head of the machine out of curiosity. The risk of going berserk had actually increased from 79 to 80.
“It went up? After receiving guiding?”
I was too dumbfounded to speak. I had complained about poor efficiency before, but this was beyond that level. The artificial guiding was actually having the opposite effect.
“Why? I’ve been continuously receiving guiding in the artificial guiding room, and the numbers kept drop…”
I was mumbling to myself when I realized it. At some point, no matter how much artificial guiding I received, the risk of going berserk wouldn’t drop below 130.
“…didn’t drop.”
I checked the usage time for the artificial guiding. I had used it for exactly 10 minutes. Considering that my risk of going berserk wasn’t that high, it should have dropped from 79 to at least 65.
“Could the machine be broken?”
I glared at the capsule with suspicious eyes. But the green light indicating normal operation didn’t change to yellow or red despite my stare.
This implied only one thing: I needed a guide. A guide who could properly take care of me.
‘…’
Even though I was just confirming an obvious fact, my mouth still tasted bitter.
Just as I was about to leave the capsule, thinking that I would have to call a temporary guide, the door suddenly burst open without any warning. In that state, without a single thread on my body, I stiffly turned my head toward the door.
Whistle—
The figure leaning against the doorway whistled lightly and greeted me.
“Hello?”
“Do Wonjin.”
His eyes creased in half as if he found something amusing.
“You’re pretty, Jeongjae.”
Without closing the door, he folded his arms and leaned against the doorway, looking me up and down as if appreciating art.
“I didn’t even say anything, but you’re already prepared to receive guiding.”
“…”
Honestly, I had always thought, what’s the big deal if men see each other naked? When I was younger, I often went to public baths with my brother, and even after turning 20, I sometimes walked around naked at home after showering. That habit was completely corrected while living with Joo Seolhyeon, but I had never felt particularly ashamed about a man seeing my body.
But now, seeing Do Wonjin’s eyes, my thoughts did a complete 180. His gaze, sticky and clinging, was filled with undeniable lust that was impossible to ignore. Even I, with no experience in this area, felt my face grow hot with shame from his blatant stare.
‘I’m never undressing in front of that bastard again.’
I deliberately avoided his gaze and turned my body toward where I had left my clothes. At the same time, a familiar voice could be heard.
“If you’ve opened the door, could you please move aside? Stop blocking it with your body.”
“It might be better if children don’t see this.”
“Who are you calling a child…”
Still not having put on my clothes, I made eye contact with the second uninvited guest. It was Yang Garam who had pushed past Do Wonjin and entered the artificial guiding room. When he saw my body, he momentarily had a vacant expression, as if he had lost his mind, and made a stupid face. It was better than the gaze Do Wonjin had sent my way, but they were both the same in that they rudely kept staring without looking away.
“Garam, I’d like to get dressed.”
After patiently enduring it once, since he was like a younger brother, Yang Garam’s eyes regained focus. He hurriedly wiped his mouth, bowed his head, and apologized. He then immediately turned around, dragged Do Wonjin, who was standing at the doorway watching both of us, outside, and closed the door. Before that, he subtly looked back at me and didn’t forget to apologize once more.
“Haah.”
I sighed as I looked at the completely closed door. I looked down at my body. It was covered in heat flowers. Fortunately, since the risk of going berserk wasn’t that high, the heat flowers were faint—otherwise, I would have shown a truly ugly sight.
‘Where on earth did those two come from?’
While getting dressed, I thought about Do Wonjin and Yang Garam who had suddenly barged in.
I hadn’t had time to think about it earlier because I was so shocked, but this place was the 10th basement floor. A space that even few people knew existed. It was impossible to enter by chance through normal means.
‘I’ll ask them later.’
When I finished dressing and opened the artificial guiding room door, Yang Garam, who had been leaning against the wall opposite the door, scurried over and firmly held my hand.
“Hyung, I’ll give you guiding.”
Even before he finished speaking, his fluffy energy was already pleasantly seeping into me through my hand. Yang Garam’s large, thick fingers dug between my fingers and gripped tightly. Thinking this must be part of the guiding process, I left it alone, but then Do Wonjin suddenly interrupted.
“So when are you going to start, kid?”
Do Wonjin reached his arm out to me with a grinning face, as if he found something very amusing. Before I could say “huh,” he had grabbed my waist and pulled me toward him. My body was already completely relaxed from Yang Garam’s guiding, so I helplessly tilted toward him.
One hand was still being held by Yang Garam, but otherwise I was free, so it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable to be in Do Wonjin’s arms. The problem was Do Wonjin’s guiding, which began when he wrapped his arm around my waist. The energy that flowed into me somewhat roughly collided head-on with my own energy as the area of contact with him increased.
“…!”
The sensation of receiving guiding was definitely different when the risk of going berserk was low versus when it was high. I could vividly feel my unstable energy, with its twisted and tangled wavelengths, scattering in panic at Do Wonjin’s forceful energy. It felt like Do Wonjin’s energy was maximized because Yang Garam’s gentle guiding had already gone around my entire body once, clearing a path.
‘This is strange, but it feels good.’
When my energy unwound, it was accompanied by a sense of liberation, which felt like a tightening in my lower abdomen, or like my stomach was churning—a strange feeling. It was a change I had never felt before, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Rather, it felt good.
“Huh?”
Just as I was feeling slightly disappointed, Do Wonjin held my chin while keeping me in his arms and lowered his head. I was face to face with his narrow, monolid eyes at a very close distance. If he had been wearing his usual smug expression, I would have pushed him away with the palm of my hand.
‘Why is he so serious?’
On the contrary, Do Wonjin’s expression was so different from usual that I unconsciously tensed up. Just as his nose touched mine and his lips were about to land, a large hand covered my mouth. It was Yang Garam.
Yang Garam didn’t stop there; he separated me from Do Wonjin and pulled me into his own embrace like a mother bird protecting its chick.
“…What are you doing?”
Do Wonjin, who seemed genuinely angry, asked Yang Garam in a cold tone, and Yang Garam boldly replied while holding me tightly.
“I just stopped you because a kiss seemed to cross into personal feelings.”
“What nonsense.”
Do Wonjin spat out irritably, not dropping his fierce expression.
“Skin contact beyond hugging is excessive guiding, I say.”
Come to think of it, both of them had stopped guiding because of what just happened. I extracted myself from between Yang Garam and Do Wonjin and quickly checked my physical state. The wavelengths that had been tangled before guiding had become as docile as lambs, as if they had never been otherwise, and were flowing stably. It was the best condition, not needing any guiding at all.
Oh, amazing.
When an exclamation of admiration spontaneously escaped my lips, Yang Garam immediately lowered his head to look at me.
“Right, hyung?”
“Yes. It’s gotten really good.”
It wasn’t even comparable to the artificial guiding room. Considering that the time I received guiding from both of them was less than 5 minutes, the effect was truly remarkable. A broad smile formed on my face involuntarily.
“Thank you, both of you.”
I thanked them sincerely, alternating my gaze between Do Wonjin, who was openly showing his frustration on his face, and Yang Garam, who was smiling along with me as if my joy was his own. Do Wonjin laughed dejectedly at my words, and Yang Garam blushed as if embarrassed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
