Espers who receive excessive guiding can develop guiding addiction, making them crave more and more guiding. There are no side effects such as decreased ability or reduced matching rate, but the concern is that Espers may become too psychologically dependent on their guides.
“How are you going to deal with four people living in one house?”
“I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
Temporary guides are, as the name suggests, just temporary, so they might not be by an Esper’s side when guiding is desperately needed. That’s why it’s common to have multiple temporary guides rather than just one. It’s a kind of insurance. The low matching rate is an issue, but this is actually the bigger reason.
Therefore, forcing temporary guides and an Esper to live together in one house breaks all conventional wisdom, and it’s practically the same as having four exclusive guides. After all, the biggest difference between exclusive guides and temporary guides can be considered the cohabitation requirement.
“But the guides agreed to this?”
Woo Jeonghyun’s eyes trembled with shock even in the darkness, as if my situation was truly absurd.
“Yeah.”
Truthfully, even if I ended up living with four people, I wasn’t worried because except for Do Wonjin, none of them seemed likely to give me more guiding than necessary. But the issue was how they all came to live together. Do Wonjin’s words from earlier flashed through my mind again.
‘It wasn’t a coincidence that he became the Center Director at such a young age.’
Except for Joo Seolhyeon, the other three had likely signed temporary guide contracts because there was no condition to live together in the first place. The fact that they had voluntarily become temporary guides when there were plenty of Espers looking for exclusive guides was telling. It would have been nearly impossible for them to suddenly volunteer to live with me overnight. Nevertheless, what I learned through Do Wonjin was that all four had implicitly agreed to cohabitation.
It wasn’t like that from the beginning. Each of them changed their minds after having private meetings with the Center Director. Of course, that could also be attributed to the Center Director’s skill, but Do Wonjin was questioning the method he had used to persuade them.
‘Who doesn’t have some skeletons in their closet? But using that to manipulate someone is honestly unfair, isn’t it?’
Do Wonjin wasn’t stupid enough to broadcast what his weakness was, so that was all he told me. But seeing Do Wonjin speak as if he was certain the Center Director had used the same method on everyone, I shifted my gaze to Yang Garam. Yang Garam, who had remained silent since entering the cafe, seemed to notice my gaze and slightly nodded his head.
From that gesture, I could tell that Do Wonjin’s words weren’t wrong.
‘Anyway, that’s what happened. You don’t need to look so serious too.’
After eagerly explaining how the Center Director’s character was problematic, when he saw my expression growing darker, Do Wonjin quickly wrapped up his words.
My mental image of the Center Director was simply my superior whom I had to obey as an Esper—nothing more, nothing less. Of course, since he was my direct superior, he knew our family situation well and had helped us, but those were things that happened within the bounds of the law, not arbitrary actions like what happened today.
Even if the Center Director had done something that would be condemned by others, it had nothing to do with me.
‘But it’s a different story if I’m involved in it.’
There was no reason for Do Wonjin or Yang Garam to lie to me. I could tell from their expressions that what I heard was definitely not exaggerated. There was only one reason they were telling me this: I was also involved in this matter. In the end, the Center Director had made them sacrificial lambs under the pretext of helping me.
‘If that upset you, I apologize.’
In the end, this was all I could say to them.
‘Why are you apologizing, hyung? I was fine with it. So don’t take it to heart too much.’
‘Wow, Yang Garam, you bastard. Making me look like the bad guy?’
Do Wonjin hit his chest as if frustrated, while Yang Garam, seemingly deaf to his words, held my hand and comforted me.
‘Why is he blocking my path in this way?’
The Center Director was not someone I had given much weight to in my life. Especially after my mother went missing and Woo Jeonghyun died, as I had devoted my entire life to Joo Seolhyeon.
Even though I had acted on my own after regressing, it was unpleasant to have an unauthorized person intervene in my life. Moreover, he was bringing back the future I had tried so hard to avoid.
‘I think I need to go back to the hospital now. After all, I am a patient.’
That’s how the conversation ended. Do Wonjin had asked me to play with him since he came to visit me at the hospital, and I immediately refused. Yang Garam also turned to leave to work on a group project that overlapped with his exam period. Strictly speaking, he had kept it a secret from me because he didn’t want to go, but when his group members bombarded him with messages, it was exposed, and I forced him to return.
“Jeonghyun, what do you think about the Center Director?”
Woo Jeonghyun furrowed his brow, seemingly not understanding my abrupt change of topic that had nothing to do with his question.
“Suddenly?”
“Yeah.”
Let’s just move past this, little brother.
As I blinked my eyes and spoke nonchalantly, my brother made an incredulous expression but answered straightforwardly.
“This house was also arranged by the Center Director for you, hyung. Of course, he probably used government money, but I am grateful that he looked into things and took care of us when we were both in a daze.”
“But?”
“I find that person a bit unsettling.”
Woo Jeonghyun’s impression of the Center Director was sharper than mine. I was a bit surprised that he, who had fewer points of contact than me, thought that way, so I questioned him.
“Why? You haven’t even met him much.”
“You don’t have to meet someone a lot. Just looking at how he behaves toward you is strange enough.”
“What’s strange about it?”
My first meeting with him was when I awakened as an Esper at 17 and was assigned to the center, but at that time, I only knew his name and didn’t have much interaction with him.
At my words, Woo Jeonghyun’s expression became quite serious. With a face that was half pitying, as if saying ‘Hyung, you really didn’t know?’, and half worried, as if thinking ‘What should I do about this?’, Woo Jeonghyun said to me:
“I could understand birthdays, but who sends flowers and gifts for graduation ceremonies, the anniversaries of our parents’ deaths, and all sorts of commemorative occasions?”
“…Such things came?”
“I threw them away before you could see them.”
I was speechless with disbelief.
“Why would you throw those away?”
“You shouldn’t accept things from strangers.”
He’s saying something you would tell a four-year-old to a grown adult. My fist clenched involuntarily, but I counted to ten and questioned him.
“Since I’m the only S-class Esper in the country, isn’t that level of treatment expected?”
As I put on airs and raised my nose saying “I’m an S-class Esper after all,” Woo Jeonghyun’s face twisted miserably.
“This is why I can’t be your exclusive guide, hyung.”
Looking at Woo Jeonghyun, whose eyes seemed to be saying all sorts of insults like ‘Hyung, are you stupid? Are you a sea squirt? Are you a sea cucumber?’, I finally raised my hands in surrender.
“Have you ever notified the center about when I graduated, when our parents’ death anniversaries are, things like that?”
Woo Jeonghyun quickly grabbed my arm as if he had anticipated this, and asked:
“Why would I tell them that? It’s personal.”
“Right, that’s what I’m saying. Those are extremely personal things. Moreover, we’ve never notified the center about such things. So how did the Center Director know?”
Naturally, I had never thought about it before.
‘That is strange. How did the Center Director know?’
At the single question mark Woo Jeonghyun had placed before me, my arm slowly lowered again. Understanding the Center Director’s image that I had encountered in the training ground, his arbitrary actions that I had heard about at the cafe, and what Woo Jeonghyun had just said, the Center Director’s existence became as uncomfortable as a thorn stuck in my throat.
“…”
“Well, being an S-class Esper under special management, they might quickly figure out this much through monitoring, so it’s not that serious. But usually, even if they know, isn’t it common practice not to show it? So from my perspective, the Center Director has different feelings toward you personally.”
“What kind of feelings?”
“I don’t know that. But hyung, do you remember? When our house caught fire.”
Woo Jeonghyun’s words reminded me of when my mother went missing. By the time I came out of the flames after searching for her but not finding her, the Center Director was already next to Woo Jeonghyun. We were both not in our right minds at that time, so we didn’t have the presence of mind to contact the center.
‘He said he happened to be passing by and noticed the fire, but is that really true?’
“Hyung, you just doubted the Center Director, didn’t you?”
When I looked at Woo Jeonghyun in surprise, he smoothly put his arm around my shoulder. As his face drew closer, making me tense up, Woo Jeonghyun whispered to me mysteriously:
“But the more surprising thing is that this isn’t the only issue.”
A chill ran down my spine as I watched him speak eerily, as if telling a scary story.
“Are you curious? Should I tell you more?”
Seeing the mischievous glint in Woo Jeonghyun’s eyes that didn’t match the atmosphere he was creating, I realized I was being teased and angrily pushed his arm away.
“How dare you tease your hyung! And aren’t you pushing this too far? The gifts might just be because that’s his personality, and when the fire happened, he might have just been passing by coincidentally!”
Woo Jeonghyun completely wiped away the remaining mischief in his eyes as he watched me shout almost hysterically. With a suddenly serious face, he asked me:
“Do you think I’m joking?”
Those worried eyes directed at me. Already over 90% convinced by his logical explanation, I swallowed dry at his words.
“Hyung, I’m also a guide affiliated with the state, but I don’t even get a single text message on my birthday. Of course, the treatment for A-class and S-class might be worlds apart, but even so, this is too much. The same goes for the day our mother disappeared. And you know what? He probably knows that I’ve been throwing away all the gifts sent to you.”
“H-how would he know that?”
At his last words, I unwittingly stuttered.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
