Now I understood why Yang Garam had resembled me so much at our first meeting. But that’s precisely why we were different. My words about how Yang Garam resembled me were all presumptuous. He said he changed through me, but now I was the one facing winds of change through Yang Garam. Just like the day I confronted Joo Seolhyeon. Even now, I was gaining courage to face my past self through him.
My heart throbbed when I saw Yang Garam’s eyes looking purely at me.
If only I had remembered what happened that day.
“Weren’t you sad that I couldn’t remember and recognize you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Yang Garam answered nonchalantly. Rather than caring about my question, he smiled with his eyes as if this moment—rubbing his cheek against my hand—was what made him happy.
“Why?”
“Because you’re here with me now, hyung. Like this, as my Esper.”
It was an answer that left me speechless. I smiled, crinkling my eyes. Yang Garam stopped his playful eye-smile and gazed at me with a more intense look. His long eyelashes fluttered like butterflies, casting shadows on his deep brown eyes. Then Yang Garam lowered his head and kissed my forehead.
“To me, you’re stronger and more beautiful than anyone else.”
Like soft petals falling, his kisses moved from my forehead to the corner of my eye.
“I admire you.”
Each kiss was accompanied by an embarrassingly sweet comment.
Then he kissed my cheek. The ticklish, warm feeling made my heart flutter, even though we weren’t in a Guiding session.
“And deep in my heart… I adore you.”
The words from the lips that touched my cheek were completed very slowly.
Finally, Yang Garam lowered his head toward my lips, but before kissing me, he lifted his head and asked:
“Can I kiss you?”
I thought his blushing cheeks and red lips whispering to me were lovely. I raised my hand to cup his cheek.
“Is this Guiding too?”
Yang Garam’s eyes trembled slightly. I kissed him first, as he couldn’t answer. It was a light kiss, just like his, barely brushing the lips.
“If it’s Guiding, then it’s okay.”
I said to Yang Garam, who was making an obviously disappointed face as my lips pulled away. Seeing his eyes widen in surprise, I slowly closed mine.
‘Because you’re my Guide.’
This was all I could give to Yang Garam, who had only looked at me and run toward me all this time. A relationship as Esper and Guide. If this could compensate for his time even a little, I would gladly accept his Guiding as many times as needed.
Yang Garam carefully placed his lips over mine. His tongue licked my lips, then carefully entered my mouth. Unlike with Jeong Seyeon, this kiss was full of tension and quite clumsy.
‘Could this be his first kiss?’
I almost laughed, but as his energy flowed into me, my composure disappeared. My whole body relaxed with Yang Garam’s distinctive fluffy Guiding, but conversely, all my nerves concentrated on our connected lips. Even the smallest movement of his rubbing against the sensitive membrane felt excessively stimulating. When I made a sound mixed with a nasal tone due to the stimulation, Yang Garam’s kisses gradually became bolder.
When I opened my mouth wider because I couldn’t breathe, unswallowed saliva ran down my chin. The humid breath from our connected lips, the hot tongue, and Yang Garam’s persistent kisses—everything was eroding my reason.
“Mmh, Garam. W-wait.”
What I overlooked was that Yang Garam wasn’t an adult who knew restraint like Jeong Seyeon.
“Hey! You’re putting your hand in…!”
“Hyung, just a little more.”
“Hey! Are you out of your mind? Your eyes, they’ve gone crazy.”
“Is it not okay?”
“How could it be?”
I tried not to use force if possible, but because of Yang Garam’s bad hand, I ended up kicking him hard and making him fall off the bed.
“Go to your own bed and sleep.”
“I’m sorry, hyuuung.”
Afraid my heart might weaken, I turned over with the blanket pulled all the way up to my head. Yang Garam whimpered like an abandoned puppy in a box, then went back to his bed sniffling, while I stubbornly pretended to sleep until then.
‘But do people usually act this clingy with someone they admire?’
My body, which had received more than enough Guiding, began to feel drowsy, and the question was soon forgotten.
The next morning, when I opened my eyes, Yang Garam was right beside me, hugging me and breathing softly like an angel.
I should scold him for crawling into my bed without saying anything, but his face looked so happy that I found myself grinning without realizing it.
“You look pretty when you’re asleep.”
“Only when I’m asleep?”
Yang Garam smirked, apparently awake for who knows how long. Sometimes he’s like a dog, other times he’s nothing short of a fox.
“Get out of my way if you’re awake.”
“Why won’t you answer me?”
“Tsk, you talk too much.”
Yang Garam didn’t even blink at my glaring eyes. Instead, he smiled, dimples showing.
“But hyung is prettier than me, right?”
“You really can say anything.”
“I can say more.”
As I stared intently at Yang Garam who was talking back, he quickly got up, sensing the situation.
“I’m sorry.”
Yang Garam immediately knelt down and bowed his head respectfully. Like the athlete he was training to be, his posture was perfect. I patted his head as he was carefully watching my reaction.
“Be careful if you know better.”
“Yes.”
“And go wash up first.”
Yang Garam noticed where my gaze was lingering. He carefully covered his center, and I cleared my throat and turned my head away. I knew it was a physiological phenomenon that any healthy man experiences, but it wasn’t easy to remain composed when seeing someone else’s.
Yang Garam looked at me once with hot eyes, then sighed softly and entered the bathroom.
‘Wait, is this really something to be embarrassed about?’
This happened occasionally when I slept with Woo Jeonghyun too. But maybe because our sleep patterns were different, we never faced such awkward mornings. If I slept in, Jeonghyun would leave the bed on his own, and if I woke up first, I would push him to the edge of the bed and go back to sleep.
‘Why am I thinking so seriously about something so trivial?’
I shook my head vigorously to clear my thoughts. But as men are such creatures, I couldn’t help comparing mine with his.
I made a gesture as if grabbing something, estimating that even covered by clothes, the size would be about this much, then frowned deeply.
‘That hurts my pride.’
I only hurt myself by thinking about it. But soon I relaxed my expression and thought positively. It’s not that mine is small, it’s just that Yang Garam’s is big, I rationalized, nodding my head.
We gathered in the hotel lobby for breakfast and headed to a nearby restaurant. It was too dark last night to notice, but Quardo Island’s exotic scenery was quite impressive. Plus, while it had been deserted and somewhat gloomy at night, seeing people moving around in the morning made it feel more alive.
Diligently observing our surroundings whenever I had time before and after meals, I arrived at our final destination. It was the Korean branch research center.
“You’ve had a long journey.”
“Have you been well?”
“Same as always.”
The Center Director seemed to already know the director of the Quardo Korean branch research center, as he finished greetings briefly and introduced me to him.
“This is Esper Woo Jeongjae, who came with me as my assistant.”
“Ah, that S-class Esper.”
Seeing the research center director recognize me immediately upon hearing my name, I straightened up and bowed my head.
“Hello, I’m Woo Jeongjae.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The research center director, who appeared to be in his early fifties with a warm impression, offered me a handshake. Since you never know how things might turn out, I smiled and accepted the handshake, thinking it would be good to leave a positive impression. If only the Center Director wasn’t watching us like a hawk, it would have felt more natural, but I swallowed my regrets.
“By the way, Director, I have a question about this mission.”
“Go ahead.”
As soon as our greetings ended, the Center Director immediately got to the point. The research center director nodded with the same relaxed face he had shown me, and the Center Director continued.
“Officially, the mission is collection, but I’ve heard that’s not the case?”
“…”
The research center director’s eyes turned to me and then back to their original position. The face that had been kindly smiling until just now was slightly stiffened.
‘I probably shouldn’t be hearing this.’
There was no need for me, the Center Director’s assistant, to attend this meeting with the research center director. The actual Guides were comfortably waiting in the guest reception room under the guidance of other research center staff, and that’s where I should have been too. But for some reason, the Center Director suddenly decided to take me along, and I unwillingly accompanied him to this place.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have refused more firmly.’
Anyone could see that in the current situation, I was an uninvited guest.
“Esper Woo Jeongjae is my person. You don’t need to worry.”
The Center Director placed his hand on my shoulder as if protecting me from the research center director’s gaze. For whatever reason, unlike before the regression, he had been excessively looking after me. I glanced at the Center Director’s hand on my shoulder, then looked at his face.
‘They say when people do things they don’t usually do, their time is up. What’s with him, both during the last first mission and now?’
Even though he knew I was looking at him suspiciously, he neither removed his hand from my shoulder nor turned his head toward me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
