As we passed through the gate, everyone gathered around turned their attention to us. The reservoir Peter had frozen was still intact, and Espers and Guides dispatched by the government were waiting beneath the gate.
“Good work.”
The Center Director approached us and spoke, and I nodded while looking at the crowd of reporters gathered beyond the reservoir.
The reporters couldn’t enter the site and were standing at the edge of the reservoir, continuously pressing their shutters. Some tried to come down to the reservoir for interviews but were stopped by the police.
I frowned at the sight. In my memories, reporters showed the most vigorous activity when my mother went missing and when my younger sibling died. They were truly beings that grew by feeding on my misfortunes.
“Why is a civilian at the scene? Shouldn’t they be restricted?”
This was a site where an S-class dungeon had appeared. The area outside the gate maintains extreme tension until an Esper enters the dungeon and destroys the core. I couldn’t understand why the Center Director wasn’t controlling this despite knowing all this.
“News that the dungeon core was destroyed leaked out two hours ago. They all came knowing this, so what could I do?”
After saying that, the Center Director immediately requested my band. The band that the Center Director had placed on me before boarding the paddle boat would have recorded my condition inside the dungeon.
“I haven’t seen this ring before.”
As I was taking off the band, the Center Director noticed the ring on my hand. He seemed to recognize what it was immediately, showing a subtle smile. I feigned ignorance and handed him the band.
“If you weren’t going to tell me and wanted to hide it, you should have hidden it properly.”
“I had no intention of hiding it.”
Artifacts that emerge during dungeon conquests were like tips for Espers. In principle, one should report the acquisition of artifacts to superiors, but it wasn’t mandatory. Of course, before my regression, I had meticulously reported everything without exception. The Center Director didn’t seem particularly interested in the artifact and immediately examined the band I handed him.
“It’s certainly good to have a Guide.”
The difference between having one and not having one was definitely significant, so I didn’t deny his words.
“You almost went berserk, but canceled it all out in a short time.”
I did use my abilities excessively while fighting the shellfish monster, but I didn’t know I had almost gone berserk.
“This level would be impossible without a fairly high matching rate.”
At times like this, I wondered if the Center Director’s title wasn’t for nothing; his intuition was too good.
‘At this rate, he might even notice I’ve imprinted on Yang Garam.’
Of course, even the Center Director couldn’t immediately know something that Yang Garam himself hadn’t noticed yet, but this situation was certainly becoming uncomfortable.
“If everything’s fine, may I leave now?”
Having confirmed through the band that I was fine, the Center Director nodded readily, and I merely bowed my head in greeting before turning around. While I was talking with the Center Director, Yang Garam was also talking with someone at the scene.
Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, I decided to wait at a distance, but just then, Yang Garam seemed to have finished his business as I saw him exchanging greetings.
“Are you done talking?”
Yang Garam’s expression showed surprise at my sudden appearance but also delight, and I glanced at the face of the person he had been talking to until just now. It was a gate management officer who had arrived at the scene first.
“Yes. What about you, hyung?”
“Me too. Let’s go home, Garam.”
I unconsciously took Yang Garam’s hand as I spoke, but a fluffy sensation rising through our touching skin made a question mark appear in my head. Soon, though, I recalled what the Center Director had said.
‘Is he anxious because I almost went berserk earlier?’
I was really fine now, but considering Yang Garam’s personality, it wasn’t incomprehensible, so I stayed quiet. I had a casual thought that this would stop soon. But when we left the reservoir and there was still no sign of the Guiding ending, I started to get worried. Even the weakest Guiding, if prolonged, would obviously burden the Guide.
“Garam. I’m fine now.”
Unable to let go of Yang Garam’s hand, I shook it lightly and spoke, and he turned to look at me. It was an innocent face that clearly didn’t understand what I was saying.
“I’m saying you can stop the Guiding.”
When I spoke directly instead of beating around the bush, Yang Garam’s eyes widened.
“I’m not Guiding you though?”
“What do you mean? You’re still doing it right now?”
Even as I said this, his energy was still clearly felt from our joined hands. Yang Garam looked at me with a confused face and then squeezed my hand tightly. The energy that had been flowing in playfully suddenly rushed in like a wave, making the hair on my body stand on end and my legs go weak.
“Huh?”
I managed to catch myself before collapsing weakly, but both of us were surprised and looked at each other.
“What did you just do?”
“Guiding, hyung.”
“What percentage of Guiding was that?”
“50%, but hyung, were you hurt during the battle earlier?”
Yang Garam looked down at me worriedly, not even thinking that this was happening because of his Guiding, but my head was too confused to clear up his misunderstanding.
“That’s not it, wait a moment, Garam. Let me think about this.”
They said that when imprinting occurs, the matching rate exceeds 90%. That means the matching rate is at least 91%, and could even be 95% or 100%. I had vaguely thought that a higher matching rate was better, but experiencing what it meant physically, it wasn’t such a simple matter. The matching rate was also proportional to the influence a Guide could have on me. Maybe it was an obvious result. As the Guide’s wavelength matched mine, my body had no choice but to recognize the Guide’s energy as if it were originally mine.
‘If Yang Garam Guides at 100%, it might not just make my legs weak but could unravel my mind?’
I realized that “soul binding” from the booklet was a very gentlemanly expression. Additionally, I had to completely revise the information that only the Guide faced risks. From the perspective of an Esper who uses abilities by expelling energy outward, they are inevitably vulnerable to Guiding that enters internally and neutralizes energy. And with the imprinting on top of that, regardless of ability, I was exposed defenseless before him.
At this point, I understood why I thought I had received Yang Garam’s Guiding when he hadn’t been Guiding.
‘Because our wavelengths are similar, my energy mistook his energy as mine and tried to harmonize with it. To me, that was perceived as Guiding.’
My mind was sorted out, but my stomach was churning more than before. With tension, I looked at Yang Garam with sweaty hands. He was staring at me silently, waiting for me to speak first.
“Garam, do you trust me?”
Yang Garam nodded with eyes full of trust, almost to the point of blind faith. My anxious heart gradually calmed at his straightforward gaze, invisible to others. Since the risk I faced was limited only to the Guide I had imprinted on, if Yang Garam trusted me and I could trust him, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
“We’re imprinted. Us.”
Yang Garam’s eyes widened. The momentary confusion at the sudden announcement soon subsided, and joy settled on his copper-colored irises. Happiness seeped into the surroundings like pigment on drawing paper, coloring everything in beautiful hues. I had been looking at his face just fine until now, but in that instant, everything was newly overlaid on my retina. His emotions poured down on me to the point of suffocation.
While I was unable to gather my thoughts, Yang Garam cupped my cheeks with both hands and whispered with our foreheads touching.
“Now I’m really yours, right, hyung?”
It didn’t take long to realize that everything I was feeling was flowing from Yang Garam. His solemn gaze, as if ready to throw everything away for me, and his thirsty gaze that sincerely yearned for it, intertwined and bound me.
“I guess so. Now you won’t be able to get married, Garam.”
Continuously receiving these heavy emotions was a bit overwhelming for me too, so I pushed him away while making a joke.
“I can marry you, hyung.”
My casually thrown words seemed to elevate Yang Garam’s mood; he stepped back as I pushed him but just kept smiling like a fool.
“I’ll make you happy, hyung.”
“Sure, sure. Just do the first verse.”
At my words, Yang Garam’s lips, which were preparing to say something more, wavered and closed. But soon, as if he couldn’t hold back, he brightened his eyes and said to me.
“May I say just one more thing?”
By now, he was holding my hand, interlocking our fingers, with a serious face. Thinking there was no way he’d say something silly with such an expression, I nodded slightly to indicate he could speak.
“Hyung, for our family planning, how many kids are you thinking—ack!”
This time, he really deserved a beating. I freed my hand from Yang Garam’s grasp, gave him a flick on the forehead, and issued a warning.
“Say one more word. Imprinting or not, I’ll run away and leave you behind.”
Yang Garam shook his head vigorously with a despairing expression as if the world had collapsed. His effort to prevent even accidental sounds from escaping soon softened my heart. I sighed and took Yang Garam’s hand again. I could feel his wavelength, which had been anxious like a child who had lost his mother’s hand, immediately stabilizing just from holding hands once.
“I told you to just do the first verse. Why say unnecessary things and get punished?”
No matter how much I joked about marriage, asking about family planning in response was behavior that went well beyond common sense.
‘And that look in his eyes was definitely not a joke.’
It would be fortunate if it was simply a joke, but that was truly the look of someone who might bring a child from somewhere. With Do Wonjin handling the crazy stuff, I sometimes forget that Yang Garam occasionally has abnormal moments too.
“By the way, I didn’t expect you to come see the rose festival. Who did you come with?”
I changed the flow of conversation to lighten the atmosphere. At my question, Yang Garam’s face, which had been looking like he’d come back from the dead, immediately changed to a gloomy expression.
“I came alone. But I saw you were with the Center Director.”
I felt the atmosphere sink in a different way from before at his words, which were close to a monologue. I remembered how I had answered no when Yang Garam had asked if it was the Center Director this morning. From Yang Garam’s perspective, it was a situation that could easily be misunderstood, but being associated with the Center Director was something I would decline, regardless of who else it might be.
“If only I hadn’t received that sudden mission call, I wouldn’t have seen the Center Director’s face. Unfortunately, the time and place ended up being the same.”
Yang Garam, who had been listening quietly to my disjointed excuses, soon cleared the clouds from his face.
“I thought there might be such circumstances.”
Seeing his brightly rising smile, I smiled along too.
“But it seems like the Center Director knew the dungeon would appear? Seeing how he called you for a mission.”
Yang Garam’s sharp observation made me panic, just when I thought I had passed one hurdle.
“He probably just had good intuition.”
I couldn’t reveal that the Center Director had regressed when I hadn’t even disclosed my own regression yet. I glossed over it vaguely and wracked my brain hard for another conversation topic.
“Then Seolhyeon hyung must have good intuition too.”
At Yang Garam’s words that suddenly came to my ears, all my thoughts stopped as if I had been doused with ice water.
“Why Joo Seolhyeon?”
“Seolhyeon hyung was there too.”
“At that reservoir where the dungeon appeared?”
“Yes. Seolhyeon hyung arrived before me.”
“So were you talking to the officer earlier because of Joo Seolhyeon?”
“That’s right. I didn’t see him, so I asked when he left, and they said he had already left about two hours ago.”
There were too many strange points in what Yang Garam was conveying for me to just let it pass by. Joo Seolhyeon and I visited the amusement park around the same time.
The Center Director and I went straight to the reservoir because we had business at the dungeon from the start, but what about Joo Seolhyeon? Why did he come toward the reservoir?
If he had come to see the rose festival, he should have gone to the rose garden located on the opposite side of the reservoir. Even if he had taken the wrong path and come to where we were, there was no way he would suddenly have business in the middle of the reservoir.
‘As if he knew a dungeon would open here…’
When my thoughts reached that point, one implausible hypothesis came to mind.
No way, it can’t be.
My fingertips grew cold, and my ears became numb as if tinnitus was ringing. With even the Center Director having regressed, it wouldn’t be that strange if Joo Seolhyeon had regressed too. If this were true.
‘Then he deceived me twice.’
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
