Paired with My Childhood Friend 45

[World-renowned SS-rank Esper Hyun Tae-oh appears on A Pair is Born!]

The hit reality show A Pair is Born throws Espers and Guides into temporary pairings selected by viewer votes, broadcasting every raw moment of their shared daily lives.

To everyone's surprise, the temporary partner for Hyun Tae-oh—one of only three SS-rank Espers in existence—is none other than his childhood friend, Kang Chi-yu, a B-rank Guide.

Kang Chi-yu, who had recently decided to give up his long-standing unrequited love for Tae-oh, had been actively avoiding him. But Hyun Tae-oh flatly refused to join the show with anyone else.

“If you’re suddenly up for doing this, then do it with some other Guide. Why me?!”

“Who else would I do it with, if not you?”

***

“You. So why did you run away?”

“Run away from what?”

“Stop pretending you didn’t. Just tell me why.”

What’s the point of putting distance between us before we even grow old—when we’re just friends?

Hyun Tae-oh does everything, crosses every line, and still insists they’re just friends.

Once again, Kang Chi-yu steels his heart. He swore to bury this pathetic, tender longing he’d kept hidden all these years— and go back to being just soft, harmless friends.