The duties required of Espers and Guides were countless—far beyond simple description. Aside from their core responsibilities like dungeon management and monster suppression, they were often pulled into tasks no other department could handle: special civil complaints, assisting criminal investigations, supporting emergency services, and a long list of other unpredictable assignments.
While most high-ranking Esper-Guide pairs focused exclusively on dungeon work, Park Woo-jun and Lee Han-seo were entrusted with a unique role no other pair had taken on.
—“So for this shoot, we decided on an amusement park. I’ve emailed the draft concept file, so please check it when you can.”
“An amusement park? That sounds great, but… are you sure it’ll be safe? Can you control the civilians?”
—“Yes, yes! It’s a weekday, so the crowd should be light. The facility team agreed to block off the area for a couple of hours around lunchtime.”
“Got it. I’ll go over the concept with Woo-jun and get back to you.”
—“We’ll handle the outfits and makeup for the shoot, so you two just come as you are.”
It was time for their quarterly public service ad—a promotional shoot for the Center.
“Hey. You heard that, right? I’ll forward the email. Just check it yourself.”
“……”
“Oh, so now you’re ignoring me too?”
“N-No! I heard you! I’ll check it right away!”
Park Woo-jun, who’d been sitting silently on the floor under the sofa, shot up in panic and clung to Lee Han-seo’s calf like a startled puppy.
Normally, Han-seo would’ve melted at the sight, fawning over how adorable and clingy his lover was. But today felt… off. He just sat there, clicking the TV remote with a sharp edge and shaking off Woo-jun’s touch with an uncharacteristically cold air.
“Han-seo…”
“What.”
“I’m sorry…”
“So what? Just ‘sorry’ and I’m supposed to forgive you, no questions asked?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that…”
But what could he do? He’d messed up. Until Han-seo cooled off, all Woo-jun could do was stay low and grovel.
The first day back on the job had actually gone pretty well. Two A-class dungeons had erupted simultaneously in Gyeonggi Province, and Woo-jun handled one of them smoothly with Kim Joon-young. When he returned to their quarters, Han-seo practically tackled him into bed, offering a Guiding session so sweet it nearly sent him to heaven.
The problem came the next morning.
“You idiot. I know everything.”
“Huh…? Know what exactly…?”
“How hard things have been. You couldn’t even tell me. But it’s okay now—just trust me. I’ll make sure our sweet potato finally gets the rest he deserves.”
With that confident smile, Han-seo handed him a draft of a legal complaint—one aimed straight at the Esper Affairs Bureau.
“I knew you were sneaking into dungeons behind my back. Even if they were just mid- or low-level, using someone who was officially excluded from deployment? And none of it showed up in the reports, so you didn’t even get performance bonuses. I talked to Dad—if we just file this with the prosecutor and leak it to the press without warning—”
“W-Wait! Han-seo, hang on a second!”
Who the hell whips out a legal draft while making black bean ramen and topping it with a fried egg…? Woo-jun hadn’t even realized he’d been caught. No, worse—he was past caught. He was already on the chopping block. If things blew up, who knew how the higher-ups—who’d been so cooperative till now—might react.
Woo-jun confessed everything on the spot, falling to his knees, taking full responsibility. But… it was already too late.
“What are you staring at? Eyes front.”
“Uuh…”
Han-seo’s icy tone hit him like a bolt of lightning. Woo-jun swallowed down his tears, but he couldn’t stop sneaking glances at Han-seo’s face. Even while panicking, he couldn’t help but think how absurdly cute Han-seo looked with his puffed-up, sulky expression—like an angry little jelly bear.
Would it be okay to touch his cheek? Just once? No, he’d get mad… really mad… The fact that he couldn’t even brush his fingers against his Guide’s cheek—so precious he could carry it in his eyes without pain—made Woo-jun tear up all over again.
He wiped at his damp cheeks with shaky fingers, then reached for his phone to check the email Han-seo had sent… but now his wet fingers weren’t registering on the screen.
He could’ve just dried his hands and tried again. But Park Woo-jun, fully immersed in his tragic male lead moment, sighed as if the world had turned against him—Why am I like this…?—and sniffled even louder.
“You really do the most. Just the most.”
Clicking his tongue, Han-seo grabbed Woo-jun’s hand and casually wiped it off on the hem of his own shirt. Even when pissed, he couldn’t help taking care of him. That thoughtless kindness—so ingrained, so automatic—made Woo-jun’s tears stop in an instant… only to come flooding back as full-blown sobs.
“Uwaaah… hic, Han-seo, baby, it’s all my fault, I’m sorryyy, waaaah…!”
“You should be grateful for that face of yours. Stab someone in the back, then cry all pretty and expect a free pass?”
“Sniff I know, I’m sorryyy, waaah…!”
“Come here. I’ll hold you.”
Still bawling, Woo-jun scrambled onto the sofa like it was muscle memory. Not a second of hesitation. Like some gooey slime monster, he wrapped himself around his Guide, clinging tight—and then zeroed in on those soft, squishy cheeks he’d been dying to touch, smothering them with desperate kisses without even stopping to breathe.
Han-seo, well used to the weight, didn’t even flinch and simply turned his attention back to the document he was reading. Lovers’ quarrels might be like slicing water with a knife—ineffective and fleeting—but still. This might’ve seemed like an anticlimactic end to a fight (if you could even call it that), but from Han-seo’s side, those past three days of silent treatment had been nothing short of heroic effort.
It was a serious issue, no doubt about that. But the moment Han-seo saw that face, his resolve crumbled. When he saw the face, he wanted to hold his hand. When he held his hand, he wanted to pull him into a hug. And once they were hugging… well, how could he not sneak in a kiss or two?
A hopeless face addict through and through, Lee Han-seo let out a quiet sigh as he looked at Park Woo-jun. Even with his face swollen and tear-streaked, he still looked like the ethereal lead of a prime-time melodrama. My life is already ruined. How do you fight something like this…?
“Hey, hey. You caught that earlier, right? We’re shooting at an amusement park this time. The theme’s a school outing.”
“A school outing?”
“Yeah. They’re even making us wear school uniforms. Ridiculous, right?”
“Han-seo… in a uniform… sniff… that’s gonna be way too cute… I’m gonna take, like, five hundred pictures…”
“What’s cute about that? We’re twenty-five. Isn’t it just cringe at this point?”
“Can’t you at least wait until you’re actually wearing it before you say that…?”
Han-seo… school uniform… school uniform… Lee Han-seo… Park Woo-jun kept muttering in a dazed, teary voice, cheeks tinged pink. Han-seo clicked his tongue in mock annoyance, but secretly? He was getting a little excited too.
It wasn’t that he loved amusement parks or had ever dreamed of wearing a school uniform again now that he was at the age where most people were graduating college. But it had been forever—since elementary school—since he last visited one. Just the idea of going, for whatever reason, gave him a little jolt of unexpected joy.
“Then how about we take tomorrow off and head out early? The shoot’s around noon, so we could sneak in a morning date before that.”
Woo-jun nodded like his life depended on it. The way Han-seo casually tossed out the word date sent a flutter through his chest. With that innocent smile, no one would ever guess this man could single-handedly rip a monster to shreds—an actual human weapon in disguise.
Now in a better mood, Han-seo started humming a tune and immediately submitted time-off requests for both of them. It was a regularly scheduled shoot, so unless an S-class dungeon exploded overnight, there was no reason they wouldn’t get approved.
He’d already decided—if they weren’t approved within ten minutes, he was calling the Director directly. But luckily, the leave got cleared almost instantly.
The Center had originally been a subdivision of the Ministry of Defense called the Esper Management Bureau. But a few years ago, under the leadership of then-Chief of Espers Kim Joon-young, it became an independent agency: the Esper Affairs Center. As part of its rebranding effort, they began producing quarterly public service campaigns.
Kim Joon-young, drowning in dungeon raids and administrative duties, had flat-out refused to appear in front of any cameras. So naturally, the spotlight fell on the Center’s golden pair: Park Woo-jun and Lee Han-seo. The PR Team Leader’s emotional pitch—that one of the top two pairs had to do it for the sake of the Center’s public image—finally worked.
Park Woo-jun was handsome.
The handsome Park Woo-jun also happened to be an S-class Esper.
And that (unreasonably good-looking) S-class Esper’s Imprint partner? The one and only S-class Guide in all of Asia—Lee Han-seo.
There wasn’t a better face of the Center if you tried. The PR team leader still liked to joke about how, during their very first shoot two years ago, it looked like Woo-jun had a literal halo shining behind him.
Han-seo, being the devoted Esper-obsessed face-lover he was, wholeheartedly supported the campaign. This face needs to be seen by the world. And if they find out he’s mine in the process? Even better. That was basically his entire thought process.
“If it’s a school outing theme, should we bring a packed lunch too?”
Woo-jun hadn’t seemed that interested in the amusement park itself—he was clearly more focused on the thought of Han-seo in a uniform—but now, at the mention of a date, he seemed fully switched on.
“We should make some kimbap, maybe tofu pockets, bring some fruit… That won’t be enough. Baby, let’s go grocery shopping right now!”
“Perfect. Make mine tuna kimbap—with a ton of mayo, okay?”
Normally, Han-seo would’ve shut down Woo-jun’s sudden enthusiasm before it spiraled. But just this once, he fanned the flames. A handsome (most importantly), soft-spoken boyfriend packing him a homemade lunch and a date at an amusement park? That combo was just too damn sweet to resist.
