Chapter 7
In reality, he was trained not to show his emotions outwardly. The reason for appearing calm, especially when emotions were running high, was simple.
Inside gates, Espers become extremely sensitive to the idea of protecting their guides, so they are greatly influenced by how their guides appear. Therefore, guides must always maintain a consistent attitude, whether they’re feeling bad, shocked, or anxious.
The student who had been sneering and showing hostility answered his question with obvious contempt.
“Park Kyungho from the Special Department.”
Right, Kyungho. When I see you in the field later, you’re dead.
As soon as he thought that carelessly, he realized that his original self was already dead, and now he was in the body of a regular ability user who, like these rookies, didn’t work in the field.
So naturally, he couldn’t get revenge either. And he wouldn’t have his loyal Espers who used to follow him around…
It was quite an unpleasant feeling. At the same time, he felt somewhat powerless. The relationships and achievements that he had built up over a long time as Jang Iju had nothing to do with Ko Eungyo. Everything he had accumulated was gone, but having become Ko Eungyo, he had to accept Jang Iju’s death and get used to this.
Of course… that didn’t mean he was inclined to say nothing. Though they weren’t minors, they were still students, and he was a professor. He had a duty to properly educate students.
With slightly furrowed brows, he opened his mouth.
“The basics of guiding is holding hands. And unless you’re in a romantic relationship, you should avoid such personal contact.”
“…”
“I didn’t know I’d have to explain something so basic, even though you’re not minors. Did you not receive mandatory education about sex in high school?”
When he finished speaking, the classroom became eerily quiet. No matter how gently he spoke, the content of his words was still what it was.
This level of admonishment probably wouldn’t be effective, but at least it might make the other person think that they should be more careful about who they target when trying to humiliate someone. Also, that they shouldn’t rashly confront others. Adults over twenty should have enough sense to understand that.
At least, that’s what he hoped. But perhaps offended by the comment about “not receiving sex education,” Park Kyungho, who had been sitting with a nonchalant attitude while questioning him, flushed red and jumped up from his seat.
“Hey, Professor!”
This might get a bit troublesome. He thought this while watching Park Kyungho charge at him like a rhinoceros. He seems to be a physically enhanced Esper… Would there be any student in this classroom who would help him?
‘Maybe I should have been more patient.’
While he was thinking leisurely, Park Kyungho was huffing and trying to come up to the podium, and seeing this, Nam Seonjae tried to forcibly hold him back and make him sit down.
Right, there was Nam Seonjae.
“What are you doing? Sit down.”
“Fuck, Nam Seonjae. Let go. Let go, you bastard. Won’t you let go?”
He looked with fresh eyes at Nam Seonjae, who was trying to help him. Park Kyungho was trying to shake off Nam Seonjae’s hands and get closer to him.
That voice came from the back of the classroom.
“Park Kyungho.”
“Let go… uh, huh…?”
“Stop it.”
A gentle but firm voice stopped the red-faced boar. It was a male student wearing round glasses, sitting next to Woo Sihyun.
It was a voice with a light feeling, as if drifting on the wind. It was also a composed voice that didn’t match the noisy situation. But with just one word, he halted Park Kyungho’s movements. There was a power in that voice that no one could ignore.
Most Espers are natural rulers. Since humans are also living organisms, they are instinctively governed by the logic of power. It was immediately understandable why Park Kyungho closed his mouth and backed down. Apart from that, when he heard Lee Seungwoo’s voice, he felt something strange.
A tingling sensation through the soles of his feet… like static electricity or a current flowing. Subtle but clearly alerting… a sensation like an alarm.
…What is this?
“The professor didn’t say anything wrong, and you’re being too noisy.”
“Hey, Lee Seungwoo, I…”
“Since you said with your own mouth that holding hands is basic, you won’t back down, right, Professor?”
‘Did he use his ability on me?’
But his body composition didn’t change, nor did his mood change dramatically. If an Esper had used their ability, there would definitely be symptoms… He was so busy checking inside his body that he barely heard what Lee Seungwoo was saying. It was only when he heard the caramel-like soft but somehow coldly resonating call asking, “Right, Professor?” that he came to his senses.
“…”
He remained silent. As if no answer was needed, Lee Seungwoo didn’t ask twice. Instead, he rested his chin in his hand with a bored expression and stared at him.
Ko Eungyo slowly swallowed.
Perhaps… perhaps, this wasn’t something to make such a fuss about.
The name of the round-glasses-wearing male student was Lee Seungwoo, and along with Woo Sihyun, he was Ko Eungyo’s Esper in his “my.” So surely he wouldn’t do anything that would harm this body. After all, most Espers cherish their guides as if they were their own bodies.
Having made that judgment, he nodded, and the black eyes behind the glasses widened as if surprised. Then they softened and curved.
When he smiled, surprisingly, the impression of his cold face changed to a friendly one. This made his anxious heart calm down. Probably, Ko Eungyo’s Esper had stepped up to help because a thug-like student was trying to challenge the professor. Thinking of it this way, he felt grateful.
On the other hand, Woo Sihyun, sitting next to Lee Seungwoo, seemed displeased that his friend had intervened in such a matter, and was glaring at him while sitting crookedly with his legs crossed.
‘So they weren’t in a relationship after all.’
Come to think of it, for a dating relationship, communication was too sparse. Throughout Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Ko Eungyo’s phone hadn’t rung at all. So he had wondered, but…
Terribly, it seemed like it was one-sided love. Woo Sihyun was looking at him as if he was seeing something utterly disgusting.
‘Going crazy over that half-decent Esper!’
Ko Eunso’s shouting came to mind. As she said, had Ko Eungyo really taken on commissioned lectures just to see an Esper who disliked him?
No, wait. If that’s the case… how did he get Woo Sihyun into his “my” in the first place?
No matter how much matching rates were prioritized, the “my” list was a relationship that could only be established with the consent of both the Esper and the guide. It was about claiming each other as “one’s own.” Even if two ability users recorded a 100% matching rate, if one person didn’t want it, the relationship couldn’t be formed.
He tried to shake off the continuing thoughts. He was in the middle of a lecture.
“Any more questions?”
The classroom was still quiet.
It was too difficult to take the lead and speak as a superior in a place that didn’t welcome him. But he was the owner of this lecture, and a professor. He had to finish today’s class somehow.
“The team leader should come forward and submit the roster before leaving.”
Soon the classroom started to become noisy again.
He felt as if a dense liquid was flowing from his head to his toes. It was a symptom of excessive stress.
*
In his mind, he wanted to go home immediately and lie down, but he only repeated the fantasy of bursting out of the classroom door for the twelfth time. It was only 4:30 PM—he had been looking at the clock so often that it seemed like it would wear out and disappear.
He suppressed what must have been the umpteenth sigh. About half of the students had submitted their names on notes or post-its, but the other half were gathered together talking about who knows what.
It definitely wasn’t related to the lecture. And it didn’t seem like they were introducing themselves either. From the beginning, this lecture was a mandatory liberal arts course for the Special Department, so the students already knew each other.
What could they be talking about? The lecture was sidelined, and they were discussing whatever they wanted among themselves. And undoubtedly, the majority of them would be talking about what had happened earlier.
He glanced at the wall clock again and as he lowered his gaze, his eyes met with Lee Seungwoo, who was sitting at the very back of the classroom. The eye-smile that had been narrowed like slits came to mind. However, instead of giving him another eye-smile, Lee Seungwoo pretended not to notice, averted his gaze, and then leaned towards Woo Sihyun sitting beside him, whispering something.
It felt strange.
Claiming an Esper in one’s “my” as “mine” might be a natural emotion for a guide, but neither Woo Sihyun, who had snorted coldly at him, nor Lee Seungwoo, who was smiling as if painted, seemed to be his at all.
Yet at least for Lee Seungwoo, he could understand why he was in Ko Eungyo’s “my.”
To be precise, it was fair to say this was the first time he had felt this.
Just now, he had thought Lee Seungwoo had used his ability on him, but that wasn’t it. So to speak, this “sensation of electricity flowing” was what he had only heard about in rumors.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
