Chapter 26
Inside were various clothes. There weren’t that many, but having options made it difficult to choose what to pick.
‘The most… ordinary one…’
In times like these, the most ordinary-looking color was the best. Seoyul picked up a white hoodie from among the clothes inside.
It was still a bit warm, but it would soon get chilly, so it was a reasonable choice. However…
“Huh? The pants…”
There were only shorts.
He thought they had gifted long clothes in preparation for the cold weather, but no matter how much he looked, there were only shorts.
He tilted his head at the puzzling combination, but having no other choice, he picked the most ordinary-looking color.
“Hmm. I’ve never worn this style before…”
It had the distinctive chemical smell of new clothes. Since he had never bought clothes other than his school uniform before, it felt unfamiliar.
But it wasn’t a bad feeling. No, it actually seemed good. To think he would receive such a gift.
‘I must repay them properly.’
Seoyul quickly changed his clothes with a pleasant flutter in his heart. Would it… suit him well? Feeling too embarrassed to look in the mirror, he immediately left the bathroom.
But when he was about to go inside, he suddenly felt shy. Thinking about what kind of reaction he’d get, he wanted to run away.
But since he’d received a gift, he couldn’t do that. Seoyul carefully opened the door and peeked his face in.
Creeeaaak.
“Um…”
When he fully entered, many gazes poured down on him. Until just a moment ago, only Sunjeong had been there, but now all the researchers had gathered in the lab.
And…
“Oooh!”
“Oooh!!”
Everyone who spotted Seoyul burst into loud exclamations. At that sound, Seoyul’s face flushed bright red.
But that wasn’t the end. The researchers quickly surrounded Seoyul and began to share their impressions.
“Guide Seo, it suits you well!”
“Your features really stand out.”
“I always thought you were cute, but now that you’re deliberately dressed up, you’re seriously adorable.”
“Team Leader, your sense of style is no joke!”
“Right? My sense is at this level!”
Sunjeong was even puffing up her shoulders proudly, saying everyone should praise her.
With everyone’s half-joking, half-serious fawning, he couldn’t lift his head. Seoyul hung his head low, covering his reddened face with both hands, and mumbled softly.
“P-please stop…”
“……”
“……”
At that moment, a long silence filled the lab. Seoyul’s embarrassment intensified, but the others’ circumstances were completely different.
‘Hnngh!’
‘Ugh!’
‘C-cute!’
The hearts of the researchers, who had been immersed in their work, melted at his pure and lovely reaction.
After seeing volatile people like Dowoon all the time, seeing the cute and pure Seoyul felt like a ray of light.
The researchers were seized by the desire to mess up this cute creature’s hair completely.
And they put it into action without hesitation.
“Oh my goodness, you cute thing.”
“It’s nice to have a youngster. So nice.”
“We should adore him as much as possible before Cha Dowoon arrives!”
“Waaah!”
On top of that, Sunjeong put her arm around his neck and started turning his hair into a mess. Because of this, he was completely disoriented.
“W-wait. T-Team Leader. Aaaah!”
While everyone was distracted by Seoyul, the lab door opened, and someone entered.
“I finished early, so I came to pick—”
It was Dowoon, who had said he could only return late in the evening due to an important mission.
He seemed to have a brain freeze upon seeing Seoyul, standing blankly without saying a word. The flustered researchers saw their chance and began to scatter quickly.
“Ahem. The research data.”
“Ah, I need to work. Work!”
But Seoyul had just escaped from Sunjeong’s hands, so he didn’t understand why everyone was acting that way. So when he finally collected himself and raised his head, his eyes met Dowoon’s, who looked dazed.
“Huh…?”
“……”
Hmm.
Seeing this, Sunjeong seemed to realize something and approached Dowoon with a grin. She placed her hand on his sturdy shoulder and began to ramble.
“What do you think? Isn’t Yul pretty? Doesn’t it suit him well?”
“……”
“It’s my handiwork. Doesn’t he look like a fresh college student? Right?”
“……”
“Sigh. This sense, how should I handle—”
“…school…?”
Dowoon, who had been quietly listening, reacted to the word ‘school.’ Confused by this, she turned her head to find Dowoon looking as if he was hearing this for the first time.
‘Oh?’
Could it be he’s hearing this for the first time?
Sunjeong finally realized. She had wondered why he was so calm about Seoyul going to school, but it seemed he just didn’t know.
Thinking ‘that makes more sense,’ she asked Seoyul.
“Yul. Haven’t you told Dowoon about going to school yet?”
“What? Ah… I, I did…”
Seoyul carefully traced through his memory of that day.
‘Esper-nim. It looks like I’ll be going back to school.’
‘Mmm…’
‘Team Leader said since I’ll need to take the Association entrance exam anyway, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to attend school too.’
‘Mmm…’
‘Um… so I even filled out the paperwork today… would that be… okay?’
‘Mmm. It’s fine.’
Right. If there was a problem, it was that he had mentioned it during Guiding, so it was uncertain if Dowoon had properly heard. Of course, seeing that he had responded properly, Seoyul thought he had heard, so he didn’t say anything more.
But seeing his reaction now…
“When!! I never heard such a thing!!”
Dowoon shouted. Then Sunjeong clicked her tongue and firmly said:
“You must not have been listening.”
“That can’t be…”
He tried to deny it, but something seemed to occur to him. Dowoon trailed off and fell into thought for a moment. Soon, he drooped his shoulders and mumbled in a resigned voice:
“You’re right. I did hear it…”
He remembered mumbling responses without any awareness because the Guiding was so good.
That day, Seoyul seemed to be in a good mood, and the Guiding was more intense than usual.
‘So that was because of school.’
Dowoon clicked his tongue briefly and sighed.
He had just returned to missions, making it harder to see Seoyul, and if Seoyul went to school too, wouldn’t it become even more difficult!
If Seoyul was smart, he could pass the exam without going to school, so Dowoon wondered why he was doing something so inefficient.
And…
‘All the guys attending there are…’
Dowoon had also completed the full course at the Ability Professional School. He knew very well what kind of people attended there.
The place was full of energetic Guides and Espers who weren’t affiliated anywhere and had high rankings.
If it were the Center, they would be under Dowoon’s influence, so he could keep the troublemakers in check, but that place was completely different.
It was a place where individuals who would eventually join guilds and rise to fairly high positions could emerge at any time.
Dowoon didn’t want to send Seoyul to such a place.
‘Aargh!! Why there of all places!’
Dowoon felt a surge of irritation. He wanted to shout his opposition right now. But remembering how happy Seoyul had been that day, he couldn’t bring himself to say no.
Moreover, his eyes were filled with the image of Seoyul anxiously watching his reaction. This made it even harder to speak.
‘Sigh…’
Dowoon heaved another resigned sigh.
He didn’t have the right to stop Seoyul from doing what he wanted. Rather, opposing would only reduce the points he had accumulated. So the right path here was to show support.
Reaching this conclusion, Dowoon casually blurted out:
“I just forgot for a moment… The clothes… suit you well.”
He added a bit of small talk out of embarrassment, but it was the truth. That’s why he had been staring blankly as soon as he entered.
His face already looked young, but dressed like that, Dowoon became newly conscious of his age.
‘He said he was… twenty years old?’
Since he was twenty-six, there was a six-year age gap between them. It wasn’t a small difference, but the thought crossed his mind that it wasn’t too big either.
‘Right! Six years apart is safe, isn’t it?!’
While he was lost in thought, a response to Dowoon’s casual comment was heard.
“Really…?”
Dowoon inadvertently lowered his gaze and ended up making eye contact with Seoyul, who was looking up at him with a small expectation.
The fingers fidgeting with embarrassment and the soft, slightly flushed cheeks particularly caught his eye.
‘Urk…’
Dowoon’s heart began to tighten with a tingling sensation. It felt like something was about to burst out.
He didn’t know exactly what it was, but feeling it shouldn’t be expressed, he just tightly clenched his fist and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“Yes.”
“Ah. That’s a relief.”
Completely reassured by Dowoon’s short reply, Seoyul smiled gently.
A warm breeze seemed to sweep around them, and Dowoon, unable to take his eyes off that sight, became dazed once more.
Guiding energy that proved his good mood started to bubble out from Seoyul. It created an illusion that his body and heart were also melting away.
‘Ah… damn…’
Dowoon quickly covered his reddening face with his hand and reached out to him.
“Let’s go. Home.”
Did he say it normally enough?
Dowoon glanced down at him, pressing down on his loudly beating heart. Seoyul was quietly looking down at his hand. Then, carefully taking it, he raised his head and said with a beautiful smile:
“Yes. Let’s go home.”
Through his fingertips, the Guiding began to flow in again, soft and fluffy. Dowoon cleared his throat with a “Ahem” at the ticklish sensation and turned around.
Then, Seoyul quickly began to bow to Sunjeong and the researchers.
“Um. Uh. So… th-thank you.”
But Dowoon didn’t seem to like that at all. Just before completely leaving the lab, he shot a fierce, growling look at everyone.
That gaze seemed to be saying, ‘Just try to eye my Guide!’ which made everyone stifle their laughter.
They were such an adorably cute Pair.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
