“Well… if you’re asking me what it was, I honestly have no idea—.”
“How can you not know? You’re the one who did it.”
Normally, Cha Jae-woo wasn’t exactly the warmest person toward Lim Haeyul, but he had never looked this cold before.
Had something gone wrong? What had he even done? Why was Cha Jae-woo reacting like this? His head was flooded with nothing but confusion.
What exactly was Cha Jae-woo asking about? All he had done was guide him. Sure, it had been a little different than usual, but it wasn’t like he had done anything so bizarre that it would warrant this kind of reaction.
“I just… performed a regular guiding session…”
“I know how much mana you have.”
“Uh… right.”
Lim Haeyul knew that Cha Jae-woo was aware of the amount of mana he possessed. But why bring that up out of nowhere?
“I know where the limits of your guiding lie, too.”
“I… see…”
‘Then what exactly are you trying to say?’
The words surged up to the tip of his tongue, but he held them back with effort. It wasn’t the kind of atmosphere where he could afford to act rashly.
“…You really don’t get what I’m saying, do you?”
Sensing Lim Haeyul’s confusion, Cha Jae-woo asked. After hesitating for a moment, Lim Haeyul gave a small nod.
“Yes.”
Despite having abruptly cut off the guiding session and started speaking nonsense, when Lim Haeyul admitted he didn’t understand, Cha Jae-woo’s face contorted in frustration.
‘Could you at least give me some context here?’
Lim Haeyul still had no idea why Cha Jae-woo had suddenly pulled away or why he was scowling so fiercely.
“Haah…”
However, Cha Jae-woo seemed even more baffled by the idea that he would have to explain himself. He let out a long sigh and ran a hand roughly through his hair. Despite the irritation in his gesture, his fine hair didn’t tangle and instead flowed down smoothly.
‘Not exactly the thought I should be having right now.’
“Today’s guiding was different from what you’ve done until now.”
“Huh? Really? Um, how so?”
“How the hell would I know?”
‘You’re the one who said it was different!’
After making such a confident statement, how could he then claim ignorance? What was Lim Haeyul supposed to say to that?
“It’s just… the amount of guiding you did was way more than usual.”
“…But my mana is the same as always.”
“I know. I can sense your mana. But even after you used it all up, the guiding continued.”
“Huh? That can’t be right.”
“Hey. Check the time.”
“The time?”
“Why do you keep making me repeat myself?”
Cha Jae-woo spoke irritably, his temper flaring for no apparent reason.
‘Does he not realize he’s the one rambling without a clear train of thought?’
Lim Haeyul swallowed his irritation and discreetly glanced at the clock. Not that he had the guts to openly challenge Cha Jae-woo anyway.
“…Huh?”
But there wasn’t even time to dwell on Cha Jae-woo’s rude attitude. The moment he checked the time, just as Cha Jae-woo had urged him to, he was struck speechless.
At most, his guiding sessions usually lasted five minutes. Since he had relatively little mana, even when he released it slowly, it always wrapped up within five minutes.
But not this time. Over thirty minutes had already passed since he’d started guiding.
“It’s been thirty minutes already? …Wait, why has it been thirty minutes? My mana amount is the same, and I was releasing it at the usual pace! What’s going on?”
“…That’s what I’d like to ask you.”
Cha Jae-woo’s forehead had yet to smooth out from its deep frown.
‘Maybe he’s pissed because it took too long.’
Normally, guiding would have wrapped up in five minutes, but they had wasted thirty instead. Lim Haeyul thought that might explain the bad mood.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because… I made you waste a lot of time?”
Cha Jae-woo tilted his head slightly, not in agreement, but more like he was wondering what nonsense Lim Haeyul was spouting.
“You seriously have no clue.”
He even clicked his tongue in open disdain, making no effort to hide his contempt. Lim Haeyul felt a flash of anger but managed to bite his tongue. Somehow, Cha Jae-woo’s expression looked grim enough to crush any retort.
“…Do you remember what exactly you did just now?”
After a long silence, Cha Jae-woo finally asked. There was no way he could tell just by looking at Lim Haeyul’s face, but for some reason, Lim Haeyul felt like he couldn’t afford to say, I don’t know.
“Yes…”
Thankfully, he did remember—at least, as long as what he had seen wasn’t just an illusion. Judging by the strange passage of time and Cha Jae-woo’s serious reaction, it likely hadn’t been a hallucination.
“I remember what I did, but…”
Whether he could actually replicate it was a different story. Lim Haeyul hesitated, stumbling over his words as he caught the expectant look in Cha Jae-woo’s eyes.
“Try doing it again.”
Unsurprisingly, Cha Jae-woo’s next words matched Lim Haeyul’s grim expectations perfectly. Staring at the hand Cha Jae-woo extended toward him, Lim Haeyul froze for a moment.
“I do remember, but… I’m not sure if I can do it exactly the same way—.”
“Try anyway.”
“But…”
“You managed to guide at least five times more than usual.”
“…What?”
“Even more than that mess you made on the first day when you lost control.”
‘That’s impossible.’
His mana reserves were finite. No matter what, there was no way he could perform guiding beyond that limit.
“I’ve told you several times already—I know exactly how much mana you have. That’s why it doesn’t make sense to me either. And yet, the guiding was far greater than before, and here you are, standing perfectly fine in front of me.”
“……”
“So do it again. Exactly the way you did just now.”
Listening to Cha Jae-woo’s words, Lim Haeyul started to understand why he had shown such an unusually flustered reaction. If the amount of guiding he had performed was far beyond the norm—beyond the limits of the mana he possessed—then Cha Jae-woo’s bewilderment made perfect sense.
‘What the hell is happening?’
Lim Haeyul himself was deeply rattled. By all the theories he knew, something like this should have been impossible. But since it was coming directly from the person who had received the guiding, he had no choice but to believe it. Moreover, Cha Jae-woo wasn’t the type to lie about something like this.
“Th-then… I’ll try it again.”
Whatever the case, he’d only know by trying. If the scene he had seen earlier—the way the black mass had slowly been purified around his mana—if that process was guiding, if it wasn’t just about releasing mana but actually fighting to endure inside Cha Jae-woo’s body and performing guidance that way…
“……”
Carefully, Lim Haeyul placed his hand over the back of Cha Jae-woo’s hand. Compared to how he usually only brushed their fingertips together, it was an uncharacteristically bold move—but he didn’t even have time to think about that.
If that massive black mass that had been so desperate to devour his mana really was inside Cha Jae-woo’s body…
‘…That’s horrifying.’
It was a murky, tangled emotion. Part of him wanted it all to be just a misunderstanding. But at the same time, if this was what made the guiding work better, he hoped it wasn’t just a mistake.
“I’ll begin.”
Shoving aside all unnecessary thoughts, he slowly released his mana. Since he had already used most of it earlier, what little remained wasn’t even enough for a proper guiding session, but it should at least be enough to replicate the situation.
His mana once again began to drift through Cha Jae-woo’s body. Perhaps because he had already traveled this path once, his senses remembered the way. Faster than before, he confronted that immense, pitch-black mass—so large that it defied comprehension.
Without hesitation, Lim Haeyul maneuvered his mana closer to the mass.
Immediately, the mana was sucked into it. The minuscule amounts of mana, no bigger than teardrops, clumped together desperately. They struggled to resist being devoured by the black mass.
Cold sweat poured down his body. It felt like he was fighting an opponent completely beyond his capabilities.
It was a battle he was doomed to lose. His mana tried its best to resist, to calm the mass even slightly, but because it had been so small to begin with, it was ultimately swallowed whole.
“Huff…!”
At that moment, his vision blinked out, and the hallucination vanished.
Lim Haeyul collapsed to the floor as if his legs had given out. His clothes were soaked through with sweat, and a clammy, unpleasant sensation clung to his skin.
“H-How was it?”
But that wasn’t important. The reason his legs had buckled was simply because he had focused too intensely.
It wasn’t the same as the dizziness, nausea, or overwhelming fatigue that came from overexerting his mana. He hadn’t used more mana than he had. He had simply attempted to guide with the small amount he had left.
“……”
He was dying to know whether it had worked, whether his desperate attempt had borne any fruit, but Cha Jae-woo just stood there with a grave expression, silent for a long time.
“How was it? Was it the same? Wait, wow, it’s been thirty minutes again…!”
It was a positive sign. Lim Haeyul probably looked completely transparent right now, unable to hide the hope blossoming across his face.
Cha Jae-woo stared at him silently, then slowly curled his lips into a faint smile. He rose from the couch and extended a hand toward Lim Haeyul.
“I’m out of mana now…!”
Given what had just happened, it was only natural for Lim Haeyul to assume that Cha Jae-woo wanted him to continue guiding.
“No, I’m just trying to help you up.”
That made far more sense than the idea that Cha Jae-woo, of all people, would kindly offer to be guided further while smiling like that.
“Huh?”
As soon as he asked back in confusion, Lim Haeyul braced himself, fully expecting Cha Jae-woo’s face to twist in irritation. After all, Cha Jae-woo hated it when people made him repeat himself. But surprisingly, his expression didn’t change at all.
“If it’s hard to walk, should I just carry you?”
The way Cha Jae-woo’s eyes curved into a playful smile as he spoke sent an involuntary shiver down Lim Haeyul’s spine. Without thinking, he shook his head vigorously and began to inch backward.
“I’ll move you to the bed.”
“No, no! That’s really not necessary—!”
“Cancel the guiding.”
“Yessir!”
But there was no escaping him. Lim Haeyul hurried to cut off the mana flow, disabling the guiding connection as instructed. In the next instant, Cha Jae-woo effortlessly scooped him up into his arms.
He looked exactly like a triumphant knight returning after rescuing a princess.
“Get some good rest.”
After finally laying Lim Haeyul gently on the bed, Cha Jae-woo flashed him a smile so disarmingly kind that it was downright unsettling. The drastic shift from his usual demeanor was terrifying in itself. Lim Haeyul could only nod dumbly, too overwhelmed to do anything else.
Ahora que es valioso tratas asi a mi bebé… Esperemos que nuestro bb te haga sufrir jeje
Sueno muy rencorosa contra ML pero también empatizo con él, una disculpa si sueno muy grosera jaja