If it was Cha Jae-woo, he must have heard things like this countless times. I thought he wouldn’t react much. But his face twisted all of a sudden, as if he had heard something absolutely outrageous, and I had no choice but to speak quickly.
“Guiding! It’s because of the side effects of guiding! I think I’m mistaking that for liking you!”
“Side effects?”
Surely, he wasn’t hearing about guiding side effects for the first time, right? Seeing the way his expression remained distorted, suspicion naturally came first. But I didn’t have the luxury to worry about Cha Jae-woo’s circumstances. Even if the feelings were fake, my face was heating up with embarrassment.
I wasn’t hoping for any kind of development between us. I even thought it was ridiculous, yet here I was, getting all flustered—it was laughable. Still, it was fascinating, too. After all, it was an emotion he was feeling for the first time.
“Yes, yes. Um, but before that, there’s something I need to tell you…”
“Kim Sol told you that?”
“Huh?”
“You said you got in touch with Kim Sol today.”
How did he know that? My attempt at contacting him secretly had ended in failure. Of course, it wasn’t Cha Jae-woo I was trying to hide it from—it was the Guide Association—but still, I had planned to tell Cha Jae-woo myself. Being caught off guard by the fact that he already knew, I was left speechless.
“Is that not it?”
“N-no… it’s right. Yes. But how did you know…”
How closely was he monitoring me? Did he perhaps bug my phone or something? But today, I had called using Kim Geon-ung’s phone… No, wait. Maybe it wasn’t about the phone call. Maybe everything I did and said was being wiretapped and recorded without me even knowing.
“Kim Sol contacted me.”
“…Ah, ahh… Sol hyung contacted you. R-right…”
I had been busy conjuring up all sorts of grim scenarios, but at Cha Jae-woo’s simple answer, I immediately nodded. Right, of course. There was no way Cha Jae-woo would go as far as spying on me.
‘But still, why was that the first thing that popped into my head?’
…The answer came to mind quickly.It was simply because Cha Jae-woo was just that shady. It might be unfair to say, but if someone told him that Cha Jae-woo had pulled some underhanded stunt, it wouldn’t feel out of place at all.
“Then you must already know what I’m trying to say… since Sol hyung must’ve told you.”
Cha Jae-woo remained silent for a moment. He looked like someone who was hearing about guiding side effects for the very first time.
“…You don’t know?”
Carefully asking, I saw him tilt his head lightly.
“First I’m hearing of it.”
“Then what did Sol hyung say to you on the phone?”
A brief silence fell between them. In that moment, a chilling thought crossed my mind, and I flinched. No way. There’s just no way he mentioned that dream. Right? He wouldn’t have said that… right?
“He told me to give you back.”
“Ah…”
The creeping anxiety that had been rising finally faded at Cha Jae-woo’s answer. Right. No matter how serious the side effects were, there was no way Sol hyung would tell the person involved about a wet dream.
“He asked how badly I must be exploiting you for you to be in that state already.”
“…”
“I guess that’s the side effect he was talking about.”
At the word exploitation, it became clear what kind of misunderstanding Kim Sol had gotten into. Cha Jae-woo must have thought the same. If it were the normal guiding method, side effects wouldn’t have shown up this quickly. He must have assumed I was exhausting myself to the point of collapse by guiding Cha Jae-woo every single day.
“So what did you tell him?”
“I hung up.”
“…Ah.”
“He was being too noisy.”
It was an answer that drew a sigh out of him without thinking. But telling him you shouldn’t have done that would only make it harder to explain why the side effects were already surfacing.
Maybe, just maybe, Cha Jae-woo had done the right thing. His cheek tingled for no reason. It was simply because he realized he was starting to side with him, despite knowing full well that Cha Jae-woo hadn’t actually done anything worth praising.
“Anyway, yes. During training, Sol hyung said something. He said when you keep guiding someone, you end up developing feelings for the Esper—or rather, you mistake it for real feelings.”
“Really?”
“He said there are no exceptions. It happens to everyone. I just forgot for a while. Before, I thought my heart was pounding because I was scared of you…”
“…”
“Ahem. So right now, whenever I see you, my heart races like crazy, my hands tremble even with the slightest touch, and if I don’t see you, I start missing you. That’s the state I’m in.”
Cha Jae-woo’s expression turned stiff and uncomfortable. If those feelings had been genuine, he would’ve been hurt deeply by that look alone.
‘But well, it’s not real anyway.’
So he understood Cha Jae-woo’s reaction. Even to him, the way he was talking sounded brutally blunt. Still, for some reason, he felt like he needed to lay it all out exactly as it was. He simply wanted to.
“Anyway, not that it matters to you, Cha Jae-woo. Since Espers don’t suffer any side effects. But for me, it’s a serious issue.”
“So?”
“So I think… we need to cut back on the number of guidings.”
He braced himself for Cha Jae-woo to get annoyed right away, but instead, Cha Jae-woo just stared at him with an expression that said he had already expected this.
Quickly, he rushed to add on:
“But we can’t really reduce it, can we? We can’t afford to. Your resonance hasn’t stabilized yet because you keep running off to the Gates.”
His words carried the implication: Could you just stay home for a while? But it seemed Cha Jae-woo didn’t pick up on that part.
“So, what I’m thinking is—why don’t we go in hard just once?”
“Hard?”
“Yes. They say if you increase the area of physical contact or deepen the level of skinship, the guiding becomes way more effective. So I was thinking of trying that approach…”
“Ahh…”
“But, just to be clear, I’m absolutely not suggesting this because of any weird personal feelings. You have to know that. I’m only proposing it because if we can fully stabilize your resonance, then I wouldn’t have to guide you every single day.”
If you don’t like this, then stop using your powers! Don’t go running into Gates unless it’s absolutely necessary! Seriously, why do you keep diving into Gates anyway? Were you always such a workaholic?
He managed—barely—to keep those simmering complaints from spilling out while waiting for Cha Jae-woo’s answer.
Hugging, for example. Just like last time. Even without mana, he’d been able to check Cha Jae-woo’s gauge, so it clearly had some effect.
‘Alright, let’s try hugging again today.’
But what if he started fumbling like he did last time? …No, that had only happened because he was guiding without mana and had gotten distracted. He hadn’t made any such mistakes while actively guiding, so it should be fine this time.
“So I was thinking we could try a hug today…”
“Sure.”
As expected, Cha Jae-woo, who was always strangely permissive when it came to guiding, readily agreed.
He immediately moved closer. But Cha Jae-woo, who was lounging comfortably on the couch, didn’t seem inclined to get up.
“If you stay like that… it’ll be comfortable for you, but it’s going to kill my back, you know.”
It was an awkward posture, half bending over to hug him. Even so, Cha Jae-woo didn’t budge from his spot—only gesturing him over with a lazy wave. He was stubbornly insisting on guiding like this.
“Sit.”
“…Huh?”
“Sit here.”
“…I think I misheard you.”
“Want me to say it three times?”
His lips twitched. Honestly, he wanted him to repeat it three, four, however many times it took. Because he was certain he had misheard.
Wasn’t it more plausible that there was something wrong with his ears, rather than believing that Cha Jae-woo had just told him to sit on his lap?
Was this also a side effect? Was he now hearing what he wanted to hear?
“Or lie down. That works too.”
As if to drive the point home, Cha Jae-woo jerked his chin toward the bed nearby.
His heart bounced all over the place, like it didn’t belong to him anymore. Even though he was freaking out internally, the very image of lying down on the bed with Cha Jae-woo popped into his head—and his face immediately flushed hot.
‘God, my imagination’s too good for my own damn good. Why is it so vivid?’
Fiercely shaking his head to clear it, he shot Cha Jae-woo a glare.
It was an act of sheer audacity, swollen with boldness, and even if it was because of the side effects, he couldn’t bring himself to look kindly upon Cha Jae-woo, who seemed to be toying with someone who had just confessed his feelings—even if those feelings were fake.
“Ugh!”
But even that didn’t last long. It clearly wasn’t a joke; Cha Jae-woo suddenly yanked him forward and sat him down right onto his lap.
“W-what, what are you doing…!”
His stammering sounded utterly foolish. But he couldn’t help it. The moment he landed on Cha Jae-woo’s firm thigh, his whole body stiffened up. It felt like he had forgotten how to breathe altogether.
“Breathe.”
So it wasn’t just a feeling—he had actually been holding his breath.
“Ah, haah. Yes. But, um, this is a bit…”
Exhaling sharply, he twisted his body in a flustered attempt to get away. If he stayed like this any longer, he felt like he would overheat and literally explode. But Cha Jae-woo didn’t loosen the arm he had wrapped firmly around his waist. Instead, his entire body grew rigid under the pressure.
“You said it’s a guiding side effect.”
“Y-yes?”
“You’re the one who said that to reduce the number of guidings, I need to get better faster—and to do that, we need more physical contact.”
“But this is way too…!”
“Are we dating now? Or are we still in the pre-dating phase?”
His lips snapped shut. He was struck dumb by Cha Jae-woo’s blunt question.
“First you hold hands, then you hug, then you hug tighter. Should we follow the proper stages?”
“…”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just do it properly all at once and be done with it?”
He couldn’t argue with that. It wasn’t like they were trying to develop a relationship or anything. All he had to do was guide, and all Cha Jae-woo had to do was receive the guiding. There was no need to tread so carefully. Other people apparently did way more than just hug anyway…
“…Understood.”
Finally surrendering, he stopped struggling. After a slight hesitation, he casually wrapped his arms around Cha Jae-woo’s neck. And the moment his face was hidden from Cha Jae-woo’s view, he immediately pouted.
‘So what, because you don’t feel any of this, it doesn’t matter to you?’
An Esper ought to experience the same helpless feeling of falling hard for a Guide! A surge of unjust resentment welled up inside him.
Barely managing to suppress his emotions, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Like Cha Jae-woo had said, it was better to do it properly in one go and reduce the number of guidings.
‘Once things settle down, I’ll cut it down to once every two days, no matter what.’
As he made that firm vow, his mana began to pour into Cha Jae-woo. There was no need to even check the results. Just as he expected, the mana visible before his eyes was clearer and more vivid than ever.
