The autumn rain was soaking the campus thoroughly. The rain, which had started early that morning, was expected to continue late into the night.
At home, his heart would beat wildly, asserting its presence, but the moment he stepped onto school grounds, it would become utterly calm. Thanks to that, he could at least stay focused and devote himself to thinking while at school.
On the day he had spouted nonsense, Cha Jae-woo had pulled him, who was hesitating and fidgeting, onto the bed. But that was all.
“Guide me.”
What must have been intended as a joke, in his opinion, went no further. Cha Jae-woo simply let out a long, weary sigh, as if exhausted.
Considering he had just returned from a Gate and had even argued with him, it made sense that Cha Jae-woo would be tired. So instead of chattering away, he quietly began the Guiding.
When the session ended, Cha Jae-woo was fast asleep. Even the pitch-black energy had calmed.
Although he had ended up burrowing into Cha Jae-woo’s embrace, even winding his legs tightly around the other’s, there was no reason to feel embarrassed—after all, Cha Jae-woo was asleep. Besides, having their bodies pressed so closely together seemed to make the Guiding work even better.
Because of that, he had lately been doing Guiding on Cha Jae-woo’s bed from time to time. He had declared that he wouldn’t make a habit of it unless it was a serious situation, thinking his heart wouldn’t be able to handle it if it became a regular thing, and thankfully, Cha Jae-woo had accepted that.
‘At this point, it’s become pretty comfortable.’
He had never imagined there would come a day when he would feel this way about Cha Jae-woo.
These days, he found Cha Jae-woo rather easy to be around. Knowing that Cha Jae-woo had his reasons for the things he did and that he understood his own condition better than anyone else, the intense worry he used to feel had faded considerably.
As a result, his desperate need to perform better Guiding also waned.
Cha Jae-woo seemed satisfied with the current level of Guiding. Since he could adjust things himself by simply reducing the number of times he entered Gates, it was manageable. So it was fine. Although, he had to admit—it was a bit disappointing.
“…….”
When he first heard that he had become a Guide, and that his match rate with Cha Jae-woo was extremely high, it had felt like the sky was falling.
But now, several months later, when he thought about it, it really hadn’t been something to fear so much. After all, Cha Jae-woo wasn’t as much of a brute as he had initially worried, and there hadn’t been any situations where his life was threatened.
He was being paid handsomely and could continue his school life without any interference. He lived in a luxurious space, ate delicious meals every day, and even had a chauffeur accompanying him wherever he went.
He didn’t envy rich kids at all. In fact, devoting just about an hour a day to Cha Jae-woo felt like an almost absurdly generous exchange.
‘At this rate, even without the effects of Guiding, I probably would’ve ended up liking him.’
Such thoughts crossed his mind as well.
Although his feelings for Cha Jae-woo had been accelerated by the side effects of Guiding, even without that, he figured he would have eventually grown fond of him anyway.
“Tto-yuuuuuul! You okay?”
“Huh? What?”
“Our precious Tto-yul! You’re safe again today! Thank goodness you didn’t get blown away by the explosions!”
“……Ah. Kim Geon-ung, at this point, aren’t you just wishing I would get blown away?”
“Hey now, how could I ever! Every day, I’m dying of worry! Every time I read an article about that Cha guy causing mayhem somewhere, my knees practically give out, wondering if Tto-yul was involved too!”
Of course, such peaceful thoughts couldn’t last long. There were just too many voices whispering around him for that cozy feeling to hold out.
Why was Cha Jae-woo wasting power that should’ve been reserved for Gates, using it here and there? Why was it that every time he returned from a Gate, it seemed like he’d caused some new disaster? Cha Jae-woo had a truly impressive talent for making you think you understood him—only to immediately do something utterly incomprehensible.
“Are you really okay?”
The unusually serious tone made him frown instinctively.
Thanks to all the news articles, everyone seemed to think of Cha Jae-woo as a complete madman. In that sense, Kim Geon-ung’s concern wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary.
“I’m fine.”
At first, he had thought maybe he just didn’t like Cha Jae-woo. But strangely enough, now it felt like Cha Jae-woo was doing it all on purpose.
It wasn’t that Cha Jae-woo treated only him kindly; rather, it seemed like Cha Jae-woo’s true nature was fundamentally good, and he was merely forced by unavoidable circumstances to act otherwise in front of everyone else.
After all, Cha Jae-woo’s attacks never had any discernible pattern. Maybe he was intentionally using his abilities in that reckless way to deliberately worsen his own condition.
Of course, there was no solid evidence for this. But since it was said that his frequent trips to Gates were also unavoidable given his situation, it wasn’t a stretch to think that his seemingly random attacks might fall under the same logic.
“Well, he wouldn’t act that way toward you, unless he had a death wish.”
“…….”
“I heard the nationwide Guide evaluation just wrapped up. Did you hear? I think the highest match rate was only around 34%.”
“Yeah? 34% sounds pretty average.”
“Compared to you, it’s ridiculously low, though.”
“What about the Rank?”
“Eh, I don’t really remember that. Didn’t they tell you?”
Unless Cha Jae-woo voluntarily blabbered about it, there was no one else who would bother relaying that kind of news to him. He gave a half-hearted nod.
“Probably because there’s no real need for me to know.”
He answered casually.
There was no need for Kim Geon-ung to know that he had completely cut off contact with the Guide Association. Kim Geon-ung seemed to accept it without much suspicion, nodding right away. It looked like the topic would pass without much fuss.
“Ah, right. By the way, hey, do you know a guy named Kim Sol?”
But then, with that sudden question from Kim Geon-ung, he couldn’t help but be visibly shaken. How did Kim Geon-ung know Kim Sol? As far as he knew, there wasn’t a single point of connection between them.
“He sent me a message.”
Feeling dumbfounded, he looked at Kim Geon-ung, who seemed entirely unbothered. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he feigned indifference and asked, still hiding the fact that Kim Sol was a Guide.
“What did he say?”
“Do you know him?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Mm-hmm. Well, he told me to pass along a message.”
Kim Geon-ung’s voice was indifferent. He nodded faintly, but inside he was busy trying to figure out why Kim Geon-ung was suddenly acting as Kim Sol’s messenger.
Luckily, it didn’t take long to find the answer. The culprit was himself. There had been a time when he had used Kim Geon-ung’s phone to call Kim Sol.
Back then, he’d been so out of it that he couldn’t think straight. Still, at least he hadn’t used his own phone. In hindsight, that was a minor miracle.
“But… did he catch something on you?”
He had been about to just nod absentmindedly, intending to brush off the matter and avoid contacting Kim Sol altogether, but Kim Geon-ung’s next words were so unsettling that he instinctively frowned.
“What do you mean, ‘catch something’?”
Without a word, Kim Geon-ung held out his phone. A message from Kim Sol was displayed on the screen.
[Hello. This is Kim Sol. You’re an acquaintance of Lim Haeyul, right? I don’t have his number, so I’m sending this message here out of necessity. Please make sure to let him know that if he doesn’t get in touch with me soon, I’ll say everything I want to say through this number.]
“Uh…….”
“Kind of feels like a threat, doesn’t it? Like he’s saying he’ll spill everything if you don’t get back to him?”
Kim Geon-ung, the sharp bastard, narrowed his eyes like a squinting mackerel as he spoke. He wasn’t wrong. Despite the polite wording, Kim Sol was unmistakably threatening him.
“But hey, Geon-ung.”
“Yeah?”
“This message… it’s from ten days ago, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“……Then why are you only telling me about it now?”
But that wasn’t even the main issue. No sooner had he finished his question than Kim Geon-ung flashed a sly grin. He gently tapped the phone screen.
“And it’s a screenshot, too……?”
He had suspected as much—and of course, he was right. There was no way Kim Geon-ung would just leave a message like that alone for ten days. Quickly, he opened the messaging app. Kim Geon-ung made no effort to stop him.
“Didn’t get anything out of it.”
Kim Geon-ung just muttered in a flat, slightly regretful tone. Soon after, the message history between Kim Sol and Kim Geon-ung popped up. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud in disbelief.
[You can just tell me! XD I’m Haeyul’s friend!]
[Kim Sol: No. Please just pass along the message.]
[Come on, just tell me what it’s about! How can I just pass it along without even knowing who you are? haha]
[Kim Sol: Then how can I just tell everything to someone I don’t even know?]
[Geez XD You basically threatened you’d spill everything to me anyway!]
It had been a circus from the very beginning. Kim Sol seemed to have decided it was better not to respond to Kim Geon-ung’s nonsense.
But unfortunately for him, Kim Geon-ung was persistently annoying. The guy kept poking and prodding, trying to get Kim Sol to spill the details, even going as far as shamelessly lying that he had talked to Haeyul but hadn’t gotten any reaction.
Kim Sol mostly remained silent. Although he seemed intent on making Lim Haeyul contact him, he clearly had no intention of spilling anything to a stranger he didn’t even know.
“Total letdown.”
Kim Geon-ung pouted. Haeyul clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“What the hell were you even doing, poking around someone you don’t know?”
“I know him. He’s a Guide like you, right?”
The answer came without a hint of shame. So he knew and still pulled that crap? That was even more outrageous.
“If you knew, why didn’t you tell me? No, more importantly, why were you trying to dig around? You already know everything anyway, don’t you?”
He hadn’t told Kim Geon-ung exactly how his Guiding worked or about the side effects it caused, but honestly, it didn’t seem like it would have mattered even if he had. Although… maybe the part about falling for someone was a little sensitive. Still, it was just a misunderstanding anyway.
“I know, I know. But it’s not because I was curious, okay?”
“Huh?”
“I was trying to hit on him.”
Kim Geon-ung grinned as he spoke, then tapped lightly on Kim Sol’s profile picture—which now showed nothing but a blank blue default image.
“For a moment, there was a picture uploaded, you know? Maybe by mistake. But man, he was exactly my type.”
“…….”
“Seriously, you should think about introducing me to people like that! Do you even realize how your big bro here suffers from loneliness every day? Huh?”
What the hell is this idiot talking about? Haeyul blinked, utterly dumbfounded.
“You’re saying… you saw a profile photo?”
“Yeah. Totally my type. I fell for him at first sight.”
“……Are you sure you saw it properly?”
“Positive. Short hair, insanely gorgeous. Looked like he was wearing some kind of suit. I didn’t capture it because that felt way too creepy, but the image’s burned into my memory. I couldn’t not try to talk to him.”
“…….”
“His name’s Kim Sol too. We even share the same family name. It’s fate.”
“You… must have a lot of fated encounters, huh.”
Considering ‘Kim’ was the most common last name in Korea, that would make half the country destined for Kim Geon-ung.
“Anyway, help me out, will you? I don’t think he’s gonna reply to me anymore.”
“If I were him, I wouldn’t either.”
“Ehh? Tto-yul, come on, help your hyung out~!”
“Why are you the hyung? Sol-hyung is the hyung here.”
Looking at Kim Geon-ung like he was hopeless, Haeyul finally picked up his phone. It wasn’t like Kim Sol was going to use Kim Geon-ung to relay anything important, but the thought of completely ignoring someone who genuinely wanted to contact him left a bad taste.
Still, he couldn’t just call recklessly. It would be better to check with Cha Jae-woo first. He scrolled through his contacts, found Cha Jae-woo’s name, and took a deep breath.
At the same time, Kim Geon-ung’s bewildered voice sounded from beside him.
“……Wait, what? Hyung?”
“Yeah, hyung. Sol-hyung, you dumbass.”
He answered roughly as he tapped the message button, breathing in deeply again.
“What?!”
“Sol-hyung is really pretty, yeah. But he’s a guy, you moron.”
“WHAAAAAAAAAT?!”
Any attempt to stay calm was immediately shattered by Kim Geon-ung. His voice was so loud that everyone in the lecture hall turned to look, yet the idiot didn’t seem to care. He just stared at Haeyul in sheer horror.
Ignoring him, Haeyul started composing a message. It grew embarrassingly long, filled with all sorts of polite phrasing—asking if it was okay to contact Kim Sol, explaining the situation, and so on.
‘I could’ve just stayed quiet instead of writing all this crap…’
But somehow, he felt obligated to be thorough. Even though, when Cha Jae-woo found out he had contacted Kim Sol before, he hadn’t seemed particularly bothered.
“You’re lying, right? You totally fell for him first and now you’re lying to me!”
Meanwhile, Kim Geon-ung had begun flailing like a madman. Come to think of it, Kim Sol was exactly the type Kim Geon-ung would like. Aside from the small detail that he was, you know, a man.
“He’s really a guy, idiot. I mean, I… uh, anyway, he’s a guy.”
Haeyul almost blurted out “Do you think I’d be into a guy?” but immediately stopped himself, remembering that, well, he was currently into Cha Jae-woo. Somehow, things had turned out that way. Even if there were reasons, it was a fact he couldn’t deny.
Anyway, the embarrassingly long message had been sent. Now all he had to do was wait for Cha Jae-woo’s reply.
But when would Cha Jae-woo check his messages? Was he out today? What was he doing right now?
A line of questions kept popping into his head. Just like he never reported his own schedule to Cha Jae-woo, Cha Jae-woo never did either. But the one feeling the absence—that was definitely him.
“Wow… I seriously fell head over heels at first sight…”
Just over a photo, no less. Haeyul pressed his lips together and shook his head. Right then, the professor entered the lecture hall.
Leaving the despondent Kim Geon-ung to his misery, Haeyul quietly opened his textbook. He placed his phone neatly beside it, making sure it was close enough that he could check it immediately if a message came in.
However, throughout the grueling three-hour lecture that followed, Cha Jae-woo didn’t send a single message. Not even a read receipt.
“…….”
Well, that happens. Maybe Cha Jae-woo just wasn’t the type to check his phone often. He tried to reason with himself like that, but an unsettling feeling gnawed at his chest.
He could always just ask Cha Jae-woo face-to-face when he got home. He knew that. Yet, strangely, he couldn’t shake the cold, uneasy sensation crawling up his spine, and he found himself obsessively checking his phone again and again.
“Uh……?”
It was then—almost as if the universe were mocking his growing sense of foreboding—that a call came through. Not to his phone, but to Kim Geon-ung’s.
From Kim Sol.
