“……What?”
His voice trembled unintentionally as he repeated the question. He thought that anyone would be flustered if someone acted as if they knew something about them, even if they had nothing to hide. He swallowed hard, trying to compose himself.
“You guided me, didn’t you?”
However, contrary to his expectations, Jung Hyun-soo remembered what she shouldn’t have. She quickly glanced at Kim Geon-ung, who had been mumbling but was now fast asleep.
“I really thought I was going to die. I had never felt such pain before. It was agonizing; I couldn’t breathe, my whole body felt like it was on fire, and everything around me was so loud……. I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, and that’s when you held me.”
He was at a loss for words, filled only with questions. How could she remember? Wasn’t Jung Hyun-soo’s memory supposed to have been altered?
Before he could process his doubts, Jung Hyun-soo continued, “Oh, right. I should have said this first. I’m a psychic Esper. Maybe that’s why their ability didn’t work on me?”
“Ah…….”
“But I pretended like it did. I figured out what they were trying to erase from my memory, so I played along.”
Jung Hyun-soo smiled proudly, as if seeking praise. He still struggled to find the right words to respond.
“Um……. Should I not remember this?”
His continued silence made Jung Hyun-soo’s smile fade. She seemed to think she had done something wrong.
In truth, she hadn’t done anything wrong. He no longer cared if his guiding methods were exposed. While he feared the uncertainty of what might happen, he believed it was better than letting someone suffer among monsters.
His hesitation stemmed from guilt. Regardless of his actions, Jung Hyun-soo had ultimately been thrown into a horde of slimes by Cha Jae-woo.
Would Jung Hyun-soo still smile at him if she knew that his guiding had led to this?
“……It’s not that. I just thought you would have forgotten by now.”
“Oh, thank goodness. Your expression looked so serious; I thought remembering was a bad thing.”
It could be. If she talked about what happened, it might cause trouble.
But that was his problem to deal with. In fact, he almost hoped it would complicate things for Cha Jae-woo.
‘……Is that too much?’
He briefly indulged in the thought but quickly dismissed it. Despite his feelings, he knew that messing with Cha Jae-woo’s life was wrong.
“I really am grateful.”
“You’ve thanked me enough already.”
“If it weren’t for you, I would have died.”
That’s not true. You almost died because of me.
He couldn’t bring himself to say it. Did he really need to blame himself? Either way, the outcome would have been the same.
“Ha.”
He let out a bitter laugh without realizing it.
What a convenient justification. Even if the outcome was the same, Jung Hyun-soo had been thrown to the monsters because he had guided her. To avoid being found out.
Now, he even questioned Cha Jae-woo’s intentions. Was he really trying to protect him by hiding his guiding methods?
“If you hadn’t guided me, I would have killed all my friends in that building.”
“You wouldn’t have.”
“No, I would have. I’m sure I would have attacked them. If you hadn’t held me until Cha Jae-woo Esper arrived, I definitely…….”
He frowned slightly. He didn’t want to talk about Cha Jae-woo.
He tried to change the subject, but Jung Hyun-soo, slightly tipsy, didn’t give him a chance to speak.
“But now that I think about it, Cha Jae-woo Esper is really amazing. At the time, I was out of my mind, so I didn’t realize……. Wow, he was incredible.”
He could only nod, unable to interrupt.
‘Amazing, my foot.’
He was the one who threw her to the monsters. If she remembered correctly, she shouldn’t be praising Cha Jae-woo so cheerfully.
“He just waved his hand, and the slimes exploded everywhere, remember?”
But the confusion didn’t end there. Jung Hyun-soo spoke as if Cha Jae-woo had attacked the slimes in that gate.
“I was struggling, but Cha Jae-woo Esper…!”
“What are you talking about?”
He couldn’t stay silent any longer. He interrupted Jung Hyun-soo, who was excitedly recounting her tale.
Jung Hyun-soo blinked slowly, then nodded quickly.
“Oh, right! You were unconscious! Well, it’s not quite right to say he fought with me……. More like, he helped me?”
“……He helped you?”
“Yes! As soon as you passed out, Cha Jae-woo Esper pulled me away and went straight outside the building. I vaguely remember him attacking the whole time. Of course, he didn’t even flinch.”
Cha Jae-woo had said he just threw Jung Hyun-soo out the window. He didn’t mention going outside with her. Maybe he didn’t specify because the result was the same?
“I felt this overwhelming urge to destroy everything……. It was the first time I felt something like that. So when Cha Jae-woo Esper threw me into the slime horde, I went wild like a fish in water.”
Of course, that made sense. If the outcome was the same, the details in between didn’t matter. Whether he threw her out the window or took her outside, the important thing was that Cha Jae-woo had pushed Jung Hyun-soo into danger.
But something felt off.
Jung Hyun-soo’s cheeks were flushed, but not with anger. Instead, she seemed almost smitten, her eyelids fluttering.
“I told you I have psychic abilities, right? I can use some physical abilities too. I couldn’t use them then, but when I was rampaging, I used them like crazy. I attacked everything in sight.”
“…….”
“But there were too many slimes. They covered the entire floor. No matter how many I killed, more kept coming.”
He remembered it clearly. There were so many slimes that the floor looked completely black. If there had been fewer, he might have trusted Jung Hyun-soo and taken her outside.
‘……No. No, I wouldn’t have.’
He shook his head. Even so, he was sure he wouldn’t have done that.
“I kept fighting without feeling any pain, but eventually, I was taking more damage than I was dealing. That’s when Cha Jae-woo Esper helped me.”
“……What?”
“So, it’s not like we fought together. He just stepped in whenever I was in trouble.”
Cha Jae-woo helped Jung Hyun-soo? He could hardly believe what he was hearing.
“At first, I thought he was just messing with me. You know, his image……. But later, I heard that normally, the Esper who manifests has to handle it alone.”
“…….”
“So, I think he let me struggle on my own but made sure I didn’t die.”
What should he say first? That Cha Jae-woo wouldn’t do that? That he was the one who put her in danger? But from what Jung Hyun-soo was saying, it didn’t sound like she had been put in danger at all.
No, that wasn’t the important part. There was something else he needed to understand first.
“Normally, the Esper who manifests has to handle it alone?”
Suddenly, he remembered what Cha Jae-woo had said.
‘All Espers go through this. They rampage, and then other Espers come in and take them out once they’ve passed out. That’s the process.’
Alone.
At the time, he hadn’t really processed what Cha Jae-woo was saying. He had been too shocked to think clearly.
“Oh, yes. The Espers who arrive on the scene only come in after the rampage is over. They just take out the unconscious Esper and maybe finish off any remaining monsters. They don’t help fight; they just watch. Honestly, it seems a bit harsh, but I guess it’s proportional to the energy of the Esper who manifested……. ”
“…….”
“Of course, since I manifested at school, my friends were all pulled into the gate too. They wouldn’t have just watched, but they were planning to come in after the difficulty check was done. If Cha Jae-woo Esper hadn’t come, it would have been a disaster. Maybe he came sooner because of you, Haeyul.”
Jung Hyun-soo smiled brightly, but he couldn’t smile back. Something didn’t add up.
Last time, Cha Jae-woo had entered a gate that appeared when an Esper manifested, even though he wasn’t supposed to.
Twice in one day, he had entered a gate, and the memory of worrying about the unpredictable difficulty was still fresh. But to hear that a manifesting Esper had to handle it alone was shocking. Why had Cha Jae-woo entered the gate that time?
If it had been just this once, he might have thought Cha Jae-woo had entered because of him. But that wasn’t the case. He couldn’t help but feel that Cha Jae-woo was hiding something from him.
“But, Haeyul.”
“Uh, yeah…….”
He could barely focus on what Jung Hyun-soo was saying. He was eager to leave and demand the truth from Cha Jae-woo.
“Does every Guide have a different way of guiding?”
Jung Hyun-soo’s question snapped him back to attention.
“……What do you mean?”
He tried to keep his voice casual, despite the tension in his body.
“I heard your rank is definitely D-rank, right? And our matching rate isn’t that high either…….”
“……Is that so?”
He had thought Jung Hyun-soo’s rank was low or that their matching rate was good, but apparently not. He licked his dry lips, feeling uncomfortable.
“Yes. But I liked your guiding better. I’ve received guiding from higher-ranked Guides with better matching rates, but it didn’t feel the same as when you guided me. So if every Guide has a different method, I want to keep receiving guiding from you…….”
He felt a chill run down his spine. He forced a smile and took out his phone. Jung Hyun-soo’s eager eyes made him uneasy, but he didn’t sense any malice.
Just moments ago, he had thought it wouldn’t matter if his guiding method was exposed, but now he felt differently. He needed to confirm the truth with Cha Jae-woo first.
He dialed Cha Jae-woo’s number and casually asked Jung Hyun-soo, “I’m glad you liked it. But, Hyun-soo, did you tell anyone else? That you preferred my guiding?”
“Huh? No, not yet. No one asked. Oh, but the Guide Association President, Jang Gijun, wants to meet tomorrow.”
“Ahaha…… haha. I see. Well, I’m glad. Yes, I’ll guide you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But I need to use the restroom…….”
“Okay!”
As he limped away, the call to Cha Jae-woo connected. He needed to stop Jung Hyun-soo from talking before it was too late.
