Chapter 64
“Are you really okay?”
“Yes.”
Yeonwoo looked up at Chahun who was firmly holding his hand as they walked. He didn’t look okay. Chahun’s face was filled with irritation as they headed to the Guide section. It’s not like they were joined at the hip—they didn’t need to go everywhere together.
“Why don’t you just rest?”
“Do you not want to be with me, hyung?”
“Aren’t you the one who doesn’t want to be with me?”
“…Pardon?”
Yeonwoo looked up at Chahun, not hiding his sharply raised eyebrows. Now that the situation was clear, Chahun’s voice saying something about “interest” was floating around in his head. When Yeonwoo loosened his grip and continued walking, Chahun quickly tightened his hold and hurried to keep up, afraid of losing him.
“Why would I not want to be with you, hyung—no, what are you talking about?”
“Are you curious about that? I thought you wouldn’t be.”
Chahun, who had been following with a scowl, gaped as if he’d been hit on the back of the head. Yeonwoo smiled brightly as Chahun repeatedly stammered denials.
“You’re not interested in me anyway.”
“Why wouldn’t I be!”
“Keep it down.”
Yeonwoo glanced at him and examined Chahun’s black hair. It felt satisfying to watch Chahun anxiously trying to read his expression. He probably wouldn’t say something like that again. Ignoring Chahun who was urging him to look at him, Yeonwoo shifted his gaze to the Center Director walking ahead. Having Chahun beside him was more comforting than accompanying the Center Director alone, whose thoughts were unreadable. Still, maybe he should rest a bit—
“I said I’m fine.”
At Chahun’s words as he adjusted his grip, Yeonwoo nodded. Who was he to argue with someone who had gone berserk but claimed to be fine? Yeonwoo looked at Chahun’s pale hand and vowed to finish quickly with whatever scheme the Center Director had planned.
“Wait here for a moment.”
The Center Director ordered the two to wait outside before entering through the door. Yeonwoo waited until the door closed and the Director’s energy had faded before grabbing Chahun.
“What did you mean earlier?”
“About what?”
Yeonwoo put his hand to his forehead at Chahun’s clueless expression. After checking their surroundings, Yeonwoo whispered softly into Chahun’s ear.
“Why am I your Guide?”
“Not now, later.”
Chahun patted the back of Yeonwoo’s hand, suggesting they talk when they were alone, then gestured with his chin toward something behind them. Turning around, Yeonwoo found an employee with a chart waiting for him.
“Finally, you’re here. If you’d been delayed one more day, Jo Heeseo would have strangled me to death.”
The Esper who was flipping through the chart led Yeonwoo to an ability testing room. The employee opened a capsule and pointed at his bracelet, asking him to remove it along with any other items.
“This isn’t an item—”
“To prevent any possible errors, please remove all accessories before entering.”
Hey. Did you hear that? When Yeonwoo muttered under his breath, the bracelet began to squirm. Since dragons were high-intelligence magic beasts, it probably wouldn’t reveal itself as a jewel snake. Watching anxiously, the bracelet suddenly dropped off. Yeonwoo placed the dragon, which looked like a perfect chain bracelet to anyone else, down and entered the capsule. Half-leaning against the thick mana, Yeonwoo used his ability according to the mechanical voice instructions. And then he was surprised.
Why… isn’t it erratic?
His ability, which had been firing off randomly just this morning, was now functioning smoothly. When Yeonwoo emerged from the capsule with a puzzled expression, the employee checking the results tilted their head in confusion.
“Have you possibly been imprinted?”
“What?”
When Yeonwoo replied that there was absolutely no way, the employee scratched their eyebrow while looking at the results.
“Do you see the difference in these graphs? Usually, Espers who have been imprinted show this pattern when they receive Guiding.”
The only Guide he’d had contact with was Jo Heeseo. And Heeseo would look at him with contempt whenever their eyes met, hiding her hands and running away for fear he might request Guiding. The idea of Heeseo imprinting with him was absurd.
“Well… if you had been imprinted, Jo Heeseo would have been pestering you to get tested.”
As the sighing employee gestured toward the capsule suggesting they try the test again, the Center Director entered the testing room.
“Esper Han Yeonwoo. Didn’t I tell you to wait?”
The Center Director glared and snatched the results sheet.
“I clearly told them not to conduct any tests.”
The employee tried to protest with an aggrieved expression, but the Center Director waved his hand as if he didn’t want to hear it. After shouting about conducting unauthorized tests, the Director ordered the deletion of the results, and the employee operated the machine with a frustrated face.
“There must have been some error.”
The Center Director crumpled the results without even looking at them and gestured toward the exit. Yeonwoo looked down at his hands with a confused expression. Wasn’t the price for changing the future supposed to affect his ability? When Yeonwoo emerged, Chahun grabbed his hand as if he’d been waiting.
“Just a second, I need my bracelet.”
“I’ll do it for you.”
Chahun fastened the bracelet and immediately clung to Yeonwoo, frowning.
“I always feel disgusting whenever I come here.”
“When have you been here before?”
Chahun fell silent as they entered the Guiding room. Looking up at Chahun who wasn’t answering, Yeonwoo nodded in understanding. The Center Director must have done all sorts of things to try and keep Chahun, so he’d probably been to the Guiding room too.
“Esper Han Yeonwoo. This way.”
Yeonwoo entered the examination room at the Center Director’s call. He looked down at the orb with a blank expression. Following the instructions, he placed his hand over the silver orb that was slightly larger than his fist, and the Center Director’s eyes sparkled. He truly felt nothing at all.
“When the signal sounds, natural mana will appear in the examination room. You need to purify it and place it in this container.”
A Guide who couldn’t bear to watch anymore entered the exam room to explain, but of course, Yeonwoo couldn’t understand any of it.
“Just try it.”
Left alone in the examination room, Yeonwoo mindlessly moved his hand according to the mechanical voice. Having felt absolutely nothing even at the end, Yeonwoo exited the room. Chahun, who had been waiting, held out his hand. Yeonwoo took it and quietly asked while watching the Center Director who was waiting for the test results.
“Do you honestly think I’m a Guide?”
Chahun squeezed Yeonwoo’s hand and nodded with a confident expression. I’m certain, he answered, then pouted.
“Do you think I’m an idiot? Not to recognize my own Guide?”
Seeing the Center Director’s serious expression, Yeonwoo smiled brightly at Chahun. I think you really are an idiot.
“Um… the mana compatibility is virtually nonexistent.”
At the employee’s words while holding the results, Yeonwoo nodded as if he’d expected as much. Both the Center Director who had pushed a perfectly normal Esper into the Guide testing room and Chahun who insisted he was a Guide were out of their minds.
What is a Guide? Someone who can sense mana occurring in nature. The examination room would have radiated more mana than what could be naturally sensed. Yet Yeonwoo couldn’t feel any of it.
Why? Because Yeonwoo is an Esper!
Yeonwoo suppressed the urge to pinch Chahun’s cheeks as he stubbornly insisted that Yeonwoo was his Guide. With too many people watching, he settled for pinching the back of Chahun’s hand before entering the next examination room at the Center Director’s call.
“What’s this for?”
The Guide who accompanied them for explanation answered Chahun’s question.
“It’s a matching test. Please both place your hands on the orbs on each side, yes, and now hold each other’s hands. Good. Han Yeonwoo Esp—, Gui—, uh? Um… anyway, the person on this side receives mana from the orb, purifies it, and then passes it to the Esper. Esper Kang Chahun, you need to transfer the guided amount directly into this orb. Stay just like that.”
“That’s what we need to do.”
Yeonwoo felt stupid again as he looked down at the orb. He heard the mechanical sound indicating mana was being radiated, but he couldn’t feel anything. He was following through with these various tests because he was afraid the Center Director would find fault with him later if he didn’t do as told, but he couldn’t understand what any of this was for. What are they doing with a perfectly normal Esper?
After finishing the test, Yeonwoo entered a separate room from Chahun and checked on the dragon. When he asked what all this commotion was about, the dragon answered in a cheerful voice.
[I’ll tell you if you make a contract with me.]
You little—. Yeonwoo twisted the chain bracelet and waited for the test results with a resigned expression. This time too, the employee would probably come in with an expression wondering why they had conducted the test, saying the matching rate is very low.
“Hyung!”
Before the door could fully open, Chahun pushed through and ran toward Yeonwoo. He spread his arms wide and embraced Yeonwoo. Reflexively spreading his arms in return, Yeonwoo stroked Chahun’s back and asked what was wrong.
“93%.”
“What?”
“Our matching rate, yours and mine.”
Chahun touched Yeonwoo’s cheek with a bright smile. What is he talking about? Yeonwoo pushed Chahun away and hurriedly exited the examination room. The Center Director looked at them as if he’d expected this all along. Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what’s happening? No, wait, is that even a possible figure? Even imprinted Guides and Espers wouldn’t score that high, would they?
“Esper Han Yeonwoo, no, should I call you Guide Han Yeonwoo now?”
Yeonwoo’s face contorted at the Center Director’s change in address. Chahun knocked away the Center Director’s hand extended for a handshake and led the stunned Yeonwoo away. Yeonwoo diligently followed Chahun’s lead until he stopped walking. They had stopped at the passage connecting Zone A to the common area.
“Where are we going?”
“To my quarters.”
“Why?”
“Now that you’ve been revealed as a Guide, do you think the Center will leave you alone?”
“Um… no?”
At Yeonwoo’s response, Chahun opened a portal and gestured inside. Following Chahun, Yeonwoo entered and marveled at the spacious entryway. Chahun waited as Yeonwoo removed his shoes, then grabbed his hand as soon as he was done. As Yeonwoo looked around at the long hallway and stairs leading to the second floor, Chahun created an ice wall in front of his room. To Chahun, it was a room with just the right amount of lived-in feeling, but to Yeonwoo, who was tidier than most, it might not appear that way.
“That’s my room, and you can choose whichever room you want to stay in after looking around.”
“We can decide that later. Let’s talk first. What happened?”
Chahun gestured toward the sofa, inviting him to sit, but Yeonwoo couldn’t sit comfortably. He followed Chahun to the kitchen and pressed for answers. Chahun grabbed him and sat him down on the sofa, then brought some snacks and sat beside him.
“What do you want to know?”
“First, about you entering the dungeon. Did you arrange to meet the Round Guild Master in the dungeon?”
Chahun nodded and placed an orange juice in Yeonwoo’s hand.
The Round Guild Master had approached Chahun through a mental realm Esper, and when he learned that Chahun had no intention of contracting with the Center, he helped him escape. They decided to use the dungeon gate to avoid giving the Center any excuses to cause trouble if they just barged in to extract Chahun. The Round Guild Master discovered a gate connected to the dungeon the Center was planning to conquer, and they planned to escape the Center through that gate.
They had intended to leave as soon as they entered the dungeon, but… Lee Sangwon annoyingly followed them everywhere, and they couldn’t move freely for fear their plan would be exposed. As they were looking for the right moment to escape, fist-sized magic beasts appeared.
“That’s when things started to get weird.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
