He felt bad for Kim Hyo-il, but if it meant reducing the number of times he had to go out, he’d do anything. And when it came to external expeditions, the individual’s own opinion mattered most—so if Kim Hyo-il didn’t want to go, he could simply refuse to the end.
Lee Tae-rim had heard that he’d been forced to go regardless of his will because the Center Director had made the call. So he decided not to feel too sorry for those who actually had a choice. Lee Tae-rim steeled his heart.
After finishing his workout and heading to the shooting range, he found Kim Hyo-il still practicing. He’d said shooting helped relieve stress—judging by how long he’d been at it, he must’ve been particularly stressed today.
Even after his own training ended, Kim Hyo-il waited for Tae-rim. Once Lee Tae-rim wrapped up his shooting practice, they walked together toward the Guiding Room.
“You seemed pretty fired up today…”
“Yeah. Some annoying bastard was getting on my nerves.”
Lee Tae-rim mouthed the words silently.
Esper?
Kim Hyo-il let out a deep sigh. That was clearly the right guess.
“I really hate people who can’t take a hint…”
Lee Tae-rim understood immediately. He’d mentioned before that there was an A-rank Esper who just didn’t get the message no matter how clearly he expressed his disinterest. Kim Hyo-il wasn’t even remotely interested, but the guy kept hovering around, and he was considering blocking him entirely. Apparently, the Esper had already been blocked by several people due to that same pushy behavior.
One of them was Yoon Ye-rin. She hadn’t even interacted with the guy that much, but she’d picked up on his creepiness right away and blocked him to his face while he was watching. She’d said, “I just blocked you. So don’t ever show up in front of me again.” Yoon Ye-rin had quite the personality too.
Even after getting shot down like that, the Esper still hadn’t come to his senses. If he crossed a clear line, they could’ve reported him, but the bastard was maddeningly skilled at skirting just below that threshold, making it impossible to lodge a formal complaint. That’s why even the A-rank Guide team leader had been racking his brain over what to do.
“Reminds me of Guide Lee Yeong-jun. You remember when he said, ‘If someone’s not a proper human being, then just make them one,’ and then chucked that girl into District 3?”
“Yeah… Honestly, I wish I could do that right now.”
Lee Tae-rim thought deeply. Blocking, huh… Jung Jae-heon seemed particularly sensitive about that topic. Was it different with A-rank Espers? It wasn’t something others talked about much, but Jung Jae-heon had once gotten angry and made sarcastic remarks about Choi Dong-ha being blocked by an A-rank Guide. Was there some kind of penalty for being blocked too often?
“If someone gets blocked a lot, it’s bad for them, right?”
“Well, yeah. The number of Guides available for them to receive Guiding from gets smaller.”
“There’s no system in place based on how many times someone’s been blocked?”
“Nope. Blocking is entirely personal. It could happen just because two people dated, broke up, and now it’s awkward. Or a Guide might block someone simply because they’re connected to someone else they don’t like…”
“I see…”
Now that he thought about it, it made sense. Yoon Ye-rin had said something like that too. When he was struggling over Choi Dong-ha, she’d told him bluntly that if he didn’t like someone, he should just block them. Kim Hyo-il, too, was muttering that maybe he should finally go ahead and do it. If Yoon Ye-rin had heard him, she would’ve scolded him for waiting this long. She’d probably say, “You should’ve blocked him the moment you laid eyes on him. You seriously let him keep bothering you this whole time?”
Come to think of it, back during his early training days, Lee Tae-rim had been subjected to a lot of sexual harassment from C-rank Espers. His reputation at the time hadn’t helped, but maybe it was also because people thought he’d only be there briefly. Regardless of how they normally behaved, harassing him meant they were the kind of people who could always do something like that if given the chance.
What about the other Guides who saw it happening? Did they think it had nothing to do with them because it wasn’t happening to them, or did it make them too uncomfortable to even watch?
If it had been blatant, like the harassment Lee Tae-rim had experienced, at least he could’ve reported it. But when someone makes offhanded remarks that seem like compliments but leave you feeling uncomfortable, it’s hard to report. Depending on how you frame it, you might end up looking like the weird one for making a fuss. Just like what Kim Hyo-il was dealing with now.
Still, just like Kwon Hae-beom had kept filing complaints about Tae-rim’s misconduct, if the same Esper kept getting blocked for the same reasons over and over again, maybe that could lead to some kind of disciplinary action. Seeing Kim Hyo-il troubled like this made Lee Tae-rim feel bad.
“Should I talk to Guide Lee Yeong-jun? Ask if we can at least discipline Espers who keep getting blocked for the same reason?”
“They used to do that… but it ended up getting abused. Guides would gang up and block Espers they didn’t like, report them together, all that. So they scrapped the whole system.”
“Ah…”
“It’s a mess.”
People always find ways to misuse systems that were meant for good. In the end, it’s the ones who use them properly who end up getting hurt.
“Though I guess you could say this is the tradeoff… Espers can’t block Guides. No matter what happens, things usually go against the Esper. Well, since they’re the ones requesting Guiding anyway, there’s not much need for a blocking function. If they don’t like a Guide, they just don’t make a request.”
“Yeah, that makes sense…”
“Still, that’s something that needs to change.”
“Huh?”
“The times are different now, you know? Back then, the overall social atmosphere painted Guides as the weaker ones, and people would sweep things under the rug. But it’s not like that anymore. Just look at Ye-rin. She blocked an Esper right in front of him without hesitation. And it’s not just her—there are lots of others like that now. So those rules probably need to be updated too, at least to some extent.”
Kim Hyo-il glanced at Tae-rim from the side. Lee Tae-rim responded with a knowing smile. It seemed like he was hinting at him to poke at the issue—just enough to test the waters.
“Our team leader’s brought it up with the higher-ups a few times, but he keeps saying they won’t even listen. Once the report goes in, it has to pass through so many people that it just gets buried.”
But when an S-rank speaks up, their words go straight to the top. Especially if it’s Jung Jae-heon or Lee Yeong-jun. For them, there wasn’t even a question of bureaucracy—they were the authority.
“Look at me, making friends with S-ranks and everything. Life’s not so bad after all, huh?”
Kim Hyo-il laughed, and Tae-rim chuckled along. Kim Hyo-il had been the only Guide who’d ever approached Tae-rim back when he was completely alone. That made Tae-rim want to help in whatever way he could.
“See you after lunch.”
“Enjoy your meal!”
“You too, hyung.”
It wasn’t actually lunchtime yet, and they weren’t even eating together, so it was a weird time to just hang around and chat. Since no one had put in a Guiding request at the moment, Tae-rim sent a message to Lee Yeong-jun, asking if he was available. Lee Yeong-jun told him to drop by anytime. Tae-rim headed straight for his Guiding Room.
There, he told Lee Yeong-jun about what Kim Hyo-il had been going through. He added that maybe it was time to revise the old rules.
“Now that you mention it,” said Lee Yeong-jun, “I heard you were sexually harassed during your training period. Are you okay?”
Tae-rim paused, falling into thought. Honestly, it hadn’t really affected him. But considering the current situation, it might help to have someone step forward and make a bit of noise—it might add pressure for the rules to change. With a firm nod, Tae-rim made up his mind.
“I’m fine, but I’ll report it. I think it could help.”
“Good… Do you still remember their faces?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll send you the list of Espers you guided during that time. Check it and send back the ones you recognize. I’ll have to call a meeting with all the team leaders too.”
Lee Yeong-jun looked at him with a strangely pleased expression. Tae-rim tilted his head.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’ve matured so much. It really hits me that you’ve lost your memories.”
“Ah…”
“And I’m glad to see you smiling again. You know, you started shutting down around the time those nasty rumors began spreading. I’m guessing that had a big impact. I’m sorry. I think I was too distant with you, too. I should’ve paid more attention, especially because you were so young. I heard from the A-rank kids that the rumors didn’t include anything about Jiwoon doing anything wrong. Don’t know how that happened, but…”
Lee Tae-rim smiled, even though he wasn’t the one who should’ve been apologizing. What else could he do? It was all in the past.
But later that afternoon, Jung Jae-heon, who had heard a rough outline of things from Lee Yeong-jun, came by for a Guiding session—and dropped a bombshell.
“You know how your reputation took such a nosedive…? I’m pretty sure it was the Espers’ doing.”
“What?”
“Remember those two Espers from the Center who tried to kidnap Choi Jiwoon in the beginning? They were both mental-type Espers.”
As Tae-rim guided Jung Jae-heon, his mouth slowly fell open in shock.
“And out of the three we caught afterward, two were mental-types as well…”
Well, that explained a lot. No wonder the rumors refused to die down, no matter how many witnesses tried to deny them. It finally made sense. Tae-rim almost laughed out loud from the sheer absurdity of it all.
