“This is where you’ll be staying tonight.”
“Ooh, it looks like a rich person’s house.”
“Haha. Well, it is a regular house. There weren’t any decent hotels nearby, so I contacted the owner of this empty place and got permission to use it.”
The location Ian guided them to was the lodging arranged for the team entering the Gate tomorrow.
“There are more than enough rooms, so feel free to pick whichever one you like. The beds were brought in separately and are brand new. The team meeting is at 7 a.m. tomorrow—if you need anything before then, just let me know and I’ll take care of it.”
It was clear he’d put real thought into accommodating the dispatched personnel. As Seo-ha listened to Ian’s explanation and explored the house, people began appearing one after another. They were foreigners. Of course, from their perspective, he was the foreigner. Maybe that’s why they stared at each other with a kind of mutual curiosity. Then, once they finally noticed Han Ju-oh standing next to Seo-ha, their eyes lit up with surprise and joy.
“JO!”
Seo-ha turned to look at Han Ju-oh.
“J.O.?”
“That’s what they call me here.”
“But Ian didn’t call you that.”
Ian chimed in to explain.
“He’s fluent in Korean, so it didn’t matter which name I used.”
Seo-ha nodded and stepped aside, and the group quickly swarmed around Han Ju-oh.
The atmosphere turned lively in an instant. They greeted him like it’d been ages, catching up on what he’d been doing. Meanwhile, Seo-ha and Moon Roi were left standing awkwardly off to the side like forgotten extras.
“Ju-oh was really popular.”
Thankfully, Ian came over to ease the tension and strike up conversation.
“Every single person here owes him something.”
Looking at them, it was hard to tell who was an Esper and who was a Guide. Normally, Espers gravitate toward other Espers, and Guides stick to Guides. But here, everyone seemed equally thrilled to see Han Ju-oh. Watching the warm scene unfold, Moon Roi commented,
“When I first met Esper Han Ju-oh, he didn’t seem popular at all.”
Ian burst out laughing at the blunt remark.
“Why not?”
“Well, Seo-ha probably knows better than I do.”
Suggesting they ask Ju-oh’s own lover, Ian turned a mischievous look on Seo-ha. Since the two had set the stage so perfectly, Seo-ha didn’t back down.
“You want to know what my first impression of Han Ju-oh was? Absolutely unforgettable.”
“Oh no—are you rewriting history now that you’re dating?”
“He was a top-tier asshole.”
“……”
Ian was momentarily speechless, while Moon Roi chuckled as if he’d been waiting for that exact answer. Seo-ha shook his head, not even finding it funny anymore as he recalled it.
“You have no idea how rude he was. He accused me of playing games with Guiding, told me not to waste his time, and that I needed to answer immediately whenever he asked something.”
“Ah…”
Ian scratched his forehead awkwardly. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Seo-ha—it was more that he could totally picture Han Ju-oh doing that.
“When I refused to take the matching test, he tracked down someone who had already quit and was about to leave on vacation, just to prove a point.”
As Seo-ha grumbled, Moon Roi nodded solemnly like a firsthand witness.
“I remember thinking, ‘What kind of jerk is this guy?’ I mean, people like that exist, sure, but why couldn’t I have dodged this one?”
Since they’d met after Seo-ha had already submitted his resignation, he’d fired back at everything Han Ju-oh said, unable to let anything slide. So much for leaving on good terms.
“You know what really blew my mind? After my resignation was accepted and I was packing up to leave the dorm, boom—a Gate showed up right inside the house, and Han Ju-oh with it.”
Seo-ha let out a dry laugh at the absurd memory, while Moon Roi looked properly horrified. Yeah, if that happened to him, he’d never forget it either.
“Yep. That happened.”
Seo-ha wrapped up his story just as Han Ju-oh returned from his round of greetings. There was no point dragging out every dirty detail of how things started or exactly what was said back then. Like it or not, Han Ju-oh was now his Imprinted Esper—and his boyfriend.
“All done saying hi?”
“Yeah. I told them I had a partner, and they all asked to meet you.”
“So you really did talk about me.”
“I told them you were handsome and charming.”
Han Ju-oh beamed, clearly proud to be bragging about his boyfriend. Seo-ha forced a smile—it barely formed. Just moments ago, he’d called Ju-oh an asshole in front of everyone…
“Ju-oh, you know how much I love you, right?”
Normally, that kind of confession would’ve made Han Ju-oh melt, but this time he gave Seo-ha a suspicious look.
“What’s with that face? It’s not like this is the first time I’ve said I love you.”
“Yeah, Seo-ha, you’re sweet. But you’re the only one being sweet.”
Seo-ha tilted his head slightly, then suddenly turned sharply toward the two of them. Moon Roi and Ian were feigning nonchalance, but it was obvious—they’d been caught keeping something from him.
Moon Roi was never the type to offer help in the first place.
“Whatever it is, you know where I stand, right?”
Han Ju-oh gently brushed his fingers against Seo-ha’s cheek, forgiving everything without a word. He was always like that—willing to let Seo-ha off the hook, no matter what.
Feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes on him, Seo-ha walked over and offered a polite greeting. Since they weren’t acquaintances, no one returned the gesture with particular warmth, but at least they didn’t ignore him. Even when they stared, scanning his face as if trying to figure him out, Seo-ha didn’t flinch.
After all, the only thing he had to show them was that he was Han Ju-oh’s lover—and his Guide.
And so, the team from Korea exchanged an awkward round of introductions with the American team.
***
Dinner was served. It was a buffet-style setup, casual and open, with people wandering as they ate. But the more relaxed the environment, the more it highlighted just how out of place Seo-ha and Moon Roi were. Ian stayed near Moon Roi, and Han Ju-oh tried to do the same for Seo-ha. But he kept getting called away, and eventually, Seo-ha just sent him off.
“I don’t know if I should say this, but… the atmosphere’s not exactly welcoming.”
Moon Roi spoke as he casually poked at his salad. If you just glanced around, it looked like everyone was smiling and chatting—but he wasn’t wrong. For all their friendliness toward Han Ju-oh, there was an undercurrent of coldness toward Seo-ha. One man in particular had narrowed his eyes the moment he saw Seo-ha and now stared at him openly, without even pretending not to.
“Don’t take it personally. Stirring things up won’t help. It’s not worth it.”
By tomorrow, they wouldn’t be relaxing in a warm, well-lit house. They’d be deep inside some unpredictable dungeon, in who-knows-what conditions. No sense wasting energy now.
Just then, someone took the seat directly across from Seo-ha.
It was the same man who had been glaring at him earlier.
“The man from the rumors.”
He muttered it under his breath, locking eyes with Seo-ha—then spoke up, not bothering to hide his interest.
“You’re the guy with the 3% match rate, aren’t you?”
Someone who knew about Seo-ha’s past had finally surfaced. Ian immediately raised his hand in front of the man’s face, clearly annoyed.
“Let’s not start trouble here, Jay.”
“If it gets uncomfortable, so be it. Now that I remember who he is, we can’t just ignore it.”
Jay pointed a finger straight at Seo-ha.
“The moment I heard there was a special Guide coming from Korea, I remembered hearing about someone unusual. The name was fuzzy, but seeing your face confirmed it.”
He must’ve recalled when someone once referred to Baek Seo-ha’s surname using numbers to get around his limited Korean. And to top it off, Jay had previously entered a Gate as Moon Roi’s temporary partner.
“Back then, I thought it was odd but kind of interesting. But he didn’t like me talking about it.”
Now he was pointing at Moon Roi, calling him out for shutting down gossip behind Seo-ha’s back.
“Seeing you in person, it’s still bizarre. Why didn’t you just quit?”
The question wasn’t just blunt—it was downright rude. Seo-ha didn’t respond, and both Moon Roi and Ian showed clear signs of irritation.
“Jay. Say one more thing, and I’ll report this to the higher-ups.”
Ian cut in firmly, but Jay wasn’t backing down.
“We need to call out anything that could compromise our team’s combat performance.”
This wasn’t some casual outing—it was a Gate mission.
“On paper, maybe it doesn’t matter if a Guide’s average. But inside a dungeon? It absolutely does.”
In a mission like this, even one strong teammate could tip the scale. And with who knew how many more Gates ahead of them, nerves were naturally running high.
“You should apologize for that. Otherwise, you might regret it. Guide Baek is—”
Ian, now visibly agitated, started to defend him, but someone grabbed his arm. He turned to shake them off—then froze.
“Don’t.”
Han Ju-oh had stopped him. At the same time, he turned to Jay.
“JO. I wasn’t trying to be insulting.”
Jay lowered his brows, clearly trying to smooth things over. He didn’t want to leave a bad impression on Han Ju-oh. But the atmosphere had already gone cold.
Han Ju-oh stared at him for a moment, then wordlessly turned away and sat down next to Seo-ha. The message was clear—he was cutting ties with Jay and choosing Seo-ha instead.
Even the small groups of people chatting nearby fell silent, realizing something had happened. Seo-ha swallowed hard.
Maybe trying to make a good first impression had always been a fantasy.
