No matter how he looked at it, he hadn’t done anything wrong to him. He had only spoken well of Guide Baek Seo-ha’s good qualities.
Ah…
Suddenly, he remembered that time when some guy he wasn’t even close with had complimented how good-looking his own Pair Guide was. What had he felt back then?
‘Didn’t like it.’
He hated hearing someone else talk about his Guide. He’d felt jealous, possessive. If he could, he would’ve stuffed him in his pocket so no one else could even lay eyes on him.
Only then did Esper Baek Jong-hoon finally realize what he’d done—and humbly accepted Han Ju-oh’s fists. Yeah, he deserved to get beat.
While he was being pounded with heavy fists, a familiar face appeared.
“Baek Jong-hoon!”
“My… Guide.”
Esper Baek Jong-hoon grinned foolishly at the sight of Guide Jang Jin-young.
“Unbelievable. He’s insane. Totally insane.”
Seo-ha took in the training room in a single glance.
One person was clearly beating the hell out of another. The moment Han Ju-oh heard Seo-ha’s voice, he landed a powerful uppercut on Esper Baek Jong-hoon and then finally lowered his fist.
Baek Jong-hoon’s face was swollen a sickly bluish-purple from how much he’d been hit. When Seo-ha saw Guide Jang Jin-young lifting Baek Jong-hoon’s head and placing it gently on his lap to check if he was okay, he smacked Han Ju-oh’s arm.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What else are you supposed to do in a training room?”
His tone implied, what other purpose does it have besides training?—but there was no way that would fly.
“You beat someone up that badly, and you’re calling it training? Huh? That kind of thing is just one-sided—”
He was about to say abuse when a pained groan cut him off, and Esper Baek Jong-hoon spoke.
“It was training. I agreed to it. This only happened because I wasn’t good enough.”
After saying he was fine, Baek Jong-hoon forced himself to sit up and bowed his head toward Han Ju-oh. They were the same age, but admiration was clearly etched across Baek Jong-hoon’s bruised face.
“I thought I was the only one watching Esper Han Ju-oh all this time. But that wasn’t the case.”
Han Ju-oh had made sure, repeatedly, to make Baek Jong-hoon aware of his own bad habits.
“Thank you.”
Han Ju-oh barely acknowledged the thanks, listening with one ear and letting it slide out the other.
“I, uh… hope we get to work together as a team more often.”
When Seo-ha stepped in to wrap it up, Esper Baek Jong-hoon was already smiling again with a surprisingly recovered face. Already beyond human, he had received guiding and bounced right back to normal.
They say the most pointless thing in the world is worrying about an Esper’s health… Seo-ha let out a dry cough, and Guide Jang Jin-young stared straight at him. Seo-ha couldn’t ignore the gaze and looked back—only to see eyes practically screaming, Now do you believe me?
His mind spun with confusion.
‘Can something like this really be confirmed through such a simple process?’
When Seo-ha gave him a wordless look, Guide Jang Jin-young nodded firmly.
‘My Esper put his body on the line to figure it out, so of course you should believe it.’
And that wasn’t even enough—Jang Jin-young went so far as to gently stroke his partner’s swollen, bruised face, as if to say take a good look at your lover’s actions. Seo-ha couldn’t bear to keep looking and turned away.
“See you again.”
Guide Jang Jin-young dragged Esper Baek Jong-hoon out with him.
“Hah… ha ha.”
Seo-ha didn’t know how to process the wave of information that had just slammed into him.
“So…”
He scratched his nose and looked up at Han Ju-oh.
“Let’s start guiding—mmph!”
He was about to say let’s go to the guiding room when Han Ju-oh grabbed his waist and suddenly crushed their lips together. The kiss hit so hard it felt like his mouth was smashed and his teeth cracked. Okay—he was exaggerating. It was just that the sudden kiss caught him off guard.
Still, it wasn’t their first time, so Seo-ha clutched Han Ju-oh’s clothes and pushed his energy into him with each breath. The slick, wet sound of shared saliva had an unmistakably sensual undertone.
‘Han Ju-oh likes me? Then this kiss, too… No. Focus on guiding right now.’
Han Ju-oh had used his powers in training, so of course he was requesting a guide. They’d long since moved past holding hands. So don’t think about anything else. Seo-ha tried to concentrate, but doubt kept creeping up, driving him nuts.
“It’s not enough.”
Han Ju-oh muttered against his lips, the soft skin rubbing, tickling Seo-ha.
“Sorry.”
Sensing the faltering flow of energy, Seo-ha apologized immediately, and Han Ju-oh inhaled sharply and locked their lips again—sealing the gap with no room to breathe. They shared hot breaths in each other’s mouths, tongues licking across sensitive lower lips, pulling the stirred-up energy higher and higher.
The energy trickled in like a gentle stream, thin but steady. What mattered was—it was clearly stronger than before. This wasn’t just a few droplets meant to quench a thirst.
‘So this is what 20% feels like.’
Just five more guidings like this, and he could completely relieve Han Ju-oh’s burden.
‘For some people, it’s over after just once or twice.’
But that Esper probably wouldn’t even consider that five might be enough. The thought made Seo-ha feel a deep surge of gratitude for Han Ju-oh—who had silently endured it all, never once complaining about how little guiding he received.
When the guiding ended and their lips parted, the awkwardness hit hard. It was always like this, no matter how many times they did it.
“Kissing a coworker… seriously.”
He suddenly recalled when Han Ju-oh had recently referred to him as a “coworker.” It struck him as funny, so he laughed—but then felt his gaze.
“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about you and me. Those two earlier—they’re lovers.”
They hadn’t made it obvious, so he hadn’t realized they were dating. Maybe he just hadn’t cared. But Guide Jang Jin-young had clearly been watching the two of them closely.
Remembering him made Seo-ha fidget, touching his lips, scratching his forehead—restless. It wasn’t deliberate; he just had something he wanted to ask Han Ju-oh but wasn’t sure if he should.
“What, are you feeling sick all of a sudden?”
Han Ju-oh pressed his palm to Seo-ha’s forehead as he spoke, humoring him. Before, Seo-ha would’ve called him insane for something like this—but now, with the sincerity behind it, the feeling was hard to describe.
“So… I heard something.”
He still wasn’t sure if he should say it. The claim that Han Ju-oh liked him. Honestly, he could just play dumb until Han Ju-oh confessed first. He didn’t have to bring it up. But it didn’t feel right, like he was keeping a secret from him. And what if Guide Jang Jin-young had simply misunderstood? If Han Ju-oh didn’t like him, all the assumptions they’d built up would just fall apart.
His mind spinning, Seo-ha finally just blurted it out.
“Guide Jang Jin-young said… that you like me. I told him that made no sense, but even so, I ended up coming here.”
Saying it was the hard part—once it was out, the rest was easier.
“He said if you beat the crap out of Esper Baek Jong-hoon, that meant it was true. But that doesn’t make sense. You said it was just training. Right?”
Seo-ha waited for Han Ju-oh’s response. If he said yes, then that would be the end of it.
“It’s true.”
“I knew it. We agreed, didn’t we? No imprinting. But people don’t know that, so they misunderstand our—”
“I like you.”
“……”
Seo-ha stopped mid-sentence, gaze flicking toward Han Ju-oh.
“What?”
“I said I like you.”
“But… you said you wouldn’t imprint on me.”
“Liking you doesn’t mean I’m imprinting.”
“You said I wasn’t your type, that there was no chance you’d fall for me.”
“That changed. Now you’re my type.”
Whatever Seo-ha tried to say, Han Ju-oh just bulldozed through in his own rhythm. If someone walked by right now, there was no way they’d guess this was a confession scene.
“Hold on.”
Seo-ha raised a hand to cut him off. If this kept going, he was going to get completely swept up by Han Ju-oh, so he called for a time-out.
“Doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to change.”
Han Ju-oh replied casually, like he was peering into Seo-ha’s small head.
“No matter what you decide, I’m going to keep confessing.”
“You really think this counts as a normal confession?”
Seo-ha held his head, as if a headache was coming on, and asked the question. He’d brought up the topic himself, but Han Ju-oh’s overwhelming confidence was making him seriously doubt whether this was even real.
“When exactly did you start liking me?”
“I don’t know. When I finally came to my senses, I was already soaked.”
Seo-ha didn’t get it right away and just stared at him. Han Ju-oh silently mouthed the word drizzle.
It wasn’t a love-at-first-sight kind of thing—it had seeped in slowly. Understanding that, Seo-ha let out an incredulous sigh.
“You said you didn’t like me, and now you’re saying you do. Why didn’t you tell me?”
He wasn’t mad about being liked without permission. That wasn’t the point.
“How did you even manage to keep it together all this time during our guidings?”
Kissing a coworker was already stressful. But kissing someone you actually liked and still managing to act normally? That couldn’t have been easy. The thought that Han Ju-oh had shouldered that alone made Seo-ha feel both worried and guilty.
“If you’d told me, I would’ve been more careful.”
He wished he’d figured it out sooner. Everyone else had picked up on it immediately, and only he had been oblivious. Thinking about how hard that must have been on Han Ju-oh left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“From now on, when we guide, maybe you should…”
Seo-ha started to say something—trying to find some kind of solution—but Han Ju-oh leaned in and kissed him again, cutting off the rest of his words completely.
