63.
Somehow, it felt like being a novice member of an amateur soccer club, busily sweating while zealously defending a goal that no one else intended to score on—but that was actually fortunate.
Choi Jae-won shook off even the faint tension that had remained on his shoulders and opened his mouth again with a relaxed attitude.
“It seems there was a misunderstanding. I thought what you came to reclaim was my Pair Esper.”
“Ah, that guy?”
Howard finally removed his sunglasses completely and looked Choi Jae-won straight in the eyes. Just as Choi Jae-won had found ease, Howard too seemed to realize this was not an opponent with whom he needed to create conflict. A reasonably business-like and moderate atmosphere quickly formed between the two.
“I understand why you thought that. It’s obvious. He does resemble me quite a bit. And on top of that, an S-class materialization ability… Dr. Ryu succeeded in creating a monster after all.”
It was an ambiguous statement that left unclear whether he had already spoken with the Research Director or not. However, from Howard’s distinctly relaxed demeanor, Choi Jae-won could easily predict that he had no intention of taking Ryu Ho-yeon away to another place. As long as he wasn’t planning to steal Ryu Ho-yeon and flee to a place where Choi Jae-won couldn’t follow, whatever Howard did in this country was none of his business.
However, there was one term that grated on his ears.
“Monster? Watch your words. Has your brain hardened from not receiving guiding for too long? Or is it just your age?”
The last muttered phrase—wondering if that’s why the Guide had fled internationally—was in fluent English. It was a consideration meant to reach the eardrum of an Esper whose hearing would be several times better than an ordinary person’s, allowing it to safely land in his mind.
This wasn’t just getting worked up without backup. Choi Jae-won wasn’t that type of person, unlike Lee Han-seo. And it wasn’t that he had no support to rely on.
This was David Howard, who reportedly showed little interest no matter which capable Guide each center presented when he had rotated through various countries. It wasn’t like he hadn’t formed a Pair with an S-class Guide, even temporarily. The fact that Howard, at his age, had caused such a commotion to chase all the way to South Korea meant that Lexy, a Guide with an unclear past, held an absolute significance for Howard that could not be replaced by anyone else.
As long as Lexy wanted to stay in this country, even going so far as to express his intention to naturalize to South Korea, Howard had no choice but to keep quiet like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. If he were to cause even slight harm to an A-class Guide, he would immediately be expelled from South Korean territory according to international agreements, so Choi Jae-won had nothing to fear.
But regardless of such calculations, Howard’s face remained relaxed despite the sudden provocation from a young man who could easily be his son’s age—or rather, even younger than his biological son whom he had only recently become aware of. With a smooth face that was hard to believe was the same age as the Research Director, he just burst into low laughter.
“Well, I suppose it’s not bad to have an enthusiastic Guide like you attached to the one they’re calling my son.”
He raised both hands willingly as if to reassure him, making it clear once again that although Ryu Ho-yeon was created with his DNA, he was Dr. Ryu’s son, not his own.
“So, I was wondering, could I ask for some help?”
“What kind of help?”
“Lexy… let me meet him just once.”
In the expression of the Esper who had certainly been the most special and powerful in the world until Ryu Ho-yeon’s existence was announced, there was desperation.
“Even just once, even just one time…”
Choi Jae-won suddenly caught a glimpse of his own face in the mirror. He finally nodded, saying that although he couldn’t promise anything, he would try.
* * *
“Hyung, hyung. Surprising, isn’t it?”
“Yes, truly surprising indeed. I’m so shocked I could faint.”
The muttered voice was unusually devoid of spirit. He was normally more subdued on days when administrative work needed to be handled, but today it was particularly severe. Choi Jae-won had just been explaining about his meeting with Howard, but it seemed Ryu Ho-yeon wasn’t really listening.
Choi Jae-won, who had been busy moving his hands to review and classify documents so that Ryu Ho-yeon would only need to stamp them, finally turned his head slightly.
“Ho-yeon hyung…?”
“Yes.”
“Are you… angry about something…?”
“No? Not at all? Why would I be?”
He was. One hundred percent. Someone who had been completely unresponsive despite all kinds of tickling and poking was now getting angry on his own… Choi Jae-won loosened his facial muscles and kept asking, “What’s wrong?” and “Please tell me,” persistently.
After insisting that nothing was wrong and everything was the same as usual, Ryu Ho-yeon finally unwrapped his tightly bound bundle after the third round of Choi Jae-won’s questioning.
“You… said you were too busy… to go with me to see Kim Jun-young… But apparently you had plenty of time to meet another Esper?”
Wow, Choi Jae-won was so surprised that he jumped up from his seat. If the anger was one hundred percent, this time it was a perfect one-hundred-point answer.
“Ah, hyung, really, how can you say such things in the team leader’s office in broad daylight…”
“What’s wrong with being in the team leader’s office in broad daylight?”
Faced with the vibrant twenty-four-year-old whose ears had turned bright red in an instant from whatever salacious thoughts he was having, Ryu Ho-yeon, unable to guess the reason, just tilted his head.
Going to Kim Jun-young with Ryu Ho-yeon was essentially the final gateway to advancing their relationship. Choi Jae-won was more than ready for the fourth stage Ryu Ho-yeon had proposed: confession.
In any case, in such a situation, speaking with that coy attitude, asking why he didn’t have time to go to Kim Jun-young with him… it was too provocative for a young man who was barely turning his one-sided first love into a mutual one. (This is, of course, a description entirely from Choi Jae-won’s perspective.)
Choi Jae-won sprang up like lightning and locked the door of the team leader’s office first. Ryu Ho-yeon only managed to say, “Jae-won, why are you locking the—” before his lower lip was nibbled by his Pair Guide, whose face had turned bright red.
The movement of his tongue, entering through their breaths and stimulating the sensitive corners of the palate, felt completely natural.
Where had the Ryu Ho-yeon gone who used to find the act of mixing breaths and exchanging saliva with another person disgusting, even if it was guiding? After blinking his eyes a few times at the sudden kiss, he immediately put his arms around the Guide’s neck and was desperate to pull him closer.
There’s a reason they say late-learned thievery is more frightening. Originally, he hadn’t been one to stop Choi Jae-won every time he made advances, but from around the time they returned from Berlin, Ryu Ho-yeon had come to understand with his whole body the pleasure of seeking the warmth of a desired partner.
Kim Jun-young and Lee Jung-hyuk, who had accumulated much more experience than them, often completed their relationships even in the team leader’s office when in a hurry, but for these two who had just barely begun proper emotional exchange, the heat shared in the team leader’s office was at most overflowing with just kisses. Choi Jae-won tried to steady his about-to-burst heartbeat while continuously carefully caressing Ryu Ho-yeon’s cheeks.
“Ah, hyung… Ho-yeon hyung…”
Just as his overwhelming feelings were about to spill over, swaying with fullness—
Knock knock.
– “Team Leader Ryu! Team Leader Ryu! Are you in there? There’s an urgent matter that needs your confirmation! Team Leader!”
Ryu Ho-yeon pushed Choi Jae-won’s chest back quite forcefully, and Choi Jae-won wiped his lips regretfully and obediently backed away. Ryu Ho-yeon walked steadily toward the door with a face that couldn’t possibly not know what they had just been doing behind the locked door, and immediately tried to open it. Choi Jae-won hurriedly grabbed Ryu Ho-yeon’s shoulder.
“Ah, hyung! Wait a moment!”
“What now?”
“Your, your lips, you need to wipe your lips before going out…”
“Ah. Right.”
Before Choi Jae-won could carefully wipe his mouth with the handkerchief he kept inside his jacket, Ryu Ho-yeon, who had responded “Ah, right” as if struck by realization, very boldly wiped his mouth by rubbing the back of his bare hand across it. It was truly the charisma befitting the general team leader (or rather, acting leader) who commanded all the Espers in the country with just one finger.
The official general team leader was still Park Woo-jun. After Ryu Ho-yeon’s official press conference, the remaining two S-class Espers were supposed to take turns as acting team leaders for one year each, but somehow most of the duty had fallen to Kim Jun-young. This was because Ryu Ho-yeon’s nerves had been frayed due to the commotion about Choi Jae-won’s experiment and Dr. An, not long after becoming the acting team leader.
Kim Jun-young and Lee Jung-hyuk, seeing Ryu Ho-yeon who seemed almost spellbound at the time, took over the acting team leader position almost forcibly, saying it simply wouldn’t work. Ryu Ho-yeon only stepped in as a substitute—that is, acting for the acting leader—when Kim Jun-young and Lee Jung-hyuk had to be away for extended periods due to dungeons or personal matters. As they say, many drops make an ocean—if all those periods were added up, it would easily amount to three to four months a year.
“Is something wrong?”
“Team Leader Ryu!”
“Team Leader Ryu!!”
“Ho, Ho, Ho-yeon-ssi!!”
“Esper Ryu Ho-yeon! It’s serious!”
It was when Ryu Ho-yeon flung open the locked door. Waiting for him outside the door, stomping their feet anxiously, were not just the administrative staff handling the paperwork for the Esper General Team, but urgent gazes from many employees—at least ten people—from Field Placement, Guide General Team, Research Laboratory, and more.
How serious could it be? In a world where dungeons pop up constantly, nothing was particularly serious unless the world was ending right now. Ryu Ho-yeon, with lips that still showed signs of swelling despite having been wiped, asked indifferently, “What’s so serious?”
“Lexy, you know Lexy, that, that S-class Guide who came recently!!”
“Yes. What about him?”
“That Guide…!!”
“Yes, yes.”
“He just said he wants to take a matching rate test with Esper Ryu Ho-yeon as a condition for his naturalization!!”
Oh no.
“What?”
“He said if the matching rate is high, he’ll proceed with imprinting immediately, not just becoming a Pair!”
It really was serious.
