#139
Choi Hanseo arrived at the front of Lee Eunseok’s guiding room after taking the elevator down, but hesitated before pressing the bell. He had come down impulsively, thinking he should meet Eunseok, but he didn’t know what to say to him.
Should he ask why Eunseok had kept quiet all this time?
No, that might feel like an interrogation.
For now… just meet him.
Choi Hanseo was about to press the bell again when he frowned. His sensitive hearing picked up faint sounds of cheerful conversation coming from beyond the guiding room door. The giggling voice was clearly Hunter Kwon Eunchae.
For a moment, Choi Hanseo felt an impulse to break down the guiding room door. Fortunately, such an incident didn’t occur. After barely restraining himself from breaking the door, Choi Hanseo used the card that worked on all doors in the guild to swipe the keypad. The lock opened with a beep.
When he flung the door open, he saw two people looking at him with surprised expressions. The two sitting across from each other at the desk were holding hands affectionately.
“…Guild Master?”
Kwon Eunchae called out to Choi Hanseo first with a shocked expression. Lee Eunseok’s surprised eyes quickly filled with fierce irritation.
“What do you think you’re doing right now?”
Lee Eunseok asked, almost grinding his teeth. His eyes, expression, and voice were brimming with hostility.
“Are you in your right mind, barging into a guiding room like this?”
Lee Eunseok continued to snap at him.
Choi Hanseo knew that this kind of intrusion into a guiding room was never allowed. The guiding room was a place for extremely private acts between hunters and guides. It was supposed to be an absolutely safe place.
But Choi Hanseo couldn’t think straight about that. All he could see was Lee Eunseok’s face, lips, and neck. To think that this person had been his. That he had been his lover. And yet he still couldn’t remember. Irritation and frustration welled up inside him. At the same time, he couldn’t stand the sight of their hands still holding each other.
“First, Hunter Kwon Eunchae, please leave.”
Choi Hanseo said as calmly as he could. Kwon Eunchae nodded with wide eyes and tried to pull her hand away. But Lee Eunseok held her hand tightly, stopping her. Then, he slammed his fist down on the emergency bell right next to the desk.
Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
The rarely heard emergency bell of the guiding room started ringing loudly. Following the emergency protocol procedures, the guiding room door automatically opened. Soon after, guards rushed into the guiding room with noisy footsteps.
“Raise your hands and…?! …Guild Master?!”
The guards who were shouting while pointing electric shock devices for subduing hunters hesitated when they saw Choi Hanseo’s face.
“We were forcibly intruded upon during guiding. Please remove him immediately.”
Lee Eunseok demanded of the guards in a stiff voice. The guards’ eyes moved complexly, as if trying to assess the situation.
“Mr. Lee Eunseok.”
Choi Hanseo called out to Lee Eunseok in a calm voice.
“Even if I’m the Guild Master, this kind of behavior isn’t acceptable, is it? If you don’t leave here right now, I’ll terminate the contract with the guild for breach of contract.”
Lee Eunseok declared with fierce, sharp eyes. Choi Hanseo’s face contorted at Lee Eunseok’s extremely hostile attitude. Even though he hadn’t been physically attacked, a part of his chest ached as if stabbed by a knife.
“Oppa. There’s no need to go this far…”
After the guards and Choi Hanseo left the guiding room, Kwon Eunchae said with a worried face. Eunseok released Eunchae’s hand that he had been forcibly gripping, let out a deep sigh, and pressed his forehead against the desk.
“Did the Guild Master… do something?”
“…It’s just, when I see him, I can’t stand how angry I get. I know it’s not his fault that he lost his memories, but I still feel betrayed and just want to beat him up.”
Eunseok unconsciously vented his feelings to Kwon Eunchae. Then he mulled over what he had just said.
Betrayal.
Yes. This was betrayal.
It wasn’t an appropriate emotion for this situation, but Eunseok was feeling betrayed by Choi Hanseo right now.
If it was going to be like this, he shouldn’t have wavered. He shouldn’t have said he liked him. He shouldn’t have said things like “take care” or “welcome back.” He shouldn’t have said such things.
He had tried so hard not to let people get close. He always drew a line. Because he never wanted to feel the pain of losing family or the emptiness that followed again. But because of Choi Hanseo, he had to feel that miserable feeling again. The penthouse that he had considered their shared home was no longer Eunseok’s home, and the place he had felt he could return to had completely vanished overnight.
After heaving a deep sigh, Eunseok lifted his face from the desk.
“We’ve done enough guiding for now, can we continue tomorrow?”
As he spoke while rubbing his face with his hand, Kwon Eunchae stood up without a word.
“Hey, oppa.”
Kwon Eunchae, who had been walking towards the door, stopped briefly and called out. Eunseok, feeling embarrassed for showing such an unseemly side in front of Kwon Eunchae, covered his mouth with his hand and looked at her.
“If you want to beat him up, just do it to your heart’s content. I told you, didn’t I? That hitting the Guild Master on the head might bring his memories back.”
Kwon Eunchae said jokingly and winked. Then, as if understanding Eunseok’s embarrassment, she quickly turned and left the guiding room.
Left alone, Eunseok slumped back in his chair and covered his eyes with his hand. Regret for pressing the emergency bell in a moment of uncontrollable impulse welled up. By now, rumors would have spread widely throughout the guild.
It was truly an irrational action. But ever since Choi Hanseo lost his memories, and since he dragged Eunseok to this guiding room for insertion guiding rather than sex, Eunseok had been unable to maintain a rational state. Really… everything was a mess.
Eunseok sat there blankly for a long time. Then suddenly, he felt an urge to run away from all of this. Above all, he wanted to get as far away as possible from this guiding room where he had done insertion guiding with Choi Hanseo.
Since joining the guild, he had never felt cramped here. The building itself was quite large, and his daily routines were pretty much the same anyway. But now he felt like he was imprisoned in this building.
The thought was long, but the decision was quick.
Eunseok immediately went up to his room. He roughly stuffed a plain dagger, a spare set of clothes, underwear, and socks into a bag. Finally, he pushed his wallet into his pocket, completing his preparations for going out. After finishing these simple preparations, Eunseok left his room without looking back.
As soon as he passed through the main entrance and went outside, he was on a main street. Eunseok hailed a passing taxi before anyone could chase after him.
“Where to?”
The taxi driver asked, glancing at the Baekho Guild building.
“The bus terminal, please.”
The taxi started without further comment.
As he confirmed that the Baekho Guild building was getting farther away, Eunseok took out his phone and called Secretary Kim.
“Yes, Guide Lee.”
“Secretary Kim. I believe I have all my vacation days left unused.”
“Yes. You’ve never used any of them.”
There was a hint of unease in the voice answering, as if sensing something.
“I’d like to use some vacation days for a while.”
“Ah… vacation? How long do you plan to use? If you want to rest, you could just not accept guiding reservations without having to take vacation days. I can handle that for you.”
“No. I’m planning to go out for a while.”
“Out, you say?”
“Yes. I’m thinking of taking a short trip somewhere nearby.”
“But going outside is…”
“Do I need someone’s approval or permission to leave the guild building?”
“Of course not.”
Secretary Kim hurriedly answered.
“Then please process it that way.”
“How long do you plan to travel?”
“About… ten days should do.”
Eunseok mentioned a duration that Secretary Kim might be able to accept. Of course, he planned to notify later if he needed more time after leaving.
“Ten days, then I should at least inform the Guild Master…”
“Secretary Kim.”
“Yes, Guide Lee.”
“Do I need the Guild Master’s permission to use my vacation days?”
“…No. I was just worried.”
“There’s no need to worry. Then I’ll leave the vacation processing to you, Secretary Kim.”
“Yes. Understood.”
After ending the call, Eunseok immediately turned off his phone. He had no intention of returning until his head cooled down, or at least until he regained some semblance of rationality.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
