#042
What to do about this….
Eunseok’s head became complicated.
After sprawling in the chair for a while, Eunseok straightened up and opened his laptop.
Searching for Choi Hanseo’s name filled the screen with countless results. Eunseok skimmed through the titles and texts. After thoroughly examining the search results for a long time, there was no information about Choi Hanseo’s love life anywhere.
However, there were quite a few recent search results about Choi Hanseo and guides. The problem was that the guide in question was Lee Eunseok himself.
Choi Hanseo x Guide two-shot.jpg
(photo1.jpg)
Comments:
Anonymous1: Honestly, isn’t it just a matter of time before the S-class guide ㅇㅇㅅ becomes a couple with Choi Baekho?
└ Please refrain from making baseless speculative comments without evidence. Baekho is my husband, okay.
└ I agree with this. Hunters being obsessed and fixated on guides isn’t anything new, and honestly, someone like ㅇㅇㅅ, even Choi Hanseo couldn’t resist. An S-class guide with a matching rate over 90%? It’s more strange that he hasn’t proposed yet.
└ That’s from Choi Hanseo’s perspective. Why would Lee Eunseok date Choi Hanseo? Being ex-military, he probably doesn’t like men. Besides, there are only 4 S-class guides worldwide, so they can choose from S-class hunters.
└ Gender distinctions are meaningless between hunters and guides.
Anonymous2: They might already be a couple. When will Korea’s first S-class couple be made official?
The content of the posts varied.
Just looking at the content, they were already an unofficial or official couple. There was also a fair amount of bickering about whether Choi Hanseo or Lee Eunseok was the catch.
Eunseok clicked his tongue seeing various dirty and suggestive stories circulating about the two as a couple. Really… it wasn’t good for mental health.
Closing the laptop, Eunseok sighed heavily. Given that there were no dating rumors about Choi Hanseo even going back several years, it was clear that he wasn’t the type to fool around. Knowing this reduced the reasons to reject Choi Hanseo even further.
Eunseok rubbed his face with his hands.
In fact, the very fact that he was seriously considering this…. Might it mean that he was somewhat willing to accept Choi Hanseo’s feelings?
Having thought that far, Eunseok quickly grabbed hold of his rational mind.
No. That’s not it.
‘It’s instinctive for highly matched hunters and guides to be sexually attracted to each other.’
Thinking from that premise, this subtle attraction and intense kiss with Choi Hanseo could simply be an animal instinct. After all, Choi Hanseo is the only S-class hunter Eunseok has met so far. It was impossible to know whether Eunseok was attracted to Choi Hanseo specifically or simply to a highly matched S-class hunter.
In the end, Eunseok came to his own logical conclusion that he would need to at least do mucous membrane guiding with another S-class hunter to confirm his feelings. After reaching this conclusion, his mind felt somewhat refreshed.
How many times in life would he have the chance to meet an S-class hunter, which are so rare, and how many times would he get to guide them? It seemed right to indefinitely postpone the relationship with Choi Hanseo.
His body felt unusually light and refreshed during his early morning exercise. His mood was the same.
It might be because his unstable feelings for Choi Hanseo had been logically sorted out. Or it might simply be because the possibility of being involved with another man had disappeared. In any case, it was certain that he was in quite a good mood.
After working up a sweat and showering in his lodging, Eunseok sat on the sofa and played with the dagger Choi Hanseo had given him, turning it this way and that in his hand. He was itching to take this thing into battle soon.
While playing with the dagger, turning it over in his hands, his phone rang. The caller was none other than Secretary Kim Hyunji.
“Hello?”
– Hello, Guide Lee. I hope I’m not calling too early?
“No, it’s fine. Is there something urgent?”
– Ah, actually, there’s been an urgent guiding request from the Ability Management Bureau. Their S-class esper was on the verge of going berserk while working a gate yesterday. A-class guides are guiding him, but the numbers are rising instead of falling.
Eunseok suddenly remembered that there was one more S-class in Korea besides Choi Hanseo. He was still in his service period and working as an esper for the Ability Management Bureau, wasn’t he?
For them to request support from Eunseok, who belonged to the Baekho Guild, at this early hour meant it must be a very dangerous situation. Eunseok was about to immediately answer that he understood, but then hesitated.
“If it’s an S-class esper….”
Eunseok trailed off. Even when he did emergency guiding for the B-class hunter who went berserk last time, he could only calm him down by pressing their bare upper bodies together. But if an S-class esper, not even an A-class, was on the verge of going berserk, it would require even more contact.
– Of course, being an S-class esper, mucous membrane guiding might be necessary. What would you like to do?
Secretary Kim, perceptively catching on to the reason for Eunseok’s brief hesitation, asked for his decision.
Eunseok suddenly felt foolish for hesitating even for a moment. Guiding an esper on the verge of going berserk was no different from a life-saving medical procedure. It would be ridiculous to refuse an act that could save someone’s life.
“I’ll go.”
– Ah, yes. Then please come down to the lobby entrance right away. A vehicle sent from the Ability Management Bureau should arrive soon…
Secretary Kim’s words were suddenly cut off. Then, faintly through the phone, Eunseok could hear Secretary Kim’s voice saying, “Guild Master?”
“Secretary Kim?”
– Here.
Suddenly, Choi Hanseo’s voice came through the phone.
“…Guild Master.”
Eunseok called out to Choi Hanseo a beat late.
– You don’t need to go. Pretend you didn’t hear it.
“Suddenly, what…”
Just as Eunseok started to speak, the call was abruptly cut off. Eunseok stared at the disconnected phone screen with bewildered eyes.
It must be an urgent situation for them to make an emergency guiding request, yet he says there’s no need to go?
Is this a decision made as the Guild Master? Or is it a decision made because he doesn’t want Eunseok to do emergency guiding for someone else?
If it’s the latter, Eunseok absolutely could not accept his decision.
Eunseok immediately called Choi Hanseo.
After the dial tone rang a few times, the call connected.
– Hello.
“About telling me not to go. If there’s an understandable reason, I’ll do as you say.”
The words came out stiffly on their own.
Choi Hanseo didn’t answer immediately. Eunseok took this negatively.
“Is this a decision made as the Guild Master? Or is it based on personal feelings?”
– …Lee Eunseok.
“Yes. I’m listening. Please speak.”
– I’m on my way there now, so please wait a moment.
Click. The call ended.
Eunseok hurriedly changed his clothes, suppressing his rising temper.
Somehow, it felt like things were taking a strange turn. Just yesterday, he had decided to indefinitely postpone his feelings for Choi Hanseo because he had never guided an S-class hunter other than him, and now this happens today. It felt like heaven’s will saying, “Well then, try it out for yourself.”
Just as he finished changing and roughly combed through his almost dry hair, the doorbell rang right on cue. Eunseok took a deep breath and went to the entrance to open the door.
Choi Hanseo stepped inside silently. The door closed behind him. Eunseok looked at Choi Hanseo with eyes that said, “Go ahead and speak.”
“If you go to the Ability Management Bureau once, they’ll keep calling you every time a similar situation arises.”
“If I go this time and it turns out not to be a truly dangerous situation, I won’t accept their requests again.”
At Eunseok’s words, Choi Hanseo slightly furrowed the corners of his eyes as if frustrated.
“That’s the problem. As long as there’s a proper excuse that someone’s life is at stake, you’ll keep getting dragged along by them. If you go this time, they’ll think, ‘Ah, now that we have Lee Eunseok anyway, we can push our S-class espers a bit harder.'”
“…”
“Until now, they’ve been using S-class and A-class espers only to the point where they could maintain appropriate levels. But they’ll start pushing them to their limits. And when they’re about to go berserk or on the verge of it, they’ll put in an emergency guiding request to you.”
“I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
Eunseok honestly admitted. At that, the furrowed corners of Choi Hanseo’s eyes relaxed.
After thinking for a moment, Eunseok spoke.
“Then I want to go with the condition that this is the only time.”
“Lee Eunseok.”
“If an S-class esper really goes berserk, doesn’t it endanger the entire city?”
When Eunseok asked, looking straight at him, Choi Hanseo closed his mouth tightly. It was a silent affirmation.
“They might have intentionally created this situation to test me. But even so, when people’s lives and the safety of the city are at stake, I can’t just ignore it unconditionally. So let’s agree that I’ll go with the condition that it’s just this once. If the same thing happens next time, I’ll refuse regardless of the consequences.”
“…”
“The S-class esper belonging to the Ability Management Bureau, I know he’s only twenty years old. I can’t just let him die when I clearly have the ability to save him.”
Eunseok spoke in a firm tone.
