#082
Eunseok rested for nearly four days at Choi Hanseo’s penthouse. Though his body recovered quickly, it was due to Choi Hanseo’s claim that he had informed others that Eunseok was still recovering.
Choi Hanseo took care of Eunseok with excessive devotion. Even when Eunseok expressed his discomfort, Hanseo wouldn’t listen. He simply enjoyed tending to Eunseok by his side.
The one fortunate thing was that Choi Hanseo didn’t make any sexual advances. It seemed he had some conscience after all.
In any case, after barely enduring for four days, Eunseok declared he couldn’t take it anymore. Choi Hanseo, sensing Eunseok’s patience had reached its limit, willingly let him leave the penthouse.
Returning to his lodgings after several days felt strangely unfamiliar. He had become too accustomed to Choi Hanseo’s place in just a few days.
Eunseok asked Secretary Kim to open his guiding appointments for the day. He changed his clothes and headed straight to the gym. He wanted to put some tension back into his body after resting for several days.
As he entered the gym, everyone’s attention immediately turned to him. A few people stopped their workouts and approached Eunseok.
“Eunseok!”
“Guide Lee.”
“Guide Lee Eunseok.”
Not just Ji Taeuk, Moon Bora, and Han Cheolyong, but also a few members from the 2nd Combat Team joined them.
“Are you feeling better now?” Ji Taeuk asked first. Everyone perked up their ears.
“Yes. It was just a mild cold. I’m fine now after getting plenty of rest.”
“I heard from Taeuk,” Han Cheolyong said with a stern face. “That Russian bastard crushed both your arms. And your ribs were all broken… You must have suffered a lot.”
He seemed to feel guilty for not protecting Eunseok until now. Moon Bora appeared to feel the same way. Usually the first to speak up, she was busy examining Eunseok’s condition with apologetic eyes.
“Noona. Let me check your levels.”
Ignoring Moon Bora’s gaze, Eunseok suddenly held out his hand. Moon Bora hesitated for a moment before showing her wrist. Orange. The level was quite high.
“How many days have you gone without guiding?”
“Well… It’s not that urgent at this level.”
“What about you, Taeuk hyung?”
“Oh, I received guiding. But it couldn’t lower my levels as much as when you do it.”
Ji Taeuk said with a grin.
“I’ll be working at the guiding room from today, so please make appointments if you need to. Especially you, Bora noona.”
“Oh, okay.”
Moon Bora nodded awkwardly. There was no point in saying more in this situation. Eunseok lightly patted Moon Bora’s shoulder and headed for the treadmill.
Since it had been a few days, Eunseok finished his workout with just a light warm-up. He felt people’s gazes on him throughout his exercise but completely ignored them. After returning to his lodgings and taking a shower, Eunseok went straight to the guiding room. Fortunately, the first appointment was with Moon Bora.
“I’m sorry, Eunseok. When the guild leader wasn’t around, I should have protected your safety.”
Moon Bora apologized as soon as they started guiding, holding hands.
“You don’t need to apologize, noona. It was my lack of awareness as a guide. From now on, I’ll stick close to you, so don’t worry.”
Eunseok said jokingly, but Moon Bora’s expression didn’t fully brighten. It seemed she had seen how badly beaten Eunseok was by Ivan.
“Anyway, if it weren’t for you, noona, things could have been much worse. Ivan was really trying to break my neck at that moment.”
If Moon Bora hadn’t stabbed Ivan with her sword at that moment, Eunseok would have died without even putting up a proper fight. Or he might have ended up living as a guiding machine with full-body paralysis.
“Thank you, noona.”
When Eunseok thanked her with a serious face, Moon Bora’s expression finally softened.
“By the way, things are in an uproar,” Moon Bora said with a more relaxed face, teasingly.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the internet. There was already your official fan cafe, and now there’s a new couple fan cafe for you and the guild leader. The couple fan cafe has a unique name, you know? Zero Point. I think they named it after seeing the guild leader’s 0% level in the news.”
“…”
“You’re dating, right?”
“Well…”
Eunseok couldn’t bring himself to admit it and gave an ambiguous answer.
“Come on, you are dating. Knowing your personality, I don’t think you’d have such a deep relationship with someone you’re not dating.”
Moon Bora used a euphemism instead of the direct word “sex.”
“Well…”
Eunseok nodded slightly, hiding his embarrassment. Moon Bora laughed dejectedly.
“That guild leader is really lucky. First, an S-class guide appears in Korea, then he successfully recruits you into the guild, and on top of that, he even becomes your boyfriend. Did he save a country in his past life or something?”
Moon Bora continued talking about the possibility of Choi Hanseo having saved a country in his past life until the end of the guiding session.
“Are you feeling better now?”
Han Cheolyong, the next appointment after Moon Bora, fortunately didn’t show much interest in Eunseok’s relationship with Choi Hanseo. Or at least, he didn’t show it outwardly if he had any interest.
“Yes. Taeuk hyung healed me completely. It was just a mild cold that I made a fuss about. It was also a situation where I needed to pretend to be sick for a few days.”
“That’s a relief. Anyway… you’ve been through a lot.”
“By the way, how’s the mutant situation since then?”
Eunseok asked about something he hadn’t had the chance to ask Moon Bora. It was a matter he had been curious about the entire time he was cooped up in Choi Hanseo’s penthouse.
Eunseok had suspected that the recent consecutive appearances of mutants were bait set by the Russian side to lure him out. And if that was true, the mutant appearances should have almost disappeared by now.
“Actually, the 2nd Combat Team went out to deal with a mutant early this morning. Yesterday, our 1st Combat Team went out too.”
“If that’s the case, it’s likely that the magic stone incident wasn’t Russia’s doing.”
Eunseok muttered with furrowed brows.
“Honestly, when you were kidnapped, I suspected that the Russian side might have scattered magic stones to lure you out. But seeing that the frequency of mutant appearances hasn’t decreased since then…”
“There must be another force at work.”
When Eunseok stated this conclusively, Han Cheolyong nodded heavily.
After finishing all his guiding sessions, Eunseok headed to the weapon shop. He had lost all his armor and weapons during the kidnapping. Eunseok was more furious about losing all his armor and weapons than being beaten to a pulp by Ivan.
The one fortunate thing was that the 7 million dollars in compensation that Choi Hanseo had offered to the Russian side had been deposited directly into Eunseok’s bank account. That was more than enough money to buy new weapons and armor and still have plenty left over.
Upon entering the weapon shop, Eunseok first searched for an employee with his eyes.
“Welcome.”
An employee in a suit approached and greeted him kindly. Of course, it wasn’t the employee he had expected.
It made sense. There was no way he would still be here with a fake identity after his true identity had been exposed…
“Ah, Guide Lee Eunseok. Are you here to purchase new armor and weapons?”
The fake employee, or rather Lim Gyucheol, approached with a smiling face.
“…You’re still here?”
Eunseok looked at Lim Gyucheol with bewildered eyes. Lim Gyucheol gestured for the new employee to leave. Then he smiled at Eunseok.
“What’s your real identity?”
Once they were alone, Eunseok asked without hesitation.
At first, he had thought Gyucheol was just an internal spy for the Russian side who had cooperated with the kidnapping. But considering how he had appeared later to support Moon Bora, and the fact that Choi Hanseo had left him alone, he was probably a double agent. This man must have contributed to Choi Hanseo’s timely arrival for the rescue.
“Then I should introduce myself properly. I’m Lim Gyucheol from the Information Department of the Baekho Guild. Ah, of course, that’s an alias.”
“So I should think of you as a spy for the Baekho Guild.”
“Precisely.”
“Did you know about the Russian side’s kidnapping plan in advance and just let it happen?”
Eunseok immediately confronted Lim Gyucheol. Despite the difficult questioning, the smile on Lim Gyucheol’s face didn’t fade.
“It’s complicated if I explain in detail. However, I didn’t expect things to get so twisted. The Russians are very cautious, prudent, and meticulous. That was the only timing I could barely catch.”
“Did the guild leader also know I was going to be kidnapped?”
Eunseok stared into Lim Gyucheol’s eyes for a moment before asking.
“There have always been forces trying to infiltrate the guild to kidnap Guide Lee Eunseok. The guild leader always waited until evidence was secured and then crushed them one by one at the decisive moment. But as I said earlier, the timing was bad this time. The Russians made their move before we could catch their tail. If I hadn’t continued to cooperate, the guild leader wouldn’t have been able to catch up at the last moment.”
“…Alright, now please show me some armor. As you know, I need to get everything new.”
Eunseok stopped questioning Lim Gyucheol and said. Lim Gyucheol quickly returned to his role as a weapon shop employee and began his guidance.
Choi Hanseo had been finding and crushing those who tried to kidnap Eunseok one by one. This time, things had twisted strangely, resulting in an actual kidnapping.
Eunseok remembered times when Choi Hanseo’s levels would spike for no apparent reason. At the time, Eunseok had thought Choi Hanseo was deliberately raising his levels just to receive guiding. But that wasn’t it. Choi Hanseo had been busy running around behind the scenes, trying to protect Eunseok.
Eunseok pressed his chest with one hand while listening to Lim Gyucheol busily introducing armor.
Since losing his family and ending up in an orphanage until now, Eunseok had always been alone, gritting his teeth and struggling to protect himself. No one had protected Eunseok. Eunseok himself didn’t want to be protected or rely on anyone. But then Choi Hanseo appeared.
It felt very unfamiliar and strange. It was a bit uncomfortable, but on the other hand…
“Guide Lee Eunseok?”
Lim Gyucheol called out in a puzzled voice to Eunseok, who was standing there absentmindedly.
“I’ll take that one.”
Eunseok pointed at the armor that Lim Gyucheol had been explaining in detail, as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, he felt like seeing Choi Hanseo.
