#085
Getting out of bed was a challenging process. When sleeping alone, it used to end with just jumping up as soon as he opened his eyes, but mornings with Choi Hanseo were completely different.
Whenever he tried to move to get up, he was pulled back into Choi Hanseo’s embrace several times. Sometimes this led to gentle kisses. In the end, Eunseok was only able to escape the bed after several intense embraces and kisses mixed with skinship.
Eunseok practically pushed Choi Hanseo out of the lodging, despite his obvious reluctance to leave. Choi Hanseo gave one last kiss before disappearing through the door. With his disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes, anyone could tell he had spent the night in Eunseok’s room. Eunseok prayed that Choi Hanseo wouldn’t encounter anyone on his way back to the penthouse.
After a quick wash and change into training clothes, Eunseok headed straight for the gym.
The stares that always clung to him when entering the gym felt particularly piercing today. His heart raced unnecessarily. Someone among them might have encountered Choi Hanseo on his way back.
Fortunately, as he began to move his body in earnest, these thoughts quickly faded. Perhaps because he had relieved both physical desires and negative emotions the night before, his body felt particularly light today. Unable to resist the urge for a more intense run, Eunseok steadily increased the speed of the treadmill.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The repetitive sound of his running shoes hitting the treadmill was quite invigorating. The monitor attached to the treadmill displayed news. After a few everyday news items, images of houses and studio apartment buildings destroyed by variants appeared on the screen. If he had seen this yesterday, his mood would have immediately sunk. But now, it was bearable.
Eunseok only got off the treadmill after running twenty minutes longer than usual. In fact, he felt like running on open ground rather than a treadmill, but considering safety, it was impossible to do so.
“Eunseok.”
As soon as he got off the treadmill, Ji Taeuk approached. He seemed to have been waiting for a while, not wanting to interrupt Eunseok’s run.
“Oh, hyung. Did you get back safely yesterday? How’s your condition?”
“Well, you know. My job is just to follow along, so what’s there to be tough? I’m just glad if I’m not in the way.”
Ji Taeuk said, shrugging his shoulders lightly. There was a hint of self-deprecation on his face.
Eunseok had already experienced Ji Taeuk’s amazing healing abilities several times. Although he might not be helpful in combat, his presence was essential and very important. But Eunseok didn’t bother to mention this out loud. Sometimes, clumsy comfort is worse than no comfort at all.
“From today, I’ll be going along on variant deployments too.”
“Oh, really?”
Ji Taeuk looked surprised.
“Wait. The Guild Master said that was okay?”
“Yes.”
Ji Taeuk slightly furrowed his brow at Eunseok’s simple answer, as if he couldn’t understand.
“Is that so surprising?”
“Well… yeah. I thought they’d wrap you up tight and never let you out after you were kidnapped this time. If it were me, I wouldn’t let my guide out of the guild building at all if they went through something like that.”
Having said that, Ji Taeuk glanced at Eunseok’s expression and added:
“I mean, of course, you’re incredibly strong.”
“Still, I’m aware that I need to be careful because I’m a guide.”
“Yeah. Well, I guess that’s good… Anyway. You’re a precious S-class guide, so you always need to be careful.”
Ji Taeuk advised worriedly.
Previously, Eunseok’s pride might have been somewhat hurt by those words that seemed to treat him as weak. But not anymore. Eunseok now firmly accepted the reality that he had become an appetizing prey. He had no choice but to after being exposed to Ivan’s touch full of lust and desire. He really needed to be careful.
“Don’t worry. Now I’ll stick close to the team members even when I go out.”
“Yeah.”
Ji Taeuk nodded strongly, as if he thought it was a good idea.
Today’s first guiding session was with Lim Jihyeok, the tanker from the 2nd combat team.
“Um, Guide Lee. Could we finish the guiding a bit earlier today?”
Lim Jihyeok said as soon as he sat down.
“Do you have something going on?”
“Ah, well. We have a B-class gate raid scheduled. We were supposed to leave right away this morning, but my numbers were high, so we decided to just get guiding and leave immediately.”
“Didn’t you go out to deal with variants yesterday?”
“Yes. There are some gates we couldn’t handle because we were busy dealing with variants.”
Eunseok slightly furrowed his brow. Fatigue was clearly visible on Lim Jihyeok’s face, who had likely been dealing with variants for several days straight. It wasn’t just physical fatigue, but considerable mental fatigue as well.
“Do you have to raid today? You look too tired.”
It wasn’t right for a combatant to be so enveloped in fatigue when approaching a mission. Especially for a tanker who always leads in gate raids.
“I’d love to rest if I could… But the situation is similar all across the country. If we delay for a day and another variant pops up, we’d have to deploy, and then the gate might end up breaking. So we have to clear them quickly whenever we get a chance, even if it’s a bit tough.”
Eunseok grasped Lim Jihyeok’s forearm deeply on the desk. As he started guiding, matching his hand and arm, Lim Jihyeok’s furrowed brow relaxed.
Normally, Eunseok would have adjusted the guiding intensity appropriately. Even for Choi Hanseo, who was also S-class, strong guiding caused physical and mental pleasure responses. It was even more so for lower-ranked hunters. So he had been adjusting the guiding intensity appropriately.
But now, as per Lim Jihyeok’s request, it was a situation where he needed to deploy immediately. Eunseok slowly increased the guiding intensity. As expected, Lim Jihyeok’s pupils dilated widely as if he had taken some drug. The arm and hand he was holding trembled slightly, showing a pleasure response.
“I’m glad you’re here, Guide Lee. Because of my wavelength, there’s no other guide with a matching rate… If it weren’t for you, I probably would have had to skip today’s deployment too.”
Lim Jihyeok tried to engage in conversation slowly, as if trying to control his physical and mental responses. He was trying his best to maintain his rationality.
“I’m glad I could help. You’re working hard.”
Eunseok responded to his conversation, pretending not to notice Lim Jihyeok’s pleasure response.
The guiding ended in about 20 minutes. Perhaps because of the strong guiding, Lim Jihyeok’s numbers were at zero.
Lim Jihyeok looked at the numbers on his watch with curious eyes.
“It’s… zero.”
Amazement flickered in Lim Jihyeok’s eyes as he muttered softly.
“Be careful out there.”
Eunseok greeted him, watching Lim Jihyeok swept up in the aftermath of the guiding. Focus returned to Lim Jihyeok’s eyes, which had been blank for a moment.
“Yes… yes. I’ll be back safely. Thank you, Guide Lee.”
Lim Jihyeok, having regained his senses, bowed his head in greeting. Eunseok saw him off with a smiling face.
The next appointment was with Ji Taeuk. There was about an hour and a half left until then. Eunseok sat at his desk and opened his laptop.
Apostles of the End.
When he typed in the search term, a list of results appeared. However, there was no information about the Apostles of the End, just games or other news with the words “end” or “apostle” in them. It’s very rare in this day and age for information not to be found on the internet. It meant that the existence of the organization called Apostles of the End was still a high-level confidential matter.
Intentionally causing variants not only troubles hunters but also leads to human and property damage for ordinary people. It was clearly an act of terrorism.
Usually, terrorists take extreme actions to push through their philosophy and claims. By carrying out terrorism, they draw people’s attention and use that opportunity to put forward their claims or demands. However, this group called the Apostles of the End hadn’t done anything like that yet. Or… maybe their goal was simply the end itself, just as their name suggested. That would make them the most dangerous kind.
After staring blankly at the search results for a moment, Eunseok closed his laptop and got up.
As he entered the weapons shop, a familiar face approached with a smile. It was Lim Gyucheol, the information agent of Baekho Guild.
