Chapter 9
Recalling what Seo Ijae’s younger sibling had said, Goeun nodded without realizing it, resonating completely with that clear, ringing voice that had shouted, “Big Brother has a bad personality, so he has no friends!”
“Mr. Seo Ijae, there sure are a lot of things you ‘can’t’ do. Just what is it this time that you ‘can’t’ do? Other people spend years preparing to join the Seongun Group and repeatedly fail.”
This time, it was a hastily arranged special recruitment to select Goeun’s pair Guide, so the process had been greatly simplified, but the actual regular recruitment had quite a few stages to go through.
After passing the first round of document screening, one had to undergo a second round of aptitude tests, a third round of written exams, a fourth round of practical guiding tests, and finally pass the last interview to become a Seongun Group-affiliated Guide.
And yet, even though they were offering to hire him into Seongun based on matching rate alone without such a complicated process, he kept saying it couldn’t be done. Goeun felt so frustrated she thought she might burst. Furthermore, her Esper ability, influenced by her emotions, began to heat up her entire body.
“Raising a Guide’s rank isn’t something that happens overnight. Then during that time, I won’t be able to work, so naturally, I’ll have no income.”
“If money is the problem, I’ll pay you a salary during the training period.”
“…Must be nice. Having a lot of money.”
“You can be sarcastic all you want. I’m saying this because I genuinely need you, Mr. Seo Ijae.”
Goeun felt desperate enough to grab even the hem of Seo Ijae’s pants. There was no need to go as far as America; a Guide with a perfect matching rate was right before her eyes. She couldn’t let him slip away so futilely.
“The fact that I’d have to keep meeting you regularly, Ms. I Goeun, to raise my rank is another issue.”
“We can meet.”
“I don’t want to.”
“What, why? Why do you dislike me? Is it because I’m not your type, Mr. Seo Ijae? Isn’t this good enough?”
“It’s not that kind of problem……”
If not that, then what the hell was the problem?
Objectively speaking, the appearance of “I Goeun” in the novel was better than she had thought.
When she had first looked in the mirror, it had been right after possession, and she’d been too flustered to look closely. After examining it slowly later, Goeun had thought so. It was an appearance befitting the female protagonist’s younger sister.
As befitting a romance novel’s female protagonist, Naeun was depicted as possessing a beautiful appearance in the story, and “I Goeun” was a younger sister who looked very much like her.
So it was no wonder that when she had been going around campus looking for Seo Ijae, the men had answered her so kindly and engaged in long conversations.
Even when talking with Seo Ijae at the cafe, while their mouths spoke about Seo Ijae, their eyes had been busy staring at Goeun.
Goeun hadn’t been unaware of those gazes. Having never received such blatant stares in her life, she felt them all the more intensely. There had been a time when she was little and had tagged along to her friend’s older sister’s school judo club; the coach had looked at her with similar eyes, but the stickiness had been different.
“F-Ranks can’t even enter a Gate. They’d be instantly killed at the entrance the moment they went in.”
“We could just go to low-rank Gates, and I could protect you……”
“I understand that you haven’t awakened yet, so you can’t gauge your own ability. But I’ve seen it.”
“…What did you see?”
As if recalling an unpleasant memory, the corners of Ijae’s eyes trembled slightly.
“A Guide dying like a dog while guiding a rampaging high-rank Esper.”
“……”
“No matter how incredible an Esper you are, if someone like you goes on a rampage, it’s over. Furthermore, Ms. I Goeun, you are S-Rank, and I am F-Rank, so guiding is out of the question, isn’t it? I’d die pushing my limit trying to guide you, and you’d die unable to overcome that power because you couldn’t receive guiding.”
So Seo Ijae knew how to speak at length too.
Since she hadn’t seen him speak at length throughout their conversation, Goeun simply stared blankly at his face, perhaps finding him fascinating.
Ijae glanced at Goeun and let out a sigh.
“Thank you for the one million won. I have to go to my part-time job, so I’ll be leaving first.”
“Part-time… again? I already paid you a whole day’s sales from the chicken restaurant.”
“It’s the next part-time job after the chicken restaurant. It’s time for me to clock in.”
“Just how many part-time jobs do you work?”
Surprised by the fact that he still had to go work a part-time job despite all this, Goeun asked in astonishment.
Even though he worked himself to death at part-time jobs like this, he said he didn’t want to become her pair Guide. Even though it was an annual salary that would earn a hundred times more than his part-time monthly wages. Did that mean Seo Ijae refused because he was afraid of dying? If he was refusing because of his younger siblings, his position was somewhat understandable.
“…To an extent that a princess riding around in a foreign car with a chauffeur couldn’t even imagine.”
Again. He was being sarcastic again.
Something others couldn’t see seemed to be tangled up tightly inside that large frame. Especially regarding money. As it turned out, the way he had been looking at Goeun since the cafe hadn’t been entirely kind after all.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Seo Ijae!”
In the end, Ijae left the matching test room before Goeun could even stop him.
The test machine operator had stepped away after telling them the results, telling them to talk comfortably, so Goeun, left alone, silently stared at the door.
“…I’m going crazy. Why is he so cold? No wonder he has no friends!”
Every time she said something, wasn’t it “can’t,” “don’t want to,” “impossible”? And when she tried to talk, hadn’t he said a rich young lady would never understand?
In the end, what Goeun had been holding back burst out, and she began screaming at the top of her lungs in a tantrum inside the empty test room.
“You should listen to someone until the end! Did I ask you to guide me for free? I’m offering money! I said I’d pay!”
Or was he acting like this because her face really wasn’t his type?
In truth, she didn’t know how much the company’s Guide Making system could raise Ijae’s rank. Most cases were raising from D to B, or from C to A. S-Rank was an innate trait, so there were limits to what Making alone could do.
“An F is……”
There were no precedents.
After confirming that the last remaining applicant’s rank was F, Goeun had immediately thought of Guide Making. As Ijae said, Goeun knew very well that an F-Rank guiding an S-Rank was nonsensical.
In fact, Naeun, who was currently B-Rank, had told Goeun such a thing before. When the difference was about one rank, it was difficult but possible, but if the ranks differed by two or more stages, it placed enormous strain on both the Guide and the Esper.
But an S-Rank Esper and an F-Rank Guide. The difference was as vast as heaven and earth. It wasn’t strange that Ijae was so terrified.
*But I can’t just let Seo Ijae go like this.*
She had met countless Guides through the special recruitment, but she couldn’t find anyone whose energy wavelength matched as well as Ijae’s. Just having Ijae near her made breathing much easier.
She had experienced it through Naeun as well, but only after meeting Ijae did Goeun realize more keenly why the Espers in the novel had been so desperate for a Guide who matched them.
It was still true now. Although Seo Ijae had left quite a while ago, Goeun’s head was filled with nothing but thoughts of Seo Ijae. He hadn’t left her.
She had to somehow gain Seo Ijae’s trust and win him over.
If he needed money, she would give him loads of it, and if he feared death—
“I just… have to try harder, I guess.”
Goeun herself was fated to die in just three months if she couldn’t find her pair Guide, so she didn’t have any immediate solutions right now. Still, Yeorye, who knew the most about Guides in this world, was present as her grandmother, so if she received help, surely something could be done?
“Ah……. I have to find out what part-time jobs Seo Ijae works again.”
She should have asked where his part-time job was.
Goeun, who had been planning her next move, grabbed her head and let out a groan of anguish.
* * *
“Mr. Seo Ijae.”
“What would you like to order?”
“I’ll take the Seongun Group Guide Making.”
After arduous effort, she had found where Ijae worked on weekday afternoons. It was a large franchise cafe near Ijae’s university. The previous chicken restaurant job had merely been a substitute schedule he’d taken at the owner’s request.
Curious about just how many part-time jobs Ijae worked, Goeun had found them all.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons were at the cafe. Thursday and Friday at the chicken restaurant. His weekend work changed quite often, but recently it was construction site cleanup. When his weekend schedule was open, it was a logistics center. At the convenience store, he filled in for weekday night shifts when someone called in sick. During vacation season, he worked a government work-study program during what would normally be class hours. All of these were the part-time jobs Seo Ijae currently worked.
On top of that, during the semester, he regularly attended university and took classes, paying his tuition with scholarships. At this point, one had to wonder when he even slept.
“If you aren’t placing an order, I’ll help the next customer.”
He didn’t even ask how she had found this place. Ijae was pretending thoroughly not to know Goeun. Even though there was no one behind Goeun, he avoided her gaze, saying he would help the next customer.
“No, I’ll start with, um, one iced Americano. No, one hundred cups. Please give me one hundred cups.”
When Goeun blurted out a rather excessive quantity in her haste to stop Ijae, his expression darkened drastically. The other employees making drinks behind Ijae also glanced at the counter, checking each other’s reactions at the mention of one hundred cups.
“One hundred cups, please. Iced Americanos.”
“…Are you joking with me right now?”
“Joking? I’m being very serious right now?”
Ijae sighed in disbelief. “Hah.”
“What part of this is serious……”
“What are this store’s daily sales?”
“Why on earth would a customer ask such a thing?”
“To make the store close quickly so I can get you off work, Mr. Seo Ijae. So you can receive Guide Making.”
Goeun smiled broadly, trying to put on a kind face. She had done so to leave even a slightly good impression, but if anything, it had the opposite effect, and Ijae’s brow furrowed mercilessly. Goeun looked at Ijae’s brow, hidden by his bangs, and thought. Was there ever a day when that brow was smooth?
“This isn’t a system where we close just because we have high sales.”