Episode 6.
“I’m totally fine right now, you know?”
Dowoon leaned crookedly against the door, opening his mouth in dissatisfaction.
“Fine my foot. If I tell you to come, hurry up. Why are you dawdling like this?”
Seonjeong scolded Dowoon like that and began to rattle off nagging complaints. To Seoyul, he still seemed scary, yet Seonjeong continued to treat him without reserve.
“If I say I’m fine, then I’m fine. Why is Manager Lee deciding that?”
“What? Call me noona.”
“You have no shame?”
“Or call me Manager Lee. Am I your friend?!”
Seeing them even exchange light jokes, they truly looked close. Seoyul stared blankly at that sight, thinking one thing.
‘I’m jealous…….’
He wished he could overcome his trauma quickly and feel more at ease too.
“Sit down quickly.”
“Ah, why are you like this!”
Dowoon snapped irritably but sat down obediently. Seonjeong skillfully stripped off his t-shirt and began sticking patches here and there.
It seemed she was going to record what kind of reactions occurred during guiding.
“Yul-ah, come quickly.”
A pair of pupils followed her gesture exactly. His body stiffened at that gaze, but he dragged his feet over at the urging voice.
‘Where did all that vigor from a moment ago go, Seoyul!’
He urged himself, steeling his mind. However, he kept glancing around because of the still-stinging gaze.
Dowoon kept his gaze on him like that, then furrowed his brow and opened his mouth.
“Who?”
“…….”
“…….”
Both Seonjeong and Seoyul fell silent.
Even though quite some time had passed, he didn't recognize him? Seoyul's eyes grew moist and blurry. Seonjeong saw that and sent a fierce hand strike toward him.
Smack!
“Ugh.”
“I brought him here saying he’s your Guide. What? Who?! You wanna die?”
“Ah…….”
Only then did Dowoon recall one memory. He was bad at remembering people's faces to begin with, but the atmosphere around him had completely changed, so he hadn't recognized him.
Back then he had looked like a pitiful squirrel wandering the forest for days, unable to gather acorns, but now he looked like a squirrel that had eaten its fill and was plump and round.
Though it was the same squirrel, the difference felt so stark that he found it newly fascinating.
“I—I’m called Seoyul, Esper-nim. Thank you so much for helping me that day.”
Seoyul bowed deeply at the waist, conveying his thanks. It couldn't be helped that Dowoon didn't remember him, but his gratitude was a separate matter.
But Dowoon muttered in a voice that showed he still wasn't interested.
“Ah…… so your name is Seoyul.”
Smack!
“Ugh…….”
At that indifferent remark, another sharp blow flew in. Dowoon scrunched up his face, but Seonjeong quickly poked his side, wondering what this indifferent Esper was going to do later if he kept this up.
Then, he reluctantly opened his mouth.
“Fine. I’m Cha Dowoon.”
“Yes! P-please take care of me!”
When the extremely nervous Seoyul opened his mouth, Dowoon echoed back as if puzzled.
“Take care of you? Of what?”
“What do you mean, what. Guiding, of course!”
The answer came from Seonjeong.
“We have to check if he can guide you!”
“Ah…… right. So you've learned it now?”
Only then did Dowoon seem to recall the relevant information, the corner of his lips lifting slightly. Seoyul blushed again, embarrassed by that expression.
Still, he was happy that Dowoon had at least remembered that fact.
‘To think he remembered it all this time.’
He looked as though he had completely forgotten the fact that he had blanked on the very person just moments ago.
Seonjeong's worry took precedence, wondering if that cute creature whose expressions were all too readable and Dowoon would be able to get along.
But what was the point of worrying now? She figured they should do the examination first.
“Yul-ah. Just do it like you learned. No need to overdo it. Dowoon's energy is rough, so if something feels off, take your hands off immediately. Got it?”
“Yes. I’m fine! I can do it!”
“Oh my. What a good boy.”
Seeing him ball his tiny fists even made her feel good without realizing it. But Dowoon was merely bewildered, wondering what on earth this was all about.
To him, she always screamed like an evil spirit, yet to the man introduced as Seoyul she was acting so sweetly it was creepy.
‘Has she finally gone crazy?’
It was a valid thought for Dowoon, but she read his impertinent thought and once again sent a fierce hand strike.
Smack!
“Ah, seriously!”
“You don’t do anything. Got it?”
It didn't hurt much, but being hit continuously soured his mood. However, he couldn't rebel any further. After all, she was one of the people who cherished him as much as Cha Munjin did.
“I won’t do anything! I said I won’t!”
Dowoon shouted in annoyance and held out his right hand. Seoyul looked at the large hand held out to him once again, feeling his heart pound.
Could he do it?
‘You can do it.’
He forcibly pushed aside the surging anxiety and tightly grasped it with both hands. The body temperature, still hotter than an ordinary person's, seemed like it would burn the other person too.
‘Could this be because he couldn't receive guiding either?’
Thinking that, he slowly began to flow energy into him.
Though they were both called “energy,” the energy used by Espers and Guides had distinctly different properties.
When Espers used their energy, remnants were left behind, and if those residues weren't properly removed, they would pile up and accumulate inside the Esper's body, tangling into a mess.
It was the principle that a Guide's energy automatically removed those remnants, so Guides didn't really know whether the guiding was going well or not.
He had heard that once you accumulated enough experience you could get a general sense, but for Seoyul, who was doing this for the first time, it was nothing but anxiety.
So he raised his head, thinking he should at least check Dowoon's complexion.
“Huh……?”
Before him was Dowoon with a face completely different from what he had imagined. His pupils were dilated as if greatly shocked, and he was staring fixedly at Seoyul, shooting a confused gaze.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from that vibrant expression for about three seconds. Then, feeling he had stared too intensely, he hurriedly lowered his face.
His face flushed for no reason.
‘Ugh.’
He was bewildered, wondering if it was because of the still-pouring gaze. Why was he looking at him with such an expression, and how long was he going to keep staring?
All sorts of thoughts tangled noisily inside Seoyul's head.
‘Hoo.’
Meanwhile, Seonjeong, who had been checking Dowoon's real-time chart, was surprised at the unexpected harvest. It was because he hadn't fainted even though Seoyul was guiding him.
‘So all that suffering until now was worth it. Worth it indeed.’
Though they would have to do more examinations to know about efficiency and such, this was already something. Still, Seonjeong asked Seoyul just in case.
“Yul-ah. Are you okay? It doesn't hurt when you're guiding, does it?”
“Yes. It doesn't…… seem to hurt.”
Seoyul answered without still being able to raise his head. Wondering why, she turned her head and saw Dowoon making a rather funny face.
“Oh my, he's completely out of it. Feels good, right? It feels good.”
Of course it felt good. Wasn't this the first proper guiding he'd ever received in his life? His mind was probably quite complicated.
And her prediction was exactly on the mark.
‘This is…… guiding?’
Even when taking guiding medicine, he had felt good enough, but he hadn't known it was like this. Even though he was only C-Class, he had thought he could survive on medicine alone, and sometimes he had even felt a small sense of liberation.
But even at the same C-Class, receiving real guiding was on another dimension. The Guide's energy traveled throughout his whole body, smoothing out tangled places. It came with such a refreshing sensation that it was almost bewildering.
And on top of that…….
‘This is that person.’
The owner of the guiding medicine he had been consuming like finding an oasis in a desert all this time.
The moment he realized that fact, his whole body began to boil with the ecstasy and swelling emotion of having found his Guide. His face flushed and his body began growing hot.
His body temperature had already been on the high side, but this heat was a different kind of heat.
“Damn it.”
Bang!
In the end, Dowoon slammed his head onto the table and clenched his teeth. At the sound, the Guide flinched, but Dowoon had no leeway to care about him.
And no wonder, because his body wasn't moving according to his will. Especially, his lower half.
‘What is this. What the hell!’
It was common knowledge that receiving guiding could also arouse sexual desire. But he hadn't known it would react this intensely.
Dowoon was more embarrassed than ever. And there was another, bigger problem.
‘Damn. Damn. Damn.’
I don't want to let go.
Yes. The real problem lay in his own state of mind—thinking that even in this situation, he didn't want to let go of the small hand held in his palm.
* * *
Seonjeong was happy.
Seoyul was happy too.
Dowoon didn't show it well, but he seemed quite pleased too.
“It's not just that it's okay—he liked it so much he couldn't even raise his head.”
Seonjeong giggled and chatted making Dowoon the topic. Perhaps because she had watched him for so long, he seemed to look somehow different.
But to Seoyul, it looked far from an expression of liking, so he wasn't confident at all.
“……Really? I’m only C-Class, so would the Esper really like it?”
“Of course! So what if you're C-Class! It's his first time receiving proper guiding, so of course it feels good. To an Esper, guiding is like a drug!”
“A-a drug?”
Hearing the strong metaphor, Seoyul flinched and his shoulders trembled. His pupils shook aimlessly. Seonjeong became cheerful again at that cute and innocent reaction.
“That's right. A powerful drug that once you start tasting, you can't quit!”
She even played a prank on him, going “Waak!” at him while he was frozen in surprise, and his even more startled body collapsed onto the sofa with a short scream.
“Uwaha!”
She burst into cheerful laughter at the sight. Seoyul only then realized he was being teased and puffed out his cheeks in dissatisfaction.
“Don't tease me.”
“I'm not teasing you. He's probably trembling with his hands right about now. Hesitating over whether to come see you or not.”
A Cha Dowoon who was in a state of constant worry?
Seoyul couldn't easily picture such an appearance. And the idea that he was doing so because of him—he thought it was absurd.
“Oh? You don't believe me?”
She spoke again with a cheerful laugh.
“Want to bet? I bet that Cha Dowoon will come huffing and puffing before the day is out.”
“Huh? A bet? How could we…….”
A bet. He had no intention of doing something like that with Dowoon as the subject. Not only was it rude, but he also believed it was truly absurd.
So he couldn't answer easily and just laughed awkwardly. But as if to mock him, someone noisily opened the door and came inside.
“Huh?”
Hair, disheveled and untended.
The corners of his eyes drawn up sharply, seeming furious.
Clothes heavily wrinkled together with rough breathing.
There stood Dowoon, truly huffing and puffing.