Episode 9.
Click.
The door to the guide room opened. Seoyul entered and sat in the familiar chair. Doun sat across from him and placed his hands on the table. Seoyul placed his remaining hand on top as well and thought,
‘They’re big.’
He hadn’t thought his own hands were particularly small, but he briefly wondered if espers just had larger hands before the thought vanished.
“Um. Then I’ll begin.”
When he asked cautiously, gauging Doun’s reaction, Doun nodded.
Hwaht!
As he began to infuse guiding energy, Doun closed his eyes. Because guiding was performed slowly, he had to maintain that state for quite a long time.
The teacher had explained that because there was a rank difference between them, guiding slowly would be good for both sides.
Seoyul listened diligently to those words and guided with all his might. He wondered if he was still doing a good job, but seeing Doun say nothing put him at ease.
‘Not saying anything is a sign that it’s fine.’
Seonjeong had told him that once. That Doun was the shy type and didn’t know how to speak honestly. He didn’t know much about shyness, but Doun certainly didn’t seem like an honest person.
Having swallowed pain for so long, perhaps he had learned not to voice negative emotions or positive emotions alike.
‘Am I… being even a little helpful?’
He was curious. Could he ask? If Seonjeong were here, she would have cheerfully pushed him forward and told him to ask.
‘Yeah. Let’s ask.’
He resolved that if he heard something unpleasant, he would find ways to improve. Because that would be the path that helped Doun.
For the entire two hours that he guided, Seoyul resolved and resolved again.
“Huu….”
When the guiding finally ended, Doun exhaled a long breath and opened his eyes. Seeing his eyelids lift, tension flooded in despite all his earlier resolutions.
But Seoyul mustered his courage again. Because he had decided to change.
“Um….”
At that cautious voice, Doun’s gaze reached Seoyul.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His heart began to beat loudly. Seoyul overcame that noise and opened his mouth.
“Am I… being helpful to you, Esper-nim?”
He had wondered what Doun was going to say.
Doun was at a loss for how to answer such an obvious question. Because of his personality, he didn’t want to answer readily, but if he treated this tender guide that way, it seemed like a dam of tears would burst immediately.
‘And I’d get nagged to death by everyone around here on top of that.’
That was all it was. Doun maintained an indifferent attitude and closed his eyes.
“You’re plenty helpful.”
“Really?”
What was it about this one sentence. His voice was so joyful he looked ready to leap. Wondering what on earth could be so good, Doun opened his eyes and saw a face smiling brightly.
His curly chestnut hair shook with joy, and his large pupils sparkled.
For a moment, Doun had a silly thought—his eyes are really pretty. Then, realizing he had never thought such a thing before, he flinched in surprise.
But something even more surprising happened next.
“What a relief.”
A spring sunlight settled upon his face as he smiled in relief. A face he had already thought cute—when he smiled like that, it was like brightly blooming spring flowers. His gaze went to the crescent-shaped curve of his eye tail, and his eyes filled with the sight of soft cheeks tinged red.
Then suddenly, he sensed something strange.
‘Uh…?’
The moment Doun recognized it, he was swept up in a massive tidal wave. An enormous energy was flooding in. In an instant, it swallowed Doun and swept through his entire body.
“Huk…!”
He collapsed helplessly under the tremendous shock and slammed his head onto the desk with a bang.
His face flushed instantly, and his breathing grew rapid. Unable to endure the enormous energy pouring through him for the first time, excessive pleasure coursed through his entire body.
Not knowing what to do or how to handle it, he could only gasp for rough breaths when the surprised guide’s voice reached him.
“E-Esper-nim? Are you alright?”
At that moment, the maddening sensation vanished in an instant. Like an impossibly quiet sea after a tidal wave had passed.
Doun was confused.
‘What…the…?’
It had happened too suddenly, leaving him dazed. But the vivid sensation that remained was proof that it hadn’t been an illusion.
Doun slowly raised his head. Before him was the face of the guide, laden with worry.
The noisy world had grown quiet, and his headache had disappeared. Before the silence of the world he tasted for the first time stood a guide claiming to be C-rank.
“E-Esper-nim?”
He gave the flustered guide’s hand another tight squeeze. But still, there was nothing he could feel. An ordinary C-rank guide. No, a slightly special C-rank guide.
But…
“You… you said you’re C-rank, right?”
Doun asked in a heavy voice. At that voice, Seoyul stiffened with a flinch.
After suddenly dropping his head and trembling, to ask about rank verification.
Could something have gone wrong with the guiding? Anxiety flooded in heavily. No, he was certain.
If it weren’t for that, what reason would Doun have to make such a scary face?
Seoyul wilted completely, drooping his shoulders as he answered.
“Y-yes….”
He thought a scolding would follow now. It shouldn’t be a big problem… Seoyul was afraid. But what leaped from Doun’s mouth was something completely different from his expectations.
“I don’t think that’s right.”
“…Yes…?”
* * *
“Waaack!”
Seoyul was in trouble. Suddenly, Doun had muttered as if declaring something and hoisted Seoyul onto his shoulder.
“Something seems wrong with your rank.”
“It can’t be wrong! I’m definitely C-rank. Please put me down quickly.”
“Stay still. Don’t make a fuss over getting one more examination.”
The problem wasn’t doing more; it was too embarrassing. He had been carried in this posture when he first came here, but he hadn’t wandered the hallways like this. But what about now!
Everyone’s gazes were focused on them, wondering what on earth was happening. Seoyul couldn’t raise his head from the sheer embarrassment.
Moreover, to say his rank was wrong. It was impossible.
‘The chief… seemed very busy.’
The people in the research wing were always busy. Most of them didn’t get proper sleep. Having recently learned that fact, Seoyul had resolved to avoid becoming a hindrance as much as possible.
But to break that resolve so immediately…
—Bang!
“Chief! Is the Chief here?”
Doun opened the lab door noisily and shouted. Seonjeong had apparently been taking a brief nap, sprawled on the sofa.
“Haaah. Ah, what is it. I told you to call me noona.”
Despite being half-asleep, she picked at the issue of address. But Doun, who would normally have exchanged a few more words, got straight to the point.
“Re-examine this kid’s rank.”
“What rank examination?”
Seonjeong muttered, baffled. Seoyul stood still, covering his face with both hands from the sheer embarrassment and shame.
“This kid is strange. I think his rank is wrong.”
“Huh? What do you take our lab for? Rank examinations are accurate.”
“Ah, really! Would I say this for no reason? Check once. He’s seriously weird. Or check me first. My condition is a bit strange too.”
Seonjeong looked at Doun, who was making such a fuss, and narrowed her eyes. He was certainly a prickly guy, but not someone who would torment someone with something like this, so she too found it puzzling.
The accuracy of rank examinations was 99.9%, so the probability of it being wrong was almost nonexistent. But seeing him make such a fuss, she figured something must be up, so she let out a deep sigh and said,
“Hah. Fine. Let’s examine you first. What exactly is strange?”
At those words, Doun’s face brightened. As if he had been waiting for this, he relayed his condition.
“First of all, my physical condition is too good.”
“….”
…Seonjeong couldn’t believe those words now. Doun always lied every day, saying his condition was good, not bad, tolerable, and so on.
He could fool others, but he couldn’t fool her, who possessed all the data. She thought to herself, here he was spouting such words despite always living with pain that would have driven anyone else mad long ago.
“Really! I’m not lying this time, I’m serious!”
Perhaps aware of that fact himself, Doun shouted urgently. Always putting on an air of composure, yet now that wall seemed to have crumbled, and various expressions were popping out.
Seeing that, it seemed something really was strange after all.
“Fine. I get it, so put Yul-ah down and lie over there.”
“Ah….”
Only then did Doun stop his excitement and gently set Seoyul down.
“I’m sorry. Chief….”
Seoyul apologized, unable to raise his head from the awkwardness. Seonjeong shook her head silently. What could that young one have done wrong?
If there was a problem, it was with that lunatic over there causing a scene for who knows what reason.
“My condition is really good. Right now the tinnitus is back and the headache is coming back too, but just a little while ago they had completely disappeared.”
“Tinnitus and headaches?”
Doun lay quietly on the examination table and continued his explanation.
“I was really surprised, you know? Suddenly an enormous amount of energy flooded in from him, and the instant it happened, my head went whoosh! and cleared up.”
“Hmm….”
Unable to believe those words, Seonjeong groaned and turned her head. Then she saw Seoyul shaking his head with a truly troubled expression.
He seemed to be hearing this for the first time. She wondered why on earth Doun was acting this way.
“Alright. Well… wait a moment.”
Unlike the rank examination, checking Doun’s condition didn’t take very long. Since quite a bit of accumulated data existed as well, the examination results soon appeared on the screen.
“Huh?”
“See! It’s true, right? My condition is amazing, isn’t it?”
Doun began chattering away like a child. But Seonjeong couldn’t believe the result even with her own eyes.
“You… were telling the truth?”
“Ah! Really! I told you it was true! Do you think I do nothing but lie every day?!”
Doun shouted, getting on edge. But nothing entered Seonjeong’s ears. Because his physical condition had really improved astonishingly.
Of course, compared to others, it wasn’t at a level where she could say it was good. But for someone who hadn’t received proper guiding, it was truly a miraculous figure.
If the examination results were like this, the actual physical sensation he felt must be even greater. That must be why he was throwing a tantrum like a child.
“Yul-ah.”
Seonjeong completely wiped away the annoyance from her face and spoke to Seoyul.
“Let’s do a precision examination.”
“…Yes?!”
Seoyul’s eyes widened in shock.