By Zephyria 
Whoooosh.
As planned, Cha Si-yoon shot a gust of wind, pushing me far away.
My body soared up, flying in the air for a moment. In that instant, I saw the cockroach monster’s head twitch briefly, seemingly disappointed that a prey had escaped.
But once I flew far enough to disappear from its sight, it seemed to forget about me, focusing on the remaining Espers.
Seriously, that thing’s got a three-second memory.
‘Wow, this really brings back old memories.’
It was like this back then too. Jae-ha used his telekinesis to lift me up and urgently throw me to safety.
I almost got a concussion from hitting my face on a rock, but in the end, I survived, and it remained a somewhat beautiful memory.
Cha Si-yoon’s skills weren’t bad either. If Jae-ha had thrown me over a kilometer, this guy sent me flying about 750 meters, away from the Roach Teacher monster.
Thud.
Since it was a desert with sand everywhere, it didn’t hurt much when I landed.
I jumped up and watched the young Esper’s performance.
Right now, there was nothing I could do, so I was self-brainwashing myself into being a weak C-class Guide, nervously biting my nails.
“This is a disaster. What should we do? I’m a Guide, so I don’t have the ability to attack monsters.”
Potato sniped from the side.
[ Your acting is terrible. ]
‘Shut up.’
Ignoring Potato’s words, I focused my attention on the Espers.
Just before they reached the brink of the antlion pit, Ra Ho-yeon, the leader, turned around, followed by the others.
“Attack!”
A dazzling collection of power, a mix of water, fire, wind, and light, poured out from their hands.
“Fire!”
It was an attack aimed at the cockroach monster’s head. The solid pillar of energy, drawn out like a stream of water from a hose, struck the cockroach monster’s face accurately.
Sizzle.
It smelled like grilling meat.
-Kieeeeeek!
‘Oh. They blocked the monster’s vision without me even telling them to?’
Excellent choice. If possible, they should blind it completely so that it would go even more berserk and try to devour them alive.
I watched them with a leisurely attitude.
-Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Smoke rose from the cockroach monster’s face. A liquid, whether pus or bodily fluid, poured down from under its head.
Potato, who had been watching with sharp eyes, shouted.
[ The cockroach’s eyes are blinded! ]
Good, that’s great.
[ Unlike its hard exoskeleton, the eye area must be soft. ]
‘Probably. It would be too much to protect the eyes as well.’
-Hiss! Hiss!
In that moment when the suffering cockroach took a slight step back.
Seo Yun-chae, who had been hesitating, screamed.
“Y-y-you moronic, filthy bug! Are you trying to run away because you’re scared of us?!”
-……Hiss!
Oh. One of the Roach Teacher’s legs twitched just now. Good aggro.
Seo Yun-chae, who seemed to have noticed the movement, became even bolder and blurted out.
“Stupid bastard! What’s the point of being so big? How long will it take you to hunt us down with that? Your brain must be the size of a walnut. You dim-witted monster!”
-…Hiss, Hiss, Hiss, Hieeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!
For some reason, it sounded like there was a cracking sound above the Roach Teacher monster’s head.
Even if it didn’t understand a single word of human language, there was such a thing as nuance in speech. Even animals that couldn’t speak could distinguish between humans who disliked them and humans who liked them.
Monsters were the same. These guys were surprisingly good at understanding when they were being insulted.
-Hiss! Hieeeek!
It sounded like a rough cry, as if it was saying, “I’m definitely going to catch that thing and eat it raw.”
“The monster can even make aspirated sounds.”
I barely managed to suppress a chuckle. That X-like employee was probably watching, so I had to pretend to be a pitiful and weak Guide.
Encouraged by Seo Yun-chae’s reckless remarks, Ra Ho-yeon, Shin Tae-beom, and Cha Si-yoon also threw out whatever curses they knew.
“…To be born as a cockroach of all things. You don’t even have someone you like, do you? You look exactly like someone who will be a virgin until you die.”
“Get that disgusting face out of here! It makes me want to throw up!”
“…You look disgusting. Ugly.”
Lastly, Cha Si-yoon’s short and impactful words were the most impressive. It felt like I was the one being insulted because the guy who usually maintained a quiet and taciturn image had opened his mouth.
Various other vulgar words flew out, but I mostly ignored them. My ears were precious.
-Hieee, Hieeeeeeeeeee-!
It was going according to plan.
The Roach Teacher monster flapped its wings wildly, extremely enraged. It moved recklessly, ready to ram into them regardless of whether the young Espers attacked or not.
‘Here it comes.’
As I had instructed, just before the monster was about to swallow them whole.
Cha Si-yoon, who had stopped attacking in advance and gathered his wind power, hugged the members and raised his right hand, unleashing a gust of wind.
Whoooosh.
-Hiek?!
The Roach Teacher monster, which had been running at full speed, was flustered, but it couldn’t stop due to the momentum.
The gust of wind that Cha Si-yoon shot sideways successfully pushed them away to the side.
The members, who had rolled around and covered themselves in sand, coughed and spat out dust.
I quickly ran towards them.
Of course, I didn’t miss the cockroach monster’s end.
-Kieeeeeeeee-!
The cockroach monster couldn’t control its speed and ended up falling into the huge antlion pit.
‘Now it’s done.’
Even if the cockroach monster had wings, the antlion monster would quickly snatch it up and eat it before the prey caught in its trap could fly away.
While those things were fighting, we just needed to take a breather.
I arrived in front of the members and brushed the dirt off them.
“Are you all okay?”
Ra Ho-yeon coughed and replied.
“Cough, I’m okay. I’m not hurt anywhere.”
Shin Tae-beom and Seo Yun-chae collapsed onto the sand, exhausted from running throughout the Simulator dungeon.
“I really… thought I was going to die.”
“I’ve never seen a cockroach that big in my life. Damn it, I, who was raised so preciously, had to go through such humiliation.”
While Seo Yun-chae was chattering about how he was glad he didn’t become a Hunter, Cha Si-yoon unexpectedly fell to the side silently.
“It was too… hard.”
Come to think of it, Cha Si-yoon was the only one among them who wasn’t yet twenty years old. Moreover, he must have consumed a lot of energy from constantly shooting gusts of wind at the right timing.
Feeling a bit sorry, I stroked Cha Si-yoon’s hair.
It wasn’t just a touch for the purpose of Guiding. I just felt a bit sorry for the kid.
“…You worked hard.”
“……Huh?”
Cha Si-yoon looked at me in surprise, as if I were an unknown alien. Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I withdrew my hand.
“…Stop if you don’t like being touched. I was just going to Guide you because you used a lot of your ability earlier and might be tired….”
As I scratched the back of my head, Cha Si-yoon carefully brought his head back to my hand.
This time, I was the one who panicked and stuttered.
“W-what is it?”
“…It’s okay. Please stroke me again.”
“O-okay. Y-yeah.”
The deep blue hair, whether it was changed by the aftereffects of awakening or not, was smooth and soft, unlike bleached hair.
As I carefully stroked his hair, Cha Si-yoon gently closed his eyes.
“It feels good….”
‘…I haven’t even started Guiding yet.’
Was it because he was a child that I felt at ease?
As I stroked him while mixing in Guiding energy, I heard a sound similar to a cat’s purr.
Then Seo Yun-chae, who had been lying down, suddenly got up and demanded from me.
“D-do that for me too!”
“…Stroke your head? For you?”
“…You don’t want to?”
“Yeah, a bit.”
When I said that honestly, Seo Yun-chae’s face turned bright red.
“I used my ability too, so you have to Guide me…!”
“I will. But you’re older than me, so it’s gross. I can’t do it like I did for Cha Si-yoon.”
It was an excuse because he was older than ‘Yeon Yujin’, but Seo Yun-chae was more uncomfortable compared to Cha Si-yoon. It was because he was so rude.
“I, I’m old, so, g-gross…….”
Tears welled up in Sayun-chae’s eyes.
“I, I’ve never been so insulted in my life.”
Indeed. It was understandable.
Objectively speaking, Seo Yun-chae was a Prince-like handsome man. You could say he had a textbook flower boy appearance. He looked kind and seemed to have been loved a lot since he was young.
But to me, his beauty was worse than a stone.
‘Compared to Seo Yun-chae, Jae-ha is much more handsome and pretty.’
As someone who was used to Hyeon Jae-ha’s beauty, Seo Yun-chae felt ordinary to me.
When I didn’t say anything, Seo Yun-chae sulked and turned away, lying down with his back to me.
“Fine. That Guiding thing. I can live without it.”
“Really? Then I’ll skip you and go to Shin Tae-beom-.”
“Ack! Do it for me! I said do it! What kind of person… shouldn’t you at least beg three times as a matter of courtesy?”
Seo Yun-chae barked noisily. Now, he looked like a Pomeranian with a bad temper.
With a tearful face, Seo Yun-chae pouted and tapped the spot where I was sitting.
“…What.”
“Come over here.”
“I was the one who played the bait role, so why are you telling me to come and go as you please….”
“You don’t want to? If you don’t want to-.”
“…I’m going, I’m going!”
Seo Yun-chae, who had roughly figured out what kind of guy I was, stomped over to my feet.
Then, he arbitrarily put his head on my lap.
In other words, he was giving himself a lap pillow without permission.
“What are you doing, you bastard? Can’t you see? I’m asking you to Guide me.”
“Get your head off. It’s heavy.”
“How small is my head that you’re making a fuss about it being heavy with just this?”
“Shut up and get off before I break that small head of yours.”
“You bad guy. You don’t even treat me like an elder just because I’m older, and you called me gross…….”
Seo Yun-chae sniffled again.