By Zephyria 
“Why didn’t you just wait for me completely naked?”
“Hmm… maybe I should do that next time.”
“I’m being sarcastic.”
“I know.”
“…….”
I didn’t even have the strength to respond. I just let out a deep sigh and leaned my body against him.
It felt refreshing when I first entered the house, but as I continued to hug Vasily’s body, I began to shiver. If the heating hadn’t been on, my body would probably be shaking from the cold as if it were broken by now.
Vasily’s body against my arm felt as cold as ice. Even the hot air flowing in through the window was insufficient to warm the inside of the house.
I’ve noticed this since I started guiding him skin-to-skin yesterday, but Vasily’s body feels colder than it did before the regression. Is it because he doesn’t have a Guide? Or perhaps it’s simply because my body isn’t used to his wavelength yet.
Haa, I exhaled a chilly breath and slowly closed my eyes.
“Well then, I’ll end the guiding here.”
“Are you leaving already?”
As I tried to return home after an hour of guiding, Vasily held onto me.
“Isn’t an hour of guiding enough?”
“I’m not even going to work today, so give me a little more guiding. Please?”
Vasily buried his head in the crook of my neck and rubbed against me as if acting cute. The moment his hair tickled my neck, I froze stiff.
Wait, that’s where the suppression chip is…
“A-Alright, so please move away.”
Fearing that Vasily might touch the spot where the suppression chip was implanted, I hurriedly agreed and pushed him away. Fortunately, having received the answer he wanted, Vasily obediently let go of me.
Phew… I stroked the back of my neck, pretending to tidy my hair. He didn’t notice, right?
“Then I’ll take a short break before we proceed.”
“Are you exhausted after only an hour of guiding?”
“…I am a C-Class Guide. Enduring an hour is already a long time.”
“What a shame… If your rank were higher, I would have taken you in.”
Vasily muttered softly. Because his tone sounded sincere, I felt a prickle of goosebumps.
At one time, I felt it was unfair that my rank had dropped due to the side effects of the suppression chip, but now, I can’t help but think it’s a relief. If I had met Vasily while my rank was still intact, regardless of the matching rate, I might have ended up signing an exclusive contract again. If that happened, it would only be a matter of time before the suppression chip was discovered.
‘I should take my medicine before starting the guiding again…’
Rubbing the suppression chip that had begun to throb without fail, I checked Vasily’s expression as he sat beside me. Would it be okay to take it here? Since I’d brushed it off as cold medicine last time, it should be fine. I took the medicine out of my pocket.
“Is your cold still not gone?”
“Maybe it’s because I haven’t been able to rest properly; it just won’t go away.”
I gave a vague excuse. Since there was no way for him to verify what the medicine was, there was no way I’d be caught.
With Vasily beside me, narrowing his brows as if something was displeasing him, I took out the pill and swallowed it. Feeling the familiar stinging sensation in my throat, I leaned back on the sofa for a moment. Soon, I felt the overheating suppression chip calm down.
Good, at this rate, I can proceed with the guiding again.
“I’m ready now. Let’s start the guiding—”
“Forget it, I don’t need any more.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t need guiding anymore, so you can go home.”
Vasily’s attitude shifted abruptly. Without knowing why, I was pushed straight toward the entrance. Before I could stop him, the door closed.
“Va-Vasily Esper?”
Click.
My hand, raised in the air, wandered aimlessly, having lost its place. I froze blankly, staring at the firmly closed front door.
“Uh…”
My hollow voice, left all alone, echoed through the hallway.
* * *
A temporary Guide is a profession close to a service job. You have to deal with a flood of Esper clients, and since they are all in a sensitive state, there are many difficult customers. You can assume that a commotion occurs at least once a day.
“It says guiding is conducted for one hour, so why can’t I get more guiding for the time I spent in the restroom!”
“I’m sorry, but other waiting clients are waiting, so that’s not possible. If you visit again next time…”
“Visit again? You’re telling me to wait another week!”
And I was no exception to this.
The Esper standing in front of me was insisting on receiving more guiding for the time he had spent in the restroom, even though he was the one who had left. If it were just one or two minutes, I might have just done it, but since he had been gone for a full 20 minutes, I couldn’t grant this request.
Should I just punch him?
I clenched my fist tight and then relaxed it. No, I must endure. After all, if I wait just a little longer…
“We received a report that an Esper is causing a disturbance.”
Because the security team monitoring the guiding rooms would send a security Esper.
The moment they entered the guiding room, the man who had been causing a scene became silent instantly. Without much resistance, he was dragged out, his arms held by the security Espers.
Suppressed efficiently. I flipped the middle finger toward the back of the departing Esper’s head.
Taking a short breath as I looked around the finally quiet guiding room, I still had no time to rest even for a moment. After cooling my head briefly, I immediately took the next person in line.
‘Difficult customers since this morning…’
After finishing the morning guiding, I rotated my stiff shoulders and returned to the department. However, an awkward silence hung over the office.
Did something happen?
The atmosphere was strange. As I headed to my desk with a feeling of unease, people were looking at me with pitying eyes.
Not knowing what was going on, I sat in my seat and looked around, when Jo Woo-yeon suddenly offered me consolation.
“Um… Gi-dam, are you okay…”
“Yes?”
As I blinked in confusion, Jo Woo-yeon hesitated slightly before continuing.
“Haven’t you seen the article yet…”
“What article are you talking about?”
“Ummm…”
As if it were difficult to answer, Jo Woo-yeon rolled his eyes and held out his smartphone. A familiar name was written on the screen.
[S-Class Esper Vasily, Finally Getting a Dedicated Guide?]
It was news that a Guide with a high matching rate with Vasily had appeared.
I quickly read down the content. It said that a Guide who awakened a few days ago had a high matching rate measured with Vasily. They hadn’t performed actual guiding yet; only the wavelengths matched. An association official reportedly told a reporter that they plan to proceed with actual guiding for the two soon…
And that’s today?
I had heard that Vasily was coming to the association today. But he had never once mentioned anything to me regarding a Guide.
“Gi-dam, is the article true?”
“I don’t know either. As I told you before, I really have no relationship with Esper Vasily.”
Even so, the gaze of Jo Woo-yeon and the others didn’t change. My teammates kept giving me sorrowful looks from the side.
Ah, I’m telling you it’s not like that…
At this point, I’d rather perform temporary guiding even if there were difficult customers. I wanted to escape these uncomfortable gazes as quickly as possible.
Eventually, to avoid the stares, I stepped outside for a moment.
‘A Guide with a high matching rate appeared for Vasily?’
I felt like I could fly. I never imagined I could escape Vasily this quickly. I couldn’t hide the smile that kept leaking out.
However, my beaming face soon hardened.
“He didn’t say a word to me…”
Since a Guide with a high matching rate had appeared, Vasily must have known.
For some reason, my mind felt complicated. I took my smartphone out of my pocket and searched for the article again. Every breaking news section was plastered with stories about Vasily.
Without realizing it, I kept scrolling through related articles. After lunch, and even while performing temporary guiding in the afternoon. However, there were no accurate follow-up reports; only reporters, not missing the opportunity, were letting their imaginations run wild. My head grew dizzy as I peeked at uncertain information.
Even as the time to leave work approached, Vasily never appeared. Normally, this would be the time he’d apply for designated guiding and gently coax me to leave together; was he really doing that because he was conducting the guiding test?
Right. Just as I told Jo Woo-yeon, we are nothing. Although I was his Guide before the regression, that is something only I remember. To the current Vasily, I am just a passing C-Class Guide, one of many scattered along the road.
Once Vasily gets a new Guide, he will forget someone like me in no time. He’ll probably stop visiting me, saying he’s lost interest.
But couldn’t he at least tell me that he’s getting a new Guide?
All this time, he dragged me to strange places on the way to and from work, forced someone who said they hated it to follow him, and received guiding every single time! He even showed some weird obsession! I even got kidnapped because of you!
This won’t do. I think I’ll feel better if I get some compensation for all the hardship I’ve endured. Including everything I suffered before the regression, of course.
Since the only thing Vasily has left is money, if I pester him, he’ll probably just throw a huge sum at me to tell me to take it and leave. I’ll use that to start a new life! Plus, I’ll remove the suppression chip embedded in my neck and return to being an S-Class Guide!
If I go to Vasily’s private room now, I wonder if that Guide will be there too?