ICG 63

“Then why were you avoiding me?”

“……I am just an ordinary C-Class Guide, and you are an S-Class Esper, Esper Vasily. It is only natural.”

“For a reason like that?”

Vasily asked back, as if he couldn’t accept it. He seemed even less convinced by the fact that I felt uncomfortable around him than by the reason I had inserted the suppression chip.

Well, from his perspective, it must be hard to understand why I was being prickly and guarded when he had approached me pretending to be kind, even using formal speech—which he doesn’t normally use.

Just then, the guiding session, which had lasted about an hour, came to an end.

Feeling a throbbing sensation near the suppression chip, I habitually reached into my pocket to take my medicine, but the hand holding the packaged pill suddenly became empty. Turning my head, I saw Vasily, who had snatched the medicine from me and was now examining it.

“Esper Vasily?”

“What?”

“……Please give that medicine back. I told you that guiding gives me headaches.”

Because my head was pounding and I was feeling sensitive, I tried my best to remain calm, struggling not to let my surging emotions show in front of him.

Despite this, Vasily merely stared at the medicine with an indifferent expression. Seeing no sign of him returning it, I reached out toward the medicine in his hand. However, my wrist was grabbed, and I was pulled straight into his chest. As soon as I collided with his firm body, I tried to step back, but a hand sliding behind my neck stopped me.

Vasily’s cool fingers brushed against my feverishly hot skin.

“Have you ever endured it without taking the medicine until now?”

“……No.”

“Then try enduring it this time.”

My face contorted involuntarily at such an absurd suggestion.

“The suppression chip does not cool down until I take the medicine. Are you telling me to just sit here and wait for my brain to fry?”

“I’ll help you with that. Wouldn’t it work if the speed at which I lower the temperature is faster than the device heating up?”

Vasily answered seriously while fiddling with the nape of my neck. It seemed he had absolutely no intention of returning the medicine.

Barely suppressing my boiling anger, I spoke through gritted teeth.

“Stop doing strange things and give me the medicine.”

“I don’t want to.”

Vasily answered instantly.

“Now that I finally have a Guide, do you think I’ll let you rely on some strange medicine like this?”

“Give it back……”

“I’ll give it back if it gets too hard. We can at least try, can’t we?”

Just as I was about to explode in anger, Vasily gripped the nape of my neck. His hand, colder than usual, covered my skin.

“Ugh!”

As I flinched in surprise, Vasily spoke.

“I’m not trying to freeze you, so don’t be tense. I’ve only wrapped my ability around my hand.”

Vasily whispered softly, as if to reassure me.

Ice-cold fingers pressed firmly into the back of my neck. The suppression chip reacted to the chill seeping deep into my skin and flared up with heat. Cold and heat collided within my body, making my head spin.

My vision blurred. As I lost my balance and staggered, Vasily, who had been holding my wrist, let go. However, far from pushing him away, I was barely standing, clutching his collar for support.

Vasily supported my waist with one arm while keeping his other hand on the back of my neck. In his gaze as he looked down at me, struggling to breathe, I caught a glimpse of satisfaction.

“Fuck……”

This way, I’m the only one suffering, and for Vasily, it’s just an extension of the guiding.

The bigger problem was that Vasily’s guess was correct. The speed at which Vasily’s ability cooled the back of my neck was faster than the speed at which the suppression chip overheated. I could feel the flesh that had been burning hot gradually cooling down.

But the headache was a separate issue. My head was spinning. At this rate, I felt like I would collapse before the suppression chip cooled completely.

“Va—Esper Vasily. I can’t do this. Please…… give me the medicine.”

“Hmm…… the device is cooling down nicely, though.”

Vasily murmured leisurely, but after seeing me on the verge of passing out, he nodded.

“I guess it can’t be helped. Here, take it.”

As soon as I got the medicine back, I tore open the packaging and gulped it down without water. After swallowing the pill, I closed my eyes and leaned against the sofa, waiting for the medicine to take effect.

Perhaps because Vasily had cooled the suppression chip, the calming effect was faster than usual today. Feeling the area where the chip was implanted, I noticed the skin was cool to the touch.

“Haa……”

“Are you okay now?”

“I would have been fine if I had just taken the medicine on time.”

I added shortly, not hiding my displeasure.

“Do not ever do something like this again.”

I was sick and tired of being played with by him. When I showed my annoyance, Vasily gave a faint smile and looked down at me in silence. I gritted my teeth as I met those emotionless silver-gray eyes.

* * *

As soon as I returned home, I moved my belongings to the room where I had changed my clothes earlier. From today onward, I intended to use this place as my room, regardless of what Vasily said.

As soon as night fell, I covered myself with a blanket and lay in bed. Realizing that a bed with a mattress was far more comfortable than a sofa, I fell fast asleep.

I don’t know how much time had passed since I closed my eyes, but I felt a presence beside me. Opening my eyes blurrily and turning my head, I saw Vasily standing next to the bed. Startled, I asked, trying to remain calm.

“What is it?”

“It’s a call. They say a Gate has opened in the middle of the road at Gwanghwamun.”

Ah, another Gate…… No wonder he was wearing outdoor clothes since dawn.

A call at dawn of all times; just hearing it made my desire to go vanish completely. Thinking it was fortunate that Gwanghwamun was relatively close, I started to get up, but then I suddenly realized.

‘Wait, do I actually need to go?’

Before the regression, Vasily had forced me into the Gates, so I had to accompany him every time he went. But not anymore. Since I wasn’t going to enter the Gate, there was no need for me to follow him to the scene.

I laid my body back down.

“Ah, well. Have a safe trip. I’m going to sleep some more.”

“Didn’t you just try to get up?”

“You’re mistaken. Please leave quickly.”

I tried to shoo him away by lazily waving my hand from under the blanket, but Vasily didn’t leave and continued to look down at me. Regardless, I turned my back and closed my eyes.

“What if Guide Kwon Gi-dam runs away again while I’m gone?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll stay just like this until you return, Esper Vasily.”

“As I thought, that won’t work.”

“Sle—sleep…… What are you doing!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Vasily lifted me up along with the blanket, rolling me up in it like a burrito and holding me in his arms.

“A-Alright! I’ll get ready right away, so put me down!”

“Too late.”

“No! I should at least change my clothes before going!”

“There’s no time for that. We have to leave now.”

In the end, I was carried out in Vasily’s arms, rolled up in a blanket like a gimbap. I struggled desperately, but there was a limit to my movements while wrapped in a blanket. No matter how much I squirmed, Vasily did not let me go.

Vasily headed straight through the entrance to the elevator. This crazy bastard really intended to take me to the Gate in this state.

I was laid in the passenger seat, still wrapped in the blanket. Vasily fastened the seatbelt over the blanket and closed the door.

Now is my chance. I tried to hurry and escape from the blanket, but it wasn’t easy because of the seatbelt. By the time I managed to get one arm out, Vasily had already entered the driver’s seat, and by the time I regained half my freedom, the car had already started moving.

“…….”

Looking at the pitch-black sky, I asked him in a state of resignation.

“Are you satisfied now?”

“Yes. Thanks to this, I can go to the Gate with a peaceful mind.”

“Haa……”

Before long, we arrived at Gwanghwamun.

Beyond the caution tape, I could see a large sinkhole that had formed in the middle of the road. It was easy to guess that the Gate entrance was down there.

They must have called Vasily urgently because if the Gate wasn’t cleared before the morning commute, the surrounding area would become congested and dangerous.

“Wait in the car for a moment. I’ll finish up and be back soon.”

Vasily said this and got out of the car.

I didn’t follow him and waited inside. Since I had been dragged out by force, I didn’t even have shoes on, and it wouldn’t look great to be loitering near the scene in pajamas.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I let out a long yawn while watching Vasily head toward the Gate. Since this was normally the time I’d be fast asleep, fatigue washed over me.

I tried to recline the seat and close my eyes for a bit, but the seat was uncomfortable, so I couldn’t really fall asleep. I had left my smartphone on the bed…… How was I supposed to wait boringly until Vasily returned?

As I stared blankly out the window, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Should I organize the events that will happen in the future?

If I had remained a temporary Guide, I wouldn’t have been caught up in dangerous matters, but since I’ll likely be accompanying Vasily and experiencing the same things I did in the past, I needed to prepare in advance. It would be even better if I could prevent accidents that caused victims, like last time.