By Zephyria 
“What are you talking about? This week’s guiding is already finished.”
“……?”
Vasily blinked as if hearing this for the first time. I stared back at him with an incredulous expression.
“Have you already forgotten the terms of the contract? We agreed to conduct guiding only four times a week.”
“…….”
“I didn’t even go to a Gate today, so there is no guiding.”
Vasily fell silent, as if recalling the contents of the contract.
The smile that had formed a pretty arc slowly vanished. His gaze toward me became dreadfully cold. The surrounding temperature was also dropping rapidly.
For a moment, my body stiffened, but I had no intention of indulging his mood swings. I shook off Vasily’s hand and spoke.
“Then, I’ll be heading in first.”
I walked straight into my room, passing by Vasily, who remained standing there blankly.
The moment I closed the door, I was greeted by cool air. Having been gone for half a day, the room felt as refreshing as if I had left the air conditioner on, thanks to Vasily radiating coldness right in front of me. Because of that, I was able to rest in a pleasant room as soon as I returned.
I can relax for the rest of the weekend without any guiding. The best part was that I wouldn’t have to look at Vasily’s body, which he presented to me half-undressed every day to receive guiding.
Click.
Just as I checked that my smartphone battery was running low and plugged in the charger, I heard the sound of the front door closing outside.
‘Did Vasily just go out?’
I hadn’t heard anything about him having a schedule.
I thought about his schedule for a moment and then shook my head. I don’t know. It’s more comfortable for me if Vasily isn’t home.
Vasily didn’t return until late at night. Thanks to that, I fully enjoyed my freedom in the empty house and didn’t fall asleep until after midnight.
* * *
Finally, it was the long-awaited Saturday.
I woke up feeling good to the sunlight pouring through the window. My body felt unusually light today. It was probably because I rested well yesterday without doing any guiding. The area where I had received the injection no longer throbbed.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I washed up quickly and changed clothes, intending to go for a workout. While drinking water from the refrigerator before heading out, I suddenly realized the house was eerily quiet.
Come to think of it, Vasily was nowhere to be seen.
“Esper Vasily?”
Normally, he would be sitting on the sofa or shut inside his room with the door closed… but I couldn’t sense any presence even beyond his slightly open door.
Could he have left last night and still not returned?
It was strange, but thinking he would return soon, I went outside to exercise. I ran a lap around the neighborhood, came home, had lunch, and prepared dinner. However, Vasily did not return even as night fell.
At this point, I was starting to get concerned.
Fiddling with my smartphone while thinking of Vasily’s number, I sat on the living room sofa and turned on the TV.
While flipping through news channels, I paused at a familiar face on the screen. The nine o’clock news was reporting that Vasily had departed for a Gate.
That’s strange; as of yesterday afternoon, there were no Gates assigned to Vasily.
Was it an emergency dispatch? Recalling the sound of Vasily leaving the house last night, I kept the channel fixed. Then, I was left speechless by the announcer’s next words.
[Esper Vasily has moved to the provinces after clearing all the Gates that opened in the suburbs of Seoul. Esper Vasily, who became a legend on his first day in Korea by clearing every Gate opened in the country within a single day, has once again…]
“…….”
I closed my eyes tight and rubbed my face.
He’s throwing a tantrum because I refused guiding. The personnel currently on-site must be in chaos because of Vasily, who suddenly started a “dojo-breaking” spree over the weekend. Just thinking about it gave me a headache.
I sighed while listening to the announcer’s praise of Vasily. A particularly well-taken photo of Vasily was displayed largely on the screen.
A face captured with a rare, gentle expression.
The way his eyes were slightly cast downward almost made him look sorrowful. He seemed like a completely different person from the man who had glared at me as if to freeze me to death just because I refused guiding; I couldn’t help but admire the photographer’s skill.
I immediately noticed that the association was taking this opportunity to diligently boost his image. This is why people don’t know that he’s a lunatic. He might look beautiful from a distance, but the association employees and Espers working on-site right now must be suffering while dealing with him.
Meanwhile, there was one more thing that bothered me. Recalling the clause Vasily had added to the contract, I muttered softly.
“He agreed to provide guiding without a limit on the number of times if the condition was critical…”
Tsk, I clicked my tongue. It seemed he intended to return after intentionally ruining his body.
Damn it, to abuse the contract in this way… I should have stopped him no matter what when I heard Vasily say he wanted to add his own conditions to the contract.
Anyway, isn’t there a meeting with China tomorrow? He should be back by then.
In my mind, a scene was blooming where I spent the whole night bringing Vasily back to a normal state, only to watch him leave in the morning, completely exhausted.
If Vasily continued to wander around smashing Gates as a way of venting his anger, a simple hug for guiding wouldn’t be nearly enough when he returned. A situation where we’d have to mix tongues would definitely arise.
…This won’t do. I’ll call him to come back and tell him I’ll give him guiding for now.
I picked up my smartphone and dialed Vasily’s number.
Seeing the ringing tone, it seemed he wasn’t inside a Gate at the moment, fortunately. After a short wait, Vasily answered.
“Esper Vasily, where are you right now?”
…….
He’s still sulking. I sighed inwardly and continued.
“I’ll give you guiding, so come home.”
I’ll only conquer the Gate I’ve just arrived at.
“Right now, before I change my mind.”
As I spoke through gritted teeth, a small laugh and an answer came back over the phone.
I’m in the provinces, so it’ll take a while.
“Haa… Don’t drive yourself; call an association employee.”
Are you worried I might have an accident?
“As if I would be.”
Vasily is the kind of human who would walk out perfectly fine even if the car were totaled, so I’m not worried about that at all. Instead, I’m worried that the roads will be paralyzed because he might clear away cars blocking his path with ice just because he’s in a bad mood.
As soon as I hung up, I felt stifled, so I stopped by a nearby convenience store and bought some alcohol. Then, I sat in the living room and drank beer, using the reports flowing from the news as my appetizer until Vasily returned.
Wow, how many Gates did he visit in a single day? They even said he conquered all of them alone.
Around the time I was gulping down my third can of beer, I heard the front door open. Even after hearing that sound, I didn’t get up from the sofa.
A moment later, the person who had been praised as a hero on the news appeared. Upon returning, he saw the beer on the table and frowned slightly.
“You’re not drunk, are you? I don’t want to receive guiding from a drunkard…”
“I’m not drunk.”
There’s no way I’d be drunk from just three cans of beer. Vasily looked at me with disapproval, but I habitually ignored his gaze.
Now that Vasily is back, I should start the guiding. I swallowed the rest of the beer and placed the empty can on the table with a clink. As I stood up from the sofa to approach him, I frowned at the fishy scent of blood wafting from somewhere.
“Are you hurt?”
Red blood was seeping through Vasily’s suit. I wanted to believe it was from a monster, but the way his shirt was torn along the bloodstains looked ominous.
“Yes. It just happened.”
“No, what on earth happened…”
All the Gates Vasily visited were C-Class or lower. And yet he got hit? It was impossible unless Vasily had intentionally let himself be attacked.
“I don’t know… I guess I became sluggish because I didn’t receive guiding.”
Vasily was lying brazenly, naturally shifting the responsibility to me. Considering how he used to nag me before the regression, asking if I couldn’t even dodge something like that whenever I got hurt, the hypothesis that he got hurt on purpose was actually more credible. To think he’d even scratch his body just because he was afraid I wouldn’t give him guiding.
Sighing deeply, I stepped toward him.
“Take this off first.”
“Are you going to guide me right away? Since there’s monster’s blood on my body, it would be better to wash up first…”
“I need to check how severe the injury is.”
Vasily began to slowly undo his buttons. Frustrated by his sluggish movements, I grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it upward.
“Oh, be careful there. There’s monster’s blood on it too.”
He even gave me a kind warning. His attitude was far too relaxed for someone who was injured, which made my irritation rise.