By Zephyria 
The next morning.
I couldn’t sleep a wink because I was in such a foul mood. Every time I closed my eyes, a wave of irritation surged, snapping me wide awake. I spent the night doing push-ups to cool off my anger, but all I got was muscle pain in my arms.
Eventually, after tossing and turning until sunrise, I stepped out to get some water and ran into Vasily sitting on the living room sofa. Vasily probably couldn’t sleep either due to insomnia. Knowing I wasn’t the only one who stayed up all night made me feel slightly less cheated.
Regardless, his face was an eyesore first thing in the morning.
The moment our eyes met, we both frowned simultaneously and looked away. After drinking my water, I was about to head back to my room when I asked,
“What time does the meeting start?”
“…….”
Is he not even going to answer now? I glared at Vasily with my brows knitted.
I was a fool for asking. I shouldn’t have spoken to him. Returning to my room, I immediately began preparing to go out.
I only remembered that the meeting was being held at the association, and I believed it was in the morning. I figured I’d just go early, sit down, and wait for it to start.
Just as I was putting on my shoes at the entrance, Vasily approached and asked,
“Where are you going?”
“I plan to go to the association and wait.”
Upon hearing this, Vasily glared at me again. I glared right back at him.
“……The meeting is still a long way off.”
“How am I supposed to trust that?”
Vasily held out his smartphone screen in front of me. Checking the email, there were indeed two hours left until the meeting began.
It would have been so much better if he’d just done that from the start. I went back into my room to kill time, and when there wasn’t much time left, I left the house with Vasily.
As always, Vasily was wearing a three-piece suit. Since it was an official event, I also dressed up in a suit for the first time in a while.
I intentionally wore a thick jacket, yet I didn’t feel hot at all. Because of the chill emanating from Vasily’s body, the air felt cold enough to freeze from the moment we took the elevator down.
Completely ignoring him—since he made no effort to hide his bad mood—I sat in the passenger seat and didn’t utter a single word until we arrived at the association.
“Hello, Esper Vasily.”
Upon arriving at the association and entering the conference room following Vasily, an association employee checking the attendance at the entrance spotted Vasily and greeted him politely. Then, hearing my name as the person beside Vasily, the employee searched through the list, but after confirming my name wasn’t written anywhere, they tilted their head in confusion.
“But the person next to you is……”
“My Guide.”
“Ah, could it be that……”
The association employee looked at me with curiosity, as if it were amazing to actually see the person they had only heard rumors about, but then they flinched. I wondered why they were so startled, only to see Vasily, standing beside me, staring coldly at the employee.
I could feel the association employee recoil in fear upon meeting that icy gaze. Although I pretended to be unfazed, my body stiffened the moment I noticed that cold stare.
I glanced at Vasily as the association employee hurriedly hurried away. Perhaps because he was in a bad mood, he seemed particularly sensitive today. I decided I’d quickly resolve the matter of the Gate attendance and then go home and lock myself in my room in peace.
As I walked into the conference room, I scanned the interior. As expected, it was mostly Espers.
The Chinese delegation seemed to have arrived already, as unintelligible languages could be heard here and there. While I was habitually reading the atmosphere by observing the expressions of the attendees, a familiar voice sounded right next to me.
“What’s this, Vasily? You brought your Guide to the meeting?”
Turning my head, I saw a familiar face. Another S-class Esper from our country. A man who used electricity-based abilities.
I looked at him, feeling puzzled. Since only Vasily was scheduled to participate among the S-class Espers for the Gate, I wondered why another S-class Esper was here.
“I heard rumors that your Guide is C-class. Bringing a mere C-class as a Guide… you must have been quite desperate, huh?”
The moment I heard the mocking tone, I realized his purpose for coming here. He had come specifically to pick a fight after hearing the rumor that Vasily’s Guide was C-class.
“You pampered him so much, and he’s just a C-class? The public is going to make a fuss if they find out.”
“…….”
Despite the man continuing to provoke him with a swagger, Vasily ignored him as if he hadn’t heard a thing. Seeing Vasily’s expressionless face and lack of eye contact, the man soon became disinterested.
“With such a huge gap in ranks, it must be tough guiding a lunatic like that. Right, Mr. Guide?”
The Esper addressed me while looking at Vasily, and only then did Vasily react. Just as the Esper tried to put his arm around my shoulder, Vasily manifested a sharp blade of ice in his hand and instantly aimed it at the Esper’s throat.
In an instant, the entire conference room fell into silence. I could feel all eyes focusing on us through the tense air.
“Wow… are you serious? You want to go at it right here?”
Perhaps not expecting Vasily to react this way, the Esper looked at Vasily with a twitching lip, appearing flustered. However, Vasily didn’t even blink. He simply glared at him coldly with an expressionless face.
Fearing that a fight would actually break out before the meeting even started, I finally stepped in.
“Esper Vasily.”
As I grabbed his arm and looked at him as if telling him to stop, Vasily remained silent for a while before finally withdrawing his hand.
Sigh… I swallowed a sigh, having barely calmed a volatile situation.
Since we had already drawn attention, I decided it would be better to finish my business and leave quickly before the meeting started. Looking around, I spotted an official in charge of the training sitting in the front row, whispering.
I approached him immediately and spoke.
“Hello, I am Guide Kwon Gi-dam.”
“Ah, yes. I’ve heard about you.”
“Esper Vasily’s condition hasn’t been good lately, so he will be absent from this training.”
Although the atmosphere suggested Vasily was set to go, the list wasn’t finalized until the meeting ended. I expressed the intent to be absent, meaning they should deploy another Esper instead of Vasily. However, the association official looked troubled before speaking.
“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult. Currently, there are no other S-class personnel available for deployment to the field besides Esper Vasily…”
I turned my head to look at the Esper beside me. No one else can go? There’s an Esper right here who came to the meeting just because he was bored.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m a busy man, despite how I look. It hasn’t even been a week since I returned from an S-class Gate overseas. The wounds I got then are still throbbing.”
The Esper grumbled and rolled up his sleeve. He had clearly been injured recently, as a long, vivid tear remained on his skin.
‘This wasn’t in the plan.’
I frowned slightly, my face twisting. Vasily, who had been standing beside me in silence the whole time, showed no sign of helping… I racked my brain in frustration.
Am I really going to the Gate like this?
Setting aside Vasily entering the Gate, if things continued this way, I would have to wait on-site to guide Vasily as soon as the conquest ended. For the record, I have severe motion sickness and absolutely hate riding boats.
I had to find another way quickly. Otherwise, Vasily and I were headed for the Gate side by side.
“Haha, I’ll be going now. Good luck, Esper Vasily.”
As the meeting seemed about to start, the Esper waved his hand dismissively and left. As he passed by, he gave Vasily’s shoulder a light shove, and the moment I witnessed that, my eyes flashed.
At an angle that wouldn’t be caught by the CCTV, I punched Vasily’s side with all my might.
Thwack! A dull sound echoed cheerfully. An association employee right next to us witnessed the scene and was silently horrified.
“Ugh……”
Vasily let out a heavy groan and collapsed. As he looked up while clutching his waist, his gaze was murderous.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam, what on earth is this……”
“Esper Vasily!”
As I loudly shouted Vasily’s name, all eyes focused on us. Vasily looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Are you alright?”
“…….”
“Esper! How could you hit Esper Vasily so hard when he just returned from a Gate with injuries!”
When I held the Esper who had shoved Vasily accountable, he blinked and pointed to himself with a bewildered look. While pretending to check Vasily’s body, I continued to chatter.
“What? You think the wound burst? He needs to be hospitalized immediately…… As expected, participating in this Gate seems impossible……”
Having finally caught on to my plan, Vasily let out a bewildered laugh. I glanced at him, giving him a look that told him to play along. Vasily belatedly began to participate.
“Ugh…… my stomach hurts……”
“……! Bl-blood……”
I thought it was acting, but blood began to trickle down through the gaps of the hand clutching his waist.
Wait, did I do this? Cold sweat poured down my face at the unexpected situation.