By Zephyria 
Vasily left for the conference room, taking the Association employee who had been trembling in the corner with him.
I looked around the now-quiet private room and slowly stood up. I approached Vasily’s desk and rummaged through the mountain of paperwork piled there.
Judging by Vasily’s behavior earlier, it was obvious he handled other documents haphazardly as well.
I needed to check in advance to see if there was anything important. Knowing Vasily’s schedule would also help me plan my own for the week.
Most of them were likely classified documents, but Vasily wasn’t the type to complain just because I peeked at some papers. I sat in Vasily’s chair and began to read.
“This week’s schedule is tight, too.”
Another conquest schedule had been set for Vasily.
It hadn’t been long since Vasily had cleared the Gate, but it seemed new Gates were already popping up one by one.
Among them, there was one large-scale Gate that looked like it would take several days to conquer. I must not follow Vasily on that day, no matter what.
As I firmly resolved this while marking the date on the calendar, my smartphone vibrated briefly.
A message arrived at the same time. The sender was Jo Woo-yeon, and I could see the content through the notification at the top of the screen.
Congratulations! I knew you two looked great together!
[Emoticon]
[Photo]
A photo?
The moment I realized a photo had been sent, curiosity got the better of me, and I quickly clicked the message. I was moved to the chat room, where I could check the photo he had sent.
The photo uploaded to the chat room was a screenshot of something. The content wasn’t very clear, so I clicked it to zoom in.
[Exclusive] Vasily in a Relationship?
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
A dating rumor about Vasily? I thought carefully about whether he, who was always stuck to my side, had even had the chance to meet a romantic partner.
Concluding that there had been absolutely no such opportunity, I read the article with interest. Of course, the content was likely false. Vasily didn’t have the personality to be in a lovey-dovey relationship with someone.
Though it was clearly a baseless rumor, it was exciting. This was an event that hadn’t happened even before the regression. I felt a sense of respect for whichever fearless reporter had written such provocative content about Vasily. And as I read the article while munching on popcorn…
“…It’s me.”
The moment I read the first sentence, I felt the blood in my body turn ice cold.
[Vasily is recently in a relationship with a Mr. Kwon in his early twenties, who awakened as a Guide…]
No matter how many times I rubbed my eyes and read it again, it was me.
I knew I had bad dreams for a reason… I wouldn’t feel this wronged if the exclusive contract had been leaked instead.
Of all things, why a dating rumor? If a second death comes for me, the cause will definitely be a stress-induced illness.
Tearing at my hair, I checked the reporter’s name. I felt like calling the news agency right now and demanding they take the article down.
Wait, there’s more content below.
I hurriedly scrolled down, but what Jo Woo-yeon had sent was not the full article, but a screenshot of only a part of it. No matter how far I scrolled, I couldn’t see the following content.
I hurriedly opened the internet and searched for the article.
Despite being an “exclusive,” there was only one article so far. Biting my nails, I read the content again from where it had been cut off.
“Currently cohabiting at Vasily’s house… A matching rate in the single digits? How did they even know that?”
It seemed the person who wrote the article had investigated quite thoroughly, as there was more accurate information than I expected.
For me, that meant misfortune. By revealing accurate information about me, the dating rumor with Vasily gained credibility.
There was even a photo at the very bottom; although the faces weren’t visible, it was clearly Vasily and me. And we were… intensely entangled in the Association hallway.
Vasily and I had a moment like this? Just as I was doubting if it was a composite photo, a scene suddenly flashed through my mind.
It was when I had made a mess of the conference room before the West Sea Gate conquest meeting had even begun and was supporting a wounded Vasily to the Association’s emergency room. It seemed to be a photo taken while I was bracing myself to keep from falling because he was leaning his weight on me.
However, to people who didn’t know the circumstances, it would just look like a couple affectionately engaging in public displays of affection. Pale with shock, I staggered, clutching my forehead.
Setting aside how they found out my information or matching rate, I felt it would be best to get the article taken down first.
I started to call Vasily but hesitated.
‘Could the meeting have been called because of this?’
While there is a regular meeting every Monday morning, it wasn’t a seat Vasily absolutely had to attend. And this article was a fresh dating rumor that had just been posted this morning. The timing was perfect.
So that’s why Vasily was called in.
It seemed the Association had also discovered the article and held a meeting to ask Vasily how to handle it.
If so, fortunately, the article would be taken down soon. Vasily hated it when people gossiped about him.
The person who wrote this article probably didn’t know I was the dedicated Guide because our matching rate was so low, and mistakenly assumed we were dating. From my perspective, it was a truly desperate misunderstanding. I felt like claiming compensation for mental damages.
“How should I reply to Jo Woo-yeon…”
I wrote and deleted a reply several times before finally giving up and leaving the chat room.
A dedicated Guide with a matching rate of 4 percent. Even if I explained it, it was obvious no one would believe me. To clear the misunderstanding, the only way was to quickly remove the suppression chip from the back of my neck and return to my original matching rate.
When Friday comes, I should urge Vasily’s Attending Physician to check the back of my neck. It’s a week earlier than planned, but who knows? Maybe the adhesion has already disappeared, and it’s in a state where the suppression chip can be removed.
While I was continuously refreshing the page, waiting to see when the Association would take down the article, Vasily returned to the private room.
“Ah, Esper Vasily-nim.”
“Did you wait long? The meeting ended later than expected.”
Compared to how he had left the private room earlier—extremely sensitive because his guiding had been interrupted—he looked quite cheerful.
Watching Vasily enter the private room with a light step, I realized something was strange. If he knew such an article had been posted, shouldn’t Vasily’s mood be rather poor?
I cautiously asked about his suspicious attitude.
“What was the meeting about?”
“Hmm… It was nothing much.”
Vasily evaded the answer. His attempt to brush it off made me certain he was hiding something from me.
Frowning, I held out my smartphone to him. Vasily looked at the article on the screen and curled the corners of his lips. As expected, he already knew.
To prevent him from denying it, I showed him the article and asked again.
“Is this ‘nothing much’?”
“Oh dear, I thought you wouldn’t have seen it, but you already know.”
Vasily admitted it readily. As he said, this was posted right before work, so normally it would have taken a while for me to notice. I probably would have found out through the 9 PM news tonight.
“Sigh… So, what did you decide to do about the article?”
“The photo came out well. I told them to give this person the Reporter of the Year award if there is one.”
“You… you didn’t tell them to take the article down?”
Shocked by Vasily’s nonchalant attitude, my voice trembled involuntarily. I looked at Vasily, hoping he would answer that it was a joke.
“Does it necessarily have to be taken down?”
Seeing Vasily ask back so calmly, my anger finally exploded.
“Why… it’s not just about you, Esper Vasily-nim; there’s content about me too!”
“It’s not true anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“So you’re saying you’ll just leave that article alone?”
“Yes. If this article spreads widely, Guide Kwon Gi-dam won’t be mistaken for an Esper anymore.”
Vasily mentioned the past. Was he still dwelling on the fact that I had helped the Espers in the Gate?
I calmed my breathing and spoke to him.
“Since you haven’t been in Korea long, you might not know, but people here are very interested in the love lives of celebrities. It’ll be noisy for at least a month; can you endure that?”
“What’s a little bit of that.”
“It’ll be on the 9 PM news.”
“Really? I’ll have to make sure to watch the news today.”
Vasily actually showed interest. It was a completely different attitude from how his expression would turn cold whenever something about himself came up on TV.
“I’d rather you announce the fact that I am your dedicated Guide, Esper Vasily-nim. Didn’t we agree to reveal that content upon mutual agreement?”
“Well. I don’t think it’s time yet. And that was a conversation for after the device on Guide Kwon Gi-dam’s neck is removed and the accurate matching rate comes out.”
Vasily, who had wanted to reveal the fact that I had become his Guide as soon as possible, suddenly changed his words. As I glared at him with my mouth shut tight, Vasily asked me.
“Do you want the article taken down that badly?”
“…Yes.”
“Then bring me a reason why I should take this article down. Because right now, I’m very satisfied with this situation.”
I clenched my teeth as I looked at Vasily, who answered as if he had absolutely no intention of taking the article down until then.