BP 12

Jae-il, who had been slowly chewing over his rambling words from start to finish, eventually frowned. He followed it with a faint click of his tongue. It was because he had a hunch. There was no way those authoritarian people would have left this man alone.

“But today, I’ve gained mentors. Two of them, actually. So… um. I will do my best to learn quickly. If you could just wait a little bit.”

The anxiety was palpable. After blinking slowly, Jae-il finally spoke. If he didn’t, this man would always be dragged along by a speed he didn’t even recognize, a speed he couldn’t control.

“…You can take your time.”

Seung-hyun blinked, unable to process Jae-il’s words immediately. A moment of silence fell.

“Ah…”

Before long, Seung-hyun’s head tilted back slowly. Large eyes without double eyelids filled Jae-il’s vision entirely. As if moved by Jae-il’s consideration, his lips parted slightly and then curled into a smile. For a fleeting moment, an emotion of genuine happiness overflowed. It was then that Jae-il’s eyes narrowed slightly while observing the sequence of movements before returning to normal.

“Thank you.”

“……”

“In that sense, I’d like to see the gear on your wrist.”

This time, Jae-il looked puzzled. His lips parted to ask why he wanted to see it, but then closed. The man’s gaze was intensely eager.

“They said if I see that, I can know the Amplification Hazard Level. Espers wear gear, and Guides…”

His voice trailed off as he rummaged through his pocket. What came out of the pocket was none other than a knife. Seung-hyun kindly raised his arm to show the knife so Jae-il could see it easily.

“They said I have to carry this. I went with my mentors today and received it.”

“……”

Upon registration with the state, an Esper had a small bomb implanted in the back of their head and a gear fastened to their wrist. The bomb was a lethal [Read on Read BL Novels]weapon for Espers, [Read on Read BL Novels]detonated to prevent further human and material casualties if it was judged that even a Guide could not control them, and the gear was a shackle that had to be worn for the efficient management of Espers. It featured the Rampage Risk Level, location information, notifications, and communication functions, and served as an access pass when entering and leaving the Center.

In contrast, Guides had to carry a small knife in preparation for situations where guiding was useless for an Esper. It was used to draw blood when the Esper needed to be fed blood directly. Since a Guide’s blood produced an effect equivalent to sexual intercourse, it meant that if they couldn’t even have sex, they should at least feed them blood to keep them alive. However, because of the risk of damaging blood vessels, it was permitted only in the worst-case scenarios. Therefore, the knife carried strong symbolism. Saving an Esper was equivalent to loyalty to the state, and that was the spirit of a Guide.

As if possessed, Jae-il held out his wrist. The implicit pressure—that since the man had shown his, Jae-il should show his—was similar to the reckless urging from the day before to just come along.

While touching the gear, Seung-hyun was actually gripping Jae-il’s wrist. The sensation of fingertips fiddling around the gear was awkward. Jae-il tried to pretend he didn’t notice. It was because the man kept subtly crossing the line in ways he likely didn’t intend, and Jae-il had missed the timing to stop him every time.

“Do I… just touch this?”

“Yes. Twice.”

“Is it 30.25% right now?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Isn’t that high?”

“……”

For Jae-il, it was a low number, but for an average Esper, it was indeed high. While he was pondering how to make it easy to understand, Seung-hyun stepped half a pace closer. Jae-il instinctively leaned his upper body back.

Because he had no information about Jae-il, he could act this way without hesitation. No one in the Center approached Jae-il like this. It was a behavior possible because he was from the 13th District and, in a sense, an isolated existence, but he was severely lacking in self-awareness. That made him even more difficult to deal with.

After scanning Jae-il’s surroundings, he spoke with a determined face. His hand, full of resolve, gripped Jae-il’s wrist tightly.

“If it’s okay with you, shall we sl-sleep together today?”

His passion alone was impressive.

* * *

The study location was decided as the cafe on the first floor of the central building. In front of Joy was a hot chocolate, in front of Rowan was a yogurt smoothie (Joy’s second favorite), and in front of Seung-hyun [stolen content]was a green grape ade recommended by Joy. It was a [unauthorized copy]feast of drinks so sweet they could melt one’s tongue. They paid individually, but Seung-hyun, who had mainly used cash, struggled a bit to learn the new payment method.

Joy handled the tablet provided to Seung-hyun as familiarly as if it were her own. Rowan pushed the drinks aside to make it easier for Joy to explain.

“First, I’ll explain the ranks.”

Joy looked up at Seung-hyun. She was serious and solemn.

“The inherent rank of an ability user, which can be determined by genetic testing, is divided into A, B, C, or High, Middle, and Low. As technology advanced, ranks could be further subdivided, and the names were taken from poker hands.”

“Yes.”

Joy flicked through the screen and touched an icon made of Haon’s letters.

“If you enter this app, a rank table appears. It’s good to memorize it.”

[Esper Guide Rank Table]

The rank differentiation is the same for Guides and Espers. However, if they are of the same rank, the Guide always takes precedence over the Esper.

[S-Class]

Royal Straight Flush (Ros-Ple)

[High-A]

Back Straight Flush (Back-Ple) > Straight Flush (Sti-Ple) > Poker

[Middle-B]

Full House > Flush Straight

[Low-C]

Triple > Two Pair > One Pair

Seung-hyun stared intently at the screen she showed him. He looked as if he were about to memorize the table on the spot. Joy glanced at Seung-hyun’s sparkling eyes as if they were fascinating and then closed the app.

“This is the ability user rank, and there’s a separate Center position. Look at my ID badge.”

“You’re a ‘Sergeant’.”

“Most of us follow the general military law system, but we can’t ignore our uniqueness, right? We use unique position titles for ability users.”

Seung-hyun looked down at his own ID badge. The three words ‘Trainee’ were clearly written.

“The order is Staff Sergeant, Sergeant, First Sergeant, Master Sergeant, and then Team Leader. Esper and Guide teams expand and contract flexibly, but Teams 1 through 5 are mostly fixed. Of course, those teams are mostly composed of high-ranking individuals.”

“……”

“Several factors play into promotion. If your guiding goes well, you’ll be able to get a position quickly too.”

Seung-hyun nodded silently. Everything was unfamiliar and strange, but these were concepts that would eventually be acquired naturally. It wasn’t difficult yet.

This time, Joy opened a memo app.

“Now, this part is important.”

“Yes.”

“Watch closely.”

She drew two circles vertically to make a snowman. They were the head and the body. The arms and legs were expressed carelessly with short lines.

“This is the Esper.”

She drew another one of the same shape next to it. Perhaps to distinguish them, she added a star above the Guide’s head.

“This is the Guide.”

“Yes.”

“As you’d know if you have eyes, the energy of Espers differs for each of them. The colors are different, and their temperaments are different.”

Thinking of Jae-il and Giju, Seung-hyun nodded. To use an animal analogy, Jae-il was like a tiger, sharpened by days of hunger, and Giju was like a fox, softer and less fierce. When Seung-hyun showed a look of genuine understanding, Joy let out a sigh of relief. As expected, an A-Class was different. Right, there’s always a way.

“Now, I’ll connect them. This is the channel between the two.”

She drew two lines between the two snowmen.

“But this channel is different for every person. First reason why matching rate is important: visit stolen contentour sitethe speed of guiding changes depending on whether this channel is wide or narrow. Just keep that in mind for now. Even this explanation is getting too long.”

“Yes.”

Joy then drew an arrow between the channels. It was pointing from the Esper toward the Guide.

“You know that if the energy is too strong, the Amplification Level rises, and if it rises too much, the Esper dies, right?”

“Yes.”

“Right. Before that, the bomb in their head would explode first, but anyway.”

“……”

“We absorb that energy before it consumes the Esper. Naturally, the amount absorbed differs depending on the level.”

“Yes.”

“And we have to store that somewhere in our bodies.”

“Ah, you store it?”

Seung-hyun looked quite surprised. This was the first time he had heard this. So you have to store it.

“Yeah. Uh, ah… I mean.”

Joy frowned, as if this part was difficult to explain. She paused, scratching her eyebrow with the tip of the pen. Then, Rowan, who had been watching Joy’s reaction, slipped in.

“Because the energy is also the Esper’s life force, if you just keep taking it away, the Esper’s strength weakens. So you store it, purify it, and return as much as possible.”

Joy’s eyes sparkled. It felt as if a tangled knot had been undone.

“Exactly. We store it temporarily in our bodies to purify it.”

“……”

“Here is the second reason why matching rate is important. The higher the matching rate, the better the purification function. That means there’s more clear energy to return to the Esper. If the matching rate is low, you have to throw away all that precious energy.”

As Joy resumed her explanation, Rowan chewed on his straw and stepped back.

“And the vessel for storing it is different for every Esper. The shape, the size, and the minor functions.”

Glancing at Seung-hyun, who was nodding silently, Joy continued.