Chapter 21 – The Price of Misjudgment
2. An Unfamiliar Routine
Jeong Si-jun was stubbornly obsessed with the title “Hyung.” While it was a far better title than being called Team Leader Yoon, it felt cringeworthy and off-putting in its own way.
Yoon Ki-hyun sat on the edge of his bed and thought for a moment. What would be the best way for Jeong Si-jun to address him?
How about Guide Yoon?
Jeong Si-jun
Ah, what is that?
It’s fucking weird.
No matter how much he agonized over it, no suitable title came to mind. At best, it would be ”Mr. Yoon,” but that sounded like something you’d call a day laborer at a construction site; the nuance was off.
Isn’t calling someone by their name the most common way? He couldn’t understand why the man was so obsessed with titles.
Unable to think of anything else to send in response to Jeong Si-jun’s trivial messages, Yoon Ki-hyun simply closed the chat window. Then, to soothe his unsettled mind, he checked his bank balance.
His heart swelled at the balance, which had jumped significantly since the [visit our site]last time he checked. This month’s loan repayments and credit card bills would [unauthorized copy]be no problem. Moreover, there was still enough left for the balance to look beautiful.
He had used most of the money Jeong Si-jun sent as a settlement to partially pay off his loans. He felt as if the noose that had been tightening firmly around his neck had loosened just a little.
Yoon Ki-hyun absentmindedly stroked his neck and took a bottle of water from the refrigerator. After showering and lying in bed, sleep washed over him like a ghost.
‘Somehow, it worked out.’
Actually, when he had checked Jeong Si-jun’s wavelength at the cafe and offered to provide guiding first, he had been a bit scared. He had worried about what would happen if he couldn’t perform the guiding well.
The wretched disease that only afflicted Guides was only just beginning to be treated. Furthermore, since the last time he had guided was the day he resigned, he feared his touch might have grown rusty.
‘Still, it didn’t hurt as much as before when I guided.’
It was a vague impression, but he felt that things would somehow turn out fine. It was a shapeless, hazy hope, but he wondered how long it had been since he last felt even this dim glimmer of hope.
‘Let’s live diligently starting tomorrow.’
Yoon Ki-hyun drifted off to sleep. Strangely, today had felt far too long.
The headquarters of the Awakened Management Center was buzzing with a single topic for the first time in a while. In every breakroom where capsule coffee machines ran incessantly, everyone was whispering about one person.
In the Guide breakroom, where Guides were lounging due to accumulated overwork, small groups gathered and chatted with a hint of excitement.
“What happened with Team Leader Yoon? Is he coming back to the Center?”
“I heard something too…”
“Tell us quickly.”
“I heard he’s been registered as Team Leader Jeong’s personal Guide?”
As soon as the Guide who had come to share the rumor finished speaking, a senior Guide’s eyes widened. There was only one Esper in the Center called Team Leader Jeong.
“Bullshit?”
“…Assistant Manager, please lower your voice.”
“Oh, right. Right. So, Team Leader Yoon is registered as Team Leader Jeong Si-jun’s personal Guide?”
“Yes. Why, a few days ago, Team Leader Jeong sent a personal Guide employment contract to the legal team for review; that was probably Team Leader Yoon’s.”
“Wow, those two?”
It was an unbelievable combination.
After all, weren’t their personalities completely incompatible?
“Suddenly? Why did he go that way? I mean, in the first place, isn’t it true that no one can get in [stolen [visit our site]style="display:none;" aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelscontent]touch with Team Leader Yoon?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. I unfortunately shared an elevator with the Director this morning, and he seemed to be hinting that if he ran into Team Leader Yoon at the Center, he’d try to coax him back…”
“Good grief, after all that shit he pulled. Has he sold off all his shame?”
While a mix of welcome and curiosity played across the Guides’ faces, the Esper waiting room was noisy. However, there was one waiting room that was strangely calmer than the others. That was the waiting room for Esper Special Team 1.
A man sat in the center of the waiting room, which seemed soft and relaxed, mirroring the personality of its leader. He rested his chin on his hand. As he moved, his light brown hair flowed smoothly.
“Registered as Team Leader Jeong’s personal Guide?”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
The content being chattered by a team member, who claimed to have heard an interesting story, was quite intriguing.
Instead of listening to the topic of the Guide Director’s pathetic scouting offer, the man called Team Leader pictured Yoon Ki-hyun’s face.
He was a person whose guiding and face he had liked quite a bit.
“Team Leader Yoon’s guiding was good.”
As Esper Special Team 1 Leader Seo Yi-kyung murmured softly, the team members sitting around him chimed in.
“Exactly.”
“I wonder how much Team Leader Jeong paid to bring him over, Team Leader.”
When there are no gates, Espers generally spend their time training their physical strength or gathering like this for trivial chatter. While the hierarchy by seniority wasn’t strictly enforced, it wasn’t nonexistent either.
Unlike Jeong Si-jun, who had joined the Center relatively late but secured a team leader position through exceptional skill, Seo Yi-kyung was the type who possessed both seniority and skill. Not to mention his presence as one of the few S-class Espers in the Center.
“I wonder. If it’s not a significant amount, should I pay the penalty fee and just snatch Team Leader Yoon away?”
The team members chuckled at the words spoken in a half-joking tone. The man, who had become the center of the exceptionally harmonious atmosphere, fell into thought with a faint smile.
Thinking that it was a surprisingly not-bad idea.
Rumors at the Awakened Management Center spread incredibly fast. There was no one who didn’t know the news of Yoon Ki-hyun’s return to the Center, which had spread from someone’s mouth.
“I told you I was right, you brat. The person who said they saw him at the B-rank gate was indeed Yoon Ki-hyun.”
“Then did that crazy bastard lure him in back then?”
The Espers, speaking in vulgar tones, chuckled while munching on snacks. It was one of the few peaceful times they could relax while the team leaders were tied up in meetings.
“Wow, I wonder how much that money-grubber took to agree to be a personal Guide?”
“Probably more than the Center’s monthly salary.”
“Well, obviously, you idiot.”
“That crazy bastard hit the jackpot. He used his thug instincts to become a team leader quickly, but how the hell did he get Yoon Ki-hyun as a personal Guide?”
“But if he comes as a personal Guide, does that mean we can’t get public guiding?”
Unlike Center-affiliated Guides, the Center cannot give work orders to a personal Guide. This is because they are the exclusive Guide of the person they contracted with.
“Probably.”
“I’m fucking jealous, damn it.”
They were chatting vulgarly as usual when the complexion of the guy sitting opposite them turned pale. Did he eat something wrong? Why is he like that?
“What’s wrong?”
Just as he asked with a serious face, the sound of teeth grinding echoed from behind.
“Hey.”
One could not believe that so much murderous intent could be contained in a single syllable. The Esper, realizing who the owner of the voice was, slowly turned his head like a broken machine with stripped gears.
A hulking man stood there, backlit by the fluorescent lights of the breakroom. [Read on Read BL Novels]The gaze looking down at him was ominous, as if a disaster were about to strike at any moment.
The owner of the blood type patch and Esper rank insignia on the sleeve of the pitch-black combat uniform looked ready to tear him apart and kill him.
“Which team are you?”
Jeong Si-jun didn’t ask a long question. He asked on purpose, even though he knew this was the Esper Special Team 4 breakroom. Because it could be some bastard from another team who had come over to chat.
“Spe… Special Team 4, Team Leader.”
The Esper stammered, overwhelmed by the pressure. Once this situation passed, his friend in front of him would probably tease him by mimicking the voice, but that didn’t matter. The disaster appearing before his eyes was too immense.
‘Did I not close the door? Fuck, I didn’t. Shit!’
While cold sweat beaded on his forehead, Jeong Si-jun slowly looked around the breakroom. His gaze lingered on the faces and name tags, as if trying to remember every single face of the bastards here.
It was a sudden raid by a team leader from another team. Every Esper in the breakroom stopped what they were doing and began to bow their heads.
That was how the hierarchy among men worked. The Esper breakrooms were crawling with one-dimensional creatures who constantly tested for superiority and would ruthlessly crush anyone who seemed weak to flaunt their own dominance.
‘Looking at this, I wonder what the difference is between a thug and an Esper.’
Jeong Si-jun’s refined and gracefully raised mother had been extremely happy when she heard he would be working at the Awakener Center.
She had been so delighted that he had become a proper member [Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]of society, far removed from a home detached from common sense; her bright smile was still vivid in his mind.
The pitiful woman seemed to believe the Awakener Center was a society with a completely different atmosphere from their household, but unfortunately, Jeong Si-jun had nested in a place that was not much different from where he was born and raised. And surprisingly, this life suited his aptitude perfectly.
“Does Team Leader Kang Hae-mun treat team management like a piece of shit?”
Jeong Si-jun murmured gloomily. A chilling murderous intent flickered in his eyes. He looked as if he were about to grab the Espers by their necks and snap them.
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