Chapter 46 – ​The ​Price ​of ​Misjudgment

5. ​Minor ​Anxiety

Yoon ​Ki-hyun ​looked ​around the temporary base ​hastily ​improvised as a ​guiding space. No ​matter ​how ​many ​times ​he ​saw it, the ​place ​was ​utterly flimsy.

‘Where on ​earth is the Center ​spending all ​its budget?’

He ​occasionally wondered ​how much ​was ​being ​embezzled in the ​middle for ​the equipment to hardly ​ever improve.

Perhaps because it ​had been a while ​since he ​performed ​field guiding, he felt somewhat restless. ​Jeong Si-jun had hoped ​that ​Yoon ​Ki-hyun ​would ​stay in the ​Center’s guiding ​rooms ​as much as ​possible, ​but as luck would have ​it, a ​high-rank ​gate had appeared.

Field ​guiding ​was ​practically ​mandatory ​whenever a ​gate ​appeared far ​from the Center or was confirmed to ​be high-rank. That ​rule applied to ​Yoon Ki-hyun as well, ​despite being ​a personal Guide.

Another ​Guide ​was sitting in ​the temporary base ​besides Yoon ​Ki-hyun. ​Though, it ​was ​only one ​person.

It ​was Team ​Leader ​Seo ​Jin-tae, who had ​returned ​after taking ​sick ​leave. ​He ​approached hesitantly and began to offer a series of awkward apologies.

“Ki-hyun. I’m sorry for being so reckless last time.”

Since their paths hadn’t crossed, this was the first time Yoon Ki-hyun had seen him since that day.

“I knew Team Leader Jeong’s wavelength was difficult. It’s fine.”

Yoon Ki-hyun accepted Seo Jin-tae’s apology lightly. In that situation, the only person who had left a strong impression was Jeong Si-jun. That didn’t mean Seo Jin-tae’s behavior had been right. He simply thought about how desperate and frazzled the man must have been to cling to a former employee.

Moreover, since the man had been struggling enough to take sick leave due to overwork recently, Ki-hyun didn’t want to snap at him over past events. There was no point in two Guides getting red in the face.

“Geez, why… why are you so damn nice?”

“Haha.”

As Yoon Ki-hyun remained consistently nonchalant, Seo Jin-tae found himself fidgeting with his fingers. He would have preferred it if Ki-hyun had admitted that he had indeed crossed the line back then; then he could have bowed his head deeply and apologized like a man. The lukewarm reaction, acting as if it were truly nothing, made him feel even more uneasy.

‘What? You found Team Leader Yoon, who had resigned, there… and you asked for guiding?’

‘Do you think I was a total nightmare? Like, the kind of thing that would get posted on a professional community forum?’

When he had confessed this to one of his [unauthorized copy]site" style="display:none;" aria-label="visit our site">visit our siteteam members, the member had nodded without a second of hesitation.

They had gone so far as to bluntly state that it was truly improper behavior. After hesitating, Seo Jin-tae let out a deep sigh and began to speak with a face that looked as if he had given up on everything.

“Listen. I’ve thought about it a lot since you snapped at me and left back then.”

Sitting opposite him, Yoon Ki-hyun simply nodded. In truth, he didn’t care much about what Team Leader Seo Jin-tae was thinking. To put it more bluntly, he didn’t want to know and didn’t want to ask.

However, since he hadn’t asked his senior and wasn’t curious, he couldn’t exactly tell him to shut up. Thus, he had no choice but to put on his professional mask.

“Still, I always considered you the junior I trusted and recognized most at the Center. That’s why I think I took it a bit lightly… felt more comfortable with you than others. Since you were on my team for a while, too.”

Yoon Ki-hyun had worked on Seo Jin-tae’s team during his rookie days. Back then, Seo Jin-tae had been a very influential figure to him. He was certainly more experienced and skilled in guiding than Ki-hyun, who had just finished his rookie Guide training.

Even up until the early days of becoming a team leader after quickly gaining recognition for his abilities based on the tips he learned from Seo Jin-tae, he had received a lot of help from him.

That was why, even though he had openly shown his distaste for Jeong Si-jun, he couldn’t do the same to Seo Jin-tae.

“You know how it is. That feeling of ‘this person is my person, my junior.’ For me, that was Team Leader Yoon. Now that you’ve resigned, it’s a bit awkward to call you my junior, but…”

“What are you talking about. Regardless of affiliation, you are my senior.”

“I’m grateful you think so.”

Seo Jin-tae smiled awkwardly, wiping the cold sweat from his palms onto his trousers.

Since he was young, he had often been told that he dealt with people without any sense of distance. To put it positively, he had great sociability; to put it negatively, he was somewhat rude.

Though he was correcting this through his professional life, a personality couldn’t change overnight. Still, he wasn’t the type to avoid admitting his mistakes and apologizing.

After Yoon Ki-hyun, who had practically been Jeong Si-jun’s charge, resigned, Seo Jin-tae had somehow ended up handling Jeong Si-jun as if he were his exclusive Guide. That period had been stained with hardship and self-loathing.

Dealing with that erratic wavelength was overwhelming enough, but having to endure Jeong Si-jun’s even more fastidious personality was horrific.

The number of Espers he had to care for didn’t decrease even excluding Jeong Si-jun, and after days of performing wavelength purification like a disposable filter, he had run into Yoon Ki-hyun in that alley.

‘No, really, since people treat me like a water purifier filter so much, I thought you didn’t know.’

Those words had strangely lingered in his mind. It had felt cathartic, and something had stirred within him. He couldn’t name exactly what emotion it was.

“I’ll buy you a meal at a nice place later. I didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye on the day you resigned. I thought about visiting the guiding room to say goodbye, but [visit our site[Read on Read BL Novels]ize:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]then I thought that wouldn’t be polite.”

“That’s true.”

“Anyway, I’m sorry. But seeing your face again like this makes me feel like we’re back in the old days, and it feels good.”

Seo Jin-tae smiled, looking relieved.

“By the way, how is it working as a personal Guide?”

“Since I only guide Team Leader Jeong, I don’t feel exhausted like I used to at all. Rather…”

“Rather?”

“I’m bored and restless because there’s nothing particular to do while waiting.”

Compared to the times when he performed over twenty guidings a day, his daily routine was certainly monotonous. Sometimes he even worried if he was receiving too high a salary compared to the amount of work he did.

“Phew, that’s the good part. Since you left, the workload here still hasn’t decreased, and it’s driving us crazy. I bet it’ll get even busier when the new recruits come up; just thinking about it makes my head spin.”

“I hope many capable people join.”

“I hope so too. Anyway, it seems the Head of the Guide Division is poking around.”

“Ah, well. I heard through Team Leader Seo Yi-kyung that he wanted to arrange a meeting, but I declined firmly. I haven’t heard anything since.”

“Right… Even if you return to the Center, you’ll just be working your ass off. In my opinion, being a personal Guide is better in many ways, so that’s the right choice.”

Seo Jin-tae stopped sighing and blinked. He gestured with his chin toward the outside of the tent, prompting Yoon Ki-hyun to turn his head.

The entrance to the gate that Jeong Si-jun’s team had entered was shaking violently. As if announcing that the raid had ended successfully, it was spitting out dark, human-shaped figures.

“Phew, time to work, Ki-hyun.”

Seo Jin-tae shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jeong Si-jun was quieter than usual. For some reason, he had a dressing on his cheek, which made the return to the temporary base even more worrying.

‘Was it a bit tough inside?’

Even though some time had passed since the guiding began, the heat of battle visit our sitehad not yet fully subsided, and wavelengtstolen contenths were occasionally sparking.

If one didn’t concentrate with all their might, it was easy to lose the initiative and be swept away. Looking only at experience, there was a reason why the more seasoned Seo Jin-tae had struggled.

“You’re injured for once.”

“It’ll heal quickly, so what does it matter?”

At the voice, which was somewhat lower than usual, Yoon Ki-hyun’s lips parted. This was because an Esper who had just finished a battle was prone to be more sensitive and somewhat violent than usual.

“Was the guiding very insufficient?”

Guiding has a critical impact on an Esper’s combat condition.

Jeong Si-jun had hired him with a high salary to improve the quality of his combat condition. Therefore, Ki-hyun had an obligation to do his best so that Si-jun would not feel any deficiency in guiding, commensurate with the money he received.

“No. It’s not a guiding problem, it’s just…”

Jeong Si-jun looked at the white fingertips of Yoon Ki-hyun, who was gently enveloping the back of his hand. The pale pink color of the neatly trimmed nails reminded him of a certain part of the body beneath a shirt.

“A problem with my own headspace.”

“…I see.”

“But for once, our Yoon Ki-hyun is actually worrying about me.”

Though he babbled as if Ki-hyun’s reaction was unexpected, Jeong Si-jun had intentionally caused the injury.

It was an attack he could have easily predicted and avoided, but by choosing not to, he emerged from the gate with a prominent wound on his face. That way, wouldn’t Yoon Ki-hyun worry about him and pay more attention?

To achieve that, the wound had to look moderately painful to Yoon Ki-hyun, but not so gruesome as to be repulsive. Considering the speed of healing, the wound had been much more severe before the gate raid ended.

Unaware that it was a thoroughly calculated act of self-harm, Yoon Ki-hyun’s expression remained grave. Most likely, his head was currently filled with thoughts of him. Jeong Si-jun delighted in that.