Chapter 18 – GOY 18

#18

“Ack!”

I ​woke ​up ​with ​a ​scream. ​As I opened ​my ​eyes, ​I ​saw ​a plain white ceiling, ​different ​from the one ​I had seen ​moments ​ago.

‘Where ​am ​I? ​Where ​are Joo Seung-hyuk ​and ​Kim ​Joon?’

I hurriedly looked ​around.

A simple desk and ​laptop, a ​folding table ​standing in ​one corner, ​an ​old ​stuffed dog lying ​under the ​bed—this was my dormitory ​room.

Neither Joo Seung-hyuk nor ​Kim [stolen content]Joon were in ​sight, [Read on Read BL Novels]and ​my ​hands and feet were [stolen content]free. There ​were no wounds.

‘Was it ​a ​dream…?’

A ​sense ​of ​relief that I ​was alive ​washed ​over me, followed ​immediately ​by a surge of indignation.

“Damn ​it, when ​did ​I ever cloud ​your ​eyes? ​You ​just ​closed them ​and ​refused to ​look on your own….”

The words I hadn’t ​dared to say ​because I was ​terrified of Joo Seung-hyuk ​finally burst ​out.

I knew it ​was ​a dream, but ​my entire body ​was trembling ​and ​cold sweat ​ran ​down my ​spine. ​Joo Seung-hyuk’s ​gaze, ​the ​ensuing violence, the ​chilling ​murderous intent—everything ​had ​been ​too ​vivid.

What on earth was that dream?

It was a situation similar to a scene in the novel. In the original story, Lee Yeon-soo also met a miserable death at Joo Seung-hyuk’s house.

However, the content of the conversation was completely different.

Could it be a prophetic dream?

It was telling me that although Joo Seung-hyuk is obsessed with me now, the fact remains that the original plot will not change in the end.

I clasped my trembling hands together. I couldn’t just stay like this.

I had to take action to escape from the obsessive yandere.

I heard that there was a guide from the Changwi Guild among the new students.

I asked Ji-hee noona to introduce me to that guide, and in exchange for buying them a meal, I managed to find out the first-year timetable.

Since first-years have many required major subjects, their schedules are similar, so I should be able to deduce Kim Joon’s timetable as well.

Fortunately, because that student brought up the [visit our site]fact that they were in the same [stolen content]class as an F-Rank guide first, I was [Read on Read BL Novels]able to find out Kim Joon’s schedule much more easily than expected.

Kim Joon has a ‘Guiding Theory’ class at the Central Training Center during the 5th period today.

I sent a text to Joo Seung-hyuk in advance.

<<Are you free after the 5th period today?

Yes.

<<Then shall we meet in front of the training center then?

Yes. I’ll go.

<<Okay. See you then.

Yes.

Around the time Kim Joon finishes his class, Joo Seung-hyuk will arrive here. And the two of them will meet.

The main seme and main uke of the original work will have their monumental first meeting.

Originally, I planned to wait until the two of them met naturally, but my thoughts changed after the dream.

I will pair the main seme and main uke together as quickly as possible and exit the original plot.

Besides, if Kim Joon meets him thanks to me, Joo Seung-hyuk won’t try to kill me like in the dream.

I felt sorry for Kim Joon, as if I were pushing someone living a perfectly fine life into a pit, but it couldn’t be helped.

I don’t want to die at the hands of a crazy obsessive yandere. Moreover, Kim Joon ends up loving Joo Seung-hyuk anyway….

Kim Joon confesses later that he actually [visit our site]has “hard” tastes. Honestly, he said he liked it stolen contentwhenever Joo Seung-hyuk was coercive….

In the end, they are a well-matched pair where the S and M harmonize.

Yes, even if it’s not through me, the two will eventually get entangled. I’m just restoring things to how they were, after I delayed it a bit.

I looked toward the training center where Kim Joon would be taking his lecture, then went and sat on a nearby bench.

Since I had plenty of time until the lecture ended, I decided to read a book in the meantime.

I had borrowed a collection of essays written by a guide from the library on the day of the freshman welcome party, but I hadn’t properly read a single page until now.

I flipped through the pages.

It was a book that calmly chronicled the life of a freelance guide of ten years who had neither bonded with an Esper nor signed an exclusive contract.

Freelance guides can change jobs easily and are free, but they are just as easily fired.

They receive more small allowances compared to imprinted guides or exclusive guides, but their workload is relatively heavier.

The social perception is also not great. There are still looks of disdain when someone is called a freelance guide. This is true not only for the elderly but for young people as well.

But it’s all bearable.

Neither social coldness nor unreasonably heavy workloads can defeat freedom.

Above all, I love freedom and do not wish to be subordinate to anyone. However, there are moments when a wave of insurmountable loneliness suddenly washes over me.

Imprinted guides have a sense of stability. The fact that there is an absolute ally, an Esper of their own, seems to enrich their lives.

I chose freedom over having an ally. I have no regrets, but it seems that lingering longing will never disappear for the rest of my life.

An absolute ally….

Since I rejected the contract with Joo Seung-hyuk, I had never thought about being an imprinted guide or an exclusive guide.

To be precise, I was too busy escaping the original plot to clearly envision my future after graduating from school.

I only thought that I should go to a corporation since I wanted to earn a lot of money.

Bonding, an absolute ally…. Could I meet an Esper like that?

As I traced the words ‘absolute ally’ printed on the white paper with my finger, my phone vibrated.

I’m happy that Hyung asked to meet first.

It was a text from Joo Seung-hyuk. If I felt that the text, which came 20 minutes after we finished our conversation, was somehow shy, it must be my imagination.

Because shyness cannot exist in the life of an obsessive yandere.

Should I reply? What should I say in a situation like this?

For someone like me, who has been a lifelong solo across both my past and present lives, this was an incredibly difficult task.

While I was holding my phone and agonizing over it, a sharp voice pierced my ears.

“F-Rank! You haven’t dropped out yet?”

What is this? If it’s an F-Rank, could it be….

Following the sound, I walked behind the building and saw a group of men gathered.

“Do you think someone like you is fit to be at the Academy!”

“Doesn’t a moron like you feel ashamed?”

They were surrounding Kim Joon and hurling insults. They were all faces I was seeing for the first time, and judging by the color of the badges on their uniforms, they seemed to be this year’s freshmen.

The badges of the Esper Academy changed colors every year; last year was red, and this year was green. Thus, one could tell the class year just by looking at the badge.

“How dare a piece of F-Rank trash crawl into a place like this?”

A man wearing an Esper Uniform tapped Kim Joon on the head. Not only fellow guides but even Espers had joined in to bully Kim Joon.

I was about to help Kim Joon immediately, but I paused.

Could this be it?

The second meeting event between Joo Seung-hyuk and Kim Joon!

In the original work, Kim Joon suffers severe bullying because he is F-Rank.

The Esper Academy was similar to the military. Ability Users were forced to enroll, and not only was refusing admission difficult, but taking a leave of absence was also not easy.

However, this was only the case up to C-Rank. For an Ability User of D-Rank or lower to enter the Esper Academy, they had to receive a recommendation letter and pass the entrance exam.

In the past, the rule was that any Ability User, regardless of rank, must enroll.

However, under the pretext of giving lower-rank Ability Users the opportunity to choose their career path, the system was changed so that only those who wanted to could enroll if they were D-Rank or lower.

But that was merely a plausible excuse.

The Esper Academy was a school operated 100% by government funds without tuition.

Because the state did not want to waste taxes on lower-rank Ability Users who were useless to the military power and only existed in large numbers, they blocked their admission using a plausible reason.

It wasn’t that the number of [Read on Read BL Novels]people selected through exams was small. About 40% [unauthorized copy]of [Read on Read BL Novels]the entire student body entered through exams.

However, since the number of D-Rank Ability Users was more than three times the number of C-Rank Ability Users, in absolute numbers, a huge number of lower-rank Ability Users tasted the bitterness of failure every year.

Every year, fierce arguments broke out over whether the number of exam candidates should be increased or whether maintaining the status quo was better.

And amidst such debates, F-Rank Ability Users were marginalized.

From the start, F-Ranks were more often viewed as ordinary people with superpowers rather than Ability Users. Even in the days when all Ability Users were dragged into the military, F-Ranks were the exception.

And Kim Joon was the first F-Rank to enroll after the Esper Academy had been completely reorganized into its current form.

In <The Swamp of the Guide>, Kim Joon suffers severe bullying due to his low rank, and Joo Seung-hyuk happens to discover Kim Joon and takes an interest in him.

Just in case there’s a misunderstanding, I’ll say it again.

An obsessive yandere takes unauthorized copy[stolen content]an ‘interest’ in the uke. In other words, he simply finds him intriguing; he doesn’t help him.

The freshmen force Kim Joon to drop out of the Esper Academy, inflicting violence until he says he will quit on his own. This was because it was relatively easier for lower-rank Ability Users who entered through exams to drop out.

Joo Seung-hyuk watches this scene silently.

Even amidst the indiscriminate violence, Kim Joon does not yield.

“I will absolutely not quit.”

Seeing Kim Joon repeat those words even while covered in blood, the freshmen grow disgusted and leave, hurling insults at him as he lies collapsed on the ground.

Once the situation concludes, Joo Seung-hyuk also intends to leave. However, Kim Joon’s face keeps lingering in his mind, and eventually, he moves the unconscious boy to the infirmary.

And from that day on, Joo Seung-hyuk begins to constantly think about Kim Joon.

Kim Joon also feels deep gratitude toward Joo Read on Read BL NovelsSeung-hyuk, who helped him [stolen content]twice, and begins to think of him as someone special.

This was the decisive event that entangled the two.

Although the first meeting was skipped, if he goes through this event, everything will flow back according to the original plot.

This was an opportunity.

I came to a dead stop.