Chapter 2 – ​The ​Price ​of ​a ​Misjudgment

Yoon ​Ki-hyun ​knew ​that ​the tiresome bastards at ​the ​Center were very ​interested in him. ​This ​was ​because ​the ​gossip ​eventually circled back ​to ​him.

That ​Yoon Ki-hyun was ​a whore of a ​gay man ​who loved ​men, or ​a public ​utility ​who ​provided guiding to ​anyone and ​everyone because he was ​crazy for money…

Most of ​the stories were crude ​and vulgar, ​and ​most of them were about him.

The ​more he thought about ​it, ​the ​more ​he ​realized what a ​crazy workplace ​it ​was. What was ​the ​point of making them attend ​monthly lectures ​and ​fill out formal ​surveys ​about ​improving ​Guide ​human rights? ​Behind ​the scenes, ​they were busy spouting that kind of ​nonsense for entertainment.

‘Ah, ​fuck. Should I ​just carry a sign ​that says ​”Don’t talk to ​me” ​around my neck?’

It ​had been four ​days since ​he ​submitted his ​resignation.

Yoon ​Ki-hyun was ​plagued ​by the ​impulse ​to ​act on a ​whim ​that would ​be ​talked ​about ​for ages on employee community forums.

That was how much the members of the Center annoyed him.

Starting with the deputy director, the head of the division, and the center director, visit our siteEND: visit our site -->who all summoned him for meaningless interviews, people he bumped into in the hallways would approach him hesitantly and ask if the rumors were true.

He thought that if he responded moderately, they would just spread the rumors on their own, but that was a misjudgment. Even today, the place was full of bastards asking if the rumor about his resignation was real.

‘Team Leader, are you really quitting? I couldn’t believe it when I heard the rumor…’

‘Yes. It just happened that way.’

‘I’m so sad to see you go.’

‘Me too.’

Sad, my ass. All he could think was that it would be absolutely wonderful if he could move up his resignation date by even a single day.

Habits are scary; he was still wearing a plausible professional mask, repeating the same words like a parrot. However, as time passed, it became increasingly draining.

‘Haa…’

Yoon Ki-hyun spat toothpaste foam into the bathroom sink and let out a sigh.

Beyond his blurred vision, the contents of visit our sitevisit our sitestyle="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">stolen content]visit our site -->a messenger chat from the administrative deputy director, which he had been reading moments ago, flickered.

A man who usually found petty excuses to criticize him under the guise of guiding evaluations was now sending long messages every day, as if he had so many things to be sorry for.

The man even apologized for the bullying he had done during Ki-hyun’s rookie days—things Ki-hyun didn’t even remember—which only served to ruin Ki-hyun’s mood more and more each day as he read them.

Feeling a vibration, he checked his phone to find a message from the Guide Division Head.

[Guide Division Head]

Ki-hyun~ Could we have a drink after work today? I know a bar with a great night view, and I think it would be good to have a sincere conversation there.

The Guide Division Head, who usually barely spoke to him face-to-face, had gone a step further. From the day Ki-hyun submitted his resignation, the head had frequently treated him to expensive meals while urging him to stay at the Center.

Thanks to that, the rumor that Yoon Ki-hyun and the Guide Division Head were sleeping together was snowballing, though the Division Head seemed to be the only one completely unaware of it.

Still, he had agonized for quite a while over whether he should inform his superiors about his diagnosis of a rare incurable disease. But even if he did, nothing would likely change much.

They would obviously suggest a medical leave of absence, and even if the higher-ups were lenient, the period for which it would be paid would be a few months at most.

The salary he earned while pushing his body to the limit was drained every month for [stolen [unauthorized copy]content]loan repayments. He was Read on Read BL Novelsalways strapped for living expenses, including food.

Now, with the addition of absurd medication costs to such a life, paid leave could not provide practical help. It was nothing more than an obstacle hindering his death.

‘My stomach feels bad… maybe I should go home early today, take my medicine, and sleep.’

He felt nauseous and had a headache, similar to severe motion sickness.

He felt relieved to finally know the name of the various pains that had plagued him for a long time, but the fact that he had no money to treat it made his nerves fray.

For the past few days, all Yoon Ki-hyun did was pop three or four common over-the-counter painkillers and fall into a dead sleep.

Since he planned to die anyway, why buy expensive medicine? There were so many things he could do before he died with the money he would have spent on that.

‘Why is living so exhausting?’

As Yoon Ki-hyun, who had been idling after finishing his brushing, was leaving the bathroom, a shadow fell over him.

Glancing up, he saw the obnoxious face of Team Leader Jeong Si-jun.

“Team Leader Yoon.”

“…Ah, hello.”

He responded because their eyes met, but he didn’t want to talk to Jeong Si-jun for long. It was just as Yoon Ki-hyun tried to twist his body slightly to pass by.

“Why does your complexion look so terrible?”

A question clearly directed at him flew over.

He always has to put it like that.

Yoon Ki-hyun looked at Jeong Si-jun with one eyebrow raised. Sure enough, the other’s gaze was fixed on his face. Jeong Si-jun’s expression, as if he had seen something unpleasant, flicked a nerve in Yoon Ki-hyun.

Whether his complexion was terrible or not. As if asking what it had to do with him, Yoon Ki-hyun shrugged his shoulders slightly and turned his back.

‘Just when I’m feeling unlucky, this guy…’

Honestly, it was impossible to feel anything positive toward Jeong Si-jun.

As far as Yoon Ki-hyun knew, that bastard was the first person in the Center to giggle and label [visit our site]him as a &#[stolen content]8220;public utility.”

He had made a small mistake during guiding once, and it was said that the story spread that Si-jun had grumbled behind his back, saying he couldn’t receive proper guiding because Ki-hyun distributed his guiding everywhere like a public utility.

Making a minor mistake was his own fault, but mocking and talking vulgarly behind his back was a different matter.

However, Yoon Ki-hyun didn’t care. To be precise, he had no mental leeway to waste on such things, so he had no choice but to leave it alone.

Bluntly put, he couldn’t exactly go to Jeong Si-jun and interrogate him on whether he was the first one to call him a public utility in the Center.

In a Center where hundreds of people worked, finding the starting point of a widely spread nickname was difficult, and if Jeong Si-jun denied it, it would likely be Ki-hyun who would end up looking strange.

Without a recording, there was no gain in getting into a fight based only on hearsay from someone who heard it from someone else.

Above all, the other man was one of the few S-class combat Espers in the country, someone even the center director deferred to.

Thinking back now, he only regretted that it might have been better to just clash head-on.

“Someone is worrying about you, and yet…”

When Yoon Ki-hyun abruptly turned his back, Jeong Si-jun grumbled in a sulky tone.

‘Worry, my ass. His tone is so damn annoying, and I’m supposed to believe that? Who asked him to worry, why is this bastard suddenly acting up?’

No matter how he thought about it, the guy was an eyesore. Without even attempting to squeeze out his depleted social skills, Yoon Ki-hyun shoved his hands into his pockets and walked down the hallway.

‘I’ll just buy two bottles of soju on my way home today and drink them.’

The message from the Division Head tempting him to drink together today had long been erased from his mind.

Going there would only be like pouring oil on the rumor that he was sleeping with the Division Head.

‘Ah, maybe I should just disappear.’

How much longer could his patience, which had reached its limit, hold out?

He pondered for a moment, but ultimately reached the conclusion that he wanted to receive a generous severance pay and monthly salary and spend it all lavishly.

He thought he would live a successful life after awakening as a Guide, but he had to nurse his father, who had come to find him—though he didn’t know how the man had found out his news.

What did it matter that the father who had abandoned him and run away was now in this state? To anyone else, it was a situation where they would click their tongues, stolen [unauthorized copy]contentcalling him a complete idiot and a pushover.

Yoon Ki-hyun hadn’t wanted to take responsibility for a father who felt like a stranger from the start. He had desperately wanted to cut ties several times and scream that the man should handle his own hospital bills.

However, he kept thinking about that brief hug when his father, in a pitiful state with graying hair, hugged him while crying, saying he had missed him very much.

He could still vividly recall the color of the cheap jumper with frayed cuffs and cigarette holes here and there.

How could he forget those clothes? Since there were only a few photos of his parents left at home after his father ran away, it was the clothing his father wore in a photo at an amusement park that he used to look at occasionally.

To think that when he suddenly appeared before him after living without contact for so long, he would still be wearing that worn-out jumper.

If he was going to abandon his child, he should have at least lived well.

When he looked closely at the face of his father, who appeared as the epitome of misery, he was surprised to see his own face reflected there.

Whenever that happened, he felt that this old, pitiful man really was his father, and his heart would soften every time.

‘From my perspective, Ki-hyun, you’re just affection-starved.’

One of the few friends who knew the details of Ki-hyun’s situation had muttered stolen contentcontent">stolen contentthat with a troubled face during a drinking session.

Affection-starved. Even thinking about it himself, Yoon Ki-hyun was certain he was affection-starved.

But how do you cure being affection-starved? In the first place, is that even curable?

As if being affection-starved wasn’t enough, he had now contracted a rare incurable disease with a name he barely recognized.

Anyway, what a mess of a life. Shaking off the lengthening thoughts, Yoon Ki-hyun crossed the hallway, leaving behind Jeong Si-jun’s nonsense grumbling.

‘And that bastard, despite being younger, uses half-formal speech just because he became a team leader early. How obnoxious.’

Grumbling inwardly, he glanced at the time.

Normally, this would be the time he’d be struggling with overtime guiding, but since he threw in his resignation, there wasn’t much time left until his clock-out time.

Three more weeks. Everything ends after just three more weeks.

Yoon Ki-hyun sat at his desk in one corner of the office. The remaining team members, excluding those who had left for guiding, were busy tapping their keyboards quietly, mindful of his mood.

They were probably chatting in a group message room that excluded Yoon Ki-hyun. Regardless of what the [Read on Read BL Novels]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]team members were doing, Yoon Ki-hyun was typing trivial keywords into a search bar.

Good areas for living for a month.

Where would be good? As expected, a neighborhood he had never been to before would be best.

The man’s face was dry as he looked at photos heavily edited with filters, searching for a place to stay until he died. He looked like someone who had forgotten how to smile.