Chapter 25 – ​The ​Price ​of ​Misjudgment

Yoon ​Ki-hyun ​realized ​it.

“The ​dessert ​that comes out later ​is ​delicious. I used ​to come here ​often ​with ​my ​mom, ​and ​I chose this ​place ​because ​I thought of ​it occasionally.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Eat a ​lot.”

Jeong Si-jun ​seemed to ​like him. ​It felt ​like ​narcissism, ​but there was ​no other ​way to explain Jeong ​Si-jun’s bizarre behavior.

‘I’m going ​crazy.’

The moment he realized ​it, he ​let ​out a laugh of sheer absurdity. ​He ended up laughing ​right ​in ​the ​middle ​of his meal. ​It was ​a ​hollow laugh, similar ​in ​intensity to the one he ​had let ​out ​in the taxi ​on ​his ​way ​back ​to the ​Center ​after receiving ​his diagnosis.

Seeing how Jeong Si-jun kept stealing ​glances at his ​face, barely eating ​his own food, confirmed ​it. That ​bastard definitely had ​feelings ​for him.

The depth ​of those feelings ​was somewhat ​ambiguous, ​but considering ​the ​way his ​waist ​had been ​held ​at ​the hotel or ​how ​kindly he ​had ​acted…

“I’ll ​buy ​dinner next time. No, let’s just make it so that I’m always the [unauthorized copy]copy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copycontent">stolen contentone paying for meals.”

Jeong Si-jun seemed to like him.

Yoon Ki-hyun blinked as he looked at Jeong Si-jun, who wore a proud expression after finishing the final dessert. What should he do about this?

‘…No. Whether he likes me or hates me, as long as he gives me money, that’s all that matters.’

Regardless of what Jeong Si-jun thought of him, those emotions meant nothing to Yoon Ki-hyun. It was a bit absurd, but so what?

Whether Jeong Si-jun had a crush on him or not, the world wasn’t ending, nor was he unable to pay off next month’s loan.

“Sure. You’re a building owner, so buy me dinner often.”

“Ah, of course.”

Jeong Si-jun laughed cheerfully, but Yoon Ki-hyun, watching that smile, could not bring himself to laugh.

Ha, what the fuck is that goddamn money anyway.

What exactly is money? What are those scraps of paper, those fragments of numbers printed on a bank app balance, that make a person suffer this much?

His heart felt restless.

The first day stepping into the Center as Jeong Si-jun’s personal Guide.

Yoon Ki-hyun took in the sight of the dreaded Awakened Management Center building. However, he was surprised by how much less nervous he felt than he had expected.

‘Well. There’s no reason for me to walk on eggshells.’

Although there had been some low-grade harassment during the resignation process, he had completed the handover without major issues and received his severance pay and final salary.

Therefore, there was absolutely no reason to be cautious. If anything, the other side might be the ones regretting his departure.

Once he organized his thoughts, he felt the stiffness in his joints loosen. He straightened his clothes, and with every step, he thought of the salary that would be deposited into his account. Only then did his breathing become easy.

As he passed through the main gate of the Awakener Center, he felt people gradually approaching him from the sides. They were faces Yoon Ki-hyun recognized. There were Espers and Guides whose names he couldn’t quite recall.

While exchanging distant greetings, a distinct scent of flowers wafted toward him. Sensing a presence close by, Yoon Ki-hyun turned his head to see a familiar face.

“Ki-hyun, it’s been a while.”

Team Leader Seo Yi-kyung greeted him with a bright, radiant smile. Along with Jeong Si-jun, he was one of the only two S-class Espers at the Awakened Management Center headquarters. In many ways, he was a man who contrasted sharply with Jeong Si-jun.

“Team Leader Seo. Hello.”

“I thought about you a lot after you resigned.”

So what about it?

Yoon Ki-hyun blinked his dry eyes with a lukewarm expression. He had tried to maintain his mental state, but the threats the Guide Director had made had weighed on his mind, causing him to lose sleep last night.

As he nodded moderately and pretended to listen, Seo Yi-kyung continued with a sociable air.

“I heard you’ve come back as Team Leader Jeong Si-jun’s personal Guide.”

“Yes. Somehow it happened.”

“It’s good to see you at the Center again, Ki-hyun. Is it okay if we greet each other when we run into each other?”

Seo Yi-kyung still wore a kind-hearted smile. On the surface, it was a trivial question, but the timing was somewhat abrupt.

Usually, he and Seo Yi-kyung would exchange greetings whenever they happened to meet in the Center hallways. This meant they were in a relationship where such a question was unnecessary. He wondered if there was a reason for asking, but decided to just let it slide.

Most of the people who had spoken to him today used similar excuses to start a conversation. Even for Seo Yi-kyung, he probably couldn’t think of a more original pretext.

Although he wasn’t returning as a regular employee of the Center, they were people who would cross paths often. A simple [visit unauthorized copyour site]greeting was something they could certainly share.

“Of course. It doesn’t cost money to say hello.”

“Alright. I’ll see you around then, Ki-hyun.”

Seo Yi-kyung turned toward the Esper dormitories with long strides. His attitude was clean and efficient.

If the conversation partner had been Jeong Si-jun, a few curse words would have likely been mixed into such a short exchange. It would be nice if Jeong Si-jun had even half of Seo Yi-kyung’s personality.

With that thought, Yoon Ki-hyun tagged his access card. The areas a personal Guide is permitted to enter within the Awakener Center are limited.

Today, he had to receive a brief orientation and basic explanations. He already knew all of it, but since that was the procedure, he had no choice but to follow along.

To get to the designated meeting room, he had to wait for the elevator. As he casually ignored the glances directed at him, he heard low whispering.

“…He must be getting paid a lot. Still, I don’t think I could do it, ugh.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t even look at the guy who called me like that.”

Yoon Ki-hyun instinctively knew. The subject of that conversation was him.

He subtly turned his head to look at the faces of the people standing around him, but he couldn’t find who was gossiping. In any company, [[Read on Read BL Novels]style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]the area in front of the elevators before and after work hours is bound to be noisy and crowded.

“I wonder if he’s kind or just stupid…”

Beyond the general chatter, a voice clearly directed at him was buried. Yoon Ki-hyun turned his head as he saw the light indicating the elevator had arrived at the lobby.

‘What a fucking mess, as always.’

Since it wasn’t an unexpected situation, he stepped into the elevator, pretending not to have heard. A subtle silence lingered in the elevator until he pressed the floor for the meeting room and stepped out.

The sound of fabric brushing against fabric, the occasional alert from a phone, and the sound of clearing one’s throat mixed together in a strange dissonance.

[15th floor.]

Yoon Ki-hyun moved upon hearing the elevator announcement. As people tactfully made way for him, he easily stepped out and slowly turned around.

Through the gap of the slowly closing elevator doors, he could see the faces of Guides heading to the upper floors. Most looked exhausted, but a few smiled when their eyes met, while others avoided his gaze.

‘I wonder if he’s kind or just stupid…’

At that moment, the words someone had muttered came back to him.

Yoon Ki-hyun fell into thought for a moment. He wasn’t trying to reflect on his own character or visit [unauthorized copy]our siteintelligence. He was simply curious.

‘Then what the hell was I supposed to do in my situation?’

It had been two years since he awakened as a Guide, but strictly speaking, it was a year and a half.

Until then, he had worked part-time jobs and at a company so small it was embarrassing to call it a medium-sized enterprise, earning barely the minimum wage. He had taken out a loan for a studio apartment deposit and had just finished paying it off when he awakened as a Guide.

He thought only a smooth road to success lay ahead, but then his father appeared, dragging a sick body.

That was when Yoon Ki-hyun first learned how expensive the treatment costs for a university hospital’s intensive care unit were. He also learned the importance of insurance and health management.

What the fuck was that blood relation anyway. He regretted spending a large sum of money he had never used in his life on his father’s treatment, yet the resentment that had piled up melted away at a single word from his father: “My son.”

Yoon Ki-hyun couldn’t abandon the father who had abandoned him in the same way. Like a complete idiot.

Working as a Guide every month, he earned a higher salary than an average office worker, but every time his father’s condition worsened, the treatment costs grew. Eventually, it became impossible to handle with just his salary, so he took out loans, but in the meantime, his father died.

Yoon Ki-hyun recalled the final words his father left in the intensive care unit, where he had rushed after receiving news that his father was critical. It was a word too short to be called a will.

“Son…”

His father’s breath ended before the rest of the sentence could follow. What had visit Read on Read BL Novelsour sitehis father tried to tell him right before he died?

While wearing the chief mourner’s armband in a small funeral hall and greeting visitors, Yoon Ki-hyun imagined the words his father couldn’t finish.

Was it an apology? Or was it a thank you?

Since the dead do not speak, it was a problem that would never be solved.

His father was dead, but he still had debts to pay. If it were debts left by his father, he could have simply renounced the inheritance, but the money borrowed in Yoon Ki-hyun’s name for treatment costs was a different story.

Still, he lived diligently with the thought that he would pay it back someday if he worked hard, only to suddenly fall ill. Of all things, it was a rare and incurable disease with astronomical treatment costs.

Even after calculating fiercely, the conclusion was that he couldn’t afford it, so he decided to die—but then a guy appeared offering money. That person just happened to be Jeong Si-jun.

Yoon Ki-hyun was more urgent about solving the problems immediately before him. He had to work as a Guide again and fix his broken body.

‘What can’t you do with money?’

‘Even so, why of all people Team Leader Jeong?’

‘His personality is a mess, but his face is incredible.’

While Yoon Ki-hyun headed toward the meeting room where his personal Guide training was scheduled, visit our sitethe unauthorized copywords of various people continued to brush past his ears and vanish.

Since he wasn’t the one talking, he had experienced too much to be hurt by words that judged his situation arbitrarily.

If he had become numb, then he had; if he had resigned himself, then that was also somewhat true.

‘If you’re going to talk, pay me first.’

He was sick and tired of being the subject of gossip just because he was born with a decent face. No matter what they blabbered, Yoon Ki-hyun’s goal was clear.

Guiding Jeong Si-jun, paying off the loans, and recovering his broken body. Except for guiding Jeong Si-jun, every single one of those tasks was far from easy.

Therefore, his time was far too precious to spend on people who blabbered without knowing his circumstances.

So what if he looked pathetic in others’ eyes? They weren’t the ones living his life for him. Yoon Ki-hyun was curious about himself at thirty, and the version of himself that would age beyond that.

He still wanted to live. So desperately that it made his previous decision to easily give up on life in this building seem meaningless.