Chapter 3 – ​The ​Price ​of ​a ​Misjudgment

The ​tear-jerking ​efforts ​of ​the superiors to dissuade ​Yoon ​Ki-hyun from resigning ​vanished after exactly ​one ​week. ​Perhaps ​they ​realized ​his will to ​quit ​was ​firm, or maybe ​they simply thought the ​Center would ​run just ​fine without ​a single ​A-class ​Guide.

Regardless ​of the reason, ​it was ​a relief that the ​messenger notifications, which had ​been pouring in daily, ​finally went ​quiet. ​The problem started after that.

Checking the ​workload assigned to him, ​Yoon ​Ki-hyun ​unconsciously ​closed ​his eyes and ​took a ​deep ​breath.

He hadn’t asked ​for ​a beautiful parting like something ​out of ​a ​movie. He had ​simply ​hoped ​for ​a ​conventional resignation, ​but ​it seemed ​he had asked too much from such ​a wretched company.

The ​International Guide Association ​recommends a maximum average ​of five ​guiding sessions per ​day.

Even ​considering that Korea ​was a guide-deficient ​nation and ​tended ​to squeeze ​its ​Guides dry, ​these ​instructions were ​excessive.

[Guide ​Team ​2 Leader / ​Yoon ​Ki-hyun / ​TodayRRead on Read BL Novelsstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]17;s ​Guiding ​Schedule—Total ​31 cases]

‘Are these bastards insane?’

Based on an A-class Guide, the maximum number of guiding sessions a team leader could handle in a day was, at most, around ten.

Even for Yoon Ki-hyun, who had been nicknamed “Public Property” because he guided so much, thirty-one sessions a day were impossible.

‘So they’re telling me to fuck off, is that it?’

Since Guides were always in shorter supply than Espers, the upper management of the Center consisted of people who were masters at squeezing every last drop of efficiency out of them. They probably tried to coax him for a week out of regret, but once they realized it wouldn’t work, they had apparently crunched the numbers and come to a different conclusion.

This was nothing more than a blatant attempt to tell him he was out of favor and that they would make the rest of his time at the Center a living hell, so he might as well try and survive it if he could.

Still, there was a limit to how much one should hold a grudge. It was such a one-dimensional and typical case of workplace harassment that it actually cleared his head.

After scanning the long, endless list of guiding assignments sent [stolen content]stolen content -->to him, Yoon Ki-hyun pressed the ‘Decline Guiding’ button for the first time.

According to the International Guide Human Rights Law, a Guide may refuse an unfair guiding request. Guides affiliated with the Center usually declined when they were in poor condition or when circumstances didn’t allow.

Since joining the company, Yoon Ki-hyun had always been the one to take over the guiding sessions other Guides had refused; he had never once declined a session assigned to him.

He had pushed his body to the limit—to the point where he sometimes wondered why he had earned the nickname “Public Property”—and yet, the return for all that was this childish professional retaliation.

‘I wouldn’t have seen anything good even if I stayed longer.’

He was almost moved to tears by the “thoughtful care” that stripped away the last remnants of his affection.

The superiors, including the Deputy Director, weren’t complete scum who couldn’t be dealt with; they simply used the company messenger to sneer and mock the guiding sessions Yoon Ki-hyun had declined.

From then on, Yoon Ki-hyun’s life at the Center was a series of days that couldn’t be called good even as a white lie.

His superiors wouldn’t even acknowledge his greetings in the hallway, and his nerves were fraying day by day as he ignored the Espers who whined about a lack visit our site-->style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyof guiding just to get their fill before he left, and the lowlifes who pestered him for his personal contact information.

He truly couldn’t understand why people who were old enough to know better acted this way.

Yoon Ki-hyun repeated his commute in a state of resignation. In the middle of it, he took two half-days off because he simply couldn’t bear the pain.

Every time Yoon Ki-hyun submitted a request for a half-day, the Administrative Deputy Director—thinking he had found a reason to pick a fight—would personally visit the office to throw a fit.

However, seeing Yoon Ki-hyun’s pale complexion, he seemingly lacked the courage to go full throttle and instead offered empty words, saying he would give him a ride home. Of course, Yoon Ki-hyun did not decline.

It was a great opportunity to save on taxi fares and use the unpleasant Administrative Deputy Director as a free chauffeur.

On the final day of his endurance at the Center, surprisingly, some members of Guide Team 2 held a modest farewell party.

‘Ah, what’s with this cringeworthy farewell party.’

Yoon Ki-hyun stared blankly at a small visit stolen contentour sitecake with the words “You worked hard” written on it.

Looking back, he hadn’t been a team leader who was particularly affectionate or someone the team members could lean on. He was always too busy paying off debts to ever buy them a proper coffee—something other team leaders did frequently—and he only pretended to care about the team members’ birthdays or family events.

Because he was an A-class Guide, he had been thrust into the team leader position at an age where he was practically a rookie, and he had endured envious and cold glares for a long time. To have such an embarrassing farewell party… it felt strange.

“I wonder who’s going to cover for us now that the Team Leader is gone.”

“Cover for what… Assistant Manager Lee, you’re perfectly capable of handling things yourself.”

Yoon Ki-hyun replied while poking his slice of cake with a fork. While he was debating whether to eat it or not, a paper cup of milk was slid toward him.

“It must have been hard for you, dealing with team members older than yourself. After you quit, don’t do anything for a few days; just eat delicious food and get some deep rest.”

It was Assistant Manager Park Jeong-ae. She was a Guide who was around his mother’s age, a team member he had unconsciously grown fond of. Receiving the milk, Yoon Ki-hyun replied with an awkward smile.

“I’m the one who’s grateful that [Read on Read BL Novels]Read on Read BL Novels -->you all treated me well, even though I’m just a young kid acting like a team leader.”

“Why talk like that? It’s only natural to be treated well if you have the ability.”

Wasn’t the Center full of people who spoke like that to your face but looked down on you behind your back?

Still, it felt good to have his abilities recognized, making him feel that his dog-like suffering hadn’t been entirely in vain. The stiffness in Yoon Ki-hyun’s lips relaxed slightly.

“By the way, what are you going to do after you leave?”

When one of the team members asked, Yoon Ki-hyun hesitated for a moment.

I’m going to spend all my severance pay and then kill myself.

Unable to say that, he glossed over it by saying he planned to just rest for a while.

The farewell party, consisting of sharing [unauthorized copyclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]unauthorized copyunauthorized copy -->one small cake and a pack of milk, was small and humble. Not all of Yoon Ki-hyun’s team members had gathered.

Nevertheless, it felt as though it was because of these team members that he had been able to endure those shitty days for even one more day.

“…Thank you for everything.”

Yoon Ki-hyun forced the corners of his mouth up awkwardly. It was a genuine smile he hadn’t worn in quite a long time.

Yoon Ki-hyun, the A-class Guide who had been the leader of Guide Team 2, had resigned.

Now, only six A-class Guides remained at the Awakened Management Center headquarters. They wanted to bring A-class Guides working at regional centers to the headquarters, but the situation at the regional centers was also precarious.

The Administrative Deputy Director and the Head of the Guide Division, who had tried to stop Yoon Ki-hyun’s decision to resign, decided to change their course once they realized his attitude was adamant.

Even if one A-class Guide was gone, it wasn’t as if the Center was completely devoid of Guides. Of course, Yoon Ki-hyun’s work performance and ability were impressive, but it wasn’t as if the Center would be paralyzed without him.

Their calculation was that everyone could share unauthorized copythe workload a bit and fill unauthorized copythe gap [unauthorized copy]by properly training the newly awakened “chick” Guides.

Their thinking remained valid for a few days. Even without Yoon Ki-hyun, the Center’s Guides diligently fulfilled their assigned duties.

While there were people who regretted the loss of a pretty Guide who served as eye candy, there were no Espers immediately visible who were struggling due to a lack of guiding.

‘What did I tell you? I said it would run fine without that rude brat. If anything, the perception of headquarters Guides only got worse because of him. And what kind of nickname is “Public Property”? Because a team leader treated guiding so lightly, the Espers all look down on us.’

‘I heard there are quite a few decent Guides at the Awakened Training Center this time, so there’s nothing to worry about, Director.’

‘This actually worked out well. Since it’s the personnel transfer season, it’s not a bad idea to clean things up while we’re at it.’

Unlike the upper management who were far removed from the actual work, the Guides, including the team leaders, began to face guiding schedules that were becoming impossible to handle.

At first, they brushed it off as the aftermath of gates appearing consecutively near the metropolitan area. Although it was hard, it wasn’t a workload they couldn’t manage.

However, as the guiding schedules showed no sign of decreasing and accumulated fatigue had no time to dissipate, several Guides visited the stolen contentstolen contentEND: stolen content -->Administrative Deputy Director to protest.

Some even encountered the bizarre situation where their own requests to decline guiding were, in turn, declined.

‘No, Deputy Director. My team members keep saying the guiding schedule is excessive; there’s a limit to how much I can soothe them.’

‘I’ve distributed the work until my head is about to split, so what do you want me to do? Everyone knows it’s tough because gates broke out in Suwon and Gwacheon.’

‘Even so, this is a bit…’

By that point, everyone began to realize that things were turning strange.

When they traced back the point where the Guide workload suddenly exploded, it all led back to one event.

Yoon Ki-hyun’s resignation.

But it was difficult to understand.

‘No matter how few A-class Guides there are, there are still plenty of other Guides.’

‘I’m not trying to downplay Team Leader Yoon’s hard work, but there’s no way the Center’s Guides can’t split up what one person was doing. There are so many Guides in the headquarters alone.’

‘The workload was high, though. Anyway, let’s keep a close eye on any team members showing signs of resigning. The upper management has finished reviewing special incentive payments, so let’s shift the atmosphere toward performance bonuses to refresh the mood.’

Still, how could the vacancy of one person be this large? Everyone dismissed it as a coincidence and believed things would quiet down once the aftermath of the recent gates near the metropolitan area was resolved.

However, before long, they had to admit that the workload they had previously enjoyed had truly been built upon the sacrifice of one person.

‘I did the math, and I think it really is because of Team Leader Yoon’s resignation.’

‘Why?’

One of the Guide team leaders, who had been soothing team members complaining about the [unauthorized copy]style="position:relative;display:inline;">[visit our site]excessive workload, had actually worked backward.

When they totaled the additional workload added to them, it surprisingly equaled Yoon Ki-hyun’s workload. Moreover, it was a number of guiding sessions so high that it was nearly impossible for one person to handle, leading them to recalculate it several times.

As is typical for a Center where rumors spread quickly, this reached the ears of the managers, but no one could contact the resigned Yoon Ki-hyun. He had changed his number and disappeared without a trace.

From then on, meetings between managers frequently devolved into shouting matches and red faces.

‘The guiding efficiency of the headquarters Guides these days is a total mess; how are you going to improve this?’

‘We are also considering countermeasures. However, everyone is working overtime and putting in effort, so please refrain from excessive language…’

‘Don’t you know how much pressure comes from above when the Esper injury rate increases? I just came back from getting chewed out by the Center Director and the Minister! There’s no problem with the training; if this isn’t the aftermath of insufficient guiding, then what is it?’

‘There’s a limit to blaming others. Do you know how many employees are currently on sick leave among the Guides?’

‘That’s why you were put in the position of Head of the Guide Division! Some people visit our siteEND: visit our site -->are risking their lives going in and out of gates, and this disaster unauthorized copyhappened because you can’t even hold hands and circulate wavelengths!’

‘Listen here! We are also working while sacrificing our health! Frankly, are Guides just people who clean up after Espers?’

As meetings filled with shouting continued, the atmosphere of the Center turned into a thin sheet of ice. Furthermore, because the number of abnormal gates increased compared to the previous year, only the Espers were dying off.

Even Jeong Si-jun, who had always returned without major injuries even when deployed to abnormal gates, ended up in the intensive care unit due to the lack of guiding.

“Team Leader, are your injuries doing okay?”

An Esper from Special Team 2, with a cast on his arm, visited the hospital room. Jeong Si-jun was sitting half-upright, receiving an IV drip.

Having recently been moved from the intensive care unit to a general ward, he frowned and snapped at his team member.

“Who said a Guide was coming?”

“…The Team Leader of Team 3 is coming.”

“Ah, fuck.”

Jeong Si-jun cursed and rolled his eyes. Since he was an S-class Esper, the Center assigned an A-class Guide to him.

The problem was that Seo Jin-tae, the leader of Guide Team 3, was not compatible with Jeong Si-jun. Or, to be honest, every Guide except Yoon Ki-hyun failed to properly control Jeong Si-jun’s wavelength.

Missing the wavelength was basic, and some were so flustered that they led the wavelength in the opposite direction, leading a fed-up Jeong Si-jun to grab them by the collar.

It meant that even the team leaders, who should have experienced almost every possible emergency, were so overworked and exhausted that they couldn’t even follow basic guiding protocols.

‘Ah… Yoon Ki-hyun.’

In Jeong Si-jun’s mind, which was a mush of painkillers and sedatives, the pretty face of Yoon Ki-hyun slowly drifted in. To be precise…

‘Ah, hng… a little slower, ah!’

The erotic face of Yoon Ki-hyun panting while pinned underneath him when Jeong Si-jun had lost his reason during mucosal guiding and slept with him.

‘Number? Why would I.’

And the image of Yoon Ki-hyun, before resigning, muttering powerlessly with dead, dried-up fish eyes when Jeong Si-jun had asked for his contact information.

‘Fuck, why would I miss that Public Property. Why would I. There’s no way he’s the only Guide in the world compatible with me.’

Jeong Si-jun struggled to ignore the pain that felt like it was slashing through his entire body and suppressed his irritation. Unable to either admit or deny that the face filling his mind was Yoon Ki-hyun.