By Zephyria 
As Vasily drew closer, the chilly aura emanating from him felt increasingly intense.
If things went south, I felt I might have to stop Vasily myself. Maybe I should have just quietly accepted the protective gear when they offered it.
“Will you be okay?”
I heard the Team Leader’s worried voice from behind. Only then did I realize that the Team Leader was the one who had helped me avoid being caught in Vasily’s attack, and I belatedly turned my head to express my gratitude.
“Thank you for your help. Esper Vasily… will probably be fine.”
“The Espers and I will handle things here, so why don’t you step back for now?”
“No.”
I silently shook my head. What could A-class Espers possibly do in a clash between S-class Espers? In a situation like this, it was better for me to step forward personally. Vasily wouldn’t be able to hurt me, the only Guide.
Although I had almost been caught in his attack just now, I believed he had no intention of hurting me. Probably…
While I was thinking that, Vasily had already approached right in front of my eyes.
“Well then, I’ll be going now, so you two have a nice talk. I’d appreciate it if you could make sure this doesn’t happen again. Well, I’ll be leaving Korea soon anyway.”
Huai Yan spoke as if he had no further intention of fighting Vasily and patted me on the shoulder. The moment Huai Yan’s hand touched me, Vasily’s expression hardened even more menacingly.
Suddenly, a chilly wind blew, and ice began to cluster one by one around him. Huai Yan seemed to notice this as well, as the air around him began to shimmer with heat.
“Both of you, stop this!”
I hurriedly stepped in between them to mediate. I couldn’t let them fight any longer. Since both were still perfectly fine without a single scratch, it might still be possible to clean up the mess if they stopped now.
As I blocked the path between them, both withdrew their abilities. I swallowed hard as I watched the supernatural powers slowly fade. Without protective gear, there was a high possibility I wouldn’t survive if I were caught in an attack.
For now, the situation seemed to have settled. After briefly observing the expressions of the two men, I looked back at the Captain.
“Captain, I think you and the others can withdraw now.”
“Right. I hope we don’t have to see each other for a while.”
The Captain shrugged with a joke and left the scene with the other Espers. I watched them go and then spoke to Huai Yan, who was still standing beside me.
“Esper Huai Yan, you should leave as well.”
“Right, I should leave before I get any more entangled.”
Huai Yan smiled as if nothing had happened, waved his hand, and walked away lightly. With that, even Huai Yan disappeared from the scene.
Now, only Vasily and I remained on the ruined road. I grit my teeth and asked Vasily, who was still emanating a chilly aura.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?”
“What.”
“I’m asking why you couldn’t wait until I arrived today and decided to cause trouble in the meantime!”
Anger surged within me. If I hadn’t run into the staff members heading to the scene, I might not have known about this until the situation had spiraled into the worst possible outcome.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam is largely to blame for not returning even when morning came. I simply went to where I thought Guide Kwon Gi-dam might be.”
“You could have just called me!”
“I thought you would ignore my contact. Would you have answered?”
“Of course… I would have!”
Without realizing it, I hesitated in my answer. Vasily’s eyes, which didn’t miss that brief hesitation, sank coldly.
“…….”
He stared at me in silence, then turned and began to walk away. Frowning slightly at the unsettling reaction, I followed Vasily.
“Bill the site restoration costs to me.”
Leaving a short instruction for the association staff, Vasily moved toward where the vehicles were gathered, as if he were finally intending to go back.
Finally, I can go home. I looked around with anticipation, but Vasily’s car was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is the car?”
“You don’t need to look for it. It’s probably beyond use anyway.”
Was the car caught in the fight too? How long has it even been since he changed it… I clicked my tongue in regret, recalling the sparkling, expensive foreign car.
In the end, I got into the association vehicle I had arrived in and headed home with Vasily.
Upon arriving home and standing before the entrance, there was no response, as if the door lock were broken. Just in case, I turned the handle, and the door opened without resistance.
Did it break that day? It seemed it had been left as is even after I left the house.
“Esper Vasily, why is the door—”
I turned my head to ask Vasily why he still hadn’t fixed the door, but I shut my mouth when I saw him freeze the door shut the moment we entered the house.
I see very clearly that there was no need to fix the door lock. But this way, I can’t get out.
Since the door was frozen, the way back to my parents’ house was also blocked. I stared intently at the firmly closed door with a sour expression, then sighed and stepped inside.
Fortunately, the interior is intact.
I had been a bit nervous that Vasily might have trashed the house after I left, but I felt relieved seeing the state of the house, which was not much different from a few days ago.
As I looked around the living room, I saw Vasily quietly heading toward his room.
“Where are you going? Come and receive some guiding.”
As I spoke, I pulled off the hoodie I was wearing and set it aside.
Vasily stared at me blankly for a moment before approaching me. As expected, he doesn’t refuse guiding.
As he approached the sofa, he began to undo the buttons of his shirt one by one. With every flick of his straight fingers, his body was gradually revealed through the opening shirt.
‘No wounds.’
I quickly scanned his body and nodded. Now it was time to check his condition.
I carefully placed my hand on his body as he sat on the sofa. I felt relieved to confirm that I didn’t suffer frostbite from the light contact. Perhaps because he had just clashed with another S-class, his body temperature was lower than usual, but it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t provide guiding.
After confirming there were no problems, I sat on his lap, facing him.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
I had already confirmed there were no wounds, but I asked once more. I hadn’t checked the places that weren’t visible.
“No.”
It was a short answer.
His voice still sounded like a biting cold wind, but I could feel his body, which had been coldly rigid, gradually softening as he received guiding.
Did his mood improve a bit? Quietly gauging his reaction, I cautiously brought up the conversation we hadn’t finished a few days ago.
“About the suppression chip… have you thought about it?”
“That stupid act?”
His answer suggested it wasn’t even worth considering.
“Haa…”
If he has no intention of considering it in the first place, there’s no way we’ll reach an agreement.
To think he’s being stubborn without even knowing I’m doing this for his own sake. I guess I’ll have no choice but to go and remove it myself.
“Forget it. You probably haven’t slept, so just sleep while receiving guiding. Let’s move to your bed for the guiding.”
“I have no intention of falling asleep today, so keep guiding me here.”
He refuses? I looked at him with an incredulous gaze.
He’ll definitely end up falling asleep while receiving guiding just like last time, so why is he resisting? I let out a silent scoff, mocking him internally. However, contrary to my expectations, Vasily did not fall asleep as time passed.
What’s going on? I twitched an eyebrow, then thought of a plausible reason and accepted it. It must be because the posture is uncomfortable.
I let him lean his head against me, just like a few days ago. Since I had him lean on my shoulder while we were facing each other, I wondered if this would be more uncomfortable, but I thought it wouldn’t matter once he fell asleep.
‘He’s still not sleeping even like this?’
However, I was horrified to see that Vasily still had his eyes open when I peeked. I waited a bit longer just in case, but Vasily still didn’t fall asleep. He didn’t even seem to be fighting off drowsiness.
‘I didn’t intend to go this far, but…’
I closed my eyes tight and lifted my arm. Carefully placing my hand atop Vasily’s hair, I…
I stroked his head.
“…….”
Vasily looked at me with an expression that asked what on earth I was doing. Embarrassed, I turned my head away, avoiding his gaze.
Meanwhile, the silky-smooth hair brushed through my fingers. Even his hair is cool… I felt a strange mix of emotions, having learned yet another useless fact.