By Zephyria 
“Ha.”
Vasily let out a hollow laugh.
Why was he thinking of what the Attending Physician had said now? Had they mentioned that a shock could bring back memories?
To think that memories, which hadn’t returned regardless of what he did over the past few days, would come flooding back at a single word: love. He felt he now understood very well how Gi-dam usually thought of him.
Gi-dam was still looking around the room with a bewildered expression. Judging by his reaction, he seemed to have forgotten all his memories from that period.
To lose his memory twice at such critical moments. Feeling resentful toward his Guide, Vasily asked crookedly:
“What is the last thing you remember?”
“When I was guiding an Esper who was rampaging. Come to think of it, I feel like something exploded at the back of my neck…”
“The suppression chip exploded. Guide Kwon Gi-dam lost his memory from the impact.”
“Ah, so that’s why there’s a scar…”
Gi-dam muttered, tracing the bumpy mark on the nape of his neck.
“How do you feel now?”
Gi-dam looked down at his naked body with an uncomfortable gaze. Examining the reddened inner thighs, he spoke.
“My inner thighs feel sore.”
“Is that so? I’ll have to apply gel there next time, too.”
“…!”
Gi-dam’s eyes widened as he snapped his gaze up to Vasily. It seemed he had finally realized the identity of the dried white streaks on his inner thighs, as his face froze stiff.
“What on earth did you do to someone who has no memory!”
“That’s why I didn’t insert it.”
“Do you call that an excuse…”
Gi-dam, who had been shouting, suddenly paused. Seeing Gi-dam press his hand to his forehead as if he had a throbbing headache, Vasily caught him as he stumbled.
“Get ready to leave. Now that your memories are back, you need to get an examination at the hospital.”
“…Understood.”
Gi-dam answered softly and left the room.
Heading straight for the bathroom, he turned on the water as soon as he entered the shower booth. Hiding under the streaming water, he covered his mouth to ensure his voice wouldn’t leak out.
‘Fuck, what kind of memories are these?’
At first, he certainly remembered nothing. However, starting from that brief headache, unfamiliar memories began to pour out like mushrooms after rain.
In those memories, he had mistaken his memory loss for a regression. Furthermore, because it differed from the past he knew, he thought it was a parallel world. The biggest problem was… since he had woken up already having become Vasily’s Guide, he hadn’t imagined for a second that he had changed the past with his own hands.
“Not only did I reveal that I’m S-Class, but I even entered a Gate…”
He was so appalled by the things his memory-less self had done that he could barely breathe.
It would have been fortunate if he had only entered and exited the Gate. But he had navigated the interior of the Gate with such familiarity and even fought monsters right in front of Vasily’s eyes.
Twice, at that. He had even spoken and acted in a way that made it obvious he had been entering Gates continuously. Because he had been so repulsed that he couldn’t even look Vasily in the eye, he couldn’t even remember what Vasily’s expression had been when he first said he wanted to enter a Gate.
As the memories returned, the sore sensation in his inner thighs felt even more vivid. When he recalled the moment just before regaining his memories…
Thump!
Unable to handle the shock, he slammed his forehead against the wall.
Love? That Vasily loves me?
There was no way. Vasily, love? Moreover, the idea that the object of that love was him was even more impossible.
Vasily was far removed from the word love. He was a man more accustomed to suppressing and controlling others. He had thought Vasily was a monster who didn’t know emotions like love…
It would have been more believable if Vasily had given up on him and let him go. That was how unrealistic the idea of Vasily falling in love with someone was.
However, knowing that it wasn’t a word to be uttered lightly, he couldn’t ignore the words that had come out of Vasily’s mouth.
“You took a long time.”
When he finished preparing to go out and came into the living room, Vasily asked while sitting on the sofa. Seeing him acting as usual, Gi-dam nodded awkwardly.
“…Yes.”
“Then let’s go. I’ve already contacted the Attending Physician.”
Gi-dam frowned as he watched Vasily pass him indifferently and head toward the entrance.
He must have realized everything, so why isn’t he asking anything?
Vasily had suspected him for a long time. From planting a suppression chip to manipulate the matching rate before he even awakened, to warning him about things that had never happened, to preventing accidents that showed no signs.
Still, he couldn’t be the one to bring it up first. The moment he said he remembered what had happened, he would have to reveal the fact that he had regressed, and he would no longer be able to ignore Vasily’s mutterings about loving him.
Of course, he could bring up the contract and demand termination on the grounds that he had entered the Gate. But… would Vasily actually let him go? There was no way he would give up the only S-class guide who could withstand his wavelength, and the contract he had hidden deep in a drawer had already disappeared along with the discarded items.
As expected… I have no choice but to act as if I haven’t regained my memories.
If he insisted he didn’t remember, Vasily wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. It would be hard to hide it forever, but it would be enough if he could buy time until he thought of an excuse. Though, since everything had already been exposed, denying it probably wouldn’t work.
In a suffocating silence, they went down to the underground parking lot and got into the car.
He had only closed and opened his eyes for a moment, but everything had changed. The house, the car, and even the season. Only now did it truly feel real that he had spent all this time without his memories.
Vasily, who had been driving in silence, suddenly spoke.
“Don’t you have anything to ask?”
“About what?”
“I thought you’d be curious about what happened while you lost your memory.”
“I think I already know, just looking at what happened this morning.”
Since all his memories had returned, there was nothing to be curious about. When he shook his head bluntly, Vasily quietly curled the corners of his lips.
“Is that so? Quite a lot of interesting things happened.”
Interesting for him, maybe.
That he was in a relationship with him? The more he thought about the things Vasily had done—confusing him with such an absurd lie and doing things under the guise of helping him recover his memories—the more he gritted his teeth.
But if he didn’t ask anything, that would arouse suspicion in its own way.
“What were these ‘interesting things’?”
“I felt that Guide Kwon Gi-dam had more secrets than I thought.”
As expected, a response testing him came back. However, Gi-dam was genuinely stung by that one sentence and turned his gaze toward the window.
Bare branches swayed in the strong wind.
Winter had arrived before he knew it, and a full-fledged cold had set in. It had now become a season where he couldn’t notice the chill emanating from Vasily’s body even while by his side.
He glanced at Vasily. The colder weather likely played a part in why Vasily looked to be in good condition. Winter was his season.
“Congratulations on regaining your memories.”
As soon as they arrived at the lab, the Attending Physician offered his congratulations. It seemed he had already heard from Vasily that the memories had returned.
Recalling that he had often undergone examinations at the hospital when he had lost his memory, he asked the Attending Physician.
“Where should I go for the examination?”
“The examination will be conducted on the 7th floor.”
“What? But there…”
“Ah, didn’t you hear from Esper Vasily? Today’s procedure is a detailed matching rate test.”
Flinch. Hearing the words from the Attending Physician, Gi-dam whipped his head toward Vasily. Unlike the man standing there nonchalantly, Gi-dam’s face turned pale.
He was going to proceed with the test even though he already knew the rank and matching rate?
Come to think of it, Vasily had only said they were going for an examination; he hadn’t specified exactly what kind of test it was. Vasily had brought him to the association with this intention from the start. And he… he had thought Vasily was suggesting the test because he was worried about his physical condition.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Didn’t we originally agree to conduct a matching rate test after the suppression chip was removed?”
“I regained my memories today. Isn’t it too early to conduct a matching rate test?”
“A matching rate test doesn’t put a strain on the body, so it will be fine.”
Vasily was right. A matching rate test consisted of nothing more than attaching a machine that recorded wavelengths to the body and performing guiding. It was a test so simple it was almost boring, so there would be no problem even in his current state.