By Zephyria 
“Damn it!”
In the empty restroom, I kicked the wall in frustration.
They wanted to conduct a matching rate test in this situation?
A detailed examination could only be carried out after reporting it to the association. This meant that the moment the test ended, the matching rate would be transmitted directly to the higher-ups. It was practically the same as announcing to the whole world that I was an S-class guide with a 91 percent matching rate.
If that happened, I would be completely tied to Vasily. No matter where I went, the label of being his guide would follow me, and I would become someone who couldn’t even leave the country without him.
People would remember me not as Kwon Gi-dam, but as Vasily’s guide. And wherever I went, they would recognize me as his.
Was this what Vasily was aiming for?
“Haa…”
I splashed cold water on my face to calm my mind.
Right, I had intended to get a matching rate test eventually anyway.
What made me angry was that I had been unilaterally notified without any prior consultation, and Vasily’s attitude in insisting on the test despite already knowing my rank and matching rate.
Since it had come to this, it was better to act confident. The more anxious I became, the more Vasily would enjoy it. There was no reason to walk on eggshells when I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Leaving the restroom, I returned immediately to the Attending Physician’s office. As I flung the door open, Vasily, who was sitting leisurely in his chair, turned his head.
“You came back sooner than I expected.”
“Let’s go for the test right now.”
“I thought you ran away because you hated the matching rate test. Did you change your mind already?”
“When did I ever do that? I just went to the restroom because the test would take a long time.”
As I retorted nonchalantly, the corners of Vasily’s mouth curled up. He stood up and spoke.
“Fine. Shall we go then?”
Throughout the walk to the examination room, Vasily had a satisfied look on his face. No, to be precise, he looked quite happy.
I couldn’t understand why he was so pleased when we were simply going to confirm information he already knew.
Upon arriving at the examination room, the researchers were already waiting. However, the way they looked at Vasily and me seemed somewhat unwelcoming.
I felt like it was like this when I first had the detailed examination six years ago… I quietly asked Vasily, who was beside me.
“Exactly how have you been taking these tests that the atmosphere is like this?”
“The results haven’t been very good until now.”
As soon as I heard Vasily’s answer, a scene suddenly flashed through my mind. Come to think of it, I had once encountered a guide being carried away with severe frostbite in front of his private room.
Now I understood their reaction. Most guides probably couldn’t withstand Vasily’s wavelength. They likely collapsed before the hour-long test could even finish. It was only natural that the researchers, who had witnessed that scene numerous times, didn’t welcome the test.
I entered the room where the wavelength measurement machine was located and took off my top. While the researchers attached the devices, I looked through the transparent glass at the interior of the observation room.
The Attending Physician was talking to someone. Seeing that they were wearing a suit, unlike the other people in the lab, they seemed to be a staff member sent from the association. It appeared they had come to observe the matching rate test of an S-class Esper.
The attachment of the devices was quickly completed, and the researchers left the room.
“Are you ready?”
“Do I look like I’m guiding for the first time?”
“You seemed nervous.”
Vasily reached out his hand toward me. I scoffed and overlapped my hand onto his pale, almost white palm.
Now it was time to proceed with the guiding by gradually increasing the level of contact with Vasily. Since the first step was simply holding hands, I wasn’t nervous.
It should have been just that, but…
Vasily interlaced our fingers and gripped my hand tightly. Feeling the firm joints of his fingers settled between mine, I asked.
“What are you doing?”
“We have to do it properly for the results to be accurate. If we accidentally let go, we’d have to start the test all over again.”
He sure knows how to make excuses.
As soon as he finished speaking, a red light flickered on the large machine connected to the devices, and it began to operate. How long did we have to hold hands? Since six years had passed, my memory was hazy. It made sense, as the only time I’d done this was the detailed examination immediately after matching with him before the regression.
Regardless, my legs would hurt if I kept standing. As I perched on the chair next to me and rested my chin on my hand in a slouching posture, Vasily sat in the other chair.
Only the intermittent beeps of the machine broke the silence.
Keeping my mouth shut, I glanced at the people visible through the glass opposite us. Vasily spoke.
“If there’s something you want to ask, just say it. Conversations held here can’t be heard from the outside.”
As if noticing my behavior, Vasily spoke. Since it couldn’t be heard, I figured there was no need to scan the surroundings and asked him directly.
“Why did you go into a rampage, Esper-nim?”
It had been weighing on my mind ever since I heard the news that he had rampaged. Why did he suddenly rampage when he hadn’t done so for six years? Even if he couldn’t receive proper guiding because of the suppression chip, I had left after confirming that it wasn’t to the point of causing a rampage.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam left me.”
“I told you I would come back after just removing the suppression chip.”
“Do you really think I believed you would come back?”
Vasily asked back, looking at me. I instinctively avoided his gaze due to his cold eyes.
Was it for a reason as simple as that?
I suddenly thought that perhaps the rampage six years later had also been because of my notification that I was quitting as his guide.
Of course, it was something I said all the time, but at that moment, I had been more sincere than ever. I had planned to escape from Vasily, even if it meant illegally immigrating to a nearby country. Vasily must have noticed that I was different from usual.
“If you had treated me well normally, you wouldn’t have had to worry about me running away.”
“I thought I treated you well… didn’t Guide Kwon Gi-dam avoid me and run away every time?”
“…”
Thinking about it, I had nothing to say. I had even implanted a suppression chip out of a sheer obsession not to meet him.
In reality, he had changed a lot after the regression. To the point where, if I didn’t have the memories from before the regression, I might have stayed as his guide without any complaints. The reason I had kept my distance from Vasily was because the memories of suffering by his side remained.
[Now, please embrace each other.]
Just as the atmosphere was about to become bleak, a voice flowed from the speaker instructing the next action. I immediately changed the subject.
“Let go of my hand now.”
“I understand.”
Feeling that I had avoided his question, Vasily curled his lips. To avoid letting him see my composure crumble, I unlinked our fingers and immediately turned my head.
I carefully hugged him so that the machines attached to my body wouldn’t fall off. A cold energy enveloped me, and the wavelength slowly seeped in.
Doing this made it feel like it had been a long time since I last guided.
Before Vasily rampaged, I had been refraining from guiding to remove the suppression chip, and the events that occurred after he lost his memory felt like a long dream, so it felt like a very long time since I had guided him directly.
“Regardless of what Esper Vasily thinks, I really intended to come back.”
I murmured softly and continued.
“In the first place, if you had followed me to China when I suggested we go together to remove the suppression chip, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“The suppression chip could have been removed without necessarily going all the way to China.”
“Since you did nothing but work every time you came to Korea, it would have been good to go and rest for a while. You don’t even realize I suggested it for your own sake…”
As I spoke grumpily, Vasily asked in a slightly surprised voice.
“Just the two of us?”
“It’s too late to regret it now.”
I spat out the words and turned my head.
Vasily remained silent for a long time, as if he had heard something completely unexpected, and then spoke after a while.
“Then do you want to go now?”
“The suppression chip is gone now, so why would I go?”
“No, to America. There should be photos of me as a child at home. You were curious about them last time.”
Vasily tried to persuade me by mentioning a previous conversation. If it was America, that would be where his family lived.