By Zephyria 
“……Thank you. Have a good day.”
I gave a polite bow and entered the building. In the first-floor lobby, I stared at the perfectly functional elevator with longing eyes before turning my steps toward the emergency stairs.
I climbed the stairs, keeping track of the floors. My thighs felt like they were about to burst after only ten floors, yet I still had a long way to go. This was because that lunatic named Vasily lived at the top of a sixty-story apartment building.
“I can’t exactly go back now…”
It was clearly a plot to screw me over. My thighs were screaming, so I sat on the stairs for a moment to rest. Curses naturally bubbled up, but I kept my mouth shut. He had sharp ears; he might hear me.
I stood up again and slowly began to ascend. It was taking an eternity just to go up. I felt like a knight climbing to the top of a tower to rescue a princess kidnapped by a dragon. Of course, the one waiting for me wasn’t a princess, but a terrifying, personality-disordered dragon.
“……What is this?”
Then, a problem arose. I started feeling a chill, and suddenly, stairs frozen solid unfolded before my eyes. Flustered, I checked the floor number.
The 45th floor.
Did this mean I had to crawl up the remaining fifteen floors?
“I’m about to risk my life just climbing stairs…”
If I were to slip and fall, I’d end up with a concussion at the very least. I couldn’t give up after coming this far… I let out a deep sigh and began to climb the slippery stairs.
By gripping the pillars beneath the handrails tightly, it was more manageable than I expected. However, due to my slowed pace, the time it took to climb a single floor grew even longer. Moreover, it was so cold it felt as if I had entered an ice cave. If I had known, I should have worn thicker clothes.
Somehow, I reached the 60th floor. But an even greater obstacle awaited me.
“……How am I supposed to open this and get in?”
The front door to Vasily’s home was completely frozen shut.
It was impossible for me to open it with my own strength. Vasily surely knew I had arrived, yet he made no move to open the door. Sigh… Letting out a long breath, I cautiously knocked on the door.
“Esper Vasily-nim?”
……No response. Maybe he’s dead.
I considered just turning back. To be honest, from the moment I started climbing those frozen stairs, I hadn’t had the courage to face Vasily. I was actually glad to have found such a good excuse.
Just how foul is his mood… If Vasily is in this state, even I don’t have the courage to face him.
Now that I had the excuse that I couldn’t enter because the door was frozen and that there was no response when I knocked, all that was left was to flee.
Vibrate.
Just then, my pocket vibrated. I pulled out my phone to check; there was a text from Vasily.
[Step back.]
“……?”
No way.
Feeling a shiver of dread, I hurriedly threw my body to the side.
Crash!
The moment I dodged, the door shattered as if it had exploded. Beyond the hazy smoke, I could see Vasily’s silhouette.
“…….”
“…….”
“A-Ah, hello.”
I greeted him while sprawled pathetically on the floor. Vasily looked down at me with cold eyes before speaking.
“Come in.”
With those words, Vasily walked into the house. I awkwardly stood up and followed him inside.
The interior was familiar. This was the house where we had lived together shortly after being matched. Had I lived here for about a year? Naturally, I had no good memories of it.
By the way…
‘Not a single spot is intact.’
Everything was frozen. The living room, the kitchen, the bathroom—everything.
Vasily headed toward the bedroom. As I passed through the door and entered, I found the interior frozen as well.
The state of things is even worse here than in the other rooms.
As I quietly looked around the bedroom and clicked my tongue, I saw Vasily sit on the edge of the bed. Standing awkwardly by the door, I began to bring up the excuses I had thought of in the taxi, one by one.
“Esper Vasily-nim, I am sorry for acting impulsively without consultation at the Gate a few days ago.”
“…….”
“I knew it was dangerous… but I had no way to contact you, so I left the safe zone without telling you.”
I bowed my head in apology, but I wasn’t truly repentant. Even if I went back to the past, I would act the same way. Because that was the only way to save the children.
As I finished speaking, I stole a glance at Vasily’s reaction.
Truthfully, even as I apologized, I still didn’t understand why Vasily was so angry. He had been happy to have a new toy; was it because the toy wasn’t obeying him? As a normal person, I couldn’t fathom the psychology of someone who fell into the category of a lunatic.
Vasily remained silent. He kept his head down and showed no particular reaction, which only heightened the tension.
Then, I suddenly noticed Vasily pressing his hand to his forehead as if he had a splitting headache. It was a familiar sight. Whenever he went for long periods without sleep, he always looked like that.
“……Esper Vasily-nim. When was the last time you slept?”
“…….”
Seeing Vasily not answer, I became certain. Vasily hadn’t slept a wink since he fell asleep while receiving guiding from me last time.
That meant he hadn’t slept for over a week. Recalling the date Vasily last slept in front of me, I was quietly horrified.
“Because it’s cold.”
“……?”
“I couldn’t sleep because it’s cold.”
Vasily finally broke the long silence, answering in a mutter.
I frowned, looking around the ice-covered interior. Isn’t it obvious it’s cold when you’ve frozen everything like this?
“Then, perhaps you should sleep somewhere else—”
“I think I’ll be able to sleep if I get guiding. Will you guide me?”
“What?”
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam is warm, after all.”
What kind of forced logic is this…
Vasily demanded guiding from me using absurd reasoning. I wanted to believe he was doing this because he still hadn’t cooled off, but the look in Vasily’s eyes as he gazed at me was quite serious.
Sigh… I guess I have no choice. Letting out a shallow sigh, I approached Vasily. Sitting on the bed, Vasily looked up at me.
Of all places, the bed.
Because of the location, I was reluctant to start guiding. After hesitating for a moment, I lightly hugged him. Vasily hugged me back, and soon, he began to slowly let the tension leave his body.
‘……He does look like he’s in bad shape.’
The suppression chip was heating up faster than usual.
Looking at the highly sensitive Vasily, I thought a sharp wavelength might strike me, but the chill seeping into my body was weak, which felt somewhat strange. Conscious of the suppression chip starting to burn at the back of my neck, I focused on the faintly felt wavelength.
“Ugh! Esper Vasily-nim?”
Just as I felt the weight leaning on me becoming heavier, Vasily simply fell backward while still holding me. Because of that, I, who was hugging him, lost my balance and fell right along with him.
“Va-Vasily Esper-nim. Please let go of my arms for a moment.”
“…….”
“Esper-nim?”
I had crashed onto the bed, pinning Vasily beneath me, but he didn’t seem to care and sought sleep while clinging to me. And as if he had truly fallen asleep, I could hear quiet breathing beneath my body.
I had accidentally become a human body pillow.
“…….”
I struggled for a moment to escape Vasily’s embrace, but the arms wrapped around my waist showed no sign of loosening. Eventually, I gave up and let my exhausted body go limp.
I shivered. The cold radiating from Vasily was freezing, and since everything around us was ice, it felt even colder.
As Vasily fell asleep, the surrounding ice began to melt slowly. Of course, because the cold was so severe, the melting speed was slow. As expected, it was true that his abilities slowly dissipated once he fell asleep.
Drip. Drop.
Using the rhythmic sound of dripping water and the sound of Vasily’s deep breathing in my ear as a lullaby, I also closed my eyes for a while.
* * *
“Esper Vasily-nim, you need to wake up now—”
“Mmm…… one more hour.”
“……Twelve hours have already passed.”
“Then…… ten more minutes……”
“I feel like I’m going to freeze to death, so wake up!”
Vasily didn’t wake up until twelve hours had passed. Even then, he only made a motion to stir after I screamed that I was going to freeze to death.
Vasily slowly pushed himself up. He glanced at me, soaking wet and shivering, and greeted me with a bright smile.
“Did you sleep well?”
His tone had become soft at some point. Unlike Vasily, who looked to be in excellent condition, my body was a mess. I contorted my face and did not respond to his greeting.
Vasily belatedly glanced at the room, which had turned into a sea of water, and muttered.
“Ah…… I can’t use this room anymore.”
Vasily got off the bed and looked around the room. Every time he took a step, the sound of splashing water followed.