By Zephyria 
“Esper Vasily, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to provide your guiding next time. I’ve already contacted the association to request a Guide with a high matching rate for you, so…”
“A Guide? Why bother with such a useless thing…”
Vasily muttered, his face twisting. Useless? I had contacted them in advance as a courtesy, and seeing Vasily react this way didn’t leave me feeling particularly great either.
“Follow me, Guide Kwon Gi-dam.”
“I’m not going.”
“…What?”
“It would be better for you, too, to receive guiding from someone with a high matching rate. If you want guiding from me, I can do it for you as much as you want later, so…”
“Stop talking nonsense and follow me.”
Vasily cut me off and commanded me once again. His expression had turned ice-cold.
Why is he being so stubborn? He must know that he needs guiding from someone with a high matching rate.
Ignoring Vasily, I leaned down to continue guiding the other Esper. However, Vasily grabbed me and stopped me again.
“Ugh! Vasily!”
“Why are you guiding those kinds of guys? They’re useless things that aren’t helpful at all. Are you saying you can’t give me guiding just because of things like this?”
…He’s completely lost it.
He wasn’t technically wrong. Vasily had handled most of the monsters inside the Gate, and the others had likely just been cleaning up the aftermath. But…
Looking around, the number of Guides was woefully insufficient compared to the number of injured Espers. There were Espers in critical condition; if I left them like this…
“If I leave now, there will definitely be casualties.”
“So? If anyone complains to Guide Kwon Gi-dam, I’ll just kill them myself, so stop worrying and follow me.”
“…”
Seeing that he wasn’t making even the slightest effort to pretend to be kind, it was clear he wasn’t in his right mind because his condition had worsened. At this rate, it would be safer to separate Vasily from the others first.
Just then, I saw Jo Woo-yeon standing up after finishing emergency treatment on another Esper. As I was being dragged away by Vasily, I quickly shouted to him.
“Guide Jo Woo-yeon! Could you take a look at this Esper for a moment?”
“Yes!”
Seeing Jo Woo-yeon approach the Esper to continue the guiding, I felt relieved as I walked. I hoped they would be okay. The sound of the Esper’s thin, labored breathing lingered in my mind, making me keep looking back, unable to move forward easily.
Vasily threw me into the passenger seat and climbed into the driver’s seat. The moment Vasily grabbed the steering wheel, I suddenly felt anxious.
Thin layers of frost were blooming everywhere Vasily’s hands touched. Is he going to cause an accident?
Amidst my anxiety, we sped down the dark road and arrived at the association.
Vasily got out of the car first. I belatedly unbuckled my seatbelt and glanced at the steering wheel. The smooth black wheel was covered in ice. If we had arrived just a little later, the wheel might not have turned, and we could have had an accident.
If I don’t want to end up like that, I’ll have to be careful not to let Vasily touch me during the guiding.
Since I had been dragged here without even being able to take off my gear, I threw off my heavy vest as soon as I entered the private room. The moment the combat suit hit the floor with a thud, Vasily hugged me tightly.
“Ugh! Esper Vasily!”
If we touch now…
Startled, I pushed him away. It was obvious that if I touched Vasily’s hand right now, I would suffer the same fate as the frozen steering wheel.
Despite that, Vasily didn’t let go, holding me in a tight embrace. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the pain that was about to come. But nothing happened.
I didn’t feel the sensation of my skin freezing. Opening my eyes slowly, I saw that my body was perfectly fine despite touching Vasily. It seemed Vasily was barely managing to control his ability.
“Ha…”
“Haa…”
We exhaled at the same time. Mine was a sigh of relief as the tension broke, but Vasily’s was a deep, heavy breath that felt somehow satisfied. I glanced at Vasily and, suddenly curious, asked.
“Esper Vasily, have you not received any guiding all this time?”
“I haven’t.”
I frowned upon hearing his answer. If he requested it from the association, he could have received guiding from another Guide with a higher matching rate than me at any time, so why…
I had also been avoiding Vasily lately, even refusing designated guiding. So I assumed he had received guiding from someone else in the meantime… this was an unexpected situation.
Naturally, if he didn’t receive guiding, his condition was bound to worsen. It was entirely his own doing, but a corner of my heart felt uneasy.
It can’t be helped. I decided to let it slide even if Vasily buried his face in my neck and relaxed my body. However, his cold breath touching the nape of my neck gave me goosebumps.
When I squirmed because it tickled, Vasily hugged me even tighter to keep me from moving, perhaps thinking I was trying to escape. Ugh… as I let out a groan, the grip around my waist loosened slightly, but I still couldn’t move my body properly.
“Esper Vasily, at least let’s sit down… Ack!”
Before I could finish my sentence, my body was lifted up. Feeling unstable as I swayed in the air, I instinctively grabbed his shoulders to hold on.
Vasily took a few large strides and soon set me down. Feeling something soft against my back, it seemed to be a sofa.
But before I could even pull myself up, his massive body crushed me. Pressed down by Vasily, I looked at the ceiling over his shoulder and asked.
“Esper Vasily, are you alright?”
Because the matching rate was low, I couldn’t accurately gauge his state, but seeing that his body was colder than usual, I knew he wasn’t doing well. Remembering the smartphone I had put in my vest, I continued.
“Wouldn’t it be better to receive guiding from another Guide after all? There should be a Guide on standby at the association. If we contact them now…”
“I don’t need it.”
Vasily firmly rejected my suggestion. Is he still being stubborn even in this situation?
He must be doing this because he’s not in his right mind. If I provide a bit more guiding, he’ll come to his senses and go get guiding from a proper Guide. Believing that, I silently hugged Vasily and began guiding.
As if realizing I had no intention of resisting, Vasily gradually relaxed his body. Soon, he focused on receiving the guiding.
His breathing seems particularly rough today.
“…”
Looking closely, his complexion wasn’t great. Without realizing it, I rubbed my suppression chip.
If it weren’t for the suppression chip, Vasily wouldn’t have been pushed to this extent… Seeing him struggle like this, a subtle sense of guilt washed over me.
Sigh… I steadied my heart and spoke.
“Esper, are you asleep?”
“…No.”
“That’s good. Take it off.”
Vasily’s body flinched. After a moment, he spoke in a troubled voice.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam, we aren’t in a relationship where we do that yet…”
“What are you talking about? I’m saying this because guiding works better when skin touches skin. Since the matching rate is low, shouldn’t we do whatever we can?”
“…”
“Ah, just take off your top.”
Vasily remained still for a moment, then slowly pushed himself up. As the weight pressing down on me disappeared, I could finally breathe.
He took off his jacket and unbuttoned his vest one by one. He loosened his tie, and the buttons of his shirt began to undo slowly.
Swish, swish. The sound of fabric rubbing was strangely stimulating. For some reason, I felt embarrassed today. Even though I’d seen Vasily’s bare body until I was sick of it.
His clothes fell to the floor one by one. As I saw the shirt finally drop to the floor, I didn’t have the heart to lift my head.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam, is this enough now?”
Vasily called my name as if he were waiting. I closed my eyes, took a short deep breath, and took off my top, pretending it was nothing.
Feeling the air hit my bare skin, I looked back at Vasily. Skin as pale as ice. His well-defined muscles felt excessively erotic.
I instinctively averted my gaze. When the guiding didn’t continue for a long time, the impatient Vasily tried to reach for me, so I stopped him.
“Just sit still.”
After saying that, I climbed onto Vasily’s lap. Looking at his face, which held a faint trace of bewilderment, I quietly hugged him, chest to chest. As the cold skin touched my bare skin, my senses became even more acute.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam?”
“Contact guiding is most efficient when areas close to the heart are pressed together. It’s basic guiding knowledge.”
It was definitely a fact, so why did it sound like an excuse? Vasily seemed to think so too, as a low chuckle escaped him.
This was the first time I had done guiding by simply pressing our bodies together. Was contact guiding always such a cringeworthy act? Feeling my ears grow hot for no reason, I hugged him tightly and buried my face in his shoulder so he couldn’t see me.
Through our touching chests, I could feel Vasily’s heartbeat. Thump, thump—a slow and heavy beat. In contrast, my heart was racing as if I were being chased by someone.
Damn it, Vasily must be feeling it too… this damn heart of mine just wouldn’t calm down.