By Zephyria 
Whenever Vasily emerged from a Gate, he always demanded guiding from me. Since I had unilaterally ignored him and left this time, he was bound to be angry. Come to think of it, it only occurred to me now that I had sent him away without even checking his condition.
I wondered how I should go about soothing his mood.
As soon as I took a bus to the station and boarded the train to Seoul, I fell asleep as if I had fainted. And the moment I stepped off at Seoul Station, I headed straight for the Esper Association.
However, Vasily’s private room was empty. Had he gone home? Thinking that it might be too early in the morning for him to have come to the association, I visited his house. But there was no answer even after I rang the doorbell.
Could he have collapsed because his condition worsened? Recalling the sight of him collapsed in front of his house, I grew worried and entered by punching in the passcode. But the inside of the house was empty as well.
“I really didn’t want to go as far as calling…”
Eventually, I took out my smartphone and dialed his number. But Vasily didn’t answer. Only the endless ringing tone continued for a long time.
What am I even doing?
[Esper Vasily, where are you right now?]
As I frowned and typed out the message, my hand stopped. Just before pressing the send button, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
What if Vasily has finally grown tired of me?
If Vasily had truly lost interest in me, the best course of action would be to keep my mouth shut and fade from his attention. I quietly deleted the message and turned around to leave.
Just as I was about to step out the front door, someone opened the door and walked in before I could even open it.
“…”
“…”
I swear, it was an unintentional encounter. An awkward atmosphere flowed along with the silence.
Vasily looked exactly as he had when I last saw him yesterday. Seeing that his clothes hadn’t changed, it seemed he had only just returned home. I wondered where he had been. Thinking that he was a bit late, I spoke up, pretending to be nonchalant.
“I came by for a moment to check your condition.”
“…”
“Are you alright?”
Silence fell once again. I glanced at Vasily while waiting for an answer that seemed as if it would never come.
Well… he’ll need guiding, right? No matter how angry he was, he would need guiding, so he wouldn’t refuse. Intending to soothe him while guiding as usual, I spoke as if I were granting a favor.
“If you need guiding, I will do it for you.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Today, I’ll do it for a bit longer… huh?”
“I said I don’t need it, so just leave.”
Vasily tilted his head and gestured toward the door with his chin.
…He doesn’t need it?
I froze on the spot. If I looked in a mirror right now, I’m sure I’d be blinking with a stupid expression on my face.
My mouth froze shut from the shock. He doesn’t need it? Why? His condition should definitely be poor…
As I stood there frozen, Vasily, who was standing by the door, simply passed me by and walked inside.
“W-wait a moment. Esper Vasily…”
Without realizing it, I grabbed Vasily’s arm to stop him.
“Uh…”
But… Vasily’s body, which should have been cold, wasn’t incredibly cold, and I didn’t feel the usual throbbing of the suppression chip that occurred whenever I touched him.
Only then did I realize something was strange. His late return, and… could it be…
“By any chance, did you receive guiding from another Guide?”
Say no, Vasily.
Unconsciously, I looked at him with a pleading gaze. I gripped his arm tightly with trembling hands. However, Vasily looked down at me with a cold gaze and did not deny it.
“And if I did?”
My breath hitched as I watched him answer coldly.
Did he really… receive guiding from another Guide?
But the things he told me in that powerless voice last time… he told me with such a lonely expression that others couldn’t withstand his wavelength and would freeze even with a little bit of contact.
“Why, why…”
Why did you do that? The unfinished sentence lingered in my mouth.
Vasily began to speak in a voice that sounded like he was mocking me.
“I’m not your dedicated Guide, so it’s not as if I must receive guiding only from Guide Kwon Gi-dam, is it?”
“…”
“I suppose that’s why Guide Kwon Gi-dam also went to guide other Espers.”
“That’s…”
“Did you think I would wait? For a Guide more useless than a guiding machine?”
For a moment, I looked up at him, doubting my own ears. Vasily’s ice-cold eyes were looking down at me.
“…Are you finished speaking?”
“If there’s anything I said that’s wrong, go ahead and try to refute it.”
“…”
“If you have nothing more to say, then leave.”
Vasily brushed my hand off and walked into the house without looking back. I glared at his back while gritting my teeth, then slammed the door shut behind me as if venting my anger.
“Fuck, seriously…”
I muttered vicious curses all the way back home.
Anger boiled up in my stifling chest. Perhaps because of the hot weather, the fire inside me seemed to burn even hotter.
What happened to him following me around annoyingly? What? More useless than a guiding machine?
Fine. Let him spend the rest of his life wandering in search of other Guides. See if I ever remove the suppression chip in front of him. The moment I hear news that he’s left Korea and joined another country, I’ll remove the suppression chip immediately and make a grand return as an S-class guide. When that time comes, I’ll laugh loudly while looking at Vasily’s stupidly distorted face.
Even after I got home and turned the air conditioner on high, the heat wouldn’t subside. Moreover, feeling the cold breeze reminded me of the chill that used to emanate from Vasily, which made me even more pissed off. Eventually, I turned off the air conditioner and flung the windows wide open.
Whether it was reacting to my mood or not, the suppression chip was acting up even though I hadn’t performed any guiding. I swallowed some medicine and lay on the bed, feeling a bitter taste in my stomach.
My body was terribly exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep because it was hot, irritating, and my mind was a mess. I spent the entire day gulping down cold water, suppressing the boiling rage.
* * *
It was over with Vasily. Completely.
It was something I had longed for, yet my heart felt somewhat uneasy.
It would be strange to keep living as a parasite in Vasily’s house in this situation. Once rumors spread that I had a conflict with Vasily, there would be no more risk of being kidnapped, so I should start looking for a house to move into. I could continue living in my original home, but living in the place where I had been kidnapped felt a bit unsettling.
The weekend passed, and I went to work.
As soon as I arrived, people were gathered in one spot, whispering. This… looked like what happens when something interesting has occurred.
I was curious about what was going on. I stealthily approached and pricked up my ears.
“Ah, Gi-dam-ssi!”
“What are you all talking about?”
“I heard from a close younger friend of mine who is an Esper… you know how Espers haven’t been coming in lately? Apparently, that was because of Esper Vasily.”
“What? Esper Vasily?”
Apparently, the reason Espers hadn’t been coming in for temporary guiding was all because of Vasily. He had allegedly called the Espers who came for temporary guiding to the training ground or assigned them to the same Gate as himself to crush them one by one…
The story was that Espers hadn’t been coming to the headquarters because those rumors had spread. While desperate Espers came anyway, risking the danger, there were even rumors to run away if they were assigned to a staff member who looked like Vasily’s Guide…
“Ha… haha…”
I wondered what interesting story there was… but it wasn’t a rumor, it was about me…
It was humiliating. To have such rumors circulating now that it was completely over with Vasily. Moreover, seeing as the Espers who came for guiding ran away the moment they saw me, it seemed my appearance and characteristics had already become common knowledge.
How am I supposed to show my face from now on… my future already looked bleak.
“I… uh… I’m sorry. That won’t happen anymore.”
“No, everyone actually likes it. We’ve been so busy all this time. We need moments like this occasionally.”
I ended it with an awkward laugh, but it was true that such things wouldn’t happen anymore. From now on, as the rumors that I was Vasily’s Guide gradually faded, more people would start visiting again.
Since that day, all news of Vasily had ceased. Not only had contact with me been cut off, but the internet articles that occasionally reported on Vasily’s Gate deployments disappeared as if by magic. This made me feel even more uneasy.
I glanced at Jo Woo-yeon. A close Esper friend… I stealthily asked him.
“By the way, are there any other rumors besides that…”
“Other rumors?”
“Uh… regarding Esper Vasily…”
Jo Woo-yeon wore a questioning expression, as if wondering why I was asking such a thing. I continued, as if making an excuse.
“Esper Vasily seemed to be in poor condition after the last Gate conquest, but I can’t get in touch with him. I’m worried…”
“Should I ask around for you?”
“Yes. Please.”
It was a lie, but by finding out through someone else like this, there would be no risk of Vasily catching me digging into his business. If I had a close Esper friend of my own, I could have asked about Vasily, but unfortunately, I had no such person.