Chapter 13: Confrontation

About 6 months ago.

At the news of a new guide arriving, Min Ji Oh responded with “f*ck.”

Handed the profile of the new dedicated guide, Yoon Bodam, by Team Leader Han, Ji Oh’s string of curses continued from verse two to verse three.

It was absolutely unacceptable.

For a guide assigned as his dedicated one to have a matching rate of a mere 54% with him.

54%, not even clearing the threshold of 60.

‘Are you telling me I have to do that every time I get guiding? Are you?’

‘If you received the documents, read them with your eyes. It says physical contact is allowed within a wide range, but intercourse is only possible in emergency situations.’

‘That’s not what I mean, fck! Do you really think guiding will work just by rubbing lips with some bstard who doesn’t even meet the average matching rate?!’

‘If it’s over 50%, the basics are covered. More importantly, he has diverse experience as a team’s dedicated guide, so his situational judgment will be quick.’

It meant he was a guide who knew how to act with discretion.

It was a necessary quality to belong to the rough-around-the-edges Attack Team 3.

‘It’s because of that b*stard, isn’t it? The mind-type coming next year.’

Ji Oh slammed the conference table and glared at Seung Ho, demanding an answer.

At the Center, which went crazy for rare abilities, a figure worthy of praise after the healing-ability user Han Seung Ho and the S-class Lee Tae Hwan had emerged.

Kang Yi Jun, a mind-type ability user who manifested at 19.

He was scheduled to join the Center’s Attack Team 3 starting next year when he became an adult.

The new dedicated guide’s matching rate was 75% with the team leader and 68% with Lee Tae Hwan.

It wasn’t a level to be specifically chosen.

Above all, seeing the frequent infirmary records in the special notes section, he wasn’t of the caliber to handle a higher-level team.

Which meant.

‘96%.’

As if to confirm Ji Oh’s guess, the team leader announced a short figure.

At this, a look of surprise crossed not only Ji Oh’s face, which had been full of curses, but also Lee Tae Hwan’s, which had been filled with boredom.

‘The estimated matching rate with the mind-type Esper coming next year is 96%. Anything more to say?’

The team’s dedicated guide was assigned based on matching rates, and among them, the matching rate with the individual who belonged to the high-risk group when listing the Espers’ abilities was considered the most important.

The high-risk group referred to mind-types or those like them.

‘If you have something to say, go say it to the Center Director.’

No matter how much the great Min Ji Oh cursed and rampaged, Han Seung Ho, whose expression never changed, simply finished what he had to say and ended the meeting.

Unable to contain his anger, Ji Oh split the dining table in two on the spot and smashed the kitchenware.

The disregard he had never experienced before becoming an adult made his blood pressure rise.

He just wanted to tear apart his own A-class ability, which was a high rank but hadn’t reached the very top.

‘If I was going to be an Esper, I should have been given a rare ability that others don’t have, or manifested as an S-class like Lee Tae Hwan.’

Min Ji Oh had been complaining for six years about manifesting with a common teleportation ability and an unremarkable A-class rank.

His irritation and tantrums never tired.

‘What’s the problem?’

Tae Hwan, who was watching Ji Oh’s usual tantrum show, said nonchalantly.

As if there was no need to make such a fuss.

‘Fck, of course you wouldn’t have a problem! Do you think you would just shut up and receive guiding from a 54% match? You’re a bstard who would have flipped everything over if it were your business, but since it’s someone else’s—’

‘Just make him quit.’

‘…’

‘Is this the first or second time?’

At Tae Hwan’s lightly tossed words, a strange light glinted in Ji Oh’s greenish-brown eyes.

‘Right. I can just make him quit himself.’

The trouble of having to go and raise hell with the Center Director was reduced, and Ji Oh’s lips curled up in satisfaction.

Then, he suddenly pinpointed a part of Tae Hwan’s words that didn’t make sense and asked.

‘I’ve never deliberately made anyone quit.’

It was true.

The guides would periodically quit on their own accord, playing it safe, or transfer to another Center branch altogether, but Ji Oh had never intentionally tormented a guide.

When a guide changed, it was a hassle for the Esper as well.

An unfamiliar wavelength required a period of adjustment.

‘Wow, hyung, you’re really…’

An unreadable laugh escaped Tae Hwan as he lifted the broken shards covering the kitchen floor with his psychokinesis.

Gathering them together and scoring a goal into the sink, he let out a deflated sound and shook his head.

‘Your personality is exactly the same as mine.’

Ignoring Tae Hwan’s nonsensical comment that he couldn’t relate to, Ji Oh crumpled the profile with Yoon Bodam’s name on it neatly.

Throwing the formless wad of paper into the sink filled with broken pieces, he thought.

He would get this guide out of his sight before next year even came.

He had certainly thought that.

‘This little rat-like b*stard…’

“Why aren’t you moving faster?”

‘He was pretty tough.’

“Considering I was summoned from home on a Saturday morning, which isn’t even a workday, I think I came quite fast, but I apologize if I made you wait.”

Bodam, who had come for overtime duty with a puffy face that clearly showed he’d been eating right up until bedtime the previous night, dragged out his words.

At Yoon Bodam’s unique, ambiguous way of speaking, which seemed to be talking back but not quite, Ji Oh just furrowed his brow.

He turned off the music program he had been watching while waiting for the summoned guide and got up from the living room sofa in the waiting room.

Min Ji Oh had called Bodam to the waiting room today, not the gate site.

For no particular reason, just because he felt like it.

“What the…”

“Yes?”

“Why are you fine?”

Ji Oh’s gaze, genuinely puzzled, swept up and down Bodam’s entire body.

Bodam, who expressed his reluctance to work on a weekend with his un-ironed uniform, looked perfectly fine.

The reddish hint of a cold he had been carrying had disappeared without a trace.

In just one day.

“Why are you fine?”

“Did, did I cause any harm by being fine?”

Bodam muttered, flustered in front of Ji Oh, who asked in a low, angry voice.

He couldn’t meet Ji Oh’s eyes until the end, slightly averting them and mumbling even more quietly, ‘If I did, I’m sorry…’

Ji Oh, who was standing by the sofa, disappeared in the blink of an eye and moved in front of Bodam before he could even open them again.

He wore an expression similar to Jo Yeon’s and placed a hand on Bodam’s forehead.

He even showed a similar reaction, not just the expression.

“What did you eat…?”

Ji Oh, too, was attributing the disappearance of the cold overnight to some miraculous cold medicine.

There was no other reason he could think of.

‘There’s no way Seung Ho hyung healed him.’

“I ate chicken. And if you’re asking because my cold is gone, the team leader healed me.”

Bodam, who pulled his head back sharply, avoided Ji Oh’s hand on his forehead and answered clearly.

The kid’s spirits were high, unlike yesterday, just because his illness was a little better.

He always showed that kind of arrogant attitude on days after the weekend.

Watching him puff out his skinny shoulders and lift his thin chin to deepen his voice,

“Seung Ho hyung healed you?”

Ji Oh’s interest was piqued.

The chronic irritation that followed also intensified, as a bonus.

As usual, for no particular reason.

“Yes. You’ll be receiving guiding in the guiding room, right?”

Bodam headed towards the room corridor first, wanting to quickly end the uninteresting conversation and start his work.

Although his face wasn’t any less swollen than yesterday, a face swollen from a late-night snack, not from crying, had a healthy glow.

Like someone who had had a very enjoyable Friday night.

‘With whom?’

Crash!

“…!”

Bodam, who was nearly scared out of his wits by the sudden sound of a breaking plate, flinched.

He ducked his upper body, covering his head with both hands as if preparing for an earthquake.

He didn’t forget to purse his lips and then spit out a curse.

“What the f*ck—”

“F*ck?”

Ji Oh, who had thrown the remote control at the kitchen shelf from behind Bodam, took a step forward.

At this, Bodam, who was facing the floor, lifted his head and looked up at Ji Oh.

With his pale, cold-free face, he wore an expression that said, ‘Why is that b*stard acting up again?’

Reading his openly displayed inner thoughts, Ji Oh began to inflate his sensitive wavelength even more.

“Why, why…”

“Say that again.”

Ji Oh’s infinitely low voice moved closer to the still-crouched Bodam.

In the bright light, Min Ji Oh’s eyes, reflecting a pretty green and brown, swirled, exuding the aura of a madman.

Gulp.

Bodam’s Adam’s apple moved on its own.

“I said, say that again.”

“No… it’s just…”

Bodam’s chubby cheeks, which quickly flushed red, trembled slightly.

He couldn’t meet the Esper’s eyes, which were displaying a fierce anger, and only looked at the floor.

‘Still, if it had been Lee Tae Hwan, I would have at least tried to scream back.’

But as Min Ji Oh, the scariest one after Kang Yi Jun and the team leader, started his tantrum, Bodam’s mouth wouldn’t open.

“Spit it out with that well-oiled mouth of yours. You do it just fine with Lee Tae Hwan.”

As Ji Oh took one step closer, Bodam took one step back.

To Bodam, who kept backing away without closing the distance, Min Ji Oh looked ready to raise a hand.

Bodam’s two arms, folded so close they touched his chest, spread their palms as if to say, ‘Don’t come any closer.’

He had always broken or thrown things, but Ji Oh’s direct anger had never been directed at his body.

He was afraid he might actually get hit by an Esper.

‘Hit me if you want! Let me get properly beaten and use the settlement money to be a good son!’

Contrary to his imagination where he thought he could shout that confidently, seeing a large hand clench into a fist right in front of his eyes made his mind go blank.

Just when he thought he might have to arrange his own funeral if he got hit by that hand,

“Ji Oh hyung.”

A familiar voice cut in.

“Is breaking plates your hobby?”

‘My god. To think I’d be happy to hear that b*stard’s voice.’