Chapter 18: First Guiding Machine

I couldn’t sleep deeply.

I kept waking up and falling back asleep, and eventually, my eyes were wide open in the middle of the night.

Feeling thirsty, I tossed and turned, and Shiru, who was sleeping soundly by my side, let out a whimper.

I carefully laid Shiru on the pillow and quietly left the bedroom.

It was a little past three in the morning.

When I woke up around this time, I would usually warm up a glass of milk and try to go back to sleep.

On the day Hyung had his accident, too….

I took the still-heavy carton of milk from the fridge and poured it down the kitchen sink drain.

After emptying every last drop, I put all the mugs away in the cabinet.

I got rid of everything that reminded me of that morning.

Leaning on the dining table, I considered putting it in the room too but held back.

It was the place where I had heard the news of Hyung’s accident, but the memory of sitting across from Hyung and eating was stronger.

‘Yeong-u-ya.’

I wandered around the house, recalling Hyung’s voice from my dream that day.

Did he tell me he was fine and that I should hurry and sleep in bed?

I think I heard something else, but I can’t remember.

“It was just a dream anyway.”

I regretfully shook off the hazy memory and returned to the bedroom.

Baekseol, who had climbed onto the bed at some point, was sleeping back-to-back with Shiru.

I watched them with a pleased expression, then went into the en-suite bathroom and slid open the mirrored cabinet.

Lightly tapping the neatly arranged towels, I took out a small organizer from the top shelf of the cabinet.

It was my medicine box, which I only touched once or twice a year.

It had been a long time since I’d been prescribed sleeping pills, so the rattling organizer only contained tranquilizers.

I rummaged through the small bottles, checked the expiration dates, and transferred them to a portable pill case.

I started taking medicine when I was twenty.

If I had thought of going to a hospital, I would have been taking medicine since I was younger, but Chul-soo Hyung was the first person to recommend a hospital to me.

Thanks to Hyung, I learned for the first time that I could sleep without waking up even once.

And that I could converse and breathe in crowded places.

Even now, I can’t go to crowded places without medicine.

I can talk with two or three people without any problems, but any more than that, and I start to break out in a cold sweat.

Even in my early twenties, when I was the dedicated Guide for Barrier Team 3, I couldn’t go out to the field.

For me, who found even the way to the Guiding Room uncomfortable, Hyung let me stay in the team’s waiting room.

I still feel indebted to the team members who came all the way to the waiting room every time they needed guiding.

Vzzzzt.

As I came out after getting my medicine, the phone I had left on the table rang.

It was a text that came when the sun hadn’t even risen, so I was immediately scared.

Thinking something might have happened to Hyung.

[You at home?]

“Ah sh*t, I got scared for nothing.”

I checked the number I had saved four years ago for Tae Seung-jun and called him.

I was relieved, thinking that if there had been a problem with Hyung, he would have called, not texted.

–You’re not asleep?

“Can you talk?”

–I heard you got kicked out.

“Keep your promise quickly.”

–Then I don’t have to worry about feeding the cats today, right?

“I ate and slept for more than 8 hours. Hurry up.”

Then and now, Tae Seung-jun and I only said what we wanted to say.

Tae Seung-jun, who took a step back in our disjointed conversation, let out a sigh that sounded like a curse.

–Have you used your head a little?

As expected, Tae Seung-jun didn’t answer right away and dragged it out, so I asked him first.

“There was another problem inside the Gate, right? Because there’s no way Chul-soo Hyung couldn’t have gotten out.”

As expected, Tae Seung-jun didn’t deny it.

That means it’s true.

His voice became clearer, as if he had moved to a quieter place.

–There are exactly two types of ability users who are deployed to prepare for Gate emergencies. Barrier Specialists and Teleport Espers.

Hyung had both of those abilities.

I also knew that Hyung had mainly played the role of rescuing teams that had entered a Gate before they got into an accident.

–There’s no way the Team Leader, who uses both those abilities, couldn’t have gotten out of the Gate. Unless he was out of his mind, he would have obviously gotten out.

Tae Seung-jun muttered lowly that there must have been an unexpected variable, then raised his voice again.

–Anyway, it’s not the guys we’ve been dealing with, so until we find out what it is, we’re only handling it with external attacks instead of entering. For safety.

“It’s just as dangerous even if the number of Code Reds increases.”

–We can still handle it. It’s safer than getting killed for nothing inside a Gate where we don’t know what will come out.

“Still…”

–Hey, the Team Leader got taken down, so who would survive? Anyone other than Attack Teams 1 and 2 would all die.

That’s true.

As I couldn’t continue speaking with a bitter face, Tae Seung-jun concluded the conversation, saying he had to hang up now.

–So you help the Team Leader get his memory back quickly. Don’t be out of it.

“I got it.”

–Keep your promise. If you don’t eat and don’t sleep, I’ll immediately blurt out about the im—

“I said I got it.”

I hung up first and put down the phone.

Even if Tae Seung-jun didn’t tell me, I was going to eat well and sleep well on my own anyway.

My body needed to be healthy to reduce the side effects of guiding.

“Hmm, okay.”

I placed the pill case on top of the phone and went out to the living room.

Standing in the empty living room, I nodded to myself and organized my thoughts.

In a situation where many were waiting for Hyung’s testimony, there was only one thing I could do.

As Tae Seung-jun said, to help Hyung get his memory back quickly.

“Okay…”

Let’s think about what happens after his memory comes back when the time comes.

Exactly two days after Hyung had told me to, I visited the hospital room again.

I wanted to pack a lunch, but I came empty-handed just in case.

I was about to knock but instead approached the slightly ajar door and tilted my head.

The sound of a conversation was leaking out from the gap.

“No. Absolutely not right now. Especially not in your current condition, Esper-nim. Something big could happen.”

“Everything is fine except for my legs.”

“You don’t have your memory. Your memory.”

I was wondering who had come to visit, but it was Hyung’s attending physician.

It seemed Hyung wanted to do something, but the attending physician was firmly against it.

He could have just allowed it, for goodness’ sake.

“Don’t be complacent just because your wavelength has dropped. You, Esper-nim, have lost 18 years of experience in skillfully handling your body and abilities. If you use your abilities recklessly, something big will happen.”

“It’s 16 years.”

“Yes, anyway, you can’t. For the next week, just focus on rehabilitation. Don’t even think about trying out your abilities. Got it?”

“I think I can do it…”

Peeking through the crack of the door, the corners of my mouth went up uncontrollably.

Seeing Hyung’s sullen expression as he sat on the edge of the bed, I wanted to run over and hug him right away.

It seemed he was slowly becoming interested in his own abilities.

“The barrier is one thing, but the teleportation makes it more dangerous. People think that ability is easy because it’s common, but if you use it incorrectly, your limbs could be separated.”

“What gets separated?”

“Now, look. My legs could be here, but my torso could be somewhere else. If you teleport without being prepared.”

The attending physician made a gesture of slitting his waist with the hand that had been pointing to his leg.

As he said, I had heard that there were not a few teleport Espers who lost their limbs.

That was the reason why, although there were many who awakened to it, the training period was longer than for other Espers because it was a tricky ability.

“Start training in a week. If possible, it would be faster if someone who knows your tendencies or ability usage style takes on the training.”

“What kind of training is it?”

“That, I don’t know, since I’m not an Esper.”

The attending physician, who had been examining Hyung’s forehead, shrugged and received scissors from the nurse standing next to him.

It seemed he was finally taking off the bandages today.

“Multi-abilities can be a bit more tricky to use. I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I’ve heard.”

“Then I’ll have to learn from an Esper with the same multi-abilities.”

“Hmm, I don’t think there are any. Multi-abilities appear often in movies and dramas, but in reality, they’re extremely rare. And cases where the ability combination is the same are almost non-existent.”

The attending physician, who answered that there were none among the patients he had met, chatted comfortably with Hyung, unlike the first time.

It seemed he had come to recognize Hyung’s gentle personality the more he met him.

Even though he had become younger, Hyung’s character was still the same.

I could tell just by how he treated me.

“Does the guiding machine suit you well?”

My head bowed even further at the important topic the attending physician brought up.

During the two days I was away, Hyung had used a guiding machine for the first time.

So, for the seventeen-year-old Hyung, it was his first guiding machine.

I focused on the conversation, hoping that Hyung hadn’t liked the artificial guiding.

“Some people don’t take to it well. Even if their body accepts it, they might feel bad or have trouble sleeping.”

“This is more comfortable.”

My shoulders slumped at Hyung’s immediate answer, given without a moment’s hesitation.

I knew he found me uncomfortable, but hearing it directly was even more bitter.

“That’s a relief. It’s best to receive it directly from a Guide-nim, but at your current recovery speed, a machine is sufficient. I was worried because Guide Seo Yeong-u’s complexion was getting worse and he was looking frail.”

What is that quack saying?

I glared at the unnecessarily talkative attending physician and clenched my jaw.

He had told me that the guiding of an imprinted partner was important.

“He gets a lot of nosebleeds too.”

“Oh my. He fainted once too, right?”

“Yes.”

The attending physician, who clicked his tongue at Hyung’s answer, put down the scissors and picked up the tweezers the nurse had prepared.

I tried to get a closer look, wondering if there was still a wound left, but I couldn’t see because the doctor was in the way.

“This might sting.”

After disinfecting the forehead and spraying it, he even attached a skin closure strip.

It seemed the wound on his forehead hadn’t healed as well.

Maybe it’s because his head was the most severely injured.

“You have to disinfect this and change it to a new one every day. Keep it on until the scar is no longer visible. Would you like to look in a mirror?”

“No. It’s fine.”

The talkative attending physician showed Hyung the disinfection materials and bandages instead of a mirror and explained for a long time.

He said it had to be changed to a new one every day, so I also listened with a serious face.

“Now, please take off your clothes.”