Chapter 27: An Unavoidable Fate

Perhaps because I was so used to the training I did at the Center for three years, I would go for a light jog around the factory in the morning and do physical training with the exercise equipment at a nearby park.
Other than that, I spent my days working like a machine at the factory.

Worried about the possibility of running into Hyun Taewoon, I minimized my outings.
The only place I, as a civilian, could meet him was at a gate, so I kept an eye on the gate locations and stayed low.

I wanted to live my life forgetting him, but his name often came up, whether in the news or at the factory.
I hated hearing about him, so I deliberately moved to a less populated section and worked at the factory until dawn.

My life became a routine of shuttling between the dorm and the factory, but I was fine with it.
I decided to live gratefully, thinking that since I had been given a new life, I should make the most of it.

But the loneliness that occasionally visited was unavoidable.
There was no one at the factory, which was full of older people, to confide in, and although I sometimes contacted my high school friends, we couldn’t get in touch often as they were all in college.
As a result, I often thought of my colleagues I had been close with at the Center.

Returning to the past meant that my memories and connections with my colleagues had all become non-existent.
It was a bitter and painful thing, but I decided to wait for the day we might meet again, believing that if we were fated to, we would.

When I had awakened as a Guide, I had endured my life with him by spending time with my colleagues, but now that I had returned to the past, my connection with them was gone.
So there were many times I felt lonely and regretful, and I often felt more depressed than when I was living with him.

Every day was gloomy, and I missed my colleagues, but I decided to endure it all.

Three months had passed since I had returned to the past.
As if time was the answer, the anxiety of possibly meeting him also disappeared, and I was slowly finding my own routine.

Today was my day off, so I went out for the first time in a while.
I bought some thick clothes in preparation for the coming winter and saw the latest movie at the theater.
I was on my way to the supermarket to buy groceries before heading back to the dorm when black clouds, like shadows, began to cover the entire sky.

The weather forecast had definitely said it would be clear until tomorrow…
A sudden ominous thought that it might be a gate crossed my mind.

As expected, my premonition was not wrong, and a gate emergency alert rang.
Seeing a barrier descend from the sky like a curtain, I hurriedly looked around.
I saw a gate not too far away.
The distance was closer than I thought, and I felt a sense of dismay.

From the precursor signs, it was an A-Class gate.
If things continued like this, there was a risk of meeting him.

My heart stirred as I even saw a mobile guiding shelter settling down below the gate.

I had to get out of here before I met him.
Just then, I saw B-Class Espers leading people to the shelter.

“Move to the shelter!”

I quickly squeezed into the crowd of people who were walking hurriedly and moved according to the Espers’ guidance.

Before I knew it, Espers were on standby around the gate.
Among them, the most noticeable was Hyun Taewoon in his black special combat suit.

The moment I saw him, my breathing started to become rough.
And my body wouldn’t move, as if it were paralyzed.

I had felt displeased when I saw his pictures or in the news, but I had never experienced shortness of breath or such an overreaction from my body.
As expected, seeing him in person was different from seeing a picture.

I held onto the wall of a commercial building and knelt down on one knee.
I kept telling myself to get a grip, but my body wouldn’t listen.

The gate must have opened, as I heard the bizarre cries of the monsters.
I forced my body up and rejoined the procession heading to the shelter.
I was crossing the road under the guidance of the Espers.
People started screaming.

Several avian-type monsters were flying towards us.
As if to show that we were their target, they flew towards us quickly.

The B-Class Espers used their abilities, but it had no effect on the monsters.
At this rate, we would be massacred by the monsters’ attack.

It was common for people to be killed by monsters when a gate opened.
The thought that I might die again like this made my legs move on their own.
But then, a strong flame and a fierce wind blew from behind, and my body went tumbling.
Looking back, I saw the avian-type monsters engulfed in flames and burning on the ground.

Currently, he was the only fire-attribute user in the country, so I knew immediately that he was nearby.
The thought that I might meet him made my body tremble finely, and I couldn’t think straight.
By the time I realized it, my body was moving again.
That’s how much my body was rejecting him.

I ran desperately to get away from him.
If I could get out of the barrier like this, I wouldn’t have to face him.

However, since it was a situation where you could encounter a monster at any time inside the barrier, I, who was left alone, was easy prey for the monsters.
I could see monsters rushing towards me, vying with each other.

At that sight, I tried to go into a building, but I ended up rolling on the road due to a monster’s ability.
At that moment, I felt his wavelength rapidly approaching me.

“Are you okay?”

At the all-too-familiar voice, I reflexively looked up and saw him looking at me.
He was protecting us with a barrier so that no monsters could come near.
I trembled and ducked my head low towards the ground so that he wouldn’t see my face.

He helped me, who had fallen to the ground, up and said in a curious voice.

“You’re a strange guide.”

It was the same thing he had said when I awakened as a Guide before the regression.

‘No. I can’t meet him.’

I repeated the words ‘no’ in my mind, and then I noticed that I didn’t feel the same tingling sensation as when I first made contact with him before the regression.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

He held me and floated into the air.
If my memory served me right, he would take me to the shelter building and tell me to wait.
I had to run away again then.

“Don’t be scared.”

He said softly, as if to reassure me, and moved quickly.
But unlike before, he took me to the shelter.

Only then did I realize that the place of my first meeting with him was different.
If that was the case, the situation could change.

He showed me to the shelter manager and said.

“Call a Healer-class Esper. A guide has been injured.”

“He doesn’t look like an Association guide. I’ve never seen him before, and his clothes aren’t a uniform.”

At the shelter manager’s words, he finally looked down at me.
I kept my head bowed so that he wouldn’t see my face.

“Which organization are you a guide for?”

He asked me, but I just lowered my head even more and didn’t say anything.
Just being with him made me feel so nauseous I wanted to throw up.

“He might have just awakened, so please treat him until I get back.”

“I understand.”

He, who had been talking to the shelter manager, turned his gaze back to me and said in a gentle tone.

“It’s dangerous, so wait here. I’ll be back soon.”

At my continued silence, he sent me one last worried glance and went outside.
I had to get out of the shelter before he came back.

The shelter manager repeatedly asked me if I was a guide.
Only then did I answer that I was not a guide, but he still looked at me with a suspicious face and asked.

“What’s your name? I’ll do a background check.”

“I don’t want to say.”

If I gave him my name like this, I would be dragged back to the Center and do a matching test with him, and I would have to live that miserable life again.

The image of myself dying came back to me, and my stomach finally churned.
Without a moment to spare, I vomited the food I had eaten for lunch.

At my state, the shelter manager was surprised and called another manager.

My jacket, stained with vomit, was taken off, and I was laid on a medical bed and treated by a Healer-class Esper.
Fortunately, the nausea disappeared, but the thought of having to escape was still strong.

“Rest here.”

When I pretended to be asleep from exhaustion, the Healer-class Esper also left to treat someone else, and the shelter manager’s attention was also focused on the gate situation.

I stealthily got out of bed.
And I approached the shelter door and ran as soon as it opened.

Fortunately, the area around the shelter was surrounded by a barrier, so the monsters couldn’t approach, and I was able to safely get beyond the gate barrier by using the space between the buildings.

I was out of breath every time I ran and wanted to stop, but the thought that I couldn’t meet him made me run until I saw a taxi.

After barely taking a taxi and arriving at the factory dorm, I realized that my phone was gone.

The phone was in the jacket I had left at the shelter.

For a moment, a sense of dismay and a torrent of criticism for my own foolishness washed over me.
My phone had a password, but if it was the Association, they could easily find out my information with just the phone.

I could only pray desperately that they would dispose of a dirty jacket like that.

A week passed slowly after meeting him.
During that time, I didn’t take a single step outside and just worked at the factory, shaking off my fearful thoughts.

My factory colleagues joked about whether I had been dumped, but I didn’t answer and cut off all conversation with everyone, focusing only on my work.
Today too, I just hoped to get off work without any incident.

I was on my way to my workplace after a simple dinner at the factory cafeteria.
Foreman Kim, who was walking from the opposite hallway, saw me and called me urgently.

“Shinui, the plant manager wants to see you in his office.”

“The plant manager? Why?”

“I don’t know. He just said to come quickly.”

I had a bad feeling, but I couldn’t disobey the plant manager’s words, so I ended up heading to his office.
But the closer I got to his office, the more I could faintly feel his unforgettable wavelength.

Feeling his wavelength, I knew that I had indeed awakened as a Guide.

When I first met him, I didn’t feel the same sensation as when I had awakened, so I thought I hadn’t, but unfortunately, I had become a Guide again.
A further weight was added to my heavy heart, and a sense of despair washed over me.

I thought that he and the people from the Association, who had noticed my awakening, might have come to find me.
He had been confident from our first meeting that our matching rate would be high.
He was probably still thinking and acting that way now.

I had no intention of going to the Association like this, so I turned around from heading to the plant manager’s office and came out to the factory’s front gate.
But in front of the factory’s front gate were cars with the Esper·Guide Association mark parked.
As expected, my intuition was not wrong.

It seemed I would have to escape through the back gate.
Going back to the Association like this was no different from suicide, so I quickly ran to the back gate.
Perhaps because I was nervous, my back was damp with cold sweat, and my toes were cold.

Since he had found out my workplace, I wouldn’t be able to work at the factory anymore.
I had some cherished belongings in my dorm, but for now, I had to abandon everything and run as far away as possible.

I came out the back gate and was looking around, concerned that there might be an Association car here as well.

I smelled cigarette smoke from somewhere.
As soon as I smelled it, a cough burst out.
I covered my mouth and was coughing when I heard a voice I never wanted to hear again from behind.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, Lee Shinui-ssi?”

When I turned around, I saw him leaning against a wall, looking at me as if he were happy to see me.