Chapter 26: Fever

1501.

1225#.

Seung-jun had given me the apartment number and passcode before he left.

I didn’t know why he knew the passcode to the Guide’s front door, but thanks to him, I was able to enter without ringing the bell.

No sign of life could be heard in the silent house.

The owner seemed to be asleep.

I lingered for a moment at the entrance, wondering if it was really okay for me to come in like this.

I hadn’t been thinking anything when I entered the passcode.

Only now was I taken aback by my own actions, having opened the door lock and entered without hesitation.

It was clearly a house I’d never seen before, a space I’d never set foot in, yet I had walked in as naturally as if it were my own home.

‘It seems we really do live together.’

It wasn’t surprising, given our imprinted relationship.

I casually ran a hand through my hair, then froze.

Someone was staring at me.

From under the first door in the hallway leading to the rooms.

A single, tiny eye was watching me without a single movement.

The other eye was hidden by the wall.

I mouthed the word ‘hello’ and waved.

The cat with mixed black and white fur had the same sullen expression as in the photo.

It was the cat I had thought resembled Guide Seo Yeong-u.

Perhaps because I had stared at its picture for so long, it didn’t feel unfamiliar.

The cat, with only half its face showing, held my gaze for a long time before flicking its tail once against the floor and moving.

I had thought it was a chubby cat because of its round face, but its body was slender.

As if telling me to follow, it headed toward the hallway of rooms, its tail swaying from side to side.

I only managed a slight grip on the handrims of my wheelchair.

Even if this was a space the Guide and I shared, to me, right now, it was just a stranger’s house, and I couldn’t bring myself to cross the threshold.

The cat, which had been heading for the innermost room of the hallway, turned around.

It glared at me with a cold expression and then slapped the floor hard with its long tail.

It felt like a command to come in at once, so I pushed the wheels without realizing it.

After pushing the wheels harder to get over the threshold of the entrance, I followed the cat without any further hesitation.

Feeling as if I had received permission from the gatekeeper, I didn’t hesitate even as I entered the owner’s bedroom.

One good thing about being an Esper was that my vision was as good as if I had a flashlight on, even in pitch-black places.

I found the Guide at once in the spacious bedroom.

The Guide, lying on a bed of a size proportional to the room, was curled on his side, facing the empty space next to him.

The moment I saw the back of his dark head, a dry sigh escaped me for some unknown reason.

Without even thinking to silence my presence, I quickly rolled the wheels toward the head of the bed.

My hands, turning the handrims, moved of their own accord.

Something crunched under the wheels, and looking down, I saw an empty medicine packet.

Seeing the crushed antipyretic painkiller, I moved the wheelchair so close that it touched the bed frame.

‘Did he take the medicine by himself?’

‘He shouldn’t have taken it on an empty stomach.’

Worrying about the Guide internally, I carefully placed a hand on his forehead.

Just as he had checked my temperature, I placed my hand on the Guide’s forehead to check his.

“Guide-nim.”

Startled by the high fever clinging to my palm, I almost woke the deeply sleeping man without thinking.

He was that hot.

I could hear him breathing, but it was so faint it sounded as if it could stop at any moment.

It was a breath so small I wouldn’t have heard it if I weren’t an Esper.

I cupped his sunken cheek and turned his face toward me so I could check his complexion.

His face, damp with a cold sweat, was nothing but pale.

Perhaps because I had disturbed his sleep, a slight frown formed between his brows.

I wanted to ask if he was okay, but he was sleeping so soundly I couldn’t bring myself to wake him.

“…”

As I slowly tried to pull my hand away, his pale face followed it.

He leaned his cheek against my palm and even smacked his lips as if talking in his sleep.

Every time his chapped lips brushed against me, the rough skin stimulated my palm.

The sound of his rhythmic breathing followed my gradually quickening heartbeat.

The Guide repeatedly rubbed his lips against the lines of my palm, as if kissing it.

Without even knowing whose hand it was.

“Hurry… and come.”

He whispered, his mouth moving, his voice as faint as his breath.

I pretended I hadn’t heard.

I chided my heart for reacting to the mumbled words of a sick, sleeping person and looked into the distance.

“Hurry.”

But my gaze was drawn back down by his voice, which had begun to sound tearful.

On his tightly closed eyes, transparent droplets, whether sweat or tears I couldn’t tell, formed and flowed.

‘He didn’t cry until the end that day.’

The Guide, lost in sleep, began to shed tears without warning.

I absolutely couldn’t just leave him like this.

I caressed the cheek of the Guide, who was crying to be held, and lay down next to him.

It was an awkward position, having to climb onto the bed with one arm, but it was fine since the sleeping Guide couldn’t see.

“Don’t cry.”

I opened my arms wide and pulled the sobbing Guide into an embrace.

Because he asked to be held.

Because he looked pitiful.

Because I just wanted to touch him.

For these reasons and more, I slipped under the blanket the Guide was covered with.

My feet were still hanging off the bed.

Inside the blanket, it was hot and damp.

He had sweated so much that he felt like someone who had just stepped out of the shower.

Even after sweating so much, the Guide, tireless, poured moisture from his eyes.

“Stop crying.”

“If you cry, your fever will get worse.”

“Do… don’t go…”

The Guide, who had been crying to be held, was now crying for me not to leave.

Unable to go anywhere with my legs in this state, I patted his thin back and made shushing sounds.

It seemed my attempts to soothe him only made his tears stronger, so I just held him for a while.

The faint whimpers soon turned into the sound of rhythmic breathing.

The Guide, his mouth even hanging open, had fallen deeply asleep again.

I gently pressed his lips closed with my fingertips.

I hoped he wouldn’t cry anymore.

Because it was making my own eyes well up with tears.

In fact, they were already falling.

“Please stop crying.”

‘They say when you’re imprinted, emotions are linked along with pain, right?’

Recalling the trope I’d often seen in dramas and movies, I wiped the Guide’s wet cheek with the back of my hand.

Worried he might get another nosebleed, I kept checking the area above his lip while wiping his face.

Then, my hand touched his upper lip.

I traced the chapped skin along his lip line and gently pressed.

When I lightly pressed between his full lips, his mouth naturally fell open.

Behind the hard teeth that touched the tip of my nail, a soft tongue squirmed.

He was Guiding even in his sleep.

From the Guide, who had started to lick the finger that invaded his mouth, that strange energy from that other morning flowed out again.

His skin, his breath, and his scent all contained an intangible energy that couldn’t be described in words, and it was all transmitted to me.

The deeper I connected with the Guide, the more the warm sensation spreading throughout my body washed away the pain clustered in every corner.

I chased that energy, held the Guide, and pressed our bodies even more firmly together.

‘You crazy b*stard.’

When I came to my senses, I was pressing my lips against his.

“Ha.”

After showering the sleeping person with kisses, I barely managed to regain my consciousness and untangled our tongues.

When I pulled my lips away, the Guide’s head lolled lifelessly to the side.

A deep sense of guilt washed over my flushed face.

I hurriedly tried to get off the bed but was held back by the Guide, who was hugging me like a pillow.

Wondering if he had woken up, I checked his face, but his eyes were still closed.

He had the expression of someone having a sad dream.

The Guide, hugging my chest, had an almost pitifully weak arm strength.

It was more like he was just resting his arm on my chest.

And yet, he continued to send out his Guiding.

While having such a pale face.

‘Ah, this is driving me crazy.’

I wanted to stay quietly by the Guide’s side, but my body kept having other ideas.

From the Guide leaning his face against my chest, came a scent so good it made my head spin.

‘How can a body drenched in sweat smell this good?’

His skin, rough from not eating properly, was nothing but soft when our flesh touched.

His lips were so hot and sweet I was afraid they would melt and disappear.

‘Just a little more, just a little more…’

I wanted to touch him.

“It hurts.”

I was leaning down toward the Guide’s lips when I froze like a stone at his continued sleep-talking.

“I… it hurts…”

The Guide, repeating the same words in a cracked voice, clutched at my clothes.

As expected, his grip was pathetic.

I held him tightly, this person who was anxious even in his sleep, and waited for his pitiful voice to fade.

“I know.”

Without knowing a single thing properly.

I couldn’t find the right words for the Guide who said he was in pain, and just muttered a clumsy phrase.

Thanks to the Guiding, I slept very deeply.

When I opened my eyes feeling refreshed, the sun must have been high in the sky, as the dim bedroom was now bright.

I first checked on the Guide in my arms and rubbed my eyes.

The Guide was still sleeping soundly.

In my brightened vision, two long tails swaying left and right came into view.

Just from the tails, different in color and shape, I pictured the two cats from the photos.

A Persian and a Russian Blue.

“That’s right.”

I spoke to the tails hiding behind Seo Yeong-u.

The two were pressed tightly behind the Guide’s bottom, showing only their tails and rears.

As if they had no intention of hiding, they openly waved their very conspicuous tails.

“Let me see your faces.”

Conscious of the still-sleeping Guide, I whispered quietly.

If they had been still, I wouldn’t have been very curious, but seeing them wag their tails so enthusiastically made me want to see them.

“Ah.”

Without thinking, I pressed down on the blanket covering the cats, then quickly withdrew my hand.

I had just grabbed the hip of the sideways-lying Seo Yeong-u.

I had briefly forgotten that the cats were hiding behind his bottom.

I quietly lowered my gaze and watched the Guide, who was in dreamland.

He was using my shoulder and arm as a pillow and seemed like he wouldn’t wake up even if someone carried him away.

I blew on his long eyelashes with a ‘hooo,’ but there was no reaction.

His fever seemed to have gone down a little while he slept, as our touching bodies felt less hot.

Still, his complexion was bad.

When I first saw him, he was already thin enough, and his face was so gaunt I wondered who the real patient was.

He was even more emaciated now than then, and the dark circles under his eyes were deeper.

Fiddling with his fine, jet-black hair, I examined the Guide’s face as if bewitched.

Looking at his features one by one, his well-proportioned face seemed even prettier.

My eyes had been drawn to this face from the very beginning.

Even while pushing him away due to my aversion to the unfamiliar situation and uncomfortable feelings, my subconscious was always chasing this pale face.

I think it would have been the same even if we weren’t imprinted.

Thwack!

While I was busy admiring the Guide’s face, I was attacked by a white paw.

The Persian, which had crept up to the head of the bed like an assassin, punched my hand and then retreated.

The Russian Blue next to it just meowed and shoved its face forward before quickly scurrying back to its original spot.

Of all places, it hid behind the Guide’s bottom again.

‘Is it warm there?’