Chapter 64: A Sea of Trouble

<A-Class Gate appearance in Sector 129S. A-Class Gate appearance.>

An alert that an A-Class gate had opened began to blare incessantly in the hallway.
Watching the gate warning lights flash, Wonjae and I hurried out of the training room.

“If it’s an S sector, it’s the sea.”

Sea sectors had an S appended to their number.
At his words, I also hurriedly checked the location.
A pin was stuck in the middle of the sea.

“Let’s go to the guiding shelter first.”

“Okay.”

Upon arriving at the guiding shelter, Wonjae and I went to our respective teams.
Wonjae, who had become Hyun Taewoon’s exclusive, went to the 01S team, and I went to the 05R team.

As soon as I entered the team’s exclusive room, I greeted the team members and checked the gate situation.
Everyone seemed worried about the gate that had appeared in the middle of the sea.

It would have been fine if the gate had appeared in the sky, but since it was generated in the water, only the top part of the door was visible.
Fortunately, the weather was chilly, so there were no people near the sea.

“It will be disadvantageous for Esper Hyun Taewoon.”

At the voice from my side, I finally remembered his flame ability.
It would be a difficult battle for him.

Before long, the guiding shelter moved to Sector 129S.
The shelter’s movement completion sign lit up, and I was anxiously watching the gate open.

I heard a knock on the team’s exclusive guiding room door.
When one of the team members opened the door, Hyun Taewoon was standing there.

“Can I have a word with Guide Lee Shinui?”

It was our first meeting since we both found out we had returned to the past.
I wanted to tell him to get lost immediately, but I didn’t want to create gossip, so in the end, I went outside.

“Are you just going to do whatever you want now that we’ve both returned to the past?”

“I came to tell you not to come out of the gate.”

“Who are you to worry about me.”

At my words, he gave a bitter smile.
I glared at him and continued.

“You just worry about yourself. Don’t be a nuisance by letting your guiding level drop like last time.”

“Okay.”

He soon received a request to return to the gate and went out of the shelter.
Before leaving, he repeatedly told me not to come out.
I ignored him and went into the exclusive room.

I could see his figure on the real-time gate monitor.
He continuously used his flame ability towards the gate that was beginning to open.
The water evaporated quickly, and the gate became visible, but he wouldn’t be able to keep using his ability like this.

Fortunately, with Sung Yohan’s ability, the water parted like the miracle of Moses, and the sea floor and the entire gate were revealed.

“What do you think Team Leader Sung’s ability is? I’ve been watching him for years, but I have no idea.”

“I think it’s a physical type, but I’m not sure.”

An S-Class Esper’s ability was a secret, and he, even though he was my pair, did not tell me his ability.

Soon, the gate door opened completely, and monsters began to pour out.
Since it was a sudden-type gate that had opened in the sea, there were many monsters with the appearance of marine creatures.

Fortunately, thanks to his ability, the confrontation with the monsters was similar to usual.
But Hyun Taewoon was struggling.
He used his abilities without stopping, but unlike usual, he was doing little damage to the monsters.

If he used his energy like that, his guiding level would surely drop quickly.
In the end, I came out of the exclusive room and approached the shelter manager and asked.

“What is Esper Hyun Taewoon’s guiding level right now?”

“It’s 59%.”

It was okay for now, but if the gate became a long-term battle, it might drop below the crisis zone.

I also checked Sung Yohan’s guiding level.
68%.

I hadn’t seen him since the day of the attempted imprinting incident.
I was worried because we would have to meet today.
Since it was a sudden-type A-Class gate, a situation where I had to guide would come.

“Hyung, what are you doing here?”

At Wonjae’s voice from behind, I took my eyes off the Guiding Watch and looked at him.

“I was just watching the gate situation. Why did you come out?”

“Because I was feeling stuffy. They said this gate is a mid-to-high level A-Class, so it might go on for over an hour.”

At his words, I turned my gaze to the gate situation monitor.
The Espers were cooperating by talking to each other through their earpieces, but it seemed they were having a hard time because of the harsh environment of the sea.

“You might have to guide today. Will you be okay?”

“No. I don’t want to.”

He said flatly that he didn’t want to.
He, who had shown an above-average guiding wavelength this time, was having a hard time as he had unwillingly become Hyun Taewoon’s exclusive.

When guiding, Espers wanted to have intimate contact with the guide to take in strong wavelength energy.
However, since they had to have physical contact with someone they didn’t even like, it was often awkward for the guide.
He, who disliked Espers, also confessed that he felt uncomfortable just thinking about guiding.

Still, it was fortunate that he and I were taller than other guides.
Otherwise, we would have been assaulted.

“I wish I wasn’t a guide. If I were an Esper, I could be your pair, hyung.”

He said in a disappointed voice.
He often talked about wanting to be my pair, just like now.
I had never said anything back because I didn’t want to pour cold water on the mood, but to be honest, I didn’t want to be his pair even if he were an Esper.

If we became a pair, we would have to have physical contact without hesitation, and there would also be situations where we would have to be imprinted.

I didn’t think I could have deep physical contact with him, who was like a younger brother to me.
It wasn’t just because he was like family, but because I didn’t want to have that kind of skinship with anyone.

After a long time, I saw the boss monster being annihilated and the gate closing.
This time, Sung Yohan’s contribution was great.

As soon as the gate closed, I could see him moving towards the shelter first on the monitor.
I felt my body tense up without realizing it.
First, he and I moved to our respective team’s exclusive rooms.

Soon, the team’s exclusive room door opened, and he appeared.

“Shinui-ssi, please guide me.”

He was shameless, as if he had forgotten the incident from that day.
His guiding level, which I had checked before he came here, was 48%.

“I’ll do it today.”

The A-Class guide who was next to me stood up and said.
She seemed to have feelings for him.
In the team’s exclusive room, it was always all about him.

Come to think of it, his appearance was handsome enough for other people to like.

When the A-Class guide approached him, his expression turned cold.
It was a look as if he were seeing a lower life form.
He ignored the guide and came to me.

“Shall we guide at home?”

“I have no intention of going to the house where you are.”

“Then let’s do it in the guiding room.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to go to Joo Wonjae.”

At the sudden mention of Joo Wonjae’s name from his mouth, my brow furrowed without me realizing it.

“Why is his name coming up here? He’s not even on the same team.”

“Joo Wonjae is an A-Class Guide. I can certainly ask for guiding. And no one would say anything even if I imprinted on him right now.”

At the word ‘imprinting’, my fists clenched on their own.

“Are you saying you’ll imprint on him?”

The team members who were listening to our conversation also seemed to have sensed that something was wrong and moved away from us.
Since everyone had moved away, only he and I were left in the team’s exclusive room.

“That won’t happen if you guide me.”

As soon as there were no more eyes on us, he acted even more unrestrainedly.
This was no longer a guiding request.
It was a threat.
Come to think of it, he and the people from the Association had always threatened me in this way.

“Then it sounds like you’re saying you can forcibly imprint on me at any time.”

“That’s not it. I’m a gentleman, you see.”

“You’re not being a gentleman at all right now.”

“I think my true nature keeps coming out when I’m alone with you. Then shall I go to him now?”

At the sight of him bringing up him again, I had no choice but to say I would guide him.

“I’ll guide you. But don’t you dare touch him.”

“Okay.”

And so, he and I moved to the Center’s guiding room.
But I could see that the light was on in his guiding room.
He was probably receiving machine guiding.

If he hadn’t insisted on only S-Classes and found a guide who matched him, he wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of receiving machine guiding.
He just seemed foolish to me.

“It seems Taewoon is in the middle of machine guiding. How pitiful.”

“How about you start settling for machine guiding too, Sung Yohan-ssi?”

“The machine doesn’t suit me. I feel like I’m guiding only when we touch like this.”

He said, and then held my hand in a clasp.
I swatted his hand away and said.

“Don’t touch me without a word.”

“You’re so prickly. Since you’re always like this, I want to see your relaxed side.”

I didn’t answer and went into the guiding room and sat on the bed.
And as soon as he sat next to me, I took his hand.
I wanted to finish the guiding quickly and return to the hotel.

“Shinui-ssi, at this rate, it will take over an hour. Let’s do second-level contact guiding, shall we?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

A dry laugh almost escaped me at the sight of him asking, pretending not to know, even though he had threatened me with him.
I glared at him and shot back sharply.

“I don’t want to guide you anymore. I’m only doing this now because of him.”

“Why don’t you want to do it with me?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know? You’re always too much.”

“You don’t seem to know much about guiding. This is normal and common.”

He pressed his body against mine.
Then I could feel that his thing was hard.

“As I said before, no one would rebuke me even if I imprinted on you like this.”

Before he could finish his words, Sung Yohan pushed my body onto the bed and tried to kiss me.
I turned my face and struggled, but it was still difficult to overcome his strength.

The way he looked down at me was as if he were trying to show me who was on top.