Chapter 68: The Unwanted Gift

I changed into my special combat suit and headed to the individual gate simulation room.
But there was something in front of the door.
When I looked closer, it was a shopping bag.

Only S-Classes could enter the S-Class training room.
It seemed Hyun Taewoon had left another gift this time.
When I looked inside, there was bread and a drink.
I threw the shopping bag on a chair in the waiting room and proceeded with the gate simulation.

Today, I set the training to deal with 100 B-Class monsters and began.
Unlike a real gate, the monsters’ movements were slow, so if I aimed well at their heads, they would die in one shot.

I moved between the buildings and dealt with the monsters.
By the time I had killed 100 of them in that manner, an hour had already passed.

After washing my sweat-drenched body in the shower, it was already close to quitting time.

I waited for Wonjae’s training to finish and ate the cream puff from the bread he had given me.
I was about to take out the drink when something fell to the floor.
It was a note.

I picked up the note and placed it beside me.
As I was twisting the cap of the glass bottle containing strawberry milk, the bottle opened too easily.

I was about to drink the milk just like that, but I paused.
It was because I saw a clear lip mark on the opening.
Feeling a strange sensation for a moment, I unfolded the note I had put down and examined it.

[Enjoy your meal♡]

It was definitely not him, but I thought it would be better to check with him first.

I looked at the glass bottle with disgust, put it back in the shopping bag, and came out of the training room.
When I went to his training room, he was there.

Even when I knocked on the door, there was no answer, perhaps because he was in the middle of training.
In the end, I went inside.

He was also in the middle of a gate simulation, just like me.
When I looked at the training situation on the monitor, the boss monster was already dead, and everywhere except where he was was a sea of fire.

I went into the monitoring room, pressed the microphone button, and said to him.

“Come out if you’re done.”

At my words, he looked around and then quickly ran to the door.
Before long, the simulation room door opened, and he, who clearly showed signs of having trained, appeared.

“Shinui, what brings you all the way here?”

He seemed happy that I had come to see him.
I showed him the shopping bag.

“Did you leave this?”

“No, what is that?”

As expected, it wasn’t him.
Then could it be Sung Yohan?
But he didn’t seem like the type to do such a cheesy thing.

He came to my side and looked inside the shopping bag.

“It wasn’t me. Why?”

“Because I don’t know who left it.”

“If you don’t know, then don’t eat it.”

That seemed like a good idea.
The lip mark on the glass bottle came to mind again, and my stomach churned.
To be honest, I wanted to throw up the cream puff I had eaten a little while ago.

“Okay. Then I’m leaving.”

He seemed to want to say something more to me, but in the end, he didn’t hold me back when I left.

I left the shopping bag at the lost and found center on the first floor.
But the next day, a shopping bag was placed in front of my training room again, and it was the same the day after.

I tried to check the CCTV, but strangely, the files were corrupted in the middle.

I kept watch to find the culprit, but as if they had noticed that I was watching, they no longer appeared.
In the end, I couldn’t find the culprit who had left the shopping bag.
It was an unsettling feeling, but since there were no clues, there was nothing I could do.

A week ago, while commuting, Jinseok had told me about a new schedule.
It was about a photo shoot and an interview request from an Esper & Guide magazine.
At first, I was going to refuse, but since the people around me encouraged me to do it, I eventually agreed.
Today was the day of the shoot.

I ran to his car, which was waiting for me at the apartment’s main entrance, and opened the passenger door.
But his expression was not good.

“Guide-nim, you’re here?”

“Yes. But you don’t look so good, Manager-nim.”

At my words, he drove silently for a while.
At that, I could tell that something bad had happened.

“Is something really wrong?”

“Yes…. Actually, about the Esper & Guide magazine photo shoot we’re doing this time…”

He still couldn’t finish his sentence properly.
Seeing that, I thought that the shoot might have been canceled.
I had been taking care of various things for the shoot for a week, so he probably couldn’t tell me because he was afraid I would be upset, but I was actually hoping for it to be canceled.

“Was it perhaps canceled?”

“That’s not it…. They say Esper Hyun Taewoon and Esper Sung Yohan are also shooting with you.”

“What does that mean?”

At his unexpected words, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment.

“I only found out this morning, so I’m also flustered.”

The shoot was today, and to be informed of such an important fact not yesterday but this morning didn’t feel good.

“Can’t we cancel it?”

“That will be difficult. Because the shoot is today.”

“Ha…”

He and he must have known.
As my thoughts reached that fact, my anger flared up.
But I tried to suppress my anger as much as possible.
Since it was already decided, I wanted to finish it without getting red in the face.

After arriving at the studio, I was guided to the makeup room.
He kept glancing at me.
I didn’t want to worry him, so I pretended to be okay as much as possible.

When I entered the makeup room, there were five makeup artists.

“Guide-nim, you’re here?”

“Yes. I look forward to working with you today.”

“We look forward to working with you too. Please have a seat here.”

I sat down as guided and received makeup before the shoot.
But the makeup artist’s hand was trembling.
She seemed nervous.

To ease her tension, I smiled and said.

“Please work comfortably.”

“I’m sorry. I’m nervous…. You’re more handsome than in the pictures.”

“Thank you.”

As we talked, the artist also seemed to have calmed down and professionally styled my face and hair.

It was the first time my forehead was exposed, but since everyone said it suited me well, my mood improved a lot.

After all the preparations were done, I thanked the artists and stood up.
But everyone was holding their phones and looking at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Could we possibly get a picture?”

“Ah, a picture…”

I didn’t really like taking pictures, and according to the Association’s regulations, I wasn’t supposed to take pictures, but since they were artists who had worked hard for over an hour, I wanted to take a picture with them.

Seeing their happy faces after taking the picture, the unpleasant feelings I had felt in the morning were all gone.

And so, I moved to the shooting set and started with the solo shots.
It was my first photo shoot, and I was nervous, but since the photographer treated me comfortably, I was able to shoot safely.
When I moved to another shooting set, he and he were already having their photo shoot.

I glared at them.
They usually acted like enemies, but in the camera, they looked like close friends.

After their two-shot was over, the photographer said.

“Guide Lee Shinui, could we get a two-shot with Esper Sung Yohan?”

I hadn’t heard anything about a two-shot, so I asked why.

“Since you two are a pair, I thought it would be nice to get a two-shot.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re not a pair anymore.”

Even though our pair had already been dissolved, for some reason, the news didn’t seem to spread well.
Even at the Center, there were still many who thought he and I were a pair.

“Then let’s just take a group shot and finish.”

The photographer looked at me with a disappointed face.
And so, in the end, the three of us took a group shot.

Before taking the picture, I approached him and asked.

“Did you know you were shooting with me?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know?”

“I found out for the first time today.”

At my words, he frowned slightly.
He squeezed in between us.

“Shinui-ssi, I’m happy to be shooting with you.”

I didn’t answer his words and looked at the photographer.
Soon, at the photographer’s words to start shooting, I went to the photo booth.

Since we were taking full-body shots first, I stood as far away from him and him as possible.
Then the photographer requested a pose from me.

“Guide Shinui, I think it would be better if you got a little closer to the Espers.”

In the end, I had to get close to him and him.
Next, he and he sat on two chairs of different heights, and the shoot continued with me standing between them.

“Guide Shinui, I think the shot will come out well if you put your hand on Esper Taewoon’s shoulder.”

This time too, I posed as the photographer said, and after taking several hundred pictures, the shoot finally ended.

“The magazine will come out next month.”

“Okay. You’ve worked hard.”

I said my goodbyes to the photographer and the staff and hurried out of the studio.
I resolved that after today, I would never do a photo shoot again.

I was waiting for Jinseok in front of the studio when he approached me.

“Are you going home?”

“Yeah. If there’s any work with me in the future, please let me know in advance.”

“Okay. I thought you knew about today.”

I didn’t answer his words and waited for Jinseok’s car.
But I saw him in Jinseok’s car.
He must have seen him too, as he asked me.

“Is he going with us too?”

“No. He probably just got in on his own.”

“Then I’ll go with you too. Our destination is the same.”

Since it was better to have him with him than just him, I told him to do as he pleased.

And so, we got in the car together and headed home in silence.
The silence in the car, except for the sound of the engine, was broken by him.

“Shinui-ssi, you were cooler than usual today.”

“Was I?”

“Yes. I want to shoot with just the two of us next time.”

I no longer answered.
To be honest, I was tired and just wanted to go home and sleep.
The car fell silent again.

The car that had arrived home stopped.
I got out of the car and was about to walk away when I turned back.
If he was going up with me, I thought I would be less annoyed if I prepared myself mentally.
But he was talking with him.
While they were talking, I said goodbye to Jinseok and hurried up to my house.

I don’t know what happened, but after this, Sung Yohan never came to my house again.