Chapter 71: Shadows

After guiding Hyun Taewoon, the bracelet often came to mind.
Every time, I was filled with an unpleasant feeling, and I tried to forget it by immersing myself in various training sessions at the Center.

Usually, Jinseok would monitor my guiding training, but occasionally, Dr. Yoon would appear and check on my training progress.
Jinseok looked at Dr. Yoon’s visits with disapproval, but he couldn’t stop him, as he was the general manager of the research wing.

After the guiding training, I would mainly talk with Dr. Yoon about my wavelength levels, and he would always bring up the secret project at the end.

I still had no intention of participating in the project, so I refused, but it was getting difficult to refuse every time, and I was starting to feel reluctant to meet with him.

After finishing my conversation with Dr. Yoon, I headed to the shower room.
Jinseok stopped me.

“Guide-nim.”

“Yes?”

“How is the training with Dr. Yoon these days?”

Knowing that Jinseok didn’t have a good opinion of him, I answered briefly.

“It’s fine.”

“I see…. Does he not ask for your help or make any suggestions?”

At his words, I remembered that he had brought up the secret project again today.
When I was silent, he, sensing something strange, continued with a serious face.

“Actually… I hear that he has been approaching guides recently.”

“Approaching?”

“Yes. I think he’s conducting a dangerous experiment.”

‘A dangerous experiment?’

I didn’t know what kind of experiments and research the Association’s researchers were doing, but hearing the words ‘dangerous experiment’ made me both curious and worried.
However, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that Jinseok, who disliked me being close to him, was lying.

“What kind of experiment is it exactly?”

I asked to test whether his words were true or false.

“…Can you keep this a secret?”

His expression looked more cautious than ever.
Regardless of whether it was true or not, I had no hobby of spreading other people’s stories, so I nodded.

“It’s an unethical human experiment on guides.”

“A human experiment? Can you tell me in more detail?”

At the unexpectedly chilling words ‘human experiment’, I asked back without realizing it.

“He’s forcibly increasing their wavelength to raise their grade, or putting them in a brain-dead state to turn them into guiding machines.”

I looked at him at the unexpectedly shocking words.
I couldn’t believe that he was conducting human experiments on guides.
He was the one who had just been praising my guiding with a benevolent smile a little while ago.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. He’s conducting other inhumane experiments besides this.”

I had trained with him for several years, but he had always been kind and always checked my safety and condition as a top priority.
Could it be that the rumors about the secret training had been spread incorrectly?
I couldn’t believe his words.

I was curious about the source of this story.

“Where did you hear this?”

“Because I was his assistant. I can’t go into detail, but I think he is targeting you, Guide-nim.”

At his words, I remembered that he had been a former researcher.
I started to think that his words might be true.

“You could be in danger too, so please keep your distance from him as much as possible.”

“…I understand.”

“You must never tell anyone about this.”

I nodded.
Nothing good would come from telling anyone about this, and I didn’t want to get involved with the Association anymore.

“I don’t want to see any more Awakened sacrificed because of him.”

“I understand what you’re saying. I have no intention of responding to his research, so don’t worry.”

At my words, his expression relaxed a little, but it was still filled with worry.

“I’m relieved to hear that. Ah! And a lot of fan letters and gifts have come for you this time. I’m only telling you now because they had to be inspected.”

“Fan letters and gifts?”

“The public’s interest in you has grown since the photo shoot this time.”

The personal information of an S-Class Awakened was confidential, but since my information had spread due to the US gate, it seemed that the information about me was not being managed particularly well.
It seemed the Association was trying to solidify its position by using my current fame.

Moreover, I could feel that people’s interest had grown even more since the photo shoot.
Not long ago, there was even an incident where someone who seemed like a stalker kept hovering around.

“I don’t think I should have done the photo shoot.”

“I’m already refusing any work that could expose your identity or involve a photo shoot. Please let me know anytime if there’s anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Thank you for always being so considerate.”

“It’s my job. Then I’ll go and get the things.”

After he left, I moved to the shower room again.
The S-Class exclusive shower room was practically my own.
I tagged my ID card on the door lock and went inside.

The door closed, and I heard the sound of the door lock engaging.
I took off my clothes in the changing room and moved to the shower room.

I couldn’t help but feel tired after receiving guiding training.
Still, a shower in hot water like this seemed to relieve some of the fatigue.

As I was washing myself, I heard the faint sound of the door lock unlocking along with the sound of the water.

At that sound, my body quickly froze.
Only guides with an S-Class ID card could enter this place, and I was the only S-Class at the Center right now.

I thought that Jinseok, Hyun Taewoon, or Sung Yohan might have come in, but the wavelength was different.

From the wavelength I could feel, it was definitely an Esper, but I couldn’t understand how he had gotten in here.
But from the way he had secretly entered a guide-exclusive space, his intentions were probably not good.

I pressed the emergency button on my Guiding Watch.
When I pressed the button, an emergency alert would go to Jinseok and the Association’s security team, who were connected to my watch.

I could see a human figure through the translucent glass door.
From the silhouette, it was a man, and he seemed bigger than me.

I didn’t know what type of Esper he was, so I had to act cautiously.
Fortunately, the man didn’t come into the shower room; he looked around the changing room and then left.

I felt his wavelength disappear, but since he could still be nearby, I couldn’t let my guard down.

I was on high alert towards the outside when he appeared in the shower room.
I was surprised by his sudden appearance, as if he had teleported.

“Shinui-ssi, I’m here.”

Terrified, I hurriedly covered my body with a towel.

“How did you get in here?”

“Because the emergency alarm went off. What’s with that look? Did you perhaps call me to seduce me?”

It seemed my Guiding Watch was still connected to his.

“No!”

“Then why did you call?”

His eyes were still scanning my body.
Since I wanted him to get out of here, I said hurriedly.

“An Esper trespassed into the changing room.”

At my words, he turned his gaze to the changing room and approached, opening the door.
Before long, I heard Jinseok’s voice from beyond the door.

“Guide-nim!”

At his voice, I hurriedly moved to the changing room and put on a bathrobe that was provided.
In the meantime, the door opened, and Jinseok and an Association security guard came in.

“Guide-nim, what’s wrong?”

“Someone trespassed into the changing room.”

When I looked around the changing room, my clothes and belongings were in disarray, as if to show that someone had been there.

“It seems someone did come in.”

He said, looking around.
Jinseok also looked around and then approached me.

“Did you see his face?”

“No.”

“I’ll go and check the CCTV.”

We checked the CCTV, but no one was filmed from the time I entered the shower room until Jinseok came.

“There’s no one.”

“But someone definitely came in.”

I had clearly felt the wavelength and seen the silhouette.
It might have been an Esper who could hide his body.

“Is there an Esper among the Association’s Espers who can hide his body?”

“There is. I’ll look into it.”

In the end, we couldn’t find the culprit that day and I returned home.
And the next day, Jinseok narrowed down the Espers who could become invisible, but they all had alibis.

In the end, just like the incident a few days ago, the case of the culprit who had entered the changing room was buried without being solved.

Someone was definitely stalking me, but the problem was that I didn’t know if it was one person or several.
Still, after the changing room incident last time, the underground security was strengthened, and no more strange things happened.

But I still couldn’t let my guard down, so I always looked around to see if there were any strange people.

And so I was spending my days, and today, I was resting in the B-Class guide training room after training.
Someone approached me.

“Hello, Guide Shinui.”

“Huh?”

The man was the C-Class Esper I had done a demonstration guiding with during my guiding lecture.

“You’re the one I guided during the lecture last time, right?”

“Yes. You remember.”

“I have a good memory. What can I do for you?”

“Could you possibly guide me?”

I gave a troubled smile at the man’s sudden appearance and request for guiding.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t guide you unless we’re a pair.”

“You did it last time. Can’t you do it this time too?”

“I remember doing it because you were chosen by lottery.”

I hoped the man would understand my words and leave, but he still stubbornly asked me to guide him.
In the end, I stood up to avoid the situation and said.

“If your guiding level is low, you should receive machine guiding.”

Except for during a gate, Espers of C-Class and below had to receive machine guiding.

“I want to receive it from you, Guide Shinui.”

From the looks of it, it didn’t seem like he would go away easily.
Jihwon, who was watching me and the man, came closer.

“What’s going on?”

“He suddenly asked me to guide him.”

“From the looks of it, you seem to be a C-Class. I think it would be better for you to go to the machine guiding room.”

“I said I want to receive it from Guide Shinui.”

“That’s an excessive request.”

As our argument continued, the other guides who were watching also came closer.
In the end, the man muttered a small curse and moved away.

Fortunately, that man’s wavelength was different from the one that had entered the changing room last time.
I was already stressed because of the stalker, and a headache started to set in again because of what had just happened.

After that, the C-Class Esper continued to approach me, and in the end, a restraining order was issued against him, just like the one Hyun Taewoon had received in the past.

I didn’t go to the B-Class training room for a while and just stayed in the basement.

My mind was certainly at ease since the contact with people had disappeared, but I still felt a sense of foreboding, as if I were in the eye of a storm.