Chapter 12: Stalker in the Library

The same pattern repeated in the next class.

The professor recognized Haejin, who shouldn’t be there. Haejin put on his best innocent act. The professor’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“No wonder you’re S-class. A true esper like Cha Haejin absolutely must take classes like ‘Guiding Efficiency and Contingencies.’ Excellent.”

Lee Chae’s insides were about to explode from frustration and suffocation, but he forced himself to focus.

This subject was also mandatory for the civil-service exam—pure management practice.

Halfway through, the professor—who had only heard rumors about Haejin—threw him a question.

Once again, a perfect, professor-impressing answer that turned Lee Chae’s stomach inside out.

Fine. He had to admit it: the guy was a physical and intellectual monster.

But to Lee Chae, Cha Haejin was still just “an insanely unlucky munchkin.”

His brilliance didn’t impress him one bit.

Class ended.

Haejin got cornered by the professor again.

Lee Chae speed-walked away, thinking fast.

Normal routine: library → review today’s material → hold out until part-time job.

Today he ditched the library and ducked into an empty lecture hall instead.

No way that lunatic would follow him all the way there… right?

The moment he stepped into the silent classroom, peace returned.

His racing heart slowed. His blood pressure dropped back to normal.

Two hours until work.

He had to review everything he missed because of Haejin, but time was short.

He opened the textbook, steeled himself.

He managed three lines.

Guiding efficiency can vary depending on biorhythms, and ability is governed by rank… Cha Haejin you piece of shit, psycho, rag-mouth…

He shook his head violently to clear it.

Still couldn’t read three more lines.

This had never happened before.

Stress piled up fast.

Even when the guy wasn’t physically beside him, just his past actions were enough to raise Lee Chae’s blood pressure.

His head felt like it was going to explode.

Haejin had never been the type to politely answer professors’ questions.

Today he’d worn the mask of a model student only because Lee Chae had been glaring at him with those red eyes.

The second Lee Chae bolted, Haejin threw out, “Urgent battle, gotta run,” and chased after him.

There was no battle.

He just knew exactly where someone who lived by the minute would be right now.

Run all you want, Jung Lee Chae. You’re still in the palm of my hand.

He strode arrogantly to the library reading room—Lee Chae’s designated seat—and found it empty.

His face crumpled.

Look at this little sht playing hard to get.*

Cute, sexy prey was poking the hunter’s instincts again.

His chest swelled; saliva pooled.

Just this was proof: Jung Lee Chae was a guide sent from heaven to spice up a boring esper’s life.

Holy fck, I’m so turned on.*

Heart pounding, heat rushing south—he left the reading room buzzing with excitement.

Getting stood up should’ve pissed him off, but he was in too good a mood.

To cool the overexcitation, he stepped into the smoking area in front of the library.

He pulled out a cigarette and was about to light it when a familiar voice rang out.

“Whoa, Cha Psycho in front of the library…?”

Jinwoo looked like he’d seen a ghost.

What’s so weird about being at the library?

Haejin grinned and waved.

“Hey, Dog-Jinwoo! Isn’t the weather insanely refreshing today?”

He looked up at the sky, smiling like an idiot.

It was cloudy, sure, but weather depends on your mood—cloudy days look clear when you’re happy.

Jinwoo twirled a finger beside his temple.

“You’ve finally lost it. It’s gloomy as hell—like a cyclops is about to pop out. Are your eyes broken?”

“Did a cyclops steal your lips or something? I greet you nicely and you bite. No wonder you don’t have an exclusive guide—you’re way too sensitive.”

Jinwoo was only A-class, but he’d led multiple major victories, so he was one of the few people who could trash-talk S-class Haejin to his face.

Jinwoo’s face turned red.

“You lunatic. Not every word is worth the same. You only ever speak garbage, so you get garbage back. Cha Haejin at the library is already insane—what, the weather’s refreshing? Even passing dogs would laugh.”

Normally by now Jinwoo would be eating a fist for running his mouth, but Haejin just kept smiling.

Jinwoo started to panic.

Did this guy eat something weird?

Some high-rank espers suffered side effects like delusions or lowered intelligence.

Was Haejin finally breaking?

Jinwoo walked up, studied Haejin’s grinning face, and asked seriously:

“Are you really Cha Haejin? Or did a humanoid possess you? Snap out of it. You look like you’re high as f*ck.”

“Aww, our Jinwoo’s all grown up, worrying about big brother?”

“……”

Seeing Haejin laugh at everything, Jinwoo became convinced the guy was suffering a severe side effect.

Guess the world ends tomorrow.

Lee Chae couldn’t finish reviewing even in the quiet classroom.

He’d missed too much today; he had to catch up, but the letters swam.

More precisely—he was reading them, but nothing was sticking.

This is bad…

The root cause: Cha Haejin, no need to think twice.

Showing up out of nowhere, following him class to class, then declaring in front of the professor that their matching rate came from “the look in his eyes.”

The guy had no concept of common sense.

Normally nonsense went in one ear and out the other, but everything Haejin said stuck in his head and echoed.

“Guide-nim, what do I do when my body gets hot?” “I’m not the type to use and dump.” “What do you sleep in?” “How should I propose?” “Where should we live after the wedding?”

Lee Chae hadn’t answered a single one, yet the lunatic never stopped.

He’d thought they were just dog barks at the time, forgotten.

But now every word came back, bringing delayed embarrassment.

That was straight-up sexual harassment.

Weird.

He’d been sexually harassed countless times as a low-rank guide—why was he only sensitive to this psycho’s garbage?

Was it because when he’d teasingly offered himself once, Haejin had actually refused?

His head, which should be full of knowledge, was stuffed with trash that needed to be taken out.

Solution: remove the source.

But telling Cha Haejin to f*ck off clearly wasn’t going to work.

Maybe he’d listen if asked nicely?

“Esper Cha Haejin-nim, I’d prefer if you didn’t appear in front of me.” “Why?” “Because it makes me uncomfortable.” “Of course! We’re not even married yet—being too comfortable too soon would be bad!”

He could already hear the reply perfectly, as if possessed.

Just imagining it was horrific. Plan deleted.

Then what?

That was the problem.

He knew what wouldn’t work on a lunatic, but had no idea what would.

Ignoring didn’t work. Negotiation didn’t work.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

Frustration choked him.

Stress made him physically exhausted; he lost his appetite.

Normally he’d be buying a sandwich on the way to his part-time job right now, but he didn’t feel like eating.

He arrived at the cleanup crew thirty minutes early.

Yeojun, already there, greeted him warmly.

The bright, gentle smile eased the tightness in his chest a little.

“When did you even get here? They don’t pay extra for extra work—take it easy.”

“I was going to, but they said a strong unidentified monster suddenly appeared during cleanup. Definitely not shadows—stronger, and it was saying weird things to the scout espers…”

“Oh, I know. The one that showed up at our school recently? Still unnamed.”

“Yeah… scary stuff. A lot of low-rank espers got hurt for no reason. I didn’t want them to suffer more if I came late, so I came early.”

Yeojun always thought about world peace and people’s safety first.

Seeing him made Lee Chae’s face burn with shame—he felt so selfish only ever thinking about himself and his family.

Yeojun sighed heavily.

“At this rate, I don’t know how much longer humanity can hold out…”

How could someone be like that?

Even S-classes didn’t think on that level.

Yeojun naturally commanded respect.

And for some reason, looking at him made Lee Chae think of a certain childish S-class esper.