Chapter 14: Equal Footing

Colonel Shan Pei’s patience was already known to be exceptional.

He was the only esper who hadn’t collapsed even after enduring Radiant Guiding for a full hour while standing on the brink of rampage.

His eyes still swayed inky-black, like a calm night sea.

Despite having received Radiant Guiding twice already, once at the Gate, and once in the colonel’s office.

The smaller an esper’s capacity, the more easily their eye color darkened.

By contrast, espers with greater capacity tended to remain composed.

Eye color reflected the total amount of energy within them.

When the eyes of a large-capacity esper darkened even slightly, those around them would make a fuss.

It meant they had expended an enormous amount of power.

Which also meant the risk of rampage had increased.

If that was the case, just how chaotic must the inside of this colonel, an S-class esper, perhaps even unmeasurable, really be?

“What are you doing?”

Surely he wasn’t still doubting guiding.

If he was, that would be genuinely dangerous.

“I need to finish guiding quickly and go rest in my room. If you keep refusing to cooperate like this-”

Juju tried to hurry him along with a warning, when suddenly his body lifted cleanly into the air.

“Huh?”

The moment he widened his eyes at the eerie sensation of floating, a hand slid behind his knees.

A scent rushed past him, something like fresh grass, or perhaps lavender.

‘Isn’t this a princess carry?’

Cradled in Colonel Shan’s arms, Juju looked up at him with a dazed expression.

He was too close to see anything but the sharp, sculpted line of the colonel’s jaw.

Without a word, the colonel began walking somewhere at an unhurried pace.

Something seemed to occur to Juju then, and the corners of his eyes curved faintly.

The arms that had been flailing moments ago stilled at once, and he obediently settled into the colonel’s embrace like a well-behaved child, burying his face against the man’s chest.

It was to hide the grin threatening to split on his face.

The colonel flinched slightly, but did not stop walking.

Their destination was Juju’s room.

There was a small bed in the infirmary as well, but using it for intimate contact guiding felt inappropriate.

The colonel’s decision was unquestionably praiseworthy.

Considering that Juju himself was already eyeing Shan Pei with undisguised interest, the fact that the colonel had neatly carried him to his room with guiding in mind was nothing short of adorable.

The next moment, Juju’s hips sank into a soft mattress.

At his feet, his slippers slipped off with dull thuds.

Anticipation of how the colonel might make a sexy advance left Juju’s mouth dry.

He struggled not to look overly eager, gazing up at the colonel with sparkling eyes.

The colonel did not disappoint him-

-and then took a step back.

‘…Huh?’

He stepped back?

“Rest.”

Juju stared at him in a daze.

“Then.”

‘Then what?’

Juju yelped.

“Colonel!”

Colonel Shan Pei coolly left Juju behind and turned sharply toward the door.

Juju blankly watched his retreating back before snapping to his senses.

He slid off the bed, flustered, nearly tripping.

The colonel kept walking, whether Juju called him or not, if anything, he looked like he was fleeing.

Desperate not to lose him, Juju shoved his feet into his slippers, failing to even get one on properly, and hurried after him.

“Colonel! Colonel Shan!”

“Oh. Right.”

Turning as if he had forgotten something, the colonel finally faced him, allowing Juju to draw close at last.

Juju barely managed to steady himself, stopping just short of falling.

The colonel’s solid arm was right in front of him.

“Juju, you are an outsider regardless. Given how much power you’ve used without any change in your eye color, I can conclude that what you said is close to the truth.”

Still dazed, Juju replied reflexively.

“I only ever tell the truth.”

“Yes. In any case, since you are not an esper, there is no need for you to belong to the Center or to this company. I forgot to tell you that.”

The colonel spoke in a blunt voice.

It was difficult to grasp exactly what he meant.

Was he drawing a clear line, saying Juju could not belong, and therefore was an outsider?

The colonel continued, his meaning still elusive.

“Therefore, you and we stand on equal footing. As long as you continue to assist us, we will protect and safeguard you.”

Equal footing…?

Juju silently looked at him.

The colonel’s eyes seemed to see straight through what Juju wanted.

Even though Juju had stepped forward solely to provide guiding, even though he had not spoken a single word of his true desires, those eyes appeared to grasp him completely.

Suddenly, Juju thought of an officer who had once been a human lie detector.

Was that officer’s ability truly limited to detecting lies?

If his power could only discern truth from falsehood, it seemed unlikely he would have risen so high in rank.

Why had that thought come to him only now?

Just how much did Colonel Shan Pei understand about what lay inside Juju?

A flicker of unease surfaced.

What had he been thinking, that day he was summoned to the colonel’s office?

“…Thank you?”

Feeling he should say something, Juju spoke, though he wasn’t certain whether this was the right moment for gratitude.

He frowned and closed his mouth.

The colonel nodded.

“You’re welcome.”

It was then that Juju saw it for the first time, something like a smile on the colonel’s face.

The corners of his eyes curved gently.

A hint of warmth lingered on his well-shaped lips.

His expression softened astonishingly.

So captivated was Juju by that face that he failed to stop Shan Pei as the man turned and disappeared.

“Ah. We were supposed to do guiding…”

Using his looks as a weapon.

Juju sighed and rubbed his forehead.

****

About a month passed after that.

Juju naturally settled into the role of exclusive guide for the company led by Colonel Shan Pei.

It didn’t take long for the soldiers to grow accustomed to guiding.

Juju, too, found it easier to think of them not as espers, but as his unit’s members.

With some of the friendlier ones, he even memorized their names.

Most greeted him warmly whenever he passed by.

Receiving crisp salutes, heels snapping together with a sharp click, was still embarrassingly unfamiliar.

“You don’t have to salute like that, Jason.”

“No, sir!”

Jason flushed bright red, openly displaying his fondness.

He was a private and the youngest in the unit, but as a rare telekinetic with exceptional potential, he was one of the soldiers the others trusted most.

That was why he’d been allowed to participate in Gate exploration despite his rank.

“Where are you headed? Shall I escort you?”

“It’s fine. I’m just going to eat.”

“I’m heading to the mess hall too!”

‘Don’t lie, Jason. You were walking in a completely opposite direction…’

After Colonel Shan Pei announced that Juju was an outsider but a cooperating partner of the unit, the soldiers’ friendliness increased noticeably.

Some, having heard who-knows-what, cautiously asked Juju’s age, and when they realized they were younger, they begged him to speak casually with them.

The officers and NCOs were certainly older than Juju, but the enlisted soldiers were younger than expected.

When he learned that the ill-mannered Ian was only twenty, Juju had stared wide-eyed and asked three times to be sure.

In any case, the soldiers’ flirting began to resemble the attitudes of espers Juju remembered well.

In a world with only one guide, there was a strange discomfort in the way eyes followed him everywhere, yet no one crossed a certain line.

It was as if they didn’t quite know how far they were allowed to go with a guide.

Once they realized that guides and espers could share bodies, their flirting would cross the line in an instant.

Juju decided to keep that secret as long as possible.

Fortunately, he was a capable guide.

He could provide sufficient guiding without intimate contact.

“Ah, Juju-nim.”

An ice-cold, ash-gray-haired esper recognized him.

It was Captain Russell.

Juju nodded in greeting.

Russell’s gaze shifted to Jason.

“Jason?”

“Private Jason!”

Click!

Jason snapped into a salute.

“Weren’t you in the mess hall earlier? Why are you back?”

“Ah, well…”

Russell glanced at Juju, then dismissed Jason.

Jason tried his best to linger, specifically, beside Juju, but eventually trudged out of the mess hall with slumped shoulders.

Captain Russell was sharp-tempered by nature, but after experiencing guiding three times, he too had changed his attitude toward Juju.

They ate quietly for a while.

“By the way, the colonel seems busy.”

“Yes?”

Russell echoed the seemingly casual question.

Pressing his fork into the yolk of his fried egg, Juju continued.

“He hasn’t come to receive guiding. Not once in the past month.”