Chapter 10: Concern for a Species

“A Guide’s job is something called Guiding. The more an Esper uses their abilities, the more overload builds up in their body, and their energy flow becomes tangled and unstable. When that accumulation goes too far, they go berserk. What a Guide does is restore the residual internal energy flow to its original state and purify the Esper’s mind, which becomes contaminated through ability use.”

There were certainly problems caused by the obsessive relationships between Espers and Guides, and conflicts born from that dynamic.
But one thing was absolutely certain.

Espers needed Guides.

“We call that process Guiding. In short, you can think of it as preventing an Esper’s berserk state and optimizing their overall condition.”

‘Because Espers are useful, after all.’

Lee Juju habitually tried to tack on a joke, but stopped himself halfway through.

The expressions on the Espers listening to his explanation were far too serious for him to swallow the rest of his words.

“How is something like that even possible? Do you pay for it with your lifespan or something?”

When the colonel asked in a stiff tone after a long pause, Juju found himself thinking that this cold-faced Esper wasn’t actually as ill-mannered as he’d assumed.

‘See, I really am good at judging people.’

Espers did tend to be protective toward Guides, but judging by how he asked, this wasn’t concern for Juju alone, it was concern for the very existence of Guides as a species.

Maybe it was because Juju had only ever seen Espers who clung to Guides bent double in pain from excessive intimate contact, desperately sucking out every last drop of Guiding like parasites.

Compared to that, this colonel felt oddly admirable.

Juju let out a crooked grin.

“As far as I know, nothing like that exists. It’s not much different from breathing.”

“…”

The lie detector remained silent.

More importantly, Juju, standing close to him, saw it clearly.

A fleeting trace of relief passed over the colonel’s face.

Confirming that made Juju’s heart soften even more, and he reached out to pat the colonel on the shoulder.

****

“What? You’re telling me to leave?”

“Captain Russell.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Wait! I’m not done talking yet!”

As Juju flailed in confusion, Captain Russell skillfully dragged him out through the door.

It looked almost like escorting out a criminal.

“I have a proposal!”

“We’ll hear it later.”

“When is later?”

“Russell, we don’t have time.”

“Yes, sir.”

Russell scanned the hallway.

Word that Juju had woken up seemed to have spread, because quite a few soldiers were loitering nearby.

Russell pointed to one of them.

“Private Jason!”

“Yes, sir!”

Despite there having been no one there a moment ago, Private Jason appeared as if he’d teleported in.

Juju turned to him in surprise.

He was the same private whose transport bed had been used the night before.

When Juju recognized him, the brown-haired, innocent-faced, boyish Esper scratched the back of his head.

“Escort the survivor to his room.”

“Yes, sir!”

The door slammed shut with a bang.

“Ha….”

‘He really kicked me out.’

Juju stared at the closed door, utterly unable to believe it.

Watching him anxiously, Private Jason cautiously stepped in front of Juju.

“Shall I take you to your room?”

“…”

When Juju finally tore his gaze away from the door and looked up at him, the young private didn’t know what to do.

In truth, Jason had meant to say, “I’ll escort you to your room!”

But the moment he met the Gate survivor’s eyes, he panicked and ended up stammering like an idiot.

Juju didn’t care whether he stammered or panicked.

‘I was planning to negotiate by offering to become the unit’s dedicated Guide.’

Until he found a way back to his original timeline, he needed a place to stay.

Since this was an Esper-centered unit, he’d been confident it would work.

But this was unexpected.

He’d assumed the colonel would be flustered by every word he said, yet the man turned out to be remarkably steadfast.

Juju let out a deep sigh.

The sound startled Jason so badly that he didn’t even realize his own face had fallen into a miserable pout.

“Just call me Juju. And you’re Jason, right? Can I call you Jason?”

“Ah, y-yes, sir!”

With a sharp click, Jason snapped his heels together.

Responding with a salute the instant his name was called, he really was a well-drilled private.

Snickers echoed from somewhere in the distance, but Jason didn’t relax his posture.

That was because Juju was looking at him with genuine admiration.

“I figured it out yesterday, but this really is a military base, huh. How old are you? I’m twenty-four.”

“Ten-twenty!”

“Ten-twenty?”

Jason’s face turned bright red.

“I’m twenty!”

‘You’re obviously a teenager. Who do you think you’re fooling?’

Juju chuckled softly and nodded, pretending not to notice.

Jason secretly shot a glare over Juju’s shoulder.

There stood his comrades, the ones who had shared life and death situations with him.

Like Jason, they had been loitering near the colonel’s office just to catch a glimpse of Juju’s hair.

Since Jason had been chosen, the rest were reduced to dogs chasing chickens, forced to hover nearby.

Naturally, far enough away that Juju wouldn’t notice.

“I wouldn’t mind going to my room, but I’m hungry. Do I need to buy food?”

“No, sir. Meals are provided by the Center. I’ll guide you to the cafeteria!”

‘The Center?’

A military base was usually affiliated with a national government.

But no one called a government “the Center.”

Juju had no idea how Espers in this era actually lived.

He narrowed his eyes but didn’t press the issue, silently following behind Jason.

The cafeteria was in a completely different building.

There were at least three buildings total.

They weren’t as large or spacious as the original facilities, but they were tall enough.

There was also a dedicated Esper training ground, and an open field equipped for basic physical conditioning.

It looked perfect for walks.

As Juju looked around and murmured that it was nice, Jason somehow heard him, and a smile spread across his face.

Showing the main base to an outsider should have made him wary, but strangely, he didn’t mind at all.

Instead, he kindly explained the purpose of each facility Juju showed interest in, even waiting patiently with a pleased expression while Juju looked around.

The same went for the other soldiers trailing after them.

They were simply glad that Juju seemed to like the place.

“So this is the cafeteria?”

“Yes.”

Jason took the lead, and Juju followed him inside.

The cafeteria was furnished with clean white tables and stiff wooden chairs.

Juju had imagined lining up for rations, but instead it was self-service — grab a plate and take whatever you wanted.

He put two slices of white bread and an apple on his plate and looked around, at which point Jason led him to the table he usually sat at.

“Excuse me.”

The moment Juju and Jason sat down, soldiers began popping up from everywhere, plates in hand, sitting around them.

In the time it took Juju to blink a few times, the table was completely full.

Some Espers even showed up holding nothing but empty plates.

“What are you doing? Go sit over there!”

“Hey, what’s your problem? We can sit together. It’s not like there’s no space.”

At the screech of a chair being dragged, everyone turned to look.

An Esper who had forcibly brought over a chair from another table grinned sheepishly and pretended not to notice, whistling innocently.

Jason glared furiously at his comrades.

Then he shot a worried glance at Juju, who, for his part, was calmly chewing on his bread.

‘Espers being extra, what else is new?’

“J-Juju-nim, this is, um…”

Jason tried to hurriedly make excuses.

Juju munched on his bread and mumbled nonchalantly.

“It’s fine. I like it when there are lots of people. It’s not boring.”

“Such a generous soul.”

One of the nearby soldiers instinctively flattered him, tail practically wagging.

That was when—

“Hey. Are you the guy who’s supposedly a Guide or whatever?”

“Ah, Sir Michael! What are you doing?!”

Complaints erupted from all sides.

With a sharp scraping sound, the Espers who had crowded close around Juju were ruthlessly shoved aside.

Judging by his pitch-black eyes, this man was an Esper too.

Juju looked up at him while chewing his bread.

“Because of you, these idiots have completely lost their minds. Just what is this Guiding thing that’s got them acting like this? I haven’t been able to think straight since last night.”

“That’s why we told you to come earlier yester-”

“Shut it, you little punk!”

Michael barked as he swept back his curly brown hair.

The other Espers immediately shrank back, like a turtle, wearing cowed expressions.

After thoroughly chewing and swallowing the last bite of bread, Juju stuffed the remaining slice into his mouth.