Chapter 21: The S-Class Guide

As I walked, the tears dried up and the headache subsided.
By the time I reached the Center, it was well past midnight.

I had my own training room in the research building where the secret project was conducted, so I planned to sleep there.

The research building was next to the Center, and light was leaking from the windows, indicating that some researchers were still there.

I tagged my ID card at the entrance and took the elevator down to the basement.

I came down to the third basement level and was heading to my training room at the end of the hallway.
I heard voices murmuring from the direction where the light was leaking.
Come to think of it, it was too late, so I might need permission to use the training room.
As I approached, I saw researchers talking in the break room.

“L-034’s condition is not good. Shouldn’t we raise his grade soon?”

“Dr. Yoon wants him to go straight to S-Class.”

“It’s been half a year since he became an A-Class, I feel so bad for him.”

I was about to go in and greet them, but I stopped in my tracks at the unusual conversation.

‘What does this mean?’

From what the researchers were saying, it seemed they were concealing a promotion.

“He’s even showing early symptoms of a cerebral hemorrhage this time, so we might have to stop the multi-project as it is.”

“That’s for Dr. Yoon to decide. If you interfere too much, you’ll end up like Jinseok.”

“I understand…”

I felt like I shouldn’t be hearing this, so I was about to hurry away, but then Taewoon’s name came up.

“Ah, and I heard that Esper Hyun Taewoon and the new S-Class Guide can’t guide at all.”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as the wavelengths match, guiding is possible. And I think Dr. Yoon has something else in mind.”

Perhaps because of what had just happened with him, it was hard to listen.
I slowly turned around and headed back to the elevator.
But the elevator door opened, and the researcher in charge of my training got out.

“Oh? Guide Shinui, have you been training until now?”

“…I came to get something I left behind.”

I was startled by the sudden appearance of the researcher, like a thief caught in the act, but I lied calmly.
I felt like I had to.

“I see. You heard about the S-Class Guide awakening, right?”

“Yes.”

The awakening of the S-Class Guide was currently the biggest issue at the Center.

“You’ll be promoted to S-Class soon too, Guide Shinui. Keep it up.”

“Thank you.”

I gave a formal greeting and took the elevator up.
The researcher was trying to comfort me, but I didn’t feel comforted at all.
Instead, my heart felt heavy and suffocated.

At some point, the word ‘promotion’ had become a heavy and avoidable existence for me.
And from the researchers’ conversation earlier, I had an uneasy and unpleasant feeling that Dr. Yoon would somehow connect him and the S-Class Guide.

I didn’t know what it was about grades that made people so miserable.
I pressed my temples as a headache started to creep back in.

I could feel the intensity of the headache growing as time passed.
I barely held onto my consciousness and moved to the training wing building.

It seemed I would have to sleep on the sofa in the guide break room today.
I took a provided blanket, covered myself, and forced my eyes shut.
When I closed my eyes, he reflexively came to mind.

What was he doing now?
He must be very angry because of my actions earlier.

Kissing him…
I had done something so foolish, blinded by jealousy.

I hoped he wouldn’t hate me for my actions today.
I hoped he would take my actions lightly and forget about them, as usual.

Thinking of him made me so sad that I tried to erase my thoughts one by one and go to sleep.
It was a more depressing night than the day I had been judged as a C-Class Guide.

Fortunately, Taewoon didn’t mention the events of that day again, and seeing that, I also acted as usual.
But I could feel that his behavior had become colder.
He would come home late at night or leave before I woke up.
And he spent more time outside than at home.

He didn’t usually spend much time at home, but we used to at least have breakfast together, so it was frustrating that we couldn’t even do that anymore.
It could be because of the kiss that day, but I might have also done something to get on his nerves without realizing it since then.
I decided to talk to him tonight and clear up any misunderstandings.

My head was already dizzy just from the morning training.
Even though I had stopped the guiding training, the headaches didn’t disappear and continued to torment me.

I had other training scheduled, but I ended up canceling everything and was resting in the team’s exclusive room.
There was a knock on the door, and Jihwon peeked his head in.

It was the first time he had come to the team’s exclusive room.
Strangely, I felt a sense of foreboding.

“Jihwon, what are you doing here?”

“Hyung, why didn’t you answer your phone?”

I had set my phone to silent and put it in my pocket.
My head was already noisy, so I was trying to stay away from news about the S-Class Guide as much as possible.

“Sorry, is it urgent?”

“Can I come in for a moment?”

Only Minseong-sunbae and I were in the team’s exclusive room.
I asked for his understanding and told Jihwon he could come in.
He quickly came inside, looked around, and then approached me.

“Hyung, did you hear the news about Esper Hyun Taewoon?”

“…What news?”

“So you really didn’t know. Esper Hyun Taewoon might take a vow with the new S-Class Guide.”

“What?”

I was so surprised by his words that my mouth hung open.
A vow.
It was a word I had never even imagined.

“I heard that Esper Hyun Taewoon asked the Association about the imprinting vow yesterday.”

“…It must be a rumor.”

“No. The rumor has already spread throughout the Association. I came because I was worried you might be depressed…. You really didn’t know?”

I remembered how the Guides and Espers who were training with me today had looked at me with pity.

It had been a fortnight since the S-Class Guide had arrived.
And I hadn’t had a proper conversation with him in a fortnight.

“Yeah. Thanks for telling me.”

“I think it’s best to be prepared.”

My head tilted at his words.
Minseong-sunbae, who had been listening to our conversation, chimed in.

“Shinui-ssi, if things continue like this, your exclusive contract with Esper Hyun Taewoon will be broken. How about you get to know other Espers?”

“Me?”

I had never thought about getting to know other Espers.
For me, he was the only Esper.

“You’re popular at the Center, Shinui-ssi. It’s just that everyone was hesitant to approach you because of Esper Hyun Taewoon.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yes. There’s an Awakened gathering today, want to go?”

I had never been to an Awakened gathering before.
My introverted personality made it difficult for me to socialize with people, and I had spent all my time training at the Center for the promotion test.

“Yeah, hyung. They were asking me to invite you to the guide meeting this time anyway.”

I had been invited to drinking parties and gatherings from time to time, but I had refused most of them.
To be honest, I didn’t feel like it now either, but the thought of him and the S-Class Guide together made my anger boil over, and I accepted in a fit of pique.

I wasn’t doing project training these days, so I was free after work.

And so, I decided to go to the evening gathering and headed to the meeting place Minseong-sunbae had told me about without even stopping by home.
The place was a lounge bar near the Center.

I arrived 10 minutes early, but people were already gathered.
There were 3 Guides and 6 Espers.
The grades were a mix of A and B.

I sat next to Minseong-sunbae and was introduced to everyone.
People showed interest in me, as it was my first time attending this gathering.
And they heard the news about his vow and comforted me, asking if I was okay.

They must have been worried because they all knew how I was treated by him.
But all this attention was just burdensome to me, and I even regretted coming.

“Shinui-ssi, you’ve never guided anyone other than Esper Hyun Taewoon, right?”

“No.”

“That’s a shame. If you weren’t an exclusive, other Espers would have treated you better.”

In fact, being an exclusive was rare.
The matching rate had to be over 50%, and only A-Class and above could be exclusive.
I, with my high matching rate with an S-Class Esper, was an exceptional case.

“It would be good to do a matching test with other Espers this time.”

Even at the words of the Esper across from me, I just smiled and thought about wanting to go home.

“Your exclusive contract will be broken soon anyway.”

But when I heard the following words, my mouth hardened into a straight line.
As he said, if Taewoon took a vow with the S-Class Guide, the exclusive contract would be broken immediately.

“Do a matching test with me tomorrow.”

“Since it’s not confirmed that the exclusive contract will be broken yet, a matching test will be difficult.”

“Then you’ll do it with me first when it’s confirmed.”

Everyone wanted to do a matching test with me.
It seemed they were very interested in me, who had been an S-Class Esper’s exclusive.
The guiding would be similar anyway…

Not just the Espers, but also the Guides’ attention was all focused on me.
Everyone asked me questions without a break.
It even got to the point where they asked personal questions like if I had a lover, which was awkward.

In the end, I made an excuse of being tired to the people who were going for a second round and came home.

When I got home, as expected, no one was there.
I wanted to send him a message asking where he was, but I knew he would ignore it, so I put my phone on the table.

I was worried that he might take a vow with the S-Class Guide and break his exclusive contract with me, just as people said.

To be honest, I had been arrogant.
I thought I was the only guide who matched with him.
I thought the S-Class Guide he talked about would never appear.
But I was wrong.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, so I attached a sleep chip to my body.
Fortunately, as soon as I attached the chip, my body relaxed, and I fell into a deep sleep.
I wanted to sleep peacefully, free from the worries that had been tormenting me.