Chapter 25: Senior

It was early morning, before the sun had even risen, when Yi Jun opened the Attack Team 3 waiting room door.

Unlike the haggard, dull complexions of the night shift staff he encountered on his way, his face was refreshed, like five P.M., with all the swelling gone.

He was in a good mood.

“If you don’t let me go, I’ll bite my tongue and die.”

Yi Jun’s bright head tilted at the unfamiliar sound that greeted him as soon as he entered the waiting room.

Yi Jun’s complexion was excellent, like a leisurely person who had rested well.

Even the night shift staff who saw him passing by felt a surge of vitality in their eyes.

“Then die.”

“Do you think I’m just saying that?!”

“No. Die. If you want to die, then die.”

“Ha….”

“Because I’ll just follow you.”

“Brother Tae Hwan.”

Yi Jun spoke, cutting through the sound of the TV filling the living room.

He approached Tae Hwan with intriguing eyes and a somewhat incredulous smile.

Tae Hwan, uncharacteristically sitting on the living room sofa and watching a drama, was a novel sight.

“Were you high?”

Tae Hwan, not reacting to the maknae’s nonsense, silently focused only on the TV screen.

It was the scene where the Esper’s ardent emotions, unable to let go of his guide, exploded. He was threatening that if the guide quit, he would rampage in front of people.

“Hyung, are you actually watching this?”

Yi Jun, who swung his legs over the back of the sofa, sat down, alternating his gaze between the TV and Tae Hwan.

It was the end seat, keeping a distance from Tae Hwan, who was sitting in the middle.

“Stay by my side. I can’t live without you now.”

Yi Jun, with a languid curve to his lips, watched Tae Hwan with interest, who couldn’t take his eyes off a mere drama.

He sat cross-legged on the sofa, with nothing to drink, stroking his chin.

He endlessly stroked his sharp jaw, like someone truly engrossed in a drama.

At a glance, he also seemed lost in thought.

“You like Yoon Bodam, don’t you?”

Tae Hwan, skipping a greeting, abruptly threw out a question.

The corners of Yi Jun’s lips, who was watching Tae Hwan, dropped ever so slightly.

Tae Hwan turned off the TV, his gaze shifting to Yi Jun.

Yi Jun met the S-class Esper’s dark eyes, which were impossible to read.

S-class Espers were unaffected by mind-type abilities.

Along with barrier Espers, they were extremely irritating presences to Yi Jun.

“How can I not like a 96% matching rate?”

Yi Jun replied, leaning back lazily against the sofa armrest.

The smile on his bright face was particularly striking.

Of course, it was a look that didn’t register in Tae Hwan’s eyes.

Tae Hwan, sharply glaring at Yi Jun, who reacted as if asking why he was asking the obvious, asked again.

His voice, as if he had stayed up all night, was heavy enough to sink to the floor.

“Not as a guide.”

As expected, Yi Jun found him annoying.

“Brother Bodam is a guide.”

“As a person, you b*stard.”

“Aren’t guides people?”

“Hey. Go clean your ears.”

Tae Hwan, who used psychokinesis to lift and lower Yi Jun’s long legs, said irritably.

There was an inexplicable shadow on his face as he clicked his tongue, saying he couldn’t converse with a brat.

‘What could it be?’ Yi Jun, who stared intently at Tae Hwan, trying to read his thoughts as was his habit, chuckled lightly.

Instead of trying to understand the thoughts of a monster that couldn’t be read, he decided to reveal his own. Lee Tae Hwan was easy to figure out anyway.

“Do we need to divide people and guides?”

“…….”

“He’s going to be my guide for life.”

Tae Hwan, who was just breathing with his mouth open, momentarily swallowed his words.

He made eye contact with Kang Yi Jun, who spoke nonsense with sincerity, then continued the conversation.

“Are guides the same as Espers? If they quit, it’s over.”

“Just make sure they don’t quit.”

“What if they die trying?”

The curve of Yi Jun’s lips deepened.

The bluish light slowly entering through the living room window added a gleam to his grey eyes.

“Even if he says he’ll bite his tongue and die, will you still stop him?”

“Hyung.”

Yi Jun, who was about to continue but then burst into laughter, shook his head. He wondered what he had been doing in front of the TV since dawn.

“How much drama have you watched? Stop watching that idiot box so much.”

Yi Jun chuckled playfully and got up from the sofa, looking for other entertainment.

Conversations with those whose thoughts he couldn’t read were boring. It was frustrating to have to gauge their intentions only from their outward appearance.

“Brother Bodam won’t die easily.”

Yi Jun, who had gotten up from the sofa, turned and looked down at Tae Hwan.

“You know he’s sticking with us to make a living. How much does he want to live if he’s doing that?”

Tae Hwan merely turned his head back to the TV without a word.

He didn’t like it.

“Lee Tae Hwan.”

“What, f*ck?”

“Hyung.”

“What.”

Tae Hwan’s wavelength, which had been calmed by the guiding machine, was extremely sensitive.

The fierce aura of an S-class Esper, a formidable presence, permeated the air.

Yi Jun cut through that stifling air and stood before Tae Hwan.

“Do you know that Brother Ji Oh recently broke the living room bathroom?”

“Was that breaking it? He completely trashed it. Crazy bastard, anyway.”

“Do you know why he broke it?”

Tae Hwan, who was rubbing his face with one hand and pressing on his bloodshot eyes, looked up. Kang Yi Jun’s fixed smile had faded.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me one thing.”

“Is that hyung’s craziness a one or two-day thing?”

“He’s never broken a guide’s belongings before.”

“…….”

“You know that bathroom is only for Brother Bodam, right? He sometimes showers there too.”

Tae Hwan, whose eyebrows twitched at a specific phrase, glared at Yi Jun with a fierce expression.

Yi Jun, whose eyes curved as if satisfied with the reaction, asked.

“Then I’ll ask you one thing too. Why are you suddenly asking?”

He made an ambiguous smile, as if half-laughing, half-not, and clarified his question.

“You said you didn’t care if I liked a guide or not.”

Tae Hwan, who lowered his head again, replied, making it clear he was annoyed.

“I don’t care.”

He turned on the TV and gestured with his chin for Yi Jun to move.

Yi Jun, whose eyelids were slightly lowered, shrugged and then moved aside.

“Ah. Is Brother Bodam still sick?”

Finally, to Yi Jun, who asked about Bodam, who was unreachable and not answering calls, Tae Hwan,

“…….”

Only shrugged his shoulders in return.

***

“A guide can at any time give notice of termination of the employment contract.”

Bodam, who had found and re-read the employment contract buried deep in his home drawer, left his house in a good mood.

Unable to sleep, he had stayed up all night, soothing his swollen eyes with a cold beer can.

He also re-watched ‘The Esper’s Obsession,’ which was popular.

The more he watched, the more it spoiled his appetite.

Yet, the irony was that he kept clicking to the next episode.

Bodam, who usually commuted to the Center main building by bicycle, splurged on a taxi.

Since it was a very special day, he didn’t want to waste even a little energy.

His Esper-only watch, which he had set to reject call approvals since yesterday, remained silent.

Just thinking about Attack Team 3, who must be calling him with unapproved calls, made his chest tingle.

He wanted to gather every bit of spite he could and give it to them.

“Driver. Can I open the window?”

“Do as you please~ sir~”

He rolled down the window with the driver’s permission, who was humming a song and wiggling his hand on the steering wheel.

The weather was good.

Bodam, who had come out at the same time as the office workers’ commute, lightly swayed his head to the driver’s unknown song.

He felt good.

“The weather is really nice.”

He politely declined the driver’s comment that it looked like it might rain and closed his eyes, intoxicated by his uplifted mood.

Even the sky, filled with dark clouds, felt like perfect blooming weather to Bodam now.

‘It’s the perfect weather to quit my job.’

‘Bodam. Cigarette time.’

When Bodam was a fresh-faced rookie and trainee, just twenty years old and newly joined, there was a senior who was obsessed with canned coffee and cigarettes.

Senior Gu, whose family name was Gu and whose first name didn’t matter, would always single out Bodam during breaks and drag him out.

Bodam, who didn’t even smoke, tried to hide from Senior Gu, but he would miraculously appear and offer life advice.

‘I can read people’s faces a bit, you see.’

‘Wow. Yes.’

‘You’re the type who’s easily swayed.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘I told you to just say yes to what your senior says. Yes.’

‘No, yes.’

‘Listen carefully.

Even if a trashy Esper buys you a house, buys you a car, and does all sorts of crazy things for you, you must never give in.
Espers are beasts, beasts.’

‘Yes.’

‘If you feel like you’ve been assigned to the wrong team, run away immediately.

Who lives for money these days, f*ck, it’s all about work-life balance.

Even if your salary is cut and your evaluation drops when you switch teams, health is important.

Health.’

‘…Yes.’

The senior, who claimed he had started working out recently and smoked a pack of cigarettes, which were fatally harmful to health, continued to give advice.

‘Unless you have some family trouble at home, just live moderately.

No need to cling on.

Understood?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m telling you repeatedly, but remember.’

‘Yes.’

‘Listen and remember, Bodam.

Guiding is a profession optimized for bolting more than any other.’

‘Pfft.

Bolting—ahem.

Yes.

I’ll keep that in mind.’

Senior Gu, who carried the intoxicating combination of coffee and cigarette smells, truly resigned, shouting about work-life balance.

That was already several years ago.

He didn’t know how Senior Gu, who had naturally lost contact, was living, but it was certain that he had left quite significant advice in Bodam’s life.

He was truly a righteous old-timer.

‘What if you get stuck with a fcking Esper?

You want to run away right now, but the fcker won’t let you go because he’s fallen for your guiding.

Then what should you do?’

‘Yes. I must run away.’

‘Sigh.

Yes. Here’s what you do.

Bolting tip number one: go straight to HR, not the team leader Esper.’

Bodam, who had listened to his senior’s words throughout lunchtime with one ear and let them out the other, had only nodded with unfocused eyes.

Senior Gu then made a loud noise to gather his junior’s attention.

‘Before that!

There’s somewhere you need to go first.

Where would that be?’

“Yes. How may I help you?”

Bodam, who had opened the door to the Special Barrier Team Department and entered, tidied his wind-blown bangs and bowed.

A solemn atmosphere flowed inside, with only a wall separating it from the outside. Bodam’s bright voice, breaking their silence, echoed through the room.

“I’m here to request personal protection.”