Chapter 26: Anger

Han Seung Ho, stepping into the office provided only to team leaders, adjusted his slightly disheveled attire.

He checked his watch, which was precisely on 9:00 A.M., while touching his perfectly straightened tie.

Then he also pulled out his phone, which he had unconsciously been checking since yesterday.
As expected, it was quiet.

He entered the bathroom with an unchanging poker face, faced himself in the mirror, then shifted his gaze to the sink.

He chose one of the neatly arranged oral rinses.

He gargled three times until his sore palate stung, then brushed his teeth for five minutes.

The silence of the room, resembling his calm expression, was filled only with the sound of water.

He wiped off the water with a towel, checked the mirror one last time, then headed to his desk.

In the meantime, the wavelength alert chiming on his wrist watch made his hand, which was reaching for a stack of documents, search for a stabilizer.

He was in need of guiding.

Buzz.

Seung Ho swallowed the pill and moved his hand before the first vibration from his phone on the desk even stopped.

His immediate reaction, unbefitting his utterly indifferent face, slowed down the moment he saw the caller.
It wasn’t the person he was waiting for.

“What.”

– Team Leader Han. How are you?

“Hang up if you have no business.”

– Your voice sounds bad. Must not have received guiding.

Seung Ho, who was sitting at his desk, flipping through documents, about to hang up, perked his ears at the three names that followed.

The edge of the document gripped between his fingers dropped.

– Guide Yoon Bodam filed a personal protection request. Do you know I quit the team and went freelance? I immediately volunteered to be in charge.

“…Tell me in detail.”

Personal protection.

His straight posture, which had been perfectly poised, relaxed and leaned back against the chair at the unexpected words.

Only his calmly deadpan expression remained the same.

Bang!

The call was briefly cut off by Ji Oh, who opened the door with a loud bang and entered.

Min Ji Oh, who had been cursing all the way to the office, yelled so loudly that the voice from the other end of the phone was inaudible.

“Isn’t Yoon Bodam kidnapped?!”

Seung Ho, who had been tormented by Lee Tae Hwan about the same topic all along, only signaled him to shut up by placing his index finger over his lips.

Min Ji Oh was not one to be subdued by that.

“He’s ignoring all calls and messages, what is that f*cker doing?! Didn’t he contact you either?! As team leader, you should be managing your team members properly!!”

Seung Ho cast a barrier over Ji Oh, who was furiously barking, blocking out even the noise.

– You have a good relationship with your team members.

Seung Ho, unaffected by the mocking sneer, refocused on the caller.

He turned his back on Ji Oh, who was silently cursing like a carp, mouth agape, bound by the confinement barrier.

“He requested personal protection.”

– You guys are the targets of the restraining order, so I can’t tell you much. I called to try and resolve this as amicably as possible.

Team Leader Kim, saved as ‘Barrier3_Team Leader,’ was a colleague who had completed training with Seung Ho in the past.

– Manage your team members well. Don’t needlessly provoke the gentle Barrier Team. You know, except for that one monster of yours, our class difference isn’t that big, right?

“Is he with you now?”

– Let’s not obsess over guides unsuitably. There’s nothing more pathetic than an Esper clinging to a guide who has turned their back.

“Is he with you?”

– Good luck. I’m hanging up.

Seung Ho, who held the disconnected phone for a moment before putting it down, turned around again.

His swivel chair, which had been facing the window, rotated in a semicircle and returned to face the desk where Ji Oh was standing.

Ji Oh’s face, flushed beneath his light brown hair, was turning red and blue.

As Seung Ho lightly wiggled his fingertips and released the barrier, a piercing shout immediately erupted.

“Was that about Yoon Bodam?! Personal protection?!”

“Lower your voice.”

“F*ck, tell me straight!!”

Seung Ho, who took out another wavelength stabilizer from a small pillbox and swallowed it, calmly organized his thoughts and continued speaking.

“For the time being, manage your abilities on your own and control your wavelength levels with medication and machines. I’ll find someone within this week.”

“Yoon Bodam?”

Ji Oh asked.

His red face, looking down at Seung Ho who was sitting, showed confusion.

Seung Ho’s head tilted slightly, observing his reaction.

“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“…….”

“I thought you’d be happy and curse.”

“Is he quitting?”

Seung Ho, lowering his gaze from Ji Oh, checked his wavelength level on his watch. The wavelength, which should have gone down after taking the medicine, was instead rising.

“Did Yoon Bodam say he’s quitting?!”

“Does that matter?”

Seung Ho, who stood up, loosely untied his necktie. He didn’t understand why Ji Oh was raising his voice so much.

“You said you weren’t satisfied with the matching rate and wanted a change. Your wish came true.”

Ji Oh’s pupils, which had followed Seung Ho’s eye level as he rose from the chair, trembled.

Seung Ho, putting his phone into his inner jacket pocket, approached the speechless team member with his characteristic even stride.

“If you’re going to get angry, clarify your own emotions first. Screaming won’t solve anything.”

Seung Ho, who narrowed his eyes thinly as if to say, ‘Act your age,’ only faced Ji Oh, who was exhaling unresolved anger with rough breaths.

Ji Oh’s eyes, which clearly showed his unorganized and confused emotions, couldn’t hold steady. He himself seemed not to know why he was angry.

“If you have nothing more to say, leave.”

Seung Ho, who decided to go to the field early to prepare for the new recruit training scheduled for the afternoon, headed towards the door first.

Moving his body helped to calm his wavelength more than just sitting and reading documents.

“Will that f*cker Kang Yi Jun just stay put?”

Ji Oh asked, stopping Seung Ho, who had his back turned, with his words.

His uncontained anger flowed out as a sensitive wavelength.

“If he doesn’t stay put.”

Seung Ho, buttoning his uniquely squared uniform jacket to stand before the new recruits, turned around.

His monotonous voice was infinitely cold.

“What can he do?”

“He’s been rumored a lot since before joining the Center. You know too—”

“Do you think we were holding the guide captive?”

“…….”

“You still seem to be mistaken. Espers can only rampage within the guide’s tolerance. If the guide can’t endure, they leave. Espers have no right to stop them.”

He opened his mouth again, looking down at Ji Oh, who was clenching his fists hard enough for veins to pop out.

He checked the clock on the wall once and was about to continue speaking when Min Ji Oh, using teleportation, disappeared without a trace.

It happened often.

Seung Ho, left alone in the empty room, quietly stood for a moment, his mouth closed.

He set his gaze on the unusually slow-moving clock and repeated the advice, meant for no one, to himself.
As if to himself.

‘If you’re not going to control your temper, don’t even think about getting a guide.’

***

“Yoon Bodam!”

Min Ji Oh was furious.

As he grew up more elegantly, his mouth grew rougher, and he incessantly spewed all sorts of vulgar curses.

Unable to control his surging anger, he searched for Yoon Bodam wherever he might be.

His dedicated guide’s range of activity wasn’t wide. The waiting room, lounge, and guide-only area. He scoured every place, looking for Yoon Bodam.

He’s not here.

Seeing that his watch was still connected, he wasn’t entirely out of the Center yet.

However, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He felt for the first time that if that tiny b*stard, capitalizing on his small size, was determined to hide, he would never find him.

‘What am I even going to do if I find him?’

‘I don’t f*cking know.’

He huffed and puffed for a long time, emitting rough wavelengths like a madman.

Passing Espers, with their dedicated guides tucked under their arms, bristled and walked past Ji Oh.

They displayed their vigilance to protect their guides from an Esper who was clearly on the verge of losing it.

Min Ji Oh’s wavelength sharpened further as he watched their actions, which he had never noticed before.

Then some Espers even hugged their guides tightly and glared at him, asking him to show some respect.

Ji Oh only watched them. He slowly absorbed the comfortable aura and expressions of the guides nestled in the Espers’ arms.

They automatically entered his vision. Even if he didn’t want to see them, they kept catching his eye.

He ignored the watch’s vibration, which signaled the danger of his wavelength level rising due to his intense psychological state.

All his attention was focused solely on the fact that Yoon Bodam was gone.

‘Why, for god’s sake?’

He raised his hand to hit the wall, as white as Yoon Bodam, cursing grandly.

Just as he was about to forcefully strike the sturdy wall, which wouldn’t be as delicate as Yoon Bodam, his phone rang.

His fist, which had been aimed at the wall as if taking an empty swing, naturally went inside his jacket pocket.

His consciousness, drawn by the loud ringing, was screaming only one name.

‘Yoon Bodam. F*cking Yoon Bodam.’

“Hey!!”

Ji Oh, who called out Bodam by a familiar nickname instead of the name he had repeated dozens of times in his head, shouted.

The caller only chuckled.

“You, where are you?”

Ji Oh, unable to hide his bewilderment at the unexpected call and Yoon Bodam’s subsequent reaction, stammered.

“Where are you?!”

– Mr. Min Ji Oh.

Ji Oh was half-stunned by Bodam’s calm voice, which was also unexpected.

He could only twitch his lower lip, unable to continue.

– Let’s age gracefully. Yelling like that just shows you weren’t properly taught.

Ji Oh took the phone away from his ear and re-checked the phone number displayed on the black screen.

The number, carelessly saved as ‘Guide’ instead of a name, was indeed Yoon Bodam’s.

“…….”

Min Ji Oh, his mouth agape, put the phone back to his ear.

At the same time, his watch, signaling a dangerous wavelength level that vibrated his wrist bone, rattled violently.
It was a signal to receive guiding immediately.

From the other end of the line, a short, pained groan from Bodam reached Ji Oh’s ears, where all his attention was focused.

If the watch’s vibration was enough to make an Esper like Ji Oh ache, it would be a bruising stimulus for Bodam.

Ji Oh’s hand, moving unconsciously, reached for the pill container in his pants pocket.

– Because I keep getting alerts too, hurry and take your guiding medicine. How many years have you been an Esper, and you can’t even manage something like that? Are you a child?

A hollow laugh escaped Ji Oh’s parted lips, and his eyes filled with venom.

The guide, who had never even properly looked him in the eye until now, was acting as if he had taken some medicine.

“Are you crazy?”

– Yes, I’m crazy.

The shortened end of the reply, which came as if on cue, added weight to Ji Oh’s stiff neck.

– I endured for half a year among you bastards, so how could I not go crazy? Ugh…!

Along with Bodam’s groan, the sound of a phone dropping to the floor was heard.

The watch, which was ringing again due to Min Ji Oh not taking his guiding medicine, seemed to have strained his wrist.

– F*ck, take your medicine. Stop bothering those around you. Another alert is popping up.

Bodam’s voice, which clenched his teeth while picking up the phone, was full of force.

At this, Ji Oh, who had opened his pill container, closed the lid again.

“You come.”

– What?

Ji Oh, who was gripping his phone hard enough to crack the screen, barked shamelessly.

“You come and give me guiding.”

To borrow Han Seung Ho’s words, he was still lost in his delusion.

He couldn’t break free from the belief that he, the Esper, was holding onto the guide. Because Yoon Bodam had always known his place and crawled.

– I must have given you the wrong impression.

The back of Min Ji Oh’s head, who lived in high-nosed delusion, tingled.

Bodam’s relaxed voice, which he had never heard before, clearly spoke the words that had been stuck in his mind.

– I didn’t call because I was worried about your guiding.

“Shut up and come.”

– Before I go, I wanted to ask this.

“Come when I tell you to.”

– Why did you do that to me?

Ji Oh’s parted lips closed as if trying to escape.

– What did I do wrong to the point where I couldn’t even use the bathroom?

“…….”

– That night, I was sick and even dreamed of the toilet shattering, so I really thought I was going to die.

Each word, spoken with force, slowly pierced Ji Oh’s ears.

The guide’s subtly trembling voice reached the Esper’s ears, which were tightly shut.

– Why did you break the toilet?

Bodam, intentionally mixing in a hollow laugh to suppress his surging emotions, asked again. Even as he asked, he clearly showed his disbelief.

– Spit it out with that well-drilled mouth of yours, you son of a b*tch, Min Ji Oh.

He used the same vulgar words that Ji Oh always had on his lips.