Chapter 29: Last Guiding

As a child, Bodam desperately wanted to meet him.

Han Seung Ho.

He was a figure who had a great influence on him throughout his school days, so much so that Bodam applied to work at the Center Headquarters, where Han Seung Ho was.

He often imagined how Esper Han Seung Ho would have reacted when his friends playfully teased him.

The Han Seung Ho he had envisioned in his mind was the very role model Bodam wanted to be.

“Team Leader.”

‘An Esper with healing abilities would have this kind of personality. He would be this kind of person.’

He had imagined quite freely.

“I came to say my final goodbye.”

After learning his true nature, he even lost sleep from disappointment.

‘If I were a healing ability user, I would have done this. I would have helped all the sick people without even taking money.’

He often spent nights killing time with meaningless hypotheticals.

The aftershocks of his failed fangirling were fierce.

“Are you alone?”

Seung Ho, making eye contact with Team Leader Kim, not Bodam, asked.

Team Leader Kim, who greeted his old colleague, whom he hadn’t seen in months, with a nod instead of a verbal reply, only raised a barrier.

It was meant to clearly separate work from personal matters.

Bodam took a step forward on his own towards Han Seung Ho, who was still treating him as invisible.

His pale face, which he wiped with the slightly intensified raindrops, wore an expression calmer than ever before.

Raindrops kept collecting on his long eyelashes, making it hard to open his eyes, but the corners of his mouth, holding a smile, curved gently.

Seung Ho, looking down at Bodam, who was getting thoroughly wet from the rain, opened his mouth.

“Follow me.”

And then he turned around towards the empty barracks.

Just before Seung Ho’s foot landed, a bright voice stopped his steps.

“No.”

At this, Seung Ho’s body turned back around.

He changed direction at a single word from the guide.

The murmuring of the new recruits, watching with interest, grew louder.

They wondered who he was to make Team Leader Han turn back.

Boom!

Monsters pouring from the adjacent Gate charged at the barrier, which had been widely cast for the new recruits’ training.

The monsters, sensing the fresh Esper wavelengths, began desperately throwing their bodies against the barrier to break through.

As the Espers in charge beyond the barrier sliced and tore, the decomposed flesh continued to merge, instantly creating more monsters.

“If your resignation is processed, just go.”

Seung Ho, who had layered the barrier one more time, ordered, counting the number of monsters.

He only exchanged signals with the Attack Team leader on the opposite side and didn’t directly intervene.

It was a level that could be handled by them.

However, the new recruits’ complexions turned deathly pale.

They were twenty-year-olds who had awakened as Espers less than half a year ago.

They had lived as ordinary people and only encountered monsters through TV and pictures, so it was impossible for them to be used to seeing them.

The sight, compounded by piercing screams, was horrifying enough to make one gag.

“At times like this, just…”

Bodam, who had approached Seung Ho, who was concentrating on the barrier with his back to everyone, opened his mouth.

It was something he had never said before.

It had always lingered in his throat, only to be swallowed back down.

“Please say at least a word that everything will be okay. Like a team leader should. They’re still at a level similar to ordinary people.”

Bodam, pointing to the barracks where the new recruits were trembling, checked Seung Ho’s wavelength.
It was a habit and an occupational hazard.

“If you want to leave quietly, don’t waste time and just go your way.”

Seung Ho, who had sufficiently strengthened the barrier, gestured to the opposite side.

The Attack Espers, who had been waiting for that signal, simultaneously unleashed their abilities towards the monsters ramming their heads against the barrier.

“You requested personal protection, so you should know your situation well.”

With a flash of bright light, loud thunder and lightning struck.
The sound of lightning generated all at once by dozens of lightning users towards the monster horde was tremendous.

“Kyaak!”

“Oh, f*ck!”

Screams and curses reflexively burst from the new recruits’ mouths, who had been trying to maintain their composure.

Bodam, the guide, was also so startled he stumbled.

“Ugh.”

Bodam, who tightly closed his eyes at the sudden bright surroundings, felt his wrist with the watch gripped.

Team Leader Kim, who had hurriedly reached out to steady his swaying body, accidentally grabbed his injured wrist.

“It’s okay.”

Bodam smiled, clutching his throbbing wrist, at Team Leader Kim, who immediately let go and apologized.

Team Leader Han, who seemed uninterested in the surrounding reactions, only took out his pillbox from his pocket and swallowed a pill.

Bodam’s eyes caught sight of his almost empty pillbox.

Bodam, averting his gaze from Seung Ho, looked at the situation on the opposite side where the charred monster corpses were being dealt with.

He also checked on the new recruits, who were confined in the barracks and sighing deeply.

Compared to Bodam, who had panicked on his first day seeing a monster, they were quite composed, holding their ground.

He thought, ‘Even if they’re young, Espers are Espers, it seems.’

“Go. Guide Yoon Bodam.”

“Even if you beg me not to go, I will go anyway, Esper Han Seung Ho.”

Bodam, boldly lifting his chin, replied calmly.

The very edge of Seung Ho’s lips, which had maintained a consistent poker face, moved subtly, truly very subtly.

Bodam, facing him, couldn’t see it because he was squinting from the rain.

“Since we won’t be seeing each other anymore, I should say everything I want to say before I leave.”

Bodam, who had washed his face with rainwater, wanted to provoke that person somehow.

Only then would he feel like he could rest peacefully.

If he could just crack that heavy expression, it would be worth risking the danger of the field to come here.

“Do it.”

He wanted to torment this bastard, if no one else.

Even if it meant grinding himself down.

“Team Leader Kim. Please release the barrier for a moment.”

“The barrier?”

“Just for a moment.”

Team Leader Kim briefly pondered, looking at Bodam’s back, who stood closely facing Seung Ho.

His contemplation didn’t last long, as his opponent was Han Seung Ho.

As Team Leader Kim lowered the barrier, Bodam stretched out his arm towards Seung Ho.

He mimicked the attitude they had shown him in a place with many onlookers.

A slight gesture.

He called Han Seung Ho with a casual, small hand gesture.

His heart pounded excitedly.

From the onlookers, whose attention was focused on the two, exclamations like ‘Hee!’ and ‘Crazy!’ reverberated.

That nameless guide was calling Team Leader Han Seung Ho like a dog.

Just who was this esteemed person, from where?

“You need guiding.”

Bodam, judging that it would be difficult to provoke Han Seung Ho with words, chose guiding.

It was what he disliked the most.

Physical contact with others.

Anyway, it was clear that no matter how much he cursed that stone-like person, only his own throat would hurt.

Bodam, who had provided customized guiding for all Espers, decided to serve his last meal to Seung Ho in various ways, according to his personality.

To an Esper who disliked guiding, he would give guiding.

“Don’t need it.”

“I didn’t ask.”

Even if he wasn’t their dedicated guide, an Esper could not refuse a guide.

For them, guiding was a necessity, not an option.

They had to obey the guide’s judgment unconditionally.

“Give me your mouth.”

Bodam, grabbing Seung Ho by the lapels with the most annoying words and expression he could muster, pulled hard.

It felt as if he wouldn’t be satisfied until he spat directly into his mouth.

As expected, Han Seung Ho was pulled along without a squeak.

He followed any Center rule without complaint.

“Oh my.”

“Don’t close your eyes.”

“Field guiding, as they say?”

The new recruits, gasping in surprise at Bodam and Seung Ho suddenly kissing, all stretched their necks and watched as if on cue.

Many people clutched their left chests at the sight of the small, seemingly fragile guide powerfully grabbing lapels and kissing.

The guide, who had come to the field to give mucous membrane guiding to Team Leader Han, who also had to set up double barriers and provide training, seemed incredible.

In contrast, Team Leader Han only bent his upper body and responded to the kiss with a stiff posture.
Was he surprisingly shy?

“Haa….”

Bodam diligently provided mucous membrane guiding.

Contrary to his initial intention of spitting into his mouth, the moment their lips touched, a professional instinct to quickly suppress the sharp wavelength kicked in.

He realized anew that diligence could also be a sickness.

‘Alright. This is the last guiding, so let’s clear it up and go.’

“Let’s focus. The guiding is getting cut off.”

Bodam, who pulled his lips away to breathe, whispered.

He continued speaking in a cold, unpleasant voice, mimicking Seung Ho.

“I’m doing this on purpose because you don’t like receiving guiding.”

Han Seung Ho just listened.

“And I’m doing this specifically for the safety of the new recruits. Because I’m not a psycho f*cker like someone.”

Bodam, emphasizing ‘someone’ with his chin and pointing at Seung Ho, opened his eyes as fiercely as possible.

Thanks to Seung Ho’s posture, leaning down and looking at Bodam, less rain fell on his face.

Thanks to that, he could maintain a fierce expression.

He glared to his heart’s content, then kissed him again.

He performed the last guiding with the sentiment that since he started with Han Seung Ho, he would end with this bastard too.

He tried hard not to put extra weight on the word ‘last,’ which unnecessarily evoked emotion.

It was something he had done relentlessly for six years to make a living.

He was most happy that he could end it by his own will.

Bodam, who lowered his chin, sucked on Seung Ho’s lower lip, then released it, took a breath, and briefly wiped his tingling nose.

He liked that it was raining.

He comfortably let the rain fall on his face, not hiding his reddened eyes.

“Ugh.”

Just then, Seung Ho, who suddenly wrapped his arm around Bodam’s waist, tilted his head low.

Bodam, startled by the deep, hot sensation entering his lips, grabbed Seung Ho’s shoulder.

His round eyes, which were streaming with rain, blinked rapidly.

Bodam’s brow furrowed in annoyance at the heat rapidly melting in his mouth.

A large raindrop landed on his eyelid, making his eyes close.

So he closed his eyes and kissed—no, gave mucous membrane guiding.

He focused all his attention on the calming wavelength, rather than the unsuitably sweet lips.

Goosebumps slowly rose on his stiff back.

It was sometimes like this when he gave mucous membrane guiding to Team Leader Han.

Only sometimes.

The soft flesh that gently wrapped around him was warm.

He leaned on the arm that embraced him and provided stability, not because it was Han Seung Ho, but because he was seeking warmth.

He intentionally avoided meeting the Esper’s gaze, which he could feel even with his eyes closed.

Anyway, his dark eyes were only scary.

They were dead eyes, as if devoid of any emotion.

The Esper’s large body, shielding him from the cold rain, enveloped Bodam.

It was the last guiding.

The last.

“Th-that’s enough….”

Bodam, who turned his head away from Seung Ho, who was clinging on much more persistently than usual, gasped for breath.

As expected, Han Seung Ho was not closing his eyes.

He continued to glare at his brazen and irritating face, then rested his forehead on Seung Ho’s chest and calmed his breathing.

Guiding with this bastard was always hard.

He disliked the sensitive, tangled wavelength and the unsuitably overlapping body heat.

“I hope Team Leader gets really sick.”

Bodam took a step back and released Seung Ho’s arm.

It felt much colder when the arm that had been wrapped around him disappeared.

Ignoring the cold, he spoke the words he had held inside for a long time.

His meticulously uttered words, even through the thick raindrops, clearly registered in the Esper’s ears.

“When you feel like you’re dying from pain, without medicine or anyone to heal you,”

It was a wish he wanted to engrave in Han Seung Ho’s dreams, to be repeated like a nightmare.

Fearing he might mishear, he opened his mouth wide and spoke clearly.

It was his final goodbye.

He ended it politely, like a cultured person.

Because he wasn’t a b*stard like them.

“I will root for you from afar, that you suffer alone in a hospital bed with no one, until you pass away.”

Bodam put his hand in his pocket, watching Seung Ho’s lips slowly close.

Even the inside of his heavily soaked coat pocket was damp.

And the white paper envelope inside it.

“Guide, behind me.”

Team Leader Kim, who pulled Bodam’s arm, which was reaching for the envelope, cast a barrier.

His resignation was already processed, but the envelope he intended to throw out of spite was now out of his reach.

“Found him.”

The onlookers, who were fully engrossed, shifted their gaze to the newly appeared figure.

The Esper’s low muttered wavelength was fiercely fluctuating.

The surrounding air even seemed to settle from his aura.