Chapter 33: Without My Knowledge

“Military doctors are exempt from Gate suppression duty, you brat.”

Unable to just watch Lee Juju’s expression grow increasingly ominous, Michael finally spoke up.

‘Well, they don’t know what kind of help a guide can provide inside a Gate.’

Lee Juju tried his best to understand the colonel.

Then he abruptly rose from his chair.

Sierra and Michael stared at him with wide, rounded eyes.

“Juju-nim?”

“Let’s go, Sierra.”

“Where to?”

“Where do you think?”

Why had he tried to understand the colonel?

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed obvious that it had been Colonel Shan who deliberately kept information about the Gate from him.

Putting aside that their relationship was fairly good, the colonel simply could not endure seeing Lee Juju pushed even slightly into danger.

While the espers, whose matching rates were merely at the level of “good”, were gradually becoming independent from Lee Juju, only Colonel Shan remained just as fiercely bound to him as before.

If even Lee Juju, the guide, could vaguely think of Colonel Shan as ‘my esper,’ then to the colonel, Lee Juju must be nothing less than the very object of blind devotion.

So it was understandable that he tried to hide Lee Juju somehow, and to keep him only in safe places under unconditional protection.

But Lee Juju was neither an acorn nor a chestnut, and as long as he wished it, Colonel Shan could never bury him inside the base like a squirrel hoarding nuts.

“I’m going to put my name on the list.”

Lee Juju said with a grin.

****

Colonel Shan Pei watched expressionlessly as Sierra raised her middle finger behind her neck.

It was already the third time.

He had been wondering, even before this, how long the ‘new recruit’ would continue obeying orders so docilely.

“…Do you have some personal grudge against that pen?”

Lieutenant Colonel Miles muttered while staring at the black ballpoint pen crushed in Colonel Shan’s grip.

Instead of answering, Colonel Shan narrowed his eyes and looked toward the door.

Lee Juju, who had left the infirmary with the ‘new recruit,’ was now walking down the corridor.

With a slightly rhythmic gait, occasionally tapping the floor with the tip of his foot, he would soon arrive and knock.

Or perhaps he would simply fling the door open and stride in.

Within the base, Colonel Shan Pei’s eyes were everywhere.

He hadn’t been given the tacky nickname Ruler of Space for nothing.

When he was very young, the sensation of having eyes scattered across every corner of existence had terrified him, and he hadn’t known how to use it.

Now, however, he knew perfectly how to assemble space, how to see through it, connect it, and stitch it together.

Hearing Lee Juju’s approaching footsteps, Lieutenant Colonel Miles’ expression changed.

Soon, an amused smile spread across his face.

“Seems we’ll have to increase the Gate expedition personnel by one.”

“Don’t talk nonsense, Miles.”

“But I doubt Juju will retreat quietly. Just listen to those footsteps.”

“…”

Miles snickered.

He was right.

Shan could tell that Lee Juju’s toes were kicking the floor with unusual force.

If there were anyone whose mere footsteps could draw smiles to the lips of espers, it was Lee Juju, and only Lee Juju, in the entire company.

Of course, he had no idea that Lee Juju thought of the company members as ‘my espers.’

Colonel Shan Pei’s face remained coldly expressionless, but Miles knew very well that behind that mask, all sorts of emotions were surging.

Not long ago, at two in the morning, Colonel Shan had issued a full-company assembly order.

As always, the only one exempted was the guide, Lee Juju.

Even Michael, grumbling that waking up in the middle of the night was hard at his age, had gathered with the others when Shan appeared.

In the suffocating silence, Colonel Shan Pei announced coldly,

“I will be adding two additional morning training sessions and two afternoon training sessions.”

Training meant the eight stages in the esper training room, where body and mind were honed to their absolute limits for two straight hours.

Even once was enough to leave one collapsing in exhaustion, yet he was adding two more of each.

Even Captain Russell, who enjoyed relentless training, found himself asking,

“…Two each, sir?”

“That’s right. To tighten up the loosened mental state before the Gate suppression operation. Seeing even officers lose focus and trail after the guide makes it look like you’re just begging to die.”

“…”

Colonel Shan Pei’s chilling gaze lingered briefly on Private Jason and Private Ian.

Their faces turned pale.

“The state of the infirmary has been nothing short of a mess. From now on, anyone who unnecessarily speaks to the guide in the infirmary will be considered to have received sufficient Guiding and moved to the very back of the Guiding order.”

“…”

“Likewise, anyone who follows the guide around will have their training time doubled. If anyone objects, step forward.”

“…”

No one dared to object.

Captain Russell and Sergeant Frank exchanged subtle glances.

From the next day onward, a hellish winter began.

After one company member absentmindedly engaged Lee Juju in casual chatter and was subsequently run ragged until his body was nearly falling apart, everyone realized that Colonel Shan Pei truly was monitoring the infirmary.

Following Lee Juju was forbidden.

Even making eye contact was prohibited.

One officer who had once followed Lee Juju with fervor complained about the absurdity of such restrictions, but after vomiting during a brutal training session two days later and ending up in the infirmary, no one voiced complaints again.

Even so, Colonel Shan’s insides were far from at ease.

He didn’t even know why.

What was certain was that Lee Juju’s words from that day kept resurfacing in his mind.

He knew exactly when Lee Juju had called him ‘my esper.’

It was when he had explained intimate contact Guiding.

The mere thought of Lee Juju performing intimate contact Guiding with the other company members made his blood run in reverse.

A grating sound echoed as Shan’s teeth ground together.

Miles tactfully pretended not to notice.

Just then…

“This is Lee Juju.”

His bright voice introducing himself rang from beyond the door.

The moment they heard it, the two tall men seated inside the office unconsciously relaxed their expressions.

Without waiting for permission, Lee Juju flung the door open and went straight to the point.

“I came to put my name on the Gate suppression list.”

“Military doctors do not need to volunteer.”

Colonel Shan spoke stiffly, but Lee Juju did not yield in the slightest.

“I’m not a military doctor. I’m a guide.”

“It’s the same for guides.”

“Why? You said anyone can volunteer.”

“Not you.”

“That’s discrimination.”

It was a rare retort from Lee Juju, who usually responded politely within reason to what the colonel said.

Having scanned the office the moment he entered, he now seemed to spot something and walked toward it.

“You’re excessively weak. You will undoubtedly become a burden to the company members.”

Lee Juju, who had been walking briskly, stopped short.

Lieutenant Colonel Miles, who had been watching the two with a grin, was certain Lee Juju would get angry.

Lee Juju clearly did not fit military culture, and even accepting most of Shan’s words seemed burdensome for him.

Especially when he heard something so insulting, he usually reacted as if a dragon’s scale had been touched, jumping in place and stubbornly insisting on proving his worth.

Colonel Shan also expected him to be angry, and at the thought, his jaw clenched tight.

He believed he could not back down on this matter, but even so, being the target of Lee Juju’s anger was not a pleasant experience.

At that moment, Lee Juju turned to face him.

Surprisingly, he was grinning.

“It’s fine. I can take care of myself on my own. As long as I’m not a burden, that’s what you’re saying, right?”

His tone sounded as if he had known all along that the colonel would try to block him.

Lieutenant Colonel Miles’ eyes gleamed at the increasingly interesting turn of events.

This was an entirely new kind of reaction.

Colonel Shan and Lieutenant Colonel Miles thought the same thing at once.

In truth, it had not even been half a year since they had come to know Lee Juju, and none of them truly understood him yet.

In any case, Miles found Lee Juju’s reaction entertaining and hoped Lee Juju would continue to show him new sides of himself at any moment.

Lieutenant Colonel Miles was the type of man who lived purely for amusement and intrigue.

But Colonel Shan, a man entirely different in nature, found this new side of Lee Juju frightening, so much so that he could not even recognize what that fear stemmed from.