Chapter 59: Who Were You Training For?

Ye-seon looked back and forth between Chaewon and Su-ha, then spoke in a slightly more serious voice.

“We’ll look into what people are saying later, together with Su-ha-ssi.”

“Yes.”

As if it were nothing to be nervous about, Chaewon nodded with a solemn expression. Ye-seon continued speaking, roughly mapping out the upcoming schedule in his head.

“The most urgent thing to prepare right now is the press conference. Our management team will explain everything in detail, but Su-ha-ssi, please prepare in advance as well.”

“Yes, I will.”

There was the same tension in Su-ha’s reply. Imagining Chaewon standing in front of countless cameras sent a chill down to his toes. It was the kind of situation that could be interpreted in any number of ways, for better or for worse.

Then Chaewon carefully spoke up to Ye-seon.

“Um… Team Leader.”

“Hm? What is it, Chaewon?”

“I was wondering… what happened to the training schedule?”

In truth, more than the press conference or public reaction, that was what Chaewon was most curious about. He wanted to know how his previous request for combat training was progressing.

He spoke cautiously, worried it might sound rude or impatient, but honestly, Chaewon was unusually restless, eager to grow stronger as soon as possible.

After realizing his shortcomings so painfully in the field, and after reaffirming his resolve just the day before, he couldn’t help it. In fact, he had been so eager to train that he’d barely slept the previous night. Fortunately, Ye-seon replied without any sign of irritation.

“I postponed the schedule with Team Leader Min to next week. He has his own mission schedule, so we’ll need to discuss the exact date later, but as you requested, we’ll proceed with combat training.”

“Yes.”

“And Su-ha-ssi.”

While Chaewon paused to catch his breath, his heart pounding at the thought of what kind of training awaited him, Ye-seon called Su-ha’s name. Before Su-ha could answer, Ye-seon continued.

“Chaewon’s combat training… you can take charge of it, right, Mr. Su-ha?”

“What?”

The one who exclaimed in surprise wasn’t Su-ha, but Chaewon. Su-ha, on the other hand, responded as if he had already expected this, his tone slightly strained.

“Yes. I can do that.”

“Why- why would Su-ha-ssi be the one to…?”

Chaewon was the only one still completely confused. Ye-seon continued explaining.

“Guide Jin Su-ha is one of the few guides who can directly engage in combat alongside espers in the field. He’s undergone harsher combat training than almost anyone else.”

“Yes, I know that. But still-”

“In terms of physical combat, he wouldn’t easily lose to any esper. For you, Chaewon, who doesn’t receive augmentation from other espers, he’ll be the most suitable instructor.”

Even to Chaewon, Ye-seon’s reasoning sounded perfectly logical. Although Chaewon was an esper, aside from being able to use telekinesis, he was closer to an ordinary person. It was clear he needed training different from that of other espers.

“And since Su-ha-ssi understands your physical condition better than anyone… he’ll be able to monitor your state in real time and adjust the training accordingly.”

Despite the sound logic, Chaewon’s expression continued to darken. Ye-seon kept listing reasonable points, but none of them truly sank in for Chaewon.

“And even if you’re doing other training, we can’t stop telekinesis training altogether… Will you be able to handle both at the same time?”

Only then did Chaewon blink rapidly, as if shaking himself out of his thoughts, and nodded.

“Yes. I’ll be fine. I can do it.”

“It’s going to be very demanding.”

“That’s okay. I’ll get through it.”

‘I’ll get through it.’

Sensing a subtle change in Chaewon’s demeanor from that response, Ye-seon smiled and nodded. He liked the way Chaewon was changing, and it wasn’t hard for him to guess that Su-ha had something to do with it.

“Su-ha-ssi, let’s talk more about the details later… You’re free to go for now.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“We’ll be going.”

At Ye-seon’s words, Su-ha and Chaewon rose together, bowed, and turned to leave. Chaewon’s expression still looked vaguely troubled, which worried Ye-seon, but he decided not to dwell on it.

From here on, dealing with that was Su-ha’s role, and he would likely handle it far better than if it were merely ‘out of obligation.’

****

“Um…”

Su-ha, who had come with Chaewon to his quarters for what had now become part of their daily routine, guiding, spoke hesitantly. Chaewon answered with a questioning look, and Su-ha stared at him in silence for a moment before speaking, as though he’d made up his mind.

“Would you like to see them… the reactions about you?”

For a moment, Chaewon looked puzzled about what Su-ha meant by “reactions,” but then realization dawned and he let out a soft “Ah,” lightly biting his lip. The words Jeong-jin and Ye-seon had spoken earlier flashed through his mind.

For most of his life, Chaewon had thought of himself as something like a ghost, vague, transparent, unable to affect others. Just quietly floating in place. The idea that people were talking about him, that they were curious about him, was honestly hard to believe.

His emotions wavered. Part of him wanted to see it with his own eyes, to confirm that it was really happening. But another part of him was afraid, what if he opened it and found nothing but cruel words about himself?

Thoughts of celebrities tormented by online hate comments surfaced unbidden.

Watching the indecision clearly written on Chaewon’s face, Su-ha spoke.

“If you want, you can tell me.”

“Tell you, Su-ha-ssi?”

“Yes. I’ll filter out anything unnecessary and only show you what matters.”

“You don’t have to go that far. If I get curious, I’ll… I’ll look it up later myself.”

Chaewon waved his hands hurriedly. Su-ha wasn’t his manager; he couldn’t burden him with something like that. But Su-ha shook his head firmly.

“I don’t recommend that you look at it yourself. There are plenty of people who write malicious things purely out of insecurity… There’s no need for you to see that.”

“But still… it’s about me. I can’t take up your time over something so trivial. I’ll handle it myself. Don’t worry.”

If anything, Chaewon would rather not look at it at all than make Su-ha deal with it. Hearing this, Su-ha spoke again, his voice heavier.

“…It isn’t trivial.”

There were no clear rules defining how far a guide should care for their paired esper. There were manuals for the mandatory aspects of guiding, but anything beyond that varied widely depending on the relationship and personalities involved.

Some guides took care of everything, sharing even private matters and tending to their partner meticulously. Others drew a strict line, focusing only on professional responsibilities. Every approach was different.

And what Su-ha was saying now was, in a way, a declaration.

“Helping you avoid unnecessary pain… keeping you from being distracted by other things, that’s part of my job as well.”

Not only in Chaewon’s future training and missions, but in all the small things he would face along the way, Su-ha had no intention of stepping back.

But as Chaewon listened silently, he was thinking about something else entirely. Ever since leaving Ye-seon’s office, he had been fixated on a single thought, barely able to focus on Su-ha’s words.

Public reaction didn’t matter to him right now. Popularity had never interested him to begin with. Even if people showed brief fascination because he was an S-class esper, it would fade soon enough. None of it felt important to Chaewon.

When Chaewon remained silent, concern flickered across Su-ha’s face, and he was about to add something, when Chaewon spoke first.

“Su-ha-ssi.”

His voice sounded lower than usual, enough that Su-ha forgot to answer and simply looked at him. Chaewon continued.

“You did this because of Team Leader Min I-hyeon, didn’t you?”

For a moment, Su-ha wondered if he’d misheard. He couldn’t understand why I-hyeon’s name was suddenly coming up.

“Why are you bringing up Team Leader Min all of a sudden…?”

“I’ve heard that guides usually aren’t deployed to combat zones unless it’s a special case. Because it can be dangerous… That’s why special response teams often run into problems on long-term missions.”

When Ye-seon talked about Su-ha’s combat ability. When he said Su-ha wouldn’t fall behind even most espers in a fight. Even without further explanation, Chaewon had immediately understood why Su-ha had trained himself so relentlessly.

It was probably because Chaewon had always kept in mind who Su-ha originally wanted to be a guide for.

To the flustered Su-ha, caught off guard by the sudden shift in conversation, Chaewon said,

“Because if you became Team Leader Min’s guide… you’d want to be more helpful to him…”