Chapter 73: Employment Fraud

“…98%….”

Only silence hung in the examination room and the observation gallery.

It was due to the unbelievably high matching rate.

“Check it again. How can such a number be possible! No, change the examination machine and do it again.”

Agency Head Han Dongil seemed unable to accept the results.

But this time, I didn’t think his reaction was overly dramatic.

Because even I, the subject of the test, couldn’t believe that number.

In all those long years of doing countless matching tests, it was a number I had never once received.

A rate of just 50% was enough to become a dedicated Guide, and there was a joke-like saying that if it was over 60%, there was no need to even check compatibility.

But… 98%….

“I just received a short guiding session, but I feel like I’ve had a few days of deep sleep, hyung. The efficiency is no joke. If I feel this good, you must be quite tired, are you okay?”

Actually, this is the first time I’ve ever guided with all my strength.

No, including the time I stopped Jaeyul’s rampage.

Before, when I was running the illegal guiding office, I controlled my power to some extent.

Because I had no desire to completely heal their bodies.

“I’m a little tired, but I’m fine. I think I can do it a few more times.”

At my words that I was fine, Jaeyul looked towards the observation gallery and opened his mouth.

“Test us as much as you want. If you’ll only be satisfied by working people to the bone like this, then go ahead. An esper who recently went on a rampage, and a Guide who collapsed from calming that esper, that is.”

Huh…? He’s going to use that method…?

Then I can’t just stand by either.

“Ah… I suddenly feel dizzy….”

“Are you okay? Lean on me.”

As I placed my hand on the examination machine and collapsed, Jaeyul supported me.

Since we had just awakened as SS-ranks, they would find it difficult to treat us carelessly just yet.

They hadn’t even properly verified our actual skills, and they wouldn’t know how much they could exploit us, so they would be cautious.

“Ahem… for now, I understand…. Agent Jin Sehyeon will also serve at the Seoul 2nd Center. Haah… anyway, no matter which esper he tests with, the matching rate won’t be higher than that.”

“Agency Head-nim…! Then what are we supposed to do…!”

“Enough. That’s enough. The most important thing is our agents, isn’t it! We should be thinking about supporting our precious employees so they can work in a comfortable environment!”

The 1st Center’s Branch Director ended up getting an earful.

From the Agency Head, who was now putting on a great show of pretending to care about us.

Ugh… I really hate it.

Still, it’s a relief that this noisy affair has been settled for now.

There were some troublesome things, but it’s enough that I was able to be assigned to the same Center as Jaeyul, just as I wanted.

I don’t know how upset I was when I heard he couldn’t even get proper treatment because there was no matching Guide.

From now on, I’ll have to check on him frequently at home and at the Center to keep him in top condition.

Wait.

Come to think of it, how did the past ‘X’ receive guiding…?

He was also an esper, so guiding would have been essential.

A question arose in my mind, but since there was nowhere to ask, I put off finding the answer for later.

“Then, Agent Jin Sehyeon will take a short break and then receive work training first, and Team Leader Seon Jaeyul will have a word with me.”

The 2nd Center Branch Director’s shoulders look like they’re about to pierce the sky.

Having gotten his hands on two SS-rank agents, he couldn’t not be.

His already healthy-looking face seemed to be glowing.

“Take it easy, hyung.”

“Yeah. You don’t overdo it either, you know?”

“I know. Don’t worry. I have everything you ordered in my head.”

“O-ordered, what!”

He says things that could be misunderstood by anyone who hears.

I just gave him some moderate tips on social life.

I went to the floor with the Guiding Center, and Jaeyul was personally escorted by the Branch Director.

After a short break, the Director in charge of all the guiding teams came in and conducted a simple work training.

It was more like a chat than training.

He was grinning from ear to ear, holding my hand, and even got teary-eyed.

It was a testament to how much they had suffered from the lack of Guides here.

“You’ll just have a simple matching test with the other espers, and you’ll be in charge of a few in order of high matching rate, so don’t feel pressured!

Looking at the current esper to guide ratio… you’ll just have to be in charge of about 50 people!”

“…Excuse me?”

Did my ears deceive me…?

“Ah, not 50 people.”

Of course not.

How can one Guide be in charge of 50 espers?

Even the Hexagram, which tried to turn me into a guiding machine in the old days, probably didn’t have such a murderous workload.

“A guide ran away recently, so about 60 people… no, still, since you’re SS-rank, it would be great if you could take charge of about 70 people… that’s okay, right…?”

This person must be crazy.

No wonder the Guides run away when you work them to the bone like that.

My mind has already left Korea.

“Let’s increase it little by little, little by little! Still, I don’t know how reassuring it is to have you here, Sehyeon-ssi! I haven’t been able to go home for weeks….”

The Director, whose dark circles looked like they would reach his chin.

Unlike Nadongchan, who is in charge of the esper team, he seems to be in charge of practical work as well.

But in conclusion, there isn’t much difference between this person and Nadongchan.

There’s only the difference between working people to the bone with nice words and working them to the bone with bad words.

“For now, until the test results are compiled, um… please be in charge of the high-rank espers mainly. I’ll tell the team leader.”

“…High-rank, you say….”

Ah, I think I’ve stepped in some serious crap.

It’s obvious it will be a land of jerks.

Not all high-rank espers are jerks, but most jerk espers were high-rank.

I know that there are quite a few guys similar to the ones I experienced at the illegal guiding office.

So, in a word, this Director has entrusted me with the trash disposal unit.

“Who else could be in charge but you, Jin Sehyeon-ssi… you know, right?”

“No? I don’t think so…?”

“Right, so slowly… huh…? Y-you don’t know…? What?”

He probably didn’t expect me to talk back so sassily.

The smile disappeared from the Guide Director’s face for the first time.

“This was an organization that was running without me, wasn’t it? So why should I have to fill that deficit all by myself? And didn’t the high-rank espers receive guiding before? Why should I have to take on all of them?”

“…Th-that is….”

A look of either bewilderment or annoyance filled the Director’s face.

Is it because he failed in his attempt to take a Guide who doesn’t know the ways of the world and work him like a s*ave?

Am I crazy to work like a dog and be loyal to the Center again?

I’m only going to do as much as I’m paid, as much as others do.

Don’t expect anything more.

“I will only do as much as the regular team members do. Of course, I’ll be in charge of the high-rank espers. That would be efficient. But you have to reduce my other duties by that much.”

“…Uh, uh. Well, yes. Agent Jin Sehyeon.”

As expected, this person wasn’t just a kind person either.

As soon as I drew the line sharply, his voice immediately took on a business-like tone.

As expected, there is no one who is kind for no reason at this Center.

“Then let’s just get a simple work briefing and go to the assigned team in the afternoon.”

The Director’s training, now seemingly on edge, began.

I already knew almost everything, so there wasn’t much to learn.

I half-listened, half-ignored, passing the time while thinking about how I could work a little more comfortably.

***

“This is in front of the Seoul 2nd Special Abilities Center! According to an inside source, an SS-rank special ability agent has started working from today……”

The front of the 2nd Center is a complete mess.

Even when I awakened at 17, it wasn’t this chaotic.

That was probably because I was affiliated with the Academy at the time, and I voluntarily stood before the media, led by the hands of high-ranking people.

Now, because our identities haven’t been revealed, numerous reporters were crowding the main gate of the 2nd Center.

“But they really can’t recognize us. It’s strange.”

After receiving a simple practical training all morning, and as we were leaving the building for lunch, no one recognized me and Jaeyul.

It seems the Center kept its promise to hide our identities for sure.

If they hadn’t even kept this promise properly, the contract would have been terminated on the spot.

“Don’t tell me you’re a little disappointed that no one recognizes you?”

“Disappointed, what. It’s nice not having annoying people sticking to us.”

“Ah, but why did you ask them not to expose us to the media? Because I said I didn’t want to?”

“Uh…? Well… something like that. Ah, hyung! Let’s have samgyetang for lunch today.”

I asked what I was secretly curious about, but Jaeyul’s reaction is somewhat strange.

It’s just like… what I do when I try to change the subject….

It’s not a particularly important part, so let’s just let it go for now.

“But why samgyetang all of a sudden? You didn’t really like chicken that’s been boiled in water.”

“We need to nourish our bodies. You’re already weak physically, hyung, so you need to eat well.”

It must be a very famous place, as it was bustling with customers even though it was slightly past lunchtime.

But this kid is saying strange things.

“…It’s not that I’m weak, it’s that you’re unusually strong. Even though I’m an Omega, I’ve even awakened, so I’m stronger than a normal person.”

I ostentatiously raised my arm and flexed my bicep.

Ah… you can’t see it because of the clothes.

I have muscles the size of a chicken leg from the samgyetang….

“Like this?”

“…You bad kid…. Now you’re trying to one-up your hyung.”

As expected, he’s not someone I can physically compare myself to.

When Jaeyul flexed his forearm, his thin shirt stretched taut, almost to the point of tearing, revealing his hidden muscles.

I didn’t want to feel any more shabby, so I decided to just eat.

I tore off a well-cooked chicken leg and moved it to Jaeyul’s bowl.

Then, a large chicken breast naturally came to my bowl.

“At first, when you said you were going to join the Center, I was… a little worried. But I like it. Being able to have lunch with you like this.”

“From now on, let’s eat together unless you’re on a dispatch. Or we can pack a lunch from home and eat.”

“That would be nice too. It would feel like we’re on a picnic.”

“…A picnic…?”

“Ah, never mind. Hurry up and eat. We don’t have much time if we want to have coffee after lunch and get back.”

Is he excited?

He’s saying things that don’t make sense.

When we ate at home, we always had a leisurely meal.

But the fact that we now have to eat just enough to fill our hunger is a little sad.

It feels like my precious time is being taken away.

“How do you feel on your first day of work, hyung?”

“My feeling? Let’s see…. Honestly, it’s not that bad. It feels so normal that it’s funny how much I didn’t want to come here.”

It really was like that.

I thought the nightmarish memories of the past would come back when I returned to the Center, but it was a needless fear.

Perhaps because my heart had changed since then, I felt indifferent.

Thinking that I could have a heart-to-heart talk with Jaeyul like this, I secretly felt… it wasn’t so bad.

“Still, it’s a bit frustrating to think that I’ll be put to work right away this afternoon. I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with all those espers by myself. Since I’m SS-rank, they’re applying for guiding like crazy.”

When I checked the guiding request list before lunch, it was a sight to behold.

No matter how much I scrolled, there was no end.

I thought every esper at the 2nd Center had applied.

“…Is that so?”

Strange.

For a moment, it felt like the surrounding temperature had dropped sharply.

“…Jaeyul-ah…?”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you breaking your chopsticks….”

The chopsticks in Jaeyul’s hand are bent in a strange shape.

“Don’t worry, hyung. You won’t have to guide that many.”

“Really? Why? Did the Branch Director say something?”

Jaeyul didn’t give any particular answer to my question and just continued eating with a new pair of chopsticks.

And the meaning of those words, I found out after we finished our meal and returned to the Center.

“What is the meaning of this! Nadongchan, I’m going to kill you!”

“Nadongchan? Kill me, kill me! Come on, kill me!”

In the middle of the Guiding Team hallway, Nadongchan and the Guide Director are grabbing each other by the collar and fighting.

It was a bizarre sight.

Directors with social status and dignity, fighting with each other.

That bastard Nadongchan, how can he grab the collar of a woman who is half his size….

“We’re taking Agent Jin Sehyeon, no matter what, so you’d better know that!”

…What, me…? What’s that about?

Why is Nadongchan taking me?

It was when I couldn’t even properly understand the conversation they were having.

Jaeyul’s voice whispered in my ear.

“Did you really think I would just stand by and watch you guide someone else ‘again’?”