CHAPTER 13
A week later.
Hanseo raised an eyebrow as he stared down at his silent phone.
He reportedly came out of the Gate three days ago.
As expected, Gu Jei didn't contact him.
Assuming Pyo Myeongho had failed to persuade Gu Jei, Hanseo decided to consider alternative plans. However, encountering Gu Jei at the centre was now impossible, as Hanseo no longer worked there as a janitor.
So, I'll have to find another way. ...But first, I need to deal with this.
He looked up at the instructor.
In the large lecture hall, the massive monitor that usually displayed course materials was now dark and blank.
"As you all know, starting today, we'll be moving to practical exercises. Let's all head to the Guiding Room now."
"Yes, sir!"
The Guide Trainees rose in unison at the instructor's command. Hanseo also stood up and followed the group.
"Wow, I'm so nervous, aren't you?" The man next to him leaned in to strike up a conversation. Hanseo replied casually, "Yeah, me too. Let's do our best together!"
"Right. Honestly, I'm more worried about what comes after this. We need to get assigned to good teams to avoid ending up in a trash team and suffering like dogs."
"Yeah, exactly."
Since Hanseo had no intention of becoming a team guide in the first place, he gave a perfunctory response.
The man next to him seemed to interpret Hanseo's nonchalant attitude as the confidence of someone with privilege, and he pursed his lips in a slight pout.
"Ah, right. Since you're B-grade, Hanseo, you probably get to have your pick of teams. I bet multiple groups will be requesting you. I'm just a C-grade, so I doubt I'll get any special treatment. It's ridiculous how much difference a single grade makes. Honestly, it's a bit demoralizing."
The man flicked his temporary ID badge hanging around his neck, grumbling about his dissatisfaction.
Hanseo naturally glanced down at his own temporary ID badge:
[ Yeo Hanseo (Guide/B) ]
Guide grades range from A to D, determined by their Guiding energy levels.
On paper, B-grade might seem average, but in reality, A-grade Guides are extremely rare. A B-grade Guide can expect decent treatment, especially when working as a team Guide, where the annual salary alone is quite substantial.
Even so, if it hadn't been for Gu Jei, Hanseo would have never revealed his status as a Guide, just as he had in his previous life.
Because... he didn't became a Guide through ordinary means.
"Number 109, successful generation of Guiding Energy."
"Huh? Unexpected. I thought he'd fail since he's the oldest... What about the others?"
"All failures. Shall we dispose of them?"
"Yes, dispose of them."
"...Guide Seo."
"Guide Yeo Hanseo!"
"Ah, I'm sorry!"
Hanseo belatedly snapped out of his reverie.
He realized it was his turn, and everyone was watching him.
"Guide Yeo Hanseo, begin Guiding."
"Yes."
Hanseo sat down in the designated seat and took a deep breath.
"Excuse me," a young man across from him said. He was an A-Class Esper, present as a practice partner for the Guide trainees.
When Hanseo looked up, the man smiled warmly.
"Don't be so nervous. You're still learning, so it's okay if you're a little clumsy."
His gentle reassurance suggested he thought Hanseo's absent-mindedness was due to nervousness.
'Well, it's not entirely wrong to say that I'm nervous.'
Hanseo was indeed tense, though for reasons the Esper couldn't possibly know.
He replied like an inexperienced trainee.
"Yes, thank you. Uh, then I'll proceed with the Guiding now."
"Go ahead."
Hanseo carefully took the Esper's outstretched right hand, first checking the reading displayed on the Esper's watch, as he had been trained to do.
35%.
The reading was relatively high, but it felt low compared to Gu Jei's earlier reading.
'That Gu Jei is practically flying high thanks to me. If 68% is that powerful, what happens when it drops to a single digit?'
Hanseo always kept tabs on Gu Jei's activities. Fortunately, Gu Jei was such a public figure that it wasn't difficult to find out what he was up to.
Gu Jei hadn't contacted him at all, focusing solely on clearing gates. Everyone was celebrating Gu Jei's apparent surge in abilities, claiming he was performing even better than usual.
Despite the daily deluge of news articles, there was still no mention of Gu Jei's compatible Guide. Looks like they enforced strict confidentiality.
'It's annoying, but... at least he's walking around fine. I guess that's a relief?'
The Gu Jei of this life was following a different path than in his previous one. In his past life, Gu Jei had vanished for a month after the center's explosion. Everyone assumed he was recovering from injuries sustained during the gate incident, but the truth was far different.
Back then, Gu Jei had intended to disappear from the world completely. He meticulously altered his appearance and lived in a remote coastal village, so obscure it was barely marked on maps.
It was there that Hanseo first met Gu Jei.
But that didn't happen in this life.
A bitter taste lingered in his mouth, as if the coffee he'd just drunk left a lingering aftertaste.
Shaking off the memories of the past, Hanseo released the Esper's hand, which he had been holding while Guiding.
"Guiding complete. Thank you for your hard work!"
But the moment Hanseo released his hand, the Esper immediately grabbed his wrist.
'What's this?'
Hanseo frowned at the Esper's powerful grip. But the Esper, lost in extreme excitement, seemed oblivious to his discomfort.
"I—I found you! My Guide!"
The Esper's eyes glittered with an almost unnerving intensity as he stared at Hanseo.
In contrast, Hanseo's gaze turned icily cold. My Guide? What nonsense.
"You felt it too, didn't you? There was something between us just now."
'There was nothing. Let go.'
"Let's get an official compatibility test done. I can't believe I just applied for Guide training on a whim, and I found you right away! No wonder I've been having such good dreams lately!"
Believing in superstitions never leads to anything good, so it's best not to dwell on them. Hanseo, who had once been involved with a pseudo-religious cult, barely managed to swallow the advice that had risen to his throat.
"Excuse me, Esper Park Jintae, please calm down and release the Guide for now."
"Ah, ah! I'm so sorry!"
Only after the instructor intervened did the Esper startle and release Hanseo's wrist.
Hanseo rubbed his throbbing wrist. Fortunately, it wasn't broken, but judging by its condition, a bruise was certain to develop.
"I'm so sorry. I was just so overjoyed. Ha, Hanseo? You felt it too, didn't you? We connected. I've met countless Guides since awakening as an Esper, but I've never felt anything like this before."
The Esper had apparently noticed the badge bearing Hanseo's name and was now muttering it under his breath, calling him by his first name without permission. He seemed like a completely different person from the one who had been gently comforting Hanseo just moments before.
With a completely enraptured expression, the Esper exclaimed, "We're clearly destined for each other!"
"......"
Hanseo stared at the instructor with a troubled expression.
'Shouldn't you stop him at this point?'
Fortunately, the instructor acted swiftly this time.
"Esper Park Jintae, you seem overly excited right now. Shall we step outside for a moment?"
"Yes, of course I'm excited! How could I not be? This feeling... only someone who's experienced it can understand. Ah..."
"You should stop now. The Guide is getting scared."
The Esper, who had been half-listening to the instructor the entire time, suddenly paused.
As if he'd been scolded, the Esper suddenly deflated, his eyes darting around nervously.
Not at the instructor, but at Hanseo.
"I'm sorry, Hanseo. But I'm not a weirdo, I swear! I'm just so happy right now. Please don't hate me. You know me, right? I'm Park Jintae. Park, Jin, Tae. I'll contact you again soon, so please answer!"
Even after finishing his words, the Esper lingered, reluctant to leave. In the end, the instructor had to practically drag him out of the room.
Once the commotion subsided, an awkward atmosphere settled over the Guiding Room.
"What was that just now?"
"I didn't know Esper Park Jintae was like that. He seemed so normal on TV."
"That was a little creepy..."
The Guide Trainees whispered among themselves.
To the onlookers, it must have seemed as though the Esper receiving Guiding suddenly become agitated and started acting strangely. But Hanseo knew there was nothing particularly unusual about the Esper's behavior. He had experienced the same thing before.
'I'd forgotten about it, it was so long ago.'
Back at the lab, after a Guiding Energy experiment, Hanseo had provided Guiding to an Esper. Just as he began, the experimental subject's eyes suddenly rolled back, and the Esper then lunged at him.
The researchers were watching, so no serious harm came of it. But the experience left a bad impression on Hanseo, and after leaving the lab, he lived his life meticulously concealing the fact that he was a Guide. Even the Cult Leader didn't know—need I say more?
"Was it called a trauni or a brauni? ...Anyway, at first, I thought that Esper guy had gone completely mad."
Later, a researcher explained the reason, revealing it wasn't madness at all.
The cause was the compatibility rate between the Esper and Hanseo.
The compatibility rate between an Esper and a Guide refers to how closely their wavelengths align. The more similar their wavelengths, the more effective the Guiding becomes for the Esper. It's like how radios with the same frequency transmit sound more clearly.
When the compatibility rate is high, the Guiding Energy can be amplified several times, even dozens of times, before being transferred to the Esper. The sensation the Esper experiences at that moment is said to be similar to taking a highly purified drug.
It was a sensation Hanseo had never experienced before. Perhaps this was because he was both an Esper and a Guide. He had never felt the need for Guiding in his life.
"......"
Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Hanseo clenched his palm, a tingling sensation lingering in his hand. He pretended not to notice, but he had indeed felt something during the Guiding session, just as the Esper had claimed. Their compatibility rate must be exceptionally high—perhaps not the fabled 90% that some call fated, but certainly close.But even if they had brought in other Espers, the result would have been the same.Because Ye Hanseo, Baekgu, had been created for this purpose.Baekgu: 109 / white dog
As the successful outcome of an artificial Guide experiment, designed to Guide all Espers.
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