•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
The Janitor, Yeo Hanseo, stood far from his usual spot, observing the bustling crowd.
More precisely, he was watching Gu Jei, who was at the center of it all.
Gu Jei calmly engaged with the people who approached him, maintaining a perfect balance—neither overly familiar nor aloof.
Seriously, how is he only 21?
He was the kind of person who could have plausibly uttered "Mother, thank you for giving birth to me" as his first words, instead of the usual baby's cry.
Is this what happens when you grow up under constant public scrutiny?
Wait, how old was he when he awakened his powers?
Hanseo remembered it being an incredibly young age, but he couldn't recall the exact number.
He pulled out his newly purchased smartphone.
As soon as he typed "Gu Jei" into the search bar, a flood of related search terms appeared.
Gu Jei Esper
Gu Jei S-Class
Gu Jei Age
How Many Abilities Does Gu Jei Have?
Gu Jei Fashion
Gu Jie's Wealth
Yeo Hanseo ignored the list of related search terms and typed "When did Gu Jie awaken?" to find the answer.
His phone instantly displayed a wealth of information.
Among the results were useless questions like this:
Q: What Esper rank would a 15-year-old middle schooler get?
Hello. I'm a middle school student who recently awakened as an Esper and took the rank assessment. The results come out tomorrow, but I'm too curious to wait.
What rank do you think I'll get? I heard that awakening at a young age makes you stronger. Esper Gu Jei awakened at age 5, after all.
15 is considered young for an Esper, right? Do you think I'll get A-Class?
└ Age has nothing to do with rank. I awakened at 15 too, just like you, and I'm D-Class
Gu Jei seemed to have awakened as an Esper at the age of five.
The typical age for Esper awakening ranged from the late teens to early twenties. While he knew Gu Jei had awakened at a young age—earning him the nickname "Youngest Esper"—he hadn't realized it was this young.
He clicked through a few other posts, but they contained only information he already knew, aside from the age. He had searched everything about Gu Jei as soon as he gained internet access, so this was hardly surprising.
Still, he scrolled down, scanning for any new details, when a photo caught his eye. It showed Gu Jei, drenched to the bone, standing before a sea of microphones. His features were the same, but his cheeks were still plump with baby fat.
This was from when Gu Jei first successfully cleared a Gate. Hanseo recognized the photo and knew exactly when it had been taken.
It was a well-known fact that Gu Jei had been active since a young age. Of course, even this country had its conscience and wouldn't entrust a five-year-old to deal with monsters. However, they couldn't simply let him live among ordinary people either, so he had been housed in the Center's specialized facilities since childhood.
Ten years later, the first S-Class Gate appeared.
At the time, every Esper failed to conquer the Gate that had emerged beneath the sea.
In that moment of despair, fifteen-year-old Gu Jei was deployed and cleared the Gate, imprinting his name on the whole nation.
"Hmm."
Hanseo gazed at the photo of fifteen-year-old Gu Jei before looking up again.
By then, Gu Jei had vanished, and the once crowded lobby returned to silence.
Still, seeing Gu Jei alive was a surreal experience.
For the past month, there were times when Hanseo doubted whether he had truly returned to the past. But seeing Gu Jei alive and well, he felt a phantom pain in his stomach, as if the old wound that pierced him was still there.
Hanseo scratched his stomach absently.
'Anyway, I succeeded in approaching the target.'
Now all that remained was to wait for the right moment.
Ding!
His phone chimed with a notification. It was a text message.
[Korea Ability Management Center]
Yeo Hanseo, you have been designated as an 'EGI Inspection Subject'.
In accordance with relevant laws, you are required to undergo the inspection according to the schedule below.
A smile spread across Hanseo's face as he read the message.
❖ ❖ ❖
"Esper Gu Jei, I will now conclude the guiding session."
Gu Jei slowly opened his eyes. The Guide sitting across from him offered an awkward smile.
"How are you feeling?"
Gu Jei didn't answer immediately, instead checking his watch. The special watch-like device, capable of monitoring an Esper's energy wave patterns, provided a detailed readout of his condition.
85%
This number indicated the instability of his Esper energy waves.
Before coming here, it had been 86%, meaning it had dropped by 1%.
The piercing headache, like an ice pick stabbing into his brain, showed no signs of easing. But Gu Jei had long accepted that such side effects were a lifelong burden, so he felt no particular disappointment.
He gave the Guide a slight nod.
"I feel a little better. Thank you."
"No, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," the Guide added awkwardly, as if aware of his limited effectiveness.
"I'm an A-Class Guide myself, but it seems a 10% compatibility rate still isn't enough to make a significant difference."
"It's sufficient for me."
"Um, perhaps we should switch to Contact Guiding instead of Emission Guiding? Now that Esper Gu Jei is an adult, and as you know, Contact Guiding is the most effective method..."
"It's fine."
Gu Jei rose and opened the door of the Guide Room.
The Guide stared blankly at Gu Jei, a vein throbbing on his forehead.
His lips twitched, as if wanting to say something, but he quickly composed himself and stood up.
"...Thank you."
Though he smiled outwardly, his pride was clearly wounded.
"I've thought this since we first met, Esper Gu Jei seems... different from other Espers."
The fact that he added that one last remark confirmed it.
Well, it was understandable. After all, the Guide had taken the initiative to propose Contact Guiding, only to be rejected. And not just any Guide—an A-Class Guide who never faced rejection anywhere.
Espers tended to become excessively vulnerable to their Guides, who were essentially their lifelines. No matter how self-assured an Esper might be, their very existence hung by the whims of their Guide. It was inevitable.
Whether S-Class or F-Class, the desire to live remained the same.
And that desire drove them to desperation.
"Well, I like that about you," the Guide said.
"......"
"Call me again next time. I'll be waiting."
With words that sounded more like an after-date request than a professional exchange, the Guide departed.
Gu Jei knew that this Guide, whose name he couldn't even properly remember, had been courting him for years.
It wasn't just about coveting the title of "Gu Jei's Guide."
The Guide would gaze at him with a hungry look, send intimate texts to his personal number, and even lean against him under the guise of accidental contact. Anyone, not just Gu Jei, would have noticed his flirting.
But Gu Jei felt no interest. Perhaps it was because the Guide was the same sex. He considered himself heterosexual, given his complete lack of attraction to men with the same anatomy. Though he'd never been interested in women either.
Whether male or female, the aversion to physical contact was the same. Having grown up exposed to people at the Center who treated him like an object, touching him without hesitation from a young age, he instinctively recoiled from any physical contact with others.
He had once tried Contact Guiding, hoping it might improve his condition, but even the slightest touch of hands made him nauseous, forcing him to stop. The results weren't significant enough to endure the revulsion.
His maternal uncle clicked his tongue, asking if he even planned to date. But was dating the real problem? How could he even think about romance when he didn't know when he might die?
Gu Jei habitually ran his tongue along the inside of his molars, feeling the slight bump. He tried to imagine the worst-case scenario, but still felt no fear or worry. He knew this detachment was strange, but he didn't want to dwell on it.
He couldn't pinpoint when he'd become like this. As a child, he remembered liking things, harboring hopes and beliefs. He even used to believe that his Guide would one day appear and put an end to his endless suffering.
Yes, there was a time when such hope sustained him. But as time passed, he realized he had to live without it.
From the day he grasped that truth, he...
Bzzz
At that moment, his watch buzzed, signaling a Gate emergence alert.
Gu Jei mechanically rose from his seat. As he stepped out of the Guide Room, he encountered a janitor standing in the hallway.
Normally, he would have assumed the janitor was simply cleaning and paid no further attention. But something about the man's gaze made him uneasy. The janitor was staring at him with an unnervingly intense focus.
Gu Jei was accustomed to being watched, but this felt different.
"......"
Without realizing it, Gu Jei stopped and returned the janitor's gaze.
The man appeared unusually young, though half his face was obscured by a mask, making it difficult to be certain.
Before Gu Jei could decipher the meaning behind the janitor's stare, the man suddenly bowed his head.
"Ah, hello. Are you heading out?"
He tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice betrayed a hint of nervousness—a typical reaction from those who met him.
So, it's just my nerves acting up again?
Ever since the year his instability level had stubbornly refused to drop below 80%, Gu Jei had been plagued by chronic anxiety.
He replied belatedly, "Yes, take care."
"You too, Esper Gu Jei!"
Losing interest, Gu Jei quickly strode past the janitor, completely oblivious to the meaningful expression hidden beneath the man's mask.
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