"Anyway, there really aren't any other conditions? Hm?"
The director asked, his face still anxious.
He must have been jerked around by Eugene Langford's whims something awful, to be like this. Eugene clicked his tongue inwardly. Then he nodded readily.
"No, truly none."
"Whew... understood. Then I'll relay it to Alpha-1 Team right away and set up a guiding schedule."
Realizing Eugene meant it, the director spoke in an urgent tone. He seemed to want to hurry before Eugene's mind could change again.
"Then let me know once the schedule's set."
"Uh, yes. Understood."
Bowing his head toward the director, Eugene walked straight out of the office. Outside, Eugene mulled things over for a moment.
Where should I go?
It was too late in the day to head back to his room. Holing up in his room until this hour was a surefire way to get treated like a layabout.
But without his memories, he didn't even know where the team office was... it was a genuine dilemma.
Beep-beep, beep!
Just then, a noisy sound rang from the watch. Eugene glanced down without thinking, and found an unfamiliar name displayed on the screen.
Yoon Ha-young
Decline / Answer
It was a name he didn't know, but if this person was calling him, there was a good chance they were fairly close to him or closely connected through work. Eugene pressed the answer button without hesitation.
"Yes."
— Um, Team Leader?
"Go ahead."
— ...
Having answered without a thought, Eugene inwardly winced when the other person fell silent. There was no way Eugene Langford would use polite speech with anyone. This was a man who'd have treated even the Center Director carelessly — and here the person on the line was using honorifics with him. Eugene belatedly changed his tone.
"Speak. What is it?"
— Ah, yes. I'm sorry. For a second I thought I'd called the wrong number...
The other person answered, flustered. Their voice was so weak that a frail impression sprang up right before his eyes.
A subordinate on the guide team? If they're calling the team leader directly, maybe a deputy team leader. Not knowing the person's rank, Eugene guessed inwardly and quietly listened to what Ha-young said next.
— I'm sorry, but wouldn't it be better if you came in to work today? I hear the HR department is going to run an audit soon...
"..."
At Ha-young's words, Eugene fell silent for a moment.
He hasn't even been coming in to work, just goofing off all this time? Truly unbelievable. Eugene pressed a hand to his throbbing head.
"Right, I'll head over now."
He had to go to the office anyway to get a grasp of his work going forward.
But having answered without thinking, Eugene soon asked, troubled:
"By the way, where is our team office?"
— ...
Fortunately, Ha-young didn't show any particular suspicion at Eugene's question about where the office was.
With HR dispatching an audit just to check whether the work was being done properly, Eugene Langford had clearly spent his time scheming for ways to play around rather than doing anything productive. So Eugene could ask outright, brazenly.
"Mm."
The Ha-young he came face to face with was a guide with a youthful, boyish appearance. A fairly capable A-rank guide, he served as Eugene's aide and the deputy team leader of the guide team. There was no doubt that Ha-young had shouldered all the actual work.
"There's nothing on the computer."
From the moment he'd seen how excessively clean the desk was, Eugene had been gripped by unease, and after rummaging through the desktop for a long while, he finally spoke up. At that, Ha-young answered, flustered.
"Yes, you told me to relay everything verbally, Team Leader..."
"Mm."
Right, it figures — a guy who couldn't even be bothered to come to work wouldn't have any files. Soon he'd have to accept the director's proposal and provide guiding to the S-rank espers of Alpha-1 Team, which was a problem.
My training was three years ago, too...
The information from back then couldn't be identical to now, and to begin with, he didn't remember every last detail of what he'd learned then anyway.
What do I do about this? Eugene stole glances at Ha-young, whose nervousness was plainly written all over him. If I suddenly ask for the work materials, won't he find it strange?
Mulling over an excuse, Eugene came up with a plausible one that the villain Eugene Langford might spout. Then he opened his mouth again.
"I've become curious to know more about the Alpha-1 espers. Update the latest materials and send them to me right now."
"Ah..."
The tone was somewhat high-handed, but the mere fact that Eugene was showing interest in Alpha-1 Team made Ha-young light up instantly.
"Yes! I'll organize it and share it to the cloud!"
"Good."
Eugene waved him off and sent him out. After Ha-young disappeared, Eugene let out a heavy sigh.
Still, once he received the materials and learned about Alpha-1 Team, he'd be able to respond to some degree. His current self knew nothing at all about them.
"Might as well look at this while I wait."
Eugene fished out the papers he'd tucked into his coat. They were the very ones that had been scattered across the study desk. He gazed intently at the writing penned in Eugene Langford's hand.
He didn't have high hopes for information left behind by a thug, but still, if Eugene Langford had written down what he'd felt while living here, it might let him deduce what had happened over these three years. With that thought, Eugene read the first sheet.
Baek Do-hoon, S-rank Transcendent
"Huh?"
But from the very first line, personal details he'd never expected were written down.
In the world of the original novel, espers were called Transcendents, and guides were called Purifiers. So Eugene Langford had written "Transcendent" for esper. The ranks were called the same way, and if it said S-rank, there was a high chance the person was Alpha-1 Team.
He wasn't sure what had possessed Eugene Langford to record exactly the information Eugene needed. Eyes gleaming, Eugene read on.
Among a place teeming with primitive creatures like monkeys, this one is a human with looks at least tolerable enough to bear. His jet-black hair is like silk, and his eyes — whether from the influence of his ability — take on a curious blue hue, which is satisfactory. His ability, too, is outstanding, more than enough to make him a slave to this body.
"..."
But unable to bear content packed with nothing but talk of appearance, Eugene threw the paper down. His shoulders heaved as he seethed.
This crazy bastard!
Old habits die hard. Eugene Langford was Eugene Langford, through and through. Eugene tore the other papers to shreds and threw them all into the trash.
In the novel, Eugene Langford's hobby had been taming high-rank espers. He loved forcing espers who thirsted for guiding to kneel like slaves beneath him. It didn't matter what position the other person held.
The reason Langford could act so arrogantly was that the higher an esper's rank, the harder it was to find a guide with a high matching rate. On top of that, the number of guides in the novel's world was strikingly scarce compared to here. In such a situation, nothing could stop Eugene Langford — an S-rank guide with outstanding ability on top of everything.
Of course, his tyranny lasted only until the appearance of a substitute in the form of the main receiver. The attackers, who'd been full of rage toward Eugene Langford, killed him without a shred of regret the instant he was no longer needed. That was how the arrogant Eugene Langford met his end.
Well, that kind of villainy was only possible because it was that world.
Unlike the world of the original, guides weren't so scarce here. Of course, domestically he was the only S-rank guide, but there were quite a few abroad, so if the government put its mind to it, they could actively scout them.
So Eugene Langford wasn't some irreplaceable, singular existence here. As time passed, he'd have realized that himself, so there wouldn't have been much he could do over these three years. At most, he'd have toyed with the Alpha-1 espers by dangling penetrative guiding as a condition. Eugene analyzed coolly and let out a long breath.
But even that kind of manipulation was more than enough to sour things with the Alpha-1 espers. For smooth work going forward, he'd need to improve his relationship with them. The contamination levels of the Alpha-1 espers had gotten dangerous enough to leave the director beside himself, after all. If only for his pride as a guide, he could not stand to watch them rampage.
Ding.
Just then, a notification appeared on the desktop, its screen still lit. Ha-young had sent the cloud address and password through the company messenger. Worried Eugene might not be able to connect to the cloud properly, he'd even added a meticulous explanation. Of course, since he wasn't Eugene Langford, Eugene accessed the cloud without any trouble and pulled up the Alpha-1 Team information.
"Hmm."
The information about the team was all things he already knew well. The nation's finest unit, composed entirely of S-rank espers. Their exploits were summarized briefly as well. After skimming those with his eyes, Eugene went straight to the detailed information.
Baek Do-hoon
He was the very esper whose looks Eugene Langford had lavished the most praise on. Eugene stared uncomfortably at the name for a moment, then dropped his gaze lower.
"S-rank esper, ability: lightning..."
Baek Do-hoon's rank, ability, age, and background were all laid out in a row. On top of that, he was the team leader of Alpha-1 Team. An elite among elites who had awakened as an esper and gone straight through a military service academy.
"Hmm, he'd be no easy one to handle."
Eugene murmured softly after seeing the file. Not only was he the team leader of Alpha-1 Team, but the son of the Minister of National Defense as well. A man perfect in everything — background, position, and ability. Eugene could already see plainly how fastidious and proud his personality must be.
"So I've already gotten on this kind of man's bad side..."
Anticipating that clearing away his karma going forward wouldn't be easy, Eugene let out a heavy sigh.
