Ding.
Just then, another message came in from Ha-young. He'd shared the guiding schedule he'd already set up. Eugene skimmed the schedule.
"Baek Do-hoon is first."
Baek Do-hoon, whose file he'd just reviewed, was scheduled first. And what's more...
"Now?"
Startled, Eugene checked the time. The time Baek Do-hoon had proposed was today — and only ten minutes from now. Eugene sprang up from his seat in a hurry.
"Team Leader, just now—"
"Yeah, I saw. I'm heading over now."
"What?"
Ha-young, his face gone white, had come into the team leader's office, only to blink his eyes wide in surprise.
He'd probably come in expecting Eugene to be angry at the sudden schedule and hoping to soothe him. Eugene gave a light shake of his head and clapped a hand on Ha-young's shoulder.
"When someone wants to see me that badly, I'd better hurry over, hadn't I?"
"Ah..."
"You stay and work. If there's anything to report, call me."
Leaving a dumbfounded Ha-young behind, Eugene walked out of the office. Getting to the guiding room Baek Do-hoon had designated wasn't difficult. He'd already committed most of the directory he'd seen in the lobby to memory.
My matching rate with Baek Do-hoon was only 56%.
His matching rate with Baek Do-hoon, the leader of Alpha-1 Team, wasn't especially high. But he was an S-rank guide, so he'd be far more efficient than most guides. Eugene thought lightly and kept walking.
Click.
Entering the guiding room, Eugene surveyed his surroundings once. It was a small room with a desk and chairs sized for two people to sit across from each other. Not much different from the practice rooms he'd occasionally used back when attending the school under the Center.
In the other world, there'd been no such enclosed guiding rooms, so they'd done guiding just anywhere. Back then it had felt unpleasant and he'd never quite adjusted to it, but now — after all those years — the sight of a guiding room felt unfamiliar.
"Whew."
Eugene let out a light sigh and took a seat. Baek Do-hoon hadn't arrived yet. He'd been the one to cram the schedule in so tightly, and yet he didn't even bother to show up early.
His mood wasn't great, but Eugene waited quietly for him for now. He'd set out the moment he checked the time, so he'd arrived a bit ahead of the appointment. So he figured Baek Do-hoon would show up right on time.
Knock, knock.
Sure enough, after a little while, a crisp knock sounded at the guiding room door. Eugene turned his head toward the door and spoke in a low voice.
"Come in."
At Eugene's permission, the guiding room door opened. And a tall man stepped inside.
Oh...
The instant he saw him, Eugene was momentarily impressed.
He'd thought he'd grown sick of seeing handsome men in the world of the novel, but purely in terms of looks, Baek Do-hoon was no less striking than any of them. He fully understood why Eugene Langford had fixated on him in particular.
"Hm, nice to meet you. I'm—"
"Cut the pointless chatter."
"...What?"
Eugene, who'd been about to introduce himself without thinking, faltered at the cold voice.
Come to think of it, he and Baek Do-hoon weren't strangers. To him, the man was unfamiliar, but Baek Do-hoon had surely met Eugene — possessed by Langford — countless times.
So I should've acted like I knew him. Like a fool, he'd behaved as if meeting someone for the first time. Eugene nodded, reproaching himself.
"Have a seat first, Team Leader."
At that, Baek Do-hoon glared at Eugene with a clearly wary look in his eyes. He understood — Eugene Langford, who'd occupied his body, had surely pulled all sorts of tricks on the man — but being glared at out of nowhere was still infuriating.
"You're here to receive guiding, aren't you? Or aren't you?"
"..."
But Eugene knew the espers' weakness well. For S-rank espers, forever thirsting for guiding, there was no carrot quite like it. The fact that Baek Do-hoon had been the first to respond to the guiding schedule meant his situation was that urgent. That Baek Do-hoon's contamination level was the most dangerous in all of Alpha-1 Team, Eugene already knew from the information Ha-young had handed over.
Soon Baek Do-hoon slowly stepped forward. His strides were as precise as if measured with a ruler. Eugene observed his bearing closely.
The textbook image of a soldier.
Like military officers who'd walked the elite path, there was a distinctive discipline to Baek Do-hoon's gait. Even a rough glance at his record was enough to guess his personality, and sure enough, he didn't differ from expectations by even a hair.
Sitting down in the chair, Baek Do-hoon straightened his back ramrod-straight and fixed his gaze on Eugene. Now Eugene understood why Eugene Langford had marveled at Baek Do-hoon's eyes. The eyes of a man whose ability was lightning held a pale blue energy. Even now, when he wasn't using his ability, a bluish light hovered in them, lending a mysterious air.
"What's the condition for the guiding?"
Baek Do-hoon asked in a level tone. Receiving the question, the corners of Eugene's lips trembled slightly.
A condition, a price, for guiding? To him, a faithful guide, it was something he'd never even dreamed of.
Of course, that wasn't to say he worked for free. He'd have signed a contract with the Center for a high salary, after all. And if he'd been providing stable guiding to the Alpha-1 espers, he'd naturally have claimed additional pay as well.
But that was, at most, his rightful share for the work he'd done. Beyond that, the thought of demanding something from the espers as individuals had never once crossed his mind. He wasn't Eugene Langford, forever scheming ways to torment espers with his ability.
"There's no particular condition."
"What?"
At Eugene's answer, Baek Do-hoon's face twisted. He'd clearly assumed some outrageous demand was coming, so hearing there was none seemed to catch him off guard.
"You expect me to believe that?"
And naturally, Baek Do-hoon didn't trust his word. Having been jerked around by Eugene Langford's whims, it was an understandable reaction.
"The Center's starting to pressure me about it, you see. If I keep neglecting the guiding and just play around, my position gets a bit awkward."
"..."
Eugene offered up the Center as an excuse for now. Of course, the director he'd met that morning had done nothing but read his reactions like a pitiful herbivore, far from threatening him or getting angry. Still, an esper like Baek Do-hoon wouldn't know the Center's inner workings in detail, so Eugene decided to brazenly make things up.
"You didn't look like the type to care about that sort of thing."
Arms crossed, Baek Do-hoon raked his sharp eyes over every inch of Eugene's face. There was a fierce edge to him, as if he meant to see straight through any lie Eugene told.
You can stare all you want, but I really don't have any ulterior motives.
Too weary to keep explaining, and unwilling to get into a battle of wills, Eugene abruptly held out his hand. At that, Baek Do-hoon's thick brows twitched.
"As I told the director, the guiding is contact only. Just sit still, hold my hand for a bit, and then you can go."
"..."
As he said this and beckoned with his hand, Baek Do-hoon frowned all the more. It was written all over him that he didn't like this situation one bit.
But Eugene was just as uncomfortable. It was unfortunate that Baek Do-hoon had been tormented by Eugene Langford, but he himself was a victim all the same. He was too worn down in body and mind to gauge Baek Do-hoon's feelings and coax him along nicely.
"If you say something different later—"
"That won't happen, so just take my hand."
"..."
At the stiff answer, Baek Do-hoon let out a long sigh. He slowly lifted the hand he'd been resting on his thigh.
Unlike his sleek face, his hand was covered in scars. That the scars hadn't healed even for a top-tier S-rank esper meant he was in that dire a state. Eugene carefully grasped Baek Do-hoon's large hand.
How is he even walking around like this?
Having scanned Baek Do-hoon's body in a single pass, Eugene marveled inwardly, at a loss for words.
The espers of the other world had been a mess from not receiving proper guiding, and Baek Do-hoon was the same. He was in a state where he could rampage at any moment... it was a wonder he stayed sane living in this body. Eugene clicked his tongue without meaning to.
"I'll begin the guiding now. It may feel a bit uncomfortable."
Espers unaccustomed to guiding sometimes felt discomfort in accepting the unfamiliar energy. Once they adjusted, there'd be no heaven quite like it — but the trouble was the period before they grew used to it. Having closely observed the reactions of the S-rank espers in the novel, Eugene expected Baek Do-hoon would show an attitude similar to theirs.
"Nng..."
As the guiding began, before long Baek Do-hoon bit his lip. It was because his ruined wavelength recoiled at the guiding energy soothing it, from Eugene.
Moreover, his matching rate with Baek Do-hoon was on the low side. To reduce the risk, he'd need to handle the energy even more delicately. And in that respect, Eugene was a veteran.
Baek Do-hoon's wavelength, like his ability, was erratic — sparks flying this way and that. Following that flow while moving the guiding energy along was no easy task.
Even so, it had to be done. He was an S-rank guide with the ability to do it.
"Ngh."
"Bear with it just a little more."
Eugene spoke coolly and gripped Baek Do-hoon's hand tighter. A hot energy surged and rippled from where their hands were clasped. Eugene rather liked this moment.
The certainty that his guiding would take well to an esper. The timing when that conviction took root was precisely this — the moment guiding reached its peak. And so Eugene poured even more guiding energy into Baek Do-hoon.
