"Is there really any reason to bother remembering something like that?"
Since it had come to this, he decided to brazen it out. Playing the part of Eugene Langford was unappealing, but if he drew needless suspicion, they might interrogate him further and make things a nuisance.
"Hmm."
At that, Min Jae-ha's face lost its trace of a smile as he scanned Eugene's expression. Soon the corners of his lips slid upward.
"How interesting."
"..."
Belatedly, Eugene felt a sense of danger. It was clearly a smiling face like before, yet subtly different. Looking closely, Min Jae-ha's eyes — his irises a lighter color than most — weren't smiling at all. It was a cold gaze, as if closely observing its target.
So he's been watching this whole time without giving anything away.
Usually, when someone you know behaves differently than before, you'd be flustered or surprised and show it, but Min Jae-ha did nothing of the sort. He'd calmly approached, struck up conversation, and watched the reaction. It wasn't behavior an ordinary person would engage in.
This kid's got a somewhat sinister streak.
In the other world too he'd met plenty of espers with strange personalities. The higher the rank, the more so. High-rank espers with peculiar wavelengths had trouble finding well-matched guides, so they were always suffering from a guiding deficiency. So even a perfectly sound person was bound to go strange.
Baek Do-hoon, the leader of Alpha-1 Team, seemed to have been trained through military life to keep his personality from showing, at least on the surface. Though when he got worked up and lost his temper, his true nature appeared.
Kang Tae-jun, on the other hand, had a foul temper to begin with and faced no real restraint on his behavior, so his disposition was no joke. Perhaps the only person who could reprimand an S-rank esper was another S-rank and superior like Baek Do-hoon. But the team leader position was nominal in name only; S-rankers with such powerful abilities would be impossible to control.
Still, Kang Tae-jun had a simple enough personality to be easy to handle. You just watched his reactions and played along appropriately.
But Min Jae-ha was different from them. It wasn't that he was forcibly suppressing or hiding a twisted personality — it was closer to acting. That initial friendly manner had surely been a fabrication too.
"Come to think of it, I hear you guided the other team members yesterday?"
The topic of conversation shifted quickly. It seemed this was the crux of Min Jae-ha's business. Eugene decided to mimic Eugene Langford's arrogant attitude for a while.
"What of it? Over something as trivial as guiding."
"No, I mean... you've never done it properly until now."
"You have complaints even when I do it for you?"
Eugene frowned as if displeased. He could feel Min Jae-ha's gaze persistently scanning his face. Sweat trickled down his back.
I'd honestly prefer it if he just charged at me like the others. Min Jae-ha seemed to have a suspicious nature. He had a premonition things would get bothersome going forward.
"Then are you going to guide me today too?"
Min Jae-ha asked in a chipper voice, like before. The attitude that flipped back and forth as if a switch had been pressed was absurd.
"If I feel like it later."
Eugene answered in a deliberately cold tone. Of course he was going to guide him because of the quest, but if he readily said he'd do it, Min Jae-ha would probably get suspicious again. Recalling how Min Jae-ha's eyes had thinned like a snake's in an instant, he hardened his expression further.
"If you feel like it?"
"That's right."
"Well, at least it's not a no."
Grinning sulkily, Min Jae-ha made a satisfied expression. The roundly curved eyes gave a young impression for his age. By age alone, he was the second oldest after Baek Do-hoon, the team leader. The more he looked, the more youthful the face seemed.
"Guess I'll have to be on my best behavior to get guided."
"..."
And on top of that, wasn't he saying such a thing with a grin? For a moment Eugene was at a loss for words.
Best behavior my foot. This is a total nutjob, isn't it? Eugene grumbled and spat out a curse inwardly.
"See you later then, Team Leader."
Speaking breezily, Min Jae-ha left first. He'd been yakking away nonstop from beside him, yet had somehow managed to finish his meal. Eugene watched his retreating back for a moment, then rose to his feet.
No more mistakes from now on. He'd have to be careful when dealing with the other espers too, going forward. Resolving so, Eugene left the cafeteria.
"T-Team Leader? Did you... come in to work?"
When he got to the office, Ha-young was startled as if he'd seen a ghost. Looking at his widened eyes, Eugene nodded carelessly.
"Yeah. You said an audit's coming."
"Not yet, though..."
"You can't know exactly when, can you?"
"That's true, but..."
Ignoring the dumbfounded Ha-young, Eugene sat down.
Maybe I should have put on some airs before coming in. He'd come early because he was hungry, and Ha-young was aghast. Then again, Eugene Langford would have chewed up and spat out any request to please come in to work.
Today I guide the remaining two...
Taking the pad Ha-young handed him, Eugene checked today's schedule. He'd guided Baek Do-hoon and Kang Tae-jun yesterday, so Min Jae-ha and Lee Si-yoon remained. Eugene recalled Min Jae-ha, whom he'd briefly run into at the cafeteria, and frowned for a moment.
"Is-is the schedule too tight after all? Should I take one off?"
"...No, it's fine."
Then, because of Ha-young reading his mood too much, he relaxed his expression. Eugene continued skimming the pad screen.
Park Ro-woon was on overseas deployment.
There were currently four Alpha-1 Team espers at the Center. The remaining one was out on overseas deployment carrying out a mission. So if he met Lee Si-yoon and did the guiding today, he'd have met all the espers he was currently in charge of.
Is there a well-matched guide abroad or something? His numbers are the most stable.
Park Ro-woon, who had an invisibility ability, was a figure optimized for infiltration. So while he belonged to Alpha-1 Team, the missions he actually carried out were infiltrating terror organizations and spy activities. This time too, an organization that unregistered awakeners had formed abroad had had its tail caught, and he'd gone out to investigate them.
Unlike the other espers, Park Ro-woon alone had a notably low contamination level. He'd probably found a guide with a well-aligned wavelength at his deployment site. Eugene had worried the quest might suffer if Park Ro-woon returned late and couldn't get enough guiding, but it seemed he could set that concern aside for now.
"Um, but Team Leader..."
"Hm?"
Making various plans while looking at the pad screen, Eugene raised his head at Ha-young's call without thinking. Ha-young was still looking at him with a troubled face.
"Is there something else to report?"
"No, it's — that is..."
"...?"
Did the Center Director say something about me guiding the espers yesterday?
Recalling the timid-seeming Director's face, Eugene tilted his head. Kang Tae-jun aside, he'd guided Baek Do-hoon plenty. And considering how unfaithful Eugene Langford had been all this time, wasn't it something to be praised for? Grumbling inwardly, Eugene fixed his gaze on Ha-young, who was hesitating over his words.
"You haven't been using the banquet hall since yesterday... by any chance, where are you having your meals?"
"What?"
Did I mishear? The banquet hall?
Doubting his own ears, Eugene realized Ha-young wasn't joking. The face with the outer corners of his eyes drooping down looked timid, but it didn't feel like he was joking. Eugene frowned, then raised a hand to rub the corners of his eyes.
"Was I eating at that place called the banquet hall?"
"Huh? Y-yes..."
"By myself?"
"Yes, of course..."
"..."
At Ha-young's words, Eugene belatedly realized how Eugene Langford had been having his meals here all this time. He should have caught on when he saw everyone's shocked reactions at the cafeteria.
He'd figured he'd at most order something like room service to the room, but sure enough, Eugene Langford was clearly a madman beyond imagination.
In the world of the original novel, the place Eugene Langford had lived was a grand aristocratic mansion. It sat on grounds of staggering size, with several hundred household staff attached. There, the space where meals were had was called a "dining room" or "banquet hall."
So he built a place like that here too. He'd brought a mahogany desk into the room, and it seemed he'd wanted to indulge in luxury just as he had in the original world. Eugene also recalled the Director going on about expensive black tea on his first day back.
"...Get rid of that banquet hall."
"What?"
At Eugene's firm order, Ha-young asked back loudly, startled. He immediately opened his mouth to speak.
"But you said you wouldn't eat unless every meal was European-style with wine to accompany it?"
"..."
Damn Eugene Langford. He really pulled every stunt there was. Grinding his teeth, Eugene recalled Eugene Langford, who'd brazenly ordered a banquet hall and food prepared for himself alone using his body. If the man had been before him, he'd have wanted to tear him to shreds.
"Uh, eating that way for three years... I got a bit sick of it."
"Then shall I change the menu for you?"
"No need. From now on I'll eat at the Center cafeteria."
"Whaaat?"
Ha-young, who didn't know Eugene had already gone to the Center cafeteria that morning, was aghast. At his expression, which seemed to say how could someone with that personality eat elbow-to-elbow with others, Eugene was briefly at a loss for words.
"If you understood, then off you go. I still have materials to look through."
"Ah, yes. Understood..."
When Eugene waved his hand dismissively as if bothered, Ha-young nodded and slowly turned around. The way he checked whether Eugene was really all right until the moment he left was quite a sight. Once he was gone, Eugene let out the sigh he'd been holding in.
