DB Vol 1 Part 19

Seona had been off yesterday but came to the Center on purpose, so she hadn’t had proper rest all week. But she wasn’t tired at all. Rather, she was overflowing with energy. However, there was no one she could tell this reason to, so she confided in her only friend after three days. When Seona told the story of meeting Ji Won-woo, her friend’s eyes widened in shock.

“He said ‘It’s a good day to chug a cider’?!”

“Yeah, that’s what he said… No, that’s not the important part right now.”

Seona quickly shook her head, but Umji’s attention was already fixed elsewhere.

“That’s what our Malrangi said in Gopnalssu!”

Umji let out a shout pulled from her abs. Thanks to that, everyone in the Center’s second-floor outdoor lounge who had gathered to enjoy their break looked over. Moreover, Umji had good pronunciation, so everyone clearly heard the words “Gopnalssu” and “Malrangi.”

Fortunately, no one knew that it was the abbreviation for the webtoon “The Gracefully Crazy Rampaging Jajinmori Swordmaster, Eolssu” that the two were fans of, and Malrang was the nickname of the main character, Malakin. Still, Seona gritted her teeth and cautioned her friend.

“Why don’t you just read all of Gopnalssu into a loudspeaker?”

Umji finally sat down, placing her hand over her excited heart.

“What, is Ji Won-woo a Gopnalssu fan?”

“I don’t know that yet. Maybe Won-woo just really likes cider.”

“He asks for cider when an Esper just exploded and died in front of him? …Ah, I guess he could if it was an Esper who was bullying him.”

Umji now seemed to have lost her excitement and relaxed her body. Seona nodded and took a sip of coffee.

“Besides, he wouldn’t know that I’m a Gopnalssu fan.”

“Not just a fan, but a super fan. So did he perhaps recognize you?”

Seona shook her head.

“We wore masks, hats, and even sunglasses at offline events. No one would recognize us.”

“True. We suffered so much covering our faces completely even in the middle of summer at the goods expo. Still, it was fortunate that all the places we went to were sparsely populated.”

Umji had covered only her face but wore a sleeveless shirt, so her muscular body was all exposed.

“Right. There were so many people at the event that day, but the booths we went to were always quiet. We were lucky.”

Seona had also covered her face, but it made the five suppression piercings in her ears stand out more.

“There’s no way anyone would know for sure that we’re Gopnalssu fans.”

Umji concluded and picked up her unfinished knitting, quickly moving her hands again. Unlike Umji, who brought her knitting to work and knitted whenever she had a chance, Seona still couldn’t readily do things that would attract people’s attention. She wanted to knit everything from underwear to wear or put on her head only after her Esper abilities were properly recognized.

“But it’s quite surprising for a coincidence. Of all things, to say it’s a good day to chug a cider. Still, just in case, make sure to ask if he’s a Gopnalssu fan when you meet him. Make sure.”

Umji emphasized ‘make sure’ to Seona while moving her hands as fast as an industrial machine.

“I will. I have other things to ask too.”

“Ah, about him guiding you?”

Umji asked casually. Compared to her surprise about Gopnalssu, her level of interest was significantly lower.

“But it didn’t feel like guiding. It was definitely different. Different, but…”

“You said you were Guided?”

Yes, Seona mumbled, looking down at the outside of the balcony. That’s why she had been hanging around the Center yesterday and today.

Fortunately, she heard that Won-woo came to work today. But it felt awkward to suddenly go find him, so she was drinking coffee here with Umji. Even though she tried to think coldly that it couldn’t have been what a D-rank Guide did, she wanted to confirm it directly from him. This urgency wouldn’t easily disappear.

“But if you want to meet Won-woo today, you’ll need to take a number.”

“Why?”

Umji pointed outside as an answer. A flashy car stopped in front of the center’s main gate, and a blonde man accompanied by broadcasting staff got out.

“Won-woo’s famous brother came. Ji Seong-hyeon.”

Geon-young had been calling Won-woo’s phone that had been off for three days, but even though it was finally turned on, he still couldn’t talk. He could talk face to face with Won-woo who had come to work.

“Hey, fuck! Ji Won-woo!”

With a curse, Geon-young slammed his fist on the desk. They were sitting face to face in Geon-young’s office like a few days ago, but unlike then, Won-woo handed Geon-young a document.

“What’s this?”

Geon-young roughly picked up the document and scanned its contents with his eyes. More precisely, just the title.

‘Guide Sexual Violence Victim Report’

Rip. Geon-young tore the document in his hand as if there was nothing more to see.

“That’s a copy. I just submitted it to the Center’s ethics committee.”

At Won-woo’s explanation, Geon-young raised his eyes in disbelief.

“It’s useless even if you submit it. It’s not like you were penetrated right there? They didn’t lay a finger on your body, what nonsense is this? I don’t know what you’re hoping for, but you’re mistaken if you think the ethics committee will listen.”

“Do you know what I’m trying to do?”

Geon-young frowned. The dry gaze staring straight at him showed no fear towards him. It was just the other day that he felt the person had changed after the incident, but now he could barely remember how he used to live like he was dead. How did he change like this?

“Fine, tell me. What are you trying to do?”

“Record. Even if there’s no immediate action, as records of Head Team 3 harassing Guides accumulate, they won’t be able to ignore it. Besides, this place is full of troublemakers in that area from the start. Then the first one to be sanctioned will be the person in charge of Head Team 3. That’s you.”

At these words pointing directly at him, Geon-young’s mouth turned bitter. It sounded too plausible to dismiss as nonsense this time. He soon came to his senses, but the moment of hesitation was shameful, and his voice hardened.

“Go ahead. Do whatever you want, you bastard.”

“What if I really do everything?”

“Ha, what more can you do?”

“A lot. I could spill everything I know about Alpha seeds.”

Geon-young closed his mouth again. That information would surely include the fact that he had used Alpha seeds to raise his rank. He glared, thinking it was a threat, but Won-woo’s expression was calm. If anything, he seemed so uninterested in Geon-young that it slightly hurt his pride.

“What do you want from me?”

“First, drop the informal speech. I don’t want to be close enough with you to speak informally.”

It’s not like speaking informally means you’re close, what kind of reason is that? Geon-young was dumbfounded but gritted his teeth and complied.

“What do you want from me, Mr. Ji Won-woo?”

“Let me stay on the team.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mr. Ji Won-woo. You want to stay and keep threatening and harassing me?”

Won-woo let out a chuckle. As his expressionless demeanor changed instantly with that small laugh, Yoo Geon-young’s gaze was momentarily captured by his face. The smile quickly disappeared, but his low voice was still mixed with laughter.

“I don’t have enough interest in you to spend that much time on you.”

“…”

“If a legitimate reason comes up for me to leave the team, I’ll leave on my own then. You don’t need to worry about me outside of work either. Just ignore me like you did before.”

As Won-woo finished speaking and was about to get up, Geon-young called out to him. His mouth was twisted upwards.

“Even if I don’t fire you, I can’t do anything if someone else does. How can I stop them when they came all the way to the East Center just to get you?”

Before he could ask who had come, a noisy sound was heard from outside the window. Geon-young’s sneer mixed with that sound.

“He’s already here. Oh, your brother asked for a room where we could talk quietly. A place with good soundproofing, where even if screams come out from being hit, they won’t leak out.”

***

“Ah, that idiot bastard. Why didn’t he die in the monster farm and came back to be such a nuisance?”

Before getting out of the car, Ji Seong-hyeon spent a long time cursing at his idiot brother. Even then, his anger wasn’t quelled. He had a lot to do today. No, his schedule was packed every day. He had to create filming content for the filming team that followed him almost 24 hours a day, and he had meetings with business partners for the five businesses he was running.

And that wasn’t all. To make money from business, he had to sell things. He had to show his face to the public, so he had to attend every event that was making headlines. To do that, management was essential, so he had to invest time in that as well.

And now, when he’s this busy. His younger brother, who had never been helpful since birth, caused trouble, so he came to meet him on his father’s orders. As if it wasn’t enough that his father was busy with image management for political lobbying, that Won-woo bastard was exposing their family name to the media for unnecessary reasons.

“Fuck, that bastard. He should have been eaten by monsters and died.”

“You need to get out now. Is 30 minutes enough time?”

Secretary Yang, who followed and took care of him, quickly added while checking the schedule.

“You must attend the cosmetics business meeting. The launch date is right around the corner, and they want to start filming the promotional video right away. And you must make time for this today, as it’s the concept motif for the meeting.”

He emphasized by using the word ‘must’ twice. Secretary Yang usually spoke soothingly to handle Seong-hyeon well, but the strength in his voice meant that this was something he couldn’t miss.

Seong-hyeon cursed his brother again, saying “fucking bastard, son of a bitch.” If it weren’t for that bastard, he’d be sitting on an Esper’s dick right now, shaking his hips.

The new Esper bodyguard was B-rank low rank but a power type, so his stamina was amazing. . Moreover, Guiding with a well-matched Esper increased sensitivity, so the pleasure was so explosive that he didn’t even need drugs. This Esper had a Matching Rate of over 70%. It was unbelievably fantastic.

So for the past week, whenever he had time, under the pretext of guiding, they had sex everywhere, be it in the car or the bathroom, and he still wanted more. Even now, he wanted to Guide while holding that hot dick.

“Come on, get out.”

When Secretary Yang lightly pushed his back, Seong-hyeon irritably slapped away his hand.

“Fuck, don’t touch me.”

Seong-hyeon’s face contorted like a demon, but as soon as the car door opened, he smiled as if nothing had happened. Outside the car, cameras were already prepared to film him.

Though smiling, he was grinding his teeth inside. 30 minutes? Fine, Ji Won-woo, you bastard, just wait and see. Ji Seong-hyeon smiled even more brightly as he received everyone’s attention. And in the very quiet meeting room prepared by the Center, he shouted the same thing for 30 minutes until his throat was sore.

“Fuck, why isn’t this bastard coming?!!!”

Munch munch, gulp.

Won-woo put the last piece of kimbap in his mouth and chewed, then immediately unwrapped the second roll. Perhaps because it was an open space, the wind blew and almost made the wrapper fly away, but he quickly grabbed it, folded it expertly, and put it in the bag. Then he put another one in his mouth and chewed diligently. He was eating kimbap alone on the Center rooftop, on top of the water tank, but he wasn’t lonely.

[Are you making Ji Seong-hyeon wait?]

Won-woo responded with a “yeah” while chewing to Nani’s question. Then immediately another question was heard.

[Are you scared?]

“Cough!”

Won-woo choked on what he was eating and shook his head while hitting his chest.

“Haha, no. What’s there to be scared of Ji Seong-hyeon?”

[Then why are you avoiding him?]

“Because I’m not good at acting.”

Won-woo looked down at the shiny white luxury sedan parked conspicuously in front of the main entrance below. The gold decorations were just Ji Seong-hyeon’s style. He claimed to have sophisticated taste, but to Won-woo’s eyes, it just seemed like a nouveau riche sentiment wanting to show off money.

“Ji Seong-hyeon is relatively easy to deceive in the Ji family, but since childhood, he’s tattled everything to his older brother Ji Dong-hyun. He’ll surely go and tell him I’m acting strange, and if Dong-hyun gets involved, it could become troublesome. If someone attacks, I have to fight, but there’s no need to voluntarily engage in a fight that can be avoided.”

[You’re talking as if you’re short on time.]

“You know well, our Nani.”

[Don’t call me that.]

The voice was so cold that someone who didn’t know better might flinch, but Won-woo didn’t budge. After all, an AI couldn’t have complaints.

“How should I not call you?”

As Won-woo asked while chewing earnestly, a voice suppressing emotion was heard after a pause.

[While eating.]

Ah. Won-woo swallowed the food in his mouth and apologized.

“Sorry. The pronunciation wasn’t clear.”

[…..]

“I’m done eating.”

[Why do you only eat convenience store food?]

“Well, gulp, because processed foods are a bit safer from poisoning.”

[…Ah, poisoning.]

The other party conveyed contempt in their voice, dismissing Won-woo’s words as delusions, but Won-woo didn’t hear it as he was focused elsewhere. Just then, the owner of the white sedan was coming out making a noisy sound. Won-woo put the rest of the kimbap in his mouth and curiously looked at his brother, whom he was seeing for the first time in years.

Is a person’s innate nature stronger? This world’s Ji Seong-hyeon also seemed to care a lot about his appearance. Though he looked tiny from far away, he was clearly smiling at the people who had gathered. He’s forcing himself to smile well. I wonder if he’ll tear up all the seats and throw them as soon as he gets in the car? Won-woo watched Seong-hyeon’s car leave as he put the last kimbap in his mouth.

[Then why eat at such a high place? To keep watch for attacks?]

“Yeah.”

[…..]

“There are no buildings higher than this around here. It’s good for watching out for assassins, and there are structures that are suitable for avoiding snipers.”

[Seems like you’ve received a lot of death threats?]