DB Vol 1 Part 23

-Back to Present-

Seona didn’t let go of her suspicion when looking at Ji Won-woo. What on earth was his true identity? Having been demoted for helping Won-woo, she couldn’t face him with a completely friendly attitude. Even though she had briefly, very briefly, held expectations for him, she had built her guard up like a solid wall. However, it was a wall that would crumble like a sand castle in less than 30 seconds.

“I didn’t know it was Han Seona-ssi’s bike. I was just looking at it because I found it interesting that it had the Light Dark family’s symbol as a sticker.”

The Light Dark family. The Gong family from Gopnalssu.

“You know Gopnalssu?”

She asked before she could stop herself, then realized her mistake. She should have said the full title, not the abbreviation. But he understood perfectly.

“Of course. ‘The Gracefully Crazy Rampaging Jajinmori Sword Master, Eolssu’. It’s a masterpiece in the webtoon world.”

Masterpiece! Seona’s eyes instantly filled with strong trust towards him. Of course, she didn’t show emotion on her face out of habit, but her mouth made the suggestion first.

“Shall we talk a bit?”

Someone once asked. Doesn’t it get boring reading the same webtoon 100 times? That’s just a foolish question from a pitiful being who hasn’t met their life’s work. Get bored after reading 100 times? Not at all!

After reading about 10 times, you start to understand the meaning of dialogues you didn’t grasp before. Around 30 times, you notice errors or typos in the content. Around 60 times, you give meaning to scenes the original creator drew without much thought, giving the work a new birth. And around 100 times, the work becomes you, and you become the work.

At that level, you feel ashamed if there’s a scene or dialogue you can’t memorize. How exciting it is to go through each stage. How happy the day becomes when you find even one line you hadn’t noticed before, despite watching it daily?

However, this happiness was incomplete. Because the webtoon Seona was obsessed with was a discontinued series with no more updates. The most heartbreaking fandom in the world- that of an unfinished work. It had been two years since Gopnalssu was discontinued. Seona ended up hearing information about the webtoon, which no one else could get news about, from a completely unexpected person.

“…You say you know Gopnalssu’s au-author?”

Seona’s voice trembled slightly, but Won-woo facing her remained calm.

“I don’t have a personal relationship with them. Since it’s been on hiatus for two years, I thought they might be under a lot of stress from association work. It seemed like they were having difficulties since quitting is hard even when it’s tough.”

“Wait. Wait a moment.”

Seona tried to calm herself, pressing her hand to her forehead.

“Gopnalssu’s author is an office worker? What association? No, don’t tell me. It’s personal information… If I knew, I might go after them… No, don’t tell me personal information even if it’s not about that.”

“Then should I also avoid spoiling why Malakin went into seclusion?”

What? Seona doubted her ears again. Malakin’s seclusion was exactly where the series was discontinued.

“You know why Malakin went into seclusion? But that’s part of the unreleased story?”

“Yes, roughly. Though it might have changed here.”

Won-woo’s additional comment was strange, but now wasn’t the time to question that. Honestly, it was hard to believe. By now, the reality of getting screwed over for trying to help Won-woo was long forgotten. Seona asked, full of doubt:

“Are you sure you know? Tell me which part you’re talking about.”

“It’s the part where Malakin performs a military dance using sword techniques combined with Taekgyeon at the imperial palace, right? Everyone is shocked, and then he suddenly disappears.”

“Which episode is that?”

“Episode 227. The last of Season 2.”

“…”

“Is that right?”

“…Yes.”

“Oh, really?”

What’s this, why is he more surprised when he got it right? As Seona frowned, Won-woo muttered to himself as if amazed,

“Is taste an innate trait? Whether it’s work or people, what we like is similar.”

“What do you mean our likes are similar?”

At Seona’s question, Won-woo’s eyes sparkled slightly.

“You handle wind power well, so your ears must be good indeed.”

As her ability was mentioned, Seona suddenly turned serious as if splashed with cold water. Come to think of it, she had some things to discuss with Ji Won-woo.

“You see the suppression piercing on my ear, right? Let me tell you in advance, I have an unusual wavelength that can’t receive proper guiding. My power is always unstable, so I can’t control it well. And there’s that famous Esper who can hear a hundred times better than me, so it’s nothing to brag about.”

Despite her suddenly cold voice, Won-woo’s gaze remained gentle. That made Seona even more uncomfortable. He had been like this since they first met. Looking at her with those eyes.

For a brief moment, I thought he might have fallen for me, but on second glance, it was clearly not the case. That wasn’t the look of someone gazing at their loved one. Maybe if we were family. But Jiwon-woo and I have no connection, right?

“You jumped in to help others without hesitation, even while wearing a suppression piercing. It seems you were confident you wouldn’t lose control, even with unstable powers. Am I wrong?”

“…You’re right.”

Seona barely hid her surprise. Regardless of what others said, she was confident in controlling her power. She even thought, “If I can’t control it, I’ll just die alone,” since she was wearing the suppression piercing. But no one understood. How could you suppress a rampage without proper guiding?

At the Center, they forced her into a mental counseling program just because she wore a suppression piercing, and twice a month she had to listen to a lecture on how to manage anxious feelings.

What if she did feel anxious? She was ready to explode at any time. But this D-rank Guide, whom she’d only met twice, saw her properly. It felt strange. Seona hardened her expression even more and glared at him.

“Speaking of which, why didn’t you receive a face-to-face investigation, Ji Won-woo? You’re the victim, you should have testified properly.”

“It was bothersome.”

“What? You think I helped you because it wasn’t bothersome for me?”

“Now that you mention it, I’m curious too. How did you end up coming to help me that day?”

“…Well, just, by chance.”

Won-woo silently curved his lips. Seona found herself momentarily captivated by his face. His family’s fame was partly due to their looks, but their appearances in photos and videos were always after hours of professional grooming.

Yet, Jiwon-woo with his unevenly self-cut hair and bare face without makeup looked much more handsome than those perfectly groomed images.

Why hadn’t she noticed before? No, he hadn’t stood out at all. Even now, in dark cargo pants and a black t-shirt, he seemed to shine.

Seona glanced at his techwear, the kind typically worn by civilian workers assisting on-site. While monster trees are well-managed on farms, field workers still carry all sorts of equipment and weapons in those pockets in case of accidents.

In contrast, Guides dress more simply. They rarely get directly involved in the field, usually staying at camp to Guide Espers.

“I guess I was lucky.”

“And because of that, my luck turned bad.”

She didn’t intend to take credit, but she couldn’t help thinking about her demotion. She wasn’t planning to tattle about being demoted, but somehow he sensed it first.

“Why? Did you get demoted for helping me?”

Seona managed to maintain a poker face, but her eyes couldn’t help but waver. What? How did he know?

“Typical of the Center.”

“Don’t easily blame the Center for other people’s problems.”

“There’s an easy way to solve this.”

“Why are you looking for a solution to my problem?”

Seona’s voice suddenly turned cold, but Won-woo looked at her as if he was used to it.

“Because we might become colleagues.”

“First of all, I don’t automatically consider someone a colleague just because they’re from the same Center. And there’s no way you and I would work in the same department.”

“That might not be true.”

What are you talking about? Are you saying you’ll follow me in getting demoted, or what? To Seona, who looked dumbfounded, Won-woo asked as if she didn’t remember.

“Did you forget? There’s an Esper vacancy in our team.”

A pause. Seona froze for a moment, then tried to hide her confusion by averting her gaze.

“Well, that’s the head team, so even if there’s a vacancy, it has nothing to do with me. And even if there’s a position, what would people say if I took the place of an Esper who died because of me?”

“It’s not like they died because of you, Han Seona-ssi. Besides, you don’t care about what others say anyway.”

“That’s right, I don’t.”

How did he know this too? Seona cleared her throat briefly and shook her head firmly.

“It seems like you’re trying to get me in using your family’s influence because you feel sorry for me, but I have no intention of accepting such favor.”

“Although I am from the Ji family, I’m not in a position to use the family’s influence. I’m about to be kicked out anyway.”

Kicked out? Seona wondered what he meant, but quickly reminded herself that she shouldn’t care about others’ stories.

“Then how do you plan to get me in?”

Well, as Won-woo was about to speak nonchalantly, both of their phones rang simultaneously.

‘D41 Farm Monster Blooming Alert. Clean-up operation scheduled for the 14th-15th. All notified agents must participate in the operation without exception.’

The date was tomorrow. Seona, familiar with such notifications, quickly checked and put away her phone, but Won-woo deliberately shared his screen with her and asked,

“Did you receive the same notification?”

“Yes, that’s right. The support team I’m in often works with your head team’s department. Why?”

“About what you asked earlier. How to join our team. You just need to show your skills in this operation. B-rank upper, and a nature-type Esper should be sufficient for our team. Don’t you think?”

“…You’re right.”

She couldn’t bring herself to be modest because it was more than sufficient. It was true, after all. How good am I? But if it were a place where only skills mattered, there wouldn’t have been a demotion in the first place. Seona immediately frowned.

“You don’t seem to know, but I’m in the support team, so I just do the clean-up after the field work. I only get to see monster corpses.”

“This operation will be different, so you should prepare to face monsters.”

“What’s different?”

“Because I’ll be going too.”

So what? Seona seriously worried about him. Has he gone mad?

“Well, fine. With ridiculously good luck, I might get scouted for the team if my skills are recognized. But I’m a rampage risk with five suppression piercings.”

“What if the guiding issue is resolved?”

“There’s no Guide suitable for me. It’s not like I haven’t looked…”

Seona then recalled the strange incident where she calmed down when Won-woo held her hand. But that wasn’t guiding. It felt completely different.

Moreover, guiding usually takes about 10 minutes. If just holding hands once could calm someone down immediately, one Guide could see a thousand people in a day. She was about to ask if he did something back then, but Won-woo spoke first.

“There’s one thing I want to confirm with you, Han Seona-ssi. If you could receive stable guiding, would you want to continue working at the Center? As a field agent?”

“Of course.”

Wasn’t that why she had endured all that to rise to the support team? Won-woo quietly looked at her as she answered. As if trying to confirm how sincere she was. Then he slowly asked,

“Are you sure that staying and working at the Center is really what you want?”

“Do I look like I’m working here against my will?”

No. Won-woo shook his head with a smile.

“Then I have no reason to hesitate. Let’s make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

Instead of answering, Won-woo extended his hand. Seona hesitated for a moment, then remembering what she wanted to confirm earlier, she took his hand. And she had the exact same experience as before. She felt a slight dizziness as if all the strength in her body was draining away. But it wasn’t a bad feeling.

Rather, as the pain disappeared in an instant, it was a pleasant haziness as if she had stepped onto a cloud. And then, energy slowly started to build up inside her again. Before, it seemed to have filled up instantly, but now it felt like the energy was stacking up steadily.

The violent force that usually pierced and tore through her body like a storm-tossed sea now condensed stably like jelly. And her mind cleared.

Seona barely suppressed a gasp of joy as the pain disappeared, closing her eyes. The lifelong headache had completely vanished as well.

Her hand trembled involuntarily at this euphoria. She tried to regain her composure, but couldn’t easily open her eyes. After a long while, she finally lifted her head and met the eyes waiting for her. Ji Won-woo asked her something, but the dazed Seona couldn’t hear properly. However, she heard this clearly,

“From now on, I will be your Guide, Han Seona-ssi.”

-To be continued in Volume 2-