IDSEGI Chapter 84

Chapter 84

“Yoo… Ihan.”

The face before him was the one Yeoul had longed for and missed so desperately.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Yeoul’s lips parted, searching for words, but before he could answer, a deafening explosion rang out.

Kwahhh–!

The screams from the concert hall were unmistakably not of excitement, but of terror.

Ihan placed a hand on Yeoul’s shoulder and teleported them away from the concert hall to a spot a short distance away. He gave Yeoul a warm smile.

“Please wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Leaving only those few words, he disappeared into thin air.

Left alone, Yeoul blinked.

“Ihan…”

It was him—the one he had wished and wished for…

“Ihan… is really alive.”

His legs gave out and he sank to the ground. Tears streamed down his cheeks in heavy drops.

“He’s alive. Yoo Ihan is alive.”

He hadn’t died. Ihan was truly alive. Time really had turned back.

Forget the imprinting rumors—nothing mattered more to Yeoul than Ihan’s life. The anxiety he’d been suppressing melted away at the sight of him, replaced by an overwhelming sense of relief.

“Hhh… He’s alive. He’s really alive.”

I have to see him again.

I have to see him again and touch his face to make sure.

Yeoul steadied his trembling legs and ran toward the concert hall with all his strength. He had to see Ihan one more time.

By the time he arrived, it was already over. The tentacle monster was nothing but ashes.

People were crowded around Ihan, blocking the view. Yeoul pushed his way through desperately, trying to reach him.

Shoving past the fans, he finally got close enough to see Ihan’s face.

Ihan…

His chest swelled so much he couldn’t force out a single word.

Yeoul reached out and took Ihan’s hand, silently hoping to be recognized. He sent guiding energy into him.

The tangled knots of Ihan’s Esper energy slowly began to unwind.

At the same time, irritation and urgency flowed into Yeoul.

Startled, he let go of Ihan’s hand and pushed his way out of the crowd, like a salmon swimming upstream.

Left standing alone by the roadside, Yeoul stared blankly at his hand and muttered,

“The imprint… didn’t break.”

* * *

I have to go.

Ihan wanted to ignore the media, the people, all of it, and run straight to that man from before.

He wanted to see the face hidden beneath that pulled-down hat, and hold that trembling little hand again.

He wanted to rip off the mask he’d worn all this time, no matter what rumors the media might spread.

He barely restrained himself from shouting at everyone to get out of the way—when suddenly, someone grabbed his hand.

It was the same feeling as before.

Just as he turned his head to see who it was, guiding energy flowed into him—along with feelings of joy and exhilaration that weren’t his own.

They belonged to the one guiding him now.

Ihan tried to tighten his hold so he wouldn’t lose the hand, but the crowd pushed them apart before he could.

“Wait! Please wait!”

He shouted toward the person who had guided him, but there was no way to tell where they were.

Everyone was wearing the same hat.

Fuck! The curse slipped out automatically.

When he received the guiding, he had definitely felt the other person’s emotions.

The meaning was clear—

Ihan had imprinted with that person.

* * *

An hour before the C-Class gate had opened in the concert hall, Ihan had been sitting in the Center Director’s office.

“Yoo Ihan, what the hell are you going to do now? I told you to handle it nicely!”

The Zone 1 Center Director shook a newspaper with Ihan’s name splashed across the front page in huge letters.

Pressing his fingers hard into his temples like he had a headache, he groaned.

“What the hell did you say to Guide Im Jiha? Imprinting? What kind of bullshit is that?!”

Ihan yawned lazily and propped his feet up on the desk.

“She kept nagging to guide me, so I figured if I told her I’d imprinted, she’d take the hint and back off.”

“So you lied about imprinting?! You’re number one in the real-time searches right now, you idiot!”

“How is it my fault the Guide ran her mouth?”

Whether the Director was ranting himself to death or not, Ihan barely listened, answering in a disinterested tone.

The Director, veins about to pop, hurled the newspaper at him.

But before it could hit his face, it caught fire mid-air and crumbled to ash in an instant.

Furious, the Director roared.

“Hey! This all happened because you kicked Guide Im Jiha to the curb!”

“Oh, so I’m supposed to just accept it when someone comes at me naked? Am I some sex-crazed freak? Does an Esper have to say ‘yes, ma’am’ every time a Guide says they want to sleep with them?”

There wasn’t a single flaw in his curt reply. That only made it more infuriating. Damn brat even had the nerve to be eloquent about it.

The Zone 1 Center Director sighed inwardly, lamenting his fate.

“You could’ve turned her down more gently. Think about it—if you’ve been receiving guiding just fine until now, and then suddenly you say you won’t take her guiding anymore, what Guide is going to take that well? You should’ve smoothed it over.”

Im Jiha was an A-rank Guide with the highest match rate to Yoo Ihan. It wasn’t over 70%, but it came close.

Yoo Ihan didn’t have an official primary Guide, but it was true he had received guiding from Im Jiha often. She went around boasting that Ihan was her Esper.

Until now, he had let it slide out of annoyance—after all, she really did have the highest match rate with him. Because of that, she had truly convinced herself he was her Esper.

And then it blew up.

A few days ago, Ihan had told her he would no longer receive guiding from her. Unable to accept it, she had shown up at his house the night before, completely naked.

“Just sleep with me once! We can’t end it like this! I can’t let it end without a single mucous membrane guiding!”

It wasn’t only Espers who could become obsessed with a Guide—Guides also had a primal instinct to cling to Espers with high match rates.

That was why Ihan had avoided mucous membrane guiding at all costs. He didn’t want a Guide to become fixated on him.

He would rather receive less efficient guiding than press his lips against, or expose his skin to, someone he didn’t even like.

Thanks to that, he had managed to keep his virginity. Kim Yushin had once commented on it:

“Tsk, what’s the point of having the good stuff if the owner won’t use it?”

Ihan didn’t care. He had no intention of mixing bodies or tongues with anyone else. The very thought disgusted him.

Why swap saliva? It’s filthy.

To him, sex was dirty.

So when Im Jiha invaded his bedroom, Ihan seriously considered dragging her to the police. But it seemed even more bothersome to let a Guide see the true side of himself that he’d kept hidden.

So he tried to handle it neatly.

“I’m already imprinted. Your guiding doesn’t work on me anymore, Guide Im Jiha.”

Who could have guessed she would go to the press with that?

“How was I supposed to know? Who knew she was that much of a lunatic?”

The Center Director was stunned beyond words. Is that really something you should be saying, you punk?

“That’s not what I told you to do. What are you going to do now? The rumor you imprinted is all over the country.”

“What else was I supposed to do when she tried to force guiding on me? That was the only way to make her stop.”

He had caused the problem, yet his brazenness could pierce the sky.

Unable to hold back any longer, the Director’s voice rose.

“So you scam people by saying you imprinted with another Guide? You bastard! Of all the lies you could tell, why that one?!”

“Then what should I have said? ‘I can’t take your guiding anymore’? You think that would’ve gone over better? A false imprint rumor is still better.”

“That’s…”

Even the Center Director had no comeback for that.

As his mouth clamped shut, Ihan shrugged.

“Then hurry up and find me a Guide I can actually imprint with. Then it won’t be a false rumor.”

“You think it’s that easy? You think it’s easy to trick a Guide into taking a match rate test without telling them who you are?”

“That’s why I’m making the rounds too. The Center should put in the effort.”

Ihan frowned and muttered under his breath.

“I’m even careful not to show my face too much.”

“Even if you hide it, you still look like you. How many people have a face like yours?”

“Oh, so now you’re complaining about my looks? Weren’t you the one saying it was a face the media loves?”

Ihan clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“This is why double standards are dangerous. Change the situation and people flip in an instant.”

Honey, can’t I just retire? The Center Director silently grumbled toward his wife back home.

But then he thought of his rabbit-like children and their enormous university tuition fees, and steeled himself.

He tried to coax Ihan.

“Ihan, let’s be honest. You really never imprinted with another Guide?”

“I told you, I didn’t.”

“What about when you were drunk? By accident? That could happen, right?”

“Don’t you know how imprinting works? Both sides have to connect in body and mind, and exchange blood. How do you accidentally do that drunk?”

Frustrated with Ihan’s curt answer, the Center Director burst out,

“Then it doesn’t make sense! Why would your guiding suddenly stop working? Why would your match rate with other Guides drop below 20%?”