IDSEGI Chapter 90

Chapter 90

When a Guide is tired, it can slightly affect their energy control, leading to a very small drop in efficiency. But it’s only a tiny difference and doesn’t actually impact the match rate.

What Yeoul felt while guiding Yoon Geon just now, however, was not that. The unusually fast energy flow he’d felt before was completely absent. It was an ordinary guiding, and he could clearly sense that the match rate had dropped. It was a sensation that couldn’t be explained away by simple fatigue.

Yoon Geon’s eyes, filled with confusion, wavered.

“Han Yeoul, you…”

“Hyung, can you not ask anything right now? I’ll explain everything later.”

At Yeoul’s request, Yoon Geon closed his mouth again. He had probably been about to ask if Yeoul had imprinted. But Yeoul couldn’t answer that question honestly—he was just as confused as Yoon Geon was.

In his previous life, his efficiency with Yoon Geon had definitely increased, and he had thought the phenomenon was linked to imprinting. But was it not? Was there some other factor?

If he thought about it differently… maybe the drop in match rate wasn’t caused by imprinting at all.

If the match rate drop wasn’t due to imprinting but some other factor—something external that happened to coincide in timing—then even if the imprint was broken, Ihan might be able to receive guiding from other Guides for now, but two years later, his match rate with them would also drop. If that happened, Ihan would eventually die from going berserk.

Yeoul had never once checked whether his match rate with other Guides declined gradually. He couldn’t be certain whether this theory was wrong or not.

The important thing was that the reason Yeoul had planned to die was because he believed imprinting was the cause of the match rate drop. But if it wasn’t because of imprinting, and other Guides also experienced the same drop with Ihan…

If, at that time, there truly hadn’t been a single Guide who could guide Ihan—not just Yeoul—then things would be different. In that case, the only option would be to start research and find the cause.

Whether he lived or died wasn’t the point anymore. If he died now, he might actually make things worse. The point at which hand-guiding had stopped working was two months after the imprint. So he’d go to Ihan in two months and try hand-guiding again. If it worked then, the match rate drop was caused by something else.

That would mean it would drop in two years, giving them time to research and possibly find a solution before then. If it didn’t work, then it would confirm that imprinting was the cause, and he could go through with his original plan to die.

For the next two months, he had to avoid getting involved with Ihan. That was the best he could do right now.

Yeoul lowered his gaze from the empty air and looked back at Yoon Geon.

“Hyung, I have a favor to ask.”

Yoon Geon silently watched him, waiting for him to speak. Yeoul met his eyes with a serious look.

“Eunha hyung has put in a request to Esper Yoo Ihan of Zone 1 for research cooperation. Can you block that request on your end?”

“Is that important to you?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

Yoon Geon agreed without hesitation. Once again, he didn’t ask why. Yeoul felt a pang in his chest. Why did Yoon Geon love him so much? He couldn’t give him anything in return. Right now, he was the only Guide who could match Yoon Geon, but soon Seo Yeon-oh would appear. Even when it no longer had to be Yeoul, Yoon Geon had still loved him.

He couldn’t return Yoon Geon’s feelings, yet Yoon Geon was always steadfast. Yeoul averted his eyes from that warm gaze and added,

“And… I’m sorry, but please cancel the request for permission to visit Zone 1.”

“Alright.”

“Thank you, hyung. Thank you for always not asking anything. For trusting me and waiting…”

What he really wanted to say was that he was sorry. But unless Yoon Geon brought it up first, Yeoul had no right to reject his feelings. All he could do was express himself in a roundabout way.

Yoon Geon gently ruffled his hair.

“Let’s cut the cake.”

“Okay. And thank you for the cake too.”

Yeoul smiled faintly and took the cake out of the box. It was a sweet potato cake—something Yoon Geon must have chosen because he knew Yeoul didn’t really like sweets.

“Sweet potato, huh. I’ll have to eat this with cider.”

“With cake?”

“Of course. Sweet potato is meant to be eaten with cider. You really don’t know how to eat it, hyung.”

Perhaps taking the teasing seriously, Yoon Geon picked up his wallet and started toward the door.

“I’ll go buy some. Wait here.”

Yeoul quickly grabbed his arm and shook his head.

“I’m joking! Let’s have it with coffee.”

“Are you really feeling okay?”

“Yes. It was just for a moment earlier.”

The two sat at the table and cut the cake together. When they stuck candles in and lit them with a match, the wax began to drip slowly. Clearing his throat as if embarrassed, Yoon Geon began to sing.

He was so stiff it was like a robot was singing, and Yeoul couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“Hyung, you get embarrassed but still sing every year.”

“…You like this kind of thing.”

“Yeah. I do.”

Yeoul hadn’t had many birthdays celebrated properly, so he liked it when someone did. From age 21 for five years, it had been Yoon Geon who celebrated with him, and for the following two years, it had been Ihan.

Both were precious to him, but his feelings for them were not the same—it was love of entirely different kinds.

When the melted wax dripped onto the cake, Yoon Geon gently urged him.

“Blow them out already, or we can’t eat the cake.”

Yeoul blew out the candles and then frowned slightly.

“Ah, I forgot to make a wish.”

“What’s your wish?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Tell me. I’ll make it happen.”

“You will?”

“I didn’t get you a present.”

“Liar.”

Letting out a quiet sound of exasperation, Yeoul lowered his head and fidgeted with his fingers. When he looked up again, Yoon Geon was pushing a box toward him. Yeoul smiled knowingly.

“See? You prepare a present every year.”

“I didn’t know if it’s something you’d want.”

“I like everything you give me, hyung. I’m always grateful.”

Yeoul untied the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a brand-new phone.

“I saw a crack on your screen,” Yoon Geon explained, watching his expression. A crack? It was barely a tiny scratch.

Yeoul picked up the phone and brushed his thumb over the dark screen, his reflection faintly visible. His lips twisted faintly in a bitter expression, which he quickly hid by lowering his gaze again.

“Hyung, I really… think of you like family.”

“I know.”

When Yeoul bowed his head like a guilty man, Yoon Geon called his name softly.

“Yeoul-ah.”

“Yes?”

When he looked up, his eyes met Yoon Geon’s. In those deep black pupils, Yeoul could see his own startled face reflected. How could he not have noticed? The emotion there was so plainly visible.

“You’re precious to me too.”

“…Like family?”

Yoon Geon only gave a small smile and didn’t answer his question.

* * *

Han Yeoul (26)
C-Class Guide, Zone 5 Team Guide
Primary connection – Esper Yoon Geon
Guides Yoon Geon so often he’s effectively his exclusive Guide.

“Exclusive? Exclusive my ass. There’s no imprint.”

Ihan scowled as he flipped through the documents he had wrung out of the Zone 1 Espers. Looking at Yushin standing in front of him, he asked,

“This is all you’ve got?”

Yushin, who had stayed up three straight nights digging up information on Han Yeoul, glared at him with bleary eyes.

“You should be grateful you even got this much.”

“What’s his match rate with Yoon Geon?”

“89%. And for some reason, Yoon Geon won’t get guiding from any other Guide but him.”

“Of course he wouldn’t.”

“You know why?”

Ihan only shrugged in response.

“Anyway, sounds like they’re close. Like family, apparently?”

“Family, my ass. There’s no such thing as family between an Esper and a Guide.”

“True. Still, maybe they’re dating—hey, hey! Put that down! Calm down!”

When Ihan crumpled the file and reached for a book on the desk, Yushin panicked and stopped him. Ihan, apparently not planning to throw it, clicked his tongue and opened the book.

The title read Special Laws for National Espers.

“Why are you reading that?”

“Figured I should know it,” Ihan replied distractedly, scanning the text at speed.

He didn’t elaborate further, and since Yushin wasn’t expecting a kind answer anyway, he moved on to another question.

“So why are you so obsessed with this Guide?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

Closing the book, Ihan stared intently at the photo of Yeoul in the file. Tapping his fingers against the paper, he muttered almost to himself,

“I’m going to find out from now on. Why I keep thinking this man is my Guide.”