TG Ch 8 Part 1

Something was strange about today.

Sijin woke up to the sensation of someone touching his lips. At first, he thought he was mistaken, but every time he moved his lips due to the ticklish feeling, the touching continued, confirming it wasn’t his imagination.

Unable to bear it any longer, Sijin grabbed the mischievous hand.

“Gasp!”

It was an unfamiliar voice. Sijin, finally opening his eyes, confirmed the identity of the owner of the hand.

“Gyuho…?”

“Y-Yes, sir!!”

Esper Seo Gyuho sat before him. His response was sharp and attentive, but his posture was awkward, his hand caught by the reclining Sijin. Sijin hadn’t even gripped him tightly, but Seo Gyuho fidgeted nervously.

“Gyuho, what were you doing?”

Sijin asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. He was honestly displeased. Yesterday, he’d collapsed while k-kissing Jeong Taeyul… and now he woke up to Seo Gyuho touching his lips.

Sijin sighed and looked around.

‘This is my room?’

His surroundings were both unfamiliar and familiar; it was his dormitory room. It felt unfamiliar because he usually woke up in someone else’s room after collapsing. This was absurd.

Sijin looked at Seo Gyuho questioningly again. Their eyes met, and Gyuho, with his innocent, doe-like eyes, flinched. Then, he blurted out something unprompted.

“T-That is. Esper Seo Gyuho! Reporting for duty as an Alpha Team trainee!”

“Ah, right… Gyuho joined the Alpha Team.”

While Sijin was busy, Seo Gyuho had been assigned to the Alpha Team. Perhaps that was why he seemed so disciplined. He was still a trainee and could be dropped at any time, but while assigned to the team, he would likely be burdened with various tasks in place of the busy Alpha Team members.

“What’s your mission?”

“To observe Doctor Baek’s peaceful sleep without any personal feelings!”

“……?”

Who would give such a stupid mission? The dormitory was already swarming with Alpha Team members, so why station someone right next to him? Sijin blinked in confusion, then looked down. Seo Gyuho’s wrist, which he was still holding, was trembling. It seemed to be from nervousness rather than pain.

Sijin finally released his wrist and lightly scolded him.

“Gyuho. You shouldn’t touch a sleeping person’s lips without permission.”

“That’s… I apologize. While you were sleeping, you kept moving your lips…”

Seo Gyuho mumbled.

Embarrassed rather than angry, Sijin rubbed his face. Did he have such a habit? Was it because he’d collapsed while kissing…?

As soon as he recalled yesterday’s events, Sijin’s face flushed. He closed his eyes tightly in embarrassment, covering them for a moment, then asked about Jeong Taeyul’s whereabouts, the one who had caused him to faint.

“Um… Gyuho. Do you know where Guide Jeong Taeyul is?”

“Captain Jeong Taeyul is currently on reconnaissance near the monster appearance.”

“I see…”

As expected, there was a pressing matter. For some reason, Sijin felt relieved. At least he hadn’t been rejected, and it would have been awkward if he had woken up in Jeong Taeyul’s room. Leaving Seo Gyuho with him might have been Jeong Taeyul’s best option. He was young and naive, and still inexperienced in fieldwork.

Sijin belatedly found his glasses and put them on, looking at Seo Gyuho apologetically. He must have stayed up all night watching over him due to that strange mission. He couldn’t help but feel sorry.

“So, Gyuho, you didn’t sleep because you were watching over me? I’m sorry…”

“No, sir. It was very enjoyable!”

Sijin burst out laughing at the strangely suggestive reply. Forgetting his annoyance, he chuckled and tried to sit up.

“……!!!”

As he sat up, Sijin gasped and clutched the blanket to his chest.

He’d wondered because his body felt so comfortable, but… Flustered, Sijin averted his gaze slightly downwards and asked in a low voice, “…Gyuho.”

“Yes, sir!”

“What happened to my clothes?”

Sijin asked, barely managing to swallow his embarrassment. Where did the clothes he’d been wearing disappear to? Why was he only wearing boxers? Sijin, who always made sure to wear pajamas to sleep, was horrified. Had he been undressed from the start? Had Jeong Taeyul done something to him during the night…? All sorts of thoughts raced through his mind in his panic.

Then, Seo Gyuho replied proudly, “I took them off so you could sleep more comfortably!”

“……”

Sijin broke out in a cold sweat at those words. His current situation was embarrassing enough, but amidst it all, one worry flashed through his mind.

‘Gyuho is really the type to get chewed out by Jeong Taeyul…’

He imagined the merciless Captain Shark, unforgiving towards those lacking in logic. Even if he didn’t scold him, Seo Gyuho was definitely in for a rough time.

“R-Right, Gyuho. Then, could you get my clothes… No, it’s fine. Do you want to go and rest now?”

“No, sir! I will attend to your meal and walk after that!”

“Gyuho, guarding someone doesn’t mean waiting on them hand and foot…”

Sijin said with a tired smile.

Again, he thought Seo Gyuho would likely get scolded by Jeong Taeyul even if he left him alone. Sijin decided to quietly let the matter slide and tried to send Seo Gyuho away peacefully.

“Hmm, Gyuho. Thanks to you, I slept safely. But I really think it’s okay for you to go now.”

“Is that so? Then, understood!”

Seo Gyuho beamed, seemingly proud of completing his mission. Sijin smiled good-naturedly. Considering Seo Gyuho was almost a dozen years younger than him, he couldn’t help but find him endearing.

“Then please call me again next time you sleep!”

“I-I don’t think that’s necessary… I’ll call you when I need protection. But Gyuho, you won’t report about taking my clothes off, right…?”

“I must. All reports must be complete; omitting information is not permitted!”

“That’s not good, Gyuho. Please don’t…”

Sijin said, clutching the blanket to his chest. He was afraid the Alpha Team might get the wrong idea after hearing the report. A misunderstanding involving a trainee nearly a dozen years younger than him… The mere thought made Sijin dizzy.

Sijin spent a long time trying to convince Seo Gyuho that it would be better not to report this, and that even between men, undressing a sleeping person could lead to misunderstandings.

Hearing this, Seo Gyuho blushed as he looked at Sijin’s bare chest. Fortunately, it seemed he understood that it was an embarrassing situation. Relieved, Sijin finished his lecture and quietly sent Seo Gyuho out of the room.

“Then please rest!”

“Yeah, sure. Gyuho, thank you so much today.”

Only after seeing off the politely bowing Seo Gyuho did Sijin finally relax. Somehow, waking up in an A-rank ability user’s room felt better.

Feeling tired from the morning’s events, Sijin entered the bathroom to shower, thinking:

Today was truly a strange day.

***

Sijin, on mandatory rest, had no schedule. Still, he couldn’t just play around, so he planned to sneak into the examination room later in the afternoon to help out.

Until then, he was practically unemployed. And being in his 30s meant being consumed by worries when he had nothing to do. So, Sijin sat on a bench in a corner of the center, looking like a lost, unemployed soul.

He tried to occupy himself with a book, but he couldn’t focus on it at all. Sijin’s dazed face held only one thought.

‘I kissed Jeong Taeyul.’

If Jeong Taeyul felt a sense of stability from making someone flustered, it had been incredibly effective. He had certainly thrown Sijin into utter confusion.

‘How am I supposed to face Jeong Taeyul now… What happened yesterday? Why did I say those strange things to him…’

Lost in his thoughts, Sijin’s face crumpled, and he hung his head. He was still stuck on the feeling of wanting to hold onto Jeong Taeyul. Would it have been better if he hadn’t fainted and had heard more of Jeong Taeyul’s reaction…?

“……”

Then, Sijin spotted a ladybug circling on the pavement. Lost, just like him. Feeling a sense of kinship, Sijin crouched down and offered a leaf for the ladybug to climb onto. He needed to put it back in the bushes…

While moving the ladybug, Sijin was plagued by his thoughts.

His feelings for Jeong Taeyul were a tangled mess. He found him intimidating yet felt a sense of stability around him; he was the first person who came to mind when Sijin felt uneasy. And he was a Guide who exhibited a strange phenomenon that stimulated all of Sijin’s curiosity. Sijin almost missed the times when he had simply been afraid of Jeong Taeyul.

Perhaps because he was thinking of him, Sijin suddenly heard his deep voice in his ear.

‘So, are you saying you’d even do s*x guiding? With you and me?’

Startled, Sijin clutched his ears, his face flushing.

Why had Jeong Taeyul said such a blunt thing? How could he, an ordinary person, possibly engage in s*x guiding with him? He would surely faint again, just like yesterday.

Now, Sijin felt lost, unsure how to resolve both his feelings for Jeong Taeyul and the strange phenomenon. He didn’t know if Jeong Taeyul would cooperate again, but his lingering curiosity and other feelings remained. This was why emotions shouldn’t get mixed up with work. Sijin wished he could be reborn as a robot.

‘Ha. Let’s go to the examination room for now. I should at least put the data away…’

Sijin decided to organize the data he’d collected yesterday. He didn’t have the courage to face Jeong Taeyul right now, so he planned to sneak into the examination room and back out.

Sijin crouched down and took out his pad to check Jeong Taeyul’s location. He didn’t want to run into him today, at least.

And after checking his location, Sijin was puzzled.

‘Why isn’t he with Geonwu?’

Usually, the two coordinated their schedules, whether it was reconnaissance or training, but today they were conspicuously apart. Jeong Taeyul was in the command room after returning from his mission, and Ham Geonwu was, unusually, in the administration office.

Normally, it would be more efficient for them to go on reconnaissance together, so this was unusual. Sijin assumed there was simply another reason. All he needed to do was avoid Jeong Taeyul for now.

‘Uh…?’

Just then, a shadow fell over the crouching Sijin.