TS 065

Despite having called them with such a grim face, Lee Woojin had to stop as soon as he arrived at the Guiding room. It was because his pager had gone off.

“Ah.”

A sense of failure was evident in the hand that swept through his hair in annoyance.

“Who’s calling a Team 1 exclusive this arbitrarily?”

Yoon Taehwa raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t understand why the pager was going off when no one in Team 1 needed Guiding. It seemed Lee Woojin had been meddling again.

“I told you, you don’t need to help other teams.”

“You know, the manpower shortage.”

Lee Woojin, who was operating the pad, let out a short sigh.

“I’ll be right back, so wait inside with Suryeon-ssi.”

“Which team is it?”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? I have to give them a piece of my mind.”

“The kids will be intimidated because of you. Just wait a little.”

Yoon Taehwa watched his retreating back and then stepped inside the door. Han Suryeon, who had entered first, was standing there blankly.

“What’s going on?”

“I think a call came from another team.”

“You’re letting him go? Guiding a lot will only tire out the Guide.”

“I know. I’ll have to deal with the bastard who called him once and for all.”

Yoon Taehwa answered in a trivial tone as he sat down on the sofa. He knew that Lee Woojin helped other teams, but even so, he hadn’t expected them to call him first. The Center wasn’t the military, but due to the nature of Transformed Beings, there was a clear hierarchy.

In short, it was one thing for him to step in first, but for another team to call first was an overreach of authority.

‘It’s about time I put a stop to it.’

This was the result of him paying less attention to external factors while focusing on the Monomorium case.

“Why did he call us?”

“…I wonder.”

He had a guess, but he thought, no way.

“By the way, why is Han Suryeon coming next to me?”

“That’s what the sofa is for…”

The Guiding room was of a moderate size. It would have been a bit bigger if it were on the 34th floor, but the place Lee Woojin had chosen was not the Guiding room on the 34th floor, but a common Guiding room. A cot, a low table of a simple design, and an L-shaped sofa were all there was.

Since mucous membrane Guiding was extremely rare, it was also extremely rare for Guiding to lead to sex, but they were places that were thoroughly soundproofed in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.

“I think I’m going to get scolded, so I’m going to hide behind you, Team Leader.”

“Are you a kid?”

“If I were a kid, I couldn’t do that with you, Team Leader.”

The man who had lowered his eyelashes as if he were shy sat down right next to him. From the moment he had seen him standing there blankly, he had expected him to sit next to him again.

“The structure seems a bit different from the 34th floor.”

“Because only Team 1 uses the 34th floor. The space is large, so the Guiding room has to be large too.”

“Have you ever received Guiding here?”

“Probably.”

His memory was hazy.

The times he had to receive Guiding urgently were usually right after being in the field. He would usually receive emergency Guiding from Lee Woojin, who was waiting in the car. Since they had known each other for a long time, their matching rate was high, and if he took a supplement, the effect was enhanced, so they could put out the urgent fire.

After getting out of the car, he would usually go straight up to the 34th floor to receive Guiding. The wavelength of an S-class Esper also affected other Espers, so it was better to be far away.

“Probably?”

“Because I don’t remember it clearly.”

“Do you do mucous membrane Guiding too?”

Yoon Taehwa, who was about to ask, “and you?”, swallowed his words. Since he had a blood-related Guide, there was a high probability that he didn’t need to receive Guiding from anyone else.

“I don’t. It’s not common to do mucous membrane Guiding in this day and age. It’s not like we’re lovers.”

“I guess we should be thankful for the advancement of technology.”

“That’s old news.”

“I’m thankful that you don’t have to do mucous membrane Guiding with a Guide, Team Leader?”

“You can continue to be thankful in the future.”

Yoon Taehwa thought that he probably wouldn’t be receiving mucous membrane Guiding in the future. As long as there were no major accidents, the possibility of problems occurring was also close to zero.

“Alright. I’ll be thankful.”

The fingers that slyly intertwined were shameless. Yoon Taehwa let Han Suryeon fiddle with his hand and lowered his gaze in that direction.

‘What on earth is this guy thinking?’

He had noticed a long time ago that he was interested in him, but he had no idea what kind of interest it was exactly, or what he was thinking. If one of them had been a Guide, he would have defined it as a favorable impression accompanied by sexual interest, but the two were clearly Espers.

Suddenly, Christina’s voice came to mind.

‘How about you, Yoon? Do you think it’s possible for Espers to fall for each other?’

‘If it’s possible, they’d both be crazy bastards.’

And next to him sat a crazy bastard. Putting aside the fact that he had called him his prince on a white horse out of the blue on their first meeting, there was no way he wasn’t a madman, having endured three months without Guiding. Yoon Taehwa put strength into his fingers and snatched the nail that had dug into the groove between them.

“Something just occurred to me.”

Han Suryeon, who had been staring intently at his own hand, which had been sucked in between his fingers, slowly raised his head. As if some thought had crossed his mind, his cheeks flushed a faint red.

“You said you endured for three months without Guiding.”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Did the vice guild master allow that?”

Han Suryeon’s eyes widened, as if asking why he was stating the obvious.

“There’s no reason not to allow it?”

“What if you went rampant?”

“If that had happened, I would have been suppressed by my father and received Guiding in an incapacitated state.”

The nameless man who was said to be Korean-American came to mind. Since he was said to be an S-class, it didn’t seem impossible for him to suppress Han Suryeon.

“It seems they don’t stop their son even if he does something crazy.”

“He probably let me be because he thought I could handle it. If I die, then so be it?”

If I die, then so be it, Yoon Taehwa frowned. It didn’t seem like he had grown up under parental neglect, but he hadn’t expected to hear such words.

“Didn’t you say you were a beloved only son?”

“I was loved, wasn’t I? I was just told, ‘you’re an adult, so you’re responsible for your own life’.”

“…Is it because of the Red Mafia?”

For Yoon Taehwa, who had lived in Korea, it was difficult to comprehend. It was a given that an adult should take responsibility for their own share, but sometimes, that weight was an excessive responsibility.

‘It’s funny to be thinking this in front of an S-class Esper.’

It was strange how he often found himself thinking of Han Suryeon as if he were a child.

“I was actually a little lonely.”

What’s wrong with me? Just as he was trying to find the reason why he often felt weak, Han Suryeon suddenly lowered his eyelids. The force of his fingers digging in between theirs grew stronger, as if he were whining.

“Maybe it’s because I manifested as an Esper at a young age, I’ve heard that a lot… So I’ve never thought it was strange.”

His softened eyes grew moist, and a sorrowful expression hung on his lips. His ragged breath seemed as if it would be mixed with a sob at any moment.

“You said you grew up loved?”

“What kind of love it is is another matter. Being loved doesn’t mean you can’t feel lonely.”

Han Suryeon put strength into their intertwined hands, so much so that the grooves of their fingers met completely.

“So, at least you have to dote on me, Team Leader.”

The tight grip was as insistent as a kiss.

“You promised.”

Did I? Yoon Taehwa retraced his memory. He had told him to act pretty many times, but he had never promised to dote on him. The man who had tilted his head slightly rubbed his forehead on his shoulder. It was the image of a large dog acting cute, checking its owner’s mood.

He wondered when he had made a promise he didn’t even know about, and just stared down at their intertwined hands, when a soft skin touched his neck and a faint pain spread.

‘He’s doing it again.’

At this point, he began to wonder if what he had said about being lonely was true. Don’t kids who didn’t receive love when they were young obsess over this kind of skinship? He didn’t know much about child education since he wasn’t very interested, but he thought he might have heard something like that somewhere.

Yoon Taehwa deliberately put strength into his fingers and squeezed. The grip must have hurt quite a bit, as Han Suryeon’s fingertips twitched.

“I think I told you not to bite.”

It was already over even if he warned him. Han Suryeon slowly lifted his head. A look of satisfaction was etched in his melting eyes.

Just as he was about to move his lips, the door opened. As if he had read his presence, their intertwined fingers came apart at the same time. His own nail marks were left on the skin that was pulling away.

“I called you and then left. Sorry.”

“What is it?”

Lee Woojin stood in front of the two who were sitting side by side.

“Haa…”

He let out a deep sigh, fixed his messy hair, and opened his mouth in a rather serious tone.

“You two fought?”

“What?”

Yoon Taehwa’s cheek contorted.

“Jaemin told me. You two fought. That’s why Suryeon-ssi wasn’t at the Center for a week.”

“The youngest is spreading nonsense. It wasn’t a fight… Ha, anyway, it’s over. I apologized.”

“You apologized?”

Lee Woojin still had a suspicious expression. When he tapped Han Suryeon’s thigh, he nodded his head.

“The Team Leader apologized. We even came to work together today.”

“Ah… I see. I thought you hadn’t made up yet.”

“What do you mean, made up. Don’t tell me you called us all the way here to say this?”

“Since I’m the oldest in Team 1, I have to mediate.”

The reason he sometimes called Lee Woojin a kindergarten teacher was because of this kind of solution.

“I thought it was something serious.”

Yoon Taehwa retorted as if it were bland, getting up from the sofa. As if he were embarrassed, Lee Woojin stroked the nape of his neck.

“What’s there to be serious about with me… You guys really made up, right? Jaemin told me in a very solemn way.”

“I told you we made up.”

Yoon Taehwa loosely raised his lips. How could they not have, when they had rolled around in bed together.