STJ_13

Kangjun, who was heading to his office, found his assistant, Kim Hangyeol, looking agitated in the middle of the corridor. When Hangyeol saw Kangjun, she immediately rushed over to him.

"Ah, where have you been, Lieutenant Colonel! I've been looking for you! There was a phone call from the Minister, three times!”

Hangyeol, who had been grumbling, sensed that something was wrong and breathed heavily through her nostrils before stepping back in surprise.

"Are you smoking?"

"Not me, someone else."

Did that mean he was just standing there watching someone else smoke? Hangyeol was surprised again and reached into her left pocket. She always carried a gel hand sanitizer in hier right pocket and a disinfectant spray in her left pocket.

As she was about to spray the disinfectant, Hangyeol looked hesitant when Kangjun, who usually nodded as a sign of approval, just stared at the disinfectant bottle in her hand.

"Um... Lieutenant Colonel? The spray..."

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Uh, huh?"

"I thought I was calm. Is it?”

Hangyeol's face was covered in confusion for a moment. Suddenly, she remembered that she had gotten drunk with her classmates a few days ago, and her memory stopped halfway. Could she have made a mistake?

"Wh-who-who was it that said that?"

"Do you think so?"

"Yes? No?"

Hangyeol shuddered and answered with trembling shoulders as if pricked by needles. Kangjun smiled as if it didn't matter, then nodded before closing his eyes. Hangyeol habitually sprayed disinfectant evenly over his clothes.

"Ah, I heard that the reporter was classified as a Guide. As expected, you are a Lieutenant Colonel. You even know a Guide who can't be detected by machines."

"What did the medical team say?"

"It looks like he was imprinted. That's the most likely hypothesis. Some researchers agree."

"...imprinted."

When Kangjun took off the gloves he was wearing, he threw them into the trash. Hangyeol, as if she had been waiting for him, held out a new glove...

"The guiding energy is also clean and of high quality. It must have reached class A. It's really worth your effort to bring it here."

Kangjun persuaded many people to bring Doyoung. He spent a lot of money and effort to get the position of a public relations officer. However, he finally achieved satisfactory results, proving once again that he had been chosen.

The higher the rank of the Esper, the more selective they were about the quality of their Guides. It was unimaginable what a Guide could do for the country.

"Your vision is truly exceptional. You have made a great contribution to the country."

Kangjun smiled slightly in response to Hangyeol's words mixed with praise and sincerity.

"I brought Joo Doyoung here for... purely personal reasons."

"....yes?"

Kangjun stared out of the window without answering Hangyeol's question. His face reflected in the window glass felt unfamiliar today.

"When is Joo Doyoung's matching test?"

"As soon as the basic training period is over, probably in about three days.”

Kangjun did not like using his abilities. The dark matter that had accumulated in Esper as a side effect of using their powers could only be eliminated by guiding, and if the guiding was insufficient, their bodies and minds would be pushed to their limits and they would lose control.

And guiding, of course, involves physical contact with a person.

Physical contact with another human being. This was a difficult thing for Kangjun. He avoided using his abilities as much as possible, and used a method where he absorbed the energy emitted by the Guide through his breathing in a closed room. It was a very inefficient method.

But things might be different in the future.

Kangjun silently looked at his right hand. The hand that had just shaken Doyoung's hand and the one that was touching Doyoung's face.

"I think... I'm looking forward to it.”

***

—I just passed through the main gate. Huh? I saw the office sign. Turn right and then... Where did you say it was?

"Building 1. The front building. 10 floors. The bottom one."

—Ah, okay. I saw it.

Doyoung walked to the balcony and looked out the window. He said he came through the main gate, so it seemed like he would be arriving soon. He went inside and crossed the living room to the front door.

This was the official UEFC dormitory where Doyoung would live from now on. It was a pretty nice dorm with a living room and two bedrooms. Providing accommodation was only a small part of the benefits provided by the UEFC.

Doyoung quickly contacted Seungjae, who happened to be off work and resting, and said that he would bring Doyoung's belongings. What a relief.

As he descended the elevator and exited the lobby, he saw Seungjae's SUV pulling into the parking lot. Doyoung waved his hand and pointed to an empty space near the entrance. It wasn't long before Seungjae parked his car there.

Doyoung approached Seungjae who got out of the driver's seat with a happy face.

"If only I could do that. Thank you."

"No problem, buddy. How are you going to move it if you don't have a car yourself?"

"En. I just said it. I was afraid I'd show my personality."

Seungjae smiled and opened the back door of the car. There were five or six large boxes filled with clothes and household items.

"Let's get all the boxes out of here first. Then take them all upstairs at once with the elevator."

"Okay."

The two of them lifted the boxes one by one and placed them in front of the apartment entrance.

After taking out all the luggage and locking the car door, Seungjae, who was walking, suddenly had a strange expression on his face. He felt an unusual warmth from a friend he saw almost every day.

"So, Dodo, are you a Guide?"

"Yes. They said so."

Seungjae narrowed his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest and walked around Doyoung.

"Hm... Guide, huh.”

Then, as if he found nothing strange, he stood up awkwardly and lifted the chin of a confused-looking Doyoung.

"Dodo. Look at me for a moment."

"Ah, why?"

"Hm... it's the same face."

"What's changed?"

He laughed at the absurdity of it all, but he also understood why Seungjae was surprised. It was natural for him to feel awkward when his friend of ten years suddenly became a Guide, so it wasn't unreasonable for him to feel strange.

Seungjae grabbed Doyoung's forearm and sniffed with his nose. Then he sniffed his hair, his neck, and his body for scent.

"Strange. It smells the same."

"This crazy. You think a Guide has a different smell? Why did the smell change?"

"Jihyun said that because you became a Guide? She said that a Guide can even guiding through the air."

"You think they do it by smell?"

"Isn't that it?”

Seungjae, still unable to get rid of his curiosity, sniffed Doyoung's neck again. Doyoung squared his shoulders at the strange sensation.

 "Ah, that tickles. Stop it."

Suddenly there was a sound from somewhere. Doyoung and Seungjae turned their heads towards the sound at the same time.

Sa Iijun was standing there. Since Doyoung had always seen him in battle dress, his appearance in casual clothes seemed strange.

Even though it was March, the weather was still quite cold in the morning and evening, but Sa Iijun was wearing only a short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. His bare arm was covered in a full-body tattoo.

A suitcase was lying on the floor next to Sa Iijun, who was scrunching up his face as if he had experienced something very unpleasant.

Sa Iijun had just returned from an overseas mission. According to Doyoung's recollection, Sa Iijun was immediately sent to the battlefield after he found flowers in his pocket and visited his hospital room.

The gates that connect Earth to other places in the universe are not always open because of human situations. There are gates that are always there, and there are also gates that appear and disappear periodically.

Sometimes, when a gate appears in a country that doesn't have an Esper, the UN will request that an Esper be sent from a nearby country.

And this time it was Sa Iijun who was sent. Thanks to this, Doyoung had been able to enjoy peace and quiet for the past few days while he went through his training as a Guide.

"Master...?"

The expression of Iijun standing in the distance looked at Seungjae and Doyoung like a tragic protagonist witnessing his lover's infidelity.

With a face full of betrayal and confusion, Sa Iijun angrily swung his shoulders as if teleporting, quickly approaching to separate the neighboring Seungjae and Doyoung with his long arms stretched wide.

"What are you doing?”

Sa Iijun asked with a trembling voice. And he stared at Seungjae, full of caution that he did not show even when he saw the creature.

".....yes?"

Doyoung asked back with a confused look on his face while Seungjae mumbled blankly.

"Crazy... it's Sa Iijun."

It was like a stroke of luck for Seungjae, who had high hopes of meeting one of the famous Esper in person. He even imagined what he would tell his girlfriend Jihyun when he got back.

When he saw Sa Iijun in person, Seungjae was amazed. He was much taller and more handsome than he had imagined.

Seungjae even thinks that he might be able to get Sa Iijun's autograph with his name on it, which might make up for his mistake of forgetting their anniversary date, which ended up making Jihyun angry.

Sa Iijun in particular has many female fans. On the battlefield, he fights ferociously, spilling blood like a madman, but when he turns around, his boyish face and innocent smile can win the hearts of women.

Coupled with his muscular body that looks like a murder weapon, it's hard not to like this S-class Esper.

While Seungjae tried to remember if there was a pen and paper in the car, Sa Iijun began to interrogate Doyoung in earnest.

"Master, what are you doing here? What are all these things? And who is this man?"

Doyoung, confused as to which question to answer first, called out to Sa Iijun in a calm voice.

"Esper Sa Iijun."

"Yes."

Sa Iijun replied quietly, and Doyoung said,

 “I'm, a Guide.”

–

TL: Muji

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