GP | Chapter 1.3

He was Kang Mingyu, an A-rank Guide and the Center’s ace.

“If you’re going outside, you should’ve slipped out through the back door quietly. Why are you crossing the lobby all proud like that?”

“…”

“I said something smelled weird.”

Seoh lowered his head again. Surely he hadn’t been here just a moment ago? If Mingyu had been in the lobby, he would not have come out this way. He should have checked more carefully. He had moved too quickly. Of all people, this was the one he least wanted to run into.

“And what’s this?”

Kang Mingyu kicked at the shopping bag lying beside him. Seoh hurriedly reached out. But before his hand could touch it, Mingyu’s kick crushed the bag mercilessly, spilling everything inside.

White clothes identifying him as a Guide, and five translucent tubes of gel. There were other small items too, but those did not register with Mingyu at all. When he saw the tubes rolling on the floor, he furrowed his brow hard.

“What, are you going on a trip to sell your body this time?”

“…”

“How many guys are you planning to do that with, bringing five tubes of gel?”

Seoh gathered the gel tubes into his clothes to hide them. The gel was one of the essential supplies issued to Guides. Nothing more, nothing less. It was something every Guide carried, something even Kang Mingyu himself likely owned.

“Ha. Unbelievable, seriously…”

Kang Mingyu stared expressionlessly at Seoh, who was collecting his scattered belongings back into the shopping bag. The thin frame and hurried movements looked rather pitiful, but that sympathy vanished the moment one knew what he really was.

The Guide Center’s only male whore, the Guide who could not get enough of Espers. The famous Yoon Seoh.

Kang Mingyu slowly crouched down in front of him. A guy like this was an A-rank Guide? It had been a long time since Guides had put Espers beneath their feet, but this bastard was living in another world.

The time when Espers used to be mistreated by Guides was just a brief fragment of the past, before they were even born. There had once been a time when people pitied Espers, but that too had only lasted a moment.

Now, the world belonged to Guides themselves. By treaty, they had to manage Espers properly so they would not rampage, but as long as they did not rampage, that was all that mattered, wasn’t it?

Even the gel given as an essential Guide supply was not used by A-ranks. The most frequent users were C and D ranks. Because lower-efficiency Guides had no choice but to use it, A-rank Guides had practically no reason to use it. It was a supply they simply carried around because it was called an essential item, nothing more.

And yet Yoon Seoh had been taking five of them somewhere.

Kang Mingyu snatched up the shopping bag Seoh was clutching and dumped it back onto the floor. Sure enough, the gel tubes marked for Guide use tumbled out again.

Seoh quickly gathered them up with his clothes before anyone could see.

“That precious to you?”

Mingyu laughed as if it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. An A-rank Guide who only had to do what the Center told him and would otherwise have an easy life, desperate to spread his body for Espers.

He was the only Guide ever punished for breaking the rules and guiding Espers. Since he was A-rank, they had only given him occasional punishments, but thanks to him, the status of Guides had fallen a great deal.

Espers were supposed to be afraid of Guides. That was how the world was supposed to work. And yet lately, the Espers who were supposed to stay flattened had started to crawl back up bit by bit. It was unbearably irritating.

“Hey, take that away.”

Kang Mingyu pointed at the gel Seoh was hugging to his chest and spoke to the Guides behind him. At once, they swarmed over and reached out.

Seoh tried to stop them somehow, but he could not take on that many people. In the end, once his clothes and gel were all taken away, he finally looked up at Mingyu.

Meeting the gaze full of hatred aimed at him, Seoh clenched his fists tightly.

“…Please give it back.”

“Why? Can’t live without it?”

“It’s a Guide essential item…”

“Haha, right. It is an essential item.”

Kang Mingyu burst into laughter as though he had heard a great joke. Then he waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ll give it back. It’s an essential item, so you should keep it with you.”

Rising slowly to his feet, he held out a hand to the Guides around him. They handed over all five tubes of gel they had taken from Seoh. The moment Mingyu received them, he began opening the caps one by one.

“Turns out this isn’t only for the ass.”

“…”

“You use your whole body, so you should use it accordingly, right?”

After opening all five tubes, Kang Mingyu squeezed them out over Yoon Seoh’s head. Transparent gel dripped onto Seoh’s hair and clothes. Seoh stared at him blankly.

“What? Aren’t you on your way to see an Esper? You should prepare in advance.”

“…”

Mingyu kept pouring until every tube was empty. The viscous liquid slid down Seoh’s head. The gel passed over his eyelids, lingered briefly on his lashes, then squeezed through and dropped away.

Watching Seoh blink because the gel had gotten in his eyes, Kang Mingyu frowned. What the hell was that even supposed to be, getting on his nerves like that.

He hurled the empty tubes at Seoh. Then he shook his hands as though he had touched something filthy. Even though nothing had actually stuck to him, it felt as if something was falling from his hands. It was disgust. Mingyu’s malice piled up steadily over Seoh’s head.

After shaking his hands off, Kang Mingyu spat out another curse and strode past him. The Guides following behind him were no different. Seoh had to hear the word whore over and over again until the long procession ended.

Even after they all vanished, Seoh still could not get up. The sticky gel clinging all over his body was nothing compared to the eyes around him, which clung even more persistently. Not one person gave him a kind look. Not one person looked at him with pity. The Guides did that, and so did the ordinary staff supporting them.

Seoh endured those stares for a long while, looking into empty space. Then, once the gel had started to drip to the floor, he silently got up. He wiped himself down roughly with the clothes scattered on the ground and stuffed them, along with the rest of his luggage, into the half-torn shopping bag. The empty gel tubes could no longer be used, so he threw them into the trash.

His phone had also taken a hit when it fell, and the edge of the screen was cracked. He shoved that into his pocket too. Hugging the ragged shopping bag tightly, he left the lobby, and only then did people’s stares finally fall away.

The moment he stepped outside, it felt as if he could breathe again. The air in the Guide Center was nothing more than a heavy burden on him.

He was staring blankly ahead, unable to think of anything, when a jeep stopped right in front of him. The man who got out of the driver’s seat started toward him, then hesitated. Seoh turned to look at him.

The man glanced him over uncertainly and asked, “Guide Yoon Seoh… is that right?”

“…Yes.”

When Seoh even nodded, the man looked troubled. The hand that had been about to take his luggage hovered awkwardly in the air. There was obvious discomfort at the sight of someone he could not bring himself to touch.

Seoh looked quietly at the man’s hand, then slowly shook his head.

“It’s okay. I can carry it.”

“Ah, yes.”

Only then did the man lower his hand. An awkward air settled between them, and they stood there blankly for a while. Too late, the man seemed to remember why he had come, and he opened the rear door of the car for Seoh.

Seoh bowed his head in thanks and climbed inside. Keeping his back straight so the gel would not smear the seat, he half-perched in it, and the man closed the door.

While he walked back to the driver’s seat, Seoh looked up at the Center building through the car window.

He had thought he would live here for the rest of his life, but now he was being taken out of it without warning. The feeling was strange.

He still could not be certain whether he had made the right choice. If he could get along with Esper Song Taejoon, that would be best of all, but if things went completely wrong, then he would end up living worse than if he had stayed in the Guide Center. So he had to stop thinking about anything else and focus only on getting along with him.

Seoh held the ragged shopping bag tightly and looked away. The car quietly set off.

✿ • ✿ • ✿

The place they arrived at after a long drive was a mansion deep in the mountains. He had understood that he was going to Song Taejoon’s residence, but was this not it?

Esper residences differed slightly by branch, but they were usually near the Esper Center. For safety and security, it was easier to manage them if they were nearby. It was similar to how Guide housing was inside the Center. But this place was too far, and as a residence it was… too…

“We’ve arrived.”

Seoh swallowed dryly as he looked at the tall wall and iron gate.

He did not know how the iron gate opened, but the moment the car arrived in front of it, the gate swung open. Driving in slowly, he saw a garden that had not been properly maintained. Weeds grew thickly, and trees and vines had grown wild without control.

They had arrived at sunset, so it looked quite eerie. Seoh turned his head and tried not to look at the garden too much.

The car stopped in front of the mansion’s front door. His whole body ached from holding himself upright all the way here. It was a different kind of pain from the guiding-energy buildup. He rotated his neck to stretch, and the man, who had been quietly driving all this time, spoke up.

“Guide Yoon Seoh.”

“…Yes?”

“From now on, you’ll be living here. Esper Song Taejoon won’t be back until tomorrow evening, so in the meantime, you can rest comfortably.”

At the news that Song Taejoon would not be here today, Seoh clenched his fist tight. Relief was not the first thing that hit him. Anxiety did. It was still at a bearable level, but it meant he would not be able to guide for at least one day. Still, since there was nothing he could do about it, Seoh nodded with a gloomy expression.

“There’s a food storage room immediately to the right when you enter the kitchen. There’s a year’s worth of food and ingredients in there, so help yourself to whatever you want. If there’s something you’d like separately, you can ask Esper Song Taejoon.”

“…Um.”

“Yes.”