GP | Chapter 2.7

The huge fish tank, the window spilling sunlight, the sofa back right beside him.

The living room?

“…”

He clearly remembered holding out until just before rampage and then being shoved into the mansion. He also remembered Park Sungmin’s face clearly, telling him to hurry and run to the place where his Guide was. But after that, he could not remember a thing. It was not the first or second time this had happened, so he was used to it, but it still felt filthy.

Dragging a hand down his face, Taejoon stood up and noticed something falling to the floor. It was the blanket that should have been in the room, now draped over him. He glared at it, then silently cursed under his breath and leaned back against the sofa.

If my body feels this refreshed, looks like I really did get guided properly.

For an Esper, finding the Guide in the mansion was easy. Even in a dazed state, he probably ran straight to him. That damned body. If only a shred of reason had remained even while rampaging.

But apart from the unpleasant feeling, his body condition was at its best. Checking himself over quietly, Taejoon was a little surprised by the peace he had never experienced before.

Before, no matter how much guiding he received, he had never felt satisfied. But now it was different.

He had always only been guided by B-rank Guides with matching rates below 30 percent, so all it ever did was calm the rampage. Even after the guiding ended, his head still throbbed and the tangled energy was never fully unraveled. Because it only calmed him enough to regain consciousness, the pain had slowly become something familiar.

The Guide Center always used that kind of threat on Espers who would not listen. Behave if you want to feel better.

Most Espers surrendered, but Song Taejoon did not. So even though he was S-rank, the Guides assigned to him never rose above B-rank. Of course, there was no guarantee he would not treat a high-ranking A-rank guide the same way he treated the others, so they probably could not assign him one anyway.

In any case, the body that should still have unpleasant pain lingering in it was clean, almost serene. The tangled energy had not all been unraveled, but only a same-rank S-rank guide could fully handle an S-rank. That was beyond what an A-rank like Yoon Seoh could do.

Still, because the matching rate with Yoon Seoh was high, the efficiency had been good. Good enough that he felt no need for an S-rank guide. It was the first time he had ever felt this refreshed, and it was almost bewildering.

But this was also the first and last time. There was only one thing to say for Yoon Seoh, who had had all his guiding energy taken in one go.

He had wanted him to go away, and yet for some reason he did not feel good about it. The peace he had tasted once had been so intense that it left him with a useless sense of regret. His mind was tangled into a mess.

Knowing that the Guide Center wanted exactly this to happen… fuck.

Song Taejoon begging Yoon Seoh, the one people called a whore.

Was there any more perfect situation for ridicule than this? Taejoon laughed emptily. It would never happen the way the Guide Center wanted. He might think about Yoon Seoh for a while, but if he got him out of his sight and never met him again, he would forget soon enough.

Taejoon shook his head irritably and got to his feet. Come to think of it, his body felt fine, but his naked skin was sticky in patches. Looking at the traces that made it obvious what he had been doing all night, he clicked his tongue briefly. Where the hell had I left my clothes?

He searched the living room floor but found nothing. Figuring they had to be somewhere, he picked up the dropped blanket and went upstairs. After washing up and sorting things out, all that was left was to meet Yoon Seoh and end this unpleasant relationship.

After throwing the blanket in the wash, going into his room to shower, and coming back out, Taejoon shook his wet hair dry and headed back down to the living room. By the time he checked the clock, it was already well past lunch. He was not particularly hungry, so he sat on the sofa and looked at the fish tank.

Watching the fish glide through the water let him think of nothing. That was why staring at it in silence was his only hobby.

A long time passed, and it was around dusk before he finally sensed Yoon Seoh’s presence. Was he sleeping like the dead because he was exhausted? Taejoon let a faint, deliberately cool smile curl at his lips.

But the man he had expected to come out at any moment remained silent. The movement he could feel from inside the room vanished too.

What, is he sleeping again? The first day he had come right out and faced me. Well… he probably had the strength to lie there all day. He would be exhausted from having his guiding energy drained, and even if that were not the case, he had been worn out all night.

Before he knew it, Taejoon was staring fixedly at the door where Yoon Seoh was. It was an ordinary door like the others, but somehow that one looked different. Was it because that guy was behind it? The thought of someone else being in his own space was strangely irritating. He was going to disappear soon anyway, so it was ridiculous.

Taejoon swept his hair back once for no reason and sank deeper into the sofa. He turned back to the fish tank, but though his eyes moved, his attention still kept drifting toward the room where Yoon Seoh was.

When yet more time passed and it was late at night, he felt Yoon Seoh move. This time it seemed he had actually gotten up.

Creak.

He heard the careful sound of the door opening. It was a quiet movement meant to hide his presence as much as possible. But as long as he was in this mansion, Taejoon could feel whatever he did from anywhere. Especially in this refreshed state, he could hear even his breathing without trying.

He sat still with his gaze deliberately on the fish tank when he felt the man stop short, apparently having noticed him.

He probably had a lot to say, but he must be afraid too.

It was said that when a Guide used up all their energy, they became so anxious they doubted their own value. Did the empty feeling inside them make them feel like they had lost everything? That they were left alone in the world, or had become useless? Guides supposedly tried not to give all their energy to Espers because of the sense of loss they never wanted to feel again.

But being able to hold out like that was only possible when they still had control. Once they lost consciousness or were exposed to another strong stimulus, control became impossible.

That was why the Guides who had guided Song Taejoon had practically had their energy stolen by force. So Yoon Seoh would be no different.

He was probably already writhing in that hollow sense of loss.

“…”

If he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, then in the end he would have to come to Taejoon. He pictured Yoon Seoh trembling with fear, saying he wanted to go back to the Guide Center and that being his dedicated Guide might be impossible. He had already predicted this and prepared his answer in advance, but thinking about it actually happening made his chest feel heavy.

Frowning and collecting himself, Taejoon watched as Yoon Seoh finally came out, then hurried back into the room. Even while doing so, he was careful, as though trying to hide his presence. The click of the door closing sounded especially irritating.

“…What is he doing?”

Was he really that afraid of him, unable even to speak? Maybe it was not that he wanted to stay here one more day, but that he simply wanted to avoid the situation in front of him right now.

Amused, Taejoon let out a breathless laugh. So much for the boldness of hunting for the Esper who would hold him. He had thought the guy was different from how he looked, but apparently he was actually just as he seemed. A plain face that looked almost naive. Was he trying to gather himself or something? It was laughable.

Taejoon sprang to his feet. Glowering in the direction Yoon Seoh had disappeared, he started walking.

Seoh closed the door and slid down the wall. He had gone out because he thought Song Taejoon would not be in the living room so late at night, but he had nearly gotten himself into serious trouble. Taejoon was surely irritated just at the sight of his face, so he had to keep as quiet as possible.

From last time and now, seeing him sitting on the living room sofa, he could guess at his usual pattern. He seemed to go into his room only to sleep and spend most of his time resting while looking at the fish tank. He did not want to disturb that time. If he waited just a little longer, Taejoon would go into his room anyway, so he decided to endure the discomfort for now.

“Hoo…”

The act he had started the night before had continued even after he briefly lost consciousness.

When he came to, he was still pinned inside him, and the position had changed too. Lying on the crushed stone while taking Taejoon in had made his back skin scream in agony. Then, after flailing around and somehow turning over, he was viciously fucked again while face down. By the time he woke up, there was blood on not only his back, but his knees and palms too.

After passing out again and coming to once more, he had been pressed face-first against the wall and drilled. The lower half of his body had already gone numb to pain, and with his pleasure senses blown wide open, he kept moaning at every thrust. His exhausted body could not endure the overheated pleasure and kept slipping out of consciousness.

How many more times had he fainted and woken again? When he finally opened his eyes late that morning, he saw Song Taejoon passed out asleep. At some point they had both been stripped, and their whole bodies were covered in semen. There had been blood here and there, but it seemed to be from Seoh’s own injuries rather than Taejoon’s.

He could not leave him outside like that, so he tried to wake Taejoon, but he did not move at all. It felt like the aftermath of a body that had reached the edge of rampage and then returned to normal.

He was in too much pain and it was a struggle just to keep his own body together, but somehow he had managed to move Taejoon inside the house. He had no confidence he could bring him all the way to his room on the second floor, so he had simply wiped him down with a wet towel and managed to lay him on the sofa.

Semen was still smeared all over him, but because he kept shifting in his sleep, Seoh could not touch him anymore. He was glad he had at least wiped away the blood.

He did not know what possessed him to even fetch a blanket and cover Taejoon with it, but because last night had been so brutal, he had lost consciousness the moment he came into the room.