Beyond The Control

Chapter 51

This time, I asked back.

“Pardon?”

“I-I want to treat you to a meal.”

I remembered hearing similar words a few days ago. I thought it was just a polite gesture, but it seems he was sincere.

It was a bit burdensome, but also understandable. Even with good compatibility, some guides are reluctant if it’s not their own team, but at least I’m not like that.

On the other hand, another thought briefly crossed my mind, but I quickly pushed it away. Then I made up my mind. Thinking it would be impolite to keep refusing, as if I were someone important, I accepted his offer.

“Then shall we meet this evening?”

“R-really?”

“Yes. If nothing comes up, I’ll be done by six.”

“Yes! Then I’ll wait at the main entrance until six. Thank you.”

Jeon Hyeon-wook stood up abruptly and gave a polite greeting. The way he bowed so deeply, like shouting “boss,” made me chuckle a bit.

The day passed somehow, though it felt a bit chaotic and distracting. When it struck six o’clock, I turned off the computer, took off my guide uniform jacket, and put on a gray hoodie. I made sure to grab my phone and device before casually running down the stairs.

As promised, I met Jeon Hyeon-wook at the main entrance. More precisely, a car window rolled down, revealing Jeon Hyeon-wook’s face behind it.

As I got into the passenger seat, he spoke to me.

“C-casual clothes suit you well too.”

“You too, Hyeon-wook.”

“D-do you like meat?”

“Of course. I can’t get enough of it.”

“Then let’s go eat meat. I know a good place.”

Jeon Hyeon-wook started the car. Seeing that he didn’t input anything into the navigation, it seemed he really did know the place well.

The atmosphere in the car wasn’t particularly awkward. Jeon Hyeon-wook thoughtfully turned on some music, and we exchanged some casual conversation about how training went and what we had for lunch.

Above all, we arrived at our destination quickly. Jeon Hyeon-wook drove into an underground parking lot of a building and parked in an empty space, saying “We’re here.”

Everything was fine up to this point, but I was a bit taken aback when we arrived at the restaurant. To be precise, I was surprised as soon as the restaurant door opened. A huge chandelier that you’d expect to see in a wedding hall hung from the ceiling, and the interior atmosphere was visibly luxurious at a glance.

I was still dazed as I sat down in the seat the staff guided us to. Flipping through the menu, I was equally shocked to see a steak photo prominently displayed.

‘This was the meat he meant?’

Usually, when someone says let’s go eat meat, you’d think of a Korean barbecue place, not steak.

Belatedly, I became a bit self-conscious about my outfit. Come to think of it, unlike Jeon Hyeon-wook who was wearing a checkered shirt with a suit jacket, I was in a zip-up hoodie and faded jeans. While I don’t particularly care about others’ eyes, I’m not so socially inept as to completely ignore TPO (Time, Place, Occasion), so I felt quite uncomfortable in this setting.

And then there were the food prices. Even for a set menu, seeing prices easily exceeding 100,000 won per person made me swallow hard. In contrast, Jeon Hyeon-wook asked me without even looking at the menu.

“Is today’s recommended menu okay?”

It felt like he had this in mind from the start. It didn’t feel right to flip through the menu to order something else, so I nodded, saying it was fine.

After the waiter took our order and left, Jeon Hyeon-wook spoke again.

“Th-thank you for making time today.”

“I should be thanking you. Thanks to you, I get to experience such a nice restaurant.”

“The steak here is delicious. I-if you like it after trying it today, let’s come again together next time.”

…What’s this? Just as I was starting to feel a bit peculiar, the waiter returned to set up our food. Starting with a pumpkin-flavored soup and some unfamiliar bite-sized appetizers, new dishes filled the table one after another, as if someone was watching nearby.

The highlight was undoubtedly the main course, the steak. While I only know how to eat food, not how to plate it, even the scattered sauce gave the impression that the chef had put in a lot of effort.

And how tender the meat was. It melted softly in my mouth and went down my throat smoothly with barely any chewing.

I thought steak wasn’t my style, but I was wrong. This is totally my style.

“…Thank you.”

“Pardon?”

I looked up at the sudden voice. Unlike me, who had already finished about half, Jeon Hyeon-wook’s plate was almost untouched, which made me feel a bit awkward.

“Thank you for always guiding me well.”

“It’s just what I’m supposed to do, it’s nothing.”

“No, it’s not!”

Jeon Hyeon-wook raised his voice slightly, then seemed startled by his own outburst and hunched his shoulders. It’s not like his large body would shrink from doing that. It reminded me of animal videos where they think they’re fully hidden if just their head is hidden, which made me smile a bit.

“When Su-hyeon Esper… I mean, Guide wasn’t there, I requested guiding from guides from other teams, but there were a few times when I couldn’t receive it and it kept getting delayed.”

Hmm, I don’t know who it was, but they definitely wouldn’t have done it on purpose. They might have been in the middle of deep guiding, or there might have been many urgent Espers, pushing him back in line. If Jeon Hyeon-wook’s condition had been worse, he would have been moved up to emergency status.

But from an Esper’s perspective, it’s natural to feel disappointed. Especially when waiting for guiding, they’re in a psychologically unstable state, so thoughts like “Is it because my rank is low?” or “Does the guide not like me?” can easily come up. This was also something I knew better than anyone from experience.

“There must have been more urgent Espers.”

“…No, I saw that there was no one in the guiding room.”

I broke into a cold sweat at this unintentional wall.

“They might have used up a lot of guiding energy. If you do one session intensely, you need time to recover. It’s similar to Espers using their power.”

“Yes, I know. But you, you always guide me whenever I request… And before that, when you offered to guide me first, I was really happy.”

This time, I broke into a cold sweat for a different reason and felt a bit shaken. While not being able to make eye contact might be Jeon Hyeon-wook’s habit, his slightly reddened earlobes told a different story. The assumption I had dismissed a couple of times with “No way” started to take more shape in my mind.

But since it could still be my misunderstanding, I hurriedly composed my expression and spoke as if nothing had happened.

“It must have been good timing. By the way, what’s your main skill, Hyeon-wook?”

I subtly changed the topic, and Jeon Hyeon-wook answered sincerely. I was quite surprised to hear that it was in the water attribute category and that he could create energy barriers.

Energy barriers, as the name suggests, are defensive skills that create invisible barriers to protect specific areas or targets. Given the nature of Espers who tend to charge recklessly at monsters, it’s not particularly useful in normal situations, but it’s an invaluable skill when protecting guides accompanying on combat missions or civilians exposed to danger.

Since I can also mimic a temporary fake energy barrier with wind, I felt an unexpected sense of kinship. There’s nothing better than common interests when conversing, so as we exchanged various stories about dungeons and skills, before we knew it, the meal was over.

Jeon Hyeon-wook boldly paid the full amount by card. Meanwhile, I stood a couple of steps away.

Even if I suggested going Dutch, he’d probably decline… As I was thinking about maybe buying coffee, my phone in my hand vibrated briefly.

[Aren’t you coming?]

It was Song Ji-hyeok. I smiled and replied.

[I’ll be there soon. Did you eat?]

[Ordered jjajangmyeon]

[Wow, that must have been delicious]

[What did you eat?]

[Steak lol]

[–]

“Shall we go?”

“Ah, yes.”

[I’ll probably be there within an hour]

I sent the last reply and left the restaurant with Jeon Hyeon-wook. As we were walking towards the elevator, I was about to speak, but Jeon Hyeon-wook was a bit faster.

“There’s a park nearby, shall we walk a bit? I’m, I’m too full.”

True enough, I was quite full too. But coffee would still go down, so I thought it would be perfect to get some to go and walk.

The park was quite large for being in the middle of the city. There were various sculptures installed here and there, and flowers that came up to our knees were in full bloom along the walking paths.

‘This is nice.’

The breeze was cool, and my stomach was full. We walked for about 10 minutes without thinking much. After passing several unfamiliar sculptures, I finally saw a familiar shape. A statue of a baby angel drawing a bow was shining white in the moonlight.

But then Jeon Hyeon-wook suddenly stood in front of me, as if blocking my way.

“Su-Su-hyeon.”

Since I was walking leisurely, there was no collision, but I was dumbfounded, wondering what was going on. More than that, just now…

The sudden change in how he addressed me created another chilling feeling. My premonition wasn’t wrong. Jeon Hyeon-wook moved his lips again and made an unexpected confession.

“I, I like you.”

“……”

“Will you go out with me?”