Confinement Constitution Guide

Warning! Gully 300m Ahead (7)

The river flowing inside the training ground suddenly rose into the air. Like the lake before, the river revealed its bottom and rippled around Sa Hae-geon. It seemed that the shaking of the ground was due to the vibration caused by the long stretch of river water rising from the training ground floor.

“Wow…”

The amount of water surrounding Sa Hae-geon now was by no means small. Of course, for Sa Hae-geon, who had mentioned moving the Atlantic Ocean before, this might not be much. Still, it was fascinating to see Sa Hae-geon using his ability, given his usual tendency to do silly things.

Natural Espers certainly had an overwhelming presence. And contrary to Sa Hae-geon’s claim that he was still inexperienced in controlling his ability, he seemed to use it quite skillfully. I wondered how many wave regulators and suppressants he must have used to handle his ability at this level of proficiency without Guiding.

Although I hadn’t experienced it myself, Espers who overused their abilities all complained of splitting headaches, endless ennui, and blackouts in their vision. If they continued to use their abilities beyond that point, they would finally reach a state of runaway.

‘It must not have been easy at all.’

Remembering this fact made me see Sa Hae-geon differently. After lifting the lake and river into the air, Sa Hae-geon seemed to intend to draw up groundwater as well. The ground began to shake with a completely different intensity than before.

From what I heard him say last time, it seemed he had no experience drawing up groundwater yet. I watched Sa Hae-geon’s movements closely.

Kuguugu-. The ground shook so violently that my vision blurred, as if something was surging up from deep within the earth. Soon, starting from beneath Sa Hae-geon’s feet, the ground split open, and streams of water shot up from all directions.

“…”

Sa Hae-geon then stood on the water floating in the air and looked in my direction. Although I couldn’t be certain due to the distance, for a moment, his deep blue eyes seemed to move like turbulent waves. As Sa Hae-geon, who was making eye contact with me, made a brief hand gesture, a small tsunami appeared in the training ground. The tsunami shook the ground as if it would swallow everything around it, surging from the edge of the training ground, but disappeared completely as soon as Sa Hae-geon clenched his fist.

‘Is this really a skill possible without Guiding…?’

As Sa Hae-geon had said, while he might be a bit inexperienced in handling his ability delicately, the fundamental size of his power was by no means small. Sa Hae-geon was wasting his power to an extent that any other ordinary Esper would have already demanded Guiding. Even though there were ways to use his ability much more efficiently.

That’s why Espers working in the field tried to use their abilities in the most efficient and short-term ways possible. There were limits to the Guiding that Guides could provide, and they would get tired themselves. No matter how ignorant Sa Hae-geon might be about using his ability, his method was excessively overdone and inefficient.

Unless Sa Hae-geon was an ‘S-class Esper’ with an overwhelmingly different magnitude of power.

‘Right. He’s definitely different from the A-class natural Espers I know…’

Could Sa Hae-geon really be S-class? But why would such a high-ranking Esper be wasting away here without any affiliation? If the training ground was under his family’s name, and his family provided it to Sa Hae-geon, they must be well aware that Sa Hae-geon is a high-ranking Esper.

While I couldn’t understand it, I also wondered why I should care that much. Sa Hae-geon has his own life, and he’ll handle it himself. With that thought, I watched Sa Hae-geon use his ability against an imaginary monster from the safest and most comfortable space in the training ground.

The area outside the resting space where Sa Hae-geon was using his ability was sure to be extremely humid.

After hunting about 100 imaginary monsters, Sa Hae-geon approached the resting area where I was, with a subtly dissatisfied look on his face.

“Good job. You did well.”

Despite my praise, Sa Hae-geon looked at me with a sullen gaze before hanging his head low.

“What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to look cooler in front of you, but I failed…”

What on earth is he talking about? Unable to see my expression as he hung his head and mumbled, Sa Hae-geon continued to mutter.

“I guess I’m still lacking a lot. I’ll practice harder and not disappoint you next time. I’m sorry, hyung.”

“You call this lacking?”

I couldn’t help but ask in disbelief at Sa Hae-geon’s upset appearance.

“Well… being too humble can also be seen as deception. There’s no need to be this humble.”

“What? You think I’m being humble?”

Sa Hae-geon’s eyes widened in surprise. He shook his head vigorously as if he had heard something unbelievable.

“Hyung, I’m not that humble of a person. Really.”

It was my turn to be puzzled by Sa Hae-geon’s reaction, which seemed to go beyond surprise to bewilderment. If he wasn’t being humble, does that mean what he just said was sincere? Does Sa Hae-geon truly consider himself inadequate? This is too absurd.

“So you think you’re average?”

“No. To be precise, I think I’m far behind others.”

I thought he was excellent at self-objectification if nothing else, but was I wrong? Although my doubts remained unresolved, I just nodded and extended my hand. My role was to provide Guiding to Sa Hae-geon who had worked hard in training, not to dig into why he was being excessively humble.

* * *

Just like when we went to the training ground, my vision was covered with a blindfold on our way back home. It was uncomfortable at first, but once I got used to it, it was rather comfortable. It was even good for taking a short nap. The only problem was that Sa Hae-geon’s low humming while driving was too loud.

Come to think of it, Sa Hae-geon’s expression while receiving Guiding earlier seemed strangely excited. Of course, it could have been my imagination, but Sa Hae-geon, who usually quietly received Guiding and only chattered afterward, was a bit different today.

Throughout the Guiding, he almost mechanically recited how happy he was and how good he felt. It wasn’t incomprehensible. His satisfaction with the training must be incomparably greater than when he was enduring with wave regulators and suppressants.

“Hyung, are you tired?”

Sa Hae-geon broke the silence in the car with a soft question. Lost in my thoughts for a moment, I responded a beat late.

“Not really… I think you’d be more tired, wouldn’t you?”

“Do I look like it?”

“It’s not about how you look, but most Espers get tired. Even with Guiding, it doesn’t restore your physical strength, right?”

“I’m not very tired. Other Espers probably train more intensively than me, so I shouldn’t get tired from this level.”

“What? Wow, that’s something that would shock the Espers at our center if they heard it.”

“Why?”

Once started, the conversation continued endlessly. Although the training ground was indoors, it was still a rare outing, so I was in a good mood and answered Sa Hae-geon’s questions sincerely.

“Why? Because even Espers would be completely drained if they trained as much as you do every day. You don’t even seem to exercise separately, so why is your stamina so good?”

“Is my stamina good?”

“Yeah. Very good. At least from what I can see.”

“You tend to view me favorably, so that’s probably why you feel that way.”

What is he saying now? Why would I view you favorably? How can someone be humble like this? I couldn’t help but laugh.

“When have I ever viewed you favorably? I’m just seeing you as you are.”

“Just always. That’s how I feel.”

…Was the training intensity too high? Why is he saying strange things after training well and receiving good Guiding?

Before I could argue, Sa Hae-geon changed the subject.

“Thank you for helping with the training today, hyung.”

“I just went along as a Guide, there’s nothing to thank me for.”

“It was my first time training with a Guide, so it was interesting and nice, but it was even better because that Guide was you, hyung.”

“…Alright, that’s enough.”

Sa Hae-geon’s words, delivered in a low voice, made me feel strangely embarrassed, and my ears grew hot. Sa Hae-geon really has a tendency to say embarrassing things so casually.

“You… if you’re this grateful from the first day, what are you going to do for the next training session?”

“I’ll be even more grateful.”

“…You sure have a lot to be grateful for, really.”

“It’s only with you, hyung.”

“Come on, that’s even scarier, you know?”

I grumbled as I clenched and unclenched my hands. Somehow, my palms seemed to be sweating.