MTLNOVEL 14.
14.
“Well…”
How should I phrase this? There’s no problem on my side, to the point where it’s a problem. Even before you generously brought it up, I’ve never even considered the position for high-intensity contact guiding.
‘About high-intensity contact guiding. If you insist on doing such guiding, I’m willing to endure it. After all, guiding needs to be done, so wouldn’t that be more efficient?’
It was a shocking first greeting, even thinking back on it now. Enough to surprise even the tearful devotion of volunteering as a guinea pig for years in illegal biological experiments, tearing his own flesh and offering his money, all with the sole intention of becoming the Guide for his first love. Still, compared to when he uttered words that shocked everyone with that pretty face, not knowing what was wrong and just blinking with wide eyes, the current situation is quite encouraging. Whatever Ryu Ho-yeon’s imaginary Choi Jae-won might have expected, to have an apology flow from those plump lips first.
Choi Jae-won swallowed hard and nodded slightly. Ryu Ho-yeon then said in a theatrical tone, as if reading a script, “I’m glad at least you’re normal.” Right. It’s fortunate. Choi Jae-won, as if seeking permission one last time, placed his hand on Ryu Ho-yeon’s shoulder and met his gaze. Ryu Ho-yeon answered by closing his eyes and lying back. The glimpse of bare chest visible through the disheveled shower robe was a bit too stimulating for a mere twenty-year-old whose eyes had gone crazy with first love.
Choi Jae-won carefully pressed his lips against Ryu Ho-yeon, who was lying on his bed. He couldn’t help but tremble, from his lips to the hand cupping Ryu Ho-yeon’s chin. While it might be just a part of guiding for Ryu Ho-yeon, for Choi Jae-won, it was his first kiss and first experience with the object of his long-dreamed unrequited love.
The act of parting lips and stealing warm body heat was incomparably more enchanting than he had vaguely imagined. He slid his hand down to the bare shoulder. The assembly time before tomorrow’s dispatch was 1 PM. There was still plenty of time for this budding romance to ripen.
* * *
“…”
Is it just my imagination? My waist hurts. No, it’s clearly just imagination. This is the first time in my life I’ve been so full of guiding, so my physical condition should be better than ever. Yet somehow, my waist and inner thighs, which were gripped tightly all night, feel strangely hot and tight. Feeling somewhat wronged, Ryu Ho-yeon abruptly sat up in the soft bedding.
Right next to where he sat up, Choi Jae-won was sleeping with even breaths, his face soft and fluffy, as if he had the most comfortable sleep ever.
It’s not even Choi Jae-won’s bed. At this time, with morning fully dawning, the two were lying on Ryu Ho-yeon’s bed.
After last night’s seemingly intense activities, they had roughly cleaned themselves due to the damp sheets and moved to Ryu Ho-yeon’s room, where both had fallen asleep as if passing out.
“Strange… Why do I feel like I’ve been conned…?”
Thanks to last night’s efforts, guiding was more abundant throughout his body than ever before, and he even confirmed that he wasn’t just a two-letter word starting with ‘g’ and ending with ‘y’, but somehow he felt wronged. Seeing Choi Jae-won sleeping soundly made him feel even more so. Clearly, the other was the Guide and he was the Esper, so it should be the other side getting drained and him enjoying the benefits, but strangely, he felt as if he had been completely drained of energy, as if bewitched.
“Hah…”
He thought he was naive, no, even until they were trembling and kissing, he thought naivety was unavoidable… But there’s no way such naivety exists in this world. Ryu Ho-yeon decided to drastically revise his impression of his pair Guide.
‘Hyung, you said you weren’t interested in this kind of thing at all. But now it seems that’s not true?’
‘Ugh…’
‘How about it? Want to change now?’
The usual image of him barely making eye contact, face flushed red and trembling, now seemed like a complete fraud. The teasing voice still seemed to stick to his eardrums.
“Mmm, Ho-yeon hyung.”
Seeing Choi Jae-won muttering his name with such a happy expression, as if having a good dream, Ryu Ho-yeon decided to let this issue slide for now. After all, unless they were reborn, it was clear that Ryu Ho-yeon was the Esper and Choi Jae-won was the Guide, so who tops and who bottoms, who goes below and who goes above, how important could that be? It was already a great achievement to learn that meaningful changes could occur in his own body through contact with others. Thinking that way, there was nothing to feel wronged about. Nothing, but…
“Strangely annoying…”
Ryu Ho-yeon narrowed his eyes and muttered quietly. A conviction slowly crept in that it wasn’t just the fact that he was hiding more than just naivety under that youthful face. Although Choi Jae-won had never once said with his own mouth that he was a traditional Guide character with naive attributes, that was no longer an important issue for Ryu Ho-yeon.
* * *
The final hurdle of the practical training was an S-grade dungeon that opened in Gangwon-do. After this mission, Park Woo-jun and Ryu Ho-yeon would never enter the same dungeon again. Today’s mission was nothing more than a test to see if Ryu Ho-yeon, with his fluctuating guiding levels, could cover an S-grade.
The higher-ups had apparently considered pairing the two Espers as a set to handle high-grade dungeons, given how Park Woo-jun and Ryu Ho-yeon’s combination could clear A-grade dungeons in just half a day. However, this idea was ultimately abandoned. It was judged more rational to utilize the two Espers separately rather than combining their movements, in case several S-grade dungeons might occur simultaneously. Since both Ryu Ho-yeon and Park Woo-jun found it uncomfortable and disliked facing each other, they agreed to follow this decision without complaint.
“Esper Ryu Ho-yeon. How’s your condition?”
While Park Woo-jun, Ryu Ho-yeon, and Choi Jae-won alone were sufficient for A-grade dungeons, S-grade was different. Other Espers and Guides were standing by for backup. Park Woo-jun’s tone, seemingly conscious of their gazes, was formal towards Ryu Ho-yeon, which was rarely heard usually. Ryu Ho-yeon gritted his teeth, suppressing his increasingly rapid breathing, and answered that he was fine.
The premonition was quite good until they first entered the gate. Thanks to the continuous guiding throughout the night, the internal guiding level was as high as about 80 percent, a level Ryu Ho-yeon had never experienced before in his life. The persistent pains that had followed him for more than 24 hours didn’t dare to invade him. A clean sensation without the tingling feeling as if his nerve endings were being gently burned or the chronic headaches. If this was the world that ordinary Espers with sufficient guiding tasted daily, it was understandable why so many Espers were desperate to secure Guides.
In fact, even when he was a provisional pair with Lee Han-seo, it was just slightly better than substitutes, and due to their low compatibility, he had never experienced such dramatic peace. The overwhelming satisfaction that made him feel like he could manifest anything that came to mind was so great that he couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl up slightly, even when trying to suppress it.
But that arrogance was shattered just four days after entering the dungeon.
When Ryu Ho-yeon first started fighting, he was truly flying. Usually, various weapons made by humans were of no use against the monsters in dungeons, but it was different with what he ‘manifested’. As he had always done, Ryu Ho-yeon easily created sniper rifles or throwing grenades that fit perfectly in his hand and efficiently took down the detected monsters. If there was anything needed that wasn’t brought in as supplies, he could just create and use it, which can only be described as an unfairly powerful ability.
However, he was not an superhuman without limits like those appearing in science fiction movies. He was just an Esper, constantly tripped up by the limitations of guiding.
On the fourth day after entering the dungeon, the remaining guiding of Choi Jae-won, Ryu Ho-yeon’s pair Guide, ran out. Each Guide had a different total amount of guiding. The total amount allowed to Choi Jae-won, who was originally an A-grade close to B-grade, was far from enough to handle Ryu Ho-yeon, who was S-grade.
Of course, they could wait for the naturally depleted guiding to recover while resting slowly, but it was unreasonable to expect such leisure in a dungeon where fierce battles continued.
Catching his breath, Ryu Ho-yeon put down his gun and reached back, driven by burning spirit. Choi Jae-won, who was waiting nearby, immediately removed Ryu Ho-yeon’s glove and pressed his lips firmly on the back of his hand.
The back of the hand receiving the kiss and the lips pressing down were equally lifeless and dry.
Choi Jae-won tried to scrape the very bottom to transmit guiding, but it was all in vain. No guiding was transmitted. The gap between the two was frustratingly large and wide.