Churu for the Angry Guide

65

After leaving the lodging, the secretary immediately went to find Taebeom. He was concerned that Taebeom wasn’t answering his phone.

If he had left the gate site, the secretary would have assumed he was busy. But Taebeom’s current location was fixed in his office.

“Leader, I’m coming in.”

The secretary, who opened the office door with a brief knock, hesitated for a moment. The office lights were off.

“Lead—”

As his gaze fell on the desk with its back to the window, he walked silently. Taebeom was asleep. Not on the sofa, but sitting in a chair.

Unlike a sleeping person, his sitting posture was upright, but his head was slightly tilted to one side. The secretary, who spent the most time with Taebeom, immediately recognized that he was asleep. Someone else might have thought he was just closing his eyes for a moment.

The secretary approached the desk quietly and marveled silently. A person who would normally wake up before the knock even sounded was now in such a deep sleep that he didn’t even hear the phone vibration. This was very rare for Taebeom.

Was he that tired? Or was his condition good enough for a sound sleep?

Whatever the reason, it was nice to see him sleeping so peacefully. After a brief moment of warm smiling, the secretary swallowed a dry sigh and stroked his chin.

If he was going to sleep anyway, he should have lain down on the sofa. Seeing Taebeom resting in the chair made the secretary uncomfortable.

The secretary was about to leave the office without disturbing Taebeom’s rest. As he was carefully moving to just close the curtains, since it was almost sunrise, suddenly the door burst open.

“Excuse me, Guild Leader Kang Taebeom.”

The one who opened the door without knocking was Kwak Seokjin, the leader of the Seowol Guild.

As he opened the door, Taebeom woke up. As if he had just been closing his eyes, his eyelids simply opened.

“Could you spare a moment?”

Seokjin approached Taebeom with gleaming snake-like eyes. The secretary tried to stop him, but Taebeom raised one hand to block him. He seemed to have expected the Seowol Guild leader to come.

“Why did you reduce our guild’s assigned area?”

Seokjin’s breathing was rough as he stood in front of Taebeom. It was clear he was trying to suppress his anger.

“There are no beastkin in our guild. You know that well.”

Seokjin glared at Taebeom with fierce eyes. His guild didn’t have a single beastkin Esper who was a subject of concern. Nevertheless, Taebeom had drastically reduced the Seowol Guild’s assigned area.

“It seemed like you were overexerting yourselves, so I reduced it.”

Taebeom’s voice rang out briefly without inflection. At Taebeom’s calm attitude that seemed to ask what the problem was, the veins on Seokjin’s temples bulged.

Unable to contain his anger, he slammed Taebeom’s desk.

“We have never, not once, overexerted ourselves.”

Seokjin’s rough breath reached the tip of Taebeom’s nose. A strong smell of alcohol was embedded in his breath.

“If you’re not disrespecting Seowol, restore it immediately.”

As the assigned area decreases, naturally the standing at the center also diminishes. For Seokjin, who had fallen to second place behind the Baekya Guild, this was the most unbearable thing.

He couldn’t fall any further. Being pushed back by a young, new guild was already the most shameful experience of his life.

“The one who needs to reduce their assigned area now is not us, but your Baekya Guild.”

The Baekya Guild had two beastkin Espers. Moreover, they were classified as high-risk entities.

However, as always, they acted exceptionally. With that arrogant reason that they were different.

Taebeom silently stared at Seokjin’s face. More precisely, he was looking at the scars on his face.

There were long scars on Seokjin’s forehead and cheek.

They were wounds from a few days ago when he couldn’t handle the excessive influx of gates and had to call the Baekya Guild. They still hadn’t healed.

Slowed recovery and mistakes at the site. These were clear evidence that he was overexerting himself. He must know this himself.

“It’s not only beastkin who go berserk.”

At Taebeom’s low warning, the corners of Seokjin’s mouth twisted. With a face full of things to say, he just clenched his mouth shut. He was at a loss for words, realizing that Taebeom’s gaze was scanning his scars.

Taebeom pointed to the door, indicating that he should leave if he was done. Used to Taebeom’s cold and arrogant attitude, Seokjin nodded with a forced smile.

“Yes, I’ll take my leave then. As it’s the order of the Chief Guild Leader.”

Contrary to his words, he took one step closer to Taebeom. Too quickly for the secretary to stop him.

“Enjoy it fully. You never know when you might fall in life.”

Seokjin left this trite warning and disappeared not through the door, but by teleportation. He was a multi-ability user who could use both replication and teleportation.

Until Jihan, who could use numerous abilities with his replication power, appeared, everyone had valued Seokjin’s abilities highly. Many envied the Seowol Guild leader who skillfully used two abilities.

But now, wherever you go, people only talked about the Baekya Guild. No one cared anymore about the Espers who had risked their lives to save people during the past gate saturation period. They were just treated as has-beens.

The public and the center were only enthusiastic about the Baekya Guild. With their exceptional abilities, youth, and striking appearances, it was a natural result. They were special.

“Are you alright?”

The secretary asked Taebeom out of courtesy. Taebeom, who maintained a consistent expressionless face as if his facial muscles were frozen, looked fine more than anyone.

Taebeom checked the time indifferently and got up, grabbing his jacket.

“Where are you going?”

“Patrol.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll go with you.”

The secretary immediately summoned a teleport Esper, but with a regretful face. If it weren’t for the Seowol Guild leader, he could have rested for another hour.

“Why did you come?”

Taebeom adjusted his collar while looking at the window tinged with the blue light of dawn. He was asking why the secretary was out at this hour instead of sleeping.

Finally relaxing his furrowed brow, the secretary clapped his hands loudly and announced the good news. It was news that would make Taebeom turn around.

* * *

Bright sunlight filtering through the glass window fell on Siwoo’s pale white face. This caused Siwoo, who had been sleeping soundly, to furrow his brow.

“Ung…”

He groaned, turning to the side to avoid the sunlight. Even though the sun was already high in the sky, he showed no signs of wanting to get up.

Cursing the windowless curtain, he tried to cover his face with his hand to block the sunlight.

“Is it too bright?”

A voice that shouldn’t be heard from his bed suddenly came over him. It was the voice of that idiot, Kang Geonho.

“Should I bring the curtain from my room?”

Siwoo’s eyes flew open and his jaw dropped as he saw Geonho casually speaking to him. Opening his mouth so suddenly caused a ‘pop’ sound from his jaw joint.

Geonho, who had been using his arm as a pillow, widened his eyes and examined Siwoo.

“Did your jaw dislocate?”

“You, you… Why are you…!”

Siwoo’s lips flapped as he hurriedly felt his chest. Fortunately, he was fully clothed. His heart had sunk thinking he might be naked too, since Geonho was shirtless.

“Do you want to die?! Why are you sleeping here!”

Siwoo abruptly sat up and lost his balance. His body felt as heavy as his unusually heavy eyelids. His head hurt a bit too. It seemed that the dreaded cold had really come.

“Don’t you remember?”

Geonho grabbed Siwoo’s shoulder and made a meaningful sound. When Siwoo looked shocked as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have, Geonho quickly explained the situation.

“Nothing happened. You fell asleep suddenly while guiding.”

Was that so? Siwoo’s memory was hazy. He remembered hugging Geonho for guiding, but he didn’t know how he ended up on the bed after that. He didn’t remember falling asleep either.

“You asked me to sleep together.”

Geonho carefully embraced the dumbfounded Siwoo and laid him back on the bed.

I, I did?

Siwoo couldn’t even make a sound. He glared with a face that said it was absolutely impossible, but Geonho was just confident. A relaxed smile typical of someone without guilt was clearly visible on his lips.

“It’s true. I swear.”

“D-Don’t be ridiculous…”

Siwoo’s voice gradually faded as he quickly retraced his memories. The situation up to hugging him and giving guiding was clear. He vaguely remembered intending to do it for just 10 minutes, but getting greedy when the guiding didn’t sink in.

[It’s been over 10 minutes. That’s enough.]

The hazy memories from last dawn started to come back bit by bit. Along with the warm sensation of patting his back.

[I said stop. It’s enough.]

[Stay still.]

[You’re sleepy now. How can you when you can’t even open your eyes properly?]

He recalled the sound of light laughter and the scene of being carefully held and laid on the bed. Geonho definitely hadn’t gotten on the bed. He had just gently put Siwoo down.

[Then sleep with me.]

It was him who had pulled Geonho onto the bed.

Siwoo covered his face with his palms and cursed inwardly. The image of Geonho saying “Okay” and getting on the bed as soon as Siwoo gave permission flashed before his eyes.

Ah, am I obsessed with guiding? He couldn’t understand himself for stubbornly continuing the guiding even when the Esper said it was fine. He had only thought about stabilizing Kang Geonho’s wavelength.

“You remember, right?”

Geonho tilted his head slightly and smiled. Siwoo didn’t like how he was chuckling alone while he was feeling serious.

“I don’t.”

“Really?”

Geonho leaned over Siwoo, who was lying on the bed. Siwoo quickly pushed him away with both arms before his expression could be read.

“Just get out quickly!”

He tried to push the big body with all his might, but it was futile. Sweat beaded on his forehead just from that small movement. It was because his body temperature had risen.

“Okay. Let’s say you don’t remember.”

“I really don’t remember!”

“Yeah, okay. You don’t remember.”

Geonho laid Siwoo down properly and covered him with a blanket. Since there was no curtain at the moment, he lifted the bed and moved it far from the window.

“I’ll bring food. Eat and sleep more.”

Instead of refusing the food, Siwoo hid his face under the blanket. He felt hungry after sleeping so much.

Then Geonho suddenly put his hand on top of the blanket and touched Siwoo’s forehead. Even though he couldn’t possibly feel the body temperature through the blanket, he spread his palm wide as if checking for fever. His hand enveloping the round forehead was even hotter.

“Should I bring cold medicine too?”

Siwoo nodded faintly under the blanket.