Churu for the Angry Guide

71

Siwoo hadn’t expected himself to show such passion for work. The thought of being able to start work immediately made his motivation surge.

“I’m going to start today.”

His excited voice betrayed his elation. Seojun’s gaze deepened slightly as he looked at Siwoo.

“Who’s first on the schedule?”

“Yoo Jihan.”

Before leaving the room, Siwoo picked up the empty snack boxes from the floor. No matter how much he cleaned, trash kept appearing. It was because he kept snacking frequently.

Squeak!

Siwoo, who had just stepped into the hallway, returned to the room upon hearing the toy’s sound. He wondered why the mouse was crying, only to see Seojun pressing the mouse doll repeatedly as he put down a pillow.

“Don’t touch it!”

Siwoo quickly ran to Seojun and snatched his doll away. Thinking Seojun might covet the doll, he stuffed it into his pocket. Seojun had been eyeing it for a while now.

“It’s mine. Stay away from it.”

“I’m not interested.”

Seojun’s mouth twisted slightly as if in disbelief. Looking at Siwoo’s bulging pocket, he asked as he left the room:

“When are you going to wash that rat?”

Deliberately saying “rat” instead of “mouse”. Though Seojun’s choice of words was irritating, Siwoo let it slide since his own language wasn’t much better.

“It doesn’t need washing. It’s clean.”

As it was a cherished doll, he wiped it thoroughly every day, leaving not a speck of dust. He usually didn’t even touch it much to avoid getting it dirty on purpose.

“What. Why?”

Siwoo lifted his chin high towards Seojun, who was staring at him blankly. Due to Seojun’s exceptionally tall height, Siwoo had to crane his neck excessively to face him.

“I was wondering if you lick it clean with your tongue. Like when you were a cat.”

Seojun asked, recalling the image of a white cat grooming the doll diligently. In response, a piercing shout flew at him.

“Why would I do that as a human!”

Siwoo yelled as he left the room. As if he’d groom while in human form. What a stupid question to ask, even though he’s a beastkin himself.

“You might. If you cherish it.”

“Then you do it!”

Seojun chuckled, apparently having no intention of doing it himself. He was the second most annoying guy after Yoo Jihan.

“If you’re too lazy to wash it, I can do it for you.”

Siwoo, who was about to shout again, closed his mouth. He seemed subtly interested.

“Give it to me. It’ll be done quickly if I use the quick wash cycle.”

Siwoo had thought Seojun was offering to hand-wash it, but he was planning to put it in the washing machine. Siwoo knew how to do that much himself.

“Never mind. I’ll do it myself.”

Changing direction, Siwoo went to his room and grabbed another doll. Though it didn’t really need washing, he decided to clean it a bit more thoroughly while he was at it.

“Do you know how to use the washing machine?”

Siwoo snorted as he entered the laundry room. Ignoring Seojun, who was unnecessarily following him, he put the mouse doll and a red goldfish doll into the washing machine.

“What’s that?”

“None of your business.”

It was the goldfish doll that Siwoo played with second most often after the mouse doll. Geonho often played with him by attaching the red goldfish to a fishing rod. With just that, Siwoo could happily bounce around for an hour. Of course, he had never played with it in human form.

“What food did you buy?”

After pressing the quick wash button on the machine, Siwoo showed interest in dinner. Seojun just said he bought a lot. There was too much variety to bother explaining.

“You bought so much.”

Siwoo marveled at the huge spread of food on the table. It was an impressive dinner with a balanced mix of Korean, Chinese, and Western dishes. Even though Seojun was an Esper, this amount seemed enough to stuff themselves for days.

“I thought all the hyungs would eat together.”

“Are you the only one done with work?”

Seojun silently nodded as he placed chopsticks in front of Siwoo. Siwoo, without much thought, looked over the food, wondering what to eat first.

“I thought we’d finish early today, but they said gates kept opening one after another at the end.”

“Really?”

“They said they didn’t need support, so I just came back.”

“Is it dangerous?”

Though listening to Seojun, Siwoo’s gaze remained fixed on the food. He was curious about the gate situation, but right now he was more interested in the perfectly grilled lamb chops. He had never eaten anything like that before.

“It’s not dangerous.”

Then that’s fine. Siwoo focused on the food without worry. The moment he grabbed the lamb chop with both hands and took a bite, his eyes widened.

“Wow…”

The charcoal aroma filled his mouth along with the meat juices. It was a success from the first bite.

Siwoo quickly stripped the meat off the lamb chop and then picked up his chopsticks. Once again, Siwoo’s small lips moved busily. Fortunately, the inside of his mouth was spacious compared to its narrow opening.

Seojun also began eating while watching Siwoo devour his food hurriedly. Seeing Siwoo enjoy the food made it taste even better to Seojun. Thanks to that, Seojun’s appetite was stimulated as well.

After focusing on the meal for a while, Siwoo took a sip of lemonade. Instead of immediately picking up more food, he looked at Seojun, who was silently clearing his plate. Then he brought up something out of the blue.

“The leader says you do well on your own.”

This just suddenly came to mind.

“What?”

“I had a brief conversation with the leader, and he said that. That you and Yoo Jihan do well on your own.”

It wasn’t really necessary to relay this. The leader hadn’t specifically praised Seojun. Maybe he just mentioned it to emphasize taking good care of his younger brother.

“Really? The leader said that directly?”

However, seeing Seojun’s reaction, Siwoo thought it was good he mentioned it.

“Yeah, directly.”

Seojun, momentarily dazed, put down his fork and picked up his water glass. He covered his mouth with the glass and swallowed water very slowly. However, due to the glass being transparent, his smiling lips were clearly visible.

He really is the youngest.

No matter how mature he tried to act, Seojun was still only twenty-one. Though the biggest in size, he was the youngest and least experienced. He couldn’t relax in the guild and was always mindful of his hyungs and the leader.

Siwoo carefully observed Seojun while emptying his lemonade. Looking closely, his face seemed a bit thinner. His high stress levels and fatigue were written all over his face.

“Hey, eat more.”

“I’m going to eat more.”

Seojun picked up his chopsticks again and took the largest piece of steak onto his plate. He was going to eat more even without Siwoo telling him to. The food was going down well today. Was he becoming like the glutton guide?

They stopped talking for a while and just cleared their plates. Today, the food seemed to disappear even faster than usual.

“By the way, Guide-nim.”

Seojun, who had eaten his fill, spoke up. Siwoo had already put down his chopsticks and was contentedly rubbing his full stomach.

“What?”

“Do you follow the guiding schedule for Geonho hyung too?”

“Of course.”

Is there any reason to do it differently? Siwoo looked at Seojun with a puzzled face. Seojun was gathering the vegetables left alone on his plate. He didn’t eat vegetables, just like Siwoo.

“I was wondering if there’s a need to do it separately when you’re together almost every day.”

“We’re just together, it doesn’t mean we’re doing guiding.”

Siwoo answered firmly.

Except when Geonho went out to the field, they were together every day. Geonho visited Siwoo’s room whenever he had a chance, and Siwoo didn’t stop him. Since he always came with his hands full of new snacks, Siwoo had no choice but to open the door.

By the way, why is he asking about this?

Siwoo glared at Seojun while stabbing a grilled pineapple with his fork.

“Do you want to receive guiding first?”

He asked, wondering if Seojun brought this up because of the guiding order. However, seeing Seojun’s lukewarm expression, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Seojun focused on his meal again. Since it seemed he had asked without any particular intention, Siwoo didn’t dwell on it either.

“Hey, you know.”

Siwoo, who had been eating sweet pineapple pieces one by one, suddenly spoke up. He had something he wanted to ask Seojun.

“How’s my guiding?”

Seojun tilted his head at the sudden question. His expression asked why Siwoo was asking this.

“I want to use it as a reference for future guiding.”

Though brief, he had given Seojun guiding twice. Once during the matching rate test, and once when Seojun wasn’t feeling well.

“You can tell me briefly. Just let me know how it was.”

“Honestly?”

Seojun put down his chopsticks and lightly wiped his mouth. He seemed to be preparing to give a serious answer.

“Moderately honest.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means don’t curse.”

Siwoo warned in advance, feeling that Seojun might speak harshly.

“Hmm…”

Seojun rolled his eyes and rested his chin on his hand, taking a moment to think. His sparkling golden eyes moved leisurely.

The answer came a little late.

“Honestly, it’s not great.”

Siwoo’s eyes widened slightly before returning to normal. When he asked for the reason in a faint voice, this time the answer came immediately.

“It’s tantalizing.”