Ordinary Person A

#17

“The elevator’s here, I think.”

Ho-woo cheerfully chirped about the arrival of the elevator whose button was already pressed, and the Espers waiting together quietly moved aside. No one wanted to share a cramped elevator with the S-class Esper known as the mad dog. They feared the consequences.

Thanks to this, Ho-woo comfortably rode up and started to bring up the reason he had been looking for Oh-yul.

“By the way, Oh-yul-ssi.”

“……”

“Yul-i-ssi?”

“Yes, please speak.”

Did he just not answer because I used his surname? That’s cute.

Surprisingly, the adjective “cute” suited this man who was a head taller and could subdue someone like Lee Ho-woo with just one finger.

However, Ho-woo had something to confront this cute man about.

“About my company…”

“I’ve taken care of that.”

“But I need to go to work.”

“It’s paid leave. Pure vacation time that doesn’t use up your annual leave or other vacation days.”

“…Hmm.”

“Isn’t this a very good situation for an office worker? I’ve never worked in a company, so I’m not sure, but I received advice.”

It was indeed a good condition, with paid leave that didn’t touch other vacation days. But good conditions didn’t excuse everything. Ho-woo scolded him in a firm tone.

“But you didn’t ask for my opinion.”

If there was a problem, Oh-yul should have talked to Ho-woo, the person concerned, and asked for understanding first.

“Don’t do this again in the future.”

“……”

Oh-yul didn’t answer that he would. Wasn’t silence considered affirmation? Ho-woo decided to think that his silence was an affirmative response.

“But you did it for my sake, right? The reporters wouldn’t leave my workplace alone. Yul-i-ssi, you’re really a good person.”

His light brown eyes filled with goodwill and trust. The hand holding Oh-yul’s hand gently tightened. The ticklish feeling where their skin touched once again made Ho-woo feel excited.

It also felt like gently caressing the surface of water. It was strange to feel this way just from holding hands, but since it didn’t feel bad, Ho-woo thought it didn’t matter.

This sensation wasn’t felt when he held hands with other Espers or Han Seong-won earlier. As Ho-woo fidgeted with their joined hands, he remembered the last thing Yu Hee-eun had said.

“Ah! That’s right. The Guide had something she wanted me to tell you before she ran away.”

“What is it?”

“She said she’ll come for guiding.”

At that moment, a slight hint of trouble flashed across Oh-yul’s face before quickly disappearing. Ho-woo saw this but tried not to get deeply involved, as it was Esper Oh-yul’s business. After all, his involvement, without any abilities, wouldn’t solve Oh-yul’s problems at all.

“I definitely passed on the message, right?”

“…I understand. Thank you for relaying it.”

Although he thanked Ho-woo for delivering the message, his voice didn’t sound particularly grateful. The voice was clearly tinged with annoyance, so Ho-woo impulsively asked a small question.

“I heard Espers like receiving guiding?”

But why do you look so annoyed?

Ho-woo looked up at the Esper with clear eyes. Oh-yul heaved a deep sigh at the question born from pure curiosity.

“…There’s something called a matching rate between Espers and Guides.”

“I know that.”

“If the matching rate is below a certain threshold, the guiding effect is reduced, and both parties feel unbearable discomfort and pain. In the case of Espers, they experience severe nausea, dizziness, and terrible headaches. Guides may even faint.”

“Oh… So guiding isn’t always good?”

It seemed that if the matching rate was low, each guiding session could be quite painful. Ho-woo examined Oh-yul’s displeased face closely. He seemed to dislike the very idea of receiving guiding.

“Then you have a good matching rate with the Guide, right?”

When Yu Hee-eun came to his house, Ho-woo hadn’t felt anything, but it seemed the two had definitely proceeded with guiding. Knowing who Ho-woo meant by “the Guide,” Oh-yul slowly shook his head.

“No.”

“…? But you said it hurts if it’s low.”

“There’s no Guide with a better matching rate with me than Yu Hee-eun. 38% is the highest figure, so it takes more than 20 Guides to fully guide me.”

T-twenty people…

It was a large number, or an ambiguous one, depending on how you looked at it. Although Ho-woo didn’t know much about guiding, he got the feeling that this was an incredible feat.

“And that’s with high-ranking Guides, under the condition of making them all faint.”

If we were to be considerate, that number wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Oh-yul continued speaking matter-of-factly. While the fainting Guides were a problem, Ho-woo felt a bit sorry for Oh-yul, thinking about how he would be in pain during the guiding with those Guides. It was pitiful that Oh-yul, who couldn’t live without guiding for his entire life as an Esper, felt pain even during this supposedly pleasant experience.

“I’m sure there’s a Guide with a good matching rate for you.”

“…Actually, I’ve known someone with a good matching rate for quite a long time. A very unique person.”

“Then you should receive guiding from that person!”

Ho-woo smiled brightly at the thought that there was at least one person who could alleviate Oh-yul’s pain. Oh-yul looked down at Ho-woo blankly. His eyes, mixed with blue, slowly curved into an arc. However, that smile held subtle displeasure rather than joy.

“But Guides are public property of the Management Corporation.”

The hand holding Ho-woo’s tightened a bit more. Although the tight grip wasn’t painful, Ho-woo thought Oh-yul’s eyes were glistening strangely.

“P-public property?”

It was an extremely inhuman expression to describe a person. At Ho-woo’s bewilderment, Oh-yul opened the door that had already arrived with his security card. With the small sound of the lock releasing, he ushered Ho-woo in first and stood blocking the doorway.

As if trying to cut Ho-woo off from the entire world.

“It’s because the number of Guides is small.”

“No matter how few there are…”

How can they treat people like that? Seeing this thought clearly written on Ho-woo’s face, Oh-yul gently stroked the ends of Ho-woo’s soft hair.

“I don’t want to think about what would happen if that person were thrown into the middle of the corporation in that situation.”

Oh-yul’s expression showed that even the thought was extremely unpleasant. His eyes were filled with disgust as if he had stuffed all the nauseating acts he could imagine into his mind.

“Until an Esper imprints on them, Guides are public property. Well, I don’t think it would improve much even after imprinting.”

His voice and sunken face were sharply edged. Oh-yul, who had been openly showing hostility towards an unknown target, suddenly changed his expression and shrugged lightly.

“And anyway, the Management Corporation prohibits imprinting.”

He didn’t say more. Running a hand through his slightly disheveled hair, he gave a gentle smile to Ho-woo, who had been completely pushed into the room.

“You probably haven’t eaten since you woke up. Change your clothes and wait in the room. I’ll bring you a meal.”

“……”

As Oh-yul was preparing to leave the room again, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Ho-woo. His gaze fell on the Guide uniform Ho-woo was wearing. His eyes, filled with a strangely displeased and annoyed look, narrowed.

“Take off the clothes.”

It was almost a command. At this authoritative and intimidating tone, Ho-woo hurriedly took off the uniform’s coat and meekly handed it to Oh-yul. Fortunately, once the coat was removed, the clothes underneath looked somewhat like a suit.

“At times like this, it’s a bit frustrating that I don’t have fire abilities.”

Oh-yul, who had taken the coat, drew moisture from the air. The sudden dryness irritated Ho-woo’s throat, causing him to cough lightly.

“Cough.”

At that moment, the humidifier in the room turned on.

“Huh…”

Ho-woo was a bit surprised by the humidifier operating automatically without anyone touching it. The humidifier in Oh-yul’s room was a model Ho-woo knew. He remembered looking it up a few months ago to put in his dry house. As far as he knew, that model didn’t have an automatic operation function.

While Ho-woo was peering curiously in the direction of the humidifier, Oh-yul tore the annoying uniform coat to shreds, moving the collected water like a whirlwind.

Ho-woo, who hadn’t discovered the secret of the humidifier, belatedly noticed Oh-yul doing this and unconsciously voiced his thoughts.

“Washing machine.”

“……”

The blue eyes, slightly brighter due to using his ability, quietly turned to Ho-woo.

“Of course, washing machines don’t tear clothes! I just meant it looks similar. The spinning motion…”

Ho-woo’s voice gradually became as small as an ant’s. The fading voice finally disappeared completely.

“Last time it was a dryer, and this time it’s a washing machine?”

“…Uh, …um. I’m sorry.”