Ordinary Person A

#18

It seemed he had thought of the Esper’s ability in too domestic a way. Ho-woo watched Oh-yul cautiously. Worried that he might be upset, Ho-woo raised his lowered gaze to see Oh-yul’s expression, only to be met with a pleased smile.

“Then I should do Ho-woo-ssi’s laundry as well.”

“But the washing machine takes care of my laundry…”

“Didn’t you say I was that washing machine? I’ll wash everything you wear on your body.”

Oh-yul traced his fingertip from Ho-woo’s neck down to his chest. Wherever the long, thick-jointed, firm finger passed, it felt ticklish and the sensation intensified.

The finger moved downward at an agonizingly slow pace before stopping in the middle of Ho-woo’s chest. Despite the light touch, Ho-woo flinched in surprise, hunching his shoulders.

“From head to toe. Everything.”

It felt like Oh-yul was licking Ho-woo’s entire body with his eyes. Though their eyes were locked, the persistent gaze made Ho-woo feel as if his body was being thoroughly explored.

The finger that had slid down and was slowly swimming in circles on Ho-woo’s stomach withdrew without hesitation.

“Th-thank you.”

A slightly cracked voice due to tension escaped Ho-woo’s throat. Ho-woo moistened his dry lips with his tongue. Then, watching Oh-yul’s back as he pushed the completely shredded Guide uniform into the trash can, Ho-woo smacked his forehead.

Get a grip, Lee Ho-woo!

Espers might be used to this kind of thing due to frequent contact with Guides, but it was ridiculous how easily he was swayed. Oh-yul probably didn’t think anything of it, yet here he was, greedily lapping up crumbs when no one was offering him bread.

“Would you like to go for a walk after eating?”

The Esper, unaware of Ho-woo’s thoughts, once again extended a kind hand. Unable to reject the gentle kindness, Ho-woo accepted it.

“Sure.”

***

“Wow.”

Yu Hee-eun clicked her tongue as she checked the anonymous bulletin board. The post describing the mad dog’s “lovey-dovey eyes” had already become a top post, with views far exceeding the number of affiliated Espers and Guides.

‘Were they really lovey-dovey eyes?’

Hee-eun recalled Oh-yul standing next to Ho-woo. The eyes she saw looking up from the training ground didn’t seem particularly affectionate. Rather, he looked just as displeased as usual, which made Hee-eun think the posts were quite exaggerated.

When she clicked on one casually posted message, it was even more outrageous.

Anonymous 207: I just saw Oh-yul walking hand in hand with a Guide in the park in front of the dormitory building. He wasn’t wearing the uniform coat, but the pants were 100% Guide uniform. I’ve seen enough Guide uniforms to recognize them. But his eyes were like those “lovey-dovey eyes” described in the top post. I thought it was someone else wearing Oh-yul’s skin.

Guess he’s just another Esper desperately clinging to Guides after all.

└Anonymous 961: I saw it too. They say people change when they’re about to die. Is Oh-yul dying?

└Anonymous 176: Crazy bastard lol That guy would say “let’s all die together” even when dying. He’d probably wipe out the whole city as he dies?

└Anonymous 388: He’s a polite crazy bastard though.

└Anonymous 471: They’re still walking. Come see if you’re curious.

After checking the last comment on the post, Hee-eun jumped up. The dedicated guiding room for Team 1 was on the second floor, the same floor as their dormitory. Since the structure allowed one to see the wide lawn in front of the dormitory building when opening the window, she flung open the large, tightly closed window.

“Wow…”

It seemed like all the Espers and Guides remaining in the corporation building had come out, as the area around the lawn was packed. Yet, they were huddled in corners, carefully avoiding the route Oh-yul and his companion were walking hand in hand.

Curiosity kills the Esper, huh?

Hee-eun smiled, modifying an old proverb. They probably thought Ho-woo was a Guide, but Lee Ho-woo was an ordinary person. Someone with absolutely no guiding ability, of no benefit whatsoever to Espers.

How much more shocked would they be if they knew that Oh-yul was so protective of such a person?

The thought alone was thrillingly chilling. Hee-eun even felt a bit elated at having obtained this great secret of Oh-yul’s.

An S-class Esper clinging to an ordinary person.

As Hee-eun was unable to control her rising smile, grinning uncontrollably, a man entered the guiding room and quietly approached behind her.

“Is there something to see?”

“Oh my! Make some noise when you move!”

Startled by the familiar voice behind her, Hee-eun discovered dark purple eyes looking down at her and frowned in displeasure.

“Since when do Espers make noise when they move?”

“Teammates and captains, you’re all the same.”

Hee-eun pouted as she took the suddenly extended hand. She had been enjoying something interesting, but Choi Seon-woo’s arrival instantly ruined her mood.

“More importantly, what are you looking at?”

Seon-woo peeked under the open window. The lawn in front of the dormitory building was packed with people. It was probably the moment with the highest number of people using the lawn since the foundation of the Management Corporation.

As Seon-woo scanned the crowd, his eyes sparkled when he spotted two people sitting side by side in front of the pond, holding hands a bit further away. The corners of his mouth rose in amusement. That smile was full of curiosity.

“Is that the captain?”

“You have better eyesight than me, why are you asking?”

Hee-eun spoke in a sulky voice while guiding Seon-woo. She tried to calm her churning stomach. Because her matching rate with this man wasn’t very high either, after guiding him, even if she didn’t faint, she felt sick all day as if she had motion sickness. Since being assigned to Team 1 due to her relatively decent matching rate with Oh-yul, she hadn’t had a single comfortable day, making her nerves on edge.

“He told me to mess with the reporters’ heads, but here he is on a date.”

Choi Seon-woo, who had been looking mischievous, clicked his tongue when he confirmed Oh-yul’s companion. While the situation was quite interesting, the first person Oh-yul had ever shown interest in, after never giving anyone a second glance before, was by no means an easy match.

“It won’t last long anyway since they’re an ordinary person.”

No matter how sincere, physical differences would eventually drive them apart. Seon-woo seemed to speak from experience, having dated an ordinary person for quite some time, and a faint hint of worry tinged the end of his voice.

The combination of an Esper and an ordinary person had only resulted in breakups so far. It was difficult for two people who had managed to connect to have a happily-ever-after like in fairy tales. The emotion called love quickly wore down in the face of fear, and what remained in the end was only a bitter separation.

Espers, who find it difficult to feel emotions but become obsessively focused once they become aware of their feelings, were often left alone in that brief flow of emotions. It’s hard for them to give their hearts, and equally hard to take them back. The aftereffects remain deeply etched in their minds. To never show their true feelings to anyone again.

“It’s not like an ordinary person will become a Guide just because he’s putting in so much effort,” Seon-woo lamented, his eye color gradually returning to black as Hee-eun guided him.

“They won’t,” Hee-eun agreed, continuing the guiding. Unlike Seon-woo who was worried about Oh-yul, she took Ho-woo’s side.

“I’ve already warned the neighbor to be careful of Esper Choi Seon-woo.”

“Me? I’m not interested in ordinary people anymore.”

Seon-woo pointed at himself with a slightly confused expression. Why was he suddenly brought up in the captain’s love affair?

“What could an ordinary person do if a psychic Esper messed with their mind?”

“…Did I seem that nasty to you?”

“You’d do it if it was the captain’s order, wouldn’t you?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Seon-woo agreed readily. He would follow Oh-yul’s orders. Today, he had just finished messing with the heads of all the reporters Jin-hyuk had thrown at him. It was a bit tiring since he hadn’t used his power in a while, but there was still more work to do. His captain liked things to be absolutely certain, so he had given Seon-woo separate instructions. Just dealing with the reporters caught today should be enough to clean up all the articles that had been posted, so what was the ulterior motive? Knowing that asking would only result in sharp words from a cold face, he complained to Hee-eun instead.

“Our captain is really scary, isn’t he? Don’t you think? He’s too calm to be called a mad dog. He’s not a mad dog, he’s insidiously crazy. I’m telling you, the signs were there since he was young.”

Choi Seon-woo rummaged through his pocket with one hand, looking for cigarettes. Only an empty, crumpled pack was found in his pocket.

“Hey, Hee-eun, do you have any cigarettes?”

“Do you think I would?”

“Never mind then.”

He shrugged. Guiding works even with a low matching rate. As the gradually intensifying headache made Seon-woo frown deeply, he thought he should probably go find a Guide with a good matching rate for the next guiding session. He had come to Hee-eun this time because she could provide the quickest guiding.