99 Percent Love

“What is he talking about? Hey, you’re the patient. You still need to rest…”

“Rest, my foot. Just cancel the partner registration first.”

Rion said as he sat up in bed. The decision he had made in his fading consciousness was still vivid.

“No, why are you doing this?”

“I don’t want to be paired with him for the rest of my life. I have to receive guiding, so I’ll do it, but I don’t want to be associated with that annoying guy using those words!”

After giving up an arm to save him, and now he says what? Are you mad? There are espers and guides here, but why do that if you can’t even take care of yourself?

“I can’t pair with such an ungrateful person. It’s not like you have to be paired to get guiding, right?”

“Hey, but still, he…”

“Ah, I’m not listening. Isn’t the person’s will the most important thing? I won’t do it even if I die. I’ll die of rage in less than a month.”

Rion even began to pretend to block his ears. The thought of being paired with Yuwon seemed absolutely horrible to him.

The centre director watched this and sighed deeply. As he had said, once a pairing had been made, it couldn’t be undone, so it should be with someone you had absolute trust in.

The reason you couldn’t apply for a pair until after a month was because you couldn’t cancel it. During this time, you were expected to find a partner with a better match rate or to consider your choice carefully.

It was impossible for a guide to have a match rate of over 99%, but Rion refused and threw a tantrum.

“Do you hate him that much?”

“I’ve been through a lot. But seriously, not him. Pair registration isn’t mandatory, is it?”

“Still, if a matching guide goes around without pairing, people will…”

“I don’t care about that. I don’t want to be paired just to care what people think. Seriously… Some of us lose an arm to save someone and then get called crazy.”

The centre director tried to calm Rion down, but couldn’t break his strong will and cancelled the registration an hour and a half before it was due to take place.

“If even one person objects, it can’t be registered, so I’ve cancelled it for now… but how will I explain this to Yuwon?”

The Centre Director, whose energy had been drained over the past hour, looked down at the pad in his hand and spoke. 

“He probably doesn’t care. I mean, if he really wanted to mate with me, would he have spoken to me like that?”

Rion gritted his teeth as he remembered the annoying words he had heard from Yuwon. 99 percent, 99 percent. He had put up with it many times, but he couldn’t take it anymore.

“That 1 percent must have been deducted because of his personality. It’ll be a relief if he’s just happy that we’re not pairing up with that annoying, stupid senior.

Rion continued to vent his frustration to the centre director. The director nodded mechanically, having heard these complaints many times before.

“I really have to go now. I have to tell Yuwon about the cancellation of the pair’s registration… And you, stop thinking about other things and concentrate on resting. The treatment is over, but they said it’ll be sore for a few days”.

The centre director said this as he opened the door to the hospital room. As he was about to leave, he picked up a paper bag that had been left at his feet.

“What is this?”

“Oh, it’s probably something Kangwoo left behind.”

Rion spoke, recognising the familiar packaging of a health drink. Kangwoo, always worried about Rion, liked to take care of him like an older brother.

Rion spoke casually as he took the paper bag, the same brand he had brought to the gate before and which he often found outside his room.

“This guy is really overprotective.”

“Yes. He’s a nuisance, but now that there’s a suitable guide, there’s no need to be so considerate.”

Rion frowned when he thought of Yuwon’s face. He had never liked holidays since he became an Esper, but the thought of not seeing that annoying face for a few days gave him some peace.

“Alright. I’ll leave now. Get some rest.”

“Please go.”

After saying goodbye to the centre director, Rion opened the package of the drink with a familiar gesture. As he drank from the package, he thought to himself.

That 99 percent, which is almost perfect but not quite, could have been a sign of this situation from the beginning… 

* * *

Although it had been months since the rumour spread that Yuwon and Rion’s pair registration had been cancelled, the two were still famous figures in the centre.

It was natural considering their abilities, but they weren’t famous for their abilities.

Bang—!

“Is it starting again?”

“Those two…”

People who were familiar with the sound turned to look.

As expected, Rion and Yuwon were having another heated argument right in the centre today.

“Are the princess and the hothead fighting again?”

“Who else could cause such a ruckus in the centre?”

In the last few months, Yuwon had acquired a new nickname. ‘Princess.’ It might sound like a cute nickname, but in reality it wasn’t.

“Do you feel satisfied after breaking everything? Do you feel like you won?” 

“I told you to shut up…”

The terrifying mouth, nicknamed ‘Princess’. It was hard to understand why someone who wasn’t an Esper would speak so boldly for no reason.

“If it weren’t for Rion’s nature, and if the princess weren’t Rion’s matching guide, there would have been trouble a few times by now.”

If they were both Espers, Rion would probably have hit him hard, knowing that he’d be punished for it.

But the opponent was a guide with no physical abilities, and if anything happened to him, it was clear that Rion would bear all the consequences.

Because of this, their fights always ended with Rion venting his frustration.

“Ugh!”

“Here we go again, ending like this.”

“What’s new about it?”

By now, even when the two of them fought in the centre lobby, no one paid any attention to them. Their fights had become a daily occurrence, and when it was over, Rion left the lobby with a loud sigh.

“By the way, didn’t they say that another S-class leader is coming today?”

“Yes. There’ll be two S-grade guides at the centre this year. What’s going on?”

Naturally, people’s attention shifted from the fight between the two to something else. The topic of the day was the new S-grade guide joining the centre.

“I have a friend who works at the Guide Training Bureau, and he said that this one looks like a total celebrity.”

“Do all S-grade guides become guides because of their looks? So jealous.”

“How old are they?”

“The same age as Rion, apparently. They just came back from studying abroad.”

It wasn’t unusual for new espers or guides to join, but when the new one was an S-grade, it was a different story.

“What? A student abroad? Why do S-grade guides get such great specs these days?”

“Yes. So they just look for the skills and looks to match the specs.”

The people laughed as they continued the conversation. Meanwhile, Rion, who had just gone to vent his anger at Kangwoo, subtly joined the conversation.

“S-grade leader, huh?”

“Wow, did you calm down?”

“Well, I’m angry with Yuwon, not with anyone else. What reason do I have to be angry with the seniors?” 

Rion grumbled as he sat down next to the Espers who had been talking. Since he wasn’t completely wrong, they continued their conversation.

“Yes. He’s S-class. But… doesn’t that have anything to do with you? You already have a suitable guide, do you really want another S-grade guide?”

“I wouldn’t take someone like Yuwon even if he was offered to me. It’s not even a pair, but everyone else gets good guidance from Yuwon, right? I can also be interested in other guides.”

Rion mumbled as he spoke. What’s the point of having a high matching rate and good guidance if every time they meet, he feels like he’s going to die of rage?

“Even if the matching rate is lower, it is a hundred times better to be guided with less stress.”

“That’s true, but… do you really think such good luck is going to happen twice in one year? Don’t get your hopes up.”

At the Senior’s words, Rion pouted. He thought it was okay to hope a little.

Although he grumbled inside, Rion didn’t expect much from the new leader either.

Still, since it was an S-grade, he hoped for a match rate of 50 percent, or maybe 40 percent. If that happened, he could get rid of the annoying Yuwon right away.

“Hey, isn’t that the guide coming?”

“Where?”

At someone’s comment, the espers and guides in the lobby looked up and followed the direction of her gaze. A man with light brown hair, walking behind the Centre Director, looked down from the stairs at the murmuring crowd.

“What? Looks like the rumours about his good looks weren’t wrong.”

“I think they said he was mixed race…”

People muttered about his distinctive face. However, Rion wasn’t interested in his looks, so he didn’t join in the muttering and quietly looked up at his face.

“…?”

At that moment, the S-class leader who had been looking down smiled faintly before turning his head and walking with the Centre Director.

What had just happened? Had we just made eye contact? Or was it just my imagination?

“Anyway, it’s not a bad thing that we have another S-class leader in the centre. Let’s all treat him well.

At the Esper’s words, everyone nodded and settled the situation. Rion, thinking it was just his imagination, turned his head and started talking to the others again.