Beyond The Control

Chapter 45

When I opened my eyes again, it was dark. Before I could even get up, a voice startled me.

“Are you awake?”

I turned to see Song Ji-hyeok sitting there. More surprising than his presence was his condition.

Why was he still shirtless… Not that I minded looking.

“Why are you like that?”

As I asked, I wondered if he needed more guiding. It’s embarrassing as a Guide, but I couldn’t remember if I had finished properly.

Song Ji-hyeok’s answer was a bit different from what I expected.

“I was waiting for you, senior.”

“…You were waiting for me?”

“I was afraid you’d spread rumors that I ate and ran.”

He said this as he stood up abruptly. Judging by his expression and the silly joke, it seemed the guiding had gone well, thankfully.

There was another surprise. Now that I looked, he was fully clothed. I wouldn’t have dressed him while sleepwalking. Could it be…

“Let’s go eat. I’m fucking starving.”

Hearing that, I suddenly felt hungry too. It wasn’t uncommon to feel psychologically hungry after completing guiding.

But there was something to do first. After checking the time, I asked Song Ji-hyeok to wait here for 10 minutes. With about an hour left until the end of the workday, I needed to submit an early leave request and turn off the computer that would be left on without its owner.

However, I stopped walking after a short distance. There was an unfamiliar pain, and something felt sticky down below. As I realized what it was, my face flushed with heat.

‘This is crazy.’

I quickly changed my destination to the locker room. Hurriedly unlocking and opening the door, thankfully, there was spare underwear inside as I remembered. The next stop was, of course, the communal shower.

Swoosh – After pulling the shower curtain, I pulled down my pants and underwear. Looking inside, as expected, there was a lot of whitish, slippery fluid.

For a moment, I contemplated life. No matter how unpredictable life is, who could have imagined facing this situation?

Feeling the importance of condoms once again, I took off the rest of my clothes. Since I didn’t have much time, I brought the showerhead down when the water became lukewarm. My legs were awkwardly spread. Unable to look down there, I roughly scraped the inside with my fingers to wash it off.

Perhaps because of the situation, even the stream of water running down my legs felt incredibly erotic. Aaagh, I barely managed to suppress the urge to scream several times while dealing with the situation.

My face reflected in the changing room mirror looked like it had aged 10 years in that short time. The problem was that I still didn’t have much time. The 10 minutes I told Song Ji-hyeok about had probably passed long ago, and I still had things to do, so I hurried to the office.

As always, the office was almost empty. As planned, I submitted an early leave request, turned off the computer, and finished preparing to leave by putting on the jumper hanging on the chair. Then I remembered one more thing to do.

After diligently carrying that out, I took the elevator. Getting off on the third floor and walking down the corridor, I saw someone approaching from the opposite direction. It was Dr. Oh Hye-yeon, famous for being the biggest workaholic in the infirmary.

“Hello.”

I bowed slightly in greeting, and she nodded in response. I thought we would just pass by, but unexpectedly, she spoke to me with a faint smile.

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Pardon?”

“You’re not experiencing any after-effects from guiding? I came to check earlier when I was called.”

She came to check?

This was news to me. Of course, I hadn’t called her. As I stood there confused, the doctor continued.

“Song Ji-hyeok was very worried. As you probably know, after full guiding, you should rest for at least half a day without overexerting yourself. If you feel unwell or strange, come to the infirmary right away.”

“Yes, I understand…”

This dispelled my suspicion that the doctor might have mistaken someone else for me.

‘I guess Song Ji-hyeok called her. But why didn’t he tell me? Maybe because there wasn’t any real problem.’

As I started walking again, I couldn’t help but smile. Song Ji-hyeok’s face came to mind.

He knows how to take care of his sleeping partner’s clothes, and he even knows to call a doctor in case of Guide side effects. At first, he was so cold, but compared to then, this was truly remarkable progress.

At this rate, we might not even need to wait a year. That would be nice.

As soon as I entered the guiding room, a complaint flew at me.

“It’s been more than thirty minutes.”

“Sorry, sorry. Here, put this on at least.”

What I handed to Song Ji-hyeok was a short-sleeved T-shirt I had taken from my locker room. No matter how full of body-conscious Espers this place was, walking around with a bare upper body would obviously attract attention. Not to mention outside the guild.

Song Ji-hyeok reached out without protest. Then he sniffed the shirt like a dog.

Why are you smelling it, you idiot?

“It’s unworn.”

“Who said anything?”

He retorted but quickly put on the shirt. Did he think I’d ask for it back if he didn’t like it?

We continued our unfinished conversation as we moved. As we went down to the underground parking lot, I finally checked on Song Ji-hyeok’s well-being.

“How do you feel?”

“Refreshed.”

“That’s good.”

It was evident just from his more relaxed face. And speaking of faces, something came to mind. I looked at Song Ji-hyeok’s left cheek and spoke again.

“Did you get hurt on your cheek during the battle?”

“Yes.”

“Everyone must have been shocked.”

Song Ji-hyeok was the type to act first, like many Espers. But because his combat power was overwhelming, he rarely got hurt. So I could easily imagine how surprised his teammates must have been when they saw the long wound on his white cheek.

“But it’s faded a lot already. I guess we really do have good guiding compatibility.”

I tried to subtly promote myself after a long time, but Song Ji-hyeok was still not easily swayed.

“It’s probably because the doctor applied medicine.”

Tch.

“Anyway, thanks. For calling the doctor and everything.”

I wanted to pat his head, but I might lose my wrist if I tried.

As we walked, Song Ji-hyeok’s familiar car came into view. After fastening my seatbelt, I was about to ask what he wanted to eat when my phone suddenly rang. The name on the screen was Park Jae-kyung.

“Oh, Jae-kyung.”

– Have you already left work? I was going to request an emergency guiding, but your name isn’t on the list.

I immediately understood the situation. It seemed that Team 6, which Park Jae-kyung belonged to, had also returned en masse around the same time.

“I just left. Is it bad?”

– No, no. You match best with me, so I wanted to ask you. But why did you leave early for once? It is early leave, right?

“I did some intense guiding.”

Park Jae-kyung seemed to understand my words immediately.

– Song Ji-hyeok the Esper?

“Yeah.”

I glanced at the seat next to me for no reason, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. Song Ji-hyeok was silently looking ahead.

– You must have had a hard time. Let’s have a meal together next time.

“Sure. Take care.”

As soon as I hung up, Song Ji-hyeok’s voice was heard.

“I thought you only did guiding for me.”

“Well, you’re always the top priority.”

“What does that mean?”

“Hey, hey. Look ahead, look ahead.”

He’s got guts to take his eyes off the road while driving. I felt like I aged ten years, even though we were on a straight road with some distance from the car in front. But Song Ji-hyeok couldn’t wait and asked again.

“Do you do guiding for other guys too?”

“Only when requests come in.”

“Why?”

“…”

This time, I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why? Because it’s specified in the contract.”

Through our conversation, I inferred one crucial fact. This guy must have let it go in one ear and out the other when we were signing the contract together. He could get into big trouble.

“There’s no such thing. Then what’s the point of the pair contract?”

“Probably because it’s a temporary pair.”

“…So, you’re saying other guys can receive your guiding too, not just me.”

Although that was true, I didn’t mention that it wasn’t many cases, as it felt like self-deprecation. We were just starting to build a bond with Song Ji-hyeok, and there was no reason to remind him that he was paired with an inadequate person. Instead, I added a playful remark, half-joking and half-serious.

“As I said, you’re always the top priority. I enjoy it most with you too. So, let’s work hard to become official pairs and even imprint.”

“…If that’s the case, why don’t you just tag along to every field operation?”

“I’d love to, totally.”

“Just keep dreaming.”

“It’s not about my desire, it’s that the higher-ups won’t allow it…”

“Right. I heard your lie loud and clear.”

Song Ji-hyeok talked back without missing a beat. But I didn’t feel particularly annoyed or think he was being impudent. Rather, with the wound on his cheek, he looked a bit cute, like a stubborn child.

‘They say if you find someone cute, there’s no hope.’

But well, it’s all good. It’s much better than when he was ice cold.