“Sounds good, right? At least you won't be bored for the rest of your stay.”
Is being bored really the fucking issue? I nearly died fighting a monster, and now you're telling me it's perfectly fine to attend classes wearing a hospital gown? Are you out of your mind?
Huiyeong seriously considered whether he could make a run for it on a leg in a cast. This guy wasn't just crazy—he was on another level. I'd been completely fooled by that pretty face and gentle way of speaking. Then again, there wasn't a single sane person in this godforsaken world to begin with. It was like a paradise for lunatics.
Seeing Huiyeong flinch, Haram smiled brightly.
“I even requested a shared hospital room on purpose. Your leg isn't in any condition for walking around anyway, so why don't we just study together?”
That fucking psycho. He'd planned the whole thing.
Huiyeong's opinion of Haram plummeted straight into the abyss. He looked him up and down with a thoroughly disgusted expression. That mysterious passion for teaching—no, obsession—was honestly starting to scare him. What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Seeing Huiyeong's twisted expression, Haram let out an awkward laugh.
“Huiyeong. I'm truly grateful for what you did this time, but normally Guides don't fight monsters in dungeons. I won't ask what kind of life you've lived. But you're a Guide, and if you're going to keep entering dungeons, I really don't want you doing anything that dangerous ever again.”
You should ask what kind of life I lived. Your understanding is way too fucking broad. I was a gangster, old man.
“This time we were lucky. The monster that attacked us was a very weak Kerko, and it was the weakest, youngest juvenile at that. That's the only reason you were able to defeat it. Normally, in that kind of situation, not just Guides but everyone except Espers avoids confronting monsters. You were really close to getting yourself killed.”
“Oh... Is that so.”
Huiyeong smacked his lips.
Yeah. I'd already thought it was strange. A monster isn't a person with a gun, so the fact it could be killed by a knife like that—well, it wasn't easy, but it died anyway. Still... what the hell was I supposed to do? Just stand there and die? No matter how much he thought about it, Huiyeong couldn't come up with any other option.
He had never learned how to ask others for help when his life was in danger. He had never lived the kind of helpless life where you sat around begging someone to save you.
Either kill, or be killed.
That had been every moment of his life.
Even after hearing Haram's explanation, Huiyeong didn't regret what he'd done. Calling it a choice wasn't even accurate. It had been instinct. If he ever found himself in the same situation again, he knew he'd do exactly the same thing.
Watching Huiyeong's face harden, Haram sighed inwardly.
This wasn't going to be easy.
Entrusting your life completely to someone else required far more effort than most people imagined. And after experiencing something like this during his very first dungeon expedition...
That was why trust between a Guide and an Esper mattered more than anything else.
The certainty that your Esper would protect you no matter what.
The resolve that you would protect your Esper no matter what.
That was the starting line for every Esper and Guide.
But Haram had no intention of naively telling him to simply trust his Esper.
A Guide had to be able to control an Esper. A Guide who only let themselves be dragged along would one day be overpowered by that Esper. Just because a Guide held an Esper's lifeline didn't mean they always held the upper hand.
Their twisted obsession sometimes led to catastrophic endings.
Ordinary human relationships could already end that way from time to time. Relationships literally tied to life and death were even more dangerous.
"They only did it because they loved you."
That was all bullshit.
Haram didn't believe in love in the first place, but more importantly, whether they loved their Guide wasn't the issue.
Their love did not excuse their obsession.
Haram wondered how he was supposed to teach Huiyeong to trust an Esper—but never trust one completely.
He understood better than anyone that every word he spoke would profoundly shape the life of someone as blank as Huiyeong.
Silence stretched between them.
Then the hospital room door suddenly burst open, and Assistant Manager Seong and Assistant Manager Shin rushed inside.
“Huiyeong! Huiyeong! Oh no!”
They called his name so desperately that, the moment they saw Huiyeong sitting there with casts on both his arms and leg, tears immediately welled up in their eyes.
Oh, heavens. Our fairy old man got hurt like this!
“...Did somebody die?”
Huiyeong scowled viciously.
Come on, kids. I'm at an age where that kind of wailing gets on my nerves.
Even after being scolded, Assistant Manager Seong pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his tears.
Good heavens. That delicate little body... where was it even supposed to get injured...? He's the kind of person who'd collapse just walking around as it is....
Ever since news of Huiyeong's injuries reached the Center, the staff who had been treating him like a precious treasure hadn't been able to think straight all day.
How could he possibly have gotten hurt?
Even if it was a long-term dungeon, it had been classified as safe. Han Shinyul, an S-rank, had accompanied the expedition. None of the original members had been removed. If anything, the team had been overstaffed rather than understaffed.
Yet the Guide assigned to them had come back looking like he'd been dragged through hell.
The thought alone made them miserable. They had spent the entire day sniffling while working before finally giving up and rushing to the hospital.
Quietly watching the employees make such a huge fuss, Huiyeong gradually began worrying about the one person who still hadn't shown up.
Wait... did that kid not make it out of the dungeon?
“Ahem... uh... where's... him?”
“Huh?”
Assistant Manager Seong and Assistant Manager Shin stopped bawling long enough to stare at him with wide eyes.
“Him. Han Shinyul.”
“Oh... Shinyul? He's at the Center for a bit.”
So he did get out.
Right. If I'd made it out, then that brat obviously did too. Didn't they say nobody could leave until all 1,178 monsters were dead? So he actually killed every last one of them? Damn. That's impressive.
But that little bastard couldn't even come pay his respects to an elder.
“Tsk.”
Huiyeong clicked his tongue.
His Watch was gone from his wrist, so he couldn't check Shinyul's condition either.
Where the hell is he? What's he doing?
The moment Huiyeong asked about Shinyul, the employees' expressions noticeably darkened.
Even Haram lowered his head and silently fiddled with the textbook in his hands.
Huiyeong blinked at the sudden heaviness filling the room.
“What's with all of you?”
“Well... um... Shinyul probably won't be able to come see you for a while.”
“Why? Something happen?”
“Well... because you and Mr. Haram were injured in the dungeon, he's been referred to the disciplinary committee as the overall person in charge. He was the team leader, after all.”
Assistant Manager Seong's explanation left Huiyeong staring blankly.
Why?
Was it really that serious?
In the end, everyone came back alive and with all their limbs attached. Wasn't that enough?
Seeing the shocked look on his face, the employees forced smiles.
Higher positions naturally came with greater responsibility. That was the whole point of a chain of command.
After hearing the full story, it was obvious Shinyul had done almost nothing wrong. It felt unfair.
But that was simply how things worked.
“It's okay. This time it was hardly Shinyul's fault at all. They're just calling him in because he was the team leader. It won't be a serious punishment.”
“......”
Huiyeong's expression turned grave.
Of course, someone his age wasn't incapable of understanding the situation. In every society, a subordinate's mistakes became their superior's responsibility.
The real problem was that he had absolutely no idea what had actually been wrong... or why it had become such a big issue.
Only then did Huiyeong finally face reality.
Up until now, he'd been obsessed with finding a way home. He'd spent all his time solving whatever problems directly threatened his survival.
Even when someone had been sitting right beside him, spoon-feeding him knowledge, he'd tuned it out because it didn't seem useful for getting back.
Since he'd assumed he was going home anyway, he'd only adapted as much as absolutely necessary.
No.
If he was honest, he'd been deliberately refusing to adapt.
Why the hell do I need to know that?
I'm going home soon anyway.
He had irresponsibly looked away and pretended not to know.
Now he had to admit it.
Even if this was only a borrowed body in a temporary world, they still affected each other.
If he kept getting swept along without understanding anything, then the least he could do was accurately grasp the situation so he could fight against it.
Instead of whining because things weren't going his way, he had to face reality.
Separate from his determination to return home...
He was living here now.
“Ha...”
His mind suddenly felt clear.
Now that he'd found the problem, all that remained was solving it.
He understood that simple rule of the world, and following it was easier than anything else.
He hadn't spent all those years growing older for nothing.
Huiyeong looked at Haram.
The man was still clutching the thick textbook tightly.
Without saying a word, Huiyeong held out his hand, asking for it.
Haram quietly handed it over.
Flipping through the enormous textbook that was almost too thick to hold in one hand, Huiyeong spoke in an unconcerned voice.
“Fine. Guess I'd better start taking classes. There's way too much I don't know.”
“Huiyeong...!”
Haram's face lit up with emotion.
Assistant Manager Shin had no idea what had just happened, but enthusiastically clapped anyway.
“Congratulations! Study hard! Go ace the college entrance exam!”
Assistant Manager Seong laughed, then mouthed through clenched teeth at him,
Read the room....
“Before that...”
Huiyeong closed the textbook.
“I want to see Han Shinyul.”
“Huh?”
“Why? Can't I?”
“No, no, you can. It's just... Shinyul's current condition might be... a little difficult to look at....”
Huiyeong almost asked why, but stopped himself.
Instead, he quietly climbed out of bed.
If he had decided he wanted to know something, then he needed to know it properly.
There was no information more reliable than seeing something with his own eyes and experiencing it himself.
Rather than wasting time asking questions, he chose to act.
As Huiyeong silently prepared to leave, the employees immediately started fussing over him again.
“While you're there, you should do some Guiding too! Shinyul's been asking for you a lot! You're really such a kind person!”
“Exactly! There's nobody else like you, Huiyeong!”
Hearing that, Huiyeong's face went completely blank.
“You think I'm going all the way over there just to kiss him?”
“......”
Why does he automatically assume Guiding means kissing...? Holding hands works too.... What on earth is going through his head...?