"No, not fool around—Guiding...."
"Hm? Tell me your name."
Cutting the employee off mid-correction, Han Shinyul pressed Huiyeong's captured hand against his own cheek. A wave of Guiding energy washed over him, making him let out a breathless sigh before pleading once more.
Huiyeong frowned deeply at him but answered without much resistance.
Since he'd already decided to adapt to this world while searching for a way home, he intended to cooperate—for now.
"Ah, fuck, seriously.... You're creeping me out, so let go of my hand already. I don't even know my own name. White... Woo-yun or whatever the hell it was."
"White milk? You're already asking me to call you by a pet name? That's adorable...."
"...Is 'Esper' another word for psychiatric patient?"
The employees lowered their heads the moment they saw Huiyeong's horrified expression.
...Sigh.
That bastard isn't helping at all....
"Huiyeong. Your name is Huiyeong. Yu Huiyeong."
"You already knew, so why the hell did you ask? Are you actually insane? And who the hell calls an elder by his name?"
"Then what should I call you?"
Han Shinyul asked with a bright smile.
Huiyeong's mouth snapped shut.
He frowned as he thought for a long moment before finally sighing in resignation.
"...Fuck.... Just... call me 'Mister.'"
Calling himself "Uncle" felt a little shameless.
The moment he added that, Shinyul smiled warmly.
"Okay, Mister."
Watching Han Shinyul kneeling on the bathroom floor, affectionately calling "Mister" to someone who looked far younger than himself while shamelessly begging for his attention, the employees could only laugh awkwardly.
"Uh... Originally you two were supposed to meet at the Center, but today we're only registering Mr. Huiyeong as a Guide before taking him to his residence. Since Shinyul also has to move out of his previous apartment and into a larger residence for matched pairs, he came along to show you the place."
"...Huh?"
Huiyeong's eyes twitched.
...What did he just say?
Hearing the confusion in his voice, the employee smiled brightly.
"We promised we'd provide you with staff housing! It's brand new, in a great location—"
"No, no. Hold on."
"...Yes?"
"Doesn't something about that sound weird? Staff housing...?"
"Yes! Staff housing! We've assigned you a wonderful place so you and Shinyul can live comfortably together! It's fully furnished, so you only need to bring yourselves!"
Although the employee sounded immensely proud, Huiyeong stared back in absolute horror.
"...You're saying we have to live together?"
He slowly turned his head toward the owner of those golden eyes, who was smiling sweetly at him.
"...With him?"
Just then, several employees from another department happened to enter the room.
Hearing Huiyeong's question, they looked thoroughly confused.
Seeing his face twist in horror, the original employees hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
But the newcomers, who were meeting Huiyeong for the first time, spoke first.
"...Isn't it only natural for a matched Guide and Esper to live together?"
For Huiyeong...
Nothing about this was natural.
The world, however, wasn't inclined to make allowances for him.
One bewildered employee carefully asked after seeing the look of utter disbelief on Huiyeong's face,
"Um... We did explain that you'd been matched with Esper Han Shinyul, right?"
"Even so! Living together is a completely different story!"
Huiyeong exploded.
The employees tilted their heads again.
...What part?
Seeing the awkward expressions around him, Huiyeong rubbed his forehead, feeling dizzy.
This insane damn world....
Seriously....
"...Do people normally live together?"
"Mister, I'll make you happy."
"You shut up!"
Huiyeong really was trying his hardest to adapt to this crazy world.
A world where monsters existed.
A world where men and women married whoever they loved without caring about gender.
He'd accepted all of that.
He'd even tried to accept the fact that his matched Esper was this lunatic with golden eyes standing in front of him.
But living together?
That was something else entirely.
Back when he'd first moved up to Seoul from Naju, he'd hated living alongside the other gang members so much that he'd rented a tiny room in a cheap boarding house despite having almost no money, just so he could live alone.
And now...
He had to live with this psycho?
Please tell me you're joking.
"...Is there any way we can live separately?"
"Uh... the approval's already been signed.... Unless you rent another place yourself...."
One of the support staff meeting Huiyeong for the first time answered nervously.
Assistant Manager Seong quickly stepped in.
"I'm very sorry. We knew about your situation, but we followed standard procedure anyway. For now, please stay together, and afterward we'll try applying for additional housing approval. Besides, once your Guide training starts and Shinyul clears some of the dungeons he's been putting off, you'll need Guiding very frequently. Even if you had separate homes, you'd practically be together all the time anyway. Living together until you get used to things might not be such a bad idea. Your health still isn't good either. What if you collapsed while you were alone?"
Naturally, the Center had no intention whatsoever of separating an S-rank pair.
And more importantly...
Han Shinyul would never let Huiyeong leave in the first place.
But Assistant Manager Seong forced a smile and carefully said only what Huiyeong wanted to hear.
Watching an employee who was more than twenty years younger than his real age sweating bullets trying to soothe his temper, Huiyeong realized there was no changing their minds.
He let out a weary sigh.
"...Fine. I got it...."
With that weak reply, he walked out of the bathroom and slowly shuffled toward the bed.
"Ah, actually, you're being discharged now. We've already finished all the paperwork downstairs."
"...What?"
Hey...
At least give me time to prepare myself....
Even while Huiyeong wore a look of utter despair, Han Shinyul followed close behind, fussing over him affectionately.
"Mister, want to wear some pretty clothes? I bought them for you."
He beamed.
"No, fuck off...."
"They'll look amazing on you. I already filled the closet at our new house with more."
"...You're deaf too...."
***
Dressed in a white sweatshirt and a pale pink cardigan, Huiyeong stood in front of the parked sedan with a sour expression.
The moment he'd seen the clothes, he'd refused outright, insisting he'd rather leave the hospital wearing a patient's gown.
Then the lunatic had smiled sweetly...
And torn the hospital gown apart with brute force.
Left with no choice, Huiyeong changed into the clothes.
He hated the world.
He waved the loose cardigan sleeves sarcastically.
"You've got all these superpowered people. Don't you have teleportation or something? You still drive cars?"
"Ah, there are a few, but they're currently on missions, so we couldn't call them. Those Espers were actually very excited to hear that Shinyul's Guide had finally appeared. They all wanted to come greet you. We'll introduce you later."
"...Wait, I was joking. That's actually real?"
Whether Huiyeong stood there dumbfounded or not, the employees and Shinyul busily prepared the car.
The employees moved the vehicle and entered the destination into the navigation.
Meanwhile, Shinyul somehow produced a blanket, spread it neatly across the back seat, and tucked a pair of cute little cushions into Huiyeong's arms.
...Is this bastard messing with me?
Huiyeong immediately threw the cushion away.
Instead of falling...
It floated gently in midair.
"...What the fuck?!"
"Mister wanted a ball instead of a cushion? I'll buy you a bouncy ball when we get home."
"No, what the hell is that?!"
Huiyeong jumped back in alarm.
The employee pulling the car around spotted the floating cushion through the window and immediately shouted,
"Han Shinyul! I told you not to use your ability!"
"You only said not to use it inside the hospital...."
"Isn't the front entrance still part of the hospital?! Huh? Isn't the parking lot still hospital property?"
"I don't think a public parking lot counts as part of the hospital, Assistant Manager."
Listening to the two bicker, Huiyeong stared blankly.
The cat-shaped cushion drifted lazily through the air, tracing little heart shapes.
"...That's your ability?"
"Yep. Do you like it? I can make Mister float too."
"...Holy shit... it's actually real...."
"When we get home, I'll make Mister float and play with you. There are too many people nagging us here."
Seeing an Esper's ability with his own eyes was so shocking that Huiyeong forgot to respond to Shinyul's nonsense.
He simply stood there, stunned.
Seeing how adorable he looked, Shinyul smiled.
Then, without warning, he scooped Huiyeong up in a princess carry and climbed into the car.
The floating cushion quietly drifted in after them and settled snugly into Huiyeong's lap.
...Holy fuck....
This guy's ability is insane....
Huiyeong stared blankly at Shinyul's handsome face.
Apparently pleased by the attention, Shinyul smiled brightly before planting several loud kisses on Huiyeong's soft cheek.
Only then did Huiyeong snap back to reality.
"AH!"
He shouted, pounding uselessly against Shinyul's solid chest.
But the blanket suddenly floated up by itself, wrapping tightly around him like a baby's swaddling cloth.
All he could do was yell.
"Are you gonna let me out?! Huh?! Have you completely lost your mind?!"
"It looks like you're already getting along! Guide training starts soon, so I guess we don't have anything to worry about!"
"You people should all get your damn eyes checked! Every last one of you's insane!"
"Haha! We all had our medical exams last week! Thanks for worrying about us!"
"...Argh!"
There was a reason they'd been assigned to Han Shinyul's team.
No one at the Center possessed stronger mental fortitude.
No one was better at letting nonsense roll off their backs.
No one had mastered the art of simply thinking, Well, that's just how it is, quite like they had.
At first they'd been flustered because this beautiful, delicate young man kept saying utterly unreasonable things.
But once they'd decided he was basically another Han Shinyul...
Their normal personalities quickly returned.
In other words...
At the Center, Yu Huiyeong had officially been classified as being on the same level as Han Shinyul, the institution's most notorious troublemaker.
The noisy, bustling car sped swiftly down the road before finally arriving at the Center.
Located on the outskirts of Seoul, the Center occupied an enormous campus filled with multiple buildings, resembling a large university.
After spending the entire drive shouting himself hoarse, Huiyeong's fragile body had completely run out of strength.
Wrapped tightly in the blanket like an infant, he could only pant weakly.
What a garbage body....
Still catching his breath, Huiyeong looked at Shinyul in utter disbelief as the man continued kissing him and occasionally giving his cheek little playful nibbles.
...Seriously.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
"...Ha... fuck. Hey, you... what was your name again? Whatever. You crazy bastard."
"Han Shinyul."
"...Right. Han Shinyul. Mister's right cheek feels like it's about to swell up."
"You want me to do your left cheek too?"
"I said stop...."
Answering in a completely exhausted voice, Huiyeong heard an employee speak hesitantly after parking the car.
"Um... Mr. Huiyeong. There's something we need to tell you...."
"Can you peel this guy off me before you start talking?"
"The Center knows about your condition. Of course, we didn't reveal your exact diagnosis. We only explained that your Awakening coincided with the accident and left you with temporary mental confusion. But because the Center often sends people into dungeons together and assigns many joint missions, most employees end up knowing basic information about the people they work with. So...."
"Ah, whatever. It's not like they're wrong anyway. And it's not like I'm actually crazy. Even the doctor said so. Something about post-traumatic... whatever it was. Anyway, even he didn't know the proper name for it. I mean, how are you supposed to explain suddenly ending up in another world inside somebody else's body? That's good enough."
"...Ah."
The employees nodded awkwardly.
The proper diagnosis...
Had already been established.
Reverse Intermetamorphosis.
None of them had ever heard of the condition before.
But in the end, it was classified as a form of delusional disorder—a condition in which the patient genuinely believed they were another person.
His dialect.
His past experiences.
The people he claimed to know.
His entire understanding of the world.
Everything was considered part of the delusion.
They'd been warned never to directly deny those beliefs or insist they weren't real, because doing so could provoke an even stronger rejection response.
Fortunately, Huiyeong's reactions had become far less hostile than they'd been at first.
The treatment plan was simple.
Stay close to his guardian.
Gradually participate in normal social life.
Naturally correct his distorted understanding of the world.
Slowly free himself from the delusions.
Eventually rediscover his true identity.
The Center had debated at length whether to inform the staff, Guides, and Espers about his condition.
Ultimately, they decided to give everyone only a brief warning.
Otherwise, people witnessing Huiyeong's unusual behavior without any explanation might unintentionally make his condition worse.
They'd worried he might dislike people knowing.
Yet Huiyeong, with the straightforward personality of an easygoing middle-aged man, didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
Seeing that, the employees finally relaxed as they climbed out of the car.
"Hey, kids. You ignoring the old man? I told you to get this guy off me."
"If you keep acting cute, I'm going to kiss you."
"...Fuck, I'm losing my mind...."
After planting one final loud kiss on Huiyeong's cheek, Shinyul simply wrapped both arms around him and carried him out of the car.
The weather was growing colder.
Huiyeong's soaked right cheek felt icy.
"Put me down already."
"How's Princess supposed to walk?"
"Why wouldn't I be able to? Did you secretly break my legs while I wasn't looking?"
"...I want to."
"So I can carry you forever."
"...What?"
"You're kidding, right? Fuck! Hey! Tell me you're joking! Ah, fuck, hurry up!"