What followed was less a training exercise than “Kwon Dajung’s one-man show,” and the day’s exercise petered out without much of a conclusion.
Dajung cleared the A-level gate entirely on his own without giving any of the other Espers so much as a chance to do anything. Thanks to that, Moon Guk never had to step in, and his guiding was naturally postponed until next time.
Even as everyone filed out of the gate in order, Dajung kept trying to approach Gyujin whenever he saw an opening.
Gyujin firmly shook his head.
Part of it was because he had told Dajung to reflect on what he had done, and a very large part of it was because the monster blood soaking Dajung from head to toe smelled strong enough to make Gyujin gag.
At least once he got outside, he felt a little more alive.
Gyujin lowered his head deeply and steadied his breathing.
Taking advantage of the general commotion, someone approached him.
At first Gyujin assumed it was Dajung and immediately hardened his expression, but once he realized it wasn’t, his face relaxed.
Seo Sungmin, the S-rank Esper in overall command of today’s exercise, stopped directly in front of him.
“Team Leader Yoon, got a minute?”
He glanced at his wristwatch as he asked.
It sounded less like a question than a notification.
Gyujin nodded.
“Yes.”
“Good. Follow me for a moment, then.”
Seo Sungmin took the lead, and Gyujin followed behind him.
All the way to the temporary tent set up near the gate entrance, Gyujin could feel a piercing stare drilling into the back of his head.
He didn’t even need to check to know it was Kwon Dajung.
Gyujin could practically hear the complaint like an auditory hallucination.
You won’t even acknowledge me, so what could you possibly have to talk about with Seo Sungmin? Why are you following him?
Gyujin stepped through the tent entrance Sungmin held open for him, then turned around.
The flap fell shut.
A brief silence passed.
Then Seo Sungmin abruptly dropped to his knees in the dirt.
Whatever dignity he had been maintaining until a moment ago vanished without a trace as he clutched at Gyujin’s pant leg with tears in his eyes.
“Gyujiiin…! That rumor about you quitting is bullshit, right? You’re not quitting, are you? Hey, tell me it’s not true. Say you’re not quitting! If you leave, who the fuck is supposed to handle that lunatic bastard? Huh?”
Gyujin immediately crouched down with him.
He grabbed Sungmin by the arms and tried to haul him upright, but supporting a large Esper turned out to be harder than expected.
“Calm down. Come on, get up first—”
“You have eyes, don’t you? You saw Kwon Dajung, that fucking rabid bastard, completely ruin the exercise, didn’t you? Gyujin, I spent a month working overtime to prepare this. A month! I slept in scraps for an entire month getting this ready. And now what? There aren’t any monsters left? There’s nothing left for anyone to fight? Because Kwon Dajung fucking killed everything?”
Most of the torrent pouring out of him was pure grievance.
Gyujin couldn’t exactly say he failed to understand.
How much time and effort had gone into preparing this joint exercise?
They had even carefully arranged the Esper assignments, only for the entire thing to end before anyone else got a proper chance to fight.
As the person in overall charge, Seo Sungmin had every reason to lose his mind.
“That bastard! That goddamn source of all evil! That useless fucking personality disaster! If you were going to slap him, you shouldn’t have stopped at one! You should’ve hit him twice! No, you should’ve smacked him three times in a row!”
“I said calm down….”
“How the hell am I supposed to calm down right now? What am I even supposed to put in my report? Huh? Gyujin, what do I do now? Do I write, ‘Kwon Dajung killed everything, so nobody did shit’? Is that what I’m supposed to submit?”
The moment Gyujin saw Sungmin’s tearful face, he cleanly gave up trying to stop him.
There was nothing to do but pat him on the shoulder.
Even after that, Sungmin continued cursing Kwon Dajung for quite a while.
Since not a single thing he said was actually wrong, Gyujin kept his mouth firmly shut.
“So what if he’s strong? Does that mean he gets to do whatever the fuck he wants? If this had been an actual operation, I wouldn’t be saying anything. But what is this? It’s a joint exercise! Does he not know what the word ‘training’ means? What the hell is the point if he destroys everything by himself?”
His face turned bright red as he worked himself up.
Gyujin was starting to worry the man might actually have blood pressure problems at this rate.
Growing uneasy, he firmly took Sungmin’s hand.
“Please, calm down just a little—”
“You know what I realized today? There is exactly one person in this entire world capable of handling that lunatic Kwon Dajung, and it’s you. So how can you casually talk about quitting and bring in replacement Guides like that? You’re destined to spend your whole life stuck next to Kwon Dajung. No, that’s too cruel. Fine. Just stay until I retire. Gyujin, huh? How about this? When I quit, you quit with me.”
“Wait… why are we suddenly talking about my resignation?”
“Because the bastard wrecked the whole exercise just because you slapped him! Gyujin, I really like you. You know that, right? When you were new, I was practically your assigned Esper. Wasn’t I?”
Gyujin reluctantly nodded.
Since both he and Seo Sungmin were S-rank, they had often been paired together when Gyujin was younger.
Later, Sungmin bonded with another Guide and their arrangement ended cleanly, but around ten years ago, they had been close enough that people practically called Gyujin his assigned Guide.
“That was ages ago.”
“My point is, you shouldn’t be treating me this coldly. Okay? Gyujin, I’m begging you. They’re almost definitely going to schedule additional training after this disaster, right? Make sure Kwon Dajung doesn’t come. Please. Do something.”
Reciting the absurd request with heartbreaking desperation, Seo Sungmin dropped to his knees in front of Gyujin again.
What the hell is wrong with this man now?
Gyujin swallowed another sigh and grabbed his hand.
“Come on. Even if I wanted to, how exactly am I supposed to keep an SS-rank Esper out of a joint Esper exercise? The Director of the Esper Bureau wouldn’t allow that either.”
“Kwon Dajung doesn’t even need training! And sure, if we specifically singled out one Esper and ordered him not to attend, there’d be a problem. But if the person himself decides not to show up, nobody can complain! Right?”
“Well, technically….”
“See? Even you know—”
Seo Sungmin abruptly stopped mid-sentence and whipped his head around.
As he glared at the silent tent entrance, sudden hatred flooded his eyes.
“Ahem. In that case, I’ll assume we understand each other. I’ll be going now. Good work today, Team Leader Yoon.”
His entire manner of speaking transformed in an instant.
Seo Sungmin stood up and briskly dusted the dirt from his knees.
Then he yanked the tent flap aside.
Kwon Dajung was standing shamelessly near the entrance, waiting.
Gyujin pressed a hand to his forehead.
“That little….”
Apparently he hadn’t been able to resist eavesdropping even for that long.
Seo Sungmin glared at Dajung, who only blinked innocently back at him, then quickly disappeared.
Dajung caught hold of the fluttering tent flap and cautiously watched Gyujin’s expression.
“…Can I come in?”
Gyujin glanced at him.
Dajung must have changed clothes at some point, because he was now cleanly and neatly dressed.
There was still some dried blood on his face and in his hair, but not enough to make him unbearable to look at.
Gyujin stood up and dragged over a nearby chair.
He placed it where he wanted, sat down, and didn’t even look at Dajung.
“Dajung. What did I tell you earlier?”
“But—”
“I told you not to come anywhere near me for the rest of today, didn’t I? Today isn’t over yet.”
Gyujin crossed his legs and tilted his head at an angle.
Completely dejected, Dajung hesitantly backed away.
Gyujin didn’t so much as blink.
“You heard everything Seo Sungmin said just now, didn’t you? Next time there’s training, take the hint and don’t show up. Stop causing problems for everyone else.”
Dajung pouted but obediently nodded.
Gyujin jerked his chin, telling him to leave.
Dajung dragged his feet for a long while, scuffing at the dirt before cautiously shifting his eyes toward Gyujin.
“How close counts as near you? This much is okay, isn’t—”
“Stay at least five meters away from me.”
“Gyujiiin…!”
“Don’t try acting cute. It’s not working today.”
Gyujin pointed at the entrance again.
The warning in his eyes clearly asked why Dajung was still standing there.
With tears brimming in his eyes, Dajung weakly shuffled out of the tent.
Gyujin watched the tent flap sway after him and let out a deep sigh.
His earlier firmness disappeared, revealing the exhaustion all over his face.
“He’s going to cry at this rate.”
And if Dajung comes hanging off me while he’s crying, how the hell am I supposed to reject him then?
Gyujin hadn’t even done any guiding today, yet somehow this had drained him more mentally than guiding ever did.
Suppressing yet another sigh, he forced his wavering resolve back into place.
***
Gyujin had never once forgotten that day.
The day he first met nineteen-year-old Kwon Dajung.
Even the weather and the smell of the air remained preserved in his memory as vividly as if they had been sealed in glass.
Gyujin had already heard rumors about Dajung before meeting him.
Song Youngju, Moon Guk, and Choi Sunwoo joined later, but at the time, Kwon Dajung was the youngest Esper affiliated with the Esper Bureau.
Gyujin, on the other hand, was already one of the Guide Center’s senior veterans even then.
That was why uncooperative Espers and Espers who caused trouble were usually assigned to him.
And so Kwon Dajung, who had been giving everyone endless headaches over guiding at the time, was passed from person to person until he eventually ended up with Gyujin.
The very first thing Kwon Dajung ever said to Gyujin, on the day they met, was:
“Lower your fucking eyes, you goddamn bastard.”