First of all, the size of his face was practically inhuman. Without exaggerating by more than a hair, it was smaller than an adult man’s spread hand. It was almost baffling how his eyes, nose, and mouth could all fit so neatly into that space, arranged with such absurd precision.
And the straight line of his neck and broad shoulders beneath it were hardly worth wasting words on.
Yoon Gyujin stood just over 180 centimeters tall, which actually put him on the shorter side in this world where men around 190 were everywhere. Yet he crushed those objective numbers through sheer proportion alone. His limbs were long, and his lean, well-defined muscles gave him a firm, athletic build.
His body alone could have inspired endless praise, but the real problem was his face.
Two eyes, one nose, one mouth—the same three things everyone in the world had—and yet somehow the combination on Yoon Gyujin was so exquisitely, impossibly perfect.
As far as Kim Heemyung was concerned, Yoon Gyujin was the most handsome man alive.
That was admittedly subjective, but anyone who had seen Yoon Gyujin’s face even once would have no choice but to agree.
He really looked more sculpted than an actual sculpture. His eyes were deep without being intimidating, his nose straight and clean, his lips full. Every feature came together with such unnerving perfection that once you looked at him, you had no choice but to look again.
And again.
This was no joke. Kim Heemyung could probably spend three days and four nights doing nothing but praising Yoon Gyujin’s face.
If someone told him to spend the rest of his life doing nothing but staring at that face, he honestly thought he could manage it.
That wasn’t an exaggeration.
Once someone’s looks reached that level, it became entirely possible.
Maybe Kim Heemyung had become a Yoon Gyujin fan the second he laid eyes on him.
But how could he not?
The man was seriously that fucking handsome.
“You don’t need to be that nervous.”
Apparently interpreting Kim Heemyung swallowing hard as anxiety, Yoon Gyujin gently reassured him.
Dressed in the pure-white Guide uniform, he gave off an ascetic, almost sacred air.
Kim Heemyung was wearing the exact same uniform, yet somehow the effect was completely different. It was as though a spotlight shone only on Yoon Gyujin’s face, making him glitter.
“I’ll be right beside you the whole time.”
He spoke while patting Kim Heemyung on the shoulder.
How could someone with a face like that be so kind too?
Out of every senior colleague Kim Heemyung had met so far, not one of them had ever treated him as gently as Yoon Gyujin did.
At this point, whenever Yoon Gyujin smiled, Kim Heemyung’s heart just started pounding automatically.
Suppressing the emotion swelling in his chest, he nodded shyly.
Oblivious to what was happening inside him, Yoon Gyujin calmly began explaining the training schedule.
“We’re Team 1, so we’ll be entering first. Have you ever been inside a gate before?”
“Ah, no! Today’s my first field assignment!”
“Then don’t leave my side. The Espers will protect you in principle, but you never know what might happen inside a gate, so stay alert. Watch the situation, and if someone needs guiding in the field, go ahead and do it immediately without following the usual procedure.”
“Yes! Understood!”
He had already heard all of this during yesterday’s briefing, but somehow, when Yoon Gyujin explained it, every word sank straight into his head.
Even his voice was pleasant, and his way of speaking was soft and gentle.
If someone hates this man, doesn’t that say more about their personality than his?
Before he knew it, the seed of a devoted Yoon Gyujin fan had planted itself firmly in Kim Heemyung’s mind.
“The ones we need to pay attention to are the Espers from Team 1. Kwon Dajung received guiding recently, so he probably won’t need any today. Choi Sunwoo and Moon Guk will come to you for guiding.”
Kim Heemyung’s eyes sparkled throughout the explanation.
Apparently pleased by how attentively he was listening, Gyujin smiled.
“When you guide Sunwoo, make sure you hold his left hand. He uses his ability through his right, so he doesn’t like people touching it. Guk usually isn’t particularly difficult, but he gets especially sensitive right after using his ability, so keep that in mind. Either hand is fine with him, but he doesn’t like being gripped too tightly.”
Generally speaking, guiding grew stronger as the level of physical contact increased.
But that was only half true.
No matter how much physical contact there was, if a Guide decided not to guide, there would be no effect.
That was also why reverse guiding was theoretically possible.
Once a Guide made the decision to guide, they could affect an Esper’s body and mind regardless of the Esper’s will. Usually, that influence had positive results, but when it was used in a harmful way, it was called reverse guiding.
The higher the Guide’s rank—and the higher the compatibility rate—the less the degree of physical contact mattered.
Put another way, lower-ranked Guides were still strongly affected by how much physical contact they used.
Which was precisely why Kim Heemyung couldn’t help questioning Yoon Gyujin’s instructions.
“Um, Team Leader…? Then… would it be difficult to use any physical contact beyond holding hands?”
“Why?”
Gyujin tilted his head.
Of course.
Yoon Gyujin was an S-rank Guide.
He was on a completely different level from a C-rank Guide like Kim Heemyung, so naturally the idea that holding hands alone could be enough wouldn’t seem strange to him.
Since Gyujin clearly hadn’t understood, Kim Heemyung cautiously explained the tragic reality—and sorrow—of being a C-rank Guide.
“Well, since I’m only C-rank… and there’s a rank gap between me and the Espers, I think I’d need at least a hug for the guiding to work properly.”
“Ah.”
Yoon Gyujin let out a short sound.
Apparently it was a problem he had never even considered, because visible embarrassment crossed his face.
“Uh… so holding hands alone would be difficult?”
“I can do it, but the effect would probably be much weaker.”
C-rank was seriously inadequate when it came to guiding an S-rank Esper.
Kim Heemyung would have loved it if holding hands were enough, but from the receiving end, it would probably barely register.
If effectiveness was the priority, even a hug might not cut it. He might need mucosal guiding just to have a chance.
There was the rank problem, and it was hard to ignore the fact that Kim Heemyung was a rookie with very little field experience.
And yet he had still been selected for this assignment for one simple reason:
No one else wanted to come.
Literally no one.
Not a single person had volunteered for this job, which was how a C-rank rookie like him had ended up participating in the exercise.
“Hmm… all right. Then I’ll try to persuade them. A hug should probably be fine.”
The fact that he apparently had to persuade an Esper just to guide them gave Kim Heemyung a brief moment of existential despair, but he quickly pulled himself together.
The harder the task, the more you grew from overcoming it.
There was no end to how valuable an experience this would be.
With Kim Heemyung’s lack of seniority, he normally couldn’t even dream of meeting an S-rank Esper in person.
“I’ll work hard, Team Leader!”
Kim Heemyung declared loudly.
Yoon Gyujin chuckled at the earnest resolve of a clumsy but determined rookie.
Then he reached out and stroked Kim Heemyung’s hair.
“Your name was Kim Heemyung, right? Is it okay if I call you Heemyung?”
“I-It would be an honor, Team Leader!”
“Thanks, Heemyung.”
That single insignificant sentence sent Kim Heemyung’s heart into violent motion.
At that exact moment, Kim Heemyung swore that he would become a Yoon Gyujin fan for life.
He desperately tried to suppress his increasingly ragged breathing in case it made him look like a pervert.
He felt slightly like he might suffocate, but fortunately, Gyujin withdrew his hand before Kim Heemyung actually stopped breathing.
Yoon Gyujin’s gaze shifted behind him.
Kim Heemyung quickly turned his head.
A man Kim Heemyung knew very well by reputation was standing right at the entrance.
“Whoa…!”
An involuntary gasp escaped him.
The backlight spilling in from behind the door only made the man standing there look even more beautiful.
Faced with the famous SS-rank Esper Kwon Dajung in the flesh, Kim Heemyung could only gape like an idiot.
In person, Kwon Dajung was exactly three times more beautiful than he looked in press photos.
His face perfectly matched every human standard of beauty.
His looks were slightly different in character from Yoon Gyujin’s, but either way, this was another face Kim Heemyung could probably praise forever.
“What were you doing in here instead of coming out? I’ve been waiting outside.”
Kwon Dajung walked straight up to Yoon Gyujin and wrapped an arm around his waist.
At the sight of a pose that looked even more intimate than most actual couples, Kim Heemyung let out another startled gasp.
Yoon Gyujin, however, didn’t seem particularly affected by Dajung approaching him.
“Just getting ready. More importantly, have you two met? This is Guide Kim Heemyung. And this is Kwon Dajung, an Esper from Special Operations Team 1.”
At Yoon Gyujin’s matter-of-fact introduction, Kwon Dajung turned his head.
Only then did he seem to notice Kim Heemyung existed.
Either that, or he had noticed him earlier and simply ignored him.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Kim Heemyung!”
Kim Heemyung bowed politely.
He was older, but Kwon Dajung had far more years of service.
And since Kim Heemyung would need to guide him in the future, he wanted to get along with him as well as possible—
“That thing is your replacement?”
“What do you mean, ‘that thing’? Talk about people properly.”
Yoon Gyujin warned him sternly.
Kwon Dajung made no effort to hide how much he disliked Gyujin defending Kim Heemyung, but he obediently corrected himself anyway.
“Is that person your replacement? What rank?”
His sharp gaze swept Kim Heemyung from head to toe as though evaluating merchandise.
Noticing how tense Kim Heemyung had become, Gyujin subtly stepped in front of Dajung.
“Does the rank matter? More importantly, everyone’s gathered outside, right? Let’s go introduce him before we enter. Heemyung, come on.”
“Heemyung?”
Kwon Dajung repeated the name coldly.
Yoon Gyujin didn’t notice.
He had already trotted out through the door.
Kwon Dajung watched him for a moment, then slowly turned his head.
“Hey.”
A thoroughly inelegant form of address came out of that elegant face.
Standing at least a head taller than Kim Heemyung, Kwon Dajung smiled and drew a finger across his throat.
“Don’t get cute.”
With that sharp warning, he whipped around and left.
Kim Heemyung watched his retreating back as he trotted after Yoon Gyujin.
Kwon Dajung immediately claimed the spot beside Gyujin and resumed fawning over him and touching him affectionately.
Left alone behind them, Kim Heemyung shuddered at the sheer split-personality difference in his behavior.