Is that Cha Gweonwoo?
I froze as I was, still holding my spoon.
Up until the moment I was feeling awkward in the house, I’d actually wished Cha Gweonwoo would hurry up and get here. Now that he was here, I had no idea how I was supposed to act.
It wasn’t even Cha Gweonwoo’s house, yet I felt like some clueless guest who’d snuck in while the owner stepped out and got caught cooking.
In the meantime—shff, shff… The drag of slippers drew closer and closer.
A panorama of Cha Gweonwoo’s likely reactions auto-played in front of my eyes.
Right when I was overwhelmingly convinced it would be number three—
Instead of heading straight to his room, Cha Gweonwoo walked into the kitchen. Feeling the presence come right up close, I sneaked a look up at him.
“…”
And I widened my eyes like someone who’s run into a ghost at a dead end.
Goosebumps rippled over me.
The person in front of me was Cha Gweonwoo, and yet he wasn’t.
That was… Sure, it was Cha Gweonwoo, but which Cha Gweonwoo…?
It was Cha Gweonwoo as if the most renowned shaman in the country had spent three days and nights driving out the evil spirit—an exorcised Cha Gweonwoo.
The he always wore between his brows was simply gone, his eyebrows that were always cocked up now lay straight, and the eyeballs that were always tensed from glaring looked as if they’d been scrubbed in salt water—bright, like a baby teddy bear.
Baby teddy bear?
Bright and shiny?
Did I just use those words for Cha Gweonwoo?
Yes. And I can’t find better words than those two to describe him right now.
I was stiff like someone with a crick in their neck, and when he stepped in and saw me like that, his eyes went round.
Then—astonishingly—smiling with his eyes curving, in a bright voice, he spoke.
“Oh? Hello.”
I swear:
If a not-yet-one-year-old baby toddled up and said, enunciating clearly, “Doweon hyung!”, if I heard the voice of someone three days dead whisper right by my ear, or if I was sitting on the toilet and from the crown of my head someone asked, “Want the red paper or the blue paper?”, none of that would shock me as much as this.
Cha Gweonwoo spoke to me. He even offered a friendly greeting.
Amazingly, it was the first time in two years I’d heard his voice.
I will never again call a drama character a “braindead idiot” for just staring at the headlights instead of moving when the car is coming. That scene is scrupulously researched and accurate.
When humans are too flustered or shocked, they lose their words and freeze like ice. Like I did just now.
I’d been nursing a huge prejudice.
I was sure his voice would be strict like a dorm warden or high-pressure and authoritative like a corporate exec who loves barking orders at subordinates. You know the voices villains have in movies—wildly hysterical, or hoarse from shouting, or sharp at the edges like rough, unplaned wood.
But Cha Gweonwoo’s voice fit a kindly main character who’d make only benevolent choices, not a villain. It was easy on the ears, warm, and likable.
Who would’ve thought a voice that gentle would come out of that burly frame.
Seeing me just staring, he tried again.
“Looks like you were eating.”
Since he’d offered the first greeting, it was my turn to muster at least the bare minimum of social skills.
My brain knew I should ask if he’d eaten, or invite him to join me—but my mouth wouldn’t move.
My heart felt like this: it was like meeting a cousin ten years older than me—someone I last saw when I was ten and then never again—now that I’m grown.
“You’ve shot up, huh? When was it this punk used to run around in his underwear and pee in the corner, and now he’s acting all proper?” That cousin.
In short, I had no idea how to deal with him.
Don’t tell me… this is what the twenty-year-old Cha Gweonwoo was like?
I’d always assumed his innate lack of manners had a long, storied history. I figured he didn’t even cry at birth, strode out of the womb on his own two feet, and socked the doctor who first spoke to him across the face.
And yet he’s someone who knows the bare minimum of how to behave in society?
Am I dreaming?
I secretly pinched my thigh. Of course it hurt. Not a dream. This is real.
To think he had this side to him. Just what kind of mental shift could make a person’s personality do a one-hundred-eighty in just a few years after becoming an esper?
Since I was too stunned to say anything, he must have decided I was just shy.
“You’re Guide Kim Doweon, right?”
Cha Gweonwoo just called me Kim Doweon.
“I look forward to working with you.”
Cha Gweonwoo just asked me to please take care of him.
“I’ll head in first. Please finish your meal.”
The eyes that used to tilt up into a perpetual point softened into a curve, drawing a pretty line.
He smiled, and I shook like a phone set to vibrate.
Honestly, I think I’d have been less scared if the twenty-year-old Cha Gweonwoo had spotted me at home and immediately sneered, “What the hell are you? Why are you in my way?” and then beat me to a pulp.
I did not see this coming.
A chill ran down my spine, like a ghost had passed through me.
***
Even after I went to my room, I floundered, still in shock. What pulled me out was a call from Dr. Park Soyoung.
—At first he had a hard time accepting it, but he’s quick to assess a situation, so thankfully he seems to have sorted his thoughts out fast.
Dr. Park spoke with all the soul of an insurance agent reading policy terms. I just slumped into the sofa like an empty can and listened. Both cheeks were tingling.
Dr. Park Soyoung, I’m the one having trouble accepting this. He’s so different I have no idea how to deal with him.
I’ve always been shy with strangers.
When I transferred in the second grade, I went over two weeks without speaking to anyone in class. The kids even thought I couldn’t talk. Of course, after exactly a month I talked so much they nicknamed me Woodpecker.
But anyway—he sorted himself out fast?
Cha Gweonwoo really isn’t your average guy. How do you “sort yourself out” in a situation like this?
If I woke up and eight years had passed? And I wasn’t some powerhouse S-class esper but an S-class who had lost his ability?
I’d have sunk into the despair of twenty-year-old me just blinked and now I’m twenty-eight and the loss of so everything I achieved until now wasn’t mine?, and I’d have floundered for at least three or four days.
—Even as a trainee he had a very strong will, so I believe he’ll recover his ability quickly. So please guide him diligently.
She put special weight on the word guiding.
—Please, really guide diligently. If you’re feeling up to it, start guiding today. I sent reference materials to the tablet to help with guiding; please read them before bed.
Wondering what the hell those “references” even were, I opened them…
<Beginner’s Guide to Mucosal Guiding>
The lightest kiss: you simply touch lip to lip, lightly, like birds tapping their beaks.
Open your mouth and bite your partner’s upper and lower lips at the same time. To boost effectiveness, you can rub side-to-side in this state.
With lips lightly closed, touch them at a crossed angle. Elegant and soft; more contact than a bird kiss, but not yet the real thing.
Beyond these, there were over fifty varieties of kisses and more beyond that, described in considerable detail. I even saw illustrations, photos, and videos attached, and pressed a hand to my forehead for a moment.
They say once you hit five years as a guide you can join the guide union. I am absolutely joining, and I will stage a sit-in in front of the National Ability Users Center. I will risk my life to expose the monstrous reality of the guide world to the entire planet.
Grinding my teeth, I still bundled up the tablet and today’s issued testing tools and headed out.
Right then, I got a text from the admin team:
[Hello, Guide Kim Doweon! This is Kim Minsoo from the Admin Team. ^0^ I looked into your question. If your pay was per-case until now, starting today it’ll be classified as a special allowance and calculated by the hour. You’ll also receive weekly holiday pay and overtime! The team lead says it’ll probably come out to about 3–4× your usual monthly salary! And at the end of the assignment you’re slated for a month of leave as well … See more]
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
Kissing? Hell, I’ve got lips—why couldn’t I. Just mash them on and rub. Right?