Four percent?
Since Vasily’s and my original match rate was ninety-one percent, that was a truly staggering drop. After implanting the illegal suppression chip, I’d had no way to check our match rate separately, and thanks to this I finally learned the exact number.
Anyway, looks like the documents in the executives’ hands have my information on them. I swallowed and braced for the next question. Learning that my match rate with Vasily was abysmal eased my nerves a little.
“Is it true you can stay in contact with Esper Vasily for a long time without issues?”
“Yes.”
“How was the guiding?”
“Maybe because the match rate is low, the guiding wasn’t very effective.”
“Hm…”
I felt bold. A single-digit match rate. Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t even try to tie me and Vasily together.
That expectation crumbled in under a minute.
“Guide Kwon Gidam, would you consider serving as Esper Vasily’s Exclusive Guide?”
“Pardon?”
“Of course, we’ll compensate you on par with an S-class Guide. You’d only need to stay with him until he finds another Guide or until the contract term ends.”
As if to mock me, the executives offered me the role of Vasily’s Exclusive Guide.
They were proposing that a C-class Guide with a mere four percent match rate become the Exclusive Guide to an S-class Esper? I was so dumbfounded I had no words.
One of the sitting president’s campaign pledges had been recruiting new S-class Espers. Right after he was elected, he brought Vasily—who had been working overseas—to Korea under a simple condition: provide him as much guiding as he wanted.
If Vasily signed an exclusive contract with one of those Guides, he would officially become an Esper affiliated with Korea. But if he didn’t find a Guide to his liking within the president’s term, the contract would naturally end and Vasily would leave the country again.
Vasily’s contract still had about three years left. With the suppression chip in, I only had to endure those three years to be free of him. And they wanted me to crawl into that hell of my own accord?
My answer, of course, was set.
“I’m sorry, but I refuse.”
There was nothing more to hear. I cut the conversation off firmly and stood. After a polite bow, I left the meeting room; even the staff blocking the exit seemed disinclined to stop me.
Having escaped intact, I quietly gathered my thoughts on the way back to the office. It seemed best to hide from Vasily not only what we’d just discussed but the fact that I’d even been summoned by the executives.
Vasily had never brought up Exclusive Guides even once while submitting designated guiding requests to me every time. To him, I was just a way to kill boredom; he’d never had any intention of making a C-class Guide his Exclusive.
If he found out that talk like this had gone on behind his back, his mood would nosedive in an instant. Not only would those executives not get away unscathed, the fallout could reach me as well.
I never imagined the Association would take the initiative and make an exclusive offer.
It was so unexpected my head throbbed. I decided I’d keep my head down and stay out of sight for a while, then returned to the Temporary Guiding department.
Getting dragged into that meeting had surely created a backlog. I needed to hurry back and—
“Gidam, could you come here a moment?”
“Yes, Team Lead.”
Just as I was heading to a guiding room, the team lead called me. His face looked unusually grave. A faint unease prickled as I approached his desk.
“An official notice just came down from upstairs about transferring you to a new department—have you heard anything?”
“Sorry? A transfer?”
I blinked wide-eyed. I’d just refused and walked out. Flustered, I asked him back,
“What does it say?”
“They say you’ll be put in charge as an Exclusive for an Association-affiliated Esper… but it sounds like the other party hasn’t been decided yet.”
Not decided? Ha. I snorted inwardly. Anyone could guess the “undecided” Esper was Vasily.
‘…Has the Association finally lost it?’
No matter how desperate he was, Vasily wouldn’t try to make an Exclusive contract with a C-class Guide. Only the Association would pull something like this.
They were clearly moving without telling Vasily. If he found out, the people in the Association involved wouldn’t come out of it alive…
The match rate was a mere four percent. And the other party was the S-class Esper Vasily Kairov. I already knew the Association wasn’t normal, but I didn’t realize it was this deranged.
…And I’d gone so far as to implant a suppression chip just to avoid becoming Vasily’s Guide.
“…Even if I don’t want to, do I have to transfer?”
“Given that there’s already an official notice… probably. It might be a mistake, so I’ll check.”
I couldn’t hide my darkening expression.
When I faced the executives I’d clearly stated my refusal, but it seemed the process had already started without even hearing my opinion. Otherwise, there’s no way things would move this fast.
The team lead, realizing it was an unwanted transfer, said he’d look into it and left his seat. But I knew even his authority wouldn’t resolve it, so I quietly returned to mine.
The first thing I did after sitting down was start writing my resignation.
I’d already been taken off the schedule and barred from doing Temporary Guiding. Which meant I had time to write my resignation—small mercies, maybe.
Sitting alone in the empty office, I was writing when I heard footsteps behind me. The familiar sound of dress shoes drew closer and closer.
“Guide Kwon Gidam, why are you alone today?”
It was Vasily.
Mid-resignation, I looked back at him with a hard face. In contrast to my dark mood, he looked unreasonably cheerful. The timing of his visit and that much brighter face than usual made me narrow my eyes in suspicion as I asked,
“What brings you here, Esper Vasily?”
“I tried to submit a designated guiding request, but your name wasn’t there, so I came in person.”
So, he didn’t know either.
The suspicion that had poked its head up subsided, and my energy drained out. Just as I’d first guessed, the attempt to make me Vasily’s Exclusive Guide must have been a unilateral move from the top.
Are there really higher-ups in the Association who still don’t know what Vasily is like? Anyone who knew him even a little wouldn’t make a decision like this. I clicked my tongue, deciding I needed to resign today and disappear before a bloodbath swept the Association.
To avoid getting caught up in the coming mess, I had to submit my resignation by day’s end. I set my hand moving again and kept writing where Vasily’s arrival had halted me.
“So what have you been writing all this time?”
“My resignation.”
Vasily paused.
“…Your resignation?”
“They told me to become your assigned Guide. I’m treating it as a forced resignation and filling this out.”
I’d planned to keep the summons to the executive office a secret, but since I was quitting anyway, there was no need to hide it. The higher-ups who screwed over the guy who held it together at work while enduring Vasily’s daily visits deserved a bomb tossed right back at them.
“…And why is that?”
“How could a C-class Guide like me serve as an Exclusive to an S-class Esper? Even doing the occasional designated guiding is already too much.”
“If you quit Temporary Guiding, what will you do?”
“Transfer to a foreign Association or join a private company—both sound fine.”
Vasily was the type who wouldn’t bat an eye if a C-class Guide he used for fun quit. Honestly, I should’ve quit the moment I got on his radar. I’d only hung on because I needed the money for the pills and was too lazy to job hunt—and the Association handed me a big fuck-you for it.
But now the situation had changed. Thanks to the four hundred million won I got from Vasily, my bank account was flush. Unlike the early days when I was strapped for cash, I had nothing to fear. With this money, I could take a break until his contract ended—or leave the country.
“Enough. I’m going to submit it.”
I signed, stood up—and Vasily snatched the resignation from my hand. Staring at my suddenly empty fingers, I turned my head to see him glaring at the paper with a sulky face.
“…Esper Vasily? Please give it back.”
“No.”
Right then, the resignation froze solid. The thin sheet was instantly wrapped in ice crystals, and when he squeezed his fingers, it shattered and scattered across the floor.
I stared at him, flustered.
“W-what do you think you’re doing?”
“Guide Kwon Gidam, if the transfer gets resolved, will you keep working?”
“…I suppose?”
“Then I’ll show you something fun. Want to come watch?”
Vasily’s lips lifted in a faint smile.
I blinked vacantly, then let out a brief laugh. I could easily guess what he intended to do.
“Show me.”
And there I was, following another one of his insane plans.