Chapter 7: Fixing the Guide After Losing the Cow – Episode 7

<It’s over. You may get up now.>

The mind that had been floating up as if about to fall asleep plunged in an instant.

So Won, who had been growing drowsy from Tae Woo’s warm body heat, shot upright when a voice came from the speaker. The startled cot creaked pitifully.

So Won was flustered. Until just moments ago, he had been trembling, unable even to hold Tae Woo’s hand, yet after Tae Woo fainted, he had lain over his body, listening to his heartbeat and smelling him like a pervert.

He felt unfamiliar to himself, having found stability in his arms. It felt as if he had been possessed by a ghost.

“Guide Lee So Won, I apologize for the late greeting. I am the attending physician for Esper Kang Tae Woo.”

The attending physician who entered the Guiding Room greeted So Won and offered a handshake.

So Won dazedly took the hand held out to him. The clasped hands shook lightly a couple of times.

No wonder his face had seemed familiar. During the eight years he had been Tae Woo’s Guide, he seemed to have seen that face a few times.

“What happened with the Matching Rate?”

So Won asked the question he had held back all this time. It must have dropped back to 65%.

If he added just a little, just a little bit of greed, he thought it would not be bad for the Matching Rate to rise in order to help Tae Woo.

But he had never heard of a fixed Matching Rate changing.

The attending physician heard So Won’s question and laughed heartily.

“It is definitely 100%.”

“What?”

So Won widened his eyes as if he had misheard and asked again.

The attending physician held out a freshly printed, warm sheet to him.

Guiding Test result report… Esper Kang Tae Woo, Guide Lee So Won, Matching Rate 100.000%.

When So Won found the number, his expression turned disbelieving.

He even slowly scanned the document up and down to see if he had misread it.

It was true that he had hoped it would rise a little, but he had not hoped it would rise this much.

So Won was flustered. Come to think of it, when he performed Guiding with Tae Woo, the feeling had seemed a little different from usual.

He thought he had felt the Guide’s Wavelength more clearly, and the amount flowing in had seemed greater too.

Now that he thought about it, it seemed the reason Tae Woo fainted was also related to the rise in the Matching Rate.

However, no matter how much he thought, he could not figure out why the Matching Rate had risen.

“There is nothing bad about a high Matching Rate. It is a very good thing for Esper Kang Tae Woo, and a good thing for Guide Lee So Won as well.”

Probably… The attending physician smiled and spoke while swallowing the last word.

The attending physician had not lied.

It was certainly a good thing for Guide Lee So Won as well.

With such a high Matching Rate with an S-rank Esper, even if he was an A-rank Guide, he would receive the treatment of an S-rank Guide.

And on top of that, worldwide attention. But this was only the story if So Won could endure the monster Kang Tae Woo.

So Won, who seemed to think for a moment, muttered, “Is that so…?” and the attending physician nodded vigorously.

Even after receiving the definite answer, So Won still looked dazed.

Tae Woo, who still had not woken up, was moved to his Personal Room, and So Won headed to the Guide registration department.

After drawing a number ticket and waiting a moment, he looked down at the documents in his hand.

If he submitted this report and signed the Guide consent form, So Won would now have to live as Tae Woo’s Guide for the rest of his life.

He had regretted and suffered guilt so much over the fact that Tae Woo had died, but now that this moment had arrived, he wanted to run away.

If he ran now, he might be able to delay becoming his Guide, even just a little.

What woke the hesitating So Won was a voice calling So Won’s number ticket.

So Won did not move. His heart began to pound like a child who knew it was wrong but was about to do it anyway.

The employee called So Won’s number again.

Only then did So Won calmly rise from his seat, like someone who had not heard the number the first time.

It was because Tae Woo’s voice telling him to be happy echoed like an auditory hallucination.

So Won went to the desk and held out the paper the attending physician had prepared.

The employee, who took the documents with a smile, checked Kang Tae Woo’s name and the number 100% Matching Rate, and his expression faltered for a moment.

But soon he returned to his original face and held out a consent form for So Won to write his personal information.

So Won silently filled in the blanks one by one.

In the past, when So Won came here and was notified of his Esper, he could not accept reality and threw a fit.

Only after being forced to sign the documents and meeting Tae Woo did he realize that Tae Woo was even more terrible than he had thought.

When he recalled that time, he felt a little ashamed and also pitied himself.

So Won became lost in thought as he remembered the past.

When he handed over the consent form with every blank filled in, the employee checked the contents and spoke.

“A-rank Guide Lee So Won has a Matching Rate of 100%… with S-rank Esper Kang Tae Woo, and as Kang Tae Woo currently has no Guide, under the Guide Duty System, until a Guide with a higher Matching Rate… appears, you must provide Guiding to Kang Tae Woo.”

The employee spoke according to the manual, checking So Won’s reaction from time to time.

“Under the Guide Duty System, a Guide matched with an A-rank or higher Esper must live together with the Esper and provide Guiding. The residence can be agreed upon between the two of you, or you may use the Safety Housing provided by the state. Otherwise, please read the Guide Duty System guidebook and comply with it.”

Living together…

It was a house he had grown used to after living there for eight years, but returning to a place that held nothing but bad memories still did not feel very welcome.

But it could not be helped. It was also a duty, and if he was to provide Guiding to Tae Woo often, it was better to be able to meet him easily.

And anyway, Tae Woo rarely came home.

There was also the option of Safety Housing, but he disliked it because CCTV was installed everywhere there.

The past So Won would have chosen Safety Housing, but in truth, he delayed the choice with the foolish thought that if he chose nothing, he might not have to live together.

Until it was eventually decided automatically as Tae Woo’s house.

Living together could be done as soon as possible, within a month at most.

But So Won intended to move his belongings even sooner than that.

He did not want to return to that house, but contradictorily, he also wanted to return.

Because if he returned there, it felt like Tae Woo’s death would become something that had never happened.

The employee handed over the last document.

It was a consent form stating that he would become the exclusive Guide for Esper Kang Tae Woo.

So Won wrote his name on the signature line without hesitation.

Now So Won had officially become Kang Tae Woo’s Guide. It was bittersweet, yet he felt relieved.

Somehow his heart felt light. After meeting him from eight years ago, seeing him alive and breathing, and feeling his warm body heat, all the events of the past seemed like a dream.

But the scene in the operating room still came vividly to mind whenever he closed his eyes.

He wished that were the dream and this were reality.

So Won sat in an empty chair in the Esper Association lobby that he had seen when entering and rested for a moment.

As soon as he thought all his tasks were finished, the tension that had built up released all at once, and strength drained from his body.

He regretted becoming his Guide again, yet did not regret it. It was an ambiguous feeling.

He thought of Tae Woo, who would be somewhere in the same building.

In this life, he would become happy. Gaining a Guide, receiving Guiding, and becoming human.

*

“Son, they said the test results are already out?”

So Won flinched.

As soon as he returned home, So Won’s mother greeted him in a voice different from usual.

The trouble was that he had said he would hurry out that morning and come back quickly because the test results had come out.

Even So Won’s father, who should have gone to work, was sitting on the living room sofa, smiling and welcoming So Won.

In front of his parents, who were looking at him with bright faces, So Won fell into deep worry over whether he should tell them who his Esper partner was.

So Won’s parents also knew well how terrible a person Kang Tae Woo was.

He was one of only three S-rank Espers in South Korea, a monster with terrible side effects.

If they heard that So Won had been matched with such a Kang Tae Woo, they would certainly shed tears.

Still, lying or glossing over it did not suit So Won.

He was also poor at lying, so even if he tried to talk his way around it, he would soon be caught in something strange.

So Won watched for their reaction and slowly opened his mouth.

“I was matched with Kang Tae Woo.”

Crash! So Won’s mother, who had been about to prepare a cold drink for her A-rank Guide son who had been out in the heat, dropped the cup.

Startled by the sharp sound, So Won hurriedly looked at her.

Fortunately, the cup had not broken, so she did not appear injured. However, her shocked face was visible.

“What? Why is an S-rank Esper matched with an A-rank Guide? Did the Esper Association go crazy?”

“No. The Matching Rate came out really high. They said it’s certain.”

So Won was about to say how high the Matching Rate was, then shut his mouth.

If he told them such an unrealistic number, they would surely refuse to believe it even more, asking whether the machine had broken.

“There must have been some error! Go quickly and ask them to test again!”

Naturally, So Won’s parents strongly opposed him becoming Kang Tae Woo’s Guide.

It was quite different from the day they had smiled and held a party celebrating his awakening as an A-rank Guide.

Watching his parents, their faces tearful and angry, was hard for So Won too.

“I already submitted the consent form saying I would become Kang Tae Woo’s exclusive Guide…. I have no intention of taking that back.”

So Won spoke calmly while watching his parents’ reaction.