Churu for the Angry Guide

42

After finishing another series of meetings today, Taebeom headed to his office.

His usually regular footsteps sounded a bit different. From the moment he left the meeting room, he seemed lost in thought, and his pace slowed as he neared his office.

However, after checking his watch, he resumed walking at a steady pace. Soon, he had his most important meeting scheduled. He couldn’t waste time with scattered thoughts.

“……”

As he turned the doorknob of his office, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and clenched and unclenched his hand. Entering the office, for some reason, he closely examined his left hand, which looked perfectly fine, before heading straight to his desk.

He took off his coat, sat in the chair, and rolled up his sleeve. Unlike his right hand, which had many scars both large and small, his left hand was clean without a single scratch. The large scar that ran from his left shoulder ended abruptly near the wrist, giving an incongruous feeling.

After checking the time, Taebeom grabbed his left wrist and twisted it hard. With a click, the hand came off.

His left hand was a prosthetic.

Thanks to the well-replicated skin, it didn’t look much different from his right hand at first glance. The thin skin on the back of the hand even had prominent veins, it could easily pick up small objects, and its movements were natural.

However, the one thing it couldn’t replicate was body temperature. While it could mimic the appearance and movements of a normal hand, being a mechanical prosthetic, it was very cold.

“Leader, I’m coming in.”

Jihan burst through the door, swinging coffee in both hands.

Today was the day of the Baekya Guild team meeting. Arriving a bit early for the gathering, he made a light fuss upon seeing Taebeom inspecting his prosthetic.

“What’s this? Why did you take off your hand? Does it hurt? Is there a problem?”

Taebeom continued checking the condition of his prosthetic without looking at him. Jihan didn’t seem to expect an answer, as he didn’t pry further.

“If it hurts, call the doctor right away. We don’t have time to go to the hospital.”

“You should keep to the schedule.”

Jihan placed the coffee on Taebeom’s desk and made an aggrieved expression.

“Wow, I’m not even late, and you’re scolding someone who came early.”

“I never told you to come early.”

“Don’t be so rigid. That’s time compulsion.”

Jihan pretended to be hurt as he sat at the conference table. Only Jihan, who was the same age as Taebeom, was not uncomfortable with him as the leader.

“Where’s the secretary?”

The secretary’s seat was empty. It seemed they hadn’t come to the office at all today, as there was no sign of their arrival.

“At the guide ward.”

Jihan, who had been sipping his iced coffee, looked at Taebeom.

“Already?”

The only reason for the secretary to visit the guide alone would be to propose guild recruitment. It was clear that if they made an offer before the guide’s heart had opened, they would be flatly rejected.

“What’s the rush? There’s still time left in the hospital stay.”

Jihan had told the secretary not to bring up the formal conversation until at least the discharge date. He had planned to persuade them as best as possible and then present the contract when their heart seemed even slightly open.

“When did they go? Did they already talk?”

Taebeom just nodded once and took a sip of coffee. Even though Jihan knew that Taebeom didn’t have a habit of drinking beverages for long and only liked espresso, he always bought Americano. With syrup added, no less.

“Ah, then they must have been rejected.”

Jihan assumed the secretary would have been turned down, of course. It would be fortunate if Siwoo, angered by frequent solicitations, didn’t cause a scene about discharging early. Thinking he should go check right after the meeting, he chewed on his straw.

Knock knock. Just then, Seojun arrived.

“Come in.”

Seojun, who arrived exactly on time, bowed his head slightly as he opened the door. He looked nervous despite this being a weekly meeting.

“Seojun, have some coffee.”

“I’ll drink it well. Thank you.”

Jihan habitually helped ease Seojun’s tension. Thanks to that, Seojun’s rigid posture relaxed a bit.

Taebeom moved to the head of the conference table. When he moved without touching his coffee, Jihan clicked his tongue loudly.

“The person who bought it put in some effort, at least pretend to drink it.”

“It’s sweet.”

“You need to replenish your sugar. You might collapse at this rate.”

Taebeom didn’t respond and started the meeting. Even though one person hadn’t arrived yet.

“We’re doing this without Geonho?”

“He’s on a walk.”

Looking at Geonho’s real-time reported location, he seemed to be in the middle of an intense walk. He was currently at the top of a small mountain within the center. He must have forgotten about the meeting schedule again.

It was a frequent occurrence. Geonho often missed meetings, absorbed in his walks. Taebeom tried not to interfere with his walks as much as possible. Especially when Geonho was in a highly stressed state.

“We’ll reduce Kang Geonho’s assigned gates for the time being. You’ll take over instead.”

“Okay.”

Jihan answered without complaint as he received the gate-related documents. He followed the order without asking for detailed reasons.

“If you think it’ll be too much, say so now.”

After skimming through the gate documents, Jihan said this much would be fine.

“Just reduce the number of calls a bit. It’d be even better if you could increase the assignments to higher-ranked guilds.”

“Preferred guilds?”

“Anything but fire-based ones. They don’t suit me well.”

Jihan was weak against heat, so his elimination speed significantly decreased when dealing with fire-type monsters.

Taebeom made a note on his pad and immediately selected suitable guilds. While Jihan was choosing guilds he liked from among them, Seojun, who had been quietly fiddling with his coffee cup, cautiously spoke up.

“Um… Leader.”

Seojun’s voice became even quieter as Taebeom’s gaze responded to his call.

“I think… I could handle even a small area on my own.”

Although it had been well over a year since he joined the guild, Seojun still didn’t have any gates assigned to manage. In the case of high-ranked guilds, not only the guild master but also guild members each managed at least one gate area. Only Seojun was still doing the same tasks as regular espers.

“Even if it’s the smallest area, if you could just assign me—”

“That’s not for you to judge.”

Taebeom’s sharp gaze cut off the opinion.

“Just do the job you’re told to do properly.”

Seojun’s lips quivered before he nodded and said he understood. Jihan lightly massaged Seojun’s shoulders.

The meeting continued in an even more subdued atmosphere. Jihan reported on his assigned gates, and Seojun submitted a report recording his condition and resonance values.

After reviewing these, Taebeom instructed Seojun to increase his guiding time. Seojun nodded mechanically and gave the expected answer.

“By the way, Leader.”

Jihan, swirling his coffee where the ice had all melted, brought up a topic unrelated to the meeting.

“You still haven’t visited the guide even once, right?”

Seojun, who had been staring at the desk, also slightly raised his head to look at Taebeom.

“Don’t bring up small talk during the meeting.”

“This isn’t small talk. It’s sharing opinions about the guide we’re going to serve exclusively. What could be more important than this right now?”

“What do you want to say?”

Taebeom put down his pad pen and stared at Jihan. His eyes resembled Geonho’s, but unlike his beastkin brother, his pupils didn’t sparkle. They were dark black eyes, like his jet-black hair.

“I’m saying you should show your face once.”

Jihan said with a grin, drawing out the end of his sentence.

“If you go and talk to them yourself, the guide’s heart might open up.”

They needed to try anything to open the wary guide’s heart. If the leader went to make the exclusive guide offer in person, they might accept even if just overwhelmed by the atmosphere. It wasn’t the best method, but Jihan wanted to recruit Siwoo into the guild by any means necessary.

“The probability of it closing completely is higher.”

“Is that why you’re not going?”

Jihan’s eyes glinted with curiosity. Seojun also glanced at Taebeom with interest.

However, Taebeom didn’t entertain the question and returned to the meeting content.

Picking up his pen again, he displayed a map showing the gate distribution numbers on the pad screen. There were no red graphs indicating saturation, but the overall ratios had increased.

As he was about to continue the meeting, he paused for a moment and rolled his pen. Jihan and Seojun looked away from the map and stared at Taebeom.

“We’ll only take on an exclusive guide if everyone agrees.”

Taebeom emphasized that they wouldn’t recruit if even one person objected. Everyone understood what he meant without further explanation.

If Geonho refuses Guide Han Siwoo, we won’t take him on exclusively. That’s what he means, right?

Jihan sighed as he brushed back his fallen bangs. At that moment, his phone vibrated.

“I’m sorry.”

He had forgotten to turn off the vibration. He was about to bow his head to the leader and reject the call, but ended up answering it.

“Yes, Secretary. We’re in a meeting right now.”

Since it was a call from the secretary, Taebeom didn’t say anything. Jihan rubbed the corner of his mouth as he listened to the secretary’s voice over the phone. He was concerned since the secretary said they had gone to see Siwoo.

“What?”

Soon, his drooping eyes widened into circles.

“They really said they’d join?”

Jihan asked again if it was true. Seojun tilted his head in confusion, while Taebeom showed no reaction. However, Jihan noticed that the grip on his pen had loosened.

“We’ll come right now too.”

The smile that spread across Jihan’s face couldn’t have been lighter.