Churu for the Angry Guide

54

Siwoo woke up late in the afternoon and stretched out fully.

“Ssseup, phew.”

He took on a challenging yoga pose, stretching his legs high in the air. His body felt stiff from lying down constantly these days.

“Oh right, the ice cream.”

After guiding Seojun yesterday, he had fallen asleep right away. He had skipped dinner and hadn’t eaten the ice cream he’d put in the freezer.

Even though he hadn’t guided for long, his body had become rapidly fatigued and sought sleep. It seemed his stamina had decreased a lot after lazing around for a week.

Resolving to at least take a walk today, he sat on the edge of the bed. Seeing the intense sunlight outside made him lose the will to go out, but he needed to exercise.

“…”

Thinking about walking naturally brought the idiot’s face to mind. Where on earth was that guy sleeping?

Kang Geonho hadn’t come to the dormitory at all during this time. Out of curiosity, he had asked Secretary Nam where he was staying, but only received a vague answer that he would be fine wherever he was.

Apparently, he was a free spirit.

“What free spirit? He’s a stray dog.”

He continued to look out the window with a sulky face. Today too, diligent birds were flying freely in the sky. They were truly free spirits. The word ‘freedom’ didn’t suit Espers who could only live within the center’s premises.

The higher an Esper’s rank, the more people cheered and praised them enthusiastically, but they also kept their distance. This was because an Esper’s rampage range was proportional to their power.

Espers were as dangerous as they were strong. Geonho, the only SS-rank Esper in the country, couldn’t even set foot in civilian areas as he pleased.

Moreover, he was a beastkin. Beastkin were much more likely to lose control and were more powerful than regular Espers. It was said that only Taebeom, the mental-type leader, could control him.

Growl.

“What’s that sound?”

Siwoo’s shoulders flinched, startled by the sudden noise. It turned out to be the sound from his own stomach.

Scolding his increasingly noisy stomach, he went to the kitchen. He hadn’t eaten breakfast due to waking up late.

Today too, Baekya Guild’s dormitory was silent. The living room sofa, which could easily seat ten people, was always empty, making him feel it was a waste. The large TV that gave off a cinema vibe was always turned off, never fulfilling its role.

“If they’re not using it, they should sell it second-hand. It’d fetch a few hundred.”

He shook his head, thinking that if it were him, he’d sit on the sofa for an hour or two every day watching TV. They must have so much money that this much isn’t even considered wasteful.

Well, it’s not just the house they’re wasting. Even the guiding machines piled up in the guiding room were worth hundreds of millions. They just placed them randomly and didn’t even use them.

It seemed like all the guild members had wasteful habits. Siwoo sighed, remembering the cat toys that filled the guiding room.

His heart felt heavy thinking of Geonho, who used to buy new cat supplies every day. Where on earth was he and what was he doing?

“Leaving his home and all…”

He worried that the guy, who ran hot, might have collapsed while walking in the heat. In this weather, taking a nap outside would surely result in heatstroke.

Siwoo kept grumbling to himself as he opened the refrigerator. He had thought he might be able to meet him, even briefly, if he stayed here.

Siwoo blinked his eyes wide as he opened the refrigerator. He was about to take out anything to eat, but there was a note inside the fridge. Along with a sandwich packed with vegetables and meat.

Siwoo hesitantly picked up the note.

Why didn’t you eat the ice cream?

The content of the note suggested Jihan had left it. Unlike his greasy image, his handwriting was quite neat.

“I couldn’t eat because I was sleeping. What are you going to do about it?”

As if Jihan was right in front of him, he picked a fight with the note while taking out the sandwich and apple juice. He thought about going back to his room but just sat at the kitchen table instead.

It was the first time he was eating at the table. Siwoo rarely left his room.

Thanks to Secretary Nam who came to the dormitory every day and left food in front of his door, there was no need to come out to the kitchen. Even though Siwoo said it was fine, the secretary insisted he enjoyed doing it and prepared meals once a day without fail.

Indeed, the secretary was a good person. His heart was as warm as his gentle appearance. Compared to Jihan and Seojun, he felt the most like an adult.

“This is delicious.”

Siwoo devoured the large sandwich in an instant. Due to his hunger, he swallowed it almost without chewing. Finishing his meal with apple juice, he looked around the quiet living room.

No matter how he thought about it, this place was too comfortable to live in. The high ceiling of the duplex, the constant quiet, and even someone to prepare every meal made him reluctant to leave.

Originally, he had planned to leave right after seeing Kang Geonho, but since he hadn’t shown up, Siwoo was using that as an excuse to stay one more day at a time.

Moreover, when the youngest kid subtly hinted that he should leave, it made him want to stay even more.

Maybe I’ll stay a little longer. He rested his chin on his hand and looked at the small note. Since he rarely encountered the Espers anyway, it didn’t seem bad to keep staying here.

“When will I ever get to live in such a nice house again? Right?”

After talking to himself, he suddenly got up and went back to his room. He remembered his phone that he had forgotten about.

He hadn’t thought to look at it since receiving it from Jihan. Perhaps he was shy of the new phone, as he somehow didn’t feel like touching it.

After examining the clearly expensive phone from various angles, he turned it on. He hadn’t even turned on the phone until now. He had been rolling around in his room all this time, so there was no particular need to use it.

“36?”

As soon as he turned it on, the first thing he noticed was the text message notification window. There were as many as thirty-six messages. Having never accumulated messages before, he was greatly surprised and immediately opened the message window.

“What’s with this guy.”

The owner of the accumulated messages was one person. The very person who had gifted this phone.

Siwoo skimmed through the thirty-six messages from Jihan with a sour expression. They were all either about food or just rambling about his daily life.

Do you like ice cream?

The last message had come yesterday afternoon. He seemed to have bought the ice cream after sending this.

Don’t people usually stop texting if there’s no reply? Thinking that the more he knew about Jihan, the stranger he seemed, Siwoo chuckled.

Lying on his stomach on the bed, Siwoo opened the internet search window. There was something he wanted to look up.

“Baekya Guild…”

After always just overhearing floating stories, he searched for ‘Baekya Guild’ directly for the first time.

Even though he only typed ‘Baek’, all sorts of words related to Baekya Guild appeared in the related searches. There were even ridiculous search terms like ‘Baekya Guild popularity ranking’. He knew people liked them, but they seemed much more popular than he had thought.

Even now, articles about Baekya Guild were appearing in real-time. It turned out to be just a fuss over a daily photo Yoo Jihan had posted on his personal social media account.

“What’s the big deal about this.”

Siwoo, who had never been interested in celebrities or famous people even as a child, was exasperated. He gave up reading after seeing article titles that made him frown involuntarily, like ‘Working hard on looks today too’ and ‘A smile that even monsters would fall for’.

That Yoo Jihan kid. I thought he was busy as hell since he hadn’t shown his face at all, but it seems he has time to take selfies.

Siwoo had a staring contest with the broadly smiling Jihan in the photo before returning to the search bar. After rolling his eyes thoughtfully for a moment, he pressed each character with hesitant fingertips.

Kang Geonho Kang Taebeom brothers

He was curious about their story.

To Siwoo, they seemed like less than strangers, but it was strange how he could feel that Geonho followed and liked his brother. He had even said multiple times that his brother was a good person.

As if he wanted to believe it was true.

Siwoo tilted his head as he looked at the phone screen. He had searched for the ‘Kang brothers’, but all that came up were articles about Baekya Guild. He couldn’t find any writings about the two of them.

Puzzled, Siwoo moved his fingers busily. He tried to gather information by alternately searching ‘Kang Geonho’ and ‘Kang Taebeom’.

While doing so, a comment on one article caught his eye.

It was a comment on an article praising Kang Taebeom, who consistently appeared on lists of high-amount donors. Siwoo read through the long comment without blinking, then suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Beep beep beep!

Suddenly, a loud mechanical sound rang out from somewhere. Startled, Siwoo even dropped his phone.

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep―!

The warning sound was coming from under Siwoo’s pillow. It was where he had put the pager he received from the secretary along with the mouse doll.

The pager given to guides only activated when their assigned Esper was in danger.

Siwoo threw aside the pillow and quickly grabbed the pager. His pupils shook as much as the violently vibrating pager.

“Ah…”

On the small pager screen were the three characters of the idiot’s name. Kang Geonho. It was a signal that his levels were rapidly rising.