"Me?"
Just from the threatening stare he got from Wi Hajoon as Su Iseul proposed he guide him, Rim Young wanted to decline the offer as soon as possible.
"No, it's okay. It's getting late. I'll be heading home now. Good work today!"
Talking quickly and picking up his things from the couch even quicker, he was about to go out of the room when Su Iseul spoke again.
"Why did you stay this late, then?"
"...."
What should i say?
He couldn't just ignore Su Iseul either, as he was his senior at work.
"Forget about him, Iseul. You do it."
"You think it's easy to guide you? You need to find a guide for yourself. It's hard for me to guide two S-Class Espers."
Su Iseul wanted to pair with Hyeong Ki, actually, but that would leave Wi Hajoon without a guide, and as his friend, Su Iseul couldn't just leave him alone without a guide, knowing Wi Hajoon wasn't compatible with any other guide no matter the class. The highest percentage of compatibility Wi Hajoon had ever gotten was 8%, and that was with Su Iseul. The part of Wi Hajoon liking him played a role in the compatibility test too, so it was to be expected. For Rim Young, the fact that he had also crushed on Wi Hajoon for years to the point he couldn't see anyone other than him even slightly attractive now must've also played a part in him getting a 55% percent. Or was it because of the system?
"There's another reason I stayed here this late."
"So what? Come here already. You think everyone gets the chance to learn how to guide from me or gets to guide Wi Hajoon?"
Rim Young hesitated a bit, but in the end, he put his belongings back on the couch. He was one to listen well to his elders and seniors, and he needed to guide Wi Hajoon at one point anyway. When Su Iseul decides to pair with Hyeong Ki, he will have to guide Wi Hajoon to stop him from going into a Rampage state in the future.
Wi Hajoon had turned his back on them, leaning towards the counter with his hands on the counter. It kind of seemed like he was sulking...
He must be feeling down... after overworking because of Rim Young, he couldn't even get guiding from his crush.
"Hajoon, give me your hand."
As Rim Young stood near them, Su Iseul urged Wi Hajoon to turn around and give him his hand.
"My head doesn't hurt anymore. Forget about it."
Such an obvious lie.
After staying in the restricted zone for almost 12 hours, it was impossible for him to be unaffected by the air in there. Even Rim Young as a guide had felt lightheaded after coming out of the restricted zone. Before Wi Hajoon could flee, Su Iseul grabbed his arm and forcibly dragged it towards Rim Young.
"You're getting guided even if you feel fine."
Su Iseul declared, gripping his arm. Wi Hajoon could overpower him easily, but in Su Iseul's hold, he was as strong as a normal passerby on the streets. Su Iseul didn't even know that their match rate had been 55% since it was classified information, and unless Wi Hajoon or he told anyone, only a few of the higher-ups knew about it in the center. If he was being this enthusiastic about finding Wi Hajoon a guide, should he use Su Iseul later if he fails to become Wi Hajoon's guide by his own efforts?
Taking one of Rim Young's hands and Wi Hajoon's, he pressed their palms together as they stood close, facing each other with Su Iseul in the middle forcibly clamping their palms.
"If your compatibility rate is too low, it might hurt you both, so I will observe and stop the guiding if I think it's not working."
Su Iseul said as both of them gazed at him before meeting Rim Young's eyes.
"Rim Young, unless I say so, don't stop guiding him. You know how to start, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. Let's start, then."
Rim Young looked at Wi Hajoon's gaze full of contempt for him and decided to close his eyes instead, although it was recommended to hold eye contact while guiding to gauge the Esper's condition. Exhaling, he slowly tried to envelop his energy around Wi Hajoon through the cold palm pressed against his warm palm. He was very nervous, to say the least, but he wanted to do his best regardless. The things he had learned from his training classes were all extra tips; mostly, the real way to guide an Esper he had learned was from Su Iseul.
In the novel, Su Iseul had to guide a lot, and Rim Young had read the same story so many times he had almost memorized it by heart. As Rim Young used his energy to swap out the polluted energy with his untainted energy as soon as he found the bad energy, Wi Hajoon hadn't rejected his energy either. Su Iseul had a harder time guiding Wi Hajoon in the novel, so he was surprised that it was going this smoothly.
The swap was easy, but the moment the polluted energy settled in Rim Young, his face scrunched, his head banged against his skull, and he immediately felt sick. The wave of sickness was unanticipated because Su Iseul had only struggled with taking the bad energy into his body, not with dealing with that energy. The flow of their energy swapping abruptly stopped as Rim Young grappled with the polluted energy clashing with his own energy.
At that moment, Su Iseul broke apart the palms pressed together. He was quick to notice Rim Young's condition.
".....I told you it won't work."
Wi Hajoon spoke, though even he was baffled by such an effortless swap of their energies at first. Rim Young had taken half of the polluted energy in just a few minutes. It was extremely fast for a beginner guide, but maybe he should've taken his time. It was really difficult to purify the energy all at once for Rim Young. Sweating profusely, Rim Young stumbled back, his eyes still shut and his breathing heavy. Su Iseul brought him back to the couch to not let him fall on the ground.
"Did you do it?"
Su Iseul's first guess was that Wi Hajoon had messed with Rim Young.
"I told you not to play around with energies."
"Why are you blaming me? I didn't do anything, and you were the one who pushed me to be guided by Rim Young. Our compatibility rate is probably way too low."
At Wi Hajoon's voice, he opened his eyes. Wi Hajoon was standing in the same spot, and Su Iseul was standing by his side. Locking eyes with Wi Hajoon, he spoke out.
"Do we really have a low compatibility rate?"