Chapter Five

Tae-Woo thought it was getting a little quiet now, but not long after, someone came back to Tae-Woo.

This time, the doctor who knocked before visits him again.

Tae-Woo's eyes are sparkling.

Tae-Woo's head was throbbing and he was irritated.

"Esper Kang Tae-Woo , Guide Lee So-Won is here."

The doctor's eyes are trembling with fear, but there is an expectation that could not be hidden.

Tae-Woo, who pressed his hands against his throbbing head, rose up.

It only gives Tae-Woo a headache to think about.

Tae-Woo follows what he said to him as usual.

He tore off a handful of the machines attached to his body.

Some of them were bent and broken from time to time because they couldn't control his strength, but Tae-Woo didn't care about it.

Tae-Woo follows the doctor's steps.

The expressions of the employees who encountered Tae-Woo while passing by while traveling a short distance are colored with fear.

Tae-Woo didn't even care about them.

It's his first time in the guide examination room, although Tae-Woo had lived in the Esper Association for more than a decade.

He never came here in the first place, and he never will.

The door opens with a click.

So-Won is under the illusion that a warm wind is blowing through the slightly open door gap.

Soon, the door between So-Won and Tae-Woo completely opened.

Tae-Woo feels strange.

Tae-Woo feels as if he had attached five, or ten, guiding machines.

Something cozy seems to gently wrap itself around him.

Embarrassed, Tae-Woo looks at the little boy standing at the door.

A face that looks at him as if he has just become an adult, round eyes, white skin and red-hot cheeks, and a pitiful trembling hand.

"Guide" Tae-Woo mumbles.

There was no part that touched either place, but Tae-Woo immediately noticed that the boy in front of him was his guide.

Tae-Woo's heart began to beat fast.

Meanwhile, So-Won came to his senses as soon as the door opened.

His body was still shaking, but he wasn't as scared as he used to be.

Until he saw his face.

As soon as the door opened, the fierce eyes that So-Won encounters already looked very upset.

So-Won froze as soon as his eyes met Tae-Woo's.

He could already feels Tae-Woo's violent waves piercing So-Won, as if Tae-Woo is in a pretty bad condition.

So-Won is always afraid of this moment.

He thought the sharp wave would devour him.

It is a wave that So-Won always felt when he was close to Tae-Woo, but it seems stronger than usual, perhaps because of So-Won's feelings.

Fortunately, unlike eight years later, when the entire face is covered with dark red veins, the veins stick out only spreads until his eyes.

It looked black, and disgusting, as if a shadow had been cast around the eyes, where large and small blood vessels stretched in all directions.

His short cut hair was still the same as before.

Compared to eight years later, he was a little less terrible, but So-Won's fear did not die down.

Tae-Woo belatedly realizes that So-Won is scared of him.

Only then did Tae-Woo start to care about his monstrous appearance, which he never cares about.

Tae-Woo thought for the first time that he wanted to cover his face.

Tae-Woo, who thought so, turned his head and tries to hide his face even a little from his guide.

"Hello." So-Won greets Tae-Woo.

So-Won forces his mouth to open but it is so hard.

He wants to say hello without shaking, but his voice trembles carelessly.

So-Won thought it was a mistake, but he decided to put meaning to the fact that he greeted Tae-Woo first.

Originally, there was no such greeting at the first meeting between So-Won and Tae-Woo.

This is because So-Won, who actually saw Tae-Woo, was shaking and looked at him like a monster after hearing Tae-Woo's voice, who greeted him softly.

Eight years ago it was their first and last conversation.

Tae-Woo, who didn't know So-Won would say hello first, was a little surprised.

The small round guide's voice was clear as if a bead was rolling.

"Good morning."

Tae-Woo answera calmly.

So-Won almost cried when he heard Tae-Woo's voice even in the midst of So-Won's trembling.

It was not a restful voice on the day he died vomiting blood, but a good low voice to listen to.

So-Won iss happy to hear this voice again, even though his heart is crushed by guilt.

So-Won bows his head to hide his red eyes.

Tae-Woo's doctor, who is looking at the scene with satisfaction, pushes Tae-Woo and So-Won into the examination room, saying they would start the examination.

Two researchers approaches them as they sat on chairs in the room.

"Before we start the guide inspection, we will attach the machine first." The researcher said.

One person each attaches to So-Won and Tae-Woo, and began to attach a machine to their bodies.

Machines were attached to So-Won's face, arms, legs, and body one by one.

Whenever the cold metal touches, So-Won shrank slightly as if he was nervous.

So-Won's attachment to the machine ended shortly after, but Tae-Woo is only halfway through.

The researcher's hand, which attaches the machine to Tae-Woo's body, trembles unsightly.

The researcher pulls up Tae-Woo's long-sleeved clothes, even in the summer and he nearly fainter when he saw Tae-Woo's disgusting veins.

The researcher closes his eyes tightly as if he is about to wriggle, and then opens his eyes inevitably to attach the machine.

The researcher carefully attaches the machine so that it wouldn't get in Tae-Woo's mood, with trembling hands, and that it wouldn't touch Tae-Woo's disgusting body.

This is the first time that a hand still on an armrest felt so scary during a guide examination.

Under the pitiful gaze of others, the researcher manages to attach the last machine to Tae-Woo's body.

When Tae-Woo's doctor, who is sitting over the glass, sent an okay sign, the researchers quickly left the room.

So-Won felt pity and homogeneity when he saw the researchers hurrying out with their legs shaking for no reason.

<Let's get started.>

But So-Won is not in a position to worry about them.

When all the researchers left the laboratory, only Tae-Woo and So-Won remained in one space.

The heavy atmosphere pressed So-Won.

So-Won is nervous, he feels pressure on his stomach while sitting in a chair.

The machine turns on.

The inspection began immediately.

'What kind of tests are we doing? Since it's a guide test, should I do guiding?'

So-Won knew that thereare many kinds of methods of guiding even if he didn't know much about guiding. The simplest is a light contact as much as holding hands, and the larger the contact area, the greater the amount of guidance.

So-Won also knows a little bit that there is a guide who does sexual contact between opposite sex.

<Guide, please hold Esper Kang Tae-Woo's hand.>

As expected, So-Won seems to be guiding.

This much, without being surprised by the expected command, So-Won looks at Tae-Woo's hand, which was positively placed on the armrest.

The clothes that always covers the arms are lifted, so the disgusting dark red blood veins are visible.

So-Won swallows his saliva.

Unlike when So-Won makes up his mind, his body couldn't move easily. When So-Won saw his hand that stood out.

Anxiety came to the faces of the researchers watching.

Meanwhile, Tae-Woo is in his most comfortable state since awakening at the age of 10.

Even though he is not in contact with So-Won, it is as if he is being guided.

Tae-Woo suddenly remembers the number in the matching result table that his doctor brought.

'100%.'

Tae-Woo only thought it was a machine failure, but maybe the matching rate really is really 100%.

It's this much just being next to him, but Tae-Woo is curious about how it would feel to have a real Guide.

If that white little hand of So-Won touches his disgusting body, what would it feel like?

Tae-Woo looks at So-Won with a thought full of anticipation.

However, when Tae-Woo's white face came into his eyes, Tae-Woo's growing small hope in size disappeared.

'Your guide must be unhappy.'

He remembered the sarcastic tone of another S-class Esper he met at the gate.

Tae-Woo didn't even care at the time, but the reason why he thinks of that word when he looks at the trembling So-Won is because even Tae-Woo himself knows it.

Tae-Woo's heart sank coldly.

The Other S-class Esper was right. This poor little guide will be unhappy to be his guide.

He looks at his arm, whose clothes had been lifted.

Dark red veins, which stand out as if they were about to pop out, come down to the hands along the arms.

Tae-Woo is well aware of how terrifying it would be in the eyes of So-Won, who he met for the first time, unlike him who had been accustomed to it his whole life.

From the moment Tae-Woo saw So-Won's scared face, Tae-woo gave up hoping to have a Guide.

He just got greedy. If his guide is scared, it's okay not to Guide, just staying would be fine.

But even that would be terrible for the Guide, and Tae-Woo was well aware that it was his selfishness.

He doesn't have to overdo it.

Unknowingly, Tae-Woo feels regret.

No one in the same space noticed it, but Tae-woo is worried that someone might hear his ugly heart.

He didn't experience enough Guiding, and yet, he wants to get guides by a Guide who can't even move because he's scared.

'I was too greedy. It is fair to be called a monster.' Tae-Woo thought.