HG | Chapter 3

I need to go to the Awakener Management Association.

That was the first thought that came to Hakyung’s mind as soon as he realized the situation.

***

The next day, at the Korean Awakener Management Association.

‘It’s smaller than I thought.’

Of course, saying it’s smaller than expected is relative, as the Association’s building was large enough to occupy a 118-story building on its own.

‘Is it because the research complex is missing?’

He had heard on the news that the building’s capacity had reached its limit, so they had separated and relocated the research and technology teams. The Association had expanded into various fields, increasing the total number of people to the point where they needed two 120-story buildings.

“Im Hakyung.”

While cautiously looking around and exploring the interior, his name was called. Hakyung quietly stood up and entered the booth of the counselor who had called him. The opaque walls seemed to be made of special material that provided soundproofing and prepared for various situations.

“What brings you here?”

“Well….”

He had rushed over as soon as it was daylight, thinking it was a big deal, but when it came time to speak, he found it hard to open his mouth. Fluid was coming out of my back hole. How could he say that without making both the listener and himself feel awkward?

“Yes?”

‘Ah.’

A good excuse came to mind. It was also true.

“I suspect… overload.”

“Overload.”

The counselor’s expression suddenly hardened. It quickly softened, but the change was so obvious that it was hard to pretend not to notice.

“How far have the symptoms progressed?”

“I woke up this morning detecting physical mutation.”

“What are the specific symptoms?”

So it comes to this…. Hakyung sighed quietly to himself.

“Can I not comment on that?”

“You can. However, you must explain it as thoroughly as possible to your assigned guide to find the most accurate countermeasures.”

“Yes.”

He didn’t intend to hide it until then. Hakyung watched blankly as the counselor pressed a red button and then left the booth.

“Im Hakyung? Please follow me.”

“Oh, yes.”

The red button seemed to indicate ’emergency.’

They left the counseling waiting room, turned right, and took an elevator to the 47th floor. Throughout the ride, Hakyung felt the counselor was sticking excessively close to the wall. It was understandable. A guide’s overload results in physical mutation and attempts to forcibly guide any esper they encounter.

The official term is <Heat>. People often referred to it as a mating season. Like an animal injected with an aphrodisiac, they lose all sense of reason and rush in.

Depending on the person, it could feel like rape, so for some, a guide’s overload might seem scarier than an esper’s overload, which could burn everything in a flash.

Hakyung was also scared of himself and pressed himself against the opposite wall. His vision was dizzy as he stared beyond the glass window. It was unclear whether it was because they were going up so high or because of his uncertain future.

Ding-.

“I can’t go any further from here. Go straight ahead, and on the left, knock on the door with the nameplate ‘Kwon Hojin Guide’ and go in.”

“Yes… thank you.”

“Uh, good luck with the overload….”

The counselor didn’t even get off the elevator and just left Hakyung there.

“……”

Hakyung rubbed his cheek absentmindedly and set off to find the door the counselor had mentioned. It wasn’t hard to find since it was a straight path. Knock, knock, he knocked and turned the doorknob to find a man who looked to be in his mid-30s standing by the window.

“…A kid?”

Was that a greeting?

“Oh… yes. Hello.”

“So, you suspect overload?”

Straight to the point.

Though taken aback, Hakyung nodded calmly. He revealed his symptoms without omission. He had broken out in a cold sweat, and transparent fluid had flowed from between his buttocks….

“Starting with secretions…. That shouldn’t be possible.”

“Pardon, what?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself. How long has it been since you last guided?”

He was so out of it that he didn’t even realize the man was speaking informally. Hakyung answered with a puzzled expression.

“I’ve never guided before….”

“What? Aren’t you a guide?”

“F-rank, so….”

“F-rank? That makes even less sense. F-rank shouldn’t accumulate enough energy to overload, and the energy density is so low that many don’t even realize they’re guides unless there’s a special trigger.”

A special trigger. As soon as he heard those words, the golden haze flashed through his mind.

Kwon Hojin approached with a cold sneer. He grabbed Hakyung’s shoulder tightly and growled lowly.

“Hey. Be honest. You held out because you didn’t want to guide, and now it’s come to this, right? What kind of trick are you trying to pull?”

“I really didn’t know, …ah…!”

Gush.

‘Ugh….’

Again. It’s happening again.

Hakyung instinctively covered his mouth. If he didn’t, he felt like an ugly moan would escape.

The morning he discovered fluid leaking from below. Since then, he felt like he was standing in hell. This unexpected wetness was both embarrassing and made him want to cry.

He had debated countless times whether to tell Cheonghyeon, writing and deleting messages over and over.

In the end, he couldn’t send the message, but realizing the existence of the Awakener Management Association, he hurriedly contacted their 24-hour emergency center.

However, the response he received was frustratingly that they couldn’t help him immediately because he wasn’t affiliated with the Association.

— To receive assistance, you must go through the reservation process when our institution opens, fill out a questionnaire, and have your assigned esper or guide submit an opinion before the initial prescription can be made.

It was a frustrating response. He had clearly registered as an awakener, so why wasn’t he affiliated with the Association?

— To become affiliated with the Association, you must submit certification documents separately or register after measuring your values at our institution’s measurement center. If measured externally, you must submit documents issued within the last month, and after verification, results will be provided within 7 business days.

In summary, it was because he had only submitted his registration certificate to the education office and not to the Association. He learned this time that the education office and the Association manage registration documents separately due to the Awakener Privacy Protection Act.

‘Is that why Father allowed the transfer?’

With idle thoughts, he stayed up all night. It was the first time time felt like it was crawling like a turtle.

Anyway, as soon as the Association started its work, he rushed over. Along with the facts he didn’t know, he fell into a new hell.

“Ugh…!”

The bizarre fluid that had drained him all night now gave way to an intense headache.

It hurts….

It felt like a sharp awl was piercing both temples, and a smaller band than his head was squeezing his skull tightly. His body collapsed instantly, drenched in cold sweat.

As he crouched and groaned, Kwon Hojin clicked his tongue.

“Damn.”

“Ugh…!”

“Hey, kid. Stay with me. I’ll give you a sedative, so don’t pass out.”

There were a hundred things he wanted to say to him. The guide, who had scolded him, lifted Hakyung and laid him on the sofa. Then he quickly brought a syringe and a vial and injected the drug into Hakyung’s arm.

“Hoo….”

Fortunately, the drug worked very quickly. Hakyung lay on his side and swallowed his saliva. The cold sweat that had formed was the only evidence of the pain he had just experienced.

Then suddenly. He noticed the logo on the small vial.

「Hagyeong Pharmaceuticals」.

It was smaller than a fingernail, but it was an easy logo to recognize because it was familiar. It was none other than his father’s company.

‘Father….’

The moment when ‘Im Cheonghyeon,’ who loved his son enough to name a company after him, once again lodged himself in Hakyung’s heart.

“Haa… damn, this is a mess. Sorry for cursing, but it’s a situation that warrants it, so I hope you understand?”

Kwon Hojin ran his hand through his hair repeatedly, looking like he desperately needed a cigarette.

“What are you, really…. What kind of F-rank is this?”

“……”

“I’m not insulting you… damn, ah! Let’s get you registered first. You’re going to do it, right? From what I see, you need to guide quickly. To find a partner in this situation, running a matching test is the fastest way.”

“A m-matching test?”

“Yeah. Don’t you know? It’s simple. You input your wavelength, and it runs against the wavelength data in our database to recommend the best match.”

In short, it meant they needed his awakener registration information to use the matching test device.

Contrary to Kwon Hojin’s concern, Hakyung knew about the existence of the test device. It was a well-known fact, not just to Hakyung but to the general public.

The conditions alone were stimulating. The machine, backed by the state, would recommend the ‘person you must touch.’

If it reached the point of running a matching test, it meant the situation was urgent, so it was easy to guess that there would be quite intimate contact during the process. It was advertised on every subway station and billboard. At the national level, preventing overload was that important.

“Oh, I know about it….”

“You know? Then that’s easy. You said the secretions first appeared this morning, right? Given how quickly your symptoms have worsened in half a day, your mutation is progressing rapidly. There’s no time to get documents, so let’s redo the essential tests here, and once your wavelength type and energy measurement results are updated, we’ll run the test immediately.”

If you don’t, you’ll overload today. That’s how it sounded to Hakyung.

“Yes, yes….”

After that, he didn’t fully remember how things went. All he knew was that Kwon Hojin led him around, giving various instructions. Each time, Hakyung just followed orders, putting his hand in machines, stepping in and out, and so on.

Two hours that felt like 200 hours later. Hakyung was exhausted and sprawled on a sofa. It was a different sofa from Kwon Hojin’s office.

“Really F-rank….”

Kwon Hojin muttered in amazement as he checked the results.

Just two hours.

That was the time it took for Hakyung to complete energy measurement and essential ability tests and upload his information to the Association’s database. And he had just arrived at the matching test device.

The ordeal was one thing, but Hakyung was surprised at how they could fill two hours with all sorts of tests without any waiting.

‘If I had to wait on top of this….’

Comprehensive check-ups usually take a long time because there are many items, but half of it is waiting time. He thought it would be similar, but he was sorely mistaken. It might have been the same two hours, but the density was different.

“Are you ready to run it?”

“Yes….”

Hakyung replied weakly. Then he thought about whether he should inform his father, but he decided against it.

‘I should be grateful if there’s a match other than Father….’

Instead of thinking about his father.

Besides, he couldn’t cancel the matching now that he was here. He was also curious if there was a suitable match for him.

How many minutes passed like that?

Beep—.

Not long after Kwon Hojin’s warning, a sharp sound pierced his eardrums.

“It’s coming.”

Finally.

Hakyung clasped his hands unconsciously. His palms were damp with sweat. At this moment, they seemed wetter than below. Below, he had put on three pairs of underwear and stuffed a lot of tissue under the hole just in case, so it was damp but not as soaked as it had been in the morning.

The matching test device was a massive computer. On the large screen connected to it, black letters spun around. They moved too fast to make out what they said.

Eventually, the screen stopped, and a profile appeared.

Subject: Im Cheonghyeon (Esper)

Rank: S
Attribute: Pulverization (Bone)
Wavelength: NB-IR-V01
Compatibility (%): 99.98
Matching (%): 99.98
Result: Guiding Possible

Father.

***

Meanwhile, in Seoul Gyeongbok District 1.

Im Cheonghyeon gazed indifferently at the dungeon entrance, which had begun to crumble into dust.

‘Tiresome.’

When the dungeon boss is defeated, the entrance disappears within 3 hours in the manner of the boss’s death. Im Cheonghyeon’s ability is pulverization. Since his skill turns everything he touches into dust, the dungeon entrance was also turning into dust and blowing away.

Beside him were piles of sacks scattered around. There were at least dozens of them. All the sacks bore the same logo.

「Hagyeong Pharmaceuticals」.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his otherwise stark eyes.

“What is my indifferent son doing that he hasn’t contacted me….”

Im Hakyung.

Rolling the name he had personally given several times in his mouth, he frowned disapprovingly.

“Adolescence, huh… tsk.”

He had asked to be registered as an awakener since he seemed to have awakened as a guide, and then he asked to be transferred.

It was rare for the child, who had grown up quietly in his arms, to demand anything. Of course, Cheonghyeon had also noticed five years ago that the child had awakened as a guide. It wasn’t a dungeon, and he hadn’t used his ability, but his wavelength had fluctuated.

But so what?

He had vowed not to present himself as an ‘esper’ in front of his son. When the child couldn’t even walk properly.

So he was about to firmly refuse, but a comment from a company employee made him reconsider.

‘Isn’t the president’s son entering adolescence now?’

They said if you suppress a child entering adolescence, they’ll go astray, and so on.

Nonsense he would have ignored on any other day couldn’t be ignored when it came to Hakyung. No parent can win against their child, so when the child repeatedly requested, his once firm resolve crumbled.

‘If I had known he would make me so anxious….’

No. He would have given in to the transfer anyway.

A child who was excessively pretty, taking after his mother, had no way to resist when he begged. Even an EX-rank boss monster was weak compared to that.

“Uh, sir. We’ve loaded all the sacks….”

While he was savoring the bittersweet longing, a worker approached. They were loading the sacks scattered around Cheonghyeon into a delivery vehicle. The middle-aged man seemed uncomfortable with Im Cheonghyeon, bowing awkwardly from a distance.

“How many?”

“Sorry?”

“The sacks. How many are there?”

“Oh, yes. Thirty-four sacks… were loaded.”

“Hmm.”

A bit short…. Even after thoroughly scouring a medium-sized dungeon, the quantity was insufficient. He resolved to raid a large dungeon soon and walked briskly. The gap closed, making the middle-aged man’s effort to maintain distance futile.

Snap.

Long fingers snapped in front of the man’s eyes. As Cheonghyeon approached, the once tense eyes changed as if the sound was a signal. Like a broken doll, the man drooped his shoulders, entranced.

Im Cheonghyeon looked him straight in the eye and commanded.

“Deliver all thirty-five sacks to Hagyeong Pharmaceuticals’ second pharmacy. Where?”

“Second… pharmacy….”

“It’s the second pharmacy. You’ll get in trouble if you get it wrong.”

When he tapped the delivery man’s shoulder, his eyes, which had been clear, were once again filled with fear. Without showing any annoyance, Im Cheonghyeon proceeded with the final confirmation.

“What did I say?”

“You said to deliver thirty-five sacks to Hagyeong Pharmaceuticals’ second pharmacy, didn’t you?”

“Go.”

“Yes, yes….”

The delivery man scratched his head and climbed into the vehicle hesitantly. He thought something was off, but he couldn’t figure out what.

Soon, a young man in the same delivery company uniform climbed into the passenger seat. He glanced at Cheonghyeon through the rearview mirror, but it was so brief that no one would notice.

Except for those who transcended the human category.

Cheonghyeon nodded his chin. It was a signal to depart. With that signal, the delivery vehicle headed toward its destination, unaware that it would become the thirty-fifth sack.

“Cleaning up trash is a thankless task.”

Muttering to himself, Cheonghyeon was about to head home when it happened.

Bzzz—

Like a horn breaking the silence, his phone vibrated. Checking the caller, it was from the place he least wanted to hear from.

‘Why is the Association contacting me?’

Sometimes, even if you loathe the other party, you have a gut feeling that you need to open their hand.

Since Im Cheonghyeon trusted his instincts above all else, he set aside his rising irritation and checked the message.

This is a notification from the Awakener Management Association.

As per the request of Guide [Im Hakyung], the matching test results have selected Esper [Im Cheonghyeon] as a guiding candidate, and we are providing the matching results.

For detailed guidance, please….

“…Huh.”

He let out a hollow laugh after quickly skimming the beginning of the message.

“Dear….”

Who sends a message to their father after a long time, asking to have sex?