SRSBO: Chapter 16

Because my phone broke due to my own mistake, I received a phone temporarily from Joo Yunwoo, telling me to use it until I get a new one.

After that, I went straight to Han Siyoung’s house and got a new number. I suddenly had this thought today.

‘I guess I’m not destined to rest.’

According to the original plan, I was supposed to sleep like the dead until the afternoon, but thanks to Joo Yunwoo’s acquaintance, I ended up waking up early in the morning, and in the afternoon, I was called out by Han Siyoung.

What she said after calling me like that was.

“We’ve decided to date.”

Was this.

Yang Hyunwoo was scratching his cheek shyly sitting beside Han Siyoung who was smiling brightly.

As I looked at the two of them reflected in the rearview mirror, I rubbed the space between my brows. While I had unintentionally been starring a Home Alone movie, it seemed like something had happened between the two of them as well.

“Oh, okay. I see.”

“What…… is with your reaction?”

“…… Congratulations?”

Han Siyoung grumbled, saying my reaction was too indifferent. Seeing her blatantly complain as if she wanted me to congratulate her, I clapped my hands in response.

Honestly, although they decided to date only now, hadn’t the two already been in a dating atmosphere?

“To celebrate our relationship, we’ll treat you today. What do you want to eat? You can order something expensive!”

I wasn’t sure why I was the one being treated to a meal now that the two of them are a couple, but since they were offering, I nodded obediently.

When I said I would think about it and delayed my answer, Han Siyoung immediately turned her attention to Yang Hyunwoo.

Han Siyoung chattered enthusiastically, asking whether he preferred Western food or Korean food, and Yang Hyunwoo, even while driving, carefully responded to each of her questions.

“Siyoung.”

“Uh? Oh, right. You’re tired of Western food and don’t like to eat it much. How about we just go to a hotel buffet? I think it would be good since we can eat a variety of things there.”

“Can you two tell me about the Awakened people? Especially, how to possibly guide.”

“The hotel available for reservation right now… Huh? What did you say?”

Han Siyoung looked back in shock. Yang Hyunwoo was also the same.

Both of them had surprised expressions as they glanced at me and each other.

“Eujung, what’s wrong?”

“Did something happen?”

“It’s not often that Eujung brings up the topic of Awakened ones.”

“Yeah, it’s not normal for you to ask about the Awakened people. Can you tell me the reason? What’s going on? Or have you finally decided to register as an Awakened?”

I clapped my hands to gather attention as the questions fired at me without giving me time to breathe.

“First of all, Hyunwoo, look straight ahead. Our destination isn’t the underworld.”

“Ah, yes!”

“And Han Siyoung, I don’t plan on registering as an Awakened, so don’t expect anything.”

“Huh? Then why?”

I had no choice but to stay quiet at that question.

“Well… since I’m a Guide, I thought I should at least know the basics. In that sense, I have something I’m curious about. Can I ask?”

“Oh, of course! I’ll answer anything I know!”

“I usually keep my guiding force to the minimum in my day to day life. But what if I come into contact with an Esper? Could the guiding force suddenly increase just by making contact?”

A Guide cannot completely erase guiding. The only thing a Guide can do is to adjust through training and master the ability to reduce the amount and method of guiding.

Yang Hyunwoo had once said that he knew of no case where a Guide could lower their guiding ability to the limit, like I do.

When I first placed my hand on Joo Yunwoo’s forehead, I had no intention of guiding him at all.

It was natural. At that time, I didn’t even know that Joo Yunwoo was an Esper.

I lowered my guiding to the limit as usual and placed my hand on his forehead.

But suddenly, the guiding level increased on its own, and I felt something inside me slipping away, just like when I guided Yang Hyunwoo.

No. To be precise, it felt a little different.

With Yang Hyunwoo, I only felt a very faint sensation, just enough to recognize that this was guiding,

But when I placed my hand on Joo Yunwoo, a strong, overwhelming sensation swept over me, just like the intense feeling I had during my time as a healer in the war.

No wonder I sought an escape from reality.

The sensation felt more similar to when I was Amelia than Kim Eujung to Yang Hyunwoo, and for a moment, I wondered if it was my healing ability rather than guiding that had returned.

In fact, after that feeling, Joo Yunwoo seemed to recover as if he had received treatment.

“So… you’re asking if a large amount of guiding can still slip out even though you didn’t increase the guiding level?”

“Yeah. Can that happen even if I didn’t intend for it to?”

Amelia’s healing ability and my guiding ability were similar in the sense that in both cases you need to have a contact to activate the ability.

However, unlike guiding, which was always activated when the condition of contact was given, the healing ability was useless with just contact unless I activated the ability myself.

It was the difference between a river that flows smoothly and leisurely without any obstruction, and a river with a dam.

At my question, Han Siyoung widened her eyes and tightly shut her mouth. Yang Hyunwoo, also surprised, asked in response.

“Eujung, where did you hear that? That’s called reverse guiding.”

“Reverse guiding, you say…….”

“Remember, I mentioned before that if the matching rate is low, reverse guiding can happen? When there’s a lack of guiding and the condition is poor, reverse guiding often happens. It can also happen when an Esper intentionally rejects the guiding. Unlike the former, the latter is a case of poor quality.”

Han Siyoung said with a serious expression.

“You may not know. Reverse guiding is actually very painful. When Espers go berserk and say because it’s painful, I honestly couldn’t relate, but after experiencing reverse guiding, I understood.”

“Oh…….”

“It feels a bit awkward saying this in front of an Esper like Hyunwoo, but even guides usually don’t accept an Esper who’s on the verge of rampaging. There’s a high chance of triggering reverse guiding, and if you get caught up in a rampage, you’d die.”

“Um…….”

I quietly rolled my eyes.

Painful? Then what about me? I didn’t feel any pain at all. But rather it felt like something was slipping out of me?

“……So reverse guiding makes it painful for the Guides? Are there no Guides who are fine?”

“Of course not! As far as I know, all Guides feel pain!”

Then perhaps I’m not a guide.

“There’s no such thing as being delayed in affect, right? Like being fine at the time but then having problems later.”

“Eujung ah. It’s not like a volleyball time-delay attack, that’s not possible.”

Han Siyoung shook her head. She looked at me with narrowed eyes filled with suspicion.

I quickly changed the subject.

“But when did you experience reverse guiding? You’re a low-level Guide, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”

“It’s also because, as a low-level Guide, I naturally have less power to begin with. It’s not like in a school where they don’t let it slack off for lacking ability; it’s a workplace. Recently, a lot of Guides have been flocking to the guilds, so there’s a shortage of personnel.”

Before we knew it, we had arrived at our destination, and the car came to a stop in the parking lot.

Yang Hyunwoo, who had been awkwardly smiling while Han Siyoung was speaking, finally opened his mouth.

“Um…… Actually, Siyoung told me not to tell you, but when we first met, the reverse guiding phenomenon happened with her.”

“…… What?”

“Wait, Hyunwoo!”

“I was in really bad condition at the time. And I didn’t know much about guiding back then, so I didn’t realize how painful reverse guiding could be. Listening to this, I feel sorry again.”

“I told you I was fine. Because it’s you, Hyunwoo!”

“Siyoung…”

Yang Hyunwoo looked at Han Siyoung with affectionate eyes. The feeling was mutual for Siyoung as well.

“Uh… I’ll go up first because I need to use the bathroom.”

In the midst of that, being the considerate one, I quietly opened the door and stepped outside.

* * *

After having a satisfying meal, I went straight home and looked for Joo Yunwoo.

Actually, there was nothing to look for. As soon as I entered through the front door, he came out to greet me.

Like a large dog greeting its owner, Joo Yunwoo followed me around and asked if I had eaten. I nodded with a slightly hesitant expression.

“I did. What about you?”

“I did too.”

There was still warm food on the table. When I glanced in that direction, Joo Yunwoo subtly averted his gaze.

“…… Actually, I don’t feel well, so I was planning to eat later.”

“Oh, is it really bad?”

“No, not that bad. Why?”

“If it’s okay with you, Yunwoo, I have something I want to ask for help with.”

If something unusual was supposed to happen, I could just ask the person involved. Since Joo Yunwoo had already found out that I was a Guide, I didn’t have much of a reason to hold back anymore.

“To be exact, there’s something I’d like to experiment with… Do you have a moment?”

Ah, did that sound a bit off?

As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake and quickly tried to explain further, but before I could, the answer came first.

“Yes, it’s fine.”

I opened my mouth reflexively at the gaze that stared straight at me, blinking curiously like an innocent child.

“…… Do you know what I’m going to do that you answered right away without asking?”

“It’s okay no matter what.”

“No, Yunwoo…….”

What am I going to do with this kind-hearted person?

I let out a deep sigh and calmly continued to explain.

It’s not that it was something strange, but I wanted to know something about guiding and was hoping he would help me out for a moment.

Compared to the commonly known information about Guides, there were some unusual aspects about me, but there were also strange things about Joo Yunwoo.

For example, when I did the hand cream PPL at the café.

Looking back, we only had a small contact at that time, and after that, Joo Yunwoo started showing interest in me. The rumors also started from that time.

The strange thing, however, was that at that time, I had lowered my guiding force to the minimum.