The Troublemaker Esper’s Karma Cleanup Is Self-Service - Ch4
When Yoon-Gyeom regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was a white ceiling.
His eyelids instinctively squeezed shut, unable to adjust to the sudden flood of light.
…What the hell? Where am I?
The moment he hurriedly tried to sit up, a splitting headache tore through his skull.
“Ugh…”
Lee Yoon-Gyeom groaned and froze.
While he remained still, the hospital room door opened.
He forced his aching head to turn and met the eyes of a nurse who had just walked in.
“D-Doctor!”
The nurse’s eyes widened.
She immediately spun around and ran off somewhere.
What? Where are you going?
Yoon-Gyeom frowned and pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Ah, my head…”
He rubbed his temples firmly, and fortunately, the headache slowly began to subside.
After letting out a short sigh, he raised a hand to rub his eyes—
only to feel something catch with a light tap.
His gaze instinctively shifted downward, picking out the objects around him one by one.
An IV inserted between the raised veins of his arm.
A television placed off to one side.
And—
a wave monitor strapped around his left wrist.
“…Why do I have this…?”
A wave monitor displayed an Esper or Guide’s wavelengths numerically.
In other words—
only Espers and Guides were allowed to have one.
Yoon-Gyeom turned the watch this way and that before tapping its screen several times.
Nothing happened.
The display remained completely black.
After checking that, Yoon-Gyeom tugged down the hem of his hospital gown and looked at it.
“The Center?”
This is the Center hospital?
Ordinary people aren’t even allowed in here.
The more Lee Yoon-Gyeom checked, the more questions piled up instead of disappearing.
It felt like the headache that had only just gone away was starting to return.
Then—
“Congratulations on awakening as an SS-rank Guide.”
The hospital room door opened.
The nurse from earlier returned, this time accompanied by a doctor.
“…Excuse me?”
Lee Yoon-Gyeom stared at them dumbly, unable to comprehend what he had just heard.
The doctor entered the room without minding his reaction.
“Guide Lee Yoon-Gyeom.”
A pleased smile appeared on the doctor’s face.
He even clapped a few times, saying how unprecedented the situation was.
Yoon-Gyeom sat upright in bed.
Then he narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at himself.
“…Me?”
The name spoken before the word Guide had definitely been his.
And yet Lee Yoon-Gyeom could only feel suspicious.
Watching him, the doctor and nurse both let out faint laughs.
“Yes. Since you performed Guiding while you were still in the middle of awakening, your body may have been put under quite a bit of strain.”
“…I performed Guiding?”
Yoon-Gyeom repeated in disbelief.
The nurse kindly added an explanation.
“Yes. Everyone said the same thing. When Esper Baek Han-Gyeol’s readings reached a dangerous level, you were the one who guided him.”
“…?”
“And Esper Baek Han-Gyeol carried you in here himself. He was holding you very tightly.”
What the hell are they talking about?
Lee Yoon-Gyeom knew who Baek Han-Gyeol was.
The one and only SS-rank Esper.
A celebrated hero.
And also—
an Esper notorious for having a terrible personality and being extremely dangerous.
I Guided someone like that?
Yoon-Gyeom could only sit there with his mouth slightly open, blinking in disbelief.
“That’s why you slept for two full days. Your readings are normal now, and once you form a Pair, your wave monitor should activate.”
Could something like this really happen in reality?
“Are you experiencing pain anywhere else?”
The nurse’s question snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Ah… No. Well… I don’t think so…”
I think my brain might be broken, though.
His thoughts were a complete mess.
The doctor and nurse kept smiling at him, but Lee Yoon-Gyeom couldn’t bring himself to smile back.
Awakening was something he had wanted more than anything.
Something he had waited eight years for.
That much was true.
But he couldn’t remember the moment of his first Guiding at all.
And considering that his father was only a B-rank Guide, awakening as an SS-rank made absolutely no sense.
“…Am I dreaming?”
At this point, Yoon-Gyeom decided it had to be some kind of illusion.
None of this felt remotely realistic.
Well.
If that was the case, there was nothing wrong with enjoying it while it lasted.
Just as he nodded to himself after reaching that conclusion—
“Center Director, you’re here.”
The doctor and nurse simultaneously bowed toward the hospital room door.
Yoon-Gyeom turned his head as well.
“Yes.”
The Center Director answered lightly.
He was a well-built, handsome middle-aged man.
With an amiable smile on his face, he entered the room while the doctor and nurse quickly stepped aside.
Still looking toward the doorway, Yoon-Gyeom’s eyebrows twitched when he noticed the men standing behind the Center Director.
Then—
Click.
The hospital room door shut.
“Guide Lee Yoon-Gyeom. Let me congratulate you first.”
“…Th-Thank you.”
Caught off guard, Yoon-Gyeom bowed his head.
Then he slowly raised his gaze toward the two men standing beyond the Center Director.
Silver-gray hair.
Reddish eyes.
A height easily exceeding 190 centimeters, with a powerful build that looked ready to burst through his uniform.
When the corners of his lips curved softly upward, the beauty mark embedded in his cheek became even more noticeable.
SS-rank Esper Baek Han-Gyeol.
Baek Han-Gyeol clearly noticed Yoon-Gyeom staring at him.
Rather than avoiding his gaze, he met it directly.
Then his eyes curved like crescent moons.
Whoa, shit. That startled me.
The moment their eyes met, Lee Yoon-Gyeom whipped his head away.
And immediately froze.
Because he had met the eyes of the man standing beside Baek Han-Gyeol.
The man who had driven Lee Yoon-Gyeom to throw himself from that rooftop.
The man who had made him feel more miserable than anyone else ever had.
S-rank Esper Yoo Hye-Seong.
A hollow laugh slipped unconsciously from Lee Yoon-Gyeom’s lips.
Yoo Hye-Seong’s eyebrows twitched.
Ignoring the tension between them, the Center Director sat down on the sofa and got straight to the point.
“Do you need a separate explanation about Guides? From what I can tell, I doubt it.”
“……”
“You’re Guide Lee Tae-Hyeok’s son, after all.”
The Center Director still wore a pleasant smile, but his sharp eyes made the atmosphere feel heavier than his expression suggested.
“No. I know enough.”
Lee Yoon-Gyeom knew more about Guides than most people.
During all those long years when he had failed to awaken, he had studied.
And studied.
And studied some more.
This area might once have had another geographic name.
But now, everything is simply called the Surface.
The Surface was protected by a transparent barrier known as the Dome.
No one knew when Gates would appear, how they formed, or what caused them.
But as they continued to emerge, spring and autumn disappeared.
The environment became too harsh for humans to survive naturally.
So humanity created the Dome in order to live.
And the ones responsible for maintaining it were Espers with supernatural abilities.
After all, whenever a Gate appeared, the seasons were pushed further into their extremes.
Lee Yoon-Gyeom understood why the two Espers were here.
One of them was probably going to become the Pair of the newly awakened Guide.
But something felt strange.
Usually… don’t they test the matching rate first?
He still couldn’t fully believe he had awakened as a Guide, yet everything around him kept moving in ways that made even less sense.
And Pair assignments weren’t normally something the Center Director personally handled.
Seeing the serious expression on Yoon-Gyeom’s face, the Center Director spoke.
“Why do you look so worried?”
“The order of things just seems strange… and I still can’t really believe I became a Guide.”
At Yoon-Gyeom’s straightforward answer, the Center Director let out a hearty laugh.
“It’s only natural that you’d feel that way. This is a first for me too.”
“……”
“You’re the first SS-rank Guide we’ve ever had. Naturally, we originally planned to match you with Esper Baek Han-Gyeol.”
As he continued, some of the amusement faded from the Center Director’s face.
“It’s what we want, and Esper Baek Han-Gyeol wants it as well. But Esper Yoo Hye-Seong made a rather strong claim.”
A claim?
About what?
Yoon-Gyeom’s brow furrowed slightly.
The Center Director rubbed his chin as he continued.
“He says the two of you were lovers for eight years. Is that true?”
“…That bas— No. Esper Yoo Hye-Seong said that?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the first time a situation like this has mattered.”
Lee Yoon-Gyeom understood immediately why the Center Director was asking him to confirm their relationship.
It had happened a long time ago.
An Esper and Guide who were lovers had been denied the chance to form a Pair.
Later, both of them died inside a Gate.
According to the reports, they had deliberately refused to avoid a monster attack that they could easily have escaped.
After several similar incidents, the Center began making accommodations so romantic partners could be paired together whenever possible.
But Lee Yoon-Gyeom didn’t need that consideration.
Unable to control his expression, he lowered his head for a moment.
His clenched fist trembled violently with anger.
Then—
a calm voice settled into the room.
“Yoon-Gyeom wanted it, so I had no choice but to pair with someone else, but I…”
Yoo Hye-Seong continued without hesitation.
“Yoon-Gyeom is the only one for me, Center Director.”