The Troublemaker Esper’s Karma Cleanup Is Self-Service - Ch5
At the sheer audacity of what he was hearing, Lee Yoon-Gyeom lifted his head.
He glared at Yoo Hye-Seong as though he wanted to kill him, but the man continued speaking without pause.
“Congratulations on awakening. Seriously. You were so heartbroken about it… and on that rooftop— Ha. Now we can finally become a Pair.”
Oh, give me a fucking break.
Lee Yoon-Gyeom could only marvel at Yoo Hye-Seong’s tear-jerking performance.
With his eyes glistening dramatically, Yoo Hye-Seong smiled.
“We went through some hardships… but that’s all in the past now. If we start over, we can be happy again.”
“Aren’t you being a little greedy?”
A languid voice cut cleanly through the conversation.
Baek Han-Gyeol, who had been lounging crookedly on the sofa, shifted only his eyes toward Yoo Hye-Seong.
He looked at him as though he were staring at an insect.
“You had him by your side for eight years, yet you still drove him onto a rooftop. Doesn’t that just mean you’re incompetent?”
Baek Han-Gyeol swept his bangs back and watched Yoo Hye-Seong’s expression stiffen.
Then he casually rested the back of his head against the sofa and continued.
“You’ve already got your own paired Guide, yet you’re still coveting someone else’s Guide. How vulgar.”
Then, as though the cold expression from a moment ago had never existed, Baek Han-Gyeol turned a gentle gaze toward the dumbfounded Lee Yoon-Gyeom.
“The way you’re throwing yourself around like that, you’re no different from a whore.”
“…Baek Han-Gyeol!”
Yoo Hye-Seong finally lost his patience and shouted, breathing heavily with rage.
Baek Han-Gyeol ignored him entirely.
Instead, he smiled beautifully at Lee Yoon-Gyeom and finished,
“Besides, I’m new, aren’t I?”
As the atmosphere grew increasingly hostile, Lee Yoon-Gyeom suddenly slapped himself across the cheek.
Smack!
The dull sound immediately drew everyone’s attention.
A vivid red handprint bloomed across his pale cheek.
“Ah, sorry. I kept thinking I was hearing some bullshit.”
Then—
Yoon-Gyeom slapped himself again.
Another loud smack rang through the room as one corner of his mouth twisted upward.
“There. I’m finally starting to come to my senses.”
Lee Yoon-Gyeom smiled as though refreshed.
When he had first heard Yoo Hye-Seong’s words, he had felt miserable.
And at the same time—
for just a little while—
he had wavered.
Because every disgusting, shameless thing Yoo Hye-Seong had said was exactly what Yoon-Gyeom had desperately wanted to hear for so long.
Let’s be happy together.
Only now was he finally hearing those words.
But when his worn-down heart turned toward Yoo Hye-Seong, he saw the truth in the man’s expression.
Absolute confidence.
It was as though Yoo Hye-Seong’s face were asking him,
Can you really live without me?
Only then did Lee Yoon-Gyeom truly come to his senses.
Yoo Hye-Seong, the former lover who had wounded him so deeply that the scars would never disappear—
didn’t look sorry at all.
Worse still, he was only saying these things now that Yoon-Gyeom had awakened as an SS-rank Guide.
Meaning—
If Lee Yoon-Gyeom had never become a Guide, none of this would have happened.
How could there be forgiveness when there had never even been an apology?
All Yoon-Gyeom could do was pity himself for ever loving someone like that.
Letting out a deep sigh, Lee Yoon-Gyeom desperately wanted to slap Yoo Hye-Seong across his handsome face.
But Yoon-Gyeom was a civilized man.
He couldn’t possibly behave so rudely in front of the Center Director.
So, unfortunately—
he had no choice but to slap himself instead.
And as he did, he engraved one thing firmly into his mind.
Yoo Hye-Seong was nothing but a hazardous substance to him.
“…Wow. I’m pretty good at naming things.”
It suits him perfectly.
At least shit can be used as fertilizer.
Swallowing the rest of the insult, Lee Yoon-Gyeom composed his expression more calmly than ever.
Then he spoke.
“I don’t know Esper Yoo Hye-Seong.”
“…You don’t know me?”
Yoo Hye-Seong repeated.
Yoon-Gyeom quietly turned his gaze toward him and answered coldly.
“Yes. That’s what we agreed on, remember?”
“……”
“I have no idea who exactly you were dating.”
“Yoon-Gyeom, what are you talking about? We just had a small fight—”
The Center Director raised a hand.
Yoo Hye-Seong stopped speaking.
The Director looked at Yoon-Gyeom again.
“Guide Lee Yoon-Gyeom. Then you’re saying you and Esper Yoo Hye-Seong are not in a romantic relationship?”
“Yes. Not at all.”
The moment Yoon-Gyeom answered, the Center Director gave Yoo Hye-Seong a sidelong look.
“Then would you leave?”
“…Center Director.”
“Esper Yoo Hye-Seong.”
The Center Director called his name in a low voice, then looked away as though there was nothing more worth hearing.
Baek Han-Gyeol, who had been watching from the side, casually threw in another remark.
“Is that insubordination?”
Yoo Hye-Seong bit down hard on his lower lip and swallowed his breath.
He swept his gaze once over Baek Han-Gyeol’s mocking face before finally turning away.
Only after his slowly retreating figure disappeared behind the door did Lee Yoon-Gyeom relax.
It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t sad.
Especially when becoming a Guide had been something Lee Yoon-Gyeom had desperately wanted for the sake of his lover.
Feeling tears threatening to rise, he tipped his head back for a moment.
If I cry here, I’m a fucking idiot.
He repeated it silently to himself.
“Hyung, does this mean we’re a Pair now? You’re my Guide?”
Calling Yoon-Gyeom by such an intimate title, Baek Han-Gyeol walked toward the bed.
Yoon-Gyeom had been pressing at the corners of his eyes.
He slowly lowered his head and looked at Baek Han-Gyeol, who casually sat on the edge of his bed.
His voice was dry.
“I know you’re younger than me, but when exactly did we become close enough for you to call me hyung?”
“Then Hyung can speak casually to me too.”
Despite Yoon-Gyeom’s prickly tone, Baek Han-Gyeol continued smiling brightly.
What is he so happy about?
Lee Yoon-Gyeom looked at him with mild curiosity.
Baek Han-Gyeol leaned his upper body back.
His gray hair slid softly along the line of his jaw.
Sunlight streaming through the hospital window caught in his red eyes, giving them an oddly mesmerizing glow.
For a moment, Yoon-Gyeom found himself staring at the picture-perfect sight.
Then Baek Han-Gyeol suddenly asked,
“I’m better than Yoo Hye-Seong, though.”
His rounded pupils were half-hidden beneath eyes curved into crescents.
Having tossed out the shameless question, Baek Han-Gyeol abruptly leaned toward Yoon-Gyeom.
His head lightly landed on Yoon-Gyeom’s narrow shoulder.
“In ability and aesthetics.”
The gaze looking up at him was so direct that Yoon-Gyeom instinctively looked away.
Then his expression became deadly serious.
From everything he had heard, Baek Han-Gyeol was supposed to be a cold Esper with a foul personality.
Someone who allowed no one near him.
Someone who didn’t listen to anyone.
Someone who acted solely according to his own judgment.
But apparently—
that wasn’t what Yoon-Gyeom was seeing.
The Baek Han-Gyeol leaning against his shoulder looked more like a shameless giant puppy.
Is something wrong with him?
Yoon-Gyeom was seriously considering the possibility when he suddenly felt a hand patting him lightly on the back.
He immediately placed a hand against Baek Han-Gyeol’s head and shoved him away.
“Ah. Don’t touch me.”
“Oh. You spoke casually.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Yoon-Gyeom denied it instantly and turned his face away.
Baek Han-Gyeol allowed himself to be pushed aside without resistance, still smiling continuously.
Yoon-Gyeom glanced at him.
Then came to a firm conclusion.
Something is definitely wrong with this guy.
“Do we really just become a Pair like this?”
Yoon-Gyeom asked the Center Director.
The Director, who had been staring at Baek Han-Gyeol with his mouth hanging open, belatedly cleared his throat.
“Do you not agree to it, Guide Lee Yoon-Gyeom?”
The Center Director added that Yoon-Gyeom’s wishes were what mattered most.
Yoon-Gyeom thought about it.
He was happy that, even if it had come late, he had finally become the Guide he had wanted so desperately to be.
Regardless of how it happened, he had awakened.
Now he needed to think about what came next.
But if he were being truthful, it was difficult to call the relationship between Guides and Espers completely equal.
Especially when it came to Pairs.
Once an Esper and Guide became a Pair, physical contact naturally increased.
Because of that, many Guides ended up developing feelings for their Espers.
Of course, if both people ended up together, there was nothing to worry about.
But things didn’t always work out that way.
There were plenty of Espers who took advantage of it.
The common perception was that Guides were weak beings who needed protection from Espers with superior combat abilities.
That was why Guides generally remained in the rear and provided support.
Even though Yoon-Gyeom had awakened as an SS-rank, he knew his circumstances probably wouldn’t be much different.
The problem was—
He hated the thought of being treated that way.
On top of that, becoming Baek Han-Gyeol’s exclusive Guide felt like an enormous burden.
Lee Yoon-Gyeom had already experienced more than enough times how the greater someone’s expectations were, the greater their disappointment became.
After finishing his thoughts, Yoon-Gyeom spoke.
“To be honest, it’s overwhelming. I don’t even remember Guiding Esper Baek Han-Gyeol, and there’s no guarantee my Guiding will continue working on him.”
“That’s impossible. You’re SS-rank.”
The Center Director answered as though he couldn’t understand Yoon-Gyeom’s concern at all.
Yoon-Gyeom replied calmly.
“What I wanted was something like becoming a seventh-grade civil servant. But now you’re suddenly telling me to become the president. Of course that’s overwhelming.”
“You really don’t remember Guiding him?”
“No.”
Baek Han-Gyeol, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, tilted his head.
Yoon-Gyeom had seemed practically unconscious when he awakened.
Maybe that’s why.
After thinking about it for a moment, Baek Han-Gyeol reached over and lightly poked Yoon-Gyeom’s cheek.
“…?”
Yoon-Gyeom immediately shot him an irritated look.
Baek Han-Gyeol merely found the expression adorable.
Then he spread both arms wide.
“Hyung, try hugging me. The wave monitor doesn’t lie.”
“…Excuse me?”
“We’ve already kissed, so it’s not like you’re shy about a hug, right?”