Beyond The Control

Chapter 57

Why didn’t I think to ask the team leader about the damage situation earlier?

As I berated myself and was about to frantically make another call, Song Ji-hyeok added a few words as if he had just remembered something.

“Our guild members are probably fine. We joined not long before the boss mob died.”

“How? If it came out of the gate, it must have been no ordinary creature.”

“The other guild fought pretty hard, I guess, but it wasn’t as strong as I thought. When I landed a big hit on its stomach, it went down.”

From his nonchalant answer, I could deduce quite a bit of information. The Wolgang Guild had fought desperately, but the dungeon break occurred by a hair’s breadth. Thanks to that, the battle ended relatively quickly.

And one more thing. The person who effectively dealt with the boss mob that crawled out of the gate was probably Song Ji-hyeok.

When I reached this conclusion, I suddenly saw Song Ji-hyeok differently. They say nothing is as frightening as familiarity. Since I met him almost every day and occasionally saw funny sides of him, he had started to feel just like a younger brother I knew. But now I was freshly reminded that he was actually an extraordinary person whose shadow would normally be difficult to even catch a glimpse of…

“Are you hungry?”

“Huh?”

“You’re looking at me like a hungry dog.”

“…”

Oh, geez.

I sighed and turned my head away. This must be why they say everything looks beautiful from a distance. The media and the public are only excited about his abilities and appearance, not knowing what his personality is like.

I looked at Song Ji-hyeok again. Well, we had gotten really close. Visiting the guiding room so often that the threshold was worn down, looking for me as the first priority in an emergency situation, even lending me his bed. Compared to the early days when he drew a clear line, it was almost like heaven and earth had changed…

“Should we order food?”

“…Sure.”

Sigh.

The sad fact is that after hearing about food repeatedly, I felt like I had suddenly become aware of my hunger. Soon, I chose a set meal from the few menus Song Ji-hyeok listed, and I also turned on my phone. Since sleep had completely fled, I thought I’d search for related articles once more.

‘Oh, there it is.’

The embargo must have been lifted as the situation was somewhat managed overnight. As soon as I opened the portal app, I could see breaking news. Feeling very uncomfortable at the aerial photos of devastated scenes, I quickly skimmed through the article.

The gist didn’t deviate much from what I already knew. The Wolgang Guild failed in initial suppression, the Awakened Association requested urgent joint attack after assessing the situation, Awakened individuals from the Sunrise Guild participated, and especially the S-class Esper Song Ji-hyeok was known to have made great contributions.

Although I couldn’t directly check public opinion as comments were disabled, it was obvious what people would be thinking. I could guarantee that in every gathering of three or five people, they would be busy cursing the Wolgang Guild and praising Song Ji-hyeok to the skies.

But at least I wanted to express my gratitude to all the Espers who fought risking their lives and all the Guides who gave their all in guiding them. Of course, Song Ji-hyeok was no exception. Perhaps it was something I should have said earlier, but I finally voiced it now.

“Ji-hyeok.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you so much for coming back safely without getting hurt.”

Song Ji-hyeok finally took his eyes off his phone. He stared at me blankly for a moment, then grumbled while scratching the back of his neck.

“Do you want something from me?”

I had long since passed the stage of judging his personality as twisted. I now knew well that Song Ji-hyeok was more vulnerable to praise than he appeared and grumbled needlessly because he felt shy.

“Yeah, pay for the set meal we ordered. I thought I was going to die guiding you yesterday.”

At that, Song Ji-hyeok immediately raised the corners of his mouth as if he had never been shy.

“Weren’t you about to die from pleasure? You were writhing every time I thrust into you.”

“It would be strange to be fine after being pounded by that thing.”

“What do you mean by ‘that thing’?”

“Ask the person in question directly.”

As I glanced at his crotch with a disgusted look, Song Ji-hyeok finally laughed, his shoulders shaking. Seeing how much he enjoyed talking about private matters, he still seemed like a kid after all.

***

The next day when I went to work, surprisingly, quite a few team members were in the office. Most of them were Espers who had participated in the battle the day before yesterday and came to work after taking a day off like me. Although some had bandages or patches, seeing them generally laughing and chatting without much trouble made me feel a lump in my throat.

I greeted everyone more cheerfully than usual and turned on my computer at my desk. Today, I decided to write the guiding journal first. Just as I benefited greatly from information and reports discovered by others, the guiding journal I wrote might also help someone in the future. Well, that might just be my wishful thinking.

I typed, recalling and focusing mainly on Song Ji-hyeok’s state changes and recovery speed, completely excluding embarrassing and unnecessary information by process of elimination, such as what we did and how, or what positions we used. Although my face reddened a bit because sex was the medium for guiding, fortunately, I completed the journal without any unpleasant incidents.

After sending it to the team leader’s email, I logged into the guild information program as usual. Several reports related to the battle from the day before yesterday were already uploaded. As I was clicking and reading them in order, Gitae hyung appeared in the empty seat next to me.

“I’m here.”

“Welcome, hyung.”

Despite it being the season when leaves turn red, Gitae hyung was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt that revealed his brawny arms and was holding an iced bubble tea. He offered me a drink from the plastic carrier, which I quickly accepted with thanks. Fortunately, mine was a warm vanilla latte.

As soon as he sat down, I poured out words as if I had been waiting.

“You went to the battle the day before yesterday too, right? Are you okay?”

“Completely fine. I went to my parents’ house and came back today.”

After taking a sip of bubble tea, Gitae hyung asked me as well.

“What about you, Su-hyeon? I heard Ji-hyeok almost went crazy because you weren’t at the scene.”

“Well, I couldn’t receive the call.”

“Huh? You couldn’t receive the call? Why?”

There was no way I could know why even if he asked. Still, I had a guess, and Gitae hyung, being quick-witted, seemed to have the same thought soon.

“Was it because it was temporary? If so, the relevant department must have had a hard time.”

The sound of him crunching ice was quite cheerful. Little did I know that someone was currently suffering because of that very issue.

***

The higher the position, the more responsibilities one has to bear.

Of course, there might be some cushy positions where one just receives a lot of money and lounges around, but this certainly didn’t apply to Park Sang-chul, the head of the Human Resources Department.

“Yes, I’ve taken the call.”

“That? I’ll handle it by 1:30 PM.”

“I’ll read it and stamp it by today, so leave it there.”

The Human Resources Department was usually one of the busier departments, but today it was especially swamped. It was due to the aftermath of the battle outside the dungeon that occurred the day before yesterday.

Although he was an ordinary person without special abilities, he was well aware that BK dungeons were appearing more frequently than before. What used to be seen once or twice a quarter in each region had been reported three times just last month. Still, everyone had been handling it well with quick responses, but no one had dreamed that a break would occur in the heart of Seoul. It was a huge relief that there were no civilian casualties.

Knock knock-

As if it wasn’t busy enough, a visitor came. Since it was someone who couldn’t be ignored and he had been told it was an urgent matter, Director Park made time to let him into his office.

“Come in.”

The person who requested the meeting was none other than Song Ji-hyeok. He still looked young and pretty, but the memory of his crazed eyes from the scene the day before yesterday overlapped, giving Director Park slight goosebumps. Before he could even offer a cup of tea, Song Ji-hyeok got straight to the point.

“Is it true that Su-hyeon sunbae didn’t come to the scene because it was a temporary pair? Or was there another reason?”

He seemed quite shocked about having to go out alone without his pair guide. Having anticipated this from the moment he heard about the meeting request, Director Park answered without hesitation.

“That’s correct, he wasn’t contacted because it was temporary. It seems they were classified separately.”

Awakened individuals are managed under two main classifications. They are first classified based on whether they are paired or not, and then paired individuals are grouped together, while unpaired individuals are managed based on a list created according to their rank and skills.

When they meet a partner with a matching rate of 70% or higher, they usually come running hand in hand to demand a pair contract. In his 12 years here, this brat in front of him was the first crazy person to play hard to get with “temporary” nonsense when the conditions were met.

The staff in charge was perplexed by this unprecedented situation. After agonizing over which list to put them on, they ended up confirming that Lee Su-hyeon’s name was placed on the non-pair list. That’s why only Song Ji-hyeok, being A-class or higher, received the emergency assembly text, while Lee Su-hyeon didn’t.

While it could be considered a misjudgment by the staff, ultimately, Song Ji-hyeok couldn’t be said to be completely blameless either. If only they had written a proper pair contract from the beginning, how much better would it have been?