Churu for the Angry Guide

34

Siwoo was admitted to the VIP room of the guide-only ward. It was Jihan who transported the unconscious Siwoo to the hospital. His teleportation ability was always useful.

“I can’t believe malnutrition still exists these days,” Jihan muttered in an amazed tone, arms crossed. He recalled the diagnosis results and pulled a chair right up to Siwoo’s bedside to sit down.

Siwoo kept his eyes tightly shut even during the examinations, as if dead. He didn’t even flinch when the thick needle pierced his skin.

“How can it be malnutrition? He had such a big appetite, why on earth…” The secretary trailed off, sighing repeatedly as he leaned against the wall. The youngest, Seojun, stood at the foot of the bed, watching both his hyungs and Siwoo. And Geonho…

“What’s that? Does it mean he starved?” Geonho frowned, looking displeased. His face showed he barely understood half of what the doctor had said, making him quite irritated.

He was sitting alone on the guest sofa, far from the bed. His sensitive face was full of annoyance.

“Yes, or he only ate foods with no nutritional value.”

“I fed him so well!” Geonho lashed out at the innocent secretary. He was already annoyed at not understanding, and knowing the meaning made him even more upset.

“It’s been a week since he stayed with you, hyung. And he was already very thin to begin with,” Seojun tried to calm Geonho down. Jihan made a “tsk” sound by rubbing his thumb and middle finger, signaling Geonho to be quiet.

“He’ll wake up from your voice. The doctor said he needs to rest.”

“I know that much.” Geonho bit his lower lip and glared at the bed.

The skinny guide lay motionless like a corpse. He showed no signs of life, to the point where one might doubt if he was breathing properly. He seemed very exhausted, as the doctor had said. What on earth had he been doing all this time?

“Looks like he had a hard time hiding from us,” Jihan mused lightly, shaking his head. It was half a joke, but Geonho took it very seriously. A small tremor appeared in his red eyes fixed on the bed.

“The leader… won’t come, right?” Seojun cautiously asked the secretary. The secretary, who had been silently looking at the emaciated guide’s face, answered with a sigh first.

“I informed him of the situation. He has many meetings today, so it’ll be hard for him to leave.”

Would he have come if there were no meetings? Jihan and Seojun nodded, thinking similar thoughts. Geonho, sitting far away, didn’t pay attention to the conversation and just stared at the guide.

The triangular ears poking up from the white hair kept catching his eye. Beastkin rarely showed their ears or tails in front of others. They only revealed them when with comfortable companions or when reaching their physical limits.

Seeing that he couldn’t hide his ears, it seemed his stress had peaked. Looking closely, there were even thin whiskers on both cheeks. They were hard to notice at first because his skin was so white that the white whiskers blended in.

The fine whiskers moved slightly with each breath the guide took. Geonho stared intently at those barely visible whiskers before focusing on the guide’s face again. The more he looked at him, the drier his mouth felt.

“I’ve received Han Siwoo guide’s profile,” the secretary began, glancing at Geonho. Even in the chaos, he hadn’t forgotten to collect the report containing Siwoo’s detailed background. The Baekya Guild still didn’t know exactly what kind of guide Siwoo was. Even Jihan, who had gone to find him directly, only knew he was a rookie guide.

“I just sent it via text, please check it.”

The secretary tapped on his phone screen and then pulled out a mini-pad from his inner coat pocket. This was to show Geonho separately.

The secretary approached Geonho and displayed the file largely on the mini-pad. Geonho rarely carried a phone, claiming the screen was too small and frustrating.

“Shall I read it for you?”

“No need.”

Geonho snatched the pad irritably from the secretary. Jihan and Seojun silently read the file sent to their own phones first.

Seojun carefully took in each word, while Jihan quickly scrolled through, skimming the contents.

Geonho, who looked at the file last, had a grim expression with one foot resting on the opposite knee. Judging by how he narrowed his eyes, it seemed he was having trouble reading the text.

“I’ll summarize it for you,” the secretary finally cleared his throat and began speaking. Jihan had already finished reading and put down his phone. His expression became strangely calm as he fixed his gaze back on Siwoo.

“Name: Han Siwoo. He manifested earlier this year, so his grade is not yet confirmed.”

The secretary moved towards the sofa and began his formal report.

“The expected grade is at least A.”

“What?” 

Geonho interrupted, frowning. At least A-grade? That meant there was a chance he could rise to A+ in the future. It was one of the highest grades among domestic guides.

“How can that scrawny thing be A-grade? He’d barely be B-grade at best.”

“Geonho, let’s listen first. Secretary, please continue.”

Thanks to Jihan, the secretary resumed his report.

“And his age is 24.”

“What did you say?!”

But Geonho interrupted again, this time even jumping up from the sofa. Jihan shook his head and grinned widely. He had a feeling the report was going to be very long.

“How can he be 24?! He looks younger than Ha Seojun!”

Geonho pointed at the bed with a dumbfounded expression.

“Are you sure you didn’t pull up someone else’s profile? The grade and age don’t make any sense!”

It was surprising enough that he was older than the youngest, but to be the same age as himself? He had naturally assumed Siwoo was much younger. If he had seen him outside the center, he would have thought he was still a minor.

“Calm down. It’s hard to believe you’re 24 too.”

Jihan patted Geonho’s shoulder soothingly with his telekinesis. He managed to make him sit down again and gestured for the secretary to continue.

“He entered the center in January this year, and after the training period, he was assigned to temporary guilds… eleven times, and was expelled from all of them.”

The secretary paused, thinking it was time for Geonho to interject. However, Geonho only widened his eyes without making a sound.

“The main reasons were frequent conflicts of opinion and uncooperative attitude. And above all…”

The secretary rubbed his forehead and rolled his eyes as if re-reading the sentence on the screen.

“He doesn’t do contact guiding. I think this was probably the biggest issue.”

The gazes of the three espers listening to the secretary’s voice simultaneously turned to the bed. The subject of their conversation was still sleeping without the slightest movement.

“Although not suitable for guild activities, his guiding skills are quite exceptional. There’s even a record of him lowering an A-grade esper’s wavelength by over 35% with just radiant guiding.”

“How long ago did you say he manifested?” This time Jihan asked.

“Since it was earlier this year, it’s been a little over six months.”

The fact that he could stabilize an A-grade esper’s wavelength in that time was proof of his extraordinary level. It was understandable why his expected grade was so high.

“Were his parents guides?” Geonho added a question in a somewhat subdued voice. If one parent was a guide or if there were ability users in the family, sometimes they could handle wavelengths skillfully from the start. However, Siwoo didn’t fall into either of these categories.

“He was left at an orphanage right after birth and grew up there.”

The secretary paused briefly, his gaze lingering on the bed. He chose not to mention that Siwoo had been transferred between orphanages three times. Considering he had also dropped out of high school, it seemed he had lived a difficult life.

Geonho remained silent, his face looking as if he had bitten into a sour fruit. Jihan and Seojun also kept quiet.

The guide lying on the large bed looked even smaller and more fragile.

“Tell him to stay hospitalized until he’s fully recovered,” Geonho said, rising from the sofa after staring at Siwoo’s face as if he could burn holes in it.

“Find a proper guild and put him in. Somewhere he can work for a long time.”

“Just a moment,” the secretary blocked Geonho’s path. He still had more to say.

“Um… please listen to our expected matching rate before you go.”

Geonho’s eyes grew fiercer. His eyes were full of discontent, as if asking why he needed to hear such a thing.

“Let’s talk after hearing it first, okay?”

On the screen of the pad the secretary was holding, there was a small graph image along with numbers indicating the expected figures.

Although Geonho looked like he didn’t want to hear it, he couldn’t help but glance at the large pad screen.