TGIC Ch 6

Chapter 6

“Damn it…!”

No wonder it smelled so foul—was that monster blood?

I gagged and spat it out in a hurry, but it seemed I had already swallowed some. Monster blood is poisonous to humans. Thankfully, it was only a small amount, so it wouldn’t kill me, but a hospital visit was definitely in my future.

Still, this ice… it really does seem familiar. Sure, there are quite a few ice-type Espers, but to my knowledge, there’s only one person in Korea strong enough to pierce a monster’s head in one strike…

A sense of foreboding swept over me.

“So this was the pathetic fool who got taken down…”

Someone approached from the side. Turning toward the source of the voice, I saw a pair of expensive-looking shoes.

The man nudged the corpse of the monster to the side. Its body, which had been barely suspended by the spear, slowly tipped and fell.

Thud.

The monster’s corpse collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thump.

“How curious…”

That annoying voice…

“So guides these days fight monsters too, huh?”

Damn it. Why are you here?

A finely tailored luxury suit. Skin as pale and cold as ice. Silky silver hair swaying in the wind, and with it, the air itself chilled.

His lips curled into a cold smile, but the frosty silver-gray eyes that met mine carried no amusement. My heart dropped.

Vasily.

Of all the rotten luck—to run into him. I’d known we would meet eventually, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon. The moment I saw him, my body froze. I clenched my fists tightly, feeling my fingers tremble.

Vasily looked down at me with eyes full of curiosity. Judging by his reaction, it seemed clear—he didn’t recognize me. It was only me who had returned. Realizing this loosened some of my tension.

“Can you stand?”

Vasily offered me his hand with a small smile. I didn’t want to take it, but hiding my reluctance, I grabbed his hand. With a strong pull, he lifted me to my feet.

“Sorry about that. I’ve been a bit off lately. I must’ve made a mistake.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I was supposed to transport the monster to the lab alive, but I guess the freezing wasn’t strong enough.”

A mistake? He made a mistake? From what I knew, anything that seemed like a mistake from Vasily was always intentional.

“Ah… I see…”

I responded awkwardly and checked my condition—an absolute mess. My entire body was drenched in sticky, foul-smelling black monster blood.

If I didn’t wash it off quickly, my skin might start to rot. Though the shower booth nearby was for Espers, this counted as an emergency. I figured I could use it without issue.

Just as I was about to thank him and take my leave, I caught sight of Vasily nudging the monster’s corpse with his foot. He wore a troubled expression and muttered quietly.

“This is a problem… I was supposed to bring it in alive…”

So the monster was intended for research at the Association. That explained why it had been frozen instead of killed right away. Vasily did that sort of thing from time to time.

He stared at the monster for a moment in thought, then spoke.

“How about we say you killed it, Guide-nim?”

“…Excuse me?”

Is he insane? I barely stopped myself from blurting it out.

“Uh, no. I didn’t kill it… Haha…”

I had no idea how to respond, so I just laughed awkwardly. Deep down, I wanted to say, Are you out of your mind?, but if I did that, I’d probably freeze to death on the spot.

“Your arm okay? Looks like you’re hurt.”

“…Ah.”

Just as he said, when I checked my arm, there were long claw marks, and blood was still trickling down.

Damn it. I must’ve gotten scratched earlier. I needed to wash this quickly before the monster’s blood entered the wound…

“Let me see it for a second.”

Vasily stepped in and took my arm. He placed his hand over the injury, and a cold sensation swept across my skin. When I looked again, the wound had frozen over, effectively stopping the bleeding.

“It’s just temporary first aid. You should get proper treatment soon.”

“…Thank you.”

I mumbled my thanks while rubbing around the wound, feeling uneasy.

The Vasily I knew wasn’t the type to give treatment over a minor injury like this. He definitely had some ulterior motive.

“Temporary guide?”

“Yes.”

“Rank?”

“C-rank.”

“Hm…”

Vasily ran his fingers along my arm as if inspecting the wound.

To someone else, it might have looked like genuine concern, but having served as his guide for years, I could tell exactly what he was doing. He was testing whether my words were true—trying to initiate guiding.

Realizing this made my body tense. And then, I felt it—that familiar chill. An icy current flowing through my veins, a shiver-inducing sensation. My breath, shallow and cold. Even after guiding with him for six years, I had never grown used to this wavelength.

Did he figure it out?

Worried, I reached for the back of my neck with my free hand. I’d scraped it against the ground when I fell—had the suppression chip come off? Thankfully, it was still implanted correctly.

For a brief moment, his expression turned icy, but then he smiled again. I didn’t miss that shift—and I let out a massive sigh of relief internally. He hadn’t gotten the guiding he expected.

“Ugh…”

The moment I relaxed, a sharp pain shot through the back of my neck. What the…? That’s exactly where the suppression chip is implanted.

“You alright?”

“Ah, yes… Maybe it’s the monster blood. I really need to go wash—”

And then, everything went black.

I woke up in the hospital a few days later.

As soon as I opened my eyes and saw the hospital ceiling, I let out a sigh. Of all places to pass out… Not knowing what had happened after I lost consciousness left me feeling unsettled.

But in a way, it was a relief. Vasily hated weakness. Seeing me faint from such a minor injury probably made him lose interest in me entirely.

“Gidam-ssi!”

That afternoon, after hearing I’d woken up, Jo Wooyeon came to see me just after finishing a checkup.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried when I saw the news about the incident at your Gate…”

He noticed the bandages on my arm and looked utterly apologetic. Trying to ease his excessive guilt, I smiled and said,

“I’m alright. Just a few scrapes and tumbles.”

And I meant it. I really was okay. I just had some bad luck. Slightly worse luck than most—enough to catch the monster’s attention and end up swallowing some of its toxic blood. The worst part was running into Vasily, but even that hadn’t turned into anything serious, so I figured I could call myself lucky.

“Still, I was so worried. Especially when I heard you killed the monster—do you know how shocked I was?”

“…What?”

What the hell was he talking about? I blinked in confusion, and Jo Wooyeon continued.

“Vasily did an interview with the press after the incident, and he said a temporary Association guide killed the escaped monster. The article’s all over the main page online… Wait, you haven’t seen it?”

That bastard…!

I pressed my fingers to my forehead and cursed Vasily silently. I had definitely refused. And he still went and pinned it on me? I had underestimated how much of a bastard he really was.

The thought of having to clear things up exhausted me. Maybe misinterpreting my expression, Jo Wooyeon stood up quickly, looking worried.

“Ah, I must be tiring you out. I’ll get going. Please don’t push yourself and rest well!”

After he left, the hospital room fell quiet again. It was a four-person room, but all the other beds were empty, making it feel even more silent.

“Sigh…”

I dropped back onto the bed and lifted my bandaged left arm. In this state, I wouldn’t be able to return to work for a while. Looked like I was stuck here for a few days at least.

As I reached for the red pill that came with the suppression chip as an emergency backup, relieved I had it, I spotted a silhouette behind the curtain.

Wooyeon again?

“Did you forget something?”

I sat up and called out past the curtain. But when the figure appeared, it was a tall foreign man with silver hair—easily over 190 cm.

“Feeling any better?”

It was Vasily.