TGIC Ch 15

Chapter 15

I ran a hand down my face. As I stood there overwhelmed with shame and self-loathing, Vasily, neatly dressed in a formal suit, walked toward me with steady steps.

He stopped on the other side of the ice wall and asked,

“Heading home?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Perfect. I just happen to have somewhere we need to go together.”

“No, thank you.”

Vasily isn’t the kind of guy who would drive someone home out of pure kindness with no strings attached. He was definitely up to something.

“You’re refusing before even hearing where we’re going?”

“It’s not to my home, is it?”

“Smart, aren’t you…”

Was that supposed to be a provocation?

I shot him a sharp glare, eyes furrowed.

Vasily reached out and touched the ice wall. The moment he lightly placed his hand on it—crash—the icy bars surrounding me crumbled to the ground. I tried to run, but his hand gripped my arm just a fraction of a second faster. Vasily dragged me straight to his car.

“Let go of me! Ugh…!”

I was shoved into the passenger seat. I resisted to the end, but Vasily buckled the seatbelt for me and shut the door.

This was my chance. I hurried to unbuckle the seatbelt and escape, only to find that instead of cold plastic, I felt freezing ice. When I looked down, I saw the belt buckle was frozen solid.

Click.

Vasily got into the driver’s seat with an annoyingly calm expression.

“Let’s go.”

“No.”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t asking for your opinion.”

The car started to move.

I’d been kidnapped on my way home from work. Trapped in the passenger seat, I trembled with clenched fists. I’d been waiting and waiting for the end of my shift… and to make things worse, today was Friday.

So he’s finally showing his true colors after pretending to be decent. Gritting my teeth, I asked him,

“Would I be within my rights to report this to the Labor Office?”

Vasily reached into the inner pocket of his suit. What was he trying to pull out? I flinched, tensing up—but what he retrieved was just a regular smartphone.

He tossed it into my lap.

“Enter your bank account number.”

What now? I glanced at him suspiciously, but went ahead and entered my account number, then handed the phone back to him. He tapped the screen a few times and said,

“Check it.”

“Check what—?”

Bzzz.

Just then, my own phone vibrated in my pocket. What the hell did he do now? Frowning anxiously, I pulled it out, only to find a random deposit notification.

When I clicked it, my banking app opened, and the most recent transaction displayed his name. And the amount—my eyes nearly popped out of my skull.

Two hundred million won?($145k)

“Th-this doesn’t mean I’ll just—”

“Not enough? I can send more.”

My phone vibrated again. Another deposit of the exact same amount came through.

Two hundred million plus two hundred million… that’s four hundred million won.

“……”

In just one minute, I’d earned several years’ worth of salary, and my mind began to race.

With this kind of money, I wouldn’t have to worry about paying for suppressants until Vasily found another Guide. Not just suppressants—honestly, I could quit being a Guide altogether, remove the inhibitor chip, and just live freely for a few years. Then when I heard he’d found someone new, I could go back to working.

Ahem… Well, I guess there’s no harm in at least hearing where we’re going.

“So, where exactly are we going?”

“To a Gate.”

“……”

A heavy silence fell.

Click, click—I frantically tried to unbuckle my seatbelt again.

“I-I have no intention of entering a Gate. Please let me out… Please!”

“When did I say you had to go in? I’ll be out in no time. You just have to wait outside and guide me after I’m done.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Would I lie about something like that?”

“……”

I stared at him with deeply skeptical eyes.

“You don’t believe me, huh.”

“Can you blame me? There are a lot of Guide kidnapping cases these days…”

“You think I’d kidnap you, Guide Kwon Kidam?”

So that’s what he meant—know your place, you lowly C-class. I realized what he was getting at and shut my mouth.

It stung, but I couldn’t argue. Compared to an S-class Esper like Vasily, a mere C-class Guide like me was just a plaything. Which made it all the more puzzling—he should’ve lost interest by now. Why was he still following me around?

I subtly glanced around the car. There wasn’t even a navigation display showing the destination. I racked my brain, trying to recall the most recent news articles I’d read. None of them mentioned Vasily heading to a Gate today.

“So which region’s Gate are we heading to?”

“Don’t worry. It’s nearby.”

That’s all Vasily said before falling silent again. Clearly, he wasn’t planning to give any details, so I didn’t press further.

The roads in Seoul were jammed with Friday evening traffic, but once we entered a less populated area, the congestion started to ease.

Before long, we arrived at what appeared to be the destination. A control line came into view. I got out of the car and followed Vasily toward the opened Gate.

Only a minimal number of people were stationed at the site. I recalled the name of the area I’d last seen on a road sign to gauge our location. As Vasily had said, it wasn’t that far.

The Association employees guarding the area greeted Vasily with respectful bows. Then they noticed me standing beside him and gave me confused looks.

“Just wait here for a bit. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

“If you’re not back by then, am I allowed to go home without you?”

“Oh dear, I guess I’d better hurry, then.”

Vasily laughed, as if I’d just made a joke. As he turned to enter the Gate, I grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going? Leave the car keys.”

“Huh?”

“You expect me to walk home?”

I shamelessly held out my hand. Vasily blinked in rare surprise, then gave a short amused laugh and pulled the keys from his pocket.

I snatched them and shoved them into my own pocket with a snort.

If he’s even a second late, I’ll head home without him. And that expensive car? I was going to keep it as my prize. It’s not like he’d care if one car went missing. A luxury import like that would become mine.

“If you don’t want to walk home, you’d better come back fast.”

“Take your time. No rush at all.”

“You’re planning to go home alone? I won’t let that happen.”

Even though I’d just taken his car keys, Vasily was still grinning like a fool.

He kept smiling as he walked alone into the Gate. So he really wasn’t taking me inside. I breathed a sigh of relief and plopped down on a nearby bench.

“Thirty minutes, huh…”

It was a weird amount of time—too long to do nothing, but too short to nap.

I glanced around absentmindedly, wondering how to kill time while I waited.

There were only a few Espers guarding the Gate and one Association staffer from the management team. A sparse group, clearly. It must have been a small, newly-formed Gate. Boring enough to make me yawn.

Now that I thought about it, I once entered an E-class Gate with just Vasily. I had to deal with all the monsters by myself. I’d assumed he’d help out a little, but while I was locked in mortal combat with the final boss, Vasily didn’t even lift a finger.

When I finally took down the boss, I felt a sense of accomplishment—yeah, right. I passed out as soon as I exited the Gate and was carted straight to the hospital. That’s an experience I never wanted to repeat.

“Sigh.”

How did things end up like this? After regressing, I thought I’d never have to see Vasily’s unlucky face again.

Now that I think about it, where are we going to do the guiding session once he’s done?

Vasily didn’t like receiving guidance in places where people could see him. He’d definitely want to relocate. The Association might be the best choice.

And I’d have to write a report afterward, too—might as well squeeze some nice overtime pay out of it. I recently found out that the higher the Esper’s rank, the more you get paid for guiding them. Since Vasily was S-class, the amount was quite decent.

A few years’ worth of salary as a bonus and that hefty deposit from Vasily… I smacked my lips, dreaming of future retirement savings, when I saw him emerging from the Gate.

“You’re already done?”

“Yep. Didn’t even take thirty minutes.”

“It took twenty-six.”

“Cutting it close, huh.”

Tsk, what a shame. I really was going to leave him behind.

“So where would you like to receive guidance?”

“Hmm… how about my place?”

“No, thank you.”

I immediately shut that nonsense down. Vasily’s house was the perfect place to go missing without a trace. He might try to lock me up and force me to guide him again.

There was a time I tried to run away from him—and ended up trapped in his house for half a year. The memory made me shudder.

“Too bad. Then my private room. You’ve been there before, right?”

“Yeah, sure… Let’s go back to the Association first.”

His private room was within my expectations. Let’s just get this over with and go home. Tomorrow’s the weekend—I just wanted to sleep. With my bank account fattened, I could even start looking at real estate.

I got back into Vasily’s car.

“If you’re tired, you can nap.”

“I’m fine.”

After working five days straight, I was definitely exhausted. My eyelids kept drooping on the way to the Association. Vasily noticed my yawns and told me it was okay to sleep, but I shook my head.

Sleeping next to him? Without even staying alert? Impossible. A while ago, I would never have dared. But maybe the long stretch of time away from guiding him had made me a little too relaxed.

Eventually, while we were stopped at a red light, I quietly closed my eyes. I didn’t want to fall asleep beside the guy who’d kidnapped me on a Friday night—but this was definitely all his fault.