TGIC Ch 49

Chapter 49

Whenever Vasily emerged from a gate, he always demanded guiding from me. This time, I had effectively ignored him and walked away, so he was undoubtedly furious. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even checked on his condition before leaving—only realizing it now.

How should I go about smoothing things over?

After taking a bus to the station and boarding the train to Seoul, I fell asleep the moment I sat down, as if I had passed out. The moment I arrived at Seoul Station, I headed straight for the Esper Association.

But Vasily’s private room was completely empty. Had he gone home? It was still early in the morning, so I considered that he might not have come to the Association yet and decided to check his house. I rang the doorbell, but there was no answer.

Could he have collapsed from poor condition? I worriedly recalled the time he had shown up outside my place and collapsed. Feeling concerned, I entered the password and stepped inside. But the house, too, was empty.

“I didn’t want to have to call…”

In the end, I pulled out my smartphone and dialed his number. But Vasily didn’t answer. The dial tone continued endlessly.

What am I even doing?

[Vasily Esper-nim, where are you right now?]

As I furrowed my brow and began typing out a message, my hand suddenly froze. Right before hitting send, a thought crossed my mind.

What if Vasily had finally grown tired of me?

If he really had lost interest in me, then the best course of action would be to quietly stay silent and let myself drift away from his attention. I erased the message and turned to leave.

Just as I was about to step out the front door, someone opened it before I could.

“……”

“……”

I swear it wasn’t a planned encounter. Silence filled the air, creating a heavy, awkward tension.

Vasily looked exactly the same as he had when I last saw him yesterday. Even his clothes hadn’t changed, which meant he was only just now returning home. Where had he been? He’s late, I thought, trying to sound casual as I opened my mouth.

“I came to check on your condition.”

“……”

“Are you alright?”

Silence fell once again. I glanced at Vasily out of the corner of my eye, waiting for an answer that never came.

Well… he must need guiding, right? No matter how angry he was, he’d still need it—he wouldn’t refuse. Thinking I’d soothe him with guiding like usual, I offered in a gracious tone.

“If you need guiding, I’ll do it for you.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Today, maybe for a bit longe—What?”

“I said I don’t need it. You can leave.”

Vasily tilted his chin toward the door, motioning for me to go.

…He doesn’t need it?

My mind went blank. If I looked in a mirror right now, I was sure I’d see a dumb expression blinking in confusion.

I was so thrown off that my mouth froze. He doesn’t need it? Why? There’s no way he’s in good condition…

As I stood frozen like a malfunctioning machine, Vasily simply passed me and walked further inside.

“W-Wait a second. Vasily Esper-nim…!”

Before I realized it, I had grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Uh…?”

But… his body, which should’ve felt cold, wasn’t all that chilly, and I didn’t feel that familiar sting from the inhibitor chip that usually came from touching him.

Only then did I realize something was off. The late return time too… Could it be…?

“Did you get guiding from another guide?”

Please say no, Vasily.

Unconsciously, I looked up at him as if pleading. With a trembling hand, I gripped his arm tightly. But Vasily merely looked down at me with a cold gaze and didn’t deny it.

“So what if I did?”

My breath caught in my throat at his icy response.

He really… got guiding from someone else?

But the last time, he had told me in that faint voice… that even with a slight touch, others couldn’t withstand his waves and would freeze… He had said it with such a lonely expression…

“Why… Why…”

Why did you do that? The unfinished sentence hovered in my mouth, never fully forming.

Vasily began speaking in a mocking tone.

“You’re not even my exclusive guide, so do I really have to get guiding only from Guide Kwon Gidam?”

“……”

“Isn’t that why you went to guide some other Esper too?”

“That’s…”

“Did you think I’d just sit around waiting? For a guide more useless than a guiding machine?”

For a moment, I wondered if I’d misheard. I looked up at him—Vasily’s gaze, cold as ice, bore down on me.

“Are you done talking now?”

“If anything I said is wrong, feel free to argue.”

“……”

“If not, then you should leave.”

Vasily pried my hand off him and walked away without a glance back. Gritting my teeth, I glared at his retreating figure before slamming the door shut on my way out in anger.

“Fuck, seriously…”

I muttered curses under my breath the entire way home.

Frustration boiled in my chest, mixing with rage. Maybe it was the heat, but I felt like I was about to explode.

He used to chase after me like a nuisance and now what? I’m more useless than a guiding machine?

Fine. Spend the rest of your life chasing after other guides then. Just wait and see—I’ll tear out my inhibitor chip the moment I’m officially placed under another country’s jurisdiction. As soon as I’m out of Korea, I’ll make a glorious return as an S-rank guide. And then, I’ll laugh in your face when I see that pathetic expression of yours.

Even after blasting the AC at home, the heat inside me didn’t go down. Worse, the cold air reminded me of the chill that used to emanate from Vasily, and that only pissed me off more. In the end, I turned off the AC and threw open the windows.

Perhaps because of my emotional state, the inhibitor chip was flaring up despite the lack of guiding. I swallowed the suppressant and collapsed onto my bed, my insides churning with a bitter taste.

My body was thoroughly exhausted, yet I couldn’t sleep—too hot, too irritated, too overwhelmed. I spent the entire day chugging cold water, trying to suppress the storm of anger.

It was over with Vasily. Completely and utterly.

It was something I had wished for, and yet, something still felt off inside me.

Staying at Vasily’s house in this situation was clearly no longer appropriate. Once the rumor of our fallout spread, there would be no more risk of being kidnapped either, so I figured it was time to start looking for a new place. While I could return to my old apartment, living in the same place where I was kidnapped felt uncomfortable.

After the weekend, I went back to work.

The moment I arrived, I noticed people gathered in hushed conversation. It felt like something interesting had happened.

Curious, I approached and perked up my ears.

“Oh, Gidam-ssi!”

“What are you guys talking about?”

“A close friend of mine is an Esper, and I heard that the reason no Espers had been showing up lately was because of Vasily Esper-nim.”

“Huh? Because of Vasily Esper-nim?”

Apparently, the reason Espers hadn’t been coming in for temporary guiding all this time was Vasily. They said he would summon Espers to the training center or have them assigned to the same gate as him—then trample over them one by one…

That rumor had spread so much that Espers had stopped coming to headquarters altogether. Those in urgent need still came, risking the danger, but there were even rumors advising people to run if they got assigned to an employee who looked like Vasily’s guide…

“Haha…”

So this juicy story… was about me…

I felt humiliated. To have such rumors going around now that things were completely over with Vasily. On top of that, judging by how an Esper had turned tail and fled at the mere sight of me the other day, it seemed even my appearance and characteristics had already been widely spread.

How am I supposed to show my face around here now…? Everything went dark before my eyes.

“Um… sorry. That sort of thing won’t happen anymore.”

“No, actually, everyone’s kind of glad. We’ve been so busy until now. It’s nice to get a breather now and then.”

I forced a sheepish smile and ended the conversation, but it was true—this kind of thing wouldn’t happen anymore. As the rumors that I was Vasily’s guide began to fade, people would start coming in again.

After that day, Vasily completely disappeared. It wasn’t just that he cut off contact with me—news articles reporting on his gate assignments, which used to pop up from time to time, vanished like a lie. That only made me more uneasy.

I glanced over at Jo Wooyeon. He had mentioned an Esper friend… I casually asked him,

“By the way, are there any other rumors…?”

“Other rumors?”

“Um… about Vasily Esper-nim…”

Jo Wooyeon looked at me curiously, as if wondering why I’d ask something like that. I quickly added an excuse.

“Vasily Esper-nim didn’t look well after the last gate raid… and I haven’t heard from him since, so I was worried…”

“Want me to look into it for you?”

“Yes, please. I’d appreciate it.”

It was a lie, but by asking someone else to find out, I could avoid being accused of snooping around after Vasily. If I had any Esper friends of my own, I could’ve just asked them about him… Unfortunately, I didn’t.