TGIC Ch 60

Chapter 60

I glanced back at Vasily, who had entered the house with me, and asked,

“Esper Vasily, shall we begin the guiding session right away?”

“Yes. Where would you be most comfortable?”

“Just like yesterday, the bed would be preferable.”

I chose the bed over the sofa because I remembered how comfortable Vasily’s bed had been. Since I would have to guide for over an hour anyway, I was planning to take a quick nap during it.

“Ah, I’ll take a quick shower first, so please wait a moment.”

“Alright.”

“By the way, if I come back and you’re undressed, there will be no guiding session.”

“Hm…”

I gave a preemptive warning so I wouldn’t be greeted by his muscular, naked body without warning like yesterday. As Vasily shut his mouth with a look of regret, I turned and entered the bathroom at the side of the living room.

After washing up with warm water, I felt much more refreshed.

Since I’d already raised my body temperature with hot water, the guiding session should be easier. I towel-dried my hair roughly and opened the bedroom door—there was Vasily, lying on the bed waiting for me. Thankfully, he was dressed this time. At least from the waist down.

“You’re back?”

Our eyes met across his broad chest, and I hesitated for a moment. I considered closing the door right then and there, but I let it slide and entered the room.

As I approached the bed, Vasily shifted to make space beside him. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I spoke.

“Let’s begin the guiding session right away.”

With that, I flopped down onto the bed. Ah, this is life. I was about to close my eyes when Vasily asked in a baffled tone,

“Guide Kwon Gidam, didn’t you come here to guide?”

“Oh, I’ll just take a nap, so go ahead and receive the guiding on your own.”

“……”

Left with his arms outstretched, clearly expecting to receive guidance, Vasily was full of dissatisfaction at being ignored. But I didn’t care and simply turned onto my side, facing away from him.

After a moment, I heard the rustling of the blanket, and a cold, firm arm wrapped around my waist. Feeling the chill pressing against my back, the corners of my mouth lifted. See? He was going to get the guiding anyway.

As I closed my eyes to fall asleep, Vasily’s wavelength slowly seeped into me.

A cool breath brushed the back of my neck. Just as I thought it was oddly ticklish, something cold and soft licked along my nape with a sticky motion.

Was that a tongue? I flinched, about to curse, when Vasily bared his teeth and bit into my neck.

“Gah…!”

A freezing sensation overtook my skin, and at the same time, the suppression chip stopped functioning. A piercing chill shot through my body, and the guiding began with incredible force.

I gasped and opened my eyes wide. From the point of contact, Vasily’s wild and unfiltered energy surged into me with crystal clarity.

Cold and unrefined wavelengths crashed into my body, heightening every nerve. As the blocked-off energy suddenly flowed out due to the suppression chip disengaging, a pleasure-like sensation wrapped around me.

My mouth hung open, trembling uncontrollably.

It took quite a while to adapt to the sudden rush of his energy and regain my composure. With great effort, I struggled to regain control of the guiding flow that was spiraling out wildly.

I nearly passed out. I tried to push him away, but my body was too limp to manage it.

“What the hell are you doing, attacking me without any warning…!”

“Oops, my mistake?”

“There’s no way that was an accident!”

“You’re right. It was intentional.”

He didn’t even try to make an excuse anymore.

“You’re the one who told me to receive the guiding however I wanted, Guide Kwon Gidam.”

“But freezing the suppression chip—!”

“Isn’t the method of receiving guidance entirely up to me?”

He even had the nerve to say it as if he were completely justified.

“Like you said, we haven’t started the chip removal preparation yet, so it’s fine. And don’t worry—I froze it carefully and in control.”

So that’s why he was acting so docile—he had been lying in wait, watching for a chance to freeze the chip on my neck.

Still, I couldn’t get too angry, because I wasn’t entirely in the right either. Originally, I should have been guiding without the suppression chip already. Even after Vasily found out about it, I’d continued to guide him while keeping it on. I already knew it was something he didn’t approve of.

We resumed the guiding session.

That incident had fully woken me up. I reached for the back of my neck and felt skin cold to the touch. Was this really okay? I worried about frostbite, but aside from the powerful energy flowing in, nothing else seemed off.

Receiving Vasily’s energy with my entire body left me hyper-sensitive. Even the lightest brush of his cold skin made me shudder.

“Mmm…”

On the other hand, Vasily seemed immensely satisfied. He pulled me tighter into his arms than before, clinging to me without a gap.

“You’re especially warm today.”

“…That’s because I took a hot shower.”

“I wish Guide Kwon Gidam could be this warm every day…”

He mumbled quietly and buried his face in the nape of my neck.

I didn’t respond. It didn’t seem like he expected an answer anyway, so he didn’t press for one.

“…Esper Vasily?”

Vasily fidgeted. He didn’t reply even when I called out, as if he were dazed.

Looks like he’s completely lost himself. Thankfully, aside from rubbing against me, he wasn’t doing anything weirder, so I decided to just watch quietly for now. If I pushed him away now, he might snap and do something rash.

Come to think of it, maybe this was the first time he’d ever received proper guiding.

On the day he discovered the suppression chip, he had forcibly kissed me and taken some guiding that way. But he’d passed out right after, so he probably didn’t remember much of it.

Vasily was clearly overwhelmed by experiencing real guiding for the first time in his life. It felt like watching a cat high on catnip. He kept rubbing his face and body against me, which was getting a bit troublesome.

The guiding went on for quite a while, but I didn’t get a headache. Probably because the suppression chip had stopped working.

Without the usual headaches and fevers, the physical toll on my body was far less. Even though Vasily’s energy was cold and made me shiver at times, it had been a long time since guiding had felt this smooth.

Up until now, I’d been fighting against the suppression chip, functioning at a C-rank guide level. But the moment I returned to my S-rank abilities, handling the energy became significantly easier. The chip might be helpful in hiding my true rank, but it really did reduce my actual performance…

It was getting colder and colder. Since Vasily refused to let me go, I did my best to tug the blanket beneath us up and cover myself.

Ah, that’s a bit warmer. Vasily might be cold, but as long as I buried myself under the blanket, I could warm up again. Plus, the weather was hot enough that it felt like I had the air conditioning blasting while snuggled under a blanket.

Feeling comfortable, sleepiness came rushing in again. I habitually checked the time, then stopped, remembering that there was no need to take medicine while the suppression chip was frozen.

Just yesterday, I’d been trying to escape from Vasily to the point of buying a plane ticket. And now here I was, dozing off in his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world… Even I found the situation absurd as I closed my eyes.

“Ugh…!”

I bolted upright with a splitting headache.

Panting heavily, I looked around. At some point, it had become dark outside the window. Vasily was sound asleep beside me.

It seemed we’d both fallen asleep during the guiding session. Maybe once Vasily drifted off, the frozen suppression chip began to thaw. As I reached to check my aching neck, I nearly burned myself.

How many hours had passed like this? I picked up my phone to check the time and estimate—it must’ve been at least five hours…

Pressing my throbbing forehead, I glanced at Vasily. He always complained about insomnia and never sleeping, yet now he dozed off deeply the moment a guiding session began. Even though I’d woken up in such a noisy way, he still hadn’t stirred.

I staggered out of bed and into the living room. In the dark, I rummaged through my bag, pulled out some medicine, and swallowed it with water.

“Haah…”

Usually, just swallowing the medicine would bring rapid relief, but today, even after several minutes, the pain remained. Perhaps the chip had overheated too much, and it would take time for my condition to improve. Powerless, I slumped onto the sofa and waited for the fever to subside.

“Guide Kwon Gidam, what are you doing there in the dark?”

Not long after, Vasily emerged from the room. I had expected him to sleep through until the next day, but surprisingly, he had woken up early.

Click.

The light switched on. The sudden brightness made me squeeze my eyes shut.

When I opened them again, the first thing I saw was Vasily frowning as he stared at the red pills sitting next to me.