TGIC Ch 78

Chapter 78

 

“…I haven’t guided any other espers.”

The moment I met his cold gaze, those words leapt out like an excuse.

My contact with the captain earlier hadn’t been intentional… I hoped he would treat it as an exception.

“And dangerous actions?”

“I didn’t do anything reckless either…”

“Hard to believe, considering the monster incident just now, isn’t it?”

Ugh… I averted my eyes awkwardly. Because of the captain’s pointless rambling, everything had been exposed.

Damn it. I had been confident Vasily wouldn’t find out, since it all happened while he was inside the gate… but this unexpected situation was throwing me off.

“I can even smell monster blood on you…”

Vasily’s gaze shifted to the combat suit I was wearing. At the end of his stare was the streak of monster blood I hadn’t managed to wipe off.

When had that gotten on me? I subtly tried to cover it with my hand, but it was already too late.

“I told you not to do anything.”

“The situation at the site was so hectic that I thought helping out would be better than just waiting around doing nothing.”

“Was that more important than the promise you made with me?”

Vasily’s voice sank to a frigid tone. For some reason, the more we spoke, the worse his mood seemed to grow.

In the silence, I glanced at his waist. Blood was still slowly spreading across his suit.

If his goal was to make me anxious, he was succeeding perfectly. Even in this tense atmosphere, I was seriously wondering why he wasn’t stopping the bleeding.

Rather than argue here, I figured I should at least deal with the blood loss first and opened my mouth.

“Esper Vasily, I think we should move somewhere else for now.”

“…”

No response came, but it wasn’t outright refusal either. The quiet way he averted his gaze felt like permission to do as I pleased.

“Captain, I’ll be taking my leave now.”

I bowed to the captain, who was still in shock, and headed back to the car with Vasily.

Since Vasily was injured, I took the driver’s seat and checked the map on my smartphone. Searching for the nearest hospital, I said to him,

“You’re hurt, so I’ll take you to the nearest emergency room.”

“I already stopped the bleeding.”

His unexpected reply made me turn my head. Just as he said, the bleeding seemed to have stopped; no more blood was spreading.

If he could stop the bleeding, then why had he let it flow earlier?

I didn’t understand, but my decision to head for the hospital didn’t change. Stopping the bleeding didn’t mean the wound had healed. Judging by the amount of blood, it definitely wasn’t a minor injury.

“Even so, you should still get treated—”

“There’s no need. It wasn’t even from a monster.”

“…?”

If it wasn’t from a monster, then… was it from his own ability, like last time, or did he hurt himself on purpose?

I frowned at him, but Vasily only stared silently out the window without the slightest change in expression.

“…Then I’ll just head home.”

Stubborn as ever. Even if I dragged him to the hospital now, he’d probably refuse treatment and end up taking it out on the poor doctors and nurses. In the end, I changed course toward home.

The drive back was cloaked in heavy silence. It was so late that the roads were empty, the scenery monotonous.

The combat suit made my whole body feel stifled, and the coppery smell of blood lingered beside me. Amid that unpleasant air, Vasily sat radiating cold hostility. I rolled the window down and let the warm night breeze hit my face, focusing only on driving.

When we arrived, I unlocked the front door and quietly stepped inside. Vasily took off his shoes and immediately headed for his room, but I grabbed his arm and asked,

“How are you feeling?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, those cold eyes simply looked down at me, making me falter. I pressed on,

“I’m asking because I think you might need guiding. You’re injured, too.”

I couldn’t tell if the chill radiating from his body was just his mood, or if his physical state was genuinely bad. Maybe it was both.

Through the arm I held, I tried to sense Vasily’s wavelength, but couldn’t grasp it. If our matching rate was high, I should’ve been able to tell with just this much contact, but right now I couldn’t figure it out at all.

“I did use my ability quite a bit trying to get out before Guide Kwon Gidam could cause any trouble.”

“…Then I’ll get ready and start guiding.”

“Do whatever you want.”

His arm slid free from my grasp.

Watching him turn his back on me, my brow furrowed. I knew I was at fault, but his attitude was dragging my mood down too.

Still, he had gone to the gate because I asked, so guiding him was the least I could do. Ruffling my hair roughly, I headed to my room.

After showering and changing into comfortable clothes, I stood outside Vasily’s door.

“Esper Vasily, I’m coming in.”

I knocked lightly and opened the door. In the dark room, the glow of his smartphone illuminated his pale face.

When I entered, Vasily slowly raised his head from whatever he’d been looking at. Feeling his gaze fix on me, I asked,

“Will contact guiding be sufficient?”

“Probably.”

“Then I’ll guide for an hour and head back to my room.”

That’s what I said, though I doubted I’d even last an hour.

Helping the espers clean up earlier had left my whole body exhausted. I just hoped I wouldn’t end up snoring mid‑guiding.

Suppressing a sigh, I dragged my heavy body to sit beside him.

For once, Vasily was properly dressed—white shirt and dress pants. Different clothes from earlier, with no traces of blood.

I’d assumed he’d be undressed and had planned to casually check his injuries, but that idea was shot down. As things stood, it was impossible to check his wounds. And saying I needed to examine him and then stripping him myself… yeah, that would look bad.

Left with no choice, I gave up on checking his injuries and began guiding.

‘Colder than usual.’

The moment I touched him, I flinched. His body temperature felt icy through the thin fabric, as if reflecting his mood. Thankfully, it wasn’t so bad that guiding was impossible.

I gauged his mood nervously. Since returning from the gate, he’d seemed perpetually irritable, but at least he didn’t seem about to pull anything else.

Was he planning to quietly accept the guiding? Still suspicious, I continued carefully.

“……”

Was it just me, or was it getting colder?

As time passed, not only Vasily’s body but the entire room seemed to drop in temperature. Maybe I should’ve turned on the heat when I came in. At this rate, I might start seeing my breath.

Wearing only thin pajamas, I couldn’t fight off the cold and began to shiver helplessly. Before I caught a cold, I needed to change into thicker clothes. I could turn on the heat, maybe crack a window for air, and it would be bearable.

I loosened my hold around Vasily, intending to step out briefly. But the arms wrapped around my waist didn’t budge. They were locked tight, with no sign of letting go.

“…Esper Vasily?”

Sensing something strange, I called softly. But Vasily stayed silent, holding me close without a word.

Unease creeping in, I shifted slightly—only for his arms to tighten, and Vasily finally spoke.

“Trying to run away?”

“No. I was just going to step out for a moment—”

“Liar. If I let you go now, you won’t come back.”

His arms coiled even tighter around my waist. The suffocating pressure forced a heavy groan from me, and Vasily murmured as he leaned into me,

“You’re right here… so why does it feel like you’ll disappear any moment…?”

His quiet voice leaked out, each whisper carrying a cold breath against my lips.

‘Wait—his eyes are unfocused.’

Alarm bells blared in my head as I noticed Vasily’s pupils were dilated and unfocused.

“If I just froze you like this… we could stay together forever…”

The words he murmured sent a chill down my spine. My blood ran cold.

Was he seriously planning to freeze me here?

The air around us grew sharply colder, the atmosphere menacing. The room, his touch—everything was turning frigid.

No matter how I looked at it, Vasily wasn’t in his right mind. I struggled desperately to escape, but the more I resisted, the tighter his hold became.

I wasn’t about to die this pathetically. As the room dropped rapidly toward freezing, I racked my brain for any way to break free.

Vasily seemed focused solely on stopping me from escaping his arms, uninterested in anything else. In that case, rather than push him away, the only option was to dive straight in.

I grabbed his chin and tilted it up. Without hesitation, I pressed my lips to his.