TGIC Ch 68

Chapter 68

The next morning.

I couldn’t sleep a wink because I was in such a foul mood. Every time I closed my eyes, irritation surged up and forced them open again. I tried to burn off the anger by doing push-ups all night, but all I got was muscle pain in my arms.

In the end, I tossed and turned until sunrise. I finally stepped out to get a drink of water and came face-to-face with Vasily, who was sitting on the living room sofa. He must have been unable to sleep too because of insomnia. Knowing I wasn’t the only one who stayed up all night made me feel a little less bitter.

Still, seeing his face first thing in the morning was enough to ruin my day.

The moment our eyes met, we both grimaced and turned our heads away. After drinking my water, I was about to head back to my room when I asked,

“What time does the meeting start?”

“……”

So now he’s not even going to answer me. I furrowed my brow and glared at Vasily.

I was the idiot for asking. Shouldn’t have bothered. I returned to my room and immediately began getting ready to go out.

All I remembered was that the meeting would be held at the Association, probably sometime in the morning. I figured I’d just go early and wait there until it started.

Just as I was about to put on my shoes at the front door, Vasily approached and asked,

“Where are you going?”

“I plan to head to the Association early and wait there.”

Hearing that, Vasily glared at me again. I returned his glare with the same intensity.

“…The meeting’s not for a while.”

“How can I believe that?”

Vasily held out his phone in front of me. I checked the email on the screen and saw that there were still two hours left until the meeting started.

It would’ve been nice if he’d done that from the start. I went back to my room to kill time, and when it was close to the meeting time, Vasily and I left the house together.

As always, Vasily was dressed in a three-piece suit. Since it was an official event, I too wore a suit for the first time in a while.

Even though I deliberately chose a thick jacket, I didn’t feel hot at all. The air inside the elevator felt like it might freeze, thanks to the cold air radiating from Vasily’s body.

I didn’t bother hiding my displeasure and completely ignored him. I didn’t say a single word all the way to the Association as I sat in the passenger seat.

“Good morning, Esper Vasily.”

When we arrived at the Association and entered the meeting room, an employee checking the attendees at the entrance spotted Vasily and greeted him respectfully. Then, hearing my name beside his, he began flipping through the list, only to tilt his head upon finding that my name wasn’t written anywhere.

“And the person next to you is…?”

“He’s my guide.”

“Oh, could it be…?”

The employee looked at me curiously, seemingly amazed to meet the person behind all the rumors. Then he flinched. I wondered what had startled him—until I saw Vasily standing beside me, silently glaring at the staffer with cold eyes.

I could feel the staff member flinch in fear under that icy stare. Though he tried to act normal, I too froze upon feeling that chill.

As the employee hastily walked away, I glanced sideways at Vasily. He seemed unusually irritable today, likely due to his foul mood. I decided I needed to wrap up this Gate issue quickly and retreat to my room at home to hole up in peace.

I walked into the meeting room and scanned the interior. As expected, most attendees were Espers.

It seemed the Chinese delegation had already arrived, as I heard unfamiliar languages being spoken here and there. While surveying the attendees’ expressions and gauging the atmosphere as I usually did, a familiar voice rang out from nearby.

“What’s this, Vasily? You brought your guide to the meeting?”

I turned my head and saw a familiar face. Another S-Class Esper from our country—this one a man who used electricity-based powers.

I looked at him curiously. Only Vasily was scheduled to participate in the Gate operation, so I found it strange that another S-Class Esper was here.

“I heard your guide is a C-Class. You must’ve been pretty desperate to settle for a mere C-Class, huh?”

As soon as I heard the mocking tone, I understood why he was here. He came just to pick a fight after hearing the rumor that Vasily’s guide was only C-Class.

“You used to fuss over your guides so much, and now it’s just a C-Class? The public’s going to have a field day when they find out.”

“……”

He continued to pester us, but Vasily didn’t react at all. He ignored him completely, not even sparing a glance, his expression unreadable. The other Esper quickly lost interest.

“With that big a rank difference, it must be hell trying to guide that psycho. Am I right, Guide-nim?”

Looking at Vasily as he said that, the Esper turned his attention to me—but finally, Vasily reacted. When the man reached out to sling an arm over my shoulders, Vasily created a sharp blade of ice in his hand and immediately aimed it at the Esper’s neck.

The meeting room fell into a tense silence. I could feel the air tighten around us as everyone’s attention turned toward us.

“Wow… seriously? You want to fight here and now?”

The Esper, clearly surprised by Vasily’s reaction, looked at him with a twitchy smirk. But Vasily didn’t blink. He simply stared back with a frosty, expressionless face.

Seeing that a fight might break out before the meeting even started, I had no choice but to intervene.

“Esper Vasily.”

I grabbed his arm and gave him a look that said “Enough.” After a long silence, Vasily finally lowered his hand.

Sigh… I swallowed a deep breath, barely managing to defuse the explosive situation.

Since we’d already drawn attention to ourselves, I figured it would be best to get our business done and leave before the meeting even started. Looking around, I spotted the training coordinator sitting near the front, whispering to others.

I walked straight over and spoke up.

“Hello, I’m Guide Kwon Gidam.”

“Oh, yes. I’ve heard about you.”

“Esper Vasily isn’t in good condition lately, so we’ll be sitting out this training.”

Even though Vasily was expected to participate, the final list hadn’t been confirmed yet. I was making it clear that they should consider assigning someone else instead. But the Association staff member looked troubled before finally responding.

“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult. Right now, we don’t have any other available S-Class Espers for deployment…”

I turned to look at the other Esper who had been standing nearby. No one else available? Yet this guy had clearly shown up just to mess around?

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve got a packed schedule, alright? I haven’t even recovered from the overseas S-Class Gate I returned from less than a week ago. The wound I got there still aches.”

Grumbling, the Esper rolled up his sleeve, revealing a long gash on his skin—proof that he had indeed been injured recently.

“This wasn’t part of the plan.”

I grimaced and frowned deeply. Vasily, still silent at my side, showed no sign of helping either… I clutched my head in frustration.

Was I really going to have to go to the Gate?

Vasily heading into the Gate was one thing, but this meant I’d also have to stand by on-site to guide him immediately after the operation. For the record, I get horribly seasick and absolutely hate traveling by boat.

I had to find another way—fast. If not, I’d be on that boat right next to Vasily.

“Ha ha, I’ll get going now. Good luck, Esper Vasily.”

As the meeting seemed about to begin, the Esper waved lazily and turned to leave. On his way out, he tapped Vasily on the shoulder—and the moment I saw that, my eyes gleamed.

I delivered a solid punch to Vasily’s side with all my strength, making sure I was out of the CCTV’s view.

Thud! A satisfying dull sound rang out. A nearby Association employee saw it happen and silently gasped in horror.

“Ugh…”

Vasily let out a heavy groan and collapsed, clutching his side. When he raised his head, his gaze was terrifyingly cold.

“Guide Kwon Gidam, what on earth—”

“Esper Vasily!”

I called his name loudly, drawing everyone’s eyes to us. Vasily looked at me in disbelief.

“Are you alright?”

“……”

“Esper! How could you strike Esper Vasily, who was already injured in yesterday’s Gate incident, so hard as you passed by!”

I pointed at the departing Esper and accused him, and he blinked in confusion, gesturing at himself in disbelief. While pretending to check Vasily’s condition, I kept talking non-stop.

“What? The wound opened again? We need to get you hospitalized right away…! It’s clearly impossible for him to participate in the Gate now…!”

At last, Vasily seemed to realize what I was up to and let out a short laugh. I gave him a sidelong glance, sending him a look that said, “Go along with it.”

Finally, Vasily started to play along.

“Ugh… my stomach…”

“…! B-Blood…”

I thought it was just an act, but blood suddenly streamed down from between the fingers clutching his side.

Wait—was that my doing? A cold sweat broke out across my back at the unexpected turn of events.