TGIC Ch 70

Chapter 70

While silently conducting the guiding, it was Vasily who broke the silence first.

“Guide Kwon Gidam.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“This doesn’t seem to be enough.”

“Then what…”

As I straightened up and looked at him, Vasily was staring back at me with a faint smile on his lips.

Ah. The moment I saw his eyes, I understood exactly what he wanted.

Mucous membrane guiding.

So that’s what he was after, after all. My lips were parched. I had a feeling he would make that request soon.

Well… He had just returned from rampaging through a Gate, and his energy waves were surely unstable. His abdominal wound was bleeding heavily too. Just as he said, simple contact guiding likely wouldn’t suffice. He was in a condition that justified requesting mucous membrane guiding.

I didn’t like it, but… The contract did state that I would go as far as mucous membrane guiding.

With that conclusion, I opened my mouth.

“…Close your eyes.”

Vasily smiled faintly and obediently shut them.

Long eyelashes, gently closed lips. His expression, which was always cold, looked uncharacteristically gentle today. I swallowed hard as I looked down at his face, patiently waiting for me.

Steeling myself, I slowly leaned down.

Clack.

“Esper Vasily, I’m going to begin—”

Just as our lips were about to meet in the quietly charged atmosphere, the door opened and someone entered. The moment the person walked in and saw us pressed close together on the bed, the attending physician froze in place.

“……”

“He seemed in need of guiding, so I was in the middle of assisting him.”

I broke the silence and quietly pushed Vasily away as I spoke.

I kept my voice calm and even, but when I glanced to the side, Vasily was smiling and waving at the physician. One hand was still resting on my waist.

From an outsider’s perspective, my calm performance might have seemed convincing—but Vasily looked way too fine for any of it to be believable. To make things worse, our clothes were strewn across the bed as if we had hastily stripped them off, adding to the questionable scene.

As I followed the physician’s gaze, I spotted a large sign posted on the wall.

[Please refrain from excessive guiding for the sake of other patients!]

“……”

The sign was written in colorful letters. Above the cute cartoon characters embracing each other was a neatly drawn red prohibition symbol.

I… forced myself to look away from the poster on the wall.

“It’s just that… Esper Vasily was severely injured, so…”

“…I see.”

I muttered a half-hearted excuse, and the physician nodded stiffly. The atmosphere became even more awkward.

I hesitantly climbed down from Vasily and retreated to a distant corner of the room, covering my face with my hands. Behind me, the physician entered the room and began examining Vasily.

I glared at Vasily, who was nonchalantly showing his wound. He must have known the doctor would arrive—so why hadn’t he pushed me away or prevented the door from opening? This was definitely his revenge for the punch to the stomach.

After inspecting the wound for a moment, the physician asked,

“Esper Vasily, how did this happen? There were rumors you’d just come back from a Gate. Did you enter a high-grade one?”

“I was taken down by a C-rank. Their punch was quite something.”

“…?”

The physician tilted his head in confusion. Only I, realizing what Vasily meant, turned red and couldn’t lift my head.

“If you were injured in a Gate, why didn’t you come in right away yesterday? Why wait until today?”

“Well… the injury happened just now…”

I quickly covered Vasily’s mouth. I could feel his cold lips moving under my palm as I bowed deeply to the physician.

“Doctor, the bleeding is severe—please begin the treatment first.”

“Yes, of course.”

The physician nodded and took out a needle and thread.

He put on gloves and immediately began stitching Vasily’s wound—without any anesthetic. Come to think of it, I’d heard that anesthesia doesn’t work properly on S-Class Espers. It takes something powerful enough to knock out an elephant just to numb their nerves.

That’s why most injuries are treated without anesthesia. Still, scenes like this always made me wince. Vasily didn’t seem to be in much pain, though.

Soon, the wound on his torso was stitched, and his waist was wrapped in bandages. The crimson blood that had been hovering before my eyes vanished, and the sheer physical relief calmed my nerves little by little.

I glanced at the gloves the doctor had removed. Vasily’s blood on them had frozen solid.

“The treatment is complete. Fortunately, your condition isn’t too bad, so hospitalization won’t be necessary. Just rest comfortably and discharge when you’re ready.”

The physician packed up his tools and stood. Before leaving the room, he turned back and added one last thing.

“As I said before, please refrain from excessive guiding until the suppression chip is removed. I’ll take my leave now.”

“……”

As a quiet chuckle sounded from beside me, I just barely managed to keep a straight face.

 

Vasily wasn’t discharged until nightfall.

He’d been hospitalized for nearly half a day, so even the Association wouldn’t be able to claim he was faking it. 10 p.m. I took out my smartphone to record the time, when Vasily asked from behind me.

“Guide Kwon Gidam, aren’t you going to support me?”

“Please walk on your own when returning home.”

I firmly rejected the request, and Vasily looked at me like a rain-soaked puppy. His eyes, pitiful and clutching his waist, stopped me in my tracks before I realized it.

“…Just for today.”

With a sigh, I reached out to support his arm. I told myself this was the last time I would indulge him—but Vasily leaned on me even more openly than before.

After enduring it for a while, I couldn’t help but comment.

“You’re heavy. Could you lean a little less?”

“I don’t have any strength in my body.”

“How can someone be this heavy? Are you in the triple digits in weight?”

“……”

Vasily gave me a faint smile and said nothing. I turned my head in disbelief.

“Seriously? You’re that heavy and still asked me to support you without a shred of guilt? You pig… Ugh…!”

I couldn’t finish. Vasily had gone completely limp, leaning all his weight on me.

Clenching my teeth, I stumbled under him. Though I barely managed to stay upright, I couldn’t take a single step forward. An elderly man passing by in the hallway clicked his tongue as he looked at the two of us bickering in the corridor.

“Haah…”

Completely drained, I finally arrived at the parking lot.

Since Vasily was technically a patient, I was the one who took the wheel. It was late at night, and we drove down empty roads back home.

I hadn’t expected to be out this long.

We’d dragged out the discharge time to avoid giving the Association any excuses to pry further, so by the time we arrived at the apartment’s parking lot, it was already time to be in bed.

Even on the way back up to the apartment, I had to support Vasily. As soon as we stepped inside, I was about to let him go and tell him to walk on his own—but Vasily wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“Guide Kwon Gidam, guide me.”

“I already guided you back in the hospital room.”

“It was too short. We stopped halfway too.”

Now that I thought about it, we did stop when the doctor came in.

“Then I’ll guide you after I shower.”

“Alright.”

Satisfied with my answer, Vasily finally let go of me.

As soon as I entered the apartment, I went straight to the bathroom to shower. After spending all day in a tight suit, the pouring water was a welcome relief. The metallic smell of blood clinging to my skin from guiding Vasily was washed away, leaving me feeling refreshed.

Once I’d finished my shower and changed into pajamas, I finally felt clean. As I stepped out of the room, I couldn’t help but glance longingly at the bed that would warmly cradle me if I just collapsed into it.

I really wanted to lie down and sleep then and there… but guiding had to come first. Tired as I was, I decided I would just get it over with—even if it meant doing mucous membrane guiding—and stepped out of the room.

Before heading to Vasily’s room, I took a suppressant pill from my bag and swallowed it. The guiding in the hospital had been brief, but I’d been in prolonged physical contact with him all day, and I could feel the suppression chip gradually heating up.

As the heat slowly began to subside, I opened Vasily’s door—but the lights were off.

Don’t tell me he fell asleep? Hopeful, I looked around the room—only to meet a pair of gleaming eyes in the dark.

“……”

“You’re here?”

“You’re not asleep?”

“We agreed you’d guide me.”

Feigning composure, I approached Vasily, who was lying on the bed. I glanced at his lower body, visible beneath the bandages—and thankfully, he was still wearing underwear.