Churu for the Angry Guide

16

‘Ugh! How annoying!’

Siwoo vigorously scratched the scratcher from early morning. Still not feeling settled, he ran all around Geonho’s room.

Thud!

Someone kicked the door from outside. Apparently disturbed by Siwoo’s noisy footsteps, a warning to be quiet came along.

Meow!

Siwoo scratched the scratcher even more noisily and meowed loudly in defiance, as if telling them to go to hell.

“Hey, I said be quiet.”

Finally, Seojun opened the door with a frown. Siwoo glared at Seojun for invading his space and quickly dove under the blanket.

“Why is it acting like that?”

Seojun left the door wide open and headed back to the living room sofa. Right now, only Seojun and the cat were in the guiding room.

The cat had behaved relatively well when with Geonho, but as soon as he left, it started causing all sorts of trouble.

Seojun’s nerves were already on edge from his sensitive hearing, and the endless sounds of claws tearing at the scratcher and pitter-pattering around made him even more irritable. Seojun hated being left alone with the cat like this the most.

Siwoo felt the same dislike.

Yesterday, he had enjoyed a rare bath after a long time, filled his belly with treats, and fallen asleep in a good mood. But the happiness didn’t last long. Geonho, the fool who took care of Siwoo, had left early in the morning with Jihan to work. Apparently, there were many gates to deal with, so he said he’d be back late today.

Geonho had earnestly asked the maknae to take good care of Siwoo before leaving. Not knowing how devious that kid was.

‘Why are you barging into someone else’s room and making a fuss?’

Siwoo, with just his face peeking out from under the blanket, glared at the wide-open door. Unfortunately, the sofa was visible from there, and seeing Ha Seojun’s profile made his blood boil.

The fool needed to realize soon how black-hearted that guy was.

He acted all nice and smiley in front of his hyungs, but he was the type who might stab you in the back at any moment. In dramas and movies, it was always guys like him who caused trouble.

Siwoo buried his nose in the sheets, thinking of Geonho’s face, foolish to the point of being naive. That fool was surely bound to be betrayed badly somewhere.

What good was being part of the Baekya Guild? He was so simple and quick to give affection. And getting completely ignored by his own brother.

Sigh…

The more he thought about it, the more pitiful Geonho seemed, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

Lately, Siwoo found himself sighing often while looking at Geonho. He felt even more concerned after taking a bath together yesterday. Had he grown attached in such a short time?

“Hey, pig. Come eat.”

Siwoo’s ears perked up reflexively at the word ‘food’, but he forced his body to stay still. He didn’t want to eat food given by that guy. He might have mixed something strange into the cat food.

“I said eat. You’re crazy about this stuff.”

Seojun placed a bowl full of cat food near the door. But the cat didn’t budge. Even though it used to pounce like a wild beast just at the sound of Geonho hyung opening the food bag.

“Hurry up and eat it, it smells.”

Seojun leaned against the wall and pushed the bowl with his foot. At this, the cat slightly bared its front teeth and completely disappeared under the blanket.

Seojun exhaled shortly towards the ceiling. Then he suddenly grabbed a handful of cat food with his bare hand and approached the bed.

“Eat when I tell you to.”

He lifted the blanket and dropped the food in front of Siwoo, who was curled up. Siwoo had no choice but to raise his claws.

‘Do you want to die?! Give me back the blanket!’

He hissed and bared his teeth, but Seojun just nodded towards the food. Siwoo’s threats had no effect at all.

“Eat.”

His cold golden eyes moved from Siwoo to the pillow. Seojun glared warningly at the treasures Siwoo had hidden under the pillow.

With the threat that he might take away his Churu and plush toys if he didn’t eat, Siwoo had no choice but to obey.

‘What a jerk. Two-faced bastard.’

Siwoo grumbled while forcibly chewing the cat food. As he ate, he found it delicious again and momentarily focused on the food, forgetting the situation.

Seojun shook his head, watching Siwoo quickly devour the food like the glutton he was. When he brought the food bowl closer, Siwoo even settled down properly to eat.

Acting like he wouldn’t eat, but then… He was truly unpredictable.

Seojun didn’t like the cat. It irritated him how it strutted around knowing Geonho hyung doted on it, and its increasingly nasty temper annoyed him too.

“Should I just throw it out?”

At Seojun’s quiet mutter, Siwoo froze, and cat food spilled from his mouth.

Th-throw me… out?

Siwoo looked up at Seojun with wide eyes.

He couldn’t tell if it was sincere or just an off-hand remark. The gleaming golden eyes were as cold as ever.

Suddenly, his appetite vanished. Siwoo stopped eating and buried his face under the pillow where he had hidden his treasures.

Actually, it didn’t matter if he was thrown out or not. No, since he couldn’t keep living here anyway, it might even be good for him. Although he couldn’t return to human form right away, he would have to leave this place someday.

But… he didn’t want to be kicked out. Siwoo wanted to leave on his own terms.

Hiss!

Startled by the sensation of fingertips poking his bottom, he hissed from under the pillow. He also pushed away Seojun’s hand with his hind legs.

‘Don’t touch me!’

Finally, the threatening seemed to work as the hand poking his bottom retreated obediently. Siwoo listened to Seojun’s receding footsteps and tightly hugged the mouse plush toy hidden under the pillow.

Inwardly hoping for the fool to return quickly, he gently chewed on the squeaking mouse’s tail. Then, a sudden thought made him clench his fist.

‘Throw out what? You’re just the maknae.’

Though it was fake, that guy diligently followed his hyungs’ words. He definitely didn’t seem to have the guts to kick out someone Geonho cared about on his own.

‘Who are you trying to act tough!’

Siwoo got up, pushing away the pillow, and started chewing the cat food again. Thinking that Seojun couldn’t drive him out made him feel better.

Seojun glanced at Siwoo, who was meowing to himself, and sighed while touching the guiding machine.

Siwoo, regaining his confidence, filled his stomach and then freely jumped around on the bed. He did a somersault, vigorously tore at the scratcher, and swung his tail back and forth.

After playing alone like that for a while, he looked at the wall clock.

It was already 11 o’clock. The dedicated guide was supposed to come by 10…

Just then, Seojun also checked the wall clock in the living room. He seemed to be concerned about the time too.

Despite being an hour late, there appeared to be no contact from the guide. Seojun turned his head to stretch his neck muscles and repeatedly picked up and put down his phone.

Another 30 minutes passed, but the guiding room door didn’t open.

Still, Seojun just waited silently, and Siwoo watched him with frustrated eyes. He should at least try contacting them. Why was he just waiting stupidly?

It was all incomprehensible.

* * *

Area B10, which had been quiet for a while, was unusually noisy today. It was an area where low-risk grade monsters appeared, so few Espers were assigned there.

However, today, giant monsters that didn’t usually appear were pouring out one after another. Even the number of gates opening unexpectedly reached an unmanageable level.

“Quickly request additional support!”

Even the experienced Espers who usually moved in perfect coordination showed signs of confusion. Although there were few Espers deployed, they were all A-grade and had always handled gates smoothly. They had never shown such disarray before.

“They say they’ll be here in 3 minutes!”

“Strengthen the barriers and take care of the injured first!”

The number of people evacuating increased due to the growing number of gates and higher grade of monsters. If there had been a guide out for field guiding, the problem would have been even bigger.

Fortunately, there were only Espers in Area B10.

The beastkin Espers who had been fighting in human form transformed into animals to increase their attack power and subdue the monsters. And in that process, an accident occurred.

“Leader! What’s wrong with you?!”

Rawr!

An Esper who had transformed into a large black panther suddenly started having a seizure. The representative of the guild in charge of Area B10 slammed his body against a large rock and then suddenly lunged at his colleagues.

“Leader! Urgh…!”

One colleague who had let his guard down had his side torn by the black panther’s claws. No one could subdue their leader who had lost his reason and was rampaging. They couldn’t even dare to approach the black panther, who was also spewing hot fire due to his pyrokinesis ability.

“B10, I’ve arrived now.”

At that moment, Jihan, who had accepted the support request, appeared in mid-air. He had come immediately after receiving reports of the suddenly elevated danger grade of the gates.

“E-Esper Yoo Jihan! That’s our leader!”

An Esper with a pale face shouted, pointing at the rampaging black panther. With its huge body and pitch-black fur, it could easily be mistaken for a monster at first glance.

Jihan nodded and bound the black panther’s limbs with telekinesis. At the same time, he created dozens of hands in the air to grab the flailing arms and legs.

Rawr―!

As its movement was restricted, the black panther roared so loudly it shook the ground and attacked Jihan with a pillar of fire. Jihan, who had spread a barrier, approached him while uprooting nearby rocks to create a stone pillar.

“Calm down.”

After freezing the fire-spewing mouth, he trapped the black panther inside the stone pillar.

Boom! Boom! Boom―!

The black panther, trapped inside the tall stone pillar, slammed its body against it and roared fiercely. It had completely lost all human reason.

Jihan calmly gazed at the shaking stone pillar. It was the first day that abnormal symptoms had appeared in a beastkin Esper.