Churu for the Angry Guide

Chapter 74

Siwoo’s face reddened at Jihan’s voice, full of mischief. Seeing his annoying attitude of seemingly teasing people again, Siwoo’s peaceful mood was about to crumple completely.

“I didn’t do any guiding.”

As soon as Jihan withdrew his telekinesis, Siwoo rushed to him and snapped. He spoke in a very low voice so Geonho wouldn’t hear, but Jihan made a “Shh” sound like a snake again.

In the end, Siwoo had no choice but to approach Jihan closely to talk. He needed to clear up his feelings of unfairness first.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t do any guiding.”

“Then what did you do?”

“Just…”

Siwoo hesitated, deliberately lifting his chin high to look down at Jihan sitting in the chair. He did feel a bit guilty about touching someone who was asleep carelessly. So he acted even more brazenly.

“There was dust on his face, so I wiped it off.”

It was a pretty good excuse. Siwoo praised himself internally and put on a confident face. Anyway, Kang Geonho often touched his cheeks or forehead as he pleased. So they were even.

“Ah, I see.”

Jihan didn’t seem to believe him at all. Siwoo glared at his annoyingly smiling face and snatched the carrot Jihan was eating, throwing it into the trash.

He tried to escape to his room, but Siwoo had something to do. Annoyingly, it was something he had to do with Jihan.

“When are you going to receive guiding?”

He asked, glancing at Geonho sleeping soundly on the sofa. Originally, he had planned to give Jihan about two hours of guiding on the living room sofa when he finished work. For some reason, he felt reluctant to be alone with him in a room. Unlike with Geonho.

“Anytime is fine. I’ll receive it whenever the guide tells me to.”

Jihan shrugged and was about to take a bite of pasta instead of the carrot that was taken away. With the fork Siwoo had used.

Siwoo slapped the back of Jihan’s hand and threw Seojun’s fork at him instead. Because Jihan didn’t catch it, the fork fell on the table, making a small noise.

At the same time, Siwoo’s head turned towards the sofa. He felt relieved seeing Geonho sleeping as if he had fainted. It was uncomfortable to have a conversation with Jihan here. He didn’t want to disturb Geonho’s sleep.

“Are you going to do it now?”

Jihan stood up from the chair and took a step closer to Siwoo.

“Then let’s go to the guiding room.”

Ah, right, there was a guiding room.

Having stayed only in the dormitory recently, Siwoo hadn’t thought of the guiding room. When he nodded once, meaning to go right away, Jihan put his arm around Siwoo’s shoulder. Contact was necessary for teleportation.

Even so, is it necessary to be this close?

“Let go quickly!”

Siwoo shouted as soon as they arrived at the guiding room and pushed Jihan away. Jihan exaggeratedly pretended to fall backward and plopped down on the sofa.

Siwoo glared at Jihan as usual but suddenly put on a calm expression. He lowered his sharply furrowed eyes and stared out the distant window.

“What are you doing?”

“Shut up for a bit.”

Jihan observed Siwoo with interest. Surprisingly, Siwoo was suppressing his temper.

He had momentarily forgotten that Jihan’s condition wasn’t very good and had gotten angry. Right now, Jihan had the highest stress and fatigue levels among the guild members. Despite grinning like that.

Now was the time to examine his condition.

“Food.”

“Huh?”

“I asked if you ate.”

Siwoo felt a bit guilty about snatching away the carrot Jihan was eating. Knowing Jihan’s condition wasn’t good, he was concerned.

“I didn’t. I came straight from work.”

Siwoo frowned, feeling even more uncomfortable.

“Then go back to the dormitory. Ha Seojun bought dinner.”

Jihan shook his head with a smile. He seemed to have no intention of eating, just like Kang Geonho. Siwoo, who would immediately start salivating at the sight of food, couldn’t understand this attitude at all.

“Doesn’t the guide need to eat more?”

“I’ve eaten enough.”

When Siwoo told him to take care of his own meal, Jihan chuckled and opened the kitchen refrigerator with his telekinesis. His telekinesis was as useful as his teleportation.

While Jihan washed the fruit he took out of the refrigerator, Siwoo sat next to him and looked around the guiding room.

The guiding room he hadn’t visited in a while was exactly the same. Although all the cat supplies had disappeared, the guiding machines and the neatly organized atmosphere were all the same.

Well, not enough time had passed for the furniture to change. It was only a month ago that he had stayed with the Baekya Guild pretending to be a cat. So much had changed in just that one month.

“Is that your dinner?”

Siwoo, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa looking around the guiding room, turned his gaze to Jihan. Jihan had only taken out an apple from the refrigerator. Siwoo’s eyes naturally furrowed at the sight.

“Of course not. I’ll eat properly at the dormitory.”

Jihan smiled softly and took a crisp bite of the apple. Siwoo didn’t urge him to eat more, thinking he seemed full.

Judging by the amount of food filling the table, it seemed like he could skip meals until tomorrow morning. He probably ate excessively again until his stomach hurt. The Baekya Guild members, except for the leader, had already gotten used to Siwoo’s tremendous appetite.

“Guide.”

Jihan called Siwoo while biting into the apple. Siwoo was enjoying the view of the sky outside the window, waiting for Jihan to finish eating the apple. Too lazy to turn his head, he responded without taking his eyes off the window.

“What.”

“Do you remember what I said last time?”

Siwoo’s eyes, which had been following a sparrow flying in the distance, slowly fell to the window frame. He immediately understood what Jihan was talking about.

“When I asked why you dislike contact guiding.”

Jihan leisurely watched the white back of Siwoo’s head, which showed no reaction. Although his expression wasn’t visible, the discomfort was evident in his fidgeting white fingertips.

“Have you thought about the reason?”

Nevertheless, Jihan persistently sought an answer. He seemed determined to ask until Siwoo gave a clear reason. Even though he had said back then not to answer if Siwoo didn’t want to.

“I told you. I just don’t like it.”

“Then maybe you could just start liking it too.”

Jihan, who had put down the apple on the sofa table, reached out towards Siwoo. He gently tucked in the black collar that was sticking out of Siwoo’s pants pocket.

Lost in thought, Siwoo didn’t notice this. He was mulling over Jihan’s words.

If it’s just dislike without reason, could he really start liking it for no reason too?

“Want to try an experiment?”

Jihan’s light voice suddenly came.

“While you’re giving me guiding today, why don’t we practice a bit?”

He asked as casually as if offering food. As if it wasn’t a serious issue at all.

“You don’t have to do it for long. What do you think?”

Siwoo slowly turned around, moving his body sluggishly.

Jihan was waiting for Siwoo with a relaxed expression. He never rushed.

“…”

Siwoo looked at Jihan and swallowed a dry sigh. He was about to ask if radiative guiding wasn’t enough, but stopped. He had already heard enough answers to that question from the youngest.

Even with a high matching rate, radiative guiding alone seemed insufficient. If Seojun and Jihan felt that way, he could imagine how it would be for Geonho, whose matching rate with him was dismally low.

Siwoo clenched and unclenched his fist, recalling the low matching rate with Geonho. He needed to try contact guiding, if only for Geonho’s sake. This couldn’t continue.

“Are you going to try?”

“I’ll do it briefly.”

Siwoo began to mentally prepare himself to hold Jihan’s hand. When the Guide Team Leader and other Espers who had passed through had talked about it, he hadn’t even lent an ear. But now his mind had changed.

“Do as you wish, Guide.”

Palm contact was something any guide could easily do. It was a level of contact that even non-lovers or non-family members could commonly make. Even when shaking hands, palms touch.

However, Siwoo hadn’t even experienced that common handshake. He had no friends to hold hands and play with, nor family.

Geonho was the first to touch cat Siwoo with care.

It was only Kang Geonho who had wiped away his tears when he cried, who had touched his cheek without any ill intentions. Before meeting him, Siwoo used to frown even when his fingertips barely brushed against others.

He thought he disliked contact with others that much. Until he joined the Baekya Guild.

“If it feels weird, I’ll stop.”

“Okay, okay. Do as you’re comfortable, Guide.”

Jihan waved both hands and put one leg up on the sofa. He turned completely to the side so he could face Siwoo. This brought him closer to Siwoo.

Siwoo closed his eyes first to read Jihan’s wavelength in detail.

As he sent out guiding energy as if exhaling, Jihan’s wavelength clung to it like a magnet, as if it had been waiting. This was the typical response of an Esper detecting guiding.

As confirmed by the numbers, Jihan’s energy wasn’t good. His wavelength, which was originally tangled, was curled up tightly and emitting a chaotic atmosphere.

With his wavelength in this state, it seemed like he would have severe headaches or dizziness. It was surprising that Jihan was smiling normally.

“Weren’t you in pain?”

Siwoo opened his eyes after thoroughly reading Jihan’s wavelength. He didn’t even feel like getting annoyed at Jihan, who was staring at him with a smile. He just wanted to ask why he hadn’t asked for guiding earlier.

With his wavelength tangled to this extent, he must have been in pain. Come to think of it, he remembered Jihan pressing his temple when he first saw him. It was a habit often seen in the Guide Team Leader who suffered from chronic headaches.

“I can endure anything well.”

Jihan mumbled an ambiguous answer and reached out his hand towards Siwoo. A faint sincerity settled in his gentle smile.

“So feel free to practice as much as you want.”

Siwoo’s white Adam’s apple bobbed faintly as he faced him. Jihan calmly waited for Siwoo to take his hand first.