Honey-Coated S-Class Guide — Chapter 10
“If you’re feeling well enough, go ahead. Preferably for all four who came back today.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Czerny immediately sprang to his feet.
“You said I couldn’t have any, so why do those bastards get it?”
“They look exhausted after having so much fun.”
“I was even more exhausted from working!”
“That’s different.”
As Czerny’s face turned almost as red as his hair, Flat snickered.
“Hey, you can’t help it. When nothing’s keeping you uncomfortable, you abuse your abilities too much.”
“Even so, I should get to feel comfortable sometimes!”
“What can you do? They’ll lift the restriction eventually.”
Jin Hyoseop was the only one who didn’t understand the conversation.
As he sat down to begin guiding, blinking quietly, Flat held out his hand.
“The guiding.”
His tone was curt, markedly different from the way he spoke to the other guild members.
Jin Hyoseop quietly answered, “Yes,” and took his hand.
Warmth passed through their joined hands.
It had been quite some time since he last provided guiding. Since this was his first time doing it at Noapi, the familiar task made him nervous, as though he were being tested.
He let out a small breath and drew on his power. The mysterious energy inside him began to stir, moving restlessly as though eager to enter the other man’s body.
Jin Hyoseop carefully channeled it into Flat.
Considering how long it had been, the start was smooth.
But as time passed, Jin Hyoseop tilted his head at a sensation quite different from what he had expected.
“…?”
What was this?
He didn’t know why, but every bit of energy he sent in was immediately absorbed, like water soaking into parched earth.
It was happening so quickly that far more power was draining from him than he had anticipated, leaving him bewildered.
Was this really a C-class esper who had merely been on vacation?
An unbelievable quantity of toxins had spread throughout Flat’s body. It was hard to believe he had been smiling and joking in this condition.
A little flustered, Jin Hyoseop looked up.
Unlike him, Flat seemed extremely satisfied. His slightly haggard face had already regained its vitality.
“Ah, now I feel alive again.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Flat gently rolled his head from side to side.
Then he stared at Jin Hyoseop with a gaze quite different from his initial indifference.
“S-class really is something else. Just a little contact, and it feels so refreshing it almost makes my heart ache. That surprised me.”
So refreshing it ached.
At those words, Jin Hyoseop visibly shrank back.
“…I’m sorry if it was unpleasant.”
Flat involuntarily raised an eyebrow at the unexpected apology.
“I didn’t say it was unpleasant. It feels like layers of old grime are being scrubbed away. I like it. You know how sometimes you want to scrub yourself raw?”
Beside him, Czerny grumbled about what a disgusting comparison that was.
“Anyway, I’m saying it’s not bad.”
As though fully recovered in that brief span of time, Flat stretched and lightly rotated his arms.
“That’s enough now.”
“Oh, yes.”
Jin Hyoseop hesitantly released his hand.
The chill lingering in his fingertips was so strong that he could hardly believe he had only guided a C-class. It meant he had used a considerable amount of power, filling his mind with questions.
Did C-classes always need this much guiding…?
As he stared blankly at his hand, Ahn Dante approached.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
“Pardon? Oh, no. It’s not that…”
With a troubled expression, Jin Hyoseop murmured, “Esper Flat seems to have been in rather poor condition.”
“Oh, he probably was. I heard he had an accident while bungee jumping on vacation and broke his leg. The outside healed quickly, but the inside must still have been damaged. Right?”
Ahn Dante turned to Flat.
Jin Hyoseop naturally followed his gaze, and Flat answered with a slightly awkward expression.
“Yes, well…”
That explanation made some sense, so Jin Hyoseop nodded.
Of course, even accounting for that, something still felt strange… But perhaps he was simply out of practice after going so long without guiding.
“Can you guide the others too?”
“Yes. No problem.”
Jin Hyoseop immediately took another esper’s hand.
A glint of surprise appeared in the others’ eyes as they watched.
“…He really is impressive.”
Jin Hyoseop flopped straight onto his bedding.
“I’m tired.”
Perhaps because it had been so long since he last guided anyone, his body felt exhausted.
His temperature rose, warning him that he had used too much power. It was a symptom that appeared only when he overdid his guiding.
He stared blankly at his fingertips.
“Have I gotten weaker?”
In the past, even saving a dying S-class had only left him feeling a little drained. Now, after guiding just four C-classes back from vacation, he felt completely hollow inside.
“Ngh.”
His tailbone throbbed.
It was a familiar symptom that accompanied the rising heat.
Without realizing it, Jin Hyoseop began to writhe. As a ticklish heat spread through him, like ants crawling over his entire body, he bit his lip with a troubled expression.
Ordinarily, espers had to pay a price for using their tremendous power.
That was why guides existed.
Guides, however, paid no price for providing guiding. There was simply a limit to how much they could provide in a day.
But once a guide reached S-class, a “price” emerged for them as well.
Most people simply didn’t know because S-class guides were so rare.
In Jin Hyoseop’s case, using more than a certain amount of power caused his body to heat up. Gradually, that heat transformed into something else.
Sometimes it became a fever like a bad case of the flu.
Other times, it became maddening sexual desire.
Unfortunately, today it was the latter.
Jin Hyoseop kept letting out low, pained moans. His toes curled one by one, and his hot breaths soaked into his pillow.
The side effects of guiding brought an arousal unlike what he normally felt.
It was as though he had become aware of sensations a man was never supposed to know—a strange throbbing in a place normally used only as an outlet.
“Hah… ngh…”
He tried to steady his breathing, but it was no use.
Until he relieved a certain amount of that desire, it wouldn’t subside easily.
Hoping the sensual heat would fade as quickly as possible, Jin Hyoseop let out another hot breath. His flushed face rubbed against the pillow, and his pointed toes pushed the blanket away.
The redness that had begun at the tips of his ears had spread down his neck.
Only when his low moans reached their peak did his twisting body finally arch like a bow.
His entire body was damp, as though he had been exercising intensely.
The episode could have been called long or short.
Spent, Jin Hyoseop collapsed around the blanket.
He was breathing as hard as if he had sprinted at full speed, and his lower abdomen kept twitching. He couldn’t tell whether his body was satisfied or still wanted more.
Once the wave of side effects had swept through and receded, his body’s heat quickly subsided.
Now he had bedding to wash and cleaning to do, but he didn’t want to move a finger. A languid exhaustion had taken hold of him.
How nice it would be to fall asleep without doing anything.
If only he could wake up to find everything clean, as though nothing had happened.
“Hah…”
He tended to be weak immediately after an episode. A day’s sleep would restore him quickly enough, but right now, even moving was a struggle.
Jin Hyoseop pushed the bedding roughly aside, lay down, and stared blankly at the stain on the blanket.
A strange, sweet scent drifted from it, like something from a honeycomb.
As if the side effects weren’t enough, there was this scent too.
His body was utterly grotesque.
To get rid of the sweetness mingling with the semen’s chestnut-blossom scent, Jin Hyoseop got up and opened the window. Then he gathered the bedding and stuffed it into the washing machine.
Only after some time had passed and the scent had completely dispersed did he begin to feel a little more at ease.
Back at the office, after Jin Hyoseop had gone home, the espers were settled in their usual places, the same languid atmosphere surrounding them.
After thinking for a while, Flat spoke.
“Boss. About our new guide.”
Ahn Dante glanced away from his monitor.
“Mr. Jin Hyoseop?”
“Yes. His ability is more impressive than I expected.”
“He’s S-class.”
“But I didn’t realize he’d be that good. Honestly, even if he was S-class, I figured there had to be something wrong with him. But once I actually got a look under the surface, there wasn’t a flaw in sight. He was even better than I’d imagined.”
“Really? How fortunate that such a good guide joined our guild.”
At Ahn Dante’s utterly insincere answer, Flat slapped the table to get his attention.
“Come on. You think it’s strange too. Doesn’t it make no sense? Why would an S-class with that much power join a C-class guild? No one would do that unless they were crazy.”
“Then I suppose he’s crazy.”
“Are you going to keep dodging the question?”
Ahn Dante stopped what he was doing and turned to face Flat.
“What exactly are you trying to say? I’m busy, so get to the point.”
“It’s strange that he chose a C-class guild just because he doesn’t want to do anything beyond contact guiding.”
Flat was certain of it.
With that level of ability, an A-class guild would have dropped to its knees and begged him to join, assuring him that holding hands would be more than enough.
So why had he chosen a C-class guild?
“What if Czerny was right and he really is a spy?”
