Cha In-ho sat quietly, looking at him. A familiar pager sticked out from his left fist. Pressing it would summon the staff to subdue Joo-hyun, so the safety precaution wasn't a bad idea.
"Hello-"
Creeak!
The high friction noise between the chair and the floor interrupted Cha In-ho's greeting.
Sitting on a squeaky chair, Joo-hyun crossed his long legs and looked at the guide with a bored expression.
Cha In-ho's strikingly beautiful appearance was still surprising upon second glance. However, Joo-hyun's life was already difficult to act foolishly.
Even though Joo-hyun didn't have an actual label of a runaway esper, he knew he gave off quite a threatening impression. The height of 184 cm, a body full of actual muscles, not too rugged but solid, and the dark red eyes like a stigma of a runaway esper.
Due to his turbulent childhood, Joo-hyun was adept at intimidating others with just his gaze. He raised his chin slightly and tapped his elbow with his fingers meaninglessly.
Cha In-ho seemed tense, whether because of Joo-hyun's threatening demeanour or simply due to the situation of facing a runaway esper, was unclear.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Cha In-ho."
A scar-covered hand slipped into the pocket. The cigarette with a blue pattern on it, bought last night, was already half gone.
Mocking the fact that lighters were not provided, out of safety considerations, Joo-hyun exhaled deeply as he lightly teased the only shop in Block C that sold matches.
"I know. Cha In-ho. Twenty-six years old. Shall I list the movies you've been in?"
Two days ago, the staff had thrown a paper filled with Cha In-ho's profile and told him to memorise it. It seemed like they had managed to coax quite a few envelopes out of the Centre Director, who couldn't resist money.
"They said to memorise it dearly, warning that if I upset you or even touched a hair on your head, I'd be sent to jail."
The smoke emanated into the air covered Cha In-ho's face for a while, and then dispersed.
"I can't believe I'm going to jail because I hurt you a little. It's a scary world."
The runaway esper narrowed his dark red eyes, not bothering to hide his smirk as he revealed his pointed fangs. Usually, just that alone was enough to make people cower as if facing a ferocious beast.
But Cha In-ho didn't. Far from being intimidated, he calmly whispered in a soft tone, his gaze unwavering as he observed Joo-hyun's face, his fingers, and the cigarette dangling from them.
"Did they really say that? Seems like the staff members tend to exaggerate."
"Why did I get the feeling it wasn't an exaggeration?"
"I couldn't say."
As Joo-hyun shifted in his seat, the worn-out chair creaked faintly.
Silence followed. Cha In-ho, gazing at Joo-hyun with an expressionless gaze, soon sighed as if resigning himself. Even his face became a picture, yet it didn't evoke any sympathy from Joo-hyun.
"If you're tired, you can go back."
"No, I was just... surprised because it's just a little different from what I thought."
"What were you thinking?"
There was no answer, but it was obvious even without hearing it. Perhaps he was silently contemplating like a monster, bowing his head in guilt, or maybe he was unsure whether to be pleased by the guide's arrival.
Indeed, Joo-hyun—along with all the espers in Block C—suffered from chronic guiding deficiency. Because of this, he could feel his headache easing somewhat just from the faint radiation of guiding flowing from Cha In-ho.
However, Joo-hyun was too proud to acknowledge this. He was the type of person who would rather jump into the flames, knowing he would die, than be seen as a worm grovelling for a small favour.
His sturdy boots kicked the chair beside him, sending it clattering across the grey floor with a sharp noise.
"Sorry for not dying, being a runaway esper and all."
There was a loud noise, but the armed staff outside did not enter. The rule was not to open the door despite any noise or violent behaviour until the pager is pressed.
Without giving the fallen chair a glance, Cha In-ho's eyes softened as if nothing had happened. His annoyingly beautiful face looked even more attractive when he smiled.
"Not something you need to apologise for."
Once again, it was clear that no sane guide would willingly come to Block C. As Joo-hyun exhaled smoke, he reminded himself of this undeniable truth.
Although he didn't know what the guiding rooms in Block A or Block B looked like, they were probably different from those in Block C.
The guiding room in Block C consisted of an old table, old chairs, and an old but large bed. There was even a small attached bathroom, making the room resemble an outdated motel room, which Joo-hyun disliked. While any esper might have appreciated a guiding room, for the espers in Block C, it was akin to hell.
Sitting face-to-face with a guide and doing nothing in such a place was a new experience for Joo-hyun. He looked at Cha In-ho indifferently.
The guide had a deep, contemplative expression, his fingers twitching nervously, and he clutched the call button tightly. It was clear he wasn't here by choice. For some reason, he didn't seem like he was going to form a match. How could someone who was so reluctant meet regularly for guiding?
Relaxed by this predictable reaction, Joo-hyun leaned back in his chair.
Cha In-ho neither talked about the matching nor stood up to leave. He must have his own reasons for being here.
Of course, whatever those reasons were, they had nothing to do with Joo-hyun. It was inconceivable that he had come to actually match with a runaway esper. Eventually, he would leave, claiming the runaway esper was too dangerous and uncontrollable.
When the news got out, Mr. A, the runaway esper, would get all kinds of criticism, but it didn't matter since none of them really knew Joo-hyun.
Joo-hyun tilted his head back to look at the dull, stained ceiling and exhaled smoke, then closed his eyes without any hint of resignation.
Runaway espers, despite their duty to protect citizens as espers, caused casualties instead. Because of that crime, they were required to serve until death.
They undertook extremely hazardous missions and received a substantial risk allowance, but there was a law that required them to return a significant portion of it to society. It was almost half, but since they had little to spend money on, they managed to save some.
The probability of an esper to runaway was smaller than a speck of dust, and the survival rate among them was less than half of that.
Typically, younger espers, who were less adept at controlling their abilities, were more prone to going rogue compared to their more experienced counterparts. Consequently, there were no espers over forty in Block C. There used to be, but they had long since passed away. Many didn't return from missions, and some were found dead in their rooms.
Joo-hyun was currently the runaway esper who had been in Block C the longest, a full 11 years. He had grown so accustomed to these grey walls that he no longer felt any nostalgia for the outside world.
Even though he didn't watch TV often, the fact that he knew about Cha In-ho indicated that Cha In-ho was indeed a very famous celebrity. However, here, he was just an ordinary guide.
Joo-hyun, an esper whose life depended on guides but didn't particularly like them, stared unemotionally at the cracked table.
Eventually, perhaps out of boredom or a desire to pass the time, Cha In-ho started talking to him.
"You smoke, I see?"
When Joo-hyun glanced at him, Cha In-ho was wearing a surprisingly serious expression. It wasn't quite concern, but it wasn't displeasure either. Not understanding the reason behind that look, Joo-hyun pressed the filter of his cigarette with his thumbnail and replied.
"They don't sell alcohol here."
"Yet you cling to something that's bad for your health."
"I'll die before I get lung cancer, so it's fine."
A small puff of smoke quickly dispersed into the air. When he had first started smoking, it had made him dizzy, but now he felt nothing.
Cha In-ho, frowning perhaps due to the acrid smell, crossed his legs and spoke.
"Are you always so pessimistic?"
"You're more curious than I thought."
"Yes. I have a lot of questions about you."
"Why?"
Cha In-ho didn't answer. The bright face, seemingly untouched by hardship, didn't fit in with the grey walls of Block C. He likely wasn't here by choice, but then, neither was Joo-hyun.
"Normally, around this time, I'd be playing chess with Beom-gyu or Se-hwa in the lounge. Or maybe Gomoku. Or just lying around taking a nap"
The cigarette almost burned to the end. The shop in Block C only sold one type of cigarette. It was so strong and low-quality that no one would buy it even if it were stocked in a convenience store, but there were no other options.
Cha In-ho was staring at some point on the table with an inscrutable expression. He didn't seem particularly angry, but he didn't look pleased either.
In contrast, Joo-hyun's body was gradually feeling better thanks to the subtle radiating guidance from Cha In-ho. His body, always starved for guidance, was rejoicing even at this minimal level of it. Joo-hyun disliked himself for that and also disliked Cha In-ho for making him feel this way.
But Cha In-ho probably disliked Joo-hyun even more, so Joo-hyun simply waited silently for time to pass.