Zero Point

#014

When Eunseok opened the door, a tall man stood there, his eye level different from Eunseok’s. The man, dressed in a neat suit, gave a slight eye-smile upon seeing Eunseok. Standing face to face, the man’s height and build became clearly apparent. His height was probably 187 to 188 centimeters. Judging by his broad shoulders, solid frame, and considerable muscle mass, his weight was likely substantial as well.

“You’re late,” Eunseok said calmly to the man who had a strangely unsettling effect on him, opening the door wide. Choi Hanseo stepped into the Guiding room without hesitation. As he passed by, Eunseok caught a faint woody scent mixed with a subtle smell of blood.

Closing the door and turning around, Eunseok saw Choi Hanseo’s back as he walked past the desk towards the sofa. He sank into the long sofa without reserve and crossed his long legs. Choi Hanseo exuded a strong aura of a top predator, particularly that of a powerful alpha male.

“Come sit here,” Choi Hanseo said, gesturing to the spot next to him. Eunseok wasn’t pleased with the abrupt request to sit side by side on the sofa.

Choi Hanseo leaned his head back on the sofa and pressed his fingers between his eyebrows, looking very tired. The watch on his left wrist, raised as he rubbed his brow, showed a deep orange color.

Eunseok approached the sofa and looked at Choi Hanseo’s watch.

68%

Even without detailed knowledge, Eunseok could tell this was a significantly high figure.

Understanding an Esper’s rampage as something like a self-destruct timer, Eunseok sat down next to Choi Hanseo without fussing. Choi Hanseo immediately extended his hand as if to say “take it.” His hand was very large, but its shape was both masculine and aesthetically beautiful.

“I was thinking of doing wide-area Guiding,” Eunseok said instead of taking Choi Hanseo’s hand. Choi Hanseo opened his eyes slowly and held his watch up to Eunseok’s face.

“With less than 20 minutes left, do you think wide-area Guiding is possible?”

“Your numbers are quite high.”

“They are.”

“Haven’t you received Guiding until now?”

“Even when I did, it wasn’t very effective.”

Choi Hanseo replied indifferently.

Unlike Moon Bora and Ji Taeuk who were A-class, he was an S-class Esper. It didn’t seem likely that wide-area Guiding could change those high numbers to blue in just over ten minutes.

Choi Hanseo slightly moved his hand as if to say “hurry up and take it.” Although Eunseok didn’t like the gesture much, he obediently took his hand. Immediately, he felt a powerful energy surging so wildly it almost stung where their skin touched. Choi Hanseo now was like… a vast, rough sea with huge waves just before a tsunami hit.

This definitely won’t work with wide-area Guiding, Eunseok thought to himself. Unlike with Ji Taeuk, he poured maximum Guiding energy through their joined hands, as if slamming it in. He could feel Choi Hanseo strongly absorbing his Guiding like a starved beast.

So this is what it means to be S-class, Eunseok thought. Seeing that Choi Hanseo could handle his Guiding and still have room for more, he now poured in as much as he possibly could, like opening a floodgate.

Choi Hanseo let out a soft, long sigh. Eunseok could see the slight frown between his brows relaxing peacefully. Perhaps absorbed in the act of Guiding, Eunseok barely felt any awkwardness about holding hands intimately with another man.

“The gown suits you well,” Choi Hanseo, who had now returned to his languid self, said as he slowly looked Eunseok over. Then he added in a mutter, “Though it wasn’t meant to make one want to take it off.”

Eunseok slightly furrowed his brow at Choi Hanseo’s muttering.

While his tone was utterly plain, the man occasionally made strangely teasing remarks.

“You seem to have been very busy,” Eunseok said, completely ignoring Choi Hanseo’s muttering.

“Ah. There was an urgent request from the Hunter Association. I was passing by, so I stopped in briefly. I heard it was an A-class mutant, but I didn’t know there would be so many of them.”

It seemed he had just dealt with Earth’s mutant creatures. The faint smell of blood was probably due to that.

A group of A-class mutants…

Eunseok had heard that even a single A-class mutant required several A-class or lower Espers to handle, so dealing with a group of A-class mutants alone explained Choi Hanseo’s fatigue and high numbers.

“You’re saying they sent the Guild Master alone to deal with a group of A-class mutants?”

No matter how transcendent his abilities were compared to A-class, sending him alone to deal with multiple mutants was incomprehensible. Valuable assets should be used carefully and appropriately. Eunseok thought the days of recklessly deploying Espers like war weapons were long gone…

When Eunseok asked with a slightly hardened voice, Choi Hanseo suddenly gave a faint eye-smile.

“Why are you angry? Do you feel sorry for me being thrown alone into a group of mutants?”

“I’m not angry. And I don’t feel sorry for you.”

From what he heard, Choi Hanseo seemed to have come straight to the Guiding room after dealing with the mutants, but his attire was too neat to suggest he had struggled enough to be pitied. The smell of blood must have been entirely from the mutants.

“Hmm…” Choi Hanseo stared at Eunseok with slightly narrowed eyes. Then he slowly began to intertwine their fingers, turning their handshake into an intimate clasp.

“What are you doing?” Eunseok asked, resisting by tightening his grip.

Choi Hanseo tapped his watch with his finger. “I heard you brought Moon Bora and Ji Taeuk’s numbers down to zero. To bring mine to zero, wouldn’t you need a bit more contact?”

After saying this, Choi Hanseo slightly lowered his gaze to look at Eunseok’s lips and added, “If you’re uncomfortable, we could end it quickly with mucous membrane Guiding.”

“I’ll pass,” Eunseok refused flatly and relaxed his hand, allowing Choi Hanseo to intertwine their fingers deeply.

While he had shaken hands with men countless times, he had never held hands this intimately. Eunseok suppressed his discomfort and focused on Guiding.

Indeed, as their fingers interlocked completely, increasing the contact area, he immediately felt the Guiding speed increase significantly. Feeling the instant rise in Guiding efficiency, Eunseok finally fully understood the book’s warning about how difficult it is to refuse deep contact with a hunter with high rampage numbers.

What wouldn’t one do to save a comrade with a self-destruct timer counting down? Eunseok felt the need to somewhat let go of his resolve to only do wide-area Guiding.

He noticed Choi Hanseo’s numbers had changed to yellow. If he had poured this much intense Guiding into Moon Bora or Ji Taeuk, it would have turned to zero long ago. He had heard that even ten B-class Espers would struggle to defeat one A-class, but it seemed the gap between A-class and S-class was even greater.

Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.

Both of their smartwatches began to sound simultaneously. It was the alert that Choi Hanseo’s allocated two hours had ended.

Instead of immediately withdrawing his hand, Eunseok checked Choi Hanseo’s watch. The numbers on his watch were yellow. There hadn’t been nearly enough time to bring it down to blue.

Accustomed to always completing missions cleanly, Eunseok felt uneasy about ending the Guiding like this. But surprisingly, Choi Hanseo was the first to relax his interlocked fingers.

As Choi Hanseo withdrew his hand, his fingers seemed to deliberately brush against Eunseok’s palm. Eunseok’s fingers reflexively curled. He immediately shot an unpleasant glare, but Choi Hanseo was already rising from the sofa.

“Unless there’s something special, only 1st Combat Team members can request Guiding from you. So don’t get easily entangled with hunters who cling to you with useless excuses,” Choi Hanseo said, checking his watch.

Eunseok wanted to retort that it was unnecessary advice, but being accustomed to the culture of following orders, he simply nodded. Then he asked, “To enter gates, we’ll need to coordinate combat with the team members. When do we start training?”

Choi Hanseo, who was about to walk away, turned his gaze to Eunseok. Perhaps due to the recent Guiding, his languid eyes were filled with a deep laziness.

“Adrenaline junkie.”

“…”

“I heard that was your nickname in the unit.”

Eunseok confirmed with silence.

“You might need stimulation, but wait a little longer. It’s proper to first coordinate Guiding with the team members before combat coordination.”

Instead of a long explanation, Choi Hanseo said this and raised his hand. His long, straight fingers approached as if to touch Eunseok’s cheek, then subtly changed direction to lightly brush through his hair.

“If you’re really hungry for stimulation… I could help in a different way.”

There it was again. An ambiguous tease delivered in a plain tone.

When Eunseok slightly frowned, Choi Hanseo smiled faintly.

“Well then, see you again, Guide Lee Eunseok.”

After saying goodbye, Choi Hanseo turned and headed for the Guiding room entrance. He opened the door without hesitation and disappeared outside.