A Candidate, Not a Battery

When Jaeyoung didn’t move an inch, the look in Saheon’s eyes as he watched him steadily grew colder.

“Is there something wrong with your head, that you can’t understand things when they’re said once?”

As if he’d run out of patience, Saheon grabbed Jaeyoung’s arm and yanked him over roughly.

Jaeyoung landed squarely on Saheon’s thigh.

Because he’d been pulled so suddenly, Jaeyoung panicked, stretching out an arm to brace himself against the floor.

But when he came to his senses, the place his hand had landed was Saheon’s chest.

“Let’s do some guiding first, then go take a proper matching test.”

“…What?”

Jaeyoung couldn’t help asking again, clearly displeasing Saheon.

His head was spinning from how sudden everything was, and he thought he must have misheard.

“Have you ever guided before?”

“…What?”

When Jaeyoung answered with another question mark, Saheon’s brows drew together.

Even if Saheon thought he was slow, Jaeyoung had no choice but to endure it.

It seemed far more likely that Saheon was mistaken than that Jaeyoung had misunderstood something this badly.

“Ah—no.

I’m just a normal person…”

Jaeyoung explained, still dazed, a fact Saheon might not know.

Saheon let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“Then we’ll start with a constitution test.”

Saheon clearly didn’t believe that Jaeyoung was an ordinary civilian.

“Hand.”

As if he’d said everything he needed to say, Saheon held out his palm toward Jaeyoung.

Without even realizing it, Jaeyoung placed his hand on top of Saheon’s.

Just like he had in the valley water, Saheon gripped Jaeyoung’s hand firmly.

Then he pressed quick kisses to Jaeyoung’s face.

“W-what are you doing…?”

Jaeyoung’s eyes shook in shock at the kind of affection you’d give a child or a pet.

Jaeyoung was used to being doted on, but Jin Saheon was the one person he’d never thought would do something like this.

He stared at him, pupils trembling in disbelief.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

Unable to make sense of it, Jaeyoung finally forced the words out.

But Saheon paid him no mind, continuing the kisses without hesitation.

“Stop.

Please stop.”

Jaeyoung didn’t just protest verbally.

He straightened his back stiffly and leaned his face away.

Deprived of his target, Saheon’s lips curved upward crookedly.

“Do you think I sat there and ate nicely for no reason?”

So the price had been kissing Jaeyoung.

That only made Jaeyoung more confused.

Why would Saheon go along with something he clearly found annoying just to kiss him?

“Why?

Seriously, why are you doing this?”

As Saheon quietly watched the flustered Jaeyoung, he suddenly pulled out his phone and made a call.

“It’s me.

Come to Kim Jaeyoung’s place right now.”

Just like he’d done with Jaeyoung, Saheon said what he needed to say and hung up immediately.

‘Who was that?

How do they even know where I live?’

The thought that his personal information had leaked without him realizing made Jaeyoung shiver.

“Come to think of it—you.”

Saheon, who had been looking down at Jaeyoung with a strange expression, spoke again.

“Yes?”

“If you ignore my calls one more time, I’ll tie you up and drag you around.”

“…What?”

At the vicious warning, Jaeyoung tilted his head in confusion.

Putting aside why Saheon had even called him, it wasn’t like he’d ever received enough calls from him to make him angry…

As he searched his memory, Jaeyoung let out a short gasp and hurriedly scrolled through his phone.

“Is this… your number, hyung?”

Seeing his own number sitting proudly in Jaeyoung’s spam list, Saheon let out a hollow laugh.

“You blocked me?”

So all those annoying calls had been from Saheon.

Relieved that his curiosity was finally answered, Jaeyoung smiled—

Then went pale at Saheon’s icy voice.

“N-no, it was an unknown number, so…”

“Save it.

Right now.”

Hearing the noticeably calmer tone, Jaeyoung let out a breath of relief.

At least Saheon didn’t seem to explode over every little thing.

“Do you even know that using abilities outside a dungeon is restricted?”

As Jaeyoung was saving the contact under the impersonal name ‘Jin Saheon hyung,’ a sudden unfamiliar voice sounded right behind him.

Startled out of his skin, Jaeyoung reflexively threw himself into Saheon’s arms.

Saheon, who’d been itching to pull him closer since earlier, happily wrapped an arm around Jaeyoung’s waist.

“Sorry.

I thought you knew I was coming.”

Jaehyo spoke apologetically when he noticed how pale Jaeyoung was.

Realizing that the sudden appearance wasn’t a ghost—and wasn’t Saheon either—Jaeyoung let out a shaky breath of relief and rubbed his cheek against Saheon’s chest.

The skinship came far too naturally.

Jaehyo watched the two of them with wavering eyes.

“I was just a little startled.”

Hearing Jaeyoung’s mutter, Saheon stood up without changing how he was holding him.

As the world suddenly rose higher, Jaeyoung yelped and clutched tightly at Saheon’s neck.

Saheon supported the underside of Jaeyoung’s hips with a solid arm.

“We’re going to K’s lab.”

“Why there?”

Jaeyoung looked curiously at Jaehyo, who asked with an annoyed expression.

From what Jaeyoung had seen on TV and briefly earlier, it didn’t suit him at all.

“The Association’s noisy.

And annoying.”

It seemed K’s lab was a place where things the Association handled could be dealt with more quietly and easily.

Judging by how uncomfortable upright, clean-cut Jaehyo looked, it was obviously illegal.

“Am I going too?”

Jaeyoung asked, already half certain of the answer.

Guiding.

Matching tests.

Constitution checks.

Saheon’s obsessive attempts to contact him.

He wasn’t kind, but he’d already given Jaeyoung all the information he needed.

“Do you think I’m a Guide?”

“It’s not about thinking.”

Jaehyo’s eyes widened as he heard their exchange.

At the same time, he finally understood why Saheon had suddenly become obsessed with harassing a perfectly normal person.

“If you understand, move.

I don’t want to waste a single minute.”

At the command-like words, both of them nodded obediently.

It was Jaeyoung’s first time experiencing teleportation, and he couldn’t help but be amazed.

He only felt briefly dizzy and blinked once—

And the space around him had completely changed.

The place they arrived at was entirely gray.

With barely any light coming in, it felt less like a laboratory and more like a shady drug factory.

The reason it reminded him of a drug factory was the long tables lined up with beakers of bubbling liquid, just like in movies.

“This place… isn’t dangerous, right?”

After finishing his visual inspection, Jaeyoung asked with an anxious expression.

His throat felt dry.

The sound of him swallowing echoed embarrassingly loud.

“Well.

I can’t exactly say it’s not.”

At Saheon’s reply, the smile hanging on Jaeyoung’s lips froze stiffly.

It didn’t feel like a joke—Saheon’s expression was far too serious.

Even Jaehyo was only smiling silently, which made Jaeyoung even more uneasy.

“I’ll just go ho—”

Jaeyoung started to speak, his face drained white.

The hand clutching Saheon’s chest trembled uncontrollably.

Saheon tilted his head, unable to understand Jaeyoung’s fear.

But as Jaeyoung’s mental state wavered, energy spilled out of him, soaking Saheon completely.

With obvious pleasure, Saheon greedily gathered every last trace of that refreshing energy into himself.

“What’s with that monkey?

Did you discover a new type of creature or something?”

At that moment, a strange voice stabbed into Jaeyoung’s already taut nerves.

Startled, Jaeyoung burrowed deeper into Saheon’s arms.

Saheon stroked Jaeyoung’s waist in response.

Even through their clothes, his palm felt hot enough to burn.

It was a soothing, reassuring touch, as if telling him everything was fine.

‘Right.

There’s an S-class Esper here.’

Resting his chin on Saheon’s shoulder, Jaeyoung let his body go slack.

Surrounded by unfamiliar people, he found himself leaning on the frightening Saheon instead.

He had no idea that Saheon was simply indulging his own desires.

“Or is it just a new model power bank?”

The man who’d been watching the strange sight offered another hypothesis.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Saheon snapped sharply at the man.

Unlike with him, Saheon’s touch toward Jaeyoung remained gentle, allowing Jaeyoung to regain his composure.

He turned his head to look behind him.

A man who looked exhausted at a glance was wearing baggy shorts and a stretched-out T-shirt.

His appearance, like the lab itself, didn’t resemble that of a normal researcher at all.

“Touchy.

Why are you here?”

To Jaeyoung, the stranger seemed even pricklier and ruder than Saheon.

“This is the one I came for today.”

“Hello.

I’m Kim Jaeyoung—Saheon hyung’s friend’s younger friend…

No, his friend’s younger brother.

Nice to meet you.”

Standing properly on his own two feet, the first thing Jaeyoung did was greet him.

The man merely stared at him with sleepy eyes behind his glasses.

“An Esper?

If you’re donating yourself as a test subject, I won’t say no.”

The man scanned Jaeyoung with cold, appraising eyes, like he was pricing merchandise.

Jaehyo frowned at the man’s attitude and checked Jaeyoung’s expression.

Anyone would be offended at such blatant disrespect, but Jaeyoung’s face didn’t change.

He simply thought, Figures—Saheon’s friend.

“There are reasons I can’t explain.

Just understand that.”

But kind-hearted Jaehyo couldn’t let it slide.

He stepped in and introduced them properly, something neither Saheon nor the man had bothered to do.

Jaeyoung looked at Jaehyo with pity in his eyes.

Stuck between a socially inept partner and his equally problematic friend, Jaehyo was suffering on all sides.

“I live by the motto that ignorance is bliss.”

Jaeyoung nodded reassuringly at Jaehyo.

Jaehyo looked at him with moist eyes, as if he’d just met his savior.

“Run a constitution test on him.

Then a matching test.”

Saheon pulled Jaeyoung back in front of him, away from Jaehyo.

“A matching test?

With who?”

The man frowned, clearly not understanding Saheon’s words.

“Obviously me.”

Saheon scowled, visibly displeased by the mere idea that Jaeyoung’s partner could be anyone else.

“So he wasn’t a power bank—he was a candidate.”

Clicking his tongue at Saheon’s reaction, the man spoke.

Jaeyoung wanted to protest that he was a person, not a battery.

But remembering how the man had ignored even his greeting, he closed his mouth again.

“It’ll take a few hours to get the test results.

You planning to wait?”

The man spoke with clear irritation, like he wanted the uninvited guests gone as soon as possible.

“We’re doing the matching test first.”

At Saheon’s words, the man’s face twisted in disbelief.

“So you’re confident.

Then why bother with the tests?”

He complained like he was fed up to death, then let out a long yawn.

Rubbing his eyes roughly with the back of his hand, the whites turned red and bloodshot.

Seeing how utterly exhausted he looked, Jaeyoung felt oddly apologetic.

“There’s no way you can’t tell the difference between a Guide and a civilian.”

The man didn’t bother hiding his annoyance.

Jaeyoung stared at him in small awe.

He didn’t like him, but the fact that he treated Saheon so casually was a little impressive.