Choi Taehun spoke decisively.

“It must be a bad omen.”

Ji Gwanyeong, who had been sitting closely next to the guide, skimming through the script, finally lifted his head. Choi Taehun was staring at his phone with the most serious face imaginable. It made Ji Gwanyeong realize, for the first time, that Taehun was six years younger than him.

As the eldest in a large family, Taehun had always shown a respectful, mature demeanor. But seeing him search for a free fortune telling, declaring that it was definitely a bad omen, felt quite refreshing. However, regardless of Ji Gwanyeong’s fascination, Taehun was quite serious.

“It wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for a bad omen, would it?”

“What’s so special about this year?”

“In my twenty-eight years of life, I’ve only fainted twice. Once in Gangnam, and then again just the other day. This is just ridiculous.”

Ji Gwanyeong, as if acknowledging Taehun’s complaint, leaned his chin thoughtfully on his hand. In fact, this time, even Ji Gwanyeong, who usually acts arrogantly in most situations, realized that he had made a big mistake. After spending time with the guide, he had used the overwhelming power recklessly.

As proof of this, the researchers at the center were so busy dealing with the aftermath that they didn’t have a moment to explain the unpleasant pair.

However, Ji Gwanyeong did not regret what he had done.

After all, he had remembered what Taehun once said: “Don’t even think about killing someone,” so he kept the arrogant guide alive, ensuring his survival. The weak man, whose abilities were still unclear, was soon taken away, so there would be no threat to his life. Also, he believed such a clear warning was necessary.

<Esper deployed during the arrest and suppression of a special criminal organization>.

The massive prison Ji Gwanyeong created had been cleverly packaged with a plausible name. The joint investigation between the police and the center sounded grand. Though the expression made the Esper chuckle, he did not show any disdain for it. It was because of his guide, who, after waking up late and reading the article, had exclaimed, “The world is really terrifying.”

Ji Gwanyeong smiled faintly and asked,

“Am I a disaster too, then?”

The guide blinked momentarily, instead of answering.

In fact, the Esper’s question was meant to lighten the mood, and he was confident that an immediate denial would follow.

However, now, Choi Taehun’s reaction was not what he expected.

“……”

“……”

A deep silence fell between the pair, who boasted the absolute highest compatibility rate. In fact, at this moment, the guide, Choi Taehun, was seriously thinking, “Oh, is that so?” in response to Ji Gwanyeong’s words.

This was understandable, as even when his younger sister sang praises of Ji Gwanyeong, Choi Taehun had dismissed him as just a celebrity and had never bothered to watch any of his dramas. Even after returning from a fan signing event, where he had his name inscribed on his back, he quickly erased the thought of “actor Ji Gwanyeong” from his mind. The perfect man with such a proud face had held no weight in Choi Taehun’s life until now, before their partnership.

It felt distant now, but there had indeed been such a time.

“……Hey, Choi Taehun.”

“Born in ‘XX,’ born in ‘XX.’ I’ll check out Mr. Ji Gwanyeong’s too.”

“Are you avoiding the subject?”

The guide was now thankful that his Esper wasn’t in the mental realm. If it had been, Taehun might have just avoided him completely, regardless of what happened.

The guide was quite troubled now.

To be more precise, he was wondering, “What should I do now?”

Choi Taehun had lived twenty-eight years as a staunch heterosexual. He had occasionally seen homosexuals due to the Esper-guide pairing and the name phenomenon, but he had always thought it was something unrelated to him. Without a shadow of doubt, he liked women. He wanted to marry a small and lovely person, enjoy his honeymoon for a while, and when the time came to settle down, have two children, whether a son or a daughter, and raise them well. If his wife didn’t want one, that would be fine too.

He wanted to raise his children like the most precious princess or prince in the world. Yes, that was what he really wanted.

The guide, with a somewhat regretful look in his eyes, glanced at his Esper, then quickly turned his head away when their gazes met. The man, who looked flawless, would never understand why the guide was so troubled right now.

At this moment, Choi Taehun’s previously unwavering sexual identity was being shaken to its roots. If this confusion was only temporary, caused by mingling with a man, then perhaps there was still a chance to regain his composure. But the more it went on, the more certain he became that it wasn’t just that.

Even now.

The man, who never let down his guard with anyone, was now smiling softly in front of him and enduring even words he didn’t particularly like. Choi Taehun scrolled down the screen to find his partner’s birth year and read it out loud.

“Today’s fortune: A benefactor will open the door and come to you.”

“Benefactor, my foot.”

“Open the lock of your heart and welcome them. It’s a time when positive thinking is needed.”

The one who has the most tightly locked heart, with so many layers, is Ji Gwanyeong. He narrowed his eyes as if thinking about something, then leaned his head toward the guide’s ear. Suddenly, a hot breath brushed against the sensitive spot, causing Choi Taehun’s shoulder to jerk sharply.

“Right. I’m thinking of opening that lock of my heart.”

“……You’re still fine, right!”

“I’m actually pretty hurt right now, thanks to you, Choi Taehun. They say you need to think positive.”

“Are you sure you’re the same guy who held back for over a month because he was worried about hurting me?”

Choi Taehun’s neck was flushed red as he grabbed the man’s strong hand that was slowly sliding towards his waist. The man’s eyes, crinkled in a smile, were both handsome and beautiful.

The guide thought that far, then realized how serious his situation truly was. He had never imagined that being paired with someone would be so confusing and exhilarating. Some pairs, even with good compatibility scores, switch because their personalities clash, but for him, it was his sexual orientation. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all.

A soft kiss began.

It was more of a gentle, ticklish touch, just their lips meeting, not even a tongue kiss. But Choi Taehun unconsciously tightened his toes and bent his knees, gripping the blanket tightly.

The Esper, who never missed a single reaction from his pair, took in every little tremor, sliding his hand down. He began to trace the guide’s well-defined waist, causing a suppressed sigh to escape the tightly sealed lips.

Now, it was Ji Gwanyeong’s turn to feel a bit strange.

Honestly, he hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. He kept forgetting the playful smile he had been wearing, seeing the guide struggling to hold back his heated breaths every time his hand touched him, his lips parted. He just wanted to bite his neck, which was turning red in patches, like it had been lightly stained with water.

Choi Taehun wasn’t the only one confused. Ji Gwanyeong was also realizing the thirst that had begun deep within him.

At first, he was happy just to kiss and sleep with Choi Taehun. He thought that was enough, more than enough. His guide, the first he had ever had, had shown him a real world he had forgotten about for a long time. So he wanted to continue their relationship, meeting when needed, sleeping together. Even if it seemed a bit dry, he thought it was the right way for both of them…

He had “thought” that, once upon a time.

The Esper’s hand grew a bit more urgent. He rolled up the guide’s t-shirt, revealing a slightly lean but toned body, sculpted by exercise. The sight of his abs, which trembled faintly just from being looked at, was enough to make his head spin, even though they were clearly a man’s.

The small brown mound, slightly erect with excitement, was cute. Gwanyeong’s mouth immediately went towards it.

“…Ugh…, uh, haa…”

Choi Taehun was more the type to suppress his moans, barely managing to let out a few ragged breaths, rather than letting out loud cries. Of course, if he was pushed to his limit, a sound unimaginable from his usually composed face would erupt.

The Esper’s tongue poked out and lightly bit the tip of his nipple, teeth bared. The guide winced, shaking his head slightly, like a slightly spoiled child.

A strange heat rose within him. Red marks, starting from his nape, began to spread down his chest, a blatant mark of passion. It was a direct sign of lovemaking that had never been present in their previous encounters.

Choi Taehun took deep breaths, trying to suppress the stimulation. His chest, which tightened with every contraction of his abs, looked like the greatest expression of excitement this conservative, fussy man could offer.

He pushed down the guide’s comfortable pants, revealing a fairly hardened member beneath the thin boxer briefs. Ji Gwanyeong, who had been running his tongue along his skin, began to play with it right through the fabric.

Choi Taehun, who had once suffered from a terrible rebound due to his aversion to their relationship. He chuckled softly, remembering their first time, when he had refused to come out of the bathroom, as if he had been dragged to a slaughterhouse.

Of course, right now he’s too busy catching his breath, his cheeks flushed red, looking up at me. His lips were chewing on each other, his hand slowly reaching for my shirt, which still had all its buttons intact, making him look incredibly sensual.

Only then did the Esper realize something he had missed, even with his sharp mind. Choi Taehun doing this for him, beyond him being his guide, made him incredibly happy.

But that realization inevitably brought with it a question.

“…Is it even necessary to be happy?”

That’s when it happened. The call bell in the apartment, a sound neither Ji Gwanyeong nor Choi Taehun had ever heard before, rang out.

The call bell in the guide’s apartment doesn’t ring for the paired Espers. So, in a way, this was the sound of the first visitor in actuality.

The loud ringing, like a bucket of cold water, made Taehun jump up, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have.

“…Ah. Ji, Gwanyeong ssi, just a moment. It sounds like someone’s here.”

“Leave them be.”

“It’s probably people from the center.”

The Esper stared at the guide, pushing him away with startled eyes, before he could find an answer to the question that had popped into his head. Choi Taehun was clearly not in his usual state. His ears and cheeks were red, his eyes watery, a sight that would make anyone hesitate.

The Esper crossed his legs and looked at the mark he had left on Taehun’s nape, a bit too close for comfort. A cynical thought immediately popped into his head.

‘A guest, my foot. More like a nuisance.’

But Choi Taehun’s words were accurate.

The visitors were those who Ji Gwanyeong, more than ever, needed to approach with a “positive attitude.”

Choi Taehun swallowed a gasp between his tightly clenched muscles and the thick bones that, even after falling from the third floor, had never once cracked.

“Ugh, huff, huh, why do you always go to those kinds of places! I don’t know! I don’t knoooow!”

“……Choi Woojin, hyung, it’s really okay.”

“Even though I wait every weekend, you don’t even come home! Just giving me a room isn’t enough! I don’t need a room, damn it, huh, sniff, ughhh.”

“Seungyu, stop cursing, let hyung breathe…”

Meanwhile, Esper Ji Gwanyeong, who had been observing with a smile barely curling at the corner of his mouth, was struck by the emotional reunion. For him, who had been an only child and had severed ties with his blood relatives a long time ago, such tearful concern was quite unfamiliar. He wondered if Taehun’s concern was because of something like the previous time, a terrorist incident with casualties, but it didn’t seem to be the case this time.

The most absurd part was that the younger siblings, who were supposed to be adults, were also crying, creating a chaotic scene. It was truly a mess. Ji Gwanyeong recalled the names of Taehun’s siblings that he had briefly heard before—Second son Choi Woojin, third son Choi Seungyu.

“Sniffle, e-excuse me.”

And now, approaching him with a sniffle, it was probably his fan, the fourth sibling, Choi Jihyun. Her face, still youthful and not quite having shed the student look after recently becoming an adult, showed a hint of Taehun’s eye shape. Ji Gwanyeong tried to speak in the kindest voice he could manage. He was definitely a professional.

“Yes, Jihyun-ssi.”

…Jihyun-ssi, he said.

Choi Jihyun had once been so shocked when she met Ji Gwanyeong briefly that she couldn’t even properly admire his face, which she had always dreamed of seeing. She was torn between her deep concern for her oldest brother and her overwhelming excitement at meeting her life’s actor in person. Having only seen him on TV or screens, seeing him live and breathing just inches away, calling her ‘Jihyun-ssi,’ made her heart and body feel out of sync. Her heart boiled with worry for her brother, yet her eyes unconsciously drifted towards Ji Gwanyeong.

Unable to suppress her wandering emotions, Jihyun opened her mouth between her sobs.

“Anyway, it’s all over the internet that my oppa is a guide, ugh.”

“…Eh?”

“Ugh, please, sign it, please, sob, sob. Heeeng, oppa!”

It felt like the guide part was something I was reluctantly attached to as an afterthought, but I didn’t avoid Choi Jihyun’s hug. I was very weak when it came to my younger sister. Our first meeting with Ji Gwanyeong had been because Jihyun, a fan of his, had asked me to get his autograph.

Once Jihyun hugged me, the next in line were Minah, the fifth sibling, and Jeongmin, the youngest. Now, the guide was completely buried among the siblings.

At first, the Esper thought the siblings were just playing around, but it didn’t take long before he realized that the tearful scene was genuine, and his expression became one of mild astonishment.

Up until that point, the guide had thought, “What’s the big deal about a few autographs?” He had assumed it was natural for his younger siblings to approach Ji Gwanyeong as a celebrity, not as an Esper.

However, that was a mistake Taehun made when he briefly forgot how many younger siblings he had. The guide, now somewhat anxious, was already on his 24th autograph, glancing over at his pair with a slightly worried look.

In fact, over the past few days, Taehun’s siblings had been rather hard on him, even though they hadn’t directly mentioned it. Jihyun still couldn’t forget the shock when she saw her brother’s face pop up on a café post, when it was rare to even see him on weekends. A classmate had stared, wide-eyed, and asked, “Jihyun, isn’t this your brother?” and she honestly had no idea how to react.

She had even skipped her lecture and run home, only to find that the other four siblings had rushed over in a state of panic, looking pale and frantic!

As Jihyun recalled that time, she couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, but suddenly, her gaze lingered on one of the words Ji Gwanyeong had written. Noticing her change in expression, Ji Gwanyeong tilted his head slightly, observing the lady sitting before him. There wasn’t any issue with the autograph itself.

Then Jihyun nervously spoke in a small voice.

“Um, this message overlaps with the one in front…”

“Is that a problem?”

Typical of Taehun’s younger siblings, they were direct with their words. Ji Gwanyeong, still with a polite expression, couldn’t help but watch as Jihyun rolled her eyes and muttered her words.

“It’s for my friends, just a little bit… that’s all.”

“I’ll redo it.”

The guide, listening to this conversation, began to fidget nervously.

By the time Jihyun, in her bright voice, had listed the sixth name saved in her phone, Taehun, who had been able to laugh along, began to lose the smile on his face as the number reached ten. Standing at a distance, he started gesturing to his younger sister, and when it reached fifteen, he quietly called out, “Choi Jihyun!”

However, Jihyun, sitting across from Ji Gwanyeong with flushed cheeks, was so focused on carefully examining the autographs on the paper that she had long since stopped noticing her older brother.

Taehun, worried that Ji Gwanyeong might be upset, glanced at the man’s expression. Ji Gwanyeong, who was known for his arrogance, often dishing out biting words to researchers, directors, and even ministers, was being unusually polite today. It made Taehun feel more burdened than grateful.

But Ji Gwanyeong seemed to be unusually relaxed today. Instead of delivering sharp words, he had briefly exchanged a smile with Taehun when their eyes met, then continued with the autographs.

‘Is he letting it slide today?’ The guide thought, nervously wetting his dry lips with his tongue.

But life, as always, was unpredictable. The second son, Choi Woojin, the most oblivious of them all, had touched and examined everything in his older brother’s office, and before Taehun could stop him, he made a beeline for Ji Gwanyeong.

“Hehe, hey there, hyung.”

And all the while, he was chewing on cherry tomatoes from the fridge. Eating while walking around was one of the things Ji Gwanyeong absolutely disliked.

“…Yes?”

Lhaozi’s Note: Hello, this is the translator, Pardon me if there was and will be grammatical error and name error, please comment it if you encounter it so that I can fixed it, Thankyou so much, this had a manwha and when I searched there was also a novel of it so i again, took the liberty to translate the novels, Thankyou for reading this with me!