Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 9

And so, their strange cohabitation began.

His heart pounded fiercely without a single day of rest, but on the surface, a mundane routine without any particular incidents continued. Cha Mugyeol would review documents or check the news, and often spent his time in a dedicated office with a computer. It seemed he was working from here as well. He frequently spoke on the phone with someone who appeared to be a close associate, and he was also good at cooking. He always made enough for two, so Baek Heeheon ate the leftover food.

When the sun set, Cha Mugyeol would go into the annex and not come out. It seemed he was training to handle his abilities. These days, the educational artificial intelligence systems were so systematically established that they were used to teach training cadets through augmented reality and virtual reality modes. Baek Heeheon, too, had grown into a competent guide through the system.

In particular, since each Esper has a different system of abilities, and each Awakened has different ranks and limits, the new education system using personalized artificial intelligence was producing far superior results than the old education system where one teacher led and taught multiple students.

In any case, Cha Mugyeol usually remained holed up in the annex until midnight, which was a welcome development for Baek Heeheon. Because it meant they did not have to run into each other inside the house. During the day, Heeheon stayed cooped up in his room doing bodyweight training or maintaining his equipment, and at night, he chose the times when Cha Mugyeol was not around to wash up or watch TV.

Days that seemed peaceful at a glance continued.

He adapted, in his own way, to the meal times that were delicious and full of nutrients but felt like they would give him indigestion, and to the lifestyle pattern that was strictly divided between day and night.

The problem began when Baek Heeheon’s pager, which had been quiet for a while, went off.

Beep, beep, beep…….

Baek Heeheon had become Cha Mugyeol’s dedicated guide, and the only person who could summon him was Cha Mugyeol.

In the end, that day had finally come. The day Cha Mugyeol needed guiding.

Of course, since he was dedicating himself to training every night, he had expected a day like this would come. The more an Esper uses their abilities, the more imbalance builds up in their core, putting a strain on their body. And if they continue to use their abilities excessively in that unbalanced state, they can even reach a berserk stage.

“Hooooo…….”

Heeheon, letting out a sigh that could have made the ground sink, turned off the pager. With practiced, swift movements, he changed into his combat uniform and put the goggles on his forehead. Cha Mugyeol’s current state, transmitted to the transparent goggle screen, appeared in numerical values.

“Right……. Guiding… will be necessary…….”

Finally, after putting on the gloves on both hands, Heeheon clenched his teeth. The current time was 10:47:06 PM. Cha Mugyeol’s current location was the annex training ground. The imbalance value was at a stage where guiding was necessary, but it was not that severe. Having made his judgment, Heeheon took grim steps. It was his first time going to the annex.

He meticulously tied the laces of his combat boots and entered the adjacent building. The house system, recognizing Heeheon, automatically opened the door for him. Although it was called an annex, it was larger and more systematic than he had thought. It had all the necessary facilities, as if it were a smaller version of the Center’s central building.

Cha Mugyeol’s current coordinates were in the basement. When he went down in the elevator, from inside a long hallway, he heard the heavy sound of a massive force exploding with a boom, and saw a lightning-like flash that sparked with a crackle.

Cha Mugyeol was inside a booth enclosed by thick reinforced glass that could not be pierced even by a combat rifle. He was gathering and exploding his abilities on his empty palm as if kneading clay. Every time his abilities exploded, a blinding light flashed in all directions, piercing through the glass booth and reflecting diffusely.

Standing in the center of the exploding light, he was as beautiful as a god depicted in mythology. Lightning coursed over his white skin, and his black hair fluttered sensually. His focused eyes, as if time had stopped, were filled with heat and were building a world of their own.

It was not his first or second time seeing an Esper use their abilities, but Cha Mugyeol was definitely different. Was it because he was a rare S-class Esper? He had no idea what kind of fate one had to be born with to be able to naturally wear such intensity on their body.

Heeheon gently knocked on the glass booth.

“That’s enough, come out.”

Cha Mugyeol’s focused eyes turned sharply. Like a wild beast, he was unleashing his abilities as if he would attack anything he saw, but upon confirming it was Baek Heeheon, he let his power dissipate. Even though he knew it was safe outside the booth, his nerves were on edge for no reason, and he felt a tingling sensation.

“Ha…….”

Letting out a long exhale, Cha Mugyeol looked Heeheon up and down, from his head to his feet. He seemed out of breath, as he asked, panting slightly.

“What, you even got dressed up? Is there a need for that.”

“It’s work. And it’s the regulations. It has to be done properly.”

“So uptight…….”

He unlocked the glass booth and came out. Wiping the sweat beading on his chin with the back of his hand, he gestured with his eyes to the other side.

“Follow me.”

He obediently followed Cha Mugyeol, who walked ahead. There was a properly equipped guiding room.

Heeheon, sitting across from Cha Mugyeol in a chair, first briefly explained the procedure for guiding. He emphasized, in a businesslike tone, excluding personal feelings as much as possible, that what happened last time should not happen again.

Cha Mugyeol readily agreed.

“To summarize, I should hold your hand and focus on the changes in my core, right? And be careful not to lose my self-control.”

“Right. But you won’t be able to feel your core right now. That takes time.”

“I know.”

“Good. Then… let’s begin.”

Heeheon slowly took off his right glove. Then, he extended his hand to Cha Mugyeol as if offering a handshake. Even in this situation, he was concerned about trivial things, like whether his palm would get sweaty, whether his body temperature was too high, or whether the fine hairs standing on end from nervousness would be visible.

Cha Mugyeol took his hand. Trivial pieces of information that he had missed last time in the heat of the moment entered Heeheon’s brain. For example, information like his hand was much larger and firmer than he had imagined, that his knuckles were particularly thick, that his nails were neatly trimmed, or that his body temperature was on the cooler side compared to the average person.

Even though he had seen him sweating from training just a moment ago, his hand was not that hot. His pulse was also slow and calm. In fact, in a way, his hand even felt a bit cold.

“……”

“……”

The silence is awkward.

To engage in friendly chatter, Heeheon was in a state where he had to pay considerable attention to handle an S-class Esper. Facing a difficult opponent, his heart pounded as expected. The core inside his heart also trembled finely in response. Even though he was sitting still, he felt like he was about to fall, and he was so dizzy that he could not tell north from south, east from west. If he did not concentrate, the guiding would be cut off in an instant.

And so, a few tense minutes passed.

At some point, the clasped palms had gradually heated up and become hot. Heeheon swallowed a dry gulp. His eyes, checking the values displayed on his goggles, were anxious. Cha Mugyeol, who was probably thinking the same thing as Baek Heeheon, broke the silence.

“……Is this guiding even working?”

When he glanced sideways, it seemed he too was enduring considerable frustration. A bead of sweat trickled down the nape of his neck. Seeing the moisture disappear as it slid between the collar of his shirt, an ominous sense of crisis flickered at his feet. At some point, his black eyes were glistening with a craving for guiding.

“How much longer do we have to stay like this.”

“……I know. It’s taking a while.”

“I’m going crazy. Let’s just stop.”

“No, you can’t. Your imbalance value is still high. Try to endure it a little longer.”

“As if I can.”

Cha Mugyeol muttered a curse and threw his head back. He glared at the round light on the ceiling with wild eyes and tightened his grip. It felt like his hand was being squeezed, but he could not say anything to him. It was because Cha Mugyeol’s expression was extremely menacing. His firm lips were savage, and his jaw, where he was gritting his teeth hard, twitched.

Heeheon anxiously focused on the guiding. He had not relaxed his tension for a single moment since the beginning, but there was not even a little bit of progress. It was incredibly frustrating. Compared to when he guided other Espers, the difference felt as vast as that between an open, quiet field and a metropolis teeming with people.

“Hyung.”

“I know. I told you to endure it.”

“No, shit, Baek Heeheon.”

“Cha Mugyeol. Pestering me won’t solve anything. I warned you that our ranks don’t match.”

……Actually, there was one way to solve it.

A single, brilliant solution that could get them out of this deadlock comes to mind.

But it was a method that Baek Heeheon could not bring himself to utter, even if he died and came back to life.

Silence fell again. This time, the silence was of a kind where the air was prickly, as if it had thorns. The sharp tension cut at each other, without distinguishing between them. It had reached a point where he could not even swallow a dry gulp recklessly. Heeheon’s fingers twitched. He felt like his right forearm was about to cramp. He did not even know how much time had passed.

“But.”

In an instant, a cold voice drew his attention.

Cha Mugyeol growled, pressing down on Heeheon’s fingers as if to crush them joint by joint.

“Last time, you definitely.”

The moment he heard the words, which were bitten off and swallowed with each syllable, a bright red warning light went on in his head.

“Said it was more efficient, didn’t you?”

Mucous membrane contact.