The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 3

However, since I’d be moving around by my own choice from place to place, my say within a unit would increase.

‘And that’s a good thing!’

Praying with all my heart that God would bless me so I could finally walk a path of flowers from now on, I obediently followed behind Cha Eun-hwi.

And then, inside the director’s office—which I entered with a light heart—

“I trusted that she’d manage just fine, so I didn’t say anything until now. But in fact, last week, Guide Yoon Hyeya submitted her seventieth resignation letter.”

The Director dropped a bomb, as if confidentiality simply didn’t exist.

“Resignation letter?”

“…….”

It felt like all the blood in my body dried up at once.

I could vaguely see Yeon Do-gyeong and Lee Shin-ra staring at me with terrifying expressions, and the back of my head felt painfully prickly too. That was definitely Cha Eun-hwi.

Since I was wedged between them on the sofa, with both my hands trapped and held, cold sweat poured down my back.

I didn’t have the courage to turn around, so I glared at the Director with an aggrieved look, putting strength into my eyes.

Sir, excuse me—what happened to confidentiality?!

“I agonized over whether I should say this or not. Truly. But given the circumstances, I can’t avoid it any longer, so I hope you’ll understand.”

“No, even if you say that and expect us to just understand after being told unilaterally—!”

Squeeze. Both my right and left hands tightened. I answered with a smile so sweet my cheekbones hurt.

“Of course I understand. Please, go on…….”

We’ll talk later, old man.

Behind the smile, I ground my teeth.

The Director crossed one leg annoyingly and continued in a relaxed voice.

“Guide Yoon Hyeya. The Geumgang First Unit and the Second Unit you belong to are groups that gather espers with especially outstanding combat ability. When a gate appears, they’re deployed first. That means stabilizing the abilities of the espers in those units is extremely important.”

I know that. But ability stabilization could be handled with an A-rank guide, like in Geumgang First Unit.

Maybe when their abilities were unstable as children—but now, it doesn’t have to be me.

As I repeated the argument I’d emphasized over and over while submitting my resignations, using only my eyes, the Director made a troubled expression.

After a brief pause, he sighed and spoke.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be a problem in the short term even if it weren’t you, Guide Yoon Hyeya. However, as espers’ abilities improve, the burden on guides increases as well. The Second Unit’s growth rate is significantly faster than other units’, so considering the future, you’re the only suitable candidate.”

“…….”

“As you know, another issue is the lack of guides among awakeners. Unlike espers, guides also have difficulty developing their abilities further. Recently, even the First Unit has been struggling for the same reason.”

None of that was wrong.

For example, when espers are pushed to the brink of death or use their power to the limit, their abilities improve.

Guides aren’t like that. As if there’s a fixed maximum capacity, there’s a clear limit to how much we can grow.

That’s why, when my abilities suddenly grew so brilliantly overnight, it was considered such a rare case that researchers even came from overseas to study it.

Of course, for the sake of my peaceful future, I couldn’t exactly say, “I really, really, really didn’t want to do anything beyond hugging espers, and then my powers got stronger!”

At first, I honestly found it absurd and impossible to understand.

‘If guides are supposedly that rare, then why are we treated like this?’

For that rarity to work in our favor, espers would’ve had to be completely helpless without guides.

But even without guiding—no matter how painful and agonizing it was—espers could still fight.

On top of that, with continuous research, drugs for ability stabilization were being developed, steadily reducing the need for guides.

‘I’ve even heard people say that in just a few years, C-rank and D-rank guides—and even B-rank guides—won’t be needed anymore…….’

Even if that happens, though, an S-rank guide like me would be kept as a kind of insurance.
I’d never truly be free.

Anyway, I knew exactly what the Director was trying to say.

That’s why I wasn’t actually trying to quit—I’d come up with the alternative of working as an unaffiliated guide.

But apparently, that old man wasn’t satisfied with just dropping one bomb.

What he said next was even worse.

“This hasn’t been finalized yet, but we’re planning to merge Geumgang First Unit and Second Unit in the near future. And Guide Yoon Hyeya would be put in charge of that unit……”

“Seriously, why are you doing this to me?!”

Was I a traitor in my past life or something? Maybe I sold out my country a hundred times over.

Being “in charge” meant more troublemakers and no other guides. I can’t do that! I won’t do it!

When I shouted without realizing it, wrinkles formed around the Director’s eyes.

“Guide Yoon Hyeya, what exactly do you mean by that remark?”

There’s a reason people say that kind words bring kind responses—so isn’t it natural that I’d push back?

Even though he’s my legal guardian, the Director didn’t seem to have any intention of worrying about the human rights of his ward.

Still, I couldn’t honestly say that I was furious.

I’d lashed out reflexively because I really, truly, genuinely hated espers—but in this situation, it was basically insubordination.

No matter that I was an S-rank guide, I was still just an awakener under the Association. The Director was the one who ran the whole place.

In private, I could talk casually—but this wasn’t a private setting.

Out of habit, I swallowed a sigh and blurted out an apology.

That was when—

The intense stares from both sides made my cheeks sting.

“…….”

It seemed my extreme rejection had flipped some kind of switch in Yeon Do-gyeong and Lee Shin-ra.

But thanks to that, my overheated head cooled down a bit.

‘It’s shit. Shit. These guys are shit. Don’t react too strongly…….’

After taking a deep breath, I carefully chose my words.

“So, I clearly explained that the reason I kept saying I wanted to quit was because smooth guiding was difficult for me…… didn’t I?”

“……Yes. You said that because of your own lack of sincerity, the espers’ condition might actually be getting worse, and that in the long run, a guide who could provide more psychological care would be better. For the espers’ sake.”

I nodded quickly.

After writing around seventy resignation letters, you naturally come up with every excuse imaginable.

Even though I sometimes acted like someone with nothing to lose, I always made sure to leave myself an escape route—and this time was no different.

For the espers’ sake! With that angle in mind, I squeezed my brain dry and continued speaking to the Director, who looked like he might carefully review every reason I’d ever submitted.

“But without any adjustment regarding that, suddenly merging the units—and on top of that, assigning me to handle them alone without another guide—this honestly doesn’t make sense to me, Director. Something bad will happen.”

“Guide Yoon Hyeya, you’re severely underestimating your own abilities. That won’t be the case. Geumgang First Unit has two A-rank guides, yet they can’t properly stabilize their espers. But Geumgang Second Unit—”

“I don’t want to either.”

The one who cut off the Director mid-explanation was Yeon Do-gyeong.

I instinctively turned my head slightly—and his gaze was still fixed on me.

I pretended I hadn’t seen anything and naturally looked straight ahead again.

But maybe it was obvious, because Yeon Do-gyeong not only tightened his grip until it hurt, he also let his energy spill out chaotically—clearly showing just how angry he was.

The Director sighed and looked at Yeon Do-gyeong.