The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 4

Yeon Do-gyeong replied in a crooked, irritated voice.

“Hey, sir. Our Yoon Hyeya is already panting just from guiding three people. And you’re saying you’re going to dump how many more on her now? Are you out of your mind?”

He wasn’t wrong… but hearing Yeon Do-gyeong say it caught me off guard.
Since when did you care about me that much?!

Still, setting that aside, I really wanted to avoid being put in charge of the First Unit’s espers too, so I stayed quiet.

Then Lee Shin-ra gripped my hand tightly and snapped irritably,

“That’s right. Hyeya noona is definitely S-class, but her sense and timing when it comes to guiding are—”

Sense and timing are what?

I reflexively turned my head, and our eyes met in midair. Shin-ra flinched, then quickly looked back at the Director and continued,

“T-terrible. Even now, the situation is already unsatisfactory. Doubling the number of people she’s in charge of and making her guide alone—I’m against it too.”

“That’s why I said it hasn’t been decided yet. In any case, the reason this came up is because there have been many opinions that Guide Yoon Hyeya is being monopolized by Geumgang Second Unit.”

At the Director’s words, I frowned.

I really hate being treated like an object this blatantly.

Do they think guides are some kind of public property?

“So annoying…….”

I tried to hold it in, but it slipped out under my breath.

It was quiet—but everyone definitely heard it.

That was when—

Cha Eun-hwi, who had been silently observing the situation the entire time since we entered the room, spoke up in an irritated voice.

“The fact that such an opinion even came up is strange. To begin with, wasn’t Geumgang split into First and Second Units because Do-gyeong and Shin-ra had severely low matching rates with any guide other than Guide Yoon Hyeya?”

Was it because my grumbling was aimed at the Director?

Cha Eun-hwi didn’t look at me—he latched onto the Director’s words instead.

Either way, that was all true too.

No matter which guide you brought in, these prickly, sensitive bastards couldn’t get their matching rate over 30%.

Of course, having a low matching rate isn’t necessarily a problem.

Most espers were already receiving guiding while taking drugs that enhanced guiding effectiveness.

There were no notable side effects reported for those drugs, so they were considered quite stable and were widely used.

The real problem—if it could be called one—was that I was too exceptional.

‘If I were the Director, I wouldn’t just let an S-class guide with over 90% matching sit around either.’

Yeah. This whole matching-rate thing was seriously unpleasant.

Normally, no matter how skilled a guide is, it’s natural to have low matching rates with some espers and high rates with others.

But for some reason, no matter who I was paired with, my base matching rate was always over 80%.

Apparently, that was due to some mechanism separate from raw ability or something like that.

Which is why I was told there was no other guide like me.

What I hated most was that, sometimes, I caught myself thinking,
At least it’s good that my ability is strong.

Especially since my matching rate with A-rank espers like Lee Shin-ra and Yeon Do-gyeong—who were practically S-class in ability—was over 90%, I rarely got tangled up with truly vicious types.

‘No matter how much I hate to admit it, if I were really C- or D-rank, I’d probably be treated even more like a disposable tool than I am now.’

In a way, that too was a miserable compromise……

A gloomy sigh slipped out.

While I was sinking into my own thoughts, the Director—who’d been locked in a silent stare-down with the espers amid the tense atmosphere—finally replied,

“Strictly speaking, it was closer to the First Unit yielding. Unlike you, they didn’t have severely low matching rates with other guides, and they’d been doing fine without causing trouble.”

“Then keep doing it that way. Why change things now?”

“Because one of the guides assigned to First Unit formed an imprint with an esper from another unit.”

“Im—”

Yeon Do-gyeong’s mocking tone cut off mid-word.

I was just as shocked.

‘An imprint……?’

Imprinting. In dictionary terms, it’s a type of instinctive learning seen in animals.

Like how a newborn chick recognizes the first being it sees as its mother.

But for us, the meaning was a bit— No. Very different.

These days, guides are becoming increasingly scarce, so espers vastly outnumber them—but in the past, the numbers were roughly equal.

Back then, the basic principle was one-to-one guiding, and most pairs even formed imprints.

If a guide is as capable as I am, simply holding hands is enough to stabilize an esper. But when matching rates are low or insufficient, more active physical contact is required.

Which means—not just holding hands or hugging, but even kissing.

Imprinting was a way to make up for those shortcomings.

Once an imprint is formed, the matching rate with that specific guide rises to nearly 100%, and the esper’s condition becomes noticeably more stable—an extremely appealing advantage.

Of course, there were downsides.

Once a guide imprinted on someone, their matching rate with all other espers dropped below 20%.

And an imprinted esper’s obsession with their guide could become downright terrifying.

I don’t care what it’s like from an esper’s perspective, but from a guide’s point of view—when I already feel like my every move is being watched—there’s no way I’d ever want to imprint.

‘There was a time long ago when I briefly considered it… but that was really long ago…….’

Anyway, unlike in the past, this was now an era of guide scarcity, so headquarters strictly restricted imprinting.

Hearing the word imprint in that context felt extremely unfamiliar and awkward.

‘But seriously… did they even do it in their right mind?’

I honestly doubted it, but couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.

As if he understood our reactions, the Director furrowed his brow and continued,

“We were already planning a large-scale reorganization of other units soon anyway. Considering rational personnel allocation, we were discussing merging Geumgang into a single unit and having Guide Yoon Hyeya exclusively in charge. But then—”

“She submitted seventy resignation letters, our Yoon Hyeya did.”

“……And she didn’t even tell us.”

The topic swung back to me.

Trying my best to look calm, I swallowed a sigh at the words coming from both sides.

‘Here it comes. They’re going to tear into me now.’

I should brace myself.

I might completely lose it and start swearing……

But surprisingly, neither of them said anything more.

Instead, Yeon Do-gyeong rested his head on my shoulder and spoke lightly—

Not to me, but to the Director.

“So basically, First Unit saw their chance and said we’re monopolizing the S-class guide, so we should hand her over?”

“No. Complaints about monopolization have been coming from other units as well. Guide Yoon Hyeya has high matching rates with virtually all espers and exceptional guiding ability. The fact that she can stabilize mental states just by holding hands—how helpful that is in combat situations—you know better than anyone.”

‘If you value me that highly, how about treating me better?!’

I’m getting more and more worried about where my human rights went.

Because Yeon Do-gyeong is especially delinquent, Geumgang Second Unit looks worse by comparison—but from my experience, all espers are selfish in their own way.

‘First Unit has four espers. Second Unit has three. That means I’d be in charge of seven…….’

I was so shocked I could barely hear the voices of the Director, Lee Shin-ra, and Yeon Do-gyeong going back and forth.

‘……Should I just pretend I’ve lost my mind and flee overseas?’

I’d received quite a few scouting offers when I was younger.

I didn’t fully understand them since I’d only learned foreign languages at school, but they were extremely enthusiastic.

The problem was that if I really ran, I could end up on an international wanted list.

‘Even taking medical leave by claiming poor health wouldn’t work, since Lee Shin-ra has healing abilities…….’