The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 84

His smile was bright—

but his tone was sharp and full of sarcasm.

Just from that reaction alone, I could tell.

Like me, Guide Lee Muhwan disliked the unequal relationship between espers and guides.

The Director let out several sighs in a row.

To lighten the mood—and satisfy my new curiosity—I asked him a question.

“If it’s not rude, could you tell us what kind of ability you awakened?”

“Hmm. I usually don’t talk about it freely. But since I already know what your ability is, Guide Yoon Hyeya, I’ll tell you. Just don’t share it with anyone outside this room.”

That wasn’t something to worry about.

The Director had protected my secret.

Dogyeong, Shinra, and Eunhwi would never leak someone else’s either.

After glancing at each person once, Lee Muhwan lowered his voice.

“I used to wonder something. If guiding can stabilize an esper’s energy… then couldn’t the opposite be possible too?”

“You mean… the deficiency symptoms that appear when they overuse their powers?”

“Yes. I can disrupt even a perfectly stable esper’s energy.”

“How?”

“Hmm. It’s a bit much to demonstrate here…”

I was too curious.

Without hesitation, I turned around and fixed my eyes on the easiest target.

Yeon Dogyeong.

The moment our eyes met, he gave his usual eye-smile—

then froze.

“Yoon Hyeya… you’re not seriously asking me to get guided by another guide, right?”

“‘Another guide’? Technically, he said it’s the opposite of guiding.”

“…You should know that if it weren’t me, no one would agree to something like this.”

“There’s Eunhwi and Shinra too.”

If Dogyeong refused, Eunhwi was my second choice.

Shinra was third.

At least one of them would have agreed.

Dogyeong grumbled but still walked obediently to stand in front of Lee Muhwan.

Lee Muhwan grabbed his arm.

And immediately—

I felt it.

A sharp, unpleasant sensation flowed into Dogyeong’s body.

“Ugh… damn…”

Veins stood out on his forehead as his face twisted.

His internal energy became chaotic.

I didn’t wait.

There was no reason to observe longer.

I reached out and grabbed Dogyeong’s hand.

For espers, this was absolute.

I helped the staggering Dogyeong sit on the sofa and stabilized him.

Thankfully, he didn’t cough up blood or faint—

but his expression was terrible.

“Are you hurt—”

“I’ve been defiled… I’ve never allowed another guide besides Yoon Hyeya…”

“Yeah. Just rest.”

The fact that he was talking nonsense meant he was actually fine.

The one in the worst condition—

was the Director.

His face was stiff as he looked at Lee Muhwan, who was chuckling.

“Guide Lee Muhwan.”

“Yes?”

“Is there a limit to how many people your ability can affect?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Does it work on barrier-type espers?”

“It worked fine on the esper in my squad.”

“….”

“That’s why I didn’t report it, Director. If I told you, wouldn’t I just get dragged away?”

“…Ha.”

The Director’s deep sigh carried clear frustration.

Dragged away.

If this ability truly destabilized an esper’s condition—

it was extremely dangerous.

Lee Muhwan glanced once at Seo Jaeyeon, who was smiling bitterly, then looked at me.

“Our squad was already close. But after I got this ability, they listened even better. So… honestly, I was surprised when I saw you.”

“No. I heard that before I lost my memory, I didn’t get along with them. Apparently I hated espers a lot.”

“Ah, I get that. I hated espers too. Really, reaaally hated them. The ones in my squad were decent people, but just the fact that they were espers annoyed me. That’s probably why I awakened an ability like this.”

“Then… if mindset affects it, why did I awaken a strengthened guiding ability instead?”

I hated espers just as much.

Lee Muhwan smiled quietly and answered lightly.

“Maybe it’s because you’re kind.”

“Our Hyeya is kind though…”

Dogyeong suddenly muttered from the sofa like a corpse.

He still had energy left for nonsense.

Lee Muhwan smiled even brighter.

“I’m not joking. My guiding ability was already strong. I never felt the need to improve it. So my thoughts went in a strange direction, and I awakened something absurd. But didn’t you strongly want to improve your guiding ability?”

I did.

Desperately.

Obsessively.

I lived with one clear belief—

no matter what happened, I would never guide beyond hugging.

Never.

But the current me couldn’t reveal that.

So I shook my head.

“I don’t know. My memory isn’t complete.”

“You did, Yoon Hyeya.”

Dogyeong, who had already stabilized, interrupted.

The words How would you know? rose to my throat—

so I said them.

“How would you know?”

“Because Shinra and I tried everything to get guiding beyond just holding hands. When we got stronger, you got several times stronger.”

“Wow…”

“Impressive, right?”

“You two were really persistent. No wonder… So that’s why I gained an ability to strengthen guiding.”

I ignored him thoroughly, pretending I knew nothing.

From beside him, I faintly heard Eunhwi whisper:

“Dogyeong, please. If you just stay quiet, you’d at least break even…”

Of course, everyone heard that too.

“…So regardless of motivation, eliminating monsters allows guiding ability to grow.”

This time, the Director stepped in to redirect the discussion.

That’s how I understood it too.

But there was a serious problem.

“Not right now.”

“It would be difficult now.”

Lee Muhwan and I spoke at almost the same time.

The Director nodded.

“You mean the phenomenon where monsters target guides.”

“Yes. If we’re guiding, we’ll be attacked. We’d have to choose extremely safe locations. I tested this personally over three years of expeditions. Every awakened has something like experience points. You can’t see it, but clearing various gates and killing monsters accumulates it. That strengthens abilities. Fortunately, even weak monsters count. About six months ago, I camped at a regenerating slime pond for a week and killed nothing but jelly monsters. My ability still improved slightly.”

“That week was rough, Muhwan…”

“Call it a fond memory. Anyway, growth is possible that way. Guides usually stay in the back, so their base experience is low. If they start in D-rank gates and secure the last hits, their early growth would be fast. From there, you could intentionally give guides the finishing blows to raise their abilities.”

“…Headquarters doesn’t have the luxury to raise guides slowly like that.”

“Yeah. I figured.”

The Director was right.

Maybe if guides weren’t being hunted and killed.

Maybe if they weren’t leaving headquarters out of fear.

But now was not the right time.

Otherwise, would they really have planned to deploy someone like me—who had been missing for a year—the moment I returned?

If the number of guides decreases,

the burden on the remaining ones only grows heavier.