Wonwoo decided to organize the things he had to do.
‘Right now, honestly… I’m overloaded!’
There was so much to think about, so much to worry about. It hadn't even been two full days, yet so many things had crashed down on him like a tidal wave. The people he’d met, the Gates, being a Guide, the favorability scores, and even Stardust. There were far too many things to keep track of.
And that wasn't all. There was the email Yonghyun had received about a one-man guild, what Jinho had said about destiny, and the possibility that Esper Kim Hyeonil, like Yonghyun, might have received something and known they would meet.
Words he couldn't make heads or tails of seemed to tangle together and spin inside Wonwoo's head.
It was this complicated, and he hadn't even met all the S-class Espers yet. There were four S-class Espers in the favorability score system. But one of their names still appeared broken.
[S-class Esper ^&*\]
‘That name must be Esper Baek Juwon.’
Esper Baek Juwon. He had seen news that he had enrolled in the same university Wonwoo attended.
That's why, even though he had never actually seen him, he felt an inner sense of camaraderie. As they say, the deepest connections in the world are forged through school ties.
‘He was in the department of interdisciplinary studies, I think.’
He’d heard Baek Juwon barely even came to school. He remembered complaining with his classmates, green with envy, about whether being an Esper, an S-class one at that, meant you were exempt from final assignments and exams.
And now, Wonwoo himself was on a leave of absence. So, should he try to meet him during a Gate raid?
With Yonghyun and Jinho acting as sponsors for the establishment of his Guide guild, a cooperative relationship with the two of them was naturally falling into place without any major issues.
If he was going to ask the Black Star Guild for cooperation, it was only natural that he should also send a request to the Geonyeong Guild, where Esper Baek Juwon belonged.
But Wonwoo wasn't thick-skinned enough to just show up and say, ‘I’ll provide guiding to the S-class in your guild. So, let's work together!’
If he were, he would have made a poster and gone looking for Espers on the very first day he became a Guide.
‘My head hurts more than when I had four major exams in one day….’
Wonwoo shuddered unknowingly as he recalled his foolish past, when he had crammed his schedule to get a two-day-a-week break from classes, only to end up taking four exams from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on a single day.
Now that he had finished filling out the guild establishment application with Jaesung's and Jinho's help, all that was left was to take the thoughts dancing in his head and line them up in a single file.
I’ll go crazy if I don’t get this organized!
With a grim determination, Wonwoo chugged half of the Americano Jinho had given him in one go, took out his phone, opened the system chat, and started using the chat window as a notepad.
[To-Do List]
[Create a Guide Guild – in progress]
[Attend the Guide Presentation – with Director Shin]
[Build favorability with Espers – correlation between favorability score and hearts?]
[Be careful of Stardust – but how do I watch out for people I’ve never even seen?? Should I just stick close to Jinho??]
[Participate diligently in Gate raids]
[Prevent the world destruction]
As I was using the messenger like a notepad, the system responded.
[SYSTEM’s GUIDE for user ‘Wonwoo’!]
[Stack up hearts and the favorability score goes UP! (●ˇ∀ˇ●)]
[favorability score and guiding efficiency are proportional! Let’s raise the favorability score to increase guiding efficiency!]
[The more hearts, the better! Let’s collect as many as possible!]
[*WARNING*]
[In the case of Espers not registered in the favorability Score System, efficiency will drop due to system issue.]
[Also, hearts can only be obtained from Espers registered in the favorability Score System.]
[System limitation…]
[□■□■□■□]
[We Ask for Your Understanding as This is a Measure for User 'Wonwoo's' Smooth and Efficient Guiding. ( ^ o ^ )/ ]
By now, he was used to the system accidentally tossing out a message with its true feelings and then covering it up by calling it an error.
Wonwoo entered the command, ‘Bring up favorability window.’
[S-class Esper Han Jinho]
Favorability Score: 40%
Status: Is thrilled about the future with user ‘Wonwoo’! (≧∀≦)
♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[S-class Esper Shin Yonghyun]
Favorability Score: 15%
Status: The favorability score must reach a certain level to view this content.
♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[S-class Esper Kim Hyeonil]
Favorability Score: 1%
Status: The favorability score must reach a certain level to view this content.
♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[S-class Esper ^&*\]
favorability Score: 0%
Status: The favorability score must reach a certain level to view this content.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
…favorability score, 1%? Esper Kim Hyeonil’s favorability score for me? A mere 1%?!
At that ridiculous number, Wonwoo shot up from his seat without realizing it.
‘I mean, sure, the favorability score doesn't need to be high! There’s no reason for it to be! But after receiving all that guiding and being so clingy, isn't 1% a bit shameless?!’
Wonwoo was even more flabbergasted because Jinho’s favorability score had gone up by 5% in that time, and Yonghyun’s had also gone up by 5%.
“Isn't this an error? Huh?”
As soon as Wonwoo finished speaking, the system even bolded Kim Hyeonil’s status and showed it to him again.
[Favorability Score: 1%]
[1%! That’s more than the truffle content in truffle-flavored potato chips!]
[No, it’s not more, actually. Esper Kim Hyeonil, how outrageous. (σ｀д′)σ]
‘Right? It’s not just me being sensitive or petty, right?’
He wondered if he had made a mistake, but no matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn't think of anything.
They had raided a Gate together and exchanged guiding, so shouldn't it be at least… if not more than 1%, at least 5%? Wonwoo bit his lip, feeling unjustly resentful.
‘Isn't this guy the type to smile to your face while stabbing you in the back?!’
Having gone so far as to define Kim Hyeonil as a nefarious and shameless Esper, Wonwoo realized he had gotten overly excited and took a deep breath.
“Right. It’s weird to expect a high favorability score from someone I just met today… No, that’s not to say that Jinho or Director Shin are weird. Ah, damn it, why are my words getting so twisted.”
In just a day or two, just from hearing a few times that someone liked me… no, that they liked my guiding, I’ve become this arrogant.
Get a grip, Kim Wonwoo. Wonwoo gently slapped his own cheek a couple of times with his free hand.
As Wonwoo stared at his phone screen with a heavy heart, a message arrived.
[Kim Hyeonil: I made a group chat! ^^ Named it the Cooperation Room!]
“…Kim Hyeonil-ssi?”
Come to think of it, things had been so hectic that he and Hyeonil had parted ways without even exchanging numbers. But somehow, Hyeonil knew his number, and when he opened the message, he saw a group chat that Hyeonil had created, inviting Yonghyun, Jinho, and himself.
Could it be spam or an impersonator? He considered it, but what kind of spammer would have the gall to invite not one, but two S-class Espers? Wonwoo shook his head.
[I never gave you my number, how did you know it?]
[Kim Hyeonil: Did I not get your number?]
[Kim Hyeonil: …Oh my. Oh my!!!]
[Kim Hyeonil: Hey, listen. Can we just pretend I got your number just now? Pwease.]
‘Why is this person throwing a tantrum here….’
An image of Hyeonil, who had casually talked about illegal activities, surfaced in Wonwoo's mind.
‘My number… must be getting sold somewhere….’
[Kim Hyeonil: Or, you know. That thing. Let's say I got your number from Director Shin instead.]
[Director Shin Yonghyun: Do I look like someone who would violate the Personal Information Protection Act?]
He wanted to question how and where he got the number.
But feeling as if he could see ‘1% favorability’ faintly appearing next to the name, Wonwoo decided to send a message that would let it pass as smoothly as possible.
[It’s okay. Please give me your number too, then. ^^]
[Kim Hyeonil: Of course! Our Wonwoo is so broad-minded!!]
***
“Juwon-ah.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
“Our Juwon… You’re not, by any chance, being bullied, are you?”
“Did you say bullied, I mean. Bullied? Me?”
For Baek Juwon, in his 25 years of life, the word that suited him least would be ‘bullied.’ No, if anything, he would be the one bullying the world, not the other way around.
Juwon snorted with a ‘hmph,’ then quickly remembered he was in front of the Guild Master and corrected his posture.
“It’s not like we care about social relationships… or who’s friends with whom. It’s funny for a guild to be concerned with who grown adults are hanging out with, you know.”
“That is… true.”
“Still, don’t you think S-class Espers should try to get along?”
“S-class Espers…? I’m sorry, Team Leader. Is something wrong….”
“At 2 p.m. today, an official notice came from the Bureau saying there would be a major announcement and to please make sure to watch it.”
It wasn’t the first or second time a notice had come from the Bureau asking them to check something, so Juwon continued to look at the Guild Master with a puzzled expression. Besides, it was now three in the afternoon. More than enough time had passed since the announcement.
‘Come to think of it, there was a notice to gather in the conference room at 2 p.m. to watch the announcement. But I fell asleep and didn’t go.’
“Director Shin Yonghyun is the face of the Association, so that’s understandable.”
“Uh, the face….”
“But at that announcement. Not only Director Shin, but Han Jinho and Team Leader Kim were there too?”
“…Huh. So all the S-classes gathered?”
“Yes. All except you.”
“……”
“Juwon-ah. I’ll ask you again. Are you, by any chance, being bullied among the S-classes, or something like that?”
At the Guild Master’s utterly serious question, Juwon was momentarily at a loss for words and pursed his lips.
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