The next day, I went to see Professor Choi.

"Yeonsu, are you feeling all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"That's a relief. I should’ve come see you the day you were discharged, but something urgent came up..."

An S-class Esper had nearly gone berserk during a mock battle training, and the S-class Guide was unconscious.

Professor Choi, who was in charge of the training, had reportedly been swamped for two whole weeks trying to contain the aftermath.

His face showed signs of deep fatigue—he must have been under a lot of stress.

If either I or Joo Seunghyuk had been seriously hurt, he probably would’ve had to resign.

"I'm the one who should apologize. I’m sorry for causing you concern."

"Do you remember what happened that day?"

"Yes. I’m sorry I disobeyed orders."

Professor Choi had ordered me to evacuate.

During training, it was a strict rule to obey the supervisor’s commands unconditionally, but I had broken that rule and guided Joo Seunghyuk instead.

Regardless of the outcome, it was my mistake.

"No, Yeonsu. Your judgment was right. Thanks to you, we were able to save Joo Seunghyuk’s life. But be more careful from now on. The life of an S-class Guide doesn’t belong to just himself. Treat yourself as someone precious."

"Yes, sir. I will."

Professor Choi didn’t pursue the matter further. I’d braced myself to be scolded for at least an hour, but he was being unusually lenient.

"Do you know why Joo Seunghyuk was on the verge of going berserk?"

"No. He hasn’t told me. What happened?"

Joo Seunghyuk hadn’t shared anything about what had happened. Even the online articles didn’t go into detail.

"Joo Seunghyuk refused to be guided."

"He refused guiding?"

‘Refusing guiding’ was exactly what it sounded like—an Esper rejecting a guiding session.

"It wasn’t intentional, apparently. It seems he exhibited a guiding rejection response without realizing it."

Professor Choi explained in detail how Joo Seunghyuk had ended up on the brink of a rampage.

After defeating all the virtual monsters in the Gate Hall, Joo Seunghyuk received guiding from Kim Jun.

That’s when things began to go wrong.

"Joo Seunghyuk didn’t want to be guided by Kim Jun, but Kim Jun insisted."

This was a training exercise. Just as Espers had the right to receive guiding, Guides also had ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) the right to guide.

People often thought matching was only about rank and match rate, but that was a shallow understanding.

Guiding required skill, and training was essential to develop it.

So Kim Jun insisting on guiding the only Esper in his group was a natural demand. The real problem was Joo Seunghyuk rejecting the guiding.

Yet Professor Choi subtly took Joo Seunghyuk’s side.

Among the professors, he was known to be fair, but it seemed even he couldn’t help leaning toward S-classes.

"In the end, they proceeded with the guiding after some back-and-forth, but a rejection response appeared immediately."

"There was a rejection right at the start, and he still went all the way to a berserk state?"

It wasn’t uncommon. If the mana compatibility was poor or the match rate low, the Esper would instinctively reject the guiding. Sometimes, it happened due to the Esper’s condition that day.

In such cases, the Guide was supposed to immediately halt the guiding and request a replacement. If the issue was the Esper’s condition, they might just use a mana recovery potion instead.

Either way, it shouldn’t have escalated to this extreme.

"Exactly. The guiding should have been stopped immediately when the rejection appeared, but it seems Kim Jun forced it through. Even if he’s inexperienced, this is a basic mistake."

Professor Choi clicked his tongue. For someone usually fair, his tone blaming Kim Jun was unusually sharp.

He must’ve been angry that someone who didn’t even understand the basics had gone ahead with guiding and caused such a disaster.

"But this doesn’t usually lead to something like that..."

This was like slamming the gas pedal when you should hit the brakes. A rookie mistake, sure, but not uncommon.

Of course, forcing a guiding session was dangerous. If the other party’s mana was actively rejecting yours and you tried to push through, it could cause an accident. But usually, it just resulted in minor injuries. It almost never escalated into a full-blown rampage.

And the Esper in question was Joo Seunghyuk. An F-rank Guide’s mistake should’ve been something he could easily handle.

"It just shows how terrible their compatibility was."

"Sorry? Their compatibility...?"

"Their match rate was 1.9%. That’s basically zero."

"That can’t be..."

In the original story, Joo Seunghyuk and Kim Jun’s match rate was 91%. Even accounting for margin of error in the measurement system, such a drastic discrepancy made no sense.

"Did you run a 1:1 match rate test as well?"

Upon entering the Esper Academy, each student’s mana was individually measured.

They ran simulations with that data to analyze expected match rates and used the results to assign training teams or guiding partners.

The simulation was less accurate than the 1:1 test, but it was more efficient, so it was widely used.

In the original novel, the simulation result between Joo Seunghyuk and Kim Jun had been around 60%, but after the 1:1 test, it jumped to 91%.

Even if simulations weren’t fully accurate, people had been shocked by how big the gap was.

"The 1:1 test result was 1.9%. The simulation had said 62%."

So it really was 1.9%? With a match rate that low, guiding would be toxic—like giving B-type blood to an A-type recipient.

Then the red mana inside Joo Seunghyuk really was Kim Jun’s. The match rate wasn’t just low—it was catastrophically incompatible, so the mana wouldn’t have fused at all.

When completely mismatched mana forcibly invaded, it would’ve entangled with Seunghyuk’s own, driving him into a near-berserk state.

I had suspected as much but denied it because I had the source material to rely on.

But if the 1:1 test said 1.9%, then it had to be true.

How the hell had the original story changed this much?

"It wasn’t just Kim Jun. We ran 1:1 tests with ten B-rank Guides who had high compatibility with Joo Seunghyuk in the Academy, and even with the A-rank Guide, and all of them came out below 3%."

"Does that mean this isn’t just a temporary guiding rejection?"

Professor Choi gave a heavy nod.

"It’s been nearly twenty days. At this rate, Joo Seunghyuk won’t be able to continue as an Esper."

There were two main types of guiding rejection.

One: rejecting a specific Guide’s mana.

Two: rejecting guiding entirely.

The first could be solved by changing the Guide. But the second was far more serious. If it was temporary due to poor condition, that was one thing—but if it lasted long-term, it could spell the end of the Esper’s career.

Even S-classes weren’t exempt. No matter how powerful an Esper was, they couldn’t replenish mana without guiding. Sure, there were mana recovery potions and drugs, but those were just stopgaps.

Besides, even in cases of guiding rejection, match rates typically hovered around 10%. Dropping below 3% meant the situation was severe. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

‘He didn’t say a word to me when things were this bad? He was worried about me when this is what he’s dealing with? Is this what dating is? Not even telling me something this serious? That bastard.’

I wanted to storm out and punch Joo Seunghyuk in the face.

As I bit my lip in frustration, Professor Choi spoke again.

"By the way, Yeonsu..."

"Yes, Professor?"

"You haven’t... imprinted with Joo Seunghyuk, have you?"

"What?"

"Imprinting can also lower compatibility with other Espers, can’t it? So if he imprinted with you..."

"I haven’t."

Imprinting between Esper and Guide required mutual consent. It wasn’t something that could happen with one person’s will alone.

I’d never imprinted with Joo Seunghyuk, and I could say that with certainty.

"Besides, I’ve never guided Joo Seunghyuk before. The mock training was the first time."

Well—there was one time. But that was ages ago... and it wasn’t even an official session. He probably didn’t even remember it.

"I see..."

Professor Choi let out a deep sigh. He must have been clinging to a final sliver of hope that maybe we had imprinted.

"I’m sorry."

"No, it’s not your fault, Yeonsu. So... you haven’t imprinted. Then how about this—would you be willing to undergo a 1:1 match rate test with Joo Seunghyuk?"

"With Seunghyuk?"

"Yes."

"But if we’re both S-class, wouldn’t the match rate be even lower?"

"Still, you two are very close, aren’t you? And you were the one who stopped his rampage. I know you just got discharged and you must be exhausted, but I’m asking this as a favor."

Professor Choi bowed his head sincerely. He must have been desperate—an S-class Esper might be forced into early retirement.

I felt the same. Joo Seunghyuk scared me, but that didn’t mean I wanted his career as an Esper to end.

And this was partly my responsibility, too. I had been the one to suggest pairing him with Kim Jun.

"All right. I’ll do the test."

"Thank you."

The main uke and main seme had their first guiding session and it ended in a rejection...

Just what direction was this story heading in now?