Standing upon recognizing the villain of the novel, he shoved his phone into his hoodie's hand pocket and, with eyes full of anticipation and admiration, stared shamelessly at Wi Hajoon.
Officer Shin stopped by him, and Wi Hajoon looked him up and down. His eyes, covered with the dark sunglasses, didn't reveal with what kind of contempt he was being stared at.
"This is him? My guide?"
"The name's Rim Young. Do you know him?"
Rim Young found himself unable to speak in the presence of Wi Hajoon, nervously rubbing his thumb over his fingernails. Without much surprise, Wi Hajoon's reply was:
"No. Never seen him, never heard of him. He's obviously lying."
Wi Hajoon turned away to leave with his words, but Officer Shin grabbed him.
"Rim Young, is this the same person you mentioned?"
"Yes..."
"You lying bastard! You can only dream of dating me! What? A secret relationship?"
"I'm sorry!"
Faced with the yelling he was well deserving of after lying about the whole ordeal, he blurted out an apology with squeezed eyelids immediately.
"Stop scaring him! Wait here. You're not going anywhere until we solve this."
Forcibly making Wi Hajoon sit in the chair, Officer Shin went to another room, leaving him with Rim Young. No words were exchanged between them. A minute after Officer Shin left, Wi Hajoon got up from the chair, muttering, "I don't have the time to waste on this nonsense," and started walking away.
Stunned for a second, Rim Young ran out after him. Following him out the doors of the police station, he was going to touch Wi Hajoon to stop him from leaving like this. This would only make him appear guilty of the crime of dating a guide secretly without the center's permission, but even before he could touch him, Wi Hajoon turned around with a knife in his hand.
"Stop following me!"
It was a butter knife, but in Wi Hajoon's hand, it was the most terrifying knife out there!
"...!!!"
Screaming silently, he shut his eyes close, but remembering the location, he instantly opened his eyes and grabbed the hand with the knife with both of his hands, lowering it with all his might.
"This is a police station! What if someone saw us?"
He whispered urgently. Concerned, he glanced back to see if anyone had seen Wi Hajoon take out his weapon carelessly in front of the glass doors of the police station. Wi Hajoon yanked his hand back sharply. Without a word, he slid the knife back into the leather sheath strapped securely to his thigh, the blade disappearing just in the moment when Officer Shin spotted them.
"I told you to wait, Esper Wi Hajoon."
Stepping out of the police station, Officer Shin moved straight between them, a stack of papers held firmly in his hand.
"The law states that if a guide claims a 'Sustained Unregistered Connection,' the state is required to verify it for the Esper's own safety. You can deny him all you want, but your DNA won't lie. Sign the consent for the DNA test and the match test verification, or I'll have the Center's Internal Affairs bring out the handcuffs."
He lifted the documents slightly, presenting them without hesitation.
"Code Blue Warrant—Esper Wi Hajoon, please sign."
***
"You're not a registered guide, Rim Young. You should have been more careful."
"I'm aware, officer... thank you for helping me."
Although it was impossible for an unregistered guide to claim this, Officer Shin, known to take only the guide's side, had helped him get the warrant anyway. This is why he had come to Officer Shin specifically. He knew this person wouldn't let a report of this sort turn into rubbish.
Holding a cotton pad onto his arm, Rim Young stood next to Officer Shin, who had personally accompanied them to the center to wait for Wi Hajoon to come out after getting his blood drawn. After this, they would have to get a match test, in which he was planting all his trust.
I will become a guide if I take a match test with Wi Hajoon, right?
[Yes, but the match rate is unpredictable.]
But it will be more than 10% at least, right?
[The results are unpredictable, participant #555.]
The other reason he was confident he wouldn't be shunned was that Wi Hajoon was highly incompatible with every guide out there. The most he had gotten on his match tests was 8%. For a guide who would be awakened the moment of the match test, it had to be more than that. If it were any lower than 10%, he wouldn't even be declared a guide worthy of joining the center, and the system had clearly said that he could join the center. The one where Wi Hajoon was.
"Let's get this over with."
Done with his blood test, Wi Hajoon didn't hold a cotton pad to his arm like him and began walking ahead of them for the match test. Inside the matching test room, Rim Young exhaled nervously.
"What? Feeling scared now? After this test, I will make sure you don't ever get out of prison. Just watch."
Rim Young didn't respond to Wi Hajoon. He was more nervous because he was standing face to face with Wi Hajoon, not because of the test in reality. Having taken off his mask and sunglasses, Wi Hajoon looked unreal, straight out of fiction for real. How could he be calm in this situation?
"If we get more than a 10% match rate, would you like to become my Esper?"
Fearless, Rim Young asked Wi Hajoon. Now that they were alone in the booth, he felt like this was a proper place for the proposal.
"Ha! You have lost your mind. Like hell I would want that."
"I would like us to become an official pair."
"Don't waste my time more than you already have, and place your hand on the syncing device."
Wi Hajoon, impatient with him, had already placed his hand on the device's hand-shaped surface. Nodding off to him, Rim Young complied and placed his own hand on the device. Both of them turned to view the big screen after the device glowed a faint blue to see the match rate.
0%...
1%...
6%...
The matching rate jumped higher in real time, still scanning.
8%...
26%...
40%...
50%...
The moment it reached the 50 line, Wi Hajoon removed his hand, shocked by the rate that was far from done scanning, interrupting the match test.