Episode 9
Kim Yeo-hyeon Esper Fan Page
It’s a somewhat dark, small, anonymous site.
Everyone uses casual speech.
There are lots of internet community old-timers here, basically internet fossils, but this isn’t an extremely nasty or toxic site.
Still, people here go way beyond the average level of fangirling, so newbies who aren’t familiar with internet community culture are advised to move to another page.
[Title: Bumping the Rules
Newbies, lurk for three months.
Before you write any pointless posts,
Go lurk for three months.
And even after those three months, follow the rules below when you post.
Rule 1. We only praise Yeo-hyeon-nim.
We sincerely refuse even constructive criticism.
There’s enough rational thinking in real life.
Here, we just praise him.
Rule 2. We don’t get jealous of Yeo-hyeon-nim’s guide.
Please, just let the matching rate be high.
Please.
Our future dedicated guide-nim with a high matching rate, we love you very, very, very, very much.
We welcome you with all our hearts.
Rule 3. Three times a day, place a bowl of water facing the Yeoksam direction and perform a ritual wishing for an A-rank or higher guide with a matching rate of at least 50 percent to awaken.
Until the day everyone’s wishes become reality…
Rule 4. Don’t feed idiots.
Especially those pathetic people who keep crying that Seo-nim and Yong-i are our country’s number one.
We don’t even sit at the same table with them.
We’ll just give you a clean recommendation of negative 18.
Comments (0) Likes (37)]
[Title: Is this that famous place where only psycho shut-ins gather?
I heard only old people who can’t even keep up with modern technology hang out here.
Comments (0) Likes (-18)]
[Title: Did everyone see this? There’s an unselected guide in front of Yeo-hyeon-nim!
(Photo)
A photo the reporters barely managed to get from Yeo-hyeon-nim’s parking lot.
The focus is completely off, but if you look closely, this isn’t a solo shot, right?
My guidance radar has started working.
My heart is pounding.
My heart has started reacting.
Hello, heart?
I finally remembered that I have a left side of my chest after so long.
Anyway, moving on.
Ta-da.
(4x enlarged photo)
The atmosphere between the two of them is totally giving “those two have their own world.”
Their height difference is making my heart flutter.
Wow.
How did you know I like that kind of hairstyle?
I like it whether they’re a man or a woman.
I’m also curious about their hair color, but anyway, my heart keeps pounding.
So anyway, I was completely stunned.
Since I was already at it, I brought out some water and solemnly prayed toward Yeoksam from my house too.
Then I checked the guide mark printed on that short-haired person’s padded jacket.
(8x enlarged photo)
And I enlarged the ID hanging around Short-Hair-nim’s neck too.
(64x enlarged photo)
So can you see that it says “GUIDE” and “UNSELECTED” there?
I
can’t
believe
it.
Please.
How long has it been since we got an unselected guide in South Korea?
Please, Unselected-nim, let your matching rate be high.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Just 50 percent.
I’m not being greedy.
Even if you just get past that cursed 50 percent mark, I will offer up a tribute so unbelievably huge that I can’t even put it into words.
Please.
The photo is blurry and their clothes are so thick that I can’t tell whether they’re a pretty boy, pretty girl, handsome man, or beautiful woman.
But please, I sincerely wish for you to settle down as Yeo-hyeon-nim’s guide.
It’s time for you to settle down now.
Please, let’s finally put an end to living as number one in potential power and properly become number one in the world ranking.
Please.
Comments (7) Likes (33)
1. I’m adding my spoon and shouting, Yeo-men!
└ Yeo-men, number two.
└ Yeo-men, number three.
└ Yeo-men, number four.
└ Yeo-men, number five.
└ Seeing how our Yeo-hyeon stans are still like this even after failing to pull a guide for over ten years, I really feel sorry for you guys.
Anyway, I also put out some water and prayed, so I’ll give you Yeo-men number six.
I’m gritting my teeth while holding back tears.
└ Tearful Yeo-men number seven.
└ I’m crying.
└ Yeo-men number nine.
2. Please.
3. No matter how much tribute you guys offer, I don’t think it’ll beat even one black card from Yeo-hyeon-nim.
4. I feel bad for the reporters and all, but please don’t harass Yeo-hyeon-nim too much.
Isn’t this basically taking a secret photo?
└ And yet I know you saved it.
└ It’s not a stalker photo.
It was cropped from the corner of an article photo taken by an official reporter covering the annex building.
And you, you shameless person who left such a sharp comment.
Even though you left such a biting comment, I bet you couldn’t walk past it today because our Hyo-ni-Hyo-ni’s back of the head looked especially pretty.
5. Seriously, is the eyesight of your delusional shippers for real?
You figured out that they’re an unselected guide just by enlarging that tiny blue G logo in the distance from a low-quality photo where you can’t even get a proper angle.
I respect you.
└ I support the Kim Yeo-hyeon delusional shippers whose class makes my chest swell with pride.
6. Honestly, everyone ranked ES 1 through 8 in our country except Kim Yeo-hyeon has already used up all their potential.
Kim Yeo-hyeon is the only one left.
But according to rumors, his matching rate is ridiculously hopeless with every guide.
At least, all the papers being published say that if Kim Yeo-hyeon gets an unselected guide, there’s a chance we might see a slightly higher matching rate.
I’m worried that if this guide-picking attempt fails too, the whole “Awakened One Asia Tour Grand-Class” might collapse.
Anyway, I also hope that person goes over 50 percent.
└ You aren’t some intelligent anti-fan trying to feed Yeo-hyeon-nim by going on and on with the crying, are you?
└ Let’s not fight.
└ There’s no real problem here. Let’s solve this peacefully.
└ I’m a genuine fan.
└ Yeah, okay. Let’s raise a toast together to Unselected-nim.
└ Deal. Cheers.
└ Cheers.
└ What a heartwarming scene of reconciliation.
7. How the hell did you get this far with your imagination from one distant, low-quality secret photo?
But anyway, what are Short-Hair Guide-nim and Yeo-hyeon-nim’s plans for having children?
└ No, seriously, in a photo this low-quality, you can’t even tell whether they’re a woman or a man.
What if they’re just some young boy?
Of course, I personally hope for one son who is a guide and one daughter who is an esper.
Loyalty to Yeo-hyeon-nim.
└ One boy and one girl is the standard, obviously.
└ Please let us someday be able to stand an esper daughter who looks like Yeo-hyeon-nim too.
└ Just imagining an S-rank, tall, cool-looking beauty with a husky voice makes my heart flutter.
└ There may be times when I take a break from stanning, but I’ll never quit.
I’ll stay devoted forever, all the way to my grandchildren, great-granddaughters, great-grandsons, and their children.
└ I’ll devote myself to the great-grandkids forever too.
There is a saying called “beginner’s luck.”
It means that when someone tries gambling, sports, or something similar for the first time, luck is on their side and they get a better result than expected.
Only the first time.
Yeongwon wasn’t sure if it was the perfect comparison, but she sadly wondered if her chance to have a private meeting with Yeo-hyeon had been something like that.
“Dear landlord-nim… where on earth are you…”
Three days had passed since their first meeting, which had happened just ten minutes after Yeongwon had started desperately searching for him.
And during those three days, Yeongwon hadn’t even seen a single strand of Kim Yeo-hyeon’s hair again.
During commuting hours, she ran to the parking lot entrance every day, prepared to throw her bare body in front of his car and block it if necessary.
She had decided to trust an S-rank’s eyesight, reflexes, and reaction speed.
She was also activating every radar she had and doing everything she could to meet him.
But it was as if Kim Yeo-hyeon had become a ghost.
He never showed himself.
“I’m sure he’s breathing somewhere within the same five-meter wall, and even the news is reporting that…”
If she couldn’t meet him even though they were both inside the same central headquarters, then his return to work was completely meaningless to Yeongwon.
She tried poking around the people around him to get some information, but nothing useful came out.
Professor Yoon, Yoryeon, and everyone else couldn’t provide her with anything useful either.
“Does Kim Yeo-hyeon-nim ever go for walks in that park?”
“Walks in the park? Hmm… I don’t think he does.”
“Doesn’t he show up around lunchtime to eat?”
“Eat at the cafeteria? Hmm… I don’t think he does.”
Apparently, he wasn’t the type to show up here and there very often.
Yeongwon himself wasn’t someone who could lose to anyone when it came to staying at home, but even if he hated going outside that much, staying glued to his office was too much.
She couldn’t accept that such a person existed in the world.
“Why doesn’t he come to work or go home? At this point, isn’t the article the center released about his return to work basically fake news? Huh? Someone needs to fact-check this.”
Yoryeon carefully answered Yeongwon’s complaint.
“…He came to work, and he hasn’t gone home.”
“He did return to work. It’s real news.”
As it turned out, it was such pure, 100 percent genuine news that there was absolutely nothing left to add.
The conversation ended with Yeongwon feeling strangely solemn.
“What the hell is the workload like around here…”
“What the hell is going on with this iron rice bowl…”
“Please don’t do this to me…”
The day when the identification device would arrive from Busan was getting closer and closer.
With no way to make contact with her landlord, Yeongwon became even more anxious.
Still, her daily routine continued.
Training and meals.
Then more training and more meals.
“Guide Yeongwon. Professor Shin from the Jeju branch came here to give a lecture about gates.”
“Yes.”
“We just got a short conference call from Hong Kong regarding unselected guides. If you could answer a few questions for them with an interpreter, that would be great.”
“Okay.”
Even though her personal hopes kept getting crushed, Yeongwon had no choice but to keep meeting different people inside headquarters and learning new things from them.
“Why? Why does it feel like I’m sinking deeper and deeper into a swamp I can’t escape from?”
While the atmosphere at headquarters was getting brighter and brighter after the Ilsan Gate was closed, Yeongwon alone became gloomier with each passing day.
“She’s smart. She has good instincts. And she has a good sense for things.”
Late in the afternoon, Yeongwon stopped in front of Professor Yoon Hee-yu’s office.
“She’s a little careless, which makes me think she’d be well suited for dungeon operations, where you have to use your energy as efficiently as possible.”
She was on the phone with someone.
“Yes, yes. I think she might have pretty good chemistry with Manager Baek Yul too. Of course, we’d have to run the matching device and see the actual matching rate before I could say anything for sure.”
Yeongwon was certain that Professor Yoon was evaluating her.
The name Baek Yul was familiar.
He was the number two S-rank Esper in South Korea, someone who occasionally appeared in the old-timers’ chat room.
He was also the manager of Emergency Response Team 1 at the center headquarters.
Yoryeon had told her that he was extremely close with Esper Lee Chang-gyeol, the manager of Team 2.
“If she decides to stay at the center, there’s no doubt she could be a huge help to us.”
If that was supposed to be praise, then it was praise.
“If the identification results show she’s A-rank, I’m hoping she might even be able to work on the front line.”
Front line.
Yeongwon now knew that this referred to guides who went right up to the gate, or even inside the gate itself, to guide the Espers.
“Even though she looks delicate, I don’t think she’s that weak and fragile. It would be a waste to keep someone with that kind of front-line talent as backup only.”
Backup.
That referred to guides who guided Espers from the safety of the center.
Yeongwon had absolutely no intention of staying at the center to work as even a backup.
But if she had to choose one of the two, even if it came to that, she would much rather be a backup.
The front line was something she really, really wanted to avoid.
So, from Yeongwon’s point of view, Professor Yoon’s evaluation was something she absolutely did not want to agree with.
“And she has a good vibe too. I think people would probably love her a lot. She could become incredibly popular with the public in many ways.”
Yeongwon frowned.
Fame and suffering were both things she wanted to avoid.
Very, very, very much.
So, wanting to completely ignore reality, she covered her ears and took several steps back.
“And she likes Kim Yeo-hyeon. It’s not unusual for someone to admire him like that… Especially at a time like this, when everyone is completely obsessed with the national hero. Well, she’s young enough to be swayed by things like that.”
Yeongwon waited at a distance where, if she concentrated, she could only tell that Professor Yoon was saying something.
“I don’t know if she’ll be able to endure it, but maybe…”
Professor Yoon listened to the other person for a long time before asking,
“Is it really wrong to hope for a miracle? Is that what you’re saying?”
The person on the other end of the phone continued speaking.
“The end of the trial is coming. It’s already too late to avoid it. All the data is warning us that something even more terrible is going to descend upon this land.”
Her voice grew stronger and stronger.
“How long do you think we can keep pretending not to see it, comforting ourselves with the words of trash who only care about their own interests?”
The anger she had been holding back began spilling out.
“Those fucking bastards.”
Professor Yoon’s tightly clenched fist trembled.
“If we keep going like this, we’re all going to die like dogs. Of course, those fucking bastards will push newborn babies and weak, innocent children toward death first, before they themselves die. It’s not even surprising. Do we really have to go all the way into the future and see it ourselves to know? It’s obvious even without seeing it!”
The professor’s office fell silent.
“If we keep going like this, we’re all going to end together.”
Professor Yoon buried her face in her hands.
“Besides, her name is Yeongwon.”
It was the same word as the “Yeongwon” in “Devotee of Eternity,” the title given to Kim Yeo-hyeon by the World Tree.
“Just like fate, she’s called ‘Yeongwon.'”
The call ended.
Knock, knock.
A little while later, Yeongwon knocked on the door.
“Yeongwon, come in!”
Professor Yoon greeted Yeongwon brightly.
Throughout the entire lecture, she never mentioned the phone call she had just finished.
It wasn’t time yet.
