Declaration of Extra Strike

The sunset was setting in the sky by the time I came back from the drive along the sea breeze.

“Well, we’ve arrived at your dormitory.”

“Go home safely, Hohyun-ssi.”

“Good bye, uncle and noona.”

I jumped off the bus with the ice cream that the driver bought me. After waving my hand to say goodbye, I turned around.

I knew there was a lot of equipment in the center, but when I actually went there, it was much better than I thought.

‘I don’t think I can escape right away anyway. Do I have to carry a card to play too? Well, I can just use it and pay back ten times later.’

I walked towards the place where the team’s mansion was as I recalled Joo Ho-hyun’s bankbook. Along the way, I saw a figure standing at the entrance far away.

“What, is that Han Seojin?”

Han Seo-jin strode toward me as I approached him waving my hand in a happy mood.

Han Seo-jin’s expression was not so good as I was about to ask him happily when he had arrived.

“Where have you been? I told you to stay home. You didn’t even answer the phone.”

“I didn’t get a call.”

“You must have ignored the call.”

“No, the bell didn’t ring.”

“Confirm it.”

Phone, what phone? I mumbled grumpily and rummaged through the pocket where the cell phone would be.

The pocket was empty. I opened my mouth in horror as I realized there was nothing in the pocket; the ice cream slid to the ground.

“My cell phone!”

Han Seo-jin frowned at my cry.

“Did you lose it?”

“It was definitely there before. I was going to call you too…….”

I whirled around and looked. However, there was no way that a cell phone that wasn’t in the pocket could be created out of thin air.

“Where did it go? Call it for me.”

“I’ve done it many times, but no one is picking up.”

Han Seo-jin gently picked up his phone and made a phone call. I took a look at the cell phone screen that was roughly held in his hand with black gloves. I could hear the signal going as everything was quiet around me. Yet no one picked up the phone, and only the tone persisted.

Han Seo-jin, who had been waiting for some time, hung up the phone.

“It’s not picking up. Where did you lose it?”

“I don’t know. I took it with me when I went out.”

“Did you drop it somewhere?”

“You think I would know…….”

Holding in my snorts, I blurted out the end of my words when I suddenly remembered the shameful memory of putting the phone in my back pocket.

‘Did I drop it then?’

I was holding the elevator, but since it suddenly disappeared, it must have fallen when I bumped into the crazy guy.

“……I think I lost it at the examination center.”

“I’ll check if there’s anything missing on the center’s general line.”

“I see. . .What if it still can’t be found?”

Han Seo-jin answered with a sigh, turning his back on me as I asked because my uneasiness did not go away.

“We can buy another. I’m going to buy one for you, so hurry up and follow me. We’re going to be late.”

Hearing that he would gladly buy it, I looked at Han Seo-jin and said, “… I went out earlier and saw someone else using it, and it looked better than mine. It was red.”

“I’ll buy it for you.”

I excitedly followed Han Seo-jin after receiving the definite answer.

“But what are we late for? Why do you have to go quickly?”

“The test to see if hyung is fit for guiding.”

“Test?”

“Yes, it’s been a week already.”

When I heard that it has already been a week, I slowly  recalled what the team leader had said.

Woo Han-se and Park Ga-in, you two are in charge. Make it possible for him to guide within this week.

I had no idea so much time had passed already. But a test?

“How do you do that? Do I just hold your hand and guide you?”

“No, there’s a measuring machine.”

I roughly nodded and trudged away. Whether there was a test or not, the cell phone was the only thing in my head at the moment.

There were a lot of things that Yeon Seung-yeon had to find out, such as the identity of the pill and how to quit being a Guide. It would be easier to get in touch with a cell phone. I can just find it tomorrow…..

Daydreaming as I walked, I had somehow reached the mansion’s entrance. Han Seo-jin, who grabbed the door, looked back at me without opening it right away. I asked curiously as the scene overlapped the first day.

“Why? I have to wait outside again?”

“… No, it’s not that.”

Han Seo-jin, who had been silent for a while, opened his mouth.

“I’ll be busy starting tomorrow. For a couple of days, I’ll probably only return at night.

“Really?”

The unexpected news gave me a big laugh. Han Seo-jin’s corners of his mouth raised crookedly as I began singing joyfully in my head.

“You’re very excited.”

“I think I misread it because it’s dark.”

“……come in.”

I followed Han Seo-jin, who opened the door, and stepped into the mansion.

When I went inside, I immediately heard the voice of Woo Hanse.

“Where have you been that you have just arrived? Can’t you see the team members waiting?”

“You said I could do the test with a machine. Why is he here?”

When I asked while looking back at Han Seo-jin, the face of Woo Hanse, who was openly ignored, turned red.

“What? Yah, Joo Hohyun!”

“Woo Han-se. Don’t pick a fight, and get out of the way.”

“Yeah, get lost.”

I followed Han Seo-jin through the hallway. Woo Hanse must be speaking ill of him if he hears an obnoxious sound coming from behind.

Team members were gathered in the living room on the first floor. Ye Seung-woo was sitting next to the team leader, Woo Ha-yoon, the twin sister of Woo Hanse, who was sitting with her knees up on her phone and didn’t even look up.

There was a white machine in front of Park Ga-in.

“Is that a machine that measures the Guiding level?”

The team leader and the Espers were watching me closely as I passed by them.

When I went next to Park Ga-in and sat down, I heard someone laugh in vain.

Han Seo-jin, who sighed so quietly that only I could hear, sat next to me, and Park Ga-in looked back at me with a slightly surprised eye.

“Ho…Hyun?”

“Should I hold here and guide you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

When asked, pointing to a handle that could be held on the top of the machine, Park Ga-in, who seemed embarrassed for a while, nodded and looked at the team leader.

“Shall we begin the measurement?”

“Let’s go ahead.

The team leader nodded.

When the team leader’s permission was given, Park Ga-in took out a pump-type container from below.

“You have to put on gel before contact. Which hand do you want to use?”

“Here.”

When I stretched out my left hand, Park Ga-in pressed the pump three times and squeezed the gel into my hand. I frowned automatically as the gliding gels in my hands felt like three slime-filled slugs.

“Ugh.”

“It’s a little sticky. After the measurement, everything evaporates and disappears, so hang in there.”

“…eh…yes.”

I tried to answer ‘oom’ without realizing it, but I changed my words at Han Seo-jin’s hand gesture.

Waiting for Park Ga-in to turn on and operate the machine, a man came down the stairs. Ye Sung-woo, who was sitting next to the team leader, stood up and approached him.

“Yeon-hyung hyung, are you up?”

“Why did you go down first? You should have slept a little longer.”

Shin Yeon-hyung’s arm encircled Ye Sung-woo and drew him in. His very natural touch made me raise my eyebrows.

‘Last time, Woo Hanse was sticking together like that too.’

Maybe it’s because guiding means holding hands, but the two team members’ excessive closeness kept catching my attention.

Shin Yeon-hyung, who came down completely and stepped into the living room with Yes Sung-woo, paused when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him.

“What? What are you all doing out here? Why is Joo Hohyun…….”

“Today is Hohyun’s guiding test.”

Only then did Shin Yeon-hyung nod when he saw the machine in front of Park Ga-in.

“Oh, right. Has it already been a week?”

Shin Yeon-hyung, who was slouched on the sofa, smiled and said as he stared at me.

“Then, can I get Hohyun’s Guiding from now on?”

In response to the question, Woo Ha-yoon, who has been doing nothing but using cell phones, said,

“You didn’t get Guiding from Joo Hohyun before though.”

“He doesn’t have any memories of being a guide. Then he must be like a normal person, but I’m getting interested because I think it would be neat.”

“Oh, really. How dirty.”

Woo Ha-yoon looked back at her cell phone, muttering annoyingly. Han Seo-jin also stepped up and issued a hostile warning.

“Don’t say useless things.”

“Oh no, I’m so scared. Did you get attached to him after taking care of him or what?”

Shin Yeon-hyung was exaggerating and being sarcastic. As soon as Han Seo-jin was about to say something back, Woo Hanse barged in.

“He’s already got a Contact Guding from him. And those two even share the same bed!”

“What? Yah, Han Seo-jin, why are you pretending you don’t. What’s going on? Are you sure? You contacted him?”

“I told you so. I saw it.”

Shin Yeon-hyung asked while looking at Han Seo-jin and me. Having heard the same thing over and over again in the conversation that kept involving me, I finally asked,

“What is contact?”

“What?”

“You’ve been “contacting” me for a while. What’s that? Is it different from holding hands?”

My question silenced the living room. Woo Ha-yoon’s absurd gaze from her cell phone shifted me, as even the noisy Woo Hanse and Shin Yeon-hyung were rendered speechless with their mouths open. I looked around, puzzled by the embarrassing reaction.

‘Is there any meaning to contact other than what I know?’

Even Park Ga-in exchanged eyes with Ye Sung-woo with a bitter expression. When I looked back at Han Seo-jin, who was at least reliable, he replied as if it were nothing.

“It’s the same thing.”

“Then why…….”