OMH Chapter 19

Oh My Hero – Episode 19

19. Esper and Guide (10)

Woojin hung a “No Visitors Allowed” sign on the hospital room door.

“What, surely I’m not included? Eh, probably not.”

Believing that I, at least, wouldn’t be refused, I was about to open the hospital room door when Hwayoung called out to me.

“You won again this year, congratulations. Everyone’s only talking about you. A B-grade catching an S-grade, they say.”

“Thanks for the congratulations. But I came to see Woojin. If there’s nothing else, let’s talk inside.”

“Don’t go in. Woojin doesn’t want any visitors.”

“I’m his guardian. Am I refused too?”

“Of course. You’ve only known Woojin for less than a month, what confidence do you have to think he’d welcome you?”

Hearing that, I had nothing to say. If Woojin doesn’t want to see me, there’s nothing I can do.

I obediently followed Hwayoung’s lead.

Lee Hwayoung told me to follow her, and then dragged me along on her rounds.

‘If you’re busy, we could just meet later, so why are you specifically taking me to work?’

I’m the type to ask directly if I’m curious, but Hwayoung was so busy that I couldn’t find a chance to ask. She saw a lot of patients, and most of them were Guides.

‘Everyone’s here, so it’s a Guiding austerity budget.’

I knew it in my head, but seeing it with my own eyes, it’s… well. It made me think the Martial Arts Tournament used a lot of manpower.

‘How much did they squeeze people to have them all here?’

If the Association uses Espers’ abilities to gain something, the Guides are ultimately the ones who suffer.

That’s because Guides are the ones who restore the Espers’ abilities, and there isn’t really a way to restore the Guides who are worn down by Guiding.

‘I heard Guides just need to rest, so they must be here because they don’t have time to rest, right?’

But I don’t know why there are so many patients with scrapes and bruises. And why aren’t they giving them Ability Healing?

I went through numerous patients with Hwayoung, and my questions piled up.

After finishing her rounds, Hwayoung took me to the examination room, just the two of us. Finally, it was time for a conversation between just the two of us.

“Sorry, it’s always so busy on the day the tournament ends every year. Were you bored?”

“The tournament’s over now, so it’s okay. It’s obvious, but most of the patients are Guides.”

“It’s an obvious result since we hold a tournament where they fight using their abilities. Originally, the Guides are the ones who ultimately bear the burden when Ability is consumed. The Medical Center has only gotten busier since the people who awakened because of the Gate Break are now also participating in the tournament.”

“But if the number of people increases, the manpower will increase too. Isn’t it a good thing if the number of Ability users increases?”

“No. The Ability users who awakened after the Gate Break, especially the Espers, have completely shitty manners! They should really be grateful that the world has fallen apart. If it were the old days, we’d drug them, take them to the wasteland, and then kill them all.”

“That’s right! They’re not going to kill Oh Sein?! Espers used to be executed for committing crimes, but he only got a suspension! The rapist bastard! Does that make sense?!”

I remembered what I had heard from Seunghwan and told Hwayoung.

I was going to kill that bastard by following legal procedures with my own hands, but I couldn’t!

I was telling Hwayoung about my resentful feelings for a long time, but Hwayoung cut me off and told me to calm down.

“This is the Medical Center. Don’t shout. As you said, Oh Sein’s punishment is too light. But what can we do? The Association says that A-grade Espers are precious. Now the government that keeps Ability users in check has disappeared. I don’t think anyone will be executed.”

“Even so, a suspension is too light. Woojin was still a patient, and he made him look like that. If I run into him in the Dormitory hallway, he’s dead to me.”

“Hold it, Esper lynching is a more serious crime than Guide rape. The Association thinks it’s possible that Espers go crazy and rape Guides while using their Abilities. They say it’s to do 3rd stage Guiding as a survival instinct.”

Survival instinct? What is that supposed to mean? If your brain is about to explode, you should grab your head and roll around on the floor, not rape someone.

When my head feels like it’s about to explode because of Ability overexertion, I can’t think of anything, but how do they endure that, stubbornly find a Guide, and rape them? Isn’t that a rape of will, not a survival instinct?

‘Anyway, I want to beat up Oh Sein, but there’s no way to do it right now.’

That guy was lucky enough to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament, but he didn’t get matched with me and was eliminated. Hwayoung and I thoroughly dissed that guy, saying he had no combat sense and couldn’t understand the mission context.

Hwayoung told me about Woojin’s condition, which had worsened because of that guy.

That guy hit Woojin, who was already weak, so he got some serious bruises, but thankfully, nothing was broken or anything like that.

However, the scars that guy left weren’t just physical.

“As you know, Woojin doesn’t want to meet any Espers. He was originally very afraid of Espers. He’s gotten a lot better because you show your face every day and take care of him.”

“But still, I’m not okay?”

“Right now, he’s as scared as he was when he first had a fit because of Oh Sein. I got found out to be an Esper, so they won’t let me in, you know? Luckily, the medical team are all Healing-type Espers, but he doesn’t know that fact.”

“Can’t you just treat Woojin’s wounds while he’s sleeping? He got a lot better last time when his body got a lot better.”

“We’re in a Guiding austerity budget right now, so we’re not giving Ability Healing. We don’t even treat veteran Guides, so would they give it to a Guide who hasn’t even been trained?”

“Speaking of that, why are the other Guides hurt? Woojin was hurt because of that guy, but.”

“A lot of Guides get hurt while Guiding.”

“Yeah, but why do they get hurt in the first place? Guiding is when a Guide uses their ability by making physical contact, so where’s the element of injury in that?”

Hwayoung looked at me after hearing my words and sighed.

Then she muttered about whether I was innocent or just stupid and continued.

“If you’re in the Medical Center, you’ll mostly receive patients who are Guides. Do you know why?”

“Isn’t it because Guides are the last to bear the burden of Ability usage? Healing Espers can’t fix the side effects of Guiding Ability, right?”

“That’s only half right. Guides who have been overworked to the point of being hospitalized also come, but most of them come because they were beaten by Espers. People who get hit while Guiding during a mission come.”

‘What does that mean? Espers who are being Guided hit the Guides? Why do they hit people?’

Hwayoung, who had told me about the fact that there are a lot of absurd, outrageous, and trashy people, continued to tell me the terrible facts that had been cut off because I was angry.

“The Association knows that Espers use violence to increase the Guiding stage. But they have no intention of sanctioning it. They believe it’s an act based on the Esper’s survival instinct. That’s why Guides don’t want to return to missions if possible. Because they are not protected.”

Ah, I see. It feels like I’ve found a missing piece of the puzzle that’s been empty all along.

The actions of the Guides, which I had felt were hesitant every time I ran into them, were understood immediately.

‘They were afraid of me.’

But I understood, and I hoped they wouldn’t be afraid of me.

I especially hope that Woojin won’t be afraid of me.

As soon as I had that thought, I went to Woojin’s hospital room as if possessed by something.

I could hear Hwayoung saying something behind me, but I didn’t care.

I ignored the “No Visitors Allowed” sign hanging on the door and opened it.

When I opened the door, Woojin, who was lying down, groaned and raised his body.

“Woojin! You can just lie down.”

“…What brings you here?”

Woojin didn’t look at me and kept his eyes on the floor. And he couldn’t sit up straight because his body was uncomfortable, so he leaned one side of his body against the headboard and groaned.

Seeing Woojin in pain made my heart ache, and my anger towards Oh Sein flared up again.

But that’s not why I came here.

I pulled myself together and opened my mouth again.

“So… was the tournament fun?”

“What happens to that person? The perpetrator, I mean.”

Woojin, asking me, looked straight into my eyes.

“That person… the person who hurt Woojin has been suspended. He will only be active in the Research Center.”

“Is that all?”

“Uh… yeah…”

I’m also upset about that, but it can’t be as much as Woojin, who’s the person involved. Woojin’s determined expression gradually darkened, and he lowered his gaze.

Woojin huddled closer to the headboard, perhaps because his body was uncomfortable.

Then he said in a bitter voice.

“I thought the Association would be different from the outside, but I guess not.”

The outside, not the Association?

That’s right. Woojin was originally a civilian living outside the Association.

The Association’s outside world is full of buildings that have collapsed without a single place intact, monsters roaming around, and people plundering each other to obtain food and supplies.

In particular, Espers living outside the Association were often the leaders of thugs.

‘What happened to Woojin with the Espers he met there?’

I had so many thoughts that I couldn’t say anything to Woojin in the end.

Woojin weakly asked me to leave, and I followed Woojin’s words and left the hospital room in vain.

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