The Girl Who Remembers Everything
The monsters of Human Gate 3 had been wiped out entirely.
After the guiding, Eun-chan had moved like a man possessed. Astonishingly so. She'd lost count of how many times they'd had sex by the end of it.
Her soaked underwear had been flung aside and her wrecked clothes thrown back on with no care for how they looked. Eun-chan, for his part, hadn't allowed a single monster to come anywhere near her.
Thanks to that, Seo-ah hadn't even needed to run. She'd simply sat there on the ground, too exhausted to move, and watched him annihilate the horde.
So it's true what they say — guiding ramps up your arousal.
She'd heard the theory before: the body grows more sensitive, the connection with your partner deepens, and satisfaction during the act multiplies severalfold.
So that's why it felt that good.
Even in the middle of all this, Seo-ah was recalling guiding theory, trying to rationalize what her own body had just gone through.
But the moment she remembered riding him with his cock wedged between her thighs, grinding down on him, heat flooded her cheeks.
Kang Eun-chan hadn't stuck to a single position, either. He'd taken her from behind. He'd slid his length between her thighs and rubbed himself against her. He'd looked her dead in the eyes, scooped her up effortlessly in his arms, and fucked up into her.
And above all — that stare. The way he'd pinned her with his gaze the whole time was obscenely, unbearably lewd.
Only now did Seo-ah truly understand the feelings of every heroine she'd ever read about. The descriptions of them blushing with shame while secretly loving every second, moaning like animals in heat — none of it had been an exaggeration.
Replaying the guiding session in her head, she shot a furtive glance at Eun-chan. The look in his eyes as he finished off the last boss flashed vividly in her memory — and then, abruptly, blurred.
The other effect of the monster's secretion had finally kicked in. The memories of their guiding were gone.
"……What the hell? Something feels off."
Every ounce of strength had drained from her body; she didn't have so much as a scrap of energy left. Eun-chan, only now registering her state of undress, furrowed his brow.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you half-naked?"
He wore the expression of a man who could not make sense of the situation at all. Seo-ah, ever helpful, kindly explained it for him.
"Don't worry about it. The monster's fluid wiped some of my memory, that's all."
"Wiped what memory, exactly?"
"The memory of guiding you."
"……What?"
Eun-chan stared at her, thunderstruck. Seo-ah braced a hand against the wall, pushed herself up, and exhaled a long, deep breath.
Ah, my back. My legs are still shaking.
Watching her, Eun-chan let out a helpless laugh and swept the hair back from his forehead. Seo-ah clicked her tongue as she took in — yet again — just how handsome he was.
He knows he's gorgeous, and that's probably how he charms every girl he meets.
"Don't tell me. You're not planning to pretend this never happened just because it was a one-time thing, are you?"
"That's exactly the plan."
Seo-ah answered breezily. Her face looked breezy too, honestly. Eun-chan wanted to press her on it, but something about her expression — so thoroughly, suspiciously satisfied — made him decide not to dig.
"Felt fucking amazing, didn't it?"
The smug look on his face said he already knew the answer. That cocky attitude grated on her nerves, but since he wasn't wrong, she didn't bother denying it.
Seo-ah cleared her throat. All that moaning and crying out had left her voice a little raw.
She powered her device back on and filed her report.
"Human Gate 3 has been cleared. Returning to the Center now."
"Even if my memories got wiped, you remember everything. So why do you look completely fine?"
"It was just guiding."
Watching her carry on as if nothing had happened, Eun-chan swallowed a hollow laugh.
Over at the Intelligence Bureau, everyone was staring at the clearance time for Human Gate 3 and doubting their own eyes.
One hour.
Just two people had taken down an A-rank gate — boss included. Even accounting for the guiding, that was an absurdly fast time.
The whole department chorused the same sentiment: S-rank guiding really was in a league of its own.
"Executive Director, we've just received word."
Cha Yu-geon gave a small nod as the approaching Team Leader came to a stop before him.
"Report."
"Human Gate 3 has been fully suppressed. Elapsed time, one hour. Gate rank, A. The monster itself was also assessed at A-rank."
Yu-geon looked down at the report and knit his brows together.
"His overload barely rose at all. If two people were enough, does that mean these monsters behaved differently from the usual?"
He'd been prepared to deploy the special task force if it took longer. Operations had been standing by alongside them, waiting for the same word.
And yet it was already cleared. This was entirely outside their projections.
Sending just the two of them into a gate that could have spawned anything had quietly weighed on his mind — and now, with a result like this, both Operations and Intelligence would only demand more from the pair going forward.
"That particular question should be answerable once Guide Lee Seo-ah returns. She transmitted footage from her device, and we're analyzing it now."
The special management team, who had been on standby, looked up at him with puzzlement. They'd expected the deployment order to come down at any moment — hence the strange calm.
"Operation concluded."
At Cha Yu-geon's word, the special management team disarmed and dispersed to their posts.
"Executive Director, I have a follow-up report."
The Team Leader stepped to his side. Cha Yu-geon accepted the report in the corridor leading to the gate while checking the waveform data.
"Suppressed in record time, and yet his readings barely moved."
"Correct, sir. We believe it's Guide Lee Seo-ah's ability. Honestly, this incident made me finally understand why the Center treats her like royalty."
He let the Team Leader's chatter wash over him as he studied the analysis data.
Eun-chan's ability output had climbed to eighty-nine percent. And yet the fluctuation in his rampage rate had been negligible.
It rose by maybe half a percent. Practically speaking, that counts as not rising at all.
He thought back to Seo-ah, listening so attentively to his every word. She'd struck him as someone who threw herself into everything with total enthusiasm.
Something about a deep desire to devote herself to the nation, if he recalled correctly. A remark her former supervisor had appended to her file surfaced in his memory.
"Guide Lee Seo-ah has a strong conviction that she'll do anything for her country. The reason she declined a dedicated esper assignment, reportedly, is that she wanted to lend her strength to as many espers as possible."
A guide who didn't shy away from guiding was a good thing, but one who actively volunteered to guide multiple espers like that was unusual.
Strange rumors had circulated about her, sure, but none of them had matched the Seo-ah he'd actually seen.
Those harmless eyes, that guileless face, the way she'd folded her hands demurely and nodded along — she'd seemed nothing but innocent.
As head of the Intelligence Bureau, gathering information and surveilling personnel was Cha Yu-geon's very job, and there was no one in the Center he didn't have a file on.
Still, it had bothered him — an S-rank guide buried in paperwork.
On a national scale, it was nothing short of a waste. He could even understand why, the moment her match was confirmed, everyone from every direction had lobbied to throw her straight into a gate.
"Her matched esper turned out to be a top-tier combat ability, so the pairing was a good one. Command will have been briefed by now, I'd imagine."
And with that, this matter is closed.
Cha Yu-geon began sorting through the gates that needed a next entry team. Sending her in immediately would be too harsh; he planned to let a few days pass before making the request.
"I'll notify Operations myself. Once the two of them return, have the waveform checked and run a physical examination before deciding the next schedule."
"The research division is already in an uproar, sir. Everyone's been waiting for this exact day to see the effects of Core Synchronization firsthand — I'd bet they've already got their noses buried in the data."
"Well, that's business as usual for them."
The interesting part of the conversation was over. He set the document down and let his eyes travel down the next report awaiting his attention.
"Oh, right — did you hear that piece of news too?"
"What news."
"One of the newly re-awakened is a researcher. You know the type — quiet, barely talks, spends every waking hour buried in his work."
His rank apparently hadn't been finalized yet, so the Management Bureau had issued no separate notice. Rank renewals were communicated to individuals privately, so ordinarily word wouldn't have gotten out at all.
The research division was notoriously insular, and their bonds ran so tight that nothing ever leaked. Yet here was Seo Timjang, leaking it anyway.
"The ace of the research division. The man practically every study comes out of — the one genuinely obsessed with research, you know the one. He was D-rank originally, but with this re-awakening his rank changed."
"Team Leader Seo. Apparently you have no work to do today."
Cha Yu-geon lifted his eyes just enough to cut a glance at him. It was a dismissal — stop talking and get out — but the Team Leader showed no sign of leaving.
"Sir, I've already finished everything on my desk, so I have some time left before I'm off."
Fast hands, immaculate work — and if you had to name his one flaw, it was that he couldn't read a room to save his life.
"The most important part of my story is coming up right now, sir. That researcher's match came up this time too — would you like to guess who it is?"
It seemed he wouldn't leave until the story was finished, so Cha Yu-geon indulged him and asked.
"Who is it, then."
"They're saying it's Guide Lee Seo-ah."
Now that — that was an interesting piece of news.