Deal Breaker - Chapter 4
Am I going to start wearing suits like that, too?
Hyeji was so full of anticipation that she didn’t even feel self-conscious about being the only one dressed like a college student in that environment.
“Here we are.”
The staff member stopped in front of a door with a nameplate reading ‘Researcher Jeong Iyeon’. After knocking, a woman’s voice from behind the door called out, “Come in.” Hyeji bowed her head in thanks to the staff member who kindly opened the door and cautiously stepped into the laboratory.
No one’s here? As soon as she thought that, a woman in a white lab coat suddenly poked her head out from behind the laboratory bench on the left. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. The woman took off the latex gloves she was wearing, tossed them into the trash, and approached.
“You got here really fast.”
At those words, Hyeji did start to feel a bit awkward. She had come the very day after receiving her test results and right when the Center opened, no less.
“You’re Noh Hyeji-ssi, right?”
“Yes, hello.”
As she was about to bow, the researcher held out her hand for a handshake.
“I’m Jeong Iyeon. You can just call me Researcher Jeong.”
“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you.”
After a brief handshake, Iyeon led Hyeji into the room on the right. The small room was filled with machines whose purpose was unclear.
“Please have a seat here.”
Iyeon pointed to a chair in the middle of the room. Hyeji awkwardly perched herself on the chair, which looked like something you’d find at a dentist’s office, and her eyes widened. There were all sorts of strange machines hanging above her head, too.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“No, I’m fine.”
True to the typical Korean habit, she answered the opposite of what she really wanted, but the other person seemed to know the Korean virtue of offering again.
“The test takes quite a while, so you probably won’t be fine. Wait, where did I put the menu?”
Iyeon brought over a tablet and showed her the menu. There were so many choices it made her dizzy. Iyeon mentioned that these days, the most popular drink at the Center’s café was the salted caramel white chocolate mocha, so Hyeji ordered that. She liked drinks with long names. The longer the name, the tastier and pricier they tended to be.
After placing the café order by phone, Iyeon sat down in the chair across from her and faced Hyeji. Without realizing it, Hyeji gripped the handle of her bag on her lap tightly, and the researcher smiled brightly.
“This isn’t a job interview, so there’s no need to be nervous.”
“Oh, okay.”
Iyeon laughed again at her still-rigid response.
“You’ve already passed the job interview, Hyeji. I’m not your boss, I’m your colleague, so there’s no need to worry about me. Just relax.”
So I really am a Guide. Hearing that she’d already passed the interview made her feel a bit more at ease.
“An Esper is basically a vessel containing supernatural powers that ordinary humans couldn’t possibly handle.”
Once the drinks arrived, Iyeon began a brief explanation of the concepts and today’s procedure.
“But the vessel itself is still just a normal human being. Of course it’s weak. So, when they use their powers, there comes a point where their body and mind just can’t take it anymore. When they go past that threshold, that’s what we call a ‘rampage’.”
So that’s why they go on a rampage. Hyeji took sips of the mocha, so sweet it made her tongue tingle, and kept nodding.
“When an Esper goes on a rampage, it causes enormous damage not just to themselves but to those around them, too. The role of a Guide like you is to prevent that. There are drugs called tranquilizers, but their effects are weak and there are a lot of side effects. Anyway, there are two types of guiding methods…”
Radiative guiding and contact guiding.
Radiative guiding involved emitting a wave from the Guide’s head to stabilize the Esper’s brainwaves. This method allowed a Guide to affect several Espers at once, but its effectiveness was far less than contact guiding.
The so-called ‘contact type’ guiding was, in fact, guiding through s****l intercourse. Just holding hands or kissing was possible, but that didn’t make much difference compared to radiative guiding. In fact, holding hands was even less effective than the radiative method.
The intensity of guiding was proportional to the area and duration of contact, especially if bodily fluids were involved. The matching rate, which measured how compatible a Guide and Esper were, also played a role.
And the element that completed this formula was o****m. When the Guide experienced climax, their wave was explosively released, and when the Esper reached climax, their wave receptivity expanded dramatically. At that moment, it provided the most optimal calming effect for the Esper.
The main point of this long, complicated explanation was that contact and climax were key. That’s why direct intercourse was currently the quickest and most effective method, Iyeon explained very carefully.
All the while, Hyeji was glad that her assigned researcher was a woman. If it had been a man, she would have been a burning sweet potato.
Still, who would have thought yesterday’s internet rumors were true? Actually, there were articles about it, but her eyes had been glued to the salary, so she’d dismissed them as tabloid fiction.
As if she could sense Hyeji’s unease, even if she didn’t show it outwardly, Iyeon added a final comment as she turned toward her desk.
“You don’t have to worry. This method is only used voluntarily by a very small number of people. Most stick to radiative guiding.”
