Chapter 1 …

There is a saying attached to the profession of being a South Korean civil servant.

Low pay is the default option, overtime is a required virtue, and weekend duty shifts are mandatory among mandatory things. Just hearing the ringtone of a complaint caller can trigger PTSD, reports take a month to make their way up the chain of command, yet orders from an old-fashioned superior arrive within five minutes. Quitting time is like a mirage, vacation days are decorations, and the labor never ends. Only those who can endure all of this are qualified to become South Korean civil servants.

Shin Jaeyoung was, quite remarkably, one of the people who had earned that qualification. He had started as a lowly Grade 9 civil servant and was now roughly equivalent to a Grade 7 as a Guide, but a bottom-rung employee was still a bottom-rung employee.

His only source of joy had been watching Seorin freely travel the world and carry out missions.

But that dream had been thoroughly shattered as of yesterday.

‘No, seriously, why would she say something like that…? It was a joke, right?’

Seorin liked playing jokes. Haha.

Jaeyoung forced out an awkward laugh before letting out another deep sigh with a gloomy expression.

For it to be a joke, Seorin would have to be the type of person who said nonsense. But she had never once done that.

And yet, a civil servant? A civil servant?

That made no sense.

“Jaeyoung, what are you doing? The meeting’s starting, so go make the coffee first.”

“Ah, yes. Yes, sir.”

He had been sitting at his desk with a depressed expression, checking today’s schedule, when the administrative officer beside him jabbed him in the side.

Startled, Jaeyoung shot to his feet.

At the Seoul Metropolitan Special Disaster Safety Department—commonly known as the Special Disaster Department—most of Shin Jaeyoung’s duties consisted of miscellaneous errands like making coffee.

This was because, despite being a fairly high-ranking Guide who had received an A-grade evaluation, he was unable to properly utilize his abilities.

In the break room, Jaeyoung prepared black coffee and instant mix coffee according to each employee’s preferences, letting out a small sigh.

‘…As expected, no matter how high your rank is, if a Guide’s compatibility rate is low…’

That was the problem.

Jaeyoung possessed A-grade Guide abilities, but among the Espers under the Special Disaster Department, there wasn’t a single Esper with whom he had a compatibility rate above 30%.

The Center had even conducted numerous detailed examinations to see if there was some specific issue, but they had never been able to raise his compatibility rate.

Since there was nothing wrong with his abilities themselves, there was no treatment they could prescribe either.

As a result, despite being an A-grade Guide, Jaeyoung had been branded a useless Guide and reduced to doing odd jobs.

‘What’s the point of being Grade 7…? I’m still at the bottom.’

An administrative officer was still an administrative officer.

What had he expected to be different?

Other Guides, however, were different.

Once a Guide was matched with an Esper, they were treated according to that Esper’s rank.

They were still summoned here and there for work, but it meant they could devote themselves entirely to supporting their Esper as a Guide.

Perhaps because of that, even the other Guides in the same office often looked down on Jaeyoung, who had spent years without matching with a single Esper.

The Espers were no different.

A Guide whose compatibility rate was so low that guiding was impossible?

That essentially meant that no matter how high his rank was, he was no different from an ordinary person.

To be honest, things might be different if he left the Center and met other Espers.

If he met enough of them, he might eventually find one with a suitable compatibility rate.

But that was far too dangerous.

Globally, there were more Guides than Espers, but if compatibility rates were taken into account, the number of Guides was actually quite small.

There might be plenty of awakened F-grade Guides, but the number of Guides who could actually match with someone was drastically lower.

In that sense, Jaeyoung’s situation as an A-grade Guide with low compatibility was an unusual problem.

Normally, higher grades naturally led to higher compatibility rates.

Jaeyoung was the exact opposite.

Which was why, despite being A-grade, he had no choice but to spend his days making coffee.

Of course, he believed people shouldn’t be divided by rank when it came to work.

But when you found yourself in this kind of position, such thoughts were inevitable.

‘…What’s the point of thinking about it?’

It only made him feel frustrated.

Still, thankfully, his high rank had kept him from falling into illegal PMCs or underground Guide clinics.

Thanks to that, he had managed to pass the government Guide examination and become a civil servant.

The fate of Guides with low compatibility rates was usually to live as ordinary people.

But for high-grade Guides, if they were truly unlucky…

They could end up in extremely dangerous situations.

Jaeyoung, in particular, had been fortunate.

Very fortunate.

There had been one time when things had nearly gone horribly wrong.

That was why he treasured his current life so much.

Letting out another sigh, Jaeyoung finished making the coffee.

After placing the cups onto a tray, he hurried toward the meeting room.

If he was late with this, he would undoubtedly get chewed out again.

Because Jaeyoung was quiet by nature and never stood out, the others in his department treated him somewhat—

No, quite a lot—

rudely.

Knock knock.

“Does that even make sense? An official document actually came down from above. Who’s supposed to handle this?”

“No, but personally, I think it’s a good thing—”

“You’re only saying that because you don’t know what that person’s personality is like—”

“No, but why are they coming here?”

Today’s meeting was unusually heated.

Everyone was talking with confused expressions.

The moment Jaeyoung opened the door and entered, they frowned and fell silent.

The department head, seated at the head of the table, shouted irritably.

“When did I say the meeting was starting? Why are you only coming in now?”

The department head knew the circumstances perfectly well and still acted like that.

There was no point explaining anything.

He wouldn’t listen anyway.

So Jaeyoung simply smiled awkwardly.

“Ah, I brought the coffee.”

Putting on a friendly smile, he handed out coffee one cup at a time.

Everyone grumbled under their breath before resuming the discussion.

Jaeyoung quickly put away the tray and sat in the seat farthest from the front.

“Haah. Nothing but impossible problems keep happening. Don’t I need a promotion next year too?”

“…It may be hard for you, Director, but we’re dying over here as well.”

“You people just have to do whatever you’re told, don’t you?”

“Yes… well….”

The conversation gradually devolved into the department head’s complaints.

Since Jaeyoung hadn’t heard the earlier discussion, he had no idea what they were talking about.

But the department head was always like this, so he simply nodded along while pretending to listen.

At that moment, another administrative officer seated beside him poked him in the side.

Jaeyoung flinched and turned toward him.

The man looked at him with a mocking smile full of envy.

“Jaeyoung, you’ve got it easy. You don’t have anything to worry about even at a time like this~”

“Huh…? What?”

“Wow, you really don’t know. Must be nice being so carefree. I’m jealous~”

Resting his chin on one hand, the officer sneered at him teasingly.

Naturally, Jaeyoung only didn’t know because he had been busy running coffee errands.

But that possibility never even crossed the man’s mind.

Jaeyoung wanted to say something, but his standing in the team was so low that his words carried no weight.

“Ah… what do you mean…?”

The administrative officer, still smiling mockingly, let out a long sigh.

“Haah. All the A-grade-and-above Guides in the Special Disaster Department are on high alert because their partners might get switched, but you don’t even need to think about something like that. Lucky you, right?”

“What?”

“If someone comes over from the PMC, they’ll probably be incredibly cruel and vicious… How else would they vent that kind of personality here? The assigned Guide would be the one suffering. Haah, it’s like a game of hot potato. What are we supposed to do?”

“…What?”

Yet despite his words, there was a hint of anticipation in his voice.

As though he secretly wanted to be the one chosen in that game of hot potato.

Watching him from across the table with a look of disbelief, another administrative officer, Jung Suin, finally gave Jaeyoung the answer.

“Jaeyoung, everyone’s been freaking out because an official notice came down from above saying someone new is being assigned to the Special Disaster Department.”

“A new person?”

“Yes, yes. An Esper… and the problem is that it’s Seorin. That Seorin from the PMC.”

“…S-Seorin?”

Jaeyoung sucked in a sharp breath.

The administrative officer beside him had now completely drifted into a fantasy of his own and muttered dreamily:

“Ah~ I wonder what kind of Guide an Esper like Seorin, who’s been through hell and back in the PMC, will choose? That Guide is going to have such a hard time~ Don’t you think?”