DPGR 80

“Gasp…!”

In the dim bedroom, Jiho shot upright, gasping for breath.

“Haa… huff…”

He was drenched in cold sweat, enough to soak through the sheets.

It was… just a dream, right? A dream?

But the dream had been far too vivid.
Jiho wasn’t the type to dream often, and even when he did, he usually forgot them right away.
That made this one feel even more unsettling.

“…Haa.”

After replaying the dream over and over in his head, Jiho finally calmed down enough to check the time.
The clock hands pointed to five o’clock.

“…?”

His eyes widened in surprise.
The last time he’d glanced at the clock before falling asleep, it had been around 4 PM.

It felt like he’d slept for ages—but it had only been an hour?

Just then, as a sense of unease crept in, his phone buzzed on the nightstand.
It was the one Dojin had bought him.

[Guide Geonwoo]

A familiar name flashed across the screen. Jiho picked up, and Geonwoo’s urgent voice came through.

—Ah, Guide Jiho! Were you sleeping? I was worried since you didn’t answer.

“Sorry…”

—No, no, nothing to apologize for. Are you okay?

“Yes…”

—That’s good to hear. More importantly—the Taean Dungeon. It’s been successfully cleared.

What?

Jiho’s lips parted slightly in shock.
It had only been an hour—or no, it had only been five hours since Dojin had entered the Gate. And the mission was already over?

—I’m thinking of heading to the Center. What about you, Guide Jiho?

“Uh, um…”

Jiho couldn’t answer right away.
He couldn’t believe the dungeon had been cleared so quickly, and he couldn’t understand how Geonwoo could speak about it so casually.

Almost like he was in a trance, Jiho pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the screen.

“…!”

5:16 PM.

But the date at the top—

A whole day has passed…!

His face drained of color in an instant.

—Hello? Guide Jiho? Are you still there?

He was stunned, but there was no time to sit around in a daze.
Without even a moment to calm his pounding heart, Jiho brought the phone back to his ear.

“Y-yeah. I—I’ll go. To the Center.”

—Okay. I’ll turn the car around, so get ready. I’ll be there in about 30 minutes.

“Th-thank you…”

Jiho hung up and gave a small bow toward empty space out of habit.

Still dazed, his expression heavy with sleep, he slid off the bed—

“Ack!”

Thud!

Maybe he really had slept too long.
A dizzy spell hit him and he toppled to the floor. His knee throbbed—he was probably going to bruise.

Ouch…

But there was no time to check.

“Ugh…!”

He had sweated so much in his sleep that he had a lot to take care of.
Bundling up the sheets, blankets, and pillow, Jiho hauled them into the laundry room.

Then, rushing into the shower, he scrubbed off quickly and changed clothes.

Time was tight, and he was so flustered that he kept fumbling whatever he tried to do.

[Guide Geonwoo]

“Guide Jiho, are you all set? I’m out front, so no rush—just come down when you’re ready.”

The message came in just then, halting Jiho in the middle of his frantic scrambling.

He couldn’t keep Geonwoo waiting.
Running his fingers through his dripping hair to shake off the excess water, Jiho bolted for the door.

All the while, the knowledge that he’d slept for an entire day—and the vivid memory of that dream—kept tugging at him, leaving a heavy discomfort in his chest.

That discomfort didn’t fade, even after he met Geonwoo and got in the car to the Center.

In fact, it only worsened.
It grew heavier, deeper—until it swallowed him whole.

***

While Jiho was rushing to the Center…

Alpha Team, having just finished clearing the dungeon, arrived at the Center with exhausted bodies.

It had gone more smoothly than expected, but taking down a large-scale dungeon with only five people was no easy feat.

Especially since there’d been constant need for ability use—every one of them had practically drained their guiding levels to the bottom.

“Ugh… I’m dying…”

“Kijoonie feels hotttt…”

“Ugh… I don’t even have the strength to punch this punk…”

“Jihye is so meeean.”

“Then just die already.”

Despite groaning in pain, Kijoon and Jihye still bickered, prompting an exasperated chuckle from Dojin.

“All of you, go get some guiding.”

“Huh? What about the report?”

Normally, they were supposed to submit a brief report to the person in charge after a mission.

“I’ll take care of it later myself.”

This dungeon had been under the supervision of the Esper Director.

And if it was him, he would’ve already heard about the dungeon’s closure whether Dojin reported it or not.

So there was no point in sticking to such unnecessary formalities.

Besides, they had to head to Japan soon. For now, restoring the team’s condition took priority over reporting.

“Then I’ll go to the Guide Wing. Sena should be here soon…”

Yulchan, who had contributed the most during the mission, hesitated for a moment before staggering off.

That kicked things off—Sehun and Kijoon followed, heading for the Guide Wing to get guiding.

“Hello? Hyung! Kijoonie needs urgent guiding right now. Where are youuu?”

Dojin rubbed at his throbbing forehead as Kijoon’s voice faded down the corridor.

The headache caused by guiding deficiency had started gnawing at him.

‘I should just go home too…’

Naturally, Jiho’s face came to mind—his guide, the one waiting just for him.

As Dojin’s hands moved automatically to unfasten the harness clinging to his body—

“Oh. Uh, Captain.”

“Hm?”

A small voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Jihye? I thought you left. Why are you still here?”

“Oh, um… I called Geonwoo, and he said he’s on the way with Guide Jiho, so…”

“Huh… Guide Jiho too?”

“Yes. I told him I’d wait at the Guide Wing.”

When Jihye asked if he was heading to the Guide Wing as well, Dojin shook his head.

He needed guiding badly, but he didn’t want to push Jiho—who had no fond memories of the guiding rooms—back into that place.

“No. I’ll wait in the team office.”

“Okay. Should I tell Geonwoo that?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Jihye, her complexion pale like the others’, gave a small bow and turned away.

Watching her retreating back, Dojin finished removing his harness and headed for the team leader’s office.

“Haa…”

Once inside the familiar space, the delayed sense of relief and fatigue washed over him.

On top of that, more symptoms of guiding deficiency began to kick in.

‘I didn’t used to feel this bad with just this level of guiding depletion…’

His watch showed his guiding level at 34%.

The lack of guiding was giving him a splitting headache, tinnitus, a mild fever, and more.

For Dojin—who had once endured even levels in the 20s with no issue—feeling this bad at 34% was unusual.

‘It’s probably because I burned through a massive amount of energy in such a short time.’

He guessed at the cause.

Having used up an overload of guiding energy in one go, he was now experiencing a heavy rebound.

And now that he knew what proper guiding felt like, his instincts seemed to crave it more than ever.

“Mm…”

Dojin let out a low groan, his throat vibrating.

He kept drinking water to ease the constant thirst, but it wasn’t enough—it only grew sharper.

Eventually, the discomfort became too much to bear, and he threw open all the windows.

Whoosh—Cold winter wind surged in from all directions, cooling the heat off his body.

Standing dazed in front of the window, letting the wind hit his face—

Clack—

The door burst open without a knock. Dojin, too distracted to have noticed anyone approaching, turned in surprise.

“Ah. Guide Jiho…!”

Jiho had stepped inside.

Without thinking, Dojin quickly moved toward him.

“You must be tired from coming all the way here—”

But the moment he saw Jiho’s face up close, any lighthearted greeting froze in his throat.

“Your face—no, your hair… what happened…?”

Jiho’s hair, still damp and tangled, floated awkwardly around his head, as though he hadn’t had time to dry it properly.

On top of that, his face was puffed up, his complexion pale and bloodless…

“Wait—just a second.”

Dojin hurriedly shut all the windows and turned on the heater. Then he walked over to Jiho, adjusted his clothes, and began scolding him.

“Why did you come out like this? What if you catch a cold? And what’s with your face? Did something happen?”

“Uuugh…”

“Then why are you—”

Peck.

Dojin’s words cut off.

Jiho had suddenly twisted up his face, wrapped his arms tightly around Dojin’s waist, and kissed him on the tip of his chin.

Judging from how he’d risen onto his toes for it, the original target must’ve been Dojin’s lips.

“Huuh…”

Sure enough—his expression made it clear this wasn’t what he’d meant to do.

Jiho looked like he was about to cry.

Thrown off by the sight of Jiho looking so miserable, Dojin froze, not knowing what to do, and simply bent down a little.

“Here.”

And then—peck—their lips touched softly and parted again.

Only then did Jiho’s expression lighten just a bit.

“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

“Mmh. Nothing.”

“Then why do you look so anxious…”

Muttering softly, Dojin hugged Jiho close as if it were second nature.

Then he walked to the sofa, sat down, and settled Jiho on his lap, holding him tight.

“Let’s just… stay like this for a little while.”

“Okay…”

Originally, the plan had been to go straight home and get guided once Jiho arrived.

But seeing Jiho’s face had made him change his mind.

Even now, his craving for guiding kept welling up inside, but he could manage.

What mattered more was checking on Jiho and calming him down.

But Jiho seemed to have something else in mind.

“Hyung.”

Jiho, squirming in his arms, suddenly lifted his head and called him.

Dojin still found it strangely endearing every time Jiho called him hyung, and couldn’t help answering with a soft, drawn-out “Mmh?”

How can someone have such big eyes, a perfectly round face, and such pretty, delicate features?

Caught in that lovesick thought, Dojin was just quietly admiring Jiho’s face when—

“Sex.”

“…What?”

Jiho, those pretty lips softly moving, uttered a word Dojin never imagined he’d hear.