Sera stiffened, looking at the man towering above her.
She recognized him immediately.
Who wouldn't? S-ranks were celebrities, and Ratha - one of the most prominent guilds in the country - proudly hoarded three of the nation's eight.
During her probationary period, Sera had researched every major figure in the organization both for work and for survival. Arlen Cunning had made her personal list of "people to avoid". She had even browsed his public social media account once, which had been full of smiling selfies and candid group photos.
An extrovert. An aggressive one.
With that light blond hair and those bright, icy blue eyes, he was easy to spot from a distance. Whenever she saw him in the guild, she immediately gave him a wide berth.
S-ranks were too visible, too powerful, too connected. Staying away from the biggest whales in the building was simply common sense.
And now he had noticed her.
This was bad.
Sera closed her eyes and groaned inwardly.
I should have taken a punch sooner? Or maybe I shouldn't have practiced combat at all? Would it have made a difference? Maybe I could have punched my own face at the same time Julia punched mine to inflict the right damage?
Her spiraling thoughts were interrupted by a light, gentle voice. It drifted across the room and settled directly into her ears, smooth as velvet.
"Are you alright? Guide Sera Yun."
Sera inhaled, then opened her eyes to meet his.
His blue gaze was fixed on her, glittering with polite concern. Outwardly, his expression was kind and mild. But Sera kept her body tense, a deep unease washing over her.
He felt… dangerous.
The rumors had all spoken of his friendliness, his easy charm, his effortless popularity. But standing here, Sera realized something else: this was a man clever enough to curate exactly the image he wanted people to see. He was the sort who could smile while prying open someone else's secrets.
He was perceptive. And sly.
Sera's eyes narrowed just slightly.
I should be careful.
Arlen extended a hand to help her up.
Sera looked at it, then back at him, and made a split-second decision.
The best way to deal with him… is not to deal with him at all. Better not get involved.
Instead of taking his hand, she pushed herself up from her knees, clasped her hands neatly in front of herself, and gave a casual bow with an upbeat smile.
"I am alright! It is an honor to meet you and receive your help, Esper Cunning."
She caught the brief flicker in his expression - the corner of his mouth twitching before the gentle smile settled back into place.
"Sorry, Sera!" Julia blurted, rubbing her now-thawed wrist as ice crystals fell to the floor. "I-I think I just got too excited," she said breathlessly, still heaving from the match. "How'd you learn to dodge like that? You were like a little squirrel!"
"Ah, well…" Sera said, gratefully shifting her attention away from Arlen and toward Julia. "I had a good teacher. I was raised in a martial arts academy and was always known for my speed."
She lied smoothly, making a mental note to remember that story later.
"Even so!" Julia exclaimed, clapping a heavy hand onto Sera's shoulder.
"You were incredible! I haven't had that much fun outside the field in years. When you awakened as a Guide, did your abilities increase too? You were so fast I could barely keep up."
"I guess so. Probably that."
Sera kept her tone mild and chirpy, though inwardly she remained on edge. She was grateful that the spar with Julia had ended without exposing too much, but Arlen's attention had settled on her now, and that felt far worse.
Being noticed by someone like him was dangerous in a different way than being noticed by a bully or an ordinary esper.
Bullies could be ignored. Ordinary espers could be redirected. But powerful, curious people had the resources to keep digging.
Sera reached for Julia's hand.
Best to leave before he gets interested.
"Our sparring session was intense, wasn't it?" she said lightly. "Aren't you tired too, Julia? Why don't we head to the showers and take a short break? It seems our sparring was satisfactory to the supervisor…"
She glanced toward an Esper across the hall.
He flicked his hand in casual agreement, having clearly watched the entire exchange.
"Well then," Sera said, turning back toward Arlen with another polite smile, "thank you for your help once again, sir. We'll take our leave."
Still holding Julia's hand, she turned and started toward the exit as quickly as decorum allowed.
They were almost at the door when Arlen's voice rang out.
"Wait."
Sera and Julia froze mid-step.
Sera cursed inwardly and turned back with measured care. In a rigidly hierarchical guild like Ratha, an S-rank esper was effectively a superior officer. Ignoring him was not an option. Power in the guild did not simply command respect - it commanded obedience.
"Yes, Esper Cunning," Sera said, carefully avoiding direct eye contact. She had the uncomfortable sense that meeting his gaze too openly would only encourage him.
"Guide Sera," Arlen said pleasantly, "you're a new hire, right?"
"Yes, sir. From the most recent hiring cycle."
"They call you the morale hire, don't they?"
Sera's fingers twitched. She looked up, accidentally meeting his gaze. His eyes glinted with mischief.
He was baiting her.
She held his stare for one beat before answering, "My performance reviews are favorable, yes."
Arlen studied her for a moment.
Then he smiled.
Slowly, he pointed to himself.
"Then," he said lightly, "can I have a session?"
It wasn't as though the gym had been empty.
The hall was large and crowded, full of espers and guides sparring in pairs across different mats under the supervision of staff.
When Arlen had stepped in to freeze Julia's wrist earlier, everyone had seen it - but everyone also knew the unspoken rule regarding S-ranks:
"Mind your own business."
It was better to pretend not to notice and continue focusing on one's own sparring than to openly stare or gawk at an S-rank's affairs. That was the etiquette expected around overwhelming power.
But an S-rank requesting a session from a C-rank Guide? In public?
And not just anybody - but the notorious one whispered about among the guides as a slut for hire?
Though the room remained in motion, a hush settled over the hall. Kicks grew quieter. Punches softened. Everyone strained to keep sparring while listening as discreetly as possible, already imagining the gossip that would spread through the cafeteria by lunchtime.
Arlen watched Sera closely. Her red eyes flashed; a tiny frown touched her face before she smoothly reassembled her composure. He could practically see the gears turning in her head.
From the moment he saw her moving, he had known something was wrong.
She was not a C-rank.
It would have been easy for the others in the room to miss it. Most had been focused on their own practice. But both he and Rena had noticed immediately.
A civilian martial arts background and barely a year of experience as a newly awakened Guide could not explain the skill she had just displayed.
The way she shifted her weight.
The way she turned her body.
The way she dodged without overcommitting.
Those were the instincts of someone accustomed to facing opponents much stronger than herself.
That did not match the profile of a low-rank Guide who had only awakened a year ago during a gate break - certainly not enough to avoid Julia Agnato's attacks - not when Julia had spent the past six years in active duty.
Sera Yun was hiding something.
Arlen had intended to test his theory the moment he offered her his hand.
As an S-rank, he possessed not only heightened senses but a far more refined perception of mana than ordinary Espers. With even brief skin-to-skin contact, he could read the outline of another person's mana vessel.
Every living person possessed one - large or small, stable or damaged, refined or crude. A vessel revealed the truth of one's power.
With a single touch, Arlen could gauge capacity, pollution tolerance, even the texture of their mana.
But Sera had dodged his hand and stood on her own, as if she had somehow sensed his intention to probe her core the moment their skin met. Now she was guarded, and prying into her vessel would not be nearly as easy.
No matter.
A guiding session would give him far more time than a handshake ever could.
"I am grateful for your request, Esper Cunning," Sera began carefully. "However, as you know, I am a C-rank. Per Ratha's regulations, I am only authorized to guide one rank above or below my own. I may only guide up to B-rank and therefore cannot guide an S-rank—"
Arlen had expected that answer.
Of course she would hide behind the law.
How else would a little squirrel protect herself?
What she didn't understand was that S-rankers lived in a different world than everyone else. They were too valuable to be constrained by ordinary rules.
The number of S-rankers a country possessed directly correlated with its military and political strength. Esper power was national power.
"Ah, yes," Arlen interrupted pleasantly. "That is true, Sera."
Sera frowned faintly at the casual way he used her name.
"But," he continued, "as a Government Strategic Asset, I am permitted to override guild code and request a Guide of my choosing under emergency discretion."
What he said was true.
While S-ranks served under Ratha's command structure, they were also considered national weapons under government law. In certain circumstances, they were permitted to override guild regulations in the interest of maintaining national defense. One such provision allowed S-rank espers to request guides of any caliber for emergency guidance.
Sera, of course, had not known that.
Why would she?
She was an outsider trying to live a quiet life of snacking, napping, and staying unnoticed - not some heroine of the state concerned with national defense and emergency wartime authority.
"Alright," she said carefully, "I see. I understand, Esper Cunning. However… this is not an emergency, is it? Your pollution appears minimal at a glance."
"Does it?" Arlen asked mildly. "Wouldn't an Esper know his own body and pollution levels best?"
"Yes, sir. However, if there is no official emergency request, I feel uncomfortable responding to an informal summons. Please receive a pollution assessment and submit an emergency request through the proper channel," she countered.
Sera was doing everything she could to avoid him.
Emergency guidance requests were usually reserved for Espers approaching rampage, which required evaluation and formal sign-off from a doctor before the request could be processed and assigned. Only active rampages or emergency field operations bypassed that requirement.
Neither applied here.
Arlen stared silently at her in contemplation.
Then he lifted his wrist and tapped a few commands into the holographic display hovering above his watch.
Without warning, he began counting down.
"Ten. Nine."
Sera blinked. What was he doing?
"Eight. Seven."
She frowned, glancing between Arlen and the others in the room.
"Six. Five. Four."
"Three–"
Trill.
Sera's watch suddenly chirped.
She looked down.
A holographic notice appeared:
< Emergency Guidance Summons >
Room 310 as soon as possible.
- Administrator Risa Agnato
She stared in shock at the alert before slowly lifting her eyes to meet Arlen's grinning face.
This cheeky mother-
Sera had made a catastrophic miscalculation.
S-rank Espers - especially someone as extroverted, charming, and well-liked as Arlen Cunning - rarely lacked favors. Plenty of people at the guild were more than willing to indulge someone so powerful.
Unbeknownst to Sera, Arlen had a good enough relationship with Administrator Risa Agnato to call one in on the spot.
After all, who truly denied an S-rank?
A national treasure.
"Oh dear," Arlen murmured slyly. "I'm suddenly not feeling very well. Looks like I may need some emergency treatment."
Sera felt her stomach plummet to the ground.
For a brief, treacherous moment, she considered pretending to faint.
Unfortunately… that would probably make things worse.
Her mind raced.
Refusing the summons would be suspicious and earn her a work demerit. Running would be even worse. And if she delayed too long, Arlen would simply assume she had something to hide - which, inconveniently, she did.
Could she sabotage the guiding session somehow? No. Not without drawing even more attention.
Damn it.
There was no good option.
"…Understood," she said at last, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. "I will… comply with the emergency summons."
Inside, she was screaming.
Julia's head snapped between them, pink eyes wide. "Wait, seriously? You're guiding Arlen? Right now?"
Sera resisted the urge to grab Julia and use her as a human shield.
"How interesting!" Julia laughed, completely oblivious to the tension hanging in the air. "Sera's a great guide. Her guiding feels soft and fluffy every time. You're in for a good time, Arlen!"
Julia slapped him on the back with cheerful force.
Sera felt her soul briefly leave her body.
She resisted the overwhelming urge to grab Julia by the shoulders and shake her.
Object.
Interfere.
Challenge him.
Do literally anything helpful.
Instead, Julia beamed proudly beside her, inadvertently endorsing Sera's impending doom.
Oh gods, she thought.
"Indeed," Arlen said smoothly, the grin still lingering on his face. "I'm very much looking forward to it."
He brushed past them and began walking toward the exit.
"Room 310," he added over his shoulder. "Your personal office, Sera."
Then he glanced back, icy blue eyes glinting with quiet amusement.
"Don't keep your patient waiting."
Cold sweat slid down Sera's spine.
Gods.