Three Ways to Run from an Esper

Part 6

       Dokja was excited. After arguing with Joonghyuk for days he was finally getting to meet the other espers and guides in the guild. He had spent the majority of his time since arriving here cooped up either in class or in Joonghyuk's penthouse. He normally wasn't overly social, but he was eager for a change of pace.
       Joonghyuk lead him down to the bunker, which was a reinforced concrete chamber buried underneath the guild tower, meant to withstand a category 9 earthquake... or in this case, an S class esper.
      When the elevator doors opened they entered a narrow corridor and then walked into an observation room with re-enforced glass which looked out over a training stadium.
       There was an esper inside running through a simulated dungeon, with holographic monsters and obstacles.
      It appeared that this esper had a strength and defense enhancement ability. Rather than shooting fire or flying, he simply charged and punched his way through the obstacles without gaining a single scratch.
       "Who's that?" Dokja asked as he watched the muscular brown haired man finish the training program by punching a simulated ogre in the gut.
        "He's not that impressive, I could have finished that course in half that time." Joonghyuk pouted.
      "I didn't ask what you thought about him, I asked for his name." Dokja rolled his eyes
      "The names Lee Hyunsung." A voice answered from behind them as the doors slid open.
      The muscular man stepped into the room as he used a towel to wipe sweat off his face.
      "Nice to meet you. You must be the guide I've been hearing so much about." Hyunsung smiled
       "My name's Kim Dokja. Nice to meet you too." He offered his hand for a handshake, but before they could touch Joonghyuk coughed.
      "Don't you think you should go get guiding from YOUR guide?" Joonghyuk grumbled.
      "Actually she said she'd meet me down here to go over my new training regimen."
       As if in answer to his words, the door slid open again and in walked a slim dark haired woman with a sword holstered on her hip.
      "Right on time as always." Hyunsung smiled warmly at the woman.
       "Good to know you realize my excellence." The woman smirked as she walked in.
       "Oh, it's the elusive Kim Dokja I've heard about but haven't gotten the chance to see even a glimpse of!" The woman said as she looked over Dokja.
      "My name's Jung Heewon. Let me know if that nasty esper of your's gets out of hand, I'll put him in his place." She winked as she tapped the sheathed sword on her hip.
        Dokja was surprised, he had never seen a guide carry around a weapon before. Since espers were known as the combatants and guides as support. Though Heewon didn't strike Dokja as the type of person to sit back and let others protect her.
        She went over to Hyunsung and held his arm to provide guiding.
       "You're doing well in your training, but I think you hold back a bit too much still." Heewon said as she guided him.
       "But I almost collapsed an entire dungeon last time I went full power." Hyunsung said nervously.
       "That's why you need to practice at full strength, so you know how to fully control and utilize them. This practice dungeon was built to withstand our jealous guild leader over there. I promise it can handle whatever you can dish out." Heewon counciled while simultaneously jabbing at Joonghyuk.
      Dokja could tell he was going to like these people.
      "Do you control his training regimen? I thought the guild hired specialist to do that?" Dokja asked curiously.
       "Normally they do, but Hyunsung doesn't fully come out of his shell to strangers easily, so I've found it best if I handle his training and guiding. He's basically a big puppy." Heewon explained with a chuckle
       Hyunsung didn't dispute the statement and just smiled. Honestly Dokja could see what she meant.
      Dokja looked over at his esper who was currently jealously grumbling in the corner and wondered if Heewon would be willing to trade with him.
     "Well it's nice to finally meet you Dokja, I was honestly getting concerned that our guild leader was gonna keep you locked up in his penthouse forever." She half-jokingly said, even though they both knew it was a possibility.
      "We should hangout sometime. Hyunsung and I were planning to go out drinking with some of the other guild members tomorrow. How about you come along and it can be a little welcome party?" Heewon suggested
       "That sounds like fun, count me in." Dokja agreed, ignoring Joonghyuk's grumbling in the corner.
      "I'm going too." Joonghyuk mumbled.
      "Really?! You never want to hang out with us though? We only ever see you while working a dungeon." Hyunsung said in surprise.
      "I have a feeling if we can convince Dokja here to hang out with us, we'll be seeing a lot more of our antisocial leader." Heewon smirked.
      "Anyway, Hyunsung has a dungeon raid later today so we better get going." Heewon said
      "We? Don't you wait for him to get back?" Dokja asked
      "Actually, I go with him to dungeon gates. I'm trained to handle up to level B. If it's A or above I'll wait outside the gate for him, but if it's B or below I come along to help out." Heewon explained
      "You can do that as a guide?" Dokja asked amazed
       "Most guides can't or don't want to, but if you persistently train and get the right equipment, you can too."
       "That's enough." Joonghyuk interrupted, "Didn't you say you need to get ready for a raid? I suggest you leave then."
       "And that is our clue to leave. Have a good day Dokja." They both waved and left as the door slid closed behind them.
       Dokja looked over at Joonghyuk and before the words had even left his lips Joonghyuk answered.
      "No, don't even think about it."
      "I'm not asking to go into dungeons right away, but don't you think it's a good idea for me to have some way to defend myself?"
      "I'm your protection."
      "What about when you have to work, or what if something happens to you?"
      "You are always my first priority. I'd drop everything and come to you. The collar lets me know if you're in danger."
      "Well maybe I don't want you to be my personal bodyguard all the time. Plus I think it would be fun. Maybe Heewon can give me a few sword lessons. Come on, I'm following all your dumb rules and everything. Let me do this."
      Joonghyuk seemed to pause and think for a moment.
      "You really want combat training that badly?" He asked as Dokja nodded while trying to use his best puppy dog eyes.
      "Just lessons. No entering dungeons." Joonghyuk conceded with a huff.
      Dokja smiled, "I can convince him to let me enter a low level dungeon once I've learned enough swordsmanship." Dokja thought sneakily to himself as they left the bunker.

Yoo Joonghyuk's POV:

      "I must be loosing my mind." Joonghyuk thought to himself as he watched Dokja happily walk in front of him down the hall.
      "Combat training! For my guide! What if he gets hurt!" The protective side of him panicked and raged in his mind, imagining the worst possible scenarios of Dokja accidentally stabbing himself or loosing a limb.
        "Calm down," he told himself, "You told yourself you were gonna let Dokja have more freedom and make him happier, he seems awfully happy about this, so it's working."
      The protective side of him still hated the idea of Dokja even holding a weapon, or of him being near other espers, or of him leaving Joonghyuk's side for even a second... ok... even he knew he couldn't be so over bearing.
       He listened to Dokja talk about his excitement to start sword training and go drinking with the other guild members and to basically not be cooped up.
      Joonghyuk sighed, "Follow me." He relented in resignation.
     They got on the elevator and Joonghyuk ignored Dokja's questions on where they were going, trying not to change his own mind.
      They got off on the esper equipment level and made their way to the armory. While the guide level stocked mostly defensive items, this armory stocks all kinda of weapons.
     Dokja looked around the room in amazement at the large assortment of weaponry. There was everything from bows and arrows to modern guns, there were even hand grenades and a miniature rocket launcher. Most of them were enchanted to be more effective against dungeon monsters than a normal weapon. Many of them had been rewards for clearing dungeons.
      "Choose." Joonghyuk grumbled
      "What?" Dokja turned to him in surprise
      "You're a guide. You can't get combat training without a weapon. So choose."
       "You were just protesting me receiving combat training, and now you're offering me any weapon from the esper armory?" Dokja questioned in suspicion.
       "Just choose before I change my mind." Joonghyuk snapped.
       Dokja immediately started looking around, he seemed to analyze each weapon closely, considering its pros and cons. He mumbled something about stats and effectiveness whenever he picked something up before putting it back down.
       Joonghyuk had never needed to consider stats of weapons before. He carried a sword that simply channeled his own powers into the blade. He was so overpowered he really had no need for tactics, strategy, or weapons. He just attacked using his powers and it always worked.
       "This one!" Dokja suddenly said.
       Joonghyuk walked over to see that his guide was holding a rather plain looking black sword. He remembered it from a dungeon raid he went on a few months ago, it was a reward for defeating the final boss.
       "I've read about this sword!" Dokja said excitedly.
       "It can adapt to have the opposite aura of anything you fight. For example, if you fight a fire monster the sword's aura will automatically change to water." Dokja explained happily.
       "Never heard of it." Joonghyuk said
       "Don't you read about the dungeon rewards?" Dokja asked him in surprise.
      "I've never used any of the dungeon treasures, and my mentality is, why should I read when I can just kill the things words tell me about?" Joonghyuk responded with a shrug.
      "You know if you weren't so overpowered you would definitely be dead already. Like a Sunfish, you'd just drop dead." Dokja said with an exasperated sigh.
      "So is that the one you're going with?" Joonghyuk asked, ignoring the comparison he made of him to a dying fish.
      "Yeah, it's an S grade item so it's practically unbreakable." Dokja said with satisfaction.
      "Just remember, that sword might be unbreakable, but you aren't. Your collar may have a defensive spell on it, but there are some rare magic and monsters that can weaken or even negate defense items, which is why you will never enter a dungeon." Joonghyuk warned seriously
      "I don't have a death wish, in what scenario would I purposely put myself in that kind of situation." Dokja said confidently as he swung the sword around to gauge its balance.
      Joonghyuk could think of several scenarios in his mind, but decided it was best not to give his troublemaker of a guide any ideas, so he just sighed and paid for the sword.
      Dokja seemed particularly happy that the sword cost over a million dollars, even with Joonghyuk's guild leader discount. That didn't particularly bother him, considering he had plenty of money and he was buying the sword from his own guild so in a way the money went back to him and his guild members.
       Dokja sheathed the sword in a black leather sheath that he attached to his belt. If he wasn't wearing the black metal collar around his neck he almost looked more like an esper than a guide.
       "Remember. That sword is only for practice. No real combat." He warned again.
       "Will you relax? With the amount of times you've warned me about no combat it's starting to sound like obvious foreshadowing." Dokja joked
      "What's foreshadowing?" Joonghyuk frowned
      "Read a book sometime and you'd know, you psycho sunfish." Dokja replied sarcastically.