Three Ways to Run from an Esper

Part 12

      When Dokja opened his eyes he was met with the sight of a sleeping Joonghyuk. He was hugging him close to his chest and his black coat was draped over both of them.
        'He's sleeping so peacefully.' Dokja thought.
       Dokja decided to wake him up with a punch to the face.
       "Good morning to you too." Joonghyuk mumbled.
       A regular punch wouldn't really do anything to an s class, but it made Dokja feel better.
       "Good morning? That's what you have to say you psycho? I feel like I got ran over by a train! Meanwhile you have the audacity to look all happy." Dokja complained as he sat up with a sharp pain in his back.
      Joonghyuk sat up as well and wrapped his arms around Dokja.
      "Well it's all thanks to you that I'm feeling so good." Joonghyuk said as he rested his head on Dokja's shoulder.
       "Yeah, I am pretty great. Now get off of me. We need to leave this dungeon." Dokja said as he got up.
       He went over to his scattered clothes and picked up the torn rags that used to be his shirt and pants.
       "You owe me a new outfit." Dokja grumbled as he put on his white coat and tied it closed to hide his nakedness.
        "I understand why you rampaged now, but why didn't the dungeon clear after you took down the final boss? I saw the demon corpse in the ruble." Dokja asked curiously.
      "I thought that was the final boss too, but it turns out it was a decoy to lure me into the castle. The real final boss was that psychic presence itself. I guess you have to break out of its hallucinations in order to clear it." Joonghyuk explained.
       "Wait a minute... I cleared an S class dungeon! That means I should receive a pretty great reward right?" Dokja realized happily.
       "Yeah, most dungeons have generic rewards, but S-class ones often evaluate the espers and give them a reward to cover their weaknesses. That's how I earned my Skybreaker sword when I cleared my first S rank dungeon. Before that I had to use my fists because no other weapon could handle my power. But ever since then the dungeons just give me rewards that strengthen my guild members, I guess it can't think of anything I need since I'm so powerful." Joonghyuk shrugged.
      "Considering you just got saved by a guide. I'd lower that cocky attitude of yours." Dokja mocked.
       "Over here." Joonghyuk waved as he walked over to a large golden chest that was definitely not there earlier.
      "The rewards should be in here." Joonghyuk opened the chest and two glowing objects with glowing descriptions floated out.
       The first one was a potion bottle that floated in front of Joonghyuk. Dokja leaned over to read the description.
      "Potion of Mental Fortitude. This potion gives the user plus ten in mental fortitude. This potion will help the user to block out mental and psychic attacks."
      Dokja chuckled.,"Looks like the dungeon found a weakness of yours."
      The other potion vial floated over to Dokja, this time Joonghyuk leaned over to read the description.
      "Potion of Increased Stamina. Gives the user plus ten increase in stamina. Will allow the user to participate in prolonged physical activities for longer periods of time."
      Joonghyuk smirked, "That will come in very handy for you. Looks like this dungeon is very good at giving out personalized rewards."
       Dokja blushed as he grabbed the potion and shoved it in his pocket.
       'Damn dungeon, why would it give him something like this?! Joonghyuk seems happier about the stamina potion!"
        "Anyway, let's get going. I need to go home and put clothes on and rest some more." Dokja huffed.
       He tried not to show it, but he could barely walk from how swore he was. It didn't help that they did all that on a stone floor and then slept on it.
      Dokja was about to start walking down the steps, when Joonghyuk came up behind him and scooped him up into his arms.
      "Hey! Put me down! I can walk by myself!" Dokja ranted.
      "It will be a lot faster if I fly us out." Joonghyuk said simply as he floated into the air and flew towards the dungeon gate.
      "Wait! There's a huge crowd of people out there!" Dokja said while fishing something out of his pocket.
       He pulled out a small vial.
       "Let's both drink an invisibility potion so they don't see us."
       "Go ahead. I have a stealth skill so I don't need a potion." He said as he activated the skill and slowly seemed to disappear like a shadow.
       Dokja drank the potion and disappeared as well.
       It felt weird to fly when he couldn't see Joonghyuk. It felt like he was being carried by the wind itself but he could still feel Joonghyuk's esper energy surrounding him.
       They exited the gate and it closed behind them.
      The crowd of people waiting outside the gate immediately started to panick.
     "The gate closed!? But how? It would have erupted with monsters if no one cleared it, but where are they?" An esper asked as the crowd murmured in confusion.
      Dokja recognized Anna Croft in the crowd when she spoke.
      "I fly all the way here and that jerk had everything handled? Well that was a waste of time." She sighed.
       'So Anna Croft is who they called from overseas. That's actually a perfect choice for this dungeon since she would be resistant to the mental tampering.' Dokja analyzed as they flew away.
     'I'm glad we made it out before she went in. It would have been mortifying if she caught us like that.' Dokja thought with a blush.
         Joonghyuk flew them right onto the balcony of their penthouse. He deactivated his skill as they stepped inside.
       "I guess your invisibility potion hasn't worn off yet. I have a potion neutralizing skill if you want." Joonghyuk asked.
      "No. I'm good. I'm gonna go shower and change." Dokja wrestled out of his arms and ran into the bathroom.
      He didn't want to be visible yet. He still felt embarrassed and awkward after what happened.
      Of course, the potion didn't stop him from seeing himself. It only stopped others from seeing him. So when he looked in the mirror after taking off his coat, he got to see exactly how many marks Joonghyuk had left on him.
      His pale skin was littered with hickies and bite marks. His hair was messy and lips chapped. He was now really glad he had gone invisible. He looked completely wrecked.
      He tried not to think too hard about the soreness and sticky feeling in between his legs as he cleaned up.
      Instead he focused on how soothing it felt to get into the warm shower and change into a fresh set of clothes. The invisibility potion wore off as he dried his hair.
      He also felt hungry. He had used up a lot of energy after all.
      He walked into the kitchen to grab something to eat, and Joonghyuk stood in front of the stove, already cooking something that smelled amazing.
     He looked over at the guide and gave a smile. A facial expression that Dokja couldn't help but love on the normally broody esper's handsome face.
      "Have a seat. The foods almost ready."
      Dokja wasn't gonna pass up on Joonghyuk's amazing cooking, especially with the way his stomach was growling.
      He sat down at the kitchen counter and watched the esper cook.
      It was amazing that this man was the same person he saw yesterday. His eyes were now back to being charcoal black as opposed to the golden glow that gazed at him yesterday.
      He still thought it was unfair that the esper was obviously feeling refreshed and energized while Dokja was sore all over.
He knew that the sword wound from stabbing him yesterday was probably already healed, since espers, especially S-class, could heal supernaturally fast when given proper guiding.
       "You know, I feel like I deserve to punch you in the face a few more times, or maybe stab you once more since the punch won't hurt you." Dokja said as Joonghyuk handed him a plate full of delicious food.
      Joonghyuk just smirked as he sat across from him.
     "Ok, anything for you." He answered seriously.
     Dokja sweat dropped, "You know, when someone says they want to stab you, you shouldn't let them. Even if you can heal quickly."
       Joonghyuk just shrugged. "Even if I didn't heal quickly, I wouldn't mind if the injury was made by you. I even wish your blade had left a scar. Then I could always look at it and think of the time you came to save me."
      Dokja looked at him with a cringe. "You really are a psycho." He huffed as he shoveled more food into his mouth.
      "How are you feeling? I saw the bruising on your wrists and hips. I'm sorry for being so rough with my grip." He apologized.
       "Your grip isn't the roughness you should be apologizing for." Dokja grumbled.
        "Well, I don't think I can sincerely apologize for the other marks I left. I did those on purpose. This is probably the only positive side of guides healing slowly. Those marks will stay on you for a while." He smiled.
       "What are you saying? I'm just gonna drink a healing potion and they'll fade away." Dokja huffed.
       "Well, the guild only sells A class healing potions. Since those marks were made by an S class, they won't fade for a long time." Joonghyuk smiled happily.
       Dokja grumbled, "Someone's certainly proud of treating me like a chew toy."
       "I'll admit it does make me happy to see you walking around with evidence of my touch on you." He said as he stared at Dokja's neck where some of the marks couldn't be hidden by his shirt.
       "But I still don't understand why you were so reckless. Why would you enter a dungeon, an S class one at that, just to save me? I would think you'd be happy to be rid of me." Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow in question.
       Dokja looked down and didn't meet his eyes as he responded. "It's not like I did it for you. It would be bad for everyone if we lost one of the only espers that can clear S class gates. It was more like a public service." Dokja shrugged.
      Joonghyuk didn't respond, and when Dokja looked up, he saw that the esper had an unusual expression. A grim frown, for a second Dokja thought he looked heartbroken.
      "I'm sorry you had to go through that then. I'll give you some space. I'll be in my office if you need me." Joonghyuk said glumly as he got up and walked out of the penthouse.
      Dokja felt a twinge of guilt at the esper's response. What else was he supposed to say though? He didn't want to think about his feelings for the esper so he had to justify his actions as the result of an emergency situation.
       He decided to take a nap and rest some more rather than ponder on those thoughts.
      
      Joonghyuk went down to his office and when he walked into the room he found Jihye Lee standing in front of his desk on the phone.
      "What do you mean the portal suddenly closed? If the dungeon was cleared, then where is Joonghyuk?" She asked whoever she was talking to.
      She looked up as he walked in and froze. "Never mind. I found him. I'll call you back." She hung up the phone and rushed over to her guild leader.
      "When did you leave the dungeon?! And how? Everyone told me you were rampaging!"
      "I was." Joonghyuk answered with a guarded expression.
      "Ok... care to expand a bit more on your explanation?"
      "No."
      Jihye Lee stood there in annoyance as Joonghyuk walked past her and sat down at his desk.
     He knew he would have to write up a report of how he cleared this dungeon, but he decided he would leave Dokja out of it completely.
     He began falsifying the report as Jihye continued to complain about his lack of explanation.
     He knew many people wouldn't believe him since several espers witnessed him start to rampage, but he couldn't really think of a possible explanation that didn't involve his guide, so instead he made it seem like he had somehow forced himself out of a rampage, cleared the gate, and stumbled back to Dokja to receive guiding.
      He tried not to think about what Dokja had said, but the words kept running through his mind.
     'It was more like a public service.' That line hit him like a jackhammer.
      Had Dokja thrown himself into that kind of situation out of his sense of duty to help others? Joonghyuk could definitely believe that. He knew his guide had a habit of putting others before his own well being.
      He had been so happy when he woke up with Dokja in his arms.
      He thought that the fact Dokja had come for him and allowed him to be intimate meant he had grown feelings for him too, but no. Joonghyuk was just delusional. Dokja was just being his normal self-sacrificing self.
      For the rest of the day he buried himself in work. Everyone in the office tried to steer clear of him since his aura became even more gloomy and intimidating.
      "Hey, Jihye, do you know what's got Captain in such a bad mood?" Lee Hyunsung asked when he saw her at lunch.
      She sighed, "I wish I knew. He's been ignoring my questions and the report he wrote up makes no sense. Obviously something happened that he doesn't want to talk about."
      "Well, what about Dokja? He must have been the person who guided him after he cleared the dungeon. Maybe he can tell us what state he was in and why he's gotten all mopey." Hyunsung suggested.
      "You're right. I figured he'd be exhausted after that so I want to let him rest for a little longer, but I'll go up and check on him after lunch."
    
      She finished eating and made her way up on the elevator to the top floor.
     She got off and knocked on the door.
     She waited and heard some shuffling before the door opened.
     She found a Dokja who had clearly just been woken up from a midday nap. His bed head poking up in a mess.
     She also immediately noticed the dark marks scattered across his neck around the collar.
      "Sorry to wake you, I know you must be tired."
      "Not at all. I needed to get up soon anyway so as not to ruin my sleep schedule. What do you need?"
      "Well, I just wanted to ask some questions about Joonghyuk. What kind of state was he in when he came back after clearing the dungeon?Do you know how he even managed to clear his head?" Jihye asked as she saw a red blush spread over Dokja's face.
     'I think I can imagine what went down since he must have needed a lot of guiding.' Jihye thought to herself.
      "Well, umm. He needed guiding. So I guided him. That's about it." Dokja said awkwardly while avoiding eye contact.
      "Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I figured that much. I'm more curious about how he even got to you to receive guiding in the first place. No esper can just will themselves out of a rampage, and the other espers were certain he had entered one over half a day before the dungeon closed. There's no way he could last for that long in that state without help." Jihye said with her arms crossed.
      "Oh well, I guess he must have just gotten lucky, or maybe his state wasn't as bad as those espers reported." Dokja shrugged.
       "I didn't want to point this out so as not to embarrass you, but judging from all those marks on your neck, it looks like he was in a pretty bad state. So I'll ask again, how did he manage to receive guiding from you? If you don't feel like answering that's fine, but I may feel inclined to spread rumors around the guild about those love bites." Jihye threatened casually.
      Dokja blushed more, "Fine, come in and I'll tell you, but you have to keep it a secret."
      Jihye knew that threat would work. It didn't seem like Dokja realized that everyone in the guild already thought they were sleeping together. To be honest, Jihye herself was shocked that her obsessive captain had put it off this long.
       She walked inside and Dokja turned to her with a tired sigh.
      "I went inside the dungeon. That's how he got guiding." Dokja confessed.
      Jihye froze in shock and then snapped out of it in turn for anger.
      "You went inside an S class dungeon by yourself?! After I expressly told you to let us handle it!" Jihye shouted.
       "Calm down. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. The monsters were already dead by the time I got there." He waved off her concerns casually.
       "Do you have any idea what the captain would have done if you got hurt or worse! He would kill us all! He would rampage and destroy everything!"
      "Well, he did do that in the dungeon already, but everything's fine now so all is well that ends well." Dokja shrugged.
      Jihye wasn't sure if this guide was brave, stupid, insane, suicidal, or some combination of all of the above.
      She pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt a migraine coming on.
       "Dokja, you have people that care about you here. None of us want to see something bad happen to you. Why do you insist on doing things alone! We are a guild! We have espers, we were already forming a plan!"
      "Well, I can't say I regret it. Joonghyuk was already on the verge of burning himself out by the time I arrived. He might have died if I hadn't gone."
      Jihye sighed, obviously this man was missing her point about the importance of his own safety.
      "So you entered the dungeon and guided down Joonghyuk while he was in the middle of rampaging... I assume that was... tiring." She tried to word it delicately.
       Dokja blushed again and tried to pull his shirt collar up a little more.
       "But I still don't understand, is the captain mad at you for putting yourself in danger? I would think he'd be happy that you guided him so... intimately." Jihye pondered.
       Dokja rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
      "Well, when we got back after everything had calmed down, I may have said something a little hurtful." Dokja confessed.
      "What was it? I haven't seen the captain ever look this gloomy and depressed, and that's saying something." Jihye said bluntly.
     Dokja frowned, "I may have told him I only gave him intimate guiding as a public service since he's a rare S class."
     Jihye cringed. Yeah, that would hurt. She didn't have a partner guide, but she knew how strong the relationship between espers and their partners could be. Hearing something like that after having your first time with your partner, she could definitely see why her guildmaster was sulking.
      "Did you mean it?" She asked bluntly. If he meant what he said, there really wasn't anything to be done. You can't just change someone's feelings, but Jihye had a sneaking suspicion that wasn't the case.
      "No! I mean... I definitely wasn't worried about him just because of his rank. That stupid sunfish just has a habit of leaping into dangerous situations without thinking." Dokja sighed.
     "Well then, it looks like you two have something in common." Jihye rolled her eyes.
      She couldn't believe two oblivious idiots like these two were partners. She had a feeling neither of them were good at being honest with their feelings. The guildmaster had grown a bit more open since Dokja came along, but Dokja himself still seemed like a closed book when it came to deeper emotions. He appeared plenty friendly on the outside, but it seems he had walls up just as much as the captain, if not more.
     "Listen, I can't give very good relationship advice since I don't have that experience, but I think you need to be more honest with him. I get that you probably have some grudges from how the captain has treated you in the past, but it seems like he's been trying to meet you half way. If you close him off then I promise you nothing good will come out of it. The captain is too dense to figure out your inner thoughts without you saying them directly." Jihye sighed.
       "Anyway, I just wanted to clear up this mystery, but it seems like everyone at the office will just have to put up with his gloominess until you two sort your shit out. Good luck." Jihye said before leaving.

     Dokja stood there looking at the door close behind the vice guildmaster.
     'Be honest with him? Why? Why do I care if that bastard gets all sad?' He thought stubbornly.
     But he knew he did care. He thought about how much the esper had improved since Dokja had arrived here. He thought about how much he hated him at first, then slowly saw him loosen up and grow into a more understanding person.
      He thought about what would have happened if Dokja had been discovered by a different esper. Most of them wouldn't have cared about his past trauma or let him learn combat or wait until he himself chose to get intimate.
     As far as espers go, Joonghyuk was a pretty good one, despite all his flaws, somewhere along the line Dokja had grown to like him.
     'Fine. I guess I should go have a talk with my gloomy sunfish.'