Chapter Text
"Be my exclusive guide."
"I said no, Hegemonia."
"Why not?"
"It's too burdensome."
"I won't die on you, if that's your concern."
"On the contrary, I hope you never show up in front of me again." It was a wonder Nebula hadn't strangled her yet.
Even worse, it was a miracle they'd held on for this long. Both the guide and esper associations had always been dead-set on matching them together during missions. It was objectively the best decision, that's true—not only were Nebula and Hegemonia the highest-ranked guide and esper in Korea, they had an insanely high match rate as S-ranks with a staggering 89%. Additionally, their teamwork when they worked together was unmatched.
That is, if they could stand each other long enough to do so.
"Wow, Nebula." Hegemonia put a hand over her heart in mock offense. She gave him a teasing smirk that meant she was just trying to ragebait him again. "That's some scandal-worthy words you just said. What if I leak it to the press?"
Nebula was tempted to scoff at her words. "As if." He pointed at her, uncaring of his rude gesture. "The news must have long since been fed up with you. How many headlines did you make with that attitude of yours?"
Hegemonia had a defiant and fiery personality that often led to controversial remarks. Naturally, as a top-class esper, people followed every move she made, and it wasn't uncommon for her to be dragged into scandals left and right. Her popularity never seemed to die down despite the controversies, though. Fans of her liked how she was brutally honest and didn't bow down to anyone—and Hegemonia reveled in the attention.
"Ah, it's a waste for you not to show up to the public at least once," Hegemonia shook her head and clicked her tongue. "If your fans find out how your personality's even worse than mine, they'll riot. I want to see that one day."
On the contrary, Nebula had almost never interacted with the public. He refused every interview, didn't showed up to press conferences, and he probably wouldn't have shown up to an award ceremony dedicated to him if it weren't for the fact that his manager desperately asked him to go. (Nebula had reluctantly agreed, and he regretted it when he saw his face plastered all over the news the next day.)
Even with that, he still had fans for some reason. Nebula wasn't sure how it was possible when he purposefully isolated himself from the general public, but he never understood the minds of people who fangirled over guides and espers in the first place.
"I couldn't care any less about them," Nebula replied, sighing in exasperation. Hegemonia was about to retort when they were interrupted by someone.
"Are you two at it again?" Hegemonia's manager ran up to them, kneeling over slightly to catch his breath. "Gosh, I know I should be used to it by now, but I brace for the day when everything blows up."
"You worry too much," Hegemonia dismissed with a wave of her hand. "And when are they going to give the green light on this gate? It's been half an hour since we were deployed. They're making us wait around for nothing at this point."
"Right, that's what I'm here to tell you," the manager replied. He stood up straight, going back to business. "They said you're all set, Esper Hegemonia-nim," he continued. "Since this is a high-ranked gate, they want you to get additional guiding right before entering, just to be safe. And Guide Nebula-nim, they want you to stay here for the next few days and give emergency guiding to everyone when the gate is cleared."
Staying near the gate, especially for days at a time, was always a pain. Paparazzi were often relentless when they found opportunities to find anything about Nebula; the only reason why they were unsuccessful so far was because they didn't dare get too close to the gate itself.
Nebula suppressed the urge to sigh again. "Okay," he said, biting back his complaints. He reached a hand out to Hegemonia, who accepted the silent guiding offer. "How many espers will be clearing this gate in total?"
"I don't know. Let me check." The manager pulled out a phone and began scrolling on it. "Likely around 30 espers total: 1 S-Class, 9 A-Class, and the rest are B-Class."
"How many guides?" Hegemonia asked suddenly, raising her head to look at her manager. Her usual stare seemed more intense than usual, but the manager was used to it by now after working with her for years. He brushed it off, not looking up from his phone.
"I think there may be less guides than usual," he replied with worry.
She frowned. "S-Class gates are always top priority, though."
The manager rubbed his temples in frustration. "Maybe it's because Guide Nebula-nim's here, and both Associations thought he would do just fine because he's an S-Class. Seriously," he added, shaking his head, "sometimes I feel like they treat him more like an esper than a guide instead."
"It's not that bad," Nebula interrupted. He pulled away his hands that were holding Hegemonia's, done with the extra guiding. "I'll just have to do more guiding than usual."
"…You know how you can avoid all those troublesome things?" Hegemonia leaned forward, giving Nebula a small smirk.
He sent her an unimpressed glance in return. "Absolutely not," Nebula shot down immediately.
"You didn't even know what I was going to ask."
"I do. The answer is no."
"You—!" Hegemonia raised a fist, clearly pissed off, but was interrupted by someone calling out to them.
"Nebula-sunbae!" One of the few guides that were deployed to be on standby at the gate ran up to him. "I'm sorry, but could you please help us with last-minute guiding? It's not much; the only ones that are left are a few A-Classes."
Nebula nodded. "Sure," he said. Because he wasn't an exclusive guide, he was often called to help guide A-Class espers (S-Classes were extremely rare, so he really didn't guide any of them besides Hegemonia) and this was just another one of those days.
As he walked away with the guide, he didn't notice Hegemonia's narrowed gaze aiming at his back.
Her manager stayed next to Hegemonia. Suddenly, he said to her, "Please don't do anything rash."
"What is with you two and saying random things unprompted?" Hegemonia scoffed back.
"With all due respect, overexerting yourself to the edge of rampage out of jealousy is not a good idea."
Hegemonia glared at him. "Do you have a death wish?" she hissed at him.
"Tsk. Working with you is already one. But anyway," he said quickly, before Hegemonia could punch him for real, "I know you're unhappy with the lack of guides, but please don't do anything that will drag you into another scandal this time. At least give me a week's break. I'm going to die at this rate."
"That's your job as a manager."
He sighed in response. "God, these espers and their guide obsessions."
"I'm not obsessed with him," Hegemonia replied, almost defensively.
"Then why do you keep asking him to be your exclusive guide?"
"So he can focus better when guiding me," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Her manager sighed again.
The days passed by boringly slow.
Protocol forbid any personal devices while on standby, as well as pretty much anything that could make the time pass by quicker. So Nebula was left stuck near the gate in one of the tents that were set up for the guides, waiting like a sitting duck until Hegemonia finished clearing the gate.
"These communication bracelets suck ass," one of the guides mumbled. Nebula vaguely recognized him to be the one who had asked him for help with last-minute guiding a few days ago. "Seriously, no phones? I knew I should have broken that doomscrolling habit earlier if I knew I was going to be like this."
"I know, right?" Someone else dropped her head on the table and let out a muffled groan. "Ha, fuck, I'm bored out of my mind."
The small group of guides sitting at the table mournfully let out noises of agreement.
"It's a miracle I survived being stuck with you guys for so long," another piped up. "I'm gonna go crazy at this rate."
"Hey!"
Nebula was seated to the side, leaning back on one of the chairs scattered around the place. The conversation drifted in his ears, but he lent no focus on it. Moonlight seeped through the slits between the fabric of the tent. With little light pollution around aside from the swirling gate in the distance, the moonlight lit up the inside brightly compared to the night sky outside. Stars dutifully twinkled. A cold breeze rustled the flaps of the tent slightly.
Sitting still was mind-numbly unsatisfying. He closed his eyes as the cold breeze grew louder, flecks of static buzzing past his ears.
Static?
Nebula immediately got up from his chair. The sudden action made some of the guides turn towards him, but he paid them no mind as he walked out of the tent.
Gates weren't as large as the general public seemed to think, but S-Class gates are the exception. The portal, about as tall as a one-story house, shimmered and swirled as Nebula walked up to it. Typical, as any other day. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
But Nebula had always been confident in himself. The static was real, and it originated from this very gate.
As if in confirmation, it was at that moment that someone stumbled out of the gate. The esper was bloodied, his clothes were ripped, and he was missing a shoe. He disoriently looked around, before his gaze fell on Nebula. His eyes were glowing, his pupils dilated, and slightly cloudy as if in a daze.
"Please," was all he mumbled, before finally losing balance. He fell face-first onto the grass and stilled.