Survive With the Max Level Guide

Back inside the car, the two sat in silence for a while. Cha Eun-soo had become completely absorbed in the scenery beyond the window. The sun-dappled ocean surface sparkled—undeniably beautiful.

“It’s peaceful.”

As the sun began to set, Cha Eun-soo murmured. “I’m not thinking about anything at all.”

Shim Tae-seong looked at him.

“You seem troubled.”

He knew full well—no one spills their worries to someone they’ve just met.

And yet, that tiny sliver of hope, the impulsive desire to get closer, slipped out before he could stop it, brushing against Cha Eun-soo.

A shadow passed over the young man’s otherwise calm face.

“Was it that obvious?”

Then came a bitter smile.

“Well… I did pretty much say it myself, didn’t I? That something had happened.”

His eyes, which had been fixed straight ahead, finally turned to Shim Tae-seong.

“What do you think about Guides, Mr. Bodyguard?”

Maybe it was the heightened sensitivity in the moment. Cha Eun-soo’s usual composure seemed to waver, trembling faintly beneath the surface.

That unexpected vulnerability made Shim Tae-seong’s heart beat just a bit faster.

“You mean Guides.”

“Yes.”

“Guides are…”

They are indispensable. They ease the pain of Espers and help them see the world more clearly. Shim Tae-seong had always known that—in his head. But it was only recently that his body truly understood it.

Through Cha Eun-soo.

But where that pain had once been, a gnawing thirst for Cha Eun-soo had taken root.

How unbearable it had been. The seething violence that had once scorched through him still simmered beneath the surface, lying in wait for the slightest chance to erupt.

“Guides allow Espers to live like actual people.”

He offered a textbook answer, concealing the turmoil beneath.

“They’re essential to us.”

“…Is that so?”

Cha Eun-soo turned his gaze back to the sea. His face, bathed in crimson light, looked painted with the hues of dusk.

“My brother said something similar.”

Cha Eun-hyuk, then.

Shim Tae-seong quietly waited for him to continue.

“That sometimes, a power you didn’t even know you had… ends up saving someone.”

Cha Eun-soo murmured as if to himself.

“It really is fascinating. From a Guide’s perspective too, I mean.”

“…!”

Shim Tae-seong’s eyes widened. He was shocked by Cha Eun-soo’s unexpected confession.

Mistaking that reaction as discomfort with what he’d just revealed, Cha Eun-soo gave a wry smile.

“Yes. I’m a Guide. Aside from my brother, no one knows.”

Their eyes met.

“I wasn’t planning on telling you either, Mr. Bodyguard. I was going to keep it hidden. Because my brother wanted me to.”

“Then why now…?”

Shim Tae-seong asked, barely managing to suppress the joy surging within him.

Cha Eun-soo fell silent for a moment.

“Because I want to help you.”

…What?

“You need Guiding too, don’t you?”

Shim Tae-seong froze. His breath caught. It felt like his brain had shut down.

Cha Eun-soo knows I’m an Esper. But how?

“The truth is…” Cha Eun-soo hesitated, watching him closely.

“I realized it when we touched. Because I know what Guiding feels like.”

Shim Tae-seong swallowed a sigh.

He felt like a fool for only now recalling something so obvious. Of course a Guide would recognize their own act of Guiding.

That startled look on Cha Eun-soo’s face back then—it wasn’t surprise at him being an Esper. It was the realization that Shim Tae-seong had lied.

“…So you were pretending not to know.” He finally managed to speak.

Cha Eun-soo nodded gently.

“I figured you had your reasons. Maybe you didn’t want to be Guided. Or maybe… you hated Guides.”

“But from what you just said, it doesn’t seem that way.”

In those warm, light brown eyes—tinged with the colors of dusk—Shim Tae-seong saw a man in need of saving.

“I want to help you.”

A pale hand reached out to him.

“I can help you.”

Shim Tae-seong stared silently at that outstretched hand.

Now he understood. Why Cha Eun-soo had chosen to speak first.

Because to point out someone else’s secret, you should first reveal your own. It was a gesture of respect—of wanting to speak as equals.

Even more so because, in the end, it was all to help him.

He wanted to ask why he was going so far. But instinct stopped him. It told him—Just take his hand. Don’t be a fool and let this chance slip away.

“Mr. Bodyguard.”

Perhaps sensing his hesitation, Cha Eun-soo called out to him. Then, after a brief moment of uncertainty, he began to speak.

“My brother… ever since realizing I’m a Guide, he’s been overly considerate.”

The sudden shift in topic made Shim Tae-seong look up.

“This time too—he said I wasn’t feeling well and deliberately left so he wouldn’t end up Guiding with me again, even by accident.”

A faint, almost guilty smile.

“That’s why I want to understand things properly. I want to Guide him, the right way. I want to know what it truly takes to satisfy an Esper.”

His gaze dropped in embarrassment.

“I mean… I still have a lot to learn as a Guide.”

“So it’s not just me helping you. You’d be helping me too.”

It was clear he was trying to ease the pressure—trying to make it sound less one-sided.

But there was one critical thing this kindhearted Guide didn’t understand: The more intense an Esper’s craving for Guiding, the more twisted their obsession became.

Shim Tae-seong felt a surge of dark emotion flooding in, uncontrollably. His tightly clenched fists slowly loosened.

And then—impulsively—he grabbed Cha Eun-soo’s hand.

“Ah…!”

Startled by the sudden pull, the younger man was dragged forward.

Shim Tae-seong turned his head, and in the next instant, he claimed the lips now within reach.

Cha Eun-soo’s eyes trembled under the forceful gaze locked onto him, like he was being devoured. Shim Tae-seong didn’t miss a single detail—even the faint shiver of those long lashes.

When the younger man flinched and parted his tightly sealed lips, Shim Tae-seong slipped in, his tongue thick and deep, sweeping through the inside of his mouth.

He caught Cha Eun-soo’s tongue as it tried to retreat and tangled it with his own, scraping harshly across the tender roof of his mouth.

The motion was so rough, it stung slightly—enough for Cha Eun-soo to feel pain.

Shim Tae-seong was aware of how aroused he had become. It felt like he was devouring the Guiding—like some monstrous deep-sea predator.

He knew he should stop. But that thought was fleeting, barely a blink.

How could he stop when something so desperately lacking was finally being fulfilled? It felt like a miracle—something he’d longed for coming true at last.

The abstract sensation morphed into pleasure, and that pleasure began to swell, demanding even more.

“Mm… ngh.”

Cha Eun-soo’s gaze began to blur as he gripped Shim Tae-seong’s arm. It seemed the Guiding was overwhelming his senses.

And yet, despite the chaos inside him, he made no move to resist. He simply accepted the starving Esper.

That unresisting submission made Shim Tae-seong’s desire spiral into madness.

He slid his hand beneath Cha Eun-soo’s thigh, easily lifting the slight body into his lap. Even as he did, he continued hungrily devouring the man’s breath and saliva.

His hand slipped beneath the luxurious fabric of Cha Eun-soo’s shirt, and the moment his palm met that soft, warm skin—his mind burned hot.

Chup—with a wet, obscene sound, their parted lips came undone.

“Mr. Bodyguard…”

Cha Eun-soo’s breath came short, his cheeks flushed red. It wasn’t just from the light of the setting sun.

Shim Tae-seong let out a low, rumbling exhale, almost a growl, as he buried his nose in the crook of Cha Eun-soo’s neck, breathing in the sweet scent that clung to his skin.

His hand, which had slid up from the curve of Eun-soo’s waist, now pressed against his chest. As his fingers teased the peak, the slender body arched in a lithe, graceful curve.

“Hhhng—”

He was shockingly sensitive. Unable to restrain himself at the feel of the taut nipple beneath his palm, Shim Tae-seong swept up the hem of the shirt in one swift motion.

The fabric bunched up beneath the chin, baring Cha Eun-soo’s upper body. His chest was pale, the nipples small and delicately colored. Shim Tae-seong stared as if mesmerized, then leaned in.

“M-Mr. Bodyguard… wait—”

Eun-soo flinched at the hot breath against his chest, trying weakly to stop him. But Shim Tae-seong’s lips closed over the nipple without pause.

“Ha-ahhng!”

A place so rarely touched was now being rolled and teased inside another man’s mouth.

Cha Eun-soo clung to Shim Tae-seong’s head, trembling all over.

Whether he meant to or not, that action only pressed them closer together. In response, Shim Tae-seong suckled harder on the swollen nub, his tongue moving as though savoring ripe fruit.

A trail of soft, sweet moans spilled from Cha Eun-soo’s lips.

When Shim Tae-seong finally let go, Eun-soo’s chest was slick, glistening in the dim light—visually intoxicating.

Below, where the body had responded from the beginning, there was now a sharp, throbbing ache. Cha Eun-soo glanced down at the hardness prodding up against his rear and squeezed his eyes shut.

Shim Tae-seong kissed his cheek, then whispered in his ear—

“Open your eyes.”

Slowly, the lids fluttered open. His eyes, like glass beads, shimmered with arousal, glistening wet at the edges.

The urge to lick away the tears that would soon spill from them hit like a wave.

Shim Tae-seong barely managed to latch onto the last thread of reason.

“If we go any further…”

His voice was hoarse.

“…I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”

“It’ll hurt. You’ll suffer.”

He sounded the alarm—one final warning.

For a brief moment, silence filled the car. Then, Cha Eun-soo’s lips parted.

“I…”

The hand that had rested at the back of his head slid forward, settling softly on his broad shoulder.

“My feelings haven’t changed, Mr. Bodyguard.”

That beautiful face drew closer, lashes lowered in bashful confidence. His neat front teeth gently bit down on Shim Tae-seong’s lower lip.

…Ah.

Shim Tae-seong’s mind went utterly blank.