"—that since you're probably pretty compatible—"

He looks at Hye-jin again. "Apologies, Kim Hye-jin, but I'm afraid there must have been some confusion."

Blink blink.

".... Of... them not telling you, and. Just springing me on you out of nowhere. Yes, that. Would be very confusing, wouldn't it."

Is that a hint of anger from the fire esper? Why, yes! Yes it is!!

"I'm not sure if it's been discussed with you, though I can't imagine it would have, but I don't take partners—"

"Sunbae—"

"—so I'm afraid you may have wasted a trip—"

"The Guild president is calling in his favour," says Min Woo-young with an expression that said he had been really hoping he wouldn't have to bring it up.

Tae-gun stops talking and looks at him.

"He would like you to really pretty please try to work with her?" he says, dropping to casual speech.

"Woo-young."

"Look, frankly I'm not comfortable working with a guild that attempts to stealth teleport in potential partners for their people without their -" no, bad Hye-jin, do not start yelling, you are trying to be a nice fire witch. The way his backlash is already pushing against her from this far away says some things, like this maybe actually being that kind of emergency. Even if it's personally distasteful, to the extreme. ".... Could you just. Give us a moment, please? Outside?"

Her smile is slightly terrifying. She may or may not back up this request with fire. It depends on how she's pushed.

He straightens up further and says, "Yes, of course. I'll, uh—" The president is going to be unhappy about this. "I'll leave you to it."

And he vanishes in a flash of light.

Tae-gun stops talking and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Yeah.

She gets out of her chair and very carefully and deliberately relocates to the other side of the room, as far away from the door as possible, to give him the most space she can.

"Okay. Uh. I wasn't aware you didn't know, so. I apologize for my part in surprising you like this."

"...it is certainly not your fault. I'm the one who should apologise for the situation the Guild is putting you in."

"It's fine. I've been in worse guild politics, actually. Honestly, getting it out of the way early means it's much cleaner and easier. Less entrenched and personal." She looks away from him, anxiously tapping her fingers on the table. So, uh, try to head West, then...? Her English isn't great but maybe America's guild culture is a bit less, uh, this? Maybe??

... But that backlash is really fucking bad....

"How... long have you been doing this?" she asks, still trying to digest the. The thatness. That is contained within this man.

"...this?"

"I can feel the storm of backlash from here, dude, I'm not sure I could live in the same city as you and not eventually notice. How long have you been doing this to yourself??"

That last part came out with a bit more bite than intended, and she winces. "Sorry. Just. Look, I almost understand where your guild is coming from, you're going to give yourself an aneurysm or something like this."

"I can manage it," he says, shuffling uncomfortably.

"Right up until your aneurysm! Or stroke! Or heart attack! Or... I don't even know what flavor of backlash you get, but whatever it is. You will, until it kills you, and it's going to. And you know it, and your guild knows it, and, fucking hell, what kind of fucked up partnerships do they have here that it's better to do that to yourself than - sit next to someone regularly. Forget holding hands, sitting next to each other would probably help you at this point!"

Tae-gun would really like to argue but actually he cannot. Just being in her presence is... helping. He's not actively backlashing right now, he doesn't go out in public when he is, but the mounting pressure is...

...for someone as compatible with him as she seems to be...

"I don't work with partners," he repeats. "I—"

But he's interrupted by his phone ringing. When he looks at the caller ID he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Do you mind if I take this?"

“Go ahead.” If it’s your guild president, tell him to shove up his contract up his ass. And, oh, she quits.

She doesn't say this, but it’s perhaps obvious from her expression.

Yeah.

He doesn't actually step away, but the phone's volume is low enough that a regular human wouldn't have been able to use it at all and Hye-jin can't hear the other side from where she is. "Guild president," he says, adopting a much more formal tone of speech than Min Woo-young had been using earlier. "...yes, I've met her. Yes. Yes, obviously. Yes—yes. I know. I—" He stops talking for a second then closes his eyes again. "No. No, of course not." Another pause. "...I see. And that's—" Pause.

A much, much longer pause.

And a defeated sigh. "Yes, Guild president." Pause. "Yes, Guild president." Pause. "No, Guild president." And a final pause. "Yes, Guild president." Then he hangs up.