The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 277: Intimidating

"Wow. You were really intimidating back there!" Lane whispered to Damien as they left the assessment room.

Damien glanced back at Lane, his brows deeply furrowed. Much more than usual. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"No, no, you don’t get it. That was a compliment! You were really cool back there. And hot!"

Despite Lane’s reassurance, Damien’s frown only deepened.

It wasn’t about whether he looked cool, or hot. That wasn’t one of his concerns, not in the slightest. Rather... He felt bad. First, for intimidating the poor test overseer, who was only trying to do his job. Then, for skipping the whole chain of command, and turning straight to Director Torres. He could do it, yes, because of his special status... But technically, he had no authority. It was such an abuse of power that he had as an S-ranker...

And then, finally, facilitating Lane lying to the Association again about his rank and ability. Damien even would be lying to Director Torres, after skipping ranks to personally ask him for help to settle Lane. And he was the one who suggested it in the first place. Yes, it was better than allowing Lane to continue living his life as he had been doing till now, but...

But Damien still couldn’t help but feel disappointed with himself, for bending and breaking rules so much for his own benefit. He was supposedly doing it for Lane, but in truth, it was even more for himself. Because he wanted Lane, and so he tried to make it so that they could be together...

"Hey," Lane nudged Damien with his elbow, noticing that the man’s expression was growing darker, his frown now so deep that the crease between his brows could contend with the Mariana Trench. "Thanks for all your help."

"Mn."

"You should have left it to me, though, if you’re feeling uncomfortable!"

"To you?" Damien lifted his brows, causing his frown to ease a little.

"Yeah! I would have been easily able to handle it!"

"It’s not that I think you wouldn’t..." Damien sighed, shaking his head.

Yes, Lane would have been able to handle it. Except that, it would probably end up in a complete disaster! Even if not now, it could come back to haunt them in the future. Not to mention, the poor test overseer would likely end up traumatized... Lane had no authority to do... anything, really, so he could have only relied on his intimidation skills, maxing them up to their limits.

Or on hypnosis. Most likely on hypnosis. Damien had no proof, but he suspected that Lane had used this ability quite a lot in the past to get himself out of trouble.

"Never mind," he sighed again, giving up. He knew what he was signing up for when he decided to be with Lane. And Lane was putting some effort, joining Association on Damien’s request despite not being particularly enthusiastic about the job - although now that he thought about it... What was it that made Lane join the Association in the first place, when he had been possessing other people? Damien still had no answer to that - so Damien should do his part as well.

Even if that meant bending his principles a bit.

"So, what now?" he asked instead, dismissing the topic. "Are you going to talk to your parents now?"

Lane thought for a moment. "Not yet. I think it’s better to finalize my contract with the Association first, or else they will try to intervene."

"But you broke the law by hiding your rank, so it should be up to the Association as to how to deal with you," Damien pointed out, but Lane only laughed in response.

"So what? Do you think that would stop them? They would just pay some people off, and drag me away, problem solved! The law doesn’t quite work the same way when you have enough money to cover things up!"

That’s probably how they would react. Once they found out that Lane was an A-ranker, they would try to take him back and use him. And if that wouldn’t work, then perhaps lock him up, or straight up eliminate him - or at least attempt to. In a dungeon, this time perhaps not by just sending him on a raid, but by assembling a team to hunt him down inside. Dungeon deaths were rarely investigated, after all, and accidents were easy to fake.

If they couldn’t use him as a pawn, they would destroy him. Lane doubted that the Allens would just allow for him to be ’used’ by someone else.

"Won’t that still be the case after you sign the contract, then?" Damien couldn’t help but ask, so worried that he barely frowned at Lane’s comments about the law and money. It’s not like he was wrong, anyway, as much as Damien hated to admit it. "If they can pay the Association off now, would one contract be able to change it?"

"Haha, well, you see," Lane smiled mischievously. "The contract on its own can’t."

"Then...?"

"First and foremost, there’s Diana. She promised that she would send them a video message. Her face looks normal, so as long as she covers the rest of her body, the Allens won’t notice anything. And she will threaten them, or something," Lane explained. How would it work, he didn’t know, as Diana didn’t tell him exactly what she would tell, but that didn’t matter. Lane trusted her. "And on top of that, there’s another thing that’s much harder to control."

"Which is...?"

"Gossip!" Lane smiled brightly, hooking his arm around Damien’s. "If a lot of people were to know that we are together, and the Allens then tried to take me away, do you think people wouldn’t notice?"

"Would they?" Damien lifted his brows, unsure. He never paid any attention to gossip, so he had no idea what people talked about. And besides, "And what would that change?"

"Well, it could result in some unsavory rumors, don’t you think? Of course, that on its own wouldn’t be enough to stop the Allens, but it would certainly discourage them from trying to drag me back."

"Is that so?" Damien was still unconvinced, but Lane nodded his head fervently. "Yes, of course! Which is why we should go together to the cafeteria!"

"...Are you sure you don’t want to just mess around?"

"Who? Me? Of course not!" Lane blinked innocently, but the corners of his mouth kept twitching.

...It really didn’t seem like any serious attempt to save himself from the Allens.

Still, Damien allowed himself to be dragged to the cafeteria for lunch. He should probably start getting used to it, if Lane was going to join his team in the near future...