The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 291: Nine Attempts

The next two weeks passed... Half-lazily, half-busily. Lazily during the day, when Lane was alone at home, ’studying’ alone at home (read: falling asleep over Damien’s notes)... And busily in the evening, when Damien was home. Because the man made it his mission to grill Lane until he finally passed the theory exam.

Which was quite understandable. Because Lane had failed the test another six times. With the results: 49%, 54%, 48%, 53%, 56%, and another 56%, in exactly this order. So, although there WAS progress, his results had only gone up 13% since the first time.

And he already had nine attempts. At this rate, it would take at least another month before Lane finally achieved the passing score.

Damien attempted various study methods with Lane. Flashcards, mock tests, repeating out loud, mind maps, a reward system, or whatever other advice he found out loud... But that could only work when he was at home. Which wasn’t a lot of time, since he was still very busy at work. Then a part of that time was also taken away by cooking, doing chores, sleeping, and naturally, having sex. Because somehow Lane, who had been swooning over the table with a terrible headache while they were in the living room, going through the study materials, suddenly became very energetic the moment they hit the mattress. Then this energy was gone again if Damien tried to pull out the flashcards afterward...

Until finally, Damien decided it couldn’t go on like this any longer. Even Director Torres had already emailed him, asking what was going on with this delay.

"Come to work with me today," he suggested one day over breakfast.

"To work?" Lane looked up from his plate. "What, am I allowed to work without a license now?"

Damien stared at him blankly. Lane had a smile on his face, but it didn’t seem as if he was joking...

"No?" Lane sighed, disappointed. "Damn, what a shame..." he muttered under his nose.

"You don’t want to?"

"That’s not it," Lane shrugged his shoulders. "But what is it for?"

"I just thought it might be easier for you to focus on your studies when you’re not at home. You could stay with me in the office while I’m doing paperwork," Damien explained.

Of course, what he meant by that was that this way, he could keep his eye on Lane, and make sure the man was actually STUDYING, not just SLEEPING on top of the study materials, and hoping that the knowledge would somehow magically transfer into his brain. Or play games on his phone or game console, which Damien was quite certain Lane was often doing. He even touched the console a few times after work, and it was oddly warm...

Well, Lane’s lack of significant improvement had to come from somewhere. While he might not have been gifted academically, he was not so stupid as to be unable to memorize a few rules and regulations. Those exams were designed for the Espers who want to work in the Awakened field, most often clearing the dungeons, after all, not at students pursuing higher education! All the knowledge that is expected of them to master is either related to their job - the part about monsters, dungeons, and Mana, which Lane was close to acing each time - or maintaining peace in society - that is, the rules they had to follow for the sake of everyone they lived among. And, while Damien was well aware that Lane had no interest in following them... Was it really so much to ask to at least memorize them?

"Uh..." Lane groaned, pushing the food around on his plate. "I... I’m not sure if that’s a good idea..."

"Why?" Damien furrowed his brows.

To which Lane flashed him a flirtatious smile. "Because your face is too handsome! With you around, how can I possibly focus on some boring notes?"

"You can sit with your back turned toward me."

"No, no, that still won’t work," Lane shook his head with a serious expression. "Even your mere presence is too distracting!"

"...I will allow you to join the team for the training," Damien suggested, holding back a heavy sigh.

Now that finally caused Lane to perk up. "Your team training?"

"Yes."

"Even though I don’t have a license yet?"

"Yes. It will be unofficial, and you won’t be getting paid for the hours... But it will be a nice breather for you, don’t you think? I will explain it to the team. You are going to join us soon anyway, so it won’t hurt for you to start adjusting a bit earlier."

Actually, as far as Lane was concerned, no adjusting was really needed. He had been a member of that team for a few months before, so he knew most of the members well. They didn’t know him, yes, at least not the real Lane Allen, but it wouldn’t be much of an issue. Lane would still be able to fit in easily.

But it would really do him good, to stretch his legs and have some fun at the training. It would be a breeze in his real body, but that was still better than sitting at home the whole day.

Not to mention... If he came to visit the Association, perhaps he would get a chance to run into one of his examiners. He could maybe hypnotize him then, when he was out of Damien’s sight... And this way, his studying problem would finally be solved! After all those failed attempts, Lane was really starting to get tired of it.

Not tired enough to actually sit down and study properly, though, not at all. He had his limits.

"Alright!" he agreed, cheerfully.

Perhaps a bit too cheerfully, because Damien shot him a suspicious look in response. But he didn’t get to question it, as Lane had already moved on with the conversation,

"What should I wear? The Association uniform?" frёewebηovel.cѳm

He already had his own uniform, since it had been four weeks since he had officially joined.

But Damien shook his head with a sigh. "You’re not at work, so you can’t. Just wear something suitable for the training..."

He was starting to question his decision about bringing Lane to work, but it was a bit too late to back out now. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong...