There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 292 - 284. More Than A Duty

Chapter 292: Chapter 284. More Than A Duty

"Captain!"

"There you are, Captain," Nadine waved her arms the moment Zein and Bassena entered the venue.

Those who came from Trinity were already there—not many, just those who were really close to Abel and had enough free time to spare during the busy schedule of preparation. Most of them were guides, and from Zein’s division, it was only Nadine and Dean, simply because only the two had satisfying enough results during the last training, so Zein did not ground them. But the two were also part of the first-generation Trinity guides, so they were among the closest colleagues.

The rest were some guides from Abel’s own division, and some espers whom Abel usually took care of, including Rina—before Zein took over the duty. She turned to look at them and sighed. "Oh, finally. I thought you wouldn’t make it."

"We were visiting the groom," Bassena shrugged, letting Zein take a seat first.

"Lies," Rina squinted at the couple. "I was there not long ago and he said you were already going to the venue."

Ops. "We’re detouring since we arrived too early," Bassena deflected. "It’d be too boring if we had to sit around doing nothing for half an hour, wouldn’t it?"

Rina only narrowed her eyes even more, tilting her head to see Bassena and Zein more keenly. She wasn’t sure what kind of detour it was, but it must be pretty wild, seeing the way Bassena’s ear and neck were still red, and how their hair definitely had gone through something before being fixed quickly. But Zein looked as nonchalant as usual, with no change of expression nor a speck of fluster, so Rina could only scoff.

"Well, I guess it’s hard to hold back if you have someone looking this pretty by your side," she clicked her tongue. "Gods, why are you so pretty? I’m jealous," she sighed and patted her cheeks. Wasn’t it rather humiliating that Zein looked prettier when she was the one who was supposed to be the celebrity?

Wait...

Rina blinked and turned to look at Zein, finally realizing that the guide did not wear the mask. She parted her lips, but Zein beat her to it. "Yes, I know. It’s just for the wedding."

"It’s truly different seeing you without it while wearing something like this," Nadine commented. Unlike other people, the members of Zein’s division had the privilege of looking at the Captain’s bare face during the Training, because Zein was still a human who needed to drink. But he would either be in training uniform or a combat outfit.

Certainly, it was different seeing that pretty face in formal clothes and styled hair. No spiky menacing vibe, just this beautiful-looking art of the God that sucked the room’s attention the moment Zein walked inside the room. It was inevitable; humans were always drawn to beautiful things.

And if it wasn’t for the beauty, people were drawn to power. The Saint candidate, the lost child of Freyja, the head of an Old House; even without the fact that he was Bassena Vaski’s guide, Zein swiftly climbed up the ladder of elite society despite only spending his time in the guild and their apartment.

"If I didn’t know you, I would think that it’s the Commander who told you to wear mask," Rina chuckled, covering her mouth with the fur-lined fan she brought so she would be able to keep her celebrity charade. "You know, so the world wouldn’t know how you look like and fall for you."

"People already fall for him even with the mask," Bassena clicked his tongue. But he just had a very affectionate session with the guide in the restroom, so he was in a good enough mood to not feel jealous of people’s eyes on his boyfriend.

"The guests might take pictures of you," Rina whispered, knowing that some of them had stopped being awestruck and moved to their commlink, probably to update their social media.

"It’s fine, my face has already been circulating out there since the black gate," Zein shrugged.

It wasn’t really his face that he wanted to hide behind his mask. If that were the case, he would never take them off even during mealtime. He wore the mask because he felt threatened by the environment, and it became a habit and an anchor.

Nowadays, while it was still a habit he couldn’t let go during guiding, he already had a new anchor beside him. Just like that time during the welcoming party, he felt safe enough to not carry his security blanket since Bassena was here.

"What if they come to you?" Rina smirked, wiggling her brow because she knew Zein didn’t like being crowded by people he didn’t know.

"For what?" and just like a clueless new superstar, Zein tilted his head in confusion. Why would people come to him at a wedding? Shouldn’t they come to the bride and groom instead?

Rina chuckled, already expecting such a reaction from someone who had been sheltered from the public by everyone around him. "Most of the people from Abel’s side of the family are guides. Don’t you know they had been looking at you with googly eyes?"

Zein raised his brow, lifting his gaze to see the family side chairs at the front of the row. He did feel people had been staring at him keenly, but he had people staring at him every time he made a public appearance, so he learned to only get alerted by the vicious ones. Those guides, however, looked at him the way his chicks back in Althrea looked at him.

"Ah..."

The moment Zein looked at them, they instantly got flustered and hid—yes, hiding—behind their chair, coughing, red in the face. He felt Bassena’s arm casually slung across his shoulder, even though the amber eyes were busy reading through Lex’s report in the commlink; marking what was his.

Cute. Zein chuckled and saw a woman approach their row with a toddler waddling along. The toddler looked at Zein with big, curious eyes, probably wondering why people were looking at this pretty man.

"Excuse me," the woman asked sheepishly, quietly. There was something familiar with her, and Rina told him in a whisper.

"Ah, she’s Abel’s older sister."

Right, she had the same features as Abel and similar soft chocolate caramel eyes. "Ah, hello," Zein nodded, smiling subtly as a bonus for the toddler, who was grinning widely back at him.

"Y-yes, good morning," the older sister fiddled with her handbag and looked at him hesitatingly. "I’m sorry, but..." she paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "My daughter is training as a guide in the Temple now, so she couldn’t attend her uncle’s wedding. But she’s a huge fan of yours so..."

Zein raised his brow, because it was the first time someone mentioned he had a...fans? He wasn’t even a celebrity, unlike Bassena, Rina, or Nadine who were actively in the entertainment industry for a side quest.

"If—if you don’t mind, could I ask for an autograph?"

"Huh..." Zein tilted his head slightly, digesting this interesting event and shrugged. "I’ve never done it before, but sure."

Her eyes widened in delight, the timid expression turned brighter. "R-really? Thank you so much!"

"We better do it quickly before the ceremony begins, or Abel will kill me."

She laughed softly and clasped her hand. "Of course! Let me fetch a paper!"

She ran back to the front row, where a lot of eyes were still watching behind the chair. He could hear giggles, including from the toddler that was left behind in front of him. Zein reached out his hand and the child put a chubby hand atop his palm, giggling as Zein put a candy there.

"Guess we can take a candy if it’s from someone pretty," Rina laughed, and then laughed even more when Zein looked at her in confusion. But the older sister had come back with a paper, so Zein still had no idea that children here were always told not to take candies from strangers.

After he was done signing for the older sister’s daughter, however, someone else was already there, shyly asking if he could sign theirs too, and after a while, there was actually a queue there. For the next ten minutes, it suddenly became an impromptu signing event—even Nadine and Dean took part, grinning as they shoved their notebook in front of Zein.

"Alright, that’s enough," Zein raised his palm when the organizers came inside the room. "Abel is here."

With a relieved sigh, Zein leaned back to Bassena’s arm, which was still on his headrest. It felt weird even now, being told people liked him enough for a trace of him on a piece of paper. It wasn’t even because he was actively on TV, but merely because he was an excellent guide.

But it was also good, to be revered because of his profession, something he never thought he would think of before. Guiding used to be just a job for him, just a way to make money, to survive. He was forced to be an active guide right after awakening, without being given a choice whether he wanted to be one or not. Thus, in the past, Zein used to hate the fact that he was a guide. He hated all the difficulties that came out with it, but he was also thankful that he had a means to make money.

It was complicated for him, having a career in something he had no say in. As time went by, that complicated feeling made him numb. A job is just a job. Guiding wasn’t a calling, he had no passion for it. The only reason he got so good was because he must.

But it was rather different now, he realized. He didn’t really have to work hard to survive now, but he still found himself itched every time he looked at a corroded esper. He had to remind himself that he had his own espers to take care of, and those espers had their own guide. It was a foreign sensation because he used to work in a place that didn’t have enough guides, which meant there was no leeway of choice; he had to guide any esper he saw.

Perhaps that was the part that made him numb too. When it became no more than a job, a duty, it was hard to become passionate about it. But having a chance to sit back and breathe now, Zein found out that when a choice was presented, he would still pick to guide rather than not.

Perhaps it was something inherent in his genes, perhaps because the role was already ingrained so deeply after almost two decades. Or perhaps, it was because of the esper beside him; because being a guide was what made it possible for him to meet Bassena.

Whatever the reason was, Zein felt a comfortable buzz in his heart. At least, finally, he could feel proud of his identity. At last, when he gave all of those autographs, he didn’t feel ashamed.