Reborn as an A-Rank Guide: Trapped By The Crazy Sentinels

Bunny hadn’t forgotten that she needed to perform a mental stabilization session for San.

She first went to the housekeeper system to have her measurements taken, then asked Sunny to adjust the size of her work uniform.

That little robot was capable of practically everything. It was surprisingly intelligent, too.

When Bunny pushed open her bedroom door to retrieve the equipment she would need for the session, she froze.

San was already lying on her bed.

He was sprawled across the bed like he owned the place, arms and legs stretched wide in a shameless starfish pose. In his hands, he kept tossing the little plush bunny Orion had given her into the air and catching it again.

Bunny’s expression darkened instantly.

”Who gave you permission to come in?!”

San rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow, looking completely unapologetic.

”You didn’t lock the door.”

What kind of bandit logic was that?

”Get off my bed!”

There was absolutely no way she was going to let some strange man lounge around on her bed.

San simply blinked at her with those fiery, golden eyes and continued lying there without the slightest intention of moving.

His expression practically said, Yeah, I’m not getting down. What are you going to do about it?

Grinding her teeth, Bunny grabbed the blanket and tried to drag the hundred-plus-kilogram man off the mattress.

It was, of course, virtually impossible.

”If you don’t get down right now, I’m not doing your mental soothing!”

That threat finally seemed to work. San glanced at her, then immediately hopped off the bed.

”You’re so mean.”

He folded his arms and moved over to the sofa instead, stretching out across it. His fiery red hair stood out dramatically against the room’s pristine white interior.

Bunny disgustedly picked up the blanket he’d been lying on and tossed it onto the floor, intending to have the robot take it away for washing.

”I’m only mean to you.”

She shot him an annoyed look. Suddenly, San flashed a row of sharp white canine teeth.

”But I like mean girls.”

Bunny could only sigh. ”I’m not doing the soothing session in my bedroom. Go wait outside.”

She dismissed him without the slightest courtesy. San acted as though he hadn’t heard her. He simply rolled onto his side on the sofa.

”Oh? You don’t like doing it here? Then where do you prefer?”

His tone was deliberately provocative and irritating.

”The swimming pool? The cinema room? The study...” He paused, his golden eyes gleaming mischievously. ”I’m fine with any of them.”

Bunny was so furious that she grabbed a pillow from the bed and hurled it straight at him.

”You damn jerk—”

San caught the pillow effortlessly.

”Miss Guide, aim somewhere else. Don’t hit a man in the face. It’s a moneymaker.”

Bunny was about ready to have an aneurysm because of this red-haired menace. He had absolutely no manners or sense of boundaries. Compared to Orion, he was a real asshole.

She pulled open the bedroom door and frowned.

”Either you leave, or I’ll throw you out myself.”

The Guide was clearly angry now. Her delicate brows were drawn tightly together.

That finally got a reaction out of San. He strode toward the doorway on those ridiculously long legs.

Bunny assumed he was finally going to leave. Instead, the next second, he scooped her straight off the ground.

”What are you doing? Put me down!”

San slipped an arm around her waist and effortlessly set her on top of the desk. He planted both hands against the edge, his towering body blocking out the light in front of her like a wall.

The intense scent of his amber-and-pine-resin sentinel pheromones flooded her senses.

With that striking, almost arrogant face only inches away, he looked directly into her eyes.

”Let’s begin, Miss Guide. I can’t wait anymore.”

Bunny pushed against his powerful arms, but he didn’t budge an inch.

”I’m not doing it like this!”

San raised one eyebrow. ”Then what position do you prefer?”

”Do you seriously not understand what I’m saying?” Bunny pointed coldly toward the pile of restraint equipment. ”Put them on.”

San followed the direction of her finger. The moment his gaze landed on the restraints, the fiery gold in his eyes dimmed.

He hated them. He absolutely hated those things.

”I don’t want to wear them. Can I skip this step?”

There was a hint of pleading in San’s voice now, mixed with an almost shameless attempt to charm her.

”They’re uncomfortable.”

Bunny observed his expression carefully. It was impossible to read him.

”No restraints, no soothing,” she insisted. She had her own principles.

Most of these sentinels had extremely high ranks and dangerously elevated instability levels. She was only an A-rank Guide. If something went wrong during the process, she had no way of protecting herself.

San stared at the restraint collar, its surface gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. Long-buried memories surged back into his mind.

”Your mother abandoned us because you wouldn’t behave. Do you understand?!” His father’s voice suddenly rang inside his skull.

”Put the shock collar on,” he continued, tossing the metal ring at his head. ”I’ll teach you how to behave.”

...

San stared at Bunny for several long seconds. In the end, he silently picked up the equipment and put it on.

His brain was already noisy enough to drive him insane.

Bunny noticed the moment his fingers touched the bite guard. His body instinctively recoiled. It was as though he loathed and resisted the thing on a level that went far beyond ordinary dislike.

That kind of reaction couldn’t be faked.

Once everything was in place, Bunny began entering San’s mental sea.

The process was far more difficult than she had anticipated. San’s mental domain fiercely rejected any foreign presence.

Bunny spent a long time carefully navigating around the barriers before finally reaching the depths of his mental sea.

What greeted her was an endless crimson ocean.

Decaying trees rose from the surface like twisted claws, while waves of scorching heat surged through the air and seemed to burn straight into her skin. The force of the flames tossed her hair into disarray.

The ocher sky seemed to merge with the blazing waves below.

Barefoot, Bunny stepped into the blood-red sea and released strands of spiritual energy, beginning to clear away the mountains of accumulated mental contamination.

San’s rank and instability level were both higher than Orion’s, but after gaining experience from stabilizing Liam, Bunny was no longer completely unfamiliar with the process.

This time, she proceeded especially carefully, controlling the intensity of the purification to avoid triggering the sentinel’s heat.

Her spiritual guidance was gentle and meticulous, like a soft brush being drawn through the fur of a kitten.

The soothing sensation left San restless and inexplicably itchy inside.

At first, he’d been somewhat nervous and afraid. Now, however, it seemed he’d worried for nothing.

After the long cleansing session, San’s instability level dropped from 95% to 60%.

Going below 50% could potentially be dangerous, so Bunny didn’t dare push him any further.

She withdrew from San’s mental sea, still wondering why she hadn’t seen his spiritual beast emerge to greet her.

The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself staring straight into a pair of enormous, round eyes.

They were wide open like two startled bells.

And they belonged to San.