By Zephyria 
Even as I relaxed and drifted off to sleep, Potato kept its sprout upright, focusing all its attention on the movements outside.
As if X being in this area couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Hurry up and sleep.”
[You sleep. I’m a strange being born from your ability gaining a self, so I’m not a living thing, and I don’t actually need energy activities like sleeping or eating.]
Then what was it doing sleeping so soundly last time?
But I was too exhausted to ask.
Each time I blinked, Potato came closer and closer.
[Stop it and get some sleep.]
Potato covered my eyelids.
I fell sound asleep without dreaming at all.
After putting its master to sleep, Potato focused on the receding energy and waves of X.
X was quite far from here, so it wasn’t easy to detect, but Potato quietly tracked the traces of that heterogeneous fake Esper in its mind.
Hyeon Jae-ha had said that it had stolen several abilities, but the energy and waves felt like two types.
‘One must be stealth. The other is very faint… if it’s drifted this far, it must be Tracking ability.’
Potato was a special ability separated from its master, An Ga-hyeon, so it could share its master’s brain to some extent.
An Ga-hyeon couldn’t read Potato’s thoughts, so he had no idea what his ability was up to.
Potato closed its eyes and focused only on the energy and waves of the Esper moving outside.
The faint Tracking ability seemed to belong to a low-level Esper of E or D grade. Since there was no heterogeneous energy covering it, Potato speculated that this owner might have been Brainwashing.
‘The fact that they went to the trouble of using Tracking ability means they came to follow Hyeon Jae-ha, even though they’re afraid of him, to see if there’s anything they can use as a weakness.’
Its master, An Ga-hyeon’s, choice seemed right. If X had caught Yeon Yu-jin and Hyeon Jae-ha together, it wouldn’t have been good for anyone.
They must have come to track Hyeon Jae-ha, but he had already disappeared into an invisible place with telekinesis. An Ga-hyeon also decided that it was best to lie low and pretend nothing had happened, so there would be no more information to gather here.
That meant the night stroll of the poor lower Ability User, presumed to be accompanying X, should have ended here.
But the suspicious stealth and Tracking ability didn’t disappear and circled around this area.
Like a pack of hyenas craning their necks to see if there was any missed prey.
Even though Hyeon Jae-ha’s traces had already faded or disappeared, they stared intently at one place before moving on again.
Goosebumps rose on Potato’s round, scorched-rice-colored body.
‘They were definitely looking at the accommodation where my master, Yeon Yu-jin, is.’
Potato could be sure. The energy and waves could only be read best by the core of the ability that had sprouted inside their bodies, which were neither Esper nor Guide.
Potato, being the ability itself, could react sensitively to the movements of other powers.
‘Hyeon Jae-ha and Yeon Yu-jin weren’t caught together today.’
Does that mean they’re so persistently digging into Yeon Yu-jin’s past because of the encounter between Hyeon Jae-ha and X at the measurement center last time?
‘Creepy bastard…’
X doesn’t know that Yeon Yu-jin is An Ga-hyeon who came back to life.
Right now, he might think of Yeon Yu-jin as just a Guide that the aloof and rigid Hyeon Jae-ha has taken an interest in for the first time in a while, a Guide who seems to be hiding his abilities…
The more contact there is, the easier it is for secrets to be broken.
If X ever finds out that Yeon Yu-jin is the same person as An Ga-hyeon, even though he doesn’t know who X is or what he looks like.
X would be overjoyed, singing about how this incredible situation was a huge stroke of luck for him.
The only way to bring down Hyeon Jae-ha for sure is through his Guide, An Ga-hyeon.
How could he not be lovely and affectionate, having miraculously come back to life?
If someone had to die again in a similar situation, Hyeon Jae-ha would gladly give his life for his Guide.
Potato knew this well because it was born when its master died and its master’s partner, Hyeon Jae-ha, was consumed by a sticky and terrible emotion and went berserk.
X would search for Hyeon Jae-ha’s precious person like a fiend.
Yeon Yu-jin is already his target now. Even if Yeon Yu-jin is determined to be a C-grade Guide, it doesn’t matter. If there’s someone who’s faking their grade, X already exists. That guy won’t stop digging into Yeon Yu-jin’s past just on the assumption that Hyeon Jae-ha might have come to meet Yeon Yu-jin.
Potato looked down at its master, who was fast asleep, and sighed deeply.
[How did you really come back to life again…]
Potato was lonely while wandering around without its master.
No Ability User in the world could find Potato. Even if it went up to them and shouted loudly, they passed by as if they couldn’t feel anything.
Was it because it was an ability that had been separated almost forcibly after sensing an emergency? Since there was no case like Potato, even when it shouted to the Espers and Guides with special abilities to look at it, nothing came back.
[What’s the point of Resurrection as an ability? It can’t even save a dead master, and it wanders around the world in a body that’s neither alive nor dead.]
Potato, which had been desperately lonely, begged and begged. It begged to any god, not caring who it was. Just praying that someone would hear its lonely voice.
[Give us back our master. You bad heavens. A human who died unfairly should have been resurrected because their original ability was Resurrection, but they died early because of some rotten bastards. If they went earlier than their originally scheduled lifespan, shouldn’t they be returned? You stingy bastards. Give us back our master. If you can’t return the buried body because it’s already rotted and turned into bones, then give us back the soul!]
Whether this was a prayer, a curse, or nagging like scraping a gourd, Potato begged and begged.
Then one day.
It felt a strange but very familiar energy and went to find it, and there was its master.
Although it was a pure and delicate orchid-like human being with not a single resemblance to its former master.
Nevertheless, Potato could recognize it at a glance. That this person was the one it originally belonged to. That it was its last puzzle piece that could fill the emptiness in its heart.
It was so happy to meet again, but they still had many problems.
The problem of having to catch and kill X.
Potato remained vigilant, sensing the energy of X and his companions, whether they were colleagues or hostages.
‘Don’t come in here. Our master will never be taken away by the likes of you.’
It wasn’t just Hyeon Jae-ha who was in pain from losing An Ga-hyeon. The ability, which had suddenly lost its master and had to wander alone for a long time, was also prepared to do anything for An Ga-hyeon.
When Potato neatly wrapped up the Guiding energy of Yeon Yu-jin, which was gently flowing out even while he was sleeping, and threw it into a corner, X’s group finally disappeared.
As if it had lost its strength, Potato’s sprout swayed and fell over its round head.
[Hoo. It’s hard to protect our master.]
Potato, feeling sore all over, jumped onto the bed where Yeon Yu-jin was lying and rolled around.
Potato, warmly covered with the same blanket as its master, made another wish.
[If only Hyeon Jae-ha could see me, it wouldn’t be bad for the two of us to cooperate.]
Potato had been disappointed because it thought Hyeon Jae-ha would be able to see itself, but he couldn’t.
‘Is there a separate condition for being seen?’
It was the first time Potato had been born into the world like this, so it didn’t know, but it desperately wished that Hyeon Jae-ha would notice its existence.
Because… Potato was planning to … for its master, Yeon Yu-jin, someday.
Until then, it didn’t want to leave behind any regrets or regrets.
Potato stuck its face to Yeon Yu-jin’s evenly breathing cheek and fell asleep.
[I sleep well next to my master.]
It’s strange. I’m an ability that doesn’t need to sleep, but I’m imitating human behavior.
Potato, which had been chuckling, soon fell fast asleep.
Dreaming of the old days, before it even had a self, when its master and his partner were closely working together to defeat monsters.
As soon as I woke up, I called the Management Bureau employee.
“Hello?”
This voice. It was the voice of the Director of the Management Bureau, the person who had pretended to be a measurement center employee back then.
I decided to directly demand the authority from that time.
“Hello, are you a Management Bureau employee?”
“Yes… that’s right.”
The Director’s voice gradually faded, as if he knew that I was the one who had called.
I didn’t care and brought up the matter.
“I want to access the Database containing domestic Ability User information that I was going to receive with the authority to catch that bad guy from last time, right now.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. As soon as possible.”