ICG 2

Crash!

The moment I realized the possibility that I might have regressed, I hurriedly turned on the internet. The first thing I needed to find wasn’t the lottery or stocks. It was an illegal wavelength suppression chip.

Wavelength suppression chips are originally tools used by Espers. They are used to artificially slow down the wavelength flowing through the body to reduce the burden and delay a rampage. Since official chips are expensive, many people typically use illegal ones.

However, a few years later, research revealed that if a Guide uses an illegal suppression chip, the Guiding wavelength becomes disrupted, leading to a significant drop in the average matching rate. Consequently, usage exploded among Guides who wanted to avoid matching with Espers, which eventually led to a large-scale crackdown.

At this point in time, the research hasn’t been conducted yet, so illegal suppression chips should be easy to purchase. It required a considerable amount of money, but I didn’t mind spending a single cent of it right now.

Right. Compared to the days I spent living with that bastard I was soon to be matched with.

Those days were truly hell. I shuddered, recalling the moment just a few hours ago when I was waiting for death inside a Gate.

If you’re going to go crazy, at least do it gracefully. Of all things, he had to go crazy in such a bizarre way.

Tsk. I clicked my tongue and checked the time.

“…The wavelength suppression chip needs to get here quickly.”

I could already feel my physical condition deteriorating. I told them I needed the suppression chip urgently, and they said they’d send it via quick delivery, but you can’t trust a word those illegal dealers say. Since I had spent my entire fortune to barely buy one, I couldn’t look for another seller now.

I bit my nails, unable to hide my anxiety. Tomorrow or the day after wouldn’t work. I had to receive the suppression chip by tonight at the latest.

March 30th.

Because today was the day I awakened.

Once awakening begins, an immense pain rushes in along with a high fever, making it impossible to endure while sober. Due to physical changes that are difficult for an ordinary human body to withstand, there was a high probability of suffering aftereffects if one didn’t receive an awakening sedative at a hospital. I’ve already died and come back to life; I refuse to live as a cripple this time.

“Damn it… when is it coming?”

As time passed, I could vividly feel the heat rising. It seemed the awakening pain was about to start.

To think I have to go through that again. I grimaced, recalling the day I first awakened.

Suddenly, my entire body hurt like crazy, and my vision spun so violently that I really thought I was going to die. Then, as soon as I opened my eyes in the hospital, I was told I had awakened as an S-Class Guide, and I thought the crisis of my life was over. But over, my ass. I had no idea it was the start of a complete train wreck of a life.

Regardless, once the awakening pain begins in earnest, it’s impossible to stay sane. Therefore, I have to call an ambulance and insert the chip into the back of my neck before that happens.

The moment I arrive at the hospital unconscious and am judged as a Guide, the matching with Espers begins. If I’m late in planting the chip, it’ll all be for nothing. This was a race against time to see if the package would arrive before I passed out.

“It has to be here before I collapse, at least…”

My head felt like it was splitting, and I had the chills. While waiting for the package that hadn’t arrived for hours, I tossed a few painkillers into my mouth and crunched them down.

“Did I get scammed?”

I don’t even have any money left in my bank account.

Holding my phone, I paced anxiously in front of the front door. Damn it, am I heading back to the slave route?

While Guides did have the authority to choose an Esper, it was a choice in name only. The designation of an S-Class Esper was practically absolute.

Of course, it’s not that I didn’t try to escape Vasily. Not long after matching with Vasily, I felt like I couldn’t endure it any longer and barely managed to succeed in changing my assignment. However, a few days later, the newly matched Esper became half-crippled for some mysterious reason, and I had to become Vasily’s Guide once again.

‘You’re late.’

The way he welcomed me back so nonchalantly after a few days. The moment I saw Vasily’s face, I was certain it was his doing. And from that exact moment on, his attitude in rolling me around became even worse.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, I felt a shock as if someone had smacked the back of my head. My head began to ache frantically, and my body started to tremble. I staggered, leaning against the wall, before eventually collapsing onto the floor.

A pain I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to. It was the start of the awakening pain.

“Hah, haaa…”

My chest felt tight, and I couldn’t breathe. Instinctively, to survive, I typed 119 and was about to press the call button, but I stopped just in time and threw the smartphone into the corner.

What was I trying to do? I lived in that hell for years and barely escaped, yet I almost walked back into that hell on my own two feet.

I curled my body up and groaned alone. I almost lost consciousness several times, but I barely managed to hold on.

I must not faint. The moment I lose consciousness here, everything is over. The delivery person will just leave the suppression chip in front of the door and go, and I’ll end up in the emergency room without the chip implanted, meaning I’ll be assigned as that bastard’s Guide again just like before. If I’m unlucky, I might even suffer from awakening aftereffects because I was brought to the ER too late.

However, my brain, consumed by pain, gradually lost its ability to judge.

“Fuck… let’s just survive first…”

I felt like I was actually going to die at this rate. I crawled to the corner, picked up the smartphone, and brought my trembling hand toward the call button.

Ding-dong.

“…!”

It’s here.

The doorbell rang just before I pressed the call button. Only then did I snap back to my senses and stop my finger from calling the ambulance.

“Quick delivery.”

As soon as I opened the front door, I saw a delivery person standing there holding a small package. I can’t believe a single package could feel this welcoming.

“Um, are you oka—”

Slam!

The delivery person, seeing my dying face, seemed startled and tried to say something, but I was in no state to leisurely listen. I snatched the package away and slammed the door shut.

As soon as I got inside, I tore open the box tied tightly with tape and dumped the contents onto the floor. I saw a bundle of papers that looked like manuals, an injector containing the chip, and finally, a mysterious red pill.

“Why is there so much?”

There were plenty of precautions and manuals. But I had no time to read such things. My physical condition was such that it wouldn’t be strange if I fainted right now.

Leaving aside the manual densely packed with small text, I picked up the injector first.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to read the manual because I already knew that the chip had to be implanted in the back of the neck. I tore off the seal, took out the injector, held it to the back of my neck, and pressed down hard. There was a sting in my neck, but it was quickly buried by the awakening pain.

Then, I took out one of the pills. A suspicious deep red color. I didn’t know what kind of medicine it was, but seeing as they sent so many, I figured I had to take it. I popped it into my mouth and swallowed. Because I swallowed it without water, my throat stung.

Just by opening the package and taking out the contents, the area had become a mess. I roughly put the scattered pill packets and the injector back into the box and pushed it far into the corner.

Ah, now I can finally call the ambulance. Is it because my heart feels lighter? I feel like the pain is less intense.

I picked up the smartphone, entered the familiar three digits in a row, and pressed the call button.

Ring, ring, click.

This is 119. How can we help you?

“A-awakening pain…”

And then, I lost consciousness.

* * *

“Ugh…”

I woke up because the surroundings were noisy. My head was foggy and I couldn’t think of anything, but I snapped awake at the stiffness felt in the back of my neck.

What about the suppression chip?

When I felt the back of my neck, I could feel the skin swollen and hard.

Thank god. At least it seems to have been implanted properly. But I can’t be relieved until I hear the results from the doctor. Since it’s an illegal suppression chip, there’s a possibility the device is defective.

I sighed and closed my eyes comfortably. As my vision darkened, the scenes of my struggles until now passed by like a panorama.

To think I could finally escape Vasily only after dying and regressing. I felt like I might cry because I was so proud of myself for enduring for six years.

Farewell, terrible days of the past.

Freedom—what a sweet word. I felt like I could smile confidently even in front of Vasily now.

I basked in happiness, imagining the peaceful future that lay ahead. Right up until I heard my rank.

“You are C-Class.”

“Excuse me?”

Happiness was short-lived.

The doctor, who came after hearing that I had woken up, checked the examination chart and bluntly notified me of my rank. I doubted my ears for a moment and asked again.

“C-Class?”

“Yes. Patient Kwon Gi-dam, you have awakened as a C-Class Guide.”

“Not S-Class, but C-Class…”

“Please don’t be disappointed even if it’s not the rank you expected. C-Class is still a sufficiently high rank.”

C-Class? Is this a side effect of the suppression chip?

I was told that the suppression chip only affects the compatibility with Espers, not the Guiding wavelength.

I had never heard that a suppression chip could lower one’s rank. But the one I used was an illegal suppression chip. That meant it wouldn’t be strange for any kind of side effect to appear.

Hearing the thunderous news, I froze, my face turning pale.

What the… is this the sound of my salary turning into scrap paper?