DB Vol 3 Part 5

He shouted and glared at Won-woo, but the other man showed no particular emotion, just as he had back at the dormitory. Won-woo replied half-heartedly, as if he were used to the reaction.

“What do you mean? You attacked me, so I just defended myself.”

“Attacked? I just grabbed your arm, and you’re saying—what?”

Irritated, Woo-rim sprang up and spat out a curse.

“Fuck, I went easy on this bastard just because he’s a Guide…”

“I’m the one who went easy on you. You’ve been sneaking into my house for months acting like a pervert, and I only just caught you.”

“Hey, don’t make me laugh. You probably loved it and leaked all over yourself, didn’t you? You probably wanted someone to fuck you after you broke up with Hong Seung-wook, and you probably writhed in pleasure when you smelled my cock in your house—you think I don’t know?!”

Woo-rim was shouting aggressively when he suddenly noticed something strange and looked around. People who had rushed out from the adjacent building were watching them, unable to approach. As a flustered Woo-rim tried to step back, Won-woo pulled out his phone.

“If you run away now, I’ll immediately leak your confession about your perverted behavior on the internet.”

Woo-rim flinched and froze for a moment, then approached Won-woo with malice in his eyes.

“Give it here.”

“I told you. Try and take it.”

“Are you serious? Do you really think that as an Esper, I can’t take that one thing from a Guide like you?”

“Ah, right. You are an Esper.”

Won-woo let out a sigh of admiration, like a puff of smoke, and looked him straight in the eye with a proposal.

“Then let’s make it fair. Come at me without using your abilities. Take it using only your strength as a normal person, without your powers. If you do, I’ll hand it over without a word.”

Abilities. Woo-rim belatedly remembered that his powers had vanished. He secretly clenched his fist, but his strength had still not returned. However, he couldn’t hesitate for long. His priority was to quickly seize that evidence from a weak Guide who didn’t even do combat training and then escape.

So, without looking back, he lunged at Won-woo. A mere Guide—he could just crush him with brute force. He reached out, eyeing the target phone, but Won-woo’s body was much faster.

Won-woo seemed to twist his upper body to the side, then snatched the approaching wrist with his right hand and pulled it toward him. Combined with the momentum of the charge and the force of the pull, Woo-rim couldn’t stop his body and staggered. In that gap, Won-woo struck Woo-rim’s face with his left elbow.

“Ugh!”

The impact rattled his skull, leaving Woo-rim’s brain momentarily blank. Because he had been hit squarely in the face, a nosebleed erupted shortly after. Woo-rim let out a short scream and recoiled, but he could no longer retreat. This time, a hook-like hand grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward. Woo-rim raised his hands to push Won-woo away, but before he could, another powerful impact slammed into his face.

Thwack!

Woo-rim’s face twisted to the side from the force of Won-woo’s fist. Along with it, blood from his nose sprayed through the air like a fountain. But this was only the beginning. A one-sided beating began, so brutal that the onlookers were too shocked to make a sound. No one could believe the sight. An Esper was being beaten like that? And the one doing the hitting was a Guide?

The sound of blows, someone’s groans of pain. It was by no means a pleasant sound. This was especially true for Gye Yoon, whose hearing was so acute that almost any sound was considered noise. Especially now, having used his strength while lacking guiding, he normally wouldn’t have been able to tolerate such noise.

And yet, he was smiling silently, baring his teeth. The Won-woo before his eyes was half-killing an Esper with a familiarity that suggested he had spent his entire life beating people. He wasn’t showing any special fighting techniques. He had simply seized the initiative at the start and was now relentlessly striking the face.

Thwack, thwack. Even as the sound of fists echoed eerily and Woo-rim collapsed to the ground with his entire face smeared in blood, Gye Yoon had never seen such an entertaining sight. Of course, watching a pervert get beaten was fun, but from the start, Gye Yoon’s gaze had been fixed solely on Won-woo’s face.

A person inflicting violence on another with eyes so cold they were devoid of emotion. He looked more cruel and powerful than any Esper Gye Yoon had ever seen. Just watching him made Gye Yoon’s heart race with excitement. Forgetting his wariness that the other was from his own family, Gye Yoon muttered.

“That’s so hot.”

As the groans escaping the other’s mouth grew faint, Won-woo stopped punching. Since people had gathered and witnesses were present, he couldn’t let him lose consciousness if he wanted to use this opportunity. After all, there was no more certain reason to be expelled from the Guide Center than being a Guide who killed an Esper. Won-woo threw the blood-soaked Woo-rim to the ground, leaned over him, and whispered softly.

“How does it feel to be the weak one?”

In an instant, Woo-rim’s eyes snapped open. He could be seen clenching his fists tight, but he still seemed unable to use his abilities. Unlike before, his face was filled not with panic, but with pure rage. Seeing him clench his fists to the point where veins popped, Won-woo asked expressionlessly.

“What, can you really not use your strength?”

Woo-rim’s blood-covered face contorted. Won-woo leaned in further and whispered into his ear.

“Once you take away the abilities, all that’s left of you is a pervert. Isn’t that right?”

Gasp. The sound of Woo-rim taking a sharp breath along with blood was clearly audible to Won-woo. Since it seemed he was summoning all his strength out of rage, Won-woo decided to help him. He returned just a tiny bit of energy.

Instantly, Woo-rim’s eyes widened, and he exerted force to the point where veins stood out across his entire face. Won-woo slowly stood up and stepped back. Yes, summon that strength. That way, the core will break, and you’ll end up drawing from that power too. As if responding to Won-woo’s encouragement, Woo-rim let out a scream that sounded like a monstrous howl.

“Ugh… Haaagh!!”

As the cracked sound filled the air, Woo-rim’s body blurred and vanished in an instant. Startled gasps were heard from the crowd, but Won-woo ignored them all and keenly observed his surroundings.

There were streetlights, but they couldn’t illuminate all the darkness, so his vision wasn’t fully secured. Because of the murmuring of the people, it wasn’t easy to track the sound by ear. In this situation, he had to mobilize all his senses.

Tense to his fingertips, he sharply felt the flow of the air. Soon, very soon. As soon as the warning from experience echoed inside him, the hair on his neck stood up, and the Esper’s energy crashed over him from the left like a wave. Before he could even turn his body, with a whoosh of wind, Woo-rim’s vanished body reappeared in mid-air.

“You fucking Guide piece of shit!”

The shout and the fist flew simultaneously. Won-woo twisted his upper body to the side by a hair’s breadth, dodging the punch. However, the opponent’s other hand shot out toward the side he had dodged to. It looked as if Won-woo’s hair would be caught in that hand, but the hand swung wildly through the air again.

The moment the two attacks failed, Woo-rim’s body stopped for a very brief second, and in that gap, Won-woo launched an attack. A punch, incomparably faster than Woo-rim’s movements, slammed into Woo-rim’s side.

Thwack!

But the moment the sound was heard, Woo-rim vanished again. Before Won-woo could even fully stand up, he suddenly bent his legs and rolled on the ground. In the spot where Won-woo’s head had been, Woo-rim’s leg, having appeared on the opposite side, sliced through the air like a kick.

“Shit.”

As the attack failed again, a curse escaped Woo-rim’s mouth, and his body vanished again before Won-woo could stand. Then from the east, then from the north, he appeared randomly and launched kicks from all directions to prevent Won-woo from standing properly.

At a glance, it looked like Won-woo was rolling on the ground and being mercilessly stepped on, but in reality, he had only been hit once or twice. With his keenly focused senses, Won-woo was detecting Woo-rim’s energy from all directions and narrowly avoiding every attack. And he waited. Hoping that Woo-rim would make the stupid mistake of appearing in a direction advantageous to him.

When an opponent is kept in a state of almost catching but not quite catching, they inevitably become impatient. Eventually, to completely overwhelm Won-woo, he appeared in the air about 2 meters above. However, being able to completely seize the opponent also meant exposing oneself just as easily.

“You’re dead—!”

Woo-rim, appearing suddenly in the air, shouted while predicting victory, but soon vanished with a look of bewilderment. The target was not on the ground. The time it took to fall to the ground was less than a second, but in the eyes of the onlookers, the sight of Won-woo rising from behind Woo-rim looked as clear as slow motion.

He was rising from behind him exactly as if he had known in advance that Woo-rim would fall from the sky. He hadn’t confirmed it with his eyes, but had relied on instinct to determine the direction and place his bet, and it hit the mark. And Won-woo did not miss this opportunity. The moment Woo-rim’s body lowered as he landed on the ground, Won-woo raised his leg toward him.

“Kugh!”

The rounded top of the head collided glancingly with the top of Won-woo’s foot and flew through the air. Even though it wasn’t a direct, powerful strike, Woo-rim collapsed forward. For the first time during the fight, Won-woo showed emotion on his face. He looked down at his own leg with a dissatisfied gaze.

Have I lived too comfortably lately? Why didn’t I hit that properly? While feeling absurd at himself, his body quickly approached Woo-rim, grabbed the Read on Read BL NovelsBEGIN: visit our site -->visit [unauthorized copy]our sitedazed man by the collar, pulled him up, and swung a fist.

There was a reason Won-woo targeted only the head. If the mind is clouded, the strength cannot be used properly. However, he intentionally avoided vital spots. Just enough to make him dizzy. As Won-woo hoped, Woo-rim clenched his fist again as if trying to escape.

“Ugh… ugh… aaagh!”

The effort Woo-rim put into squeezing out his strength finally paid off. Won-woo noticed a swirling energy, as if an explosion had suddenly occurred inside Woo-rim’s body. Only then did he let go and step back. Then, Woo-rim staggered to his feet.

The only light illuminating the area was from the streetlamps, but Woo-rim’s condition was clearly visible to everyone. The veins all over his body were so prominent they looked as if they would pierce through the skin. His face was swollen like a balloon, and his eyes had already turned red from burst blood vessels.

“He’s… he’s going to rampage!!”

Someone shouted, and the screams of the people began. In an instant, the surroundings were swept into chaos. Since this was the Center’s dormitory, there were Espers and Guides among the onlookers. In fact, there were quite a few Guides. Thus, the urgent voices calling for a Guide were heard first.

“Guide… Hey, you’re a Guide! Hurry and guide this person!”

But among those who had turned pale, no one stepped forward.

“How can I guide him in that state?”

“I-I can’t do it, I’ll be caught up in the rampage!”

A dormitory security guard, who appeared to be an Esper, spat out a curse and Read on Read BL Novelsthen [unauthorized copy]asked loudly upon discovering Won-woo, who was still standing still.

“You’re a Guide too, right?! Hurry and guide that man. You don’t want him to die either, hurry!”

“I refuse.”

As Won-woo answered and took a step back, the security guard’s face contorted. He then changed direction and shouted to the others.

“Any Guide who runs away will be reported to the Center and the Guide Center to be punished. Come here this instant!”

A few people hesitated at the word ‘punishment.’ Taking advantage of that gap, the security guard signaled another employee to forcibly bring the Guides over and make them hold Woo-rim’s hands on either side. Those attempting to guide groaned in pain from Woo-rim’s energy, but the security guard blocked them from behind so they couldn’t let go.

Watching this, Won-woo intended to make the energy inside Woo-rim boil further to trigger a rampage. However, he couldn’t do so because of a certain smell that drifted into his nose on the wind. It was the metallic smell of blood. It was a smell he had encountered throughout the entire time he was beating Woo-rim, but suddenly it felt nauseatingly repulsive.

Won-woo knew he shouldn’t back down here and should finish Woo-rim off decisively. Nevertheless, he couldn’t concentrate because of the surge of nausea rising from within. He bent his upper body and pressed his hand against his chest. Just then, someone grabbed his arm.

The moment he looked up at the firm grip, the air vibrated and a bizarre woooong sound spread. It was a strange sound he had never heard before, but his five senses screamed: This is dangerous. And it seemed everyone who heard the sound realized it too. The security guard shouted to the Guides.

“Gasp! Ru-run away! It’s a rampage!!”

People began to run, screaming as if it were a living hell. Won-woo, unable to move due to the returning nausea, kept his head down. Then, his ears went numb. A brief dizziness washed over him. He closed his eyes and opened them after a long while, and surprisingly, the surroundings were enveloped in a silent darkness without a single light.

The smell, the sound, and even the wind felt on his skin told him that this was a Read on Read BL Novelscompletely unauthorized copydifferent place. Won-woo realized that someone had moved him elsewhere, but he had no time to check who it was. He bent his waist and began to dry heave.

“Blegh. Ugh.”

He grabbed something nearby to support himself, his body shaking as he tried to vomit up what was rising from inside. However, because he had skipped dinner, all that came out was gastric juice. After several such unproductive bouts of vomiting, he finally managed to breathe. Damn it, what is this?

Even in his disoriented state, he couldn’t help but find it absurd. The habit of vomiting at the sight of blood had definitely disappeared. After Sang-cheon left in the previous world and he became completely alone, he had been fine no matter how much blood he saw. But suddenly, this symptom had returned. He almost broke his iron rule of not swearing and let a curse slip out.

Fortunately, his chest, which was about to heave again, blocked the swear word. Won-woo held his breath to suppress the nausea and instead looked up. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he looked up at the person standing right in front of him. The arm he had grabbed, thinking it was a sturdy tree, belonged to him.

As their eyes met, the man lowered his black hood to reveal his face, as if confirming his presence. Even without the faint moonlight, he could tell by the large physique that the opponent was Gye Yoon. He looked at Won-woo’s face with a puzzled expression and asked.

“Do you have indigestion?”

He almost killed an Esper just now, and that’s all he asks? Won-woo blinked, unsure whether to laugh or not, and shook his head.

“No.”

“Then are you hungry?”

What is he talking about now? Just as Won-woo wondered if he was being mocked for vomiting, a serious hypothesis reached his ears.

“A dog I used to raise would vomit when its stomach was empty.”

“I’m not a dog.”

Won-woo looked around, feeling absurd.

“Isn’t your ability sound? I didn’t hear that you had teleportation abilities.”

“It’s not teleportation.”

Then why did the location suddenly change?

“I just moved quickly. Like sound.”

Won-woo had seen many Espers and admired their abilities, but he had never seen anyone use their power like Gye Yoon. Moved as fast as sound? Suppressing a bewildered sigh, he checked his surroundings again.

“Where is this?”

“I don’t know.”

You don’t know?

“I haven’t fully grasped the geography of the east side yet.”

So where is it? Perhaps reading Won-woo’s irritation, he explained.

“It’s probably somewhere in the mountains behind the dormitory.”

Just then, a loud boom, like a bomb exploding, was heard from afar. If that was the direction of the dormitory, there could only be one reason for the explosion. Woo-rim’s rampage. But Won-woo didn’t understand.

Fortunately, Center personnel were near Woo-rim, and the Guides who had clung to him should have forcibly stopped the rampage. But then, because of a sudden strange sound, everyone mistook it for a rampage and ran away.

Thinking about it again, that sound wasn’t a precursor to a rampage. Because even though he had witnessed numerous rampages, he had never heard such a sound. Rather than a rampage, it was due to another artificial force…

“Was it you?”

Won-woo asked sharply, looking up at Gye Yoon. Gye Yoon continued to stare only at Won-woo even as the explosion sounded, then blurted out.

“I made a few sound effects.”

Sound effects? That eerie sound that made the air seem to cry? Since everyone had been terrified by that resonance, fled thinking it was a rampage, and gave up on guiding, it seemed appropriate to call it a sound effect. And it seemed that Woo-rim, who didn’t receive guiding, had eventually actually rampaged.

“You did something quite useless.”

Won-woo spoke coldly, stepping back, but exhaustion [stolen stolen contentcontent]style="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">visit our sitewas evident on his face. Until a moment ago, he had looked stronger than anyone, unilaterally pummeling an Esper.

However, with his pale face and drained energy, Won-woo looked as if he might collapse at any moment. That was why Gye Yoon could generously overlook the thorns in his words.

“Useless? You were planning to kill an Esper anyway. To get kicked out of the Guide Center.”

Won-woo paused, then frowned.

“Did you hear it from Mr. Hwang?”

“Or do you think I heard it from Nani?”

That could happen. When Won-woo looked at him with suspicious eyes, Gye Yoon tilted his head and looked down at him.

“Nani never tells other people the things he hears.”

It was true. It was simply that since he was playing two roles, it was as if both of them knew. To Won-woo, who remained suspicious, Gye Yoon drove the point home.

“Nani is very tight-lipped and serious.”

Him? Won-woo felt the praise for the AI was excessive, but Gye Yoon asked before he had a chance to think.

“Are you certain you want to sever ties with the Ji family?”

“I can handle that on my own.”

“You might be able to. But you’ll be caught again. You can’t hide your guiding abilities forever, can you?”

Won-woo agreed with Gye Yoon’s words. He couldn’t hide it forever. However, he hated the idea of being held back under the guise of help even more. Thus, his words came out sarcastically.

“Are you planning to guarantee my safety in exchange for my abilities? Be careful. I might not provide guiding; I might turn you into something like Hong Eun-tae.”

“That sounds fine.”

Gye Yoon spoke nonchalantly, and then a smile played on his lips as if he liked the idea upon further reflection.

“Can you do that? I really like the sound of it. That would mean the pain disappears too.”

If he had heard this for the first time, he might have dismissed it as a bluff. However, since he had already heard similar words from Seo-na, he believed he was sincere. Still, it was unexpected to find another Esper who shared the same thought as Seo-na. No matter how painful it was, ninety-nine percent of Espers refused to let go of their abilities.

That was why they had regarded the Purifier as such a terrible enemy. Yet, here was someone before his eyes who was so willing to discard their power. Won-woo stared at him and asked.

“I can do it. But if I do, your revenge will become difficult, Gye Yoon-ssi.”

The smile slowly faded from Gye Yoon’s lips. The two locked eyes in silence Read on Read BL Novelsfor a moment. Gye [unauthorized copy]Yoon found it absurd that he felt Won-woo’s eyes looked like starlight even in the darkness.

“All I need for revenge is my life. Not my abilities.”

“…….”

“As long as I am alive, I will find a way to have my revenge, even if I go deaf or lose my limbs.”

The low voice was a sudden burst of sincerity. Displeased with himself for revealing his inner thoughts, Gye Yoon averted his gaze, failing to notice the flicker in the other man’s eyes.

Even though he knew it wasn’t the case, Won-woo couldn’t help but be reminded of that person from his past upon hearing Gye Yoon’s words. A person whose legs were severed, whose fingers were gone, and who was deaf. This time, it was Won-woo who looked away.

“If you want, make me an empty shell like Hong Eun-tae. If that is the condition for you to help me, I don’t mind.”

“If you become an empty shell, you won’t need guiding, so you won’t need my help either, right?”

“There’s a little kid who needs guiding other than me.”

Won-woo recalled that he had been trapped somewhere for over a year for the sake of his nephew. Then, Gye Yoon added as if muttering.

“Even if that weren’t the case, I need you.”

When Won-woo looked up, he saw Gye Yoon still staring elsewhere. He added a blunt explanation.

“Because you are very useful.”

“I know. I am quite useful.”

As Gye Yoon slowly turned his head, Won-woo spoke as if exhausted.

“But because my abilities are so good, I’ve suffered quite a bit. Now, I just want to live quietly if possible.”

“I believe Ji Won-woo-ssi has lived more quietly than anyone else until now.”

“……Yes, Ji Won-woo did.”

Won-woo muttered and quickly continued.

“Anyway, I don’t want to be involved with any problematic places.”

“Then help me in secret so you won’t be involved.”

At the brazen request, Won-woo asked, sounding appalled.

“So, what do I get out of this?”

“I’ll stay by your side.”

The words “What kind of nonsense is this?” should have come out immediately, but Won-woo’s mouth wouldn’t open. Gye Yoon looked down at him and lowered his voice.

“I won’t leave your side until the moment you die.”

“In the world, they call that a stalker.”

Gye Yoon twisted one corner of his mouth upward.

“Or, I could become ‘your side.’”

Could this really be something Nani told him? Won-woo asked suspiciously.

“If you become my side, what will you do for me?”

“I told you, I’ll stay by your side. I’ll listen to you whenever you want.”

Ha. Just as Won-woo was about to let out a scoff, Gye Yoon frowned slightly and added one more thing.

“If necessary, I can eat cucumbers for you. But only when unauthorized [unauthorized Read on Read BL Novelscopy]copyyou desperately, desperately want me to.”

“…….”

“What?”

“Do you hate cucumbers?”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t hate cucumbers?”

Despite the absurd response, Won-woo stiffened his jaw as if tense and looked away. Why did coincidences keep overlapping? The fact that he hated cucumbers was one of the few pieces of information Won-woo had heard from Aunt about him in the past. But then again, many people hate cucumbers. While trying to think of it lightly, Won-woo couldn’t ignore the strangeness and asked.

“You… don’t have a cucumber allergy, do you?”

“I don’t. I tried pretending to have an allergy so I wouldn’t have to eat them. But not only did I get beaten to death by my parents for that, I also got a piece of my mind from that aunt.”

As Gye Yoon clicked his tongue in disapproval while thinking of her, a muffled voice was heard.

“……Aunt?”

“There was one. Someone like a cucumber monster who took care of me in the past.”

Gye Yoon muttered grumpily and then paused as he happened to look at Won-woo. Won-woo’s eyes were shaking like waves. But before [unauthorized copy]visit our sitecopy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyhe could confirm it, Won-woo dropped his gaze to the floor.

“By ‘took care of,’ do you mean a nanny?”

“Something like that. She was my Guide when I was young.”

“…….”

“Ji Won-woo-ssi.”

Gye Yoon was about to ask what was wrong, but the words wouldn’t come out because Won-woo suddenly grabbed his hand. Won-woo was holding Gye Yoon’s hand. Won-woo’s hand trembled slightly, but Gye Yoon merely observed him, wondering if it was the aftermath of the vomiting from earlier. Even under the moonlight, his skin looked pale. Just as he was about to ask if he was okay, the grip on his hand tightened.

Won-woo had impulsively grabbed Gye Yoon’s hand, but he snapped back to his senses as his energy surged like a storm. In truth, he had been terrified. He wondered, What if the thing I kept denying is actually true?

What if Gye Yoon was him? What if the man before him, suffering because he couldn’t receive guiding, was the person he believed was living happily somewhere in this world? Won-woo stared down at the hand for a long time before muttering.

“You’re a total mess.”

However, Gye Yoon did not ask him to guide him. He didn’t even expect it. Thus, when Won-woo’s energy slowly began to flow out through his hand, Gye Yoon’s eyes widened in surprise.

In an instant, a massive amount of energy surged like a wave, covering the surroundings. Gye Yoon must have felt the energy completely leaving his body, yet he offered no resistance, as if his wish to become an empty shell was sincere. Instead, he asked a puzzled question.

“Why?”

Why are you suddenly guiding me? Understanding the underlying meaning of the question, Won-woo spoke bluntly.

“You’re such a mess I can’t stand to look at you.”

As he said this, he worked to draw out and control the endless, sea-like energy. If he drew out all this energy, no matter how great the man was, he would truly become a husk. Suddenly, a suspicion rose in Won-woo’s mind. What if the person from his past had their power taken away like this?

Until now, he had guessed it was a simple rampage due to the state of his body. But what if he had been injured in an accident after having his power stolen by a Purifier? No, Won-woo shook his head internally. If he had been targeted by a Purifier, the Core should have been shattered. No matter how skilled a Purifier is, it is difficult to empty the power while leaving the Core intact. That is why most choose to break the Core, and the shattered Core remains in the body.

However, he had heard that in very rare cases of rampage, the Core could disappear without a trace. And only the space where the power once resided would be left empty. Just like the person from his past.

You never know what might happen in life, right? What if he had been an S-rank Esper instead of a D-rank, and survived a rampage by some unbelievable miracle? Or what if some Purifier had destroyed his Core so completely that not even a trace remained?

It was nonsensical, but he couldn’t completely deny it. Hadn’t something unbelievable happened to him as well? He had crossed over into another world. If something unbelievable had happened to that man too?

“Are you okay?”

Gye Yoon asked, noticing that the flow of power had stopped. But Won-woo raised his head slowly, as if he couldn’t hear the urging. And he looked into his eyes. Eyes that he had thought were so similar to the other person’s that he wondered if they were the same person when he first saw them.

“Ji Won-woo-ssi?”

Gye Yoon’s puzzled question [[Read on Read BL Novels]style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our visit our sitesite]came again, but instead of answering, Won-woo began to carefully stack the energy he had drawn out back into Gye Yoon’s body.

Unlike Gye Yoon’s interior, which became firmly stabilized, Won-woo’s interior began to shake like a typhoon because of the “what if” hypothesis. Now, only one thought occupied Won-woo’s mind.

Let’s find out.

Why did he do that? Gye Yoon looked down at his hand and thought about why Won-woo had guided him, but he couldn’t quite understand. He should be happy to have escaped hell by receiving guiding again, but instead, his mind sank coldly. The person who had acted heartlessly, as if they would never guide him again, had suddenly helped him.

Though the man said he couldn’t stand to see him in such a mess, Gye Yoon naturally didn’t believe it. He couldn’t forget the trembling hand and the eyes that had looked at him. He looked like someone who had been shocked by something. But why?

[As you mentioned, stories about the Center dormitory incident have already been posted in the Guide and Esper communities. A video claiming it was a fight between an Esper and a Guide was uploaded but was deleted immediately. It seems the Center is managing it, so they deleted it right away. Of course, I have secured the video.]

At that moment, Chief Jung’s reporting voice was heard through the communicator. When there was no answer from Gye Yoon, Chief Jung waited for a while and then cautiously called him.

[Vice Head?]

“When is the People’s Committee vote?”

[It is in five days.]

“Block the video as much as possible and instead spread dirty, malicious rumors. Don’t reveal Ji Won-woo’s name, but make the Ji family stand out.”

Even though Gye Yoon only gave instructions unauthorized stolen contentcopythis far, Chief Jung immediately understood his intention.

[Ah, isn’t that exactly what the Ji family is good at? Flipping the truth with provocative headlines. I’ll make it blow up as ‘The Ji family attacked an Esper.’ But if the incident grows, Ji Won-woo-ssi will inevitably be exposed and criticized, won’t he?]

“That’s exactly what I want. That way, Ji Geun-oh can easily discard Ji Won-woo.”

[I suppose so, since the vote is only a few days away. He’ll likely show a righteous side, even discarding his own child, to quiet public opinion.]

Chief Jung laughed shortly, as if the outcome was obvious.

[Ji Geun-oh has been going around persuading people that this bill is for the Espers, so this will definitely be a blow.]

“A blow isn’t enough. Ji Geun-oh needs to go wild. I heard he destroys everything in sight when he’s angry? Make it so chaotic that a whole house could be blown away.”

That way, the Ji family would be pointed at by the whole world, and Ji Won-woo would be disowned by his family. The only person to reach out to him must be himself. The truth that Woo-rim, who died in a rampage, was Won-woo’s stalker can be revealed later. After he has Won-woo in his hands.

[Ji Won-woo-ssi could truly be in danger. The Ji family might try to lock him up.]

“Not until the day of the vote.”

So, everything must be finished before then.

[Should I place guards around Ji Won-woo-ssi?]

“Did you find out where your Ji Won-woo spends his nights?”

After a short silence, Chief Jung answered.

[……No.]

“Right, you kept missing him.”

It wasn’t a reprimand. Gye Yoon had missed him too. He wondered what method he used; he would disappear like a ghost the moment he entered a crowd or a building. Truly, like someone who had practiced nothing but lying in wait for years.

Why on earth would a Guide at the Center acquire such skills? The more he learned about Ji Won-woo, the more questions he had, but right now, he was simply annoyed that there was a time in the man’s life that he knew nothing about.

[But he’ll be commuting to the Center. The Ji family will definitely send people to the Center.]

Gye Yoon snorted at Chief Jung’s assumption. Ha, commuting? He’d give a prize to anyone who could even have a single phone call with Ji Won-woo.

“Ji Won-woo doesn’t go to the Center.”

Stating it as a fact, he cast a gaze mixed with annoyance and envy toward a window of an old building across the way. The old sign wrapped around the window had a few letters missing, but it was still legible.

‘Hwang Sang-cheon Laboratory – All Electronic Devices Repaired’

“But, I mean, the Guide who killed the Esper… is really Won-woo-nim?”

Sang-cheon asked with his mouth half-open, as if he couldn’t believe it. Won-woo had been hunkered down in Sang-cheon’s office since morning, though it was unclear when he had arrived. Sang-cheon had diligently toasted bread for his early-visiting benefactor and started attending to his business. Because of that, he found out late that the internet was in an uproar. And the protagonist was his benefactor.

“I didn’t kill him; he rampaged on his own.”

Won-woo finished the rest of the toast Sang-cheon had given him and wiped his mouth and the breadcrumbs on the table with a tissue.

“But people are freaking out saying a Guide killed an Esper! That he beat him to death. I mean, such nonsense rumors…”

“Ah, the beating part is true.”

……What? Sang-cheon couldn’t understand. A Guide beat up an Esper?

“Was he a D-rank Esper?”

“No. Probably B-rank. He was a teammate.”

Ah, I see. He beat the hell out of an Esper from the Eastern Center’s Head department. Sang-cheon nodded as if he understood, while inwardly worrying about Won-woo. Had his mental instability flared up again?

“By any chance, did anything else strange happen yesterday?”

When Sang-cheon asked to check the symptoms in detail, Won-woo put the cup of milk to his lips and thought for a moment. After taking a large gulp of milk, he nodded.

“I met Mr. Hwang’s adopted son.”

“Ah, really? Him… what?!! Where did you meet that bastard?!! Did he stalk you, Won-woo-nim?! How dare he ignore the contract! Did he curse at you or threaten you to give him guiding?!”

“No. He just asked me to be on his side. Does he curse and threaten often?”

Cursing and threats make up two-thirds of their conversations. However, Sang-cheon couldn’t talk about his own experience. Because now, that brute was his adopted son.

“……No. I was just wondering.”

“Since he’s the adopted son, I guess he’s good to Mr. Hwang.”

“…….”

“Mr. Hwang, are you okay? Is it hard to breathe?”

It was hard. He was so aggrieved he couldn’t breathe.

“……I heard the secret to longevity is breathing less.”

“As expected, you know a lot.”

Sang-cheon sometimes suspected that this benefactor knew everything and was mocking him, but for now, he pushed the pure praise aside.

“If Gye Yoon bothers you again asking for guiding, please tell me.”

“He didn’t ask for his own guiding; he asked for his nephew.”

Ah. Sang-cheon let out a pitiful sigh. Then, while glancing at Won-woo, he spoke.

“It seems the Ji family is making moves to prevent even that young nephew from receiving guiding. It seems Gye Yoon is striving to let at least that child escape the pain.”

“He’s a good person. Then again, if he were truly a bad person like a brute, Mr. Hwang wouldn’t have taken him in as an adopted son and treated him so affectionately.”

It felt like a rather unpleasant word had just been heard.

“A what?”

“Affectionately. Nani knew it too.”

Of course he did. He’s just as bad as the other.

“Actually, no matter if he’s Mr. Hwang’s adopted son, I had no intention of paying attention to him.”

“Don’t! Ah, don’t do it!”

Sang-cheon shouted sincerely, but Won-woo merely smiled, misinterpreting it as a personality that dislikes being a burden.

“It’s alright. He’s Mr. Hwang’s precious son, so I won’t treat him like a stranger.”

Treat him like a complete stranger! Before he could shout, his chest vibrated. He wondered if it was acute heart pain caused by stress following his breathing difficulty, but it was just his phone vibrating. Sang-cheon took out his phone and looked at the screen. There was one text message.

—Shut up.

Of course, the sender was ‘the brute.’ He’s eavesdropping! From where on earth?! Of course, just because of that, I won’t shut…

Vibrate.

—If you hate it, go ahead and expose that I’m Nani.

……Sang-cheon decided to shut up for a little while. He wasn’t ready to disappoint Won-woo, who believed everything he said with unwavering faith.

“……I usually treat the things I cherish the worst, so I hope Won-woo-nim does the same.”

He was about to get up from his seat in agony after saying only this much, but Won-woo called him.