Why did that thought suddenly come to him?
Even as the drug-induced drowsiness washed over him, Lee Haru could only worry about Yu Je-hyun. A sinking sense of dread—like something terrible had happened to him—lingered even as he slipped into unconsciousness, making it impossible to feel at ease.
But he couldn’t fight off the effects of the medication. His condition had already been poor, and in the end, he lost consciousness completely.
And then, something strange happened. Just like that time he had glimpsed into the memories of his body’s original owner, vivid scenes unfolded before his eyes—far too detailed to be mere dreams.
“Yu Je-hyun! Snap out of it!”
Two figures appeared. One of them, the one he had been worrying about right before passing out, was instantly recognizable.
Even the fact that he was covered in blood from head to toe.
“Esper Yu Je-hyun!”
Lee Haru screamed Yu Je-hyun’s name until his throat might burst. He could feel the desperation in his own voice, yet Yu Je-hyun—still and unresponsive with his eyes closed—and Kang Min, who held him in his arms, behaved as if they couldn’t hear a thing.
“Why are you just standing there……?”
He tried reaching out to Yu Je-hyun, but although he could feel his body move, his hand touched nothing.
Up close, Yu Je-hyun’s complexion looked ashen, almost corpse-like.
The healthy flush he normally had was completely gone, and his ghastly appearance was enough to crush Haru’s chest with grief.
Kang Min poured healing potions over his wounds. Dozens of injuries covered his entire body, even counting the minor ones.
The gash in his abdomen was especially severe—it exposed the internal organs. The first vial emptied in seconds, and the second was applied to the wound, but Yu Je-hyun’s eyelids didn’t even twitch.
“Please, come back to us…….”
He had always seemed so strong. Haru had never once imagined Yu Je-hyun could end up like this.
Why had he been so complacent?
The leader of Black was strong enough to seriously injure even Kang Min, who was said to be more powerful than Yu Je-hyun. Even if that bastard had already been wounded, Haru should have realized that facing him in battle could mean death for Yu Je-hyun too.
He just wanted to be by his side. If he could be certain that Yu Je-hyun was still alive, he felt like he could do anything.
Kang Min’s expression suddenly hardened as he dripped more potion between Yu Je-hyun’s lips. He gently laid him down and began performing chest compressions.
“Get the defibrillator!”
Kang Min’s voice rose sharply as the veins bulged in his arms from the force he was using. At that moment, Lee Haru realized that Yu Je-hyun had stopped breathing.
“Esper Yu Je-hyun, please……. You can’t leave like this…….”
They hadn’t even had the chance to properly share the joy of their reunion. Yu Je-hyun had gone after Black’s leader, and Haru had been rushed to the hospital.
He still hadn’t thanked him for not giving up and coming to find him. He still needed to confirm whether that kiss they shared was real or just a figment of his imagination……
And the feelings he had gradually come to realize—he wanted to express them, even if only tentatively. Not just out of duty to avenge his body’s former owner, but because if Yu Je-hyun truly felt the same way, he wanted to date him.
Was this what Yu Je-hyun had felt when he thought Haru had vanished into the dungeon?
It felt like a corner of his world was crumbling. Even though he was still breathing, he didn’t know how to keep breathing anymore.
He knew his body wasn’t physically there, but it still felt like his airway had been sealed shut—it was suffocating.
And it wasn’t just in his head.
“Esper Yu Je-hyun……!”
As if his breath were being stolen, Yu Je-hyun grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Haru reached out in panic, but nothing changed.
Yu Je-hyun dwindled to a speck. When utter darkness swallowed everything, Lee Haru came to with a jolt, a chilling sensation rushing over him.
“Haaah, hah……”
When he opened his eyes, he found himself still lying in his hospital bed. His chest ached. His heart pounded like it was going to burst through his ribs, and unbearable pain surged through him.
His body curled in on itself. Even tearing at his shirt did nothing—the agony only grew, threatening to consume him whole.
A sharp sting flared across the back of his hand. Blood streamed from torn skin, staining the bedsheets bright red.
The sight of blood brought back the image of Yu Je-hyun, drenched in red, his black uniform soaked dark with it.
With trembling fingers, Lee Haru finally managed to press the call button. As if he had been waiting just outside, Jin Sung-joon opened the hospital room door and stepped in.
He had only left after administering the sedative and confirming that Haru was deeply asleep. To see Haru in an even worse state just hours later made Jin Sung-joon’s eyes waver faintly.
“Guide Lee Haru, look over here for a moment.”
Jin Sung-joon approached and adjusted the bed’s backrest. Supporting Haru to sit upright, he pulled a light pen from his pocket and shone it into Haru’s pupils.
Only after confirming that they responded to the light did he finally breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
He brushed aside the IV needle that had fallen across the bed and used a handkerchief to stop the bleeding on Haru’s hand.
It was the second time today he had to do this. The warmth at Haru’s fingertips returned just then.
Moments ago, his gaze had been unfocused, but now his eyes looked up at him with desperation. The intensity in that gaze made Jin Sung-joon’s brows furrow.
“Please… let me see Esper Yu Je-hyun……”
Even uttering a single sentence seemed to drain him, and Lee Haru’s breathing turned ragged by the end of it.
“I will find out exactly where Esper Yu Je-hyun is right away, so Guide Lee Haru, please focus solely on recovering your condition.”
He had no idea why Lee Haru had suddenly woken up and started asking for Yu Je-hyun, but Jin Sung-joon felt like he had to reassure him—if only by promising to grant his request.
Even at Jin Sung-joon’s words, Lee Haru couldn’t hide the anxiety on his face. He gripped Jin Sung-joon’s hand with slightly more strength than before.
And in that moment, Jin Sung-joon realized that Lee Haru was slowly disappearing.
“Guide Lee Haru…?”
His voice trembled at the sight of something he had never witnessed before in his life. Jin Sung-joon instinctively grabbed Haru’s hand in panic.
Lee Haru also looked up at him with startled eyes, but soon, his form vanished completely from the hospital room.
“What in the world is this…?”
Jin Sung-joon pulled off his glasses and roughly rubbed his eyes. It felt unreal, like he was dreaming.
No matter how many times he blinked, all he could see was the rumpled blanket and scattered drops of blood.
***
“Where… am I…?”
Lee Haru, for his part, was too stunned to make sense of what had just happened.
He had experienced something like this before. Back then, just like now, the place he had been in suddenly changed.
“What the hell. Did he just appear out of nowhere?”
“No way.”
“I’m not hallucinating, right? We’re all seeing the same thing, right?”
Just as shocked as Haru, everyone around him wore expressions of disbelief. Realizing they were all wearing Esper uniforms, Haru slowly stood up.
Having been transported directly from a hospital room, he was barefoot. Sharp rocks quickly tore small cuts into the soft soles of his feet.
Yet Haru’s gaze didn’t linger on the Espers surrounding him—it was fixed on a single point.
“Esper Yu Je-hyun…”
The scene unfolding before him was exactly what he had seen in the dream. Like the others, even Kang Min was visibly stunned, staring at Haru.
Seeing the portable defibrillator lying discarded next to him and Yu Je-hyun still unconscious, Haru’s vision blurred.
With every step he took, sharp pebbles dug into his feet. The dirt beneath him grew darker with each drop of blood.
But like someone immune to pain, Haru limped steadily toward Yu Je-hyun.
Kang Min rose to his feet. His hands were drenched in the blood that had flowed from Yu Je-hyun.
“Guide Lee Haru, when did you even get here?”
Kang Min had definitely taken Haru to the hospital. After that, he’d moved with Association Espers to regroup with Yu Je-hyun—only to find him critically wounded and collapsed.
By then, the leader of Black had already vanished. He couldn’t begin to express the regret that had hit him when he saw it.
It hadn’t been complacency over Zero being injured. No matter his own condition, he should have pursued him right away alongside Yu Je-hyun.
Though he himself had sustained the worst injury of his life from that bastard, it was nothing compared to watching a comrade fall.
Yu Je-hyun had never collapsed so helplessly before. Worse, his heart had actually stopped. They barely managed to revive him with the defibrillator, but he could go into cardiac arrest again at any moment.
And now, in the middle of this chaos, Lee Haru had shown up barefoot—how could anyone not be shocked?
They’re literally connected by the soul bro😭😭🖐🏻 my babiesss