So this was why Brigadier General Oh and the other high-ranking officers had entrusted the search to him.
This mission was a test. A test to see which weight Major Mateo would bear—loyalty or impulse.
—<Contamination… you say.>
—<If you get too close to the mutant Guide… if you become influenced by the background and ideology of the society he came from… then we’ll have no choice but to dispose of you as well.>
—<Find the S-rank mutant Guide yourself and prove it. Prove to us that we don’t need to eliminate you. Prove that you are not contaminated.>
From the very beginning, his life had been on the line.
Caution was necessary.
Major Mateo’s hardened gaze shifted. The reconnaissance units he had sent ahead were likely still tracking their target. He suppressed the tangled chaos in his mind and moved forward, his heavy footsteps pressing into the frozen earth. He needed to regroup with his men and inform them of the 1st Special Operations Unit’s deployment.
***
Unfortunately, Kwon Jae-jin never got the chance to properly teach Seo Eui-woo what romance was.
Dates, couple rings, matching outfits, love letters… and before he could even explain what kind of “love” the term wisdom tooth referred to, an obnoxious beeping shattered the moment.
An emergency summons.
Seo Eui-woo reached out aggressively. The black pager, which had been vibrating violently outside the bathroom door, shot into his grasp as if sucked in by an invisible force. He gripped it so tightly it was a wonder it didn’t snap in half as he silenced the alert.
“Of all times…”
He growled under his breath, his voice low and menacing as he read the orders displayed on the device.
His gaze turned sharp, violent. The bridge of his nose creased in irritation, and the furrow refused to smooth out. If this had been the battlefield, if a Creature had been standing before him at that moment, he would have torn it apart without a second thought—separating its head from its body in one brutal strike.
Answering a summons without delay was an Awakened’s duty. To rush into battle without hesitation was a given. And yet, in this moment, Seo Eui-woo wanted nothing more than to toss aside duty, humanity, and everything else.
“Do you have to go?”
Kwon Jae-jin loosened his arms from around Seo Eui-woo and leaned back slightly. Seo Eui-woo ground his molars together and answered with a lethal edge in his voice.
“Yes. I have to leave right now.”
“There’s no helping it, then. Let’s get dressed first.”
“Haah… Jae-jin.”
“Yes?”
Seo Eui-woo stared at the bathroom floor with an unreadable expression. His sharp jawline and thin lips trembled slightly before he let out a soft, defeated sigh.
“I don’t want to go…”
“…….”
“I don’t want to go.”
His voice was almost filled with resentment.
It was a remarkable change compared to before.
There was a time when even if he had Kwon Jae-jin kidnapped and Guiding him, the moment an emergency call came in, he would have left immediately without hesitation.
Emergency calls had always been the top priority, no matter what.
Up until the moment he took his last breath, that was how it had to be.
Protecting humanity was the duty of all Awakeners—there was nothing more important.
And yet now, Seo Eui-woo wanted nothing more than to protect a single person, Kwon Jae-jin, over all of humanity.
He knew this was an impure thought. He was fully aware that he was committing a grave crime. Not only had he secretly hidden away a mutant, but now he wanted to abandon his sacred duty just to keep that mutant safe…
By all rights, mutants were meant to be executed.
The moment they were discovered, they were to be put down.
The life Seo Eui-woo was supposed to protect was not Kwon Jae-jin’s—it was humanity and its future.
And yet, every fiber of his being rebelled against that truth.
“…I just want to stay here with you.”
Seo Eui-woo let the words spill from his mouth, his raw honesty laid bare. His downturned eyes, filled with quiet sorrow, and his dark, lifeless expression only made him look all the more bitter.
Lifting his head, he grabbed Kwon Jae-jin’s chin and pressed a rough kiss against his lips.
He knew he couldn’t just ignore the call. He knew he couldn’t afford to hesitate and raise suspicion.
But still, he didn’t want to let go of Jae-jin.
Jae-jin pushed at his shoulder with a troubled look.
“Wait a second. You’ll be late at this rate. Won’t that cause problems?”
“…Yeah, it will. I can’t afford to get caught…”
“So let’s do this after you get back. We can talk more later too—”
“Mm. Yeah, I know. You’re right.”
Even as he said that, Seo Eui-woo kept kissing him.
A large, warm palm cradled the back of Jae-jin’s head as Seo Eui-woo trailed kisses all over his face—his lips, his cheeks, his nose, his temples, his eyebrows. Then he ran his fingers through Jae-jin’s straight, black hair, pushing it back completely before pressing a kiss to his smooth forehead.
After that, he finally pulled away for a moment, locking eyes with Jae-jin’s dark irises.
And as if he just couldn’t help himself, he pressed a kiss to his eyelids too.
“…Seo Eui-woo.”
“Just this. Just let me do this, and then I’ll go.”
“…….”
Seo Eui-woo licked his eyelid with blatant intent.
Kwon Jae-jin swallowed down a sigh and, after a brief struggle, forced his eyelids open, allowing Seo Eui-woo to press a kiss against the vulnerable mucous membrane of his eye.
Seo Eui-woo’s tongue, slick and hot, slid across the sensitive inner surface. When his eyes were wet with tears, the suction only caused a mild sting, but when dry, the sensation was sharp, unsettling. Jae-jin’s fingers clenched tightly around the towel covering his lower half.
“Ugh…”
He couldn’t help but think, This is ridiculous.
Perched on the tiled bathroom counter, his body kept trying to retreat, inching backward instinctively. Seo Eui-woo held him firmly in place, pressing the back of his head against the mirror as he licked between his eyelashes. The fine black lashes dampened and clumped together.
And then, once again, the emergency call rang.
They had already stretched the moment as far as they could—there was no more time to waste.
Seo Eui-woo sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth, reluctantly pulling away.
He had heard before that love wasn’t just about sex and kissing, but he still couldn’t quite understand why expressing his feelings in this way was considered a problem.
How was he supposed to stop himself when Jae-jin looked like that?
His face flushed, his eyes glistening, the elegant line of his throat leading down to a smooth, pale chest, the soft little mole hidden beneath his arm—just looking at him was enough to drive him insane.
Seo Eui-woo wanted nothing more than to bury his face in Jae-jin’s chest, to lick at the dip between his collarbones and the crease beneath his ribs. He wanted to push inside that tight, narrow space and rub against him gently while brushing Jae-jin’s teeth for him.
Just imagining it felt so good—so why was this not considered “real” love?
What could possibly be better than this?
What was this “real relationship” that not even the Seo Eui-woo from four years later had been able to have?
He had to know. The curiosity was maddening.
Jae-jin wanted to experience it properly this time. He wanted to go through it with Seo Eui-woo—the twenty-year-old, immature, inexperienced Seo Eui-woo.
And at this critical moment, a damn emergency call had to come and ruin it.
The more he thought about it, the more furious he became.
He wanted to destroy everything, to wipe it all away.
He had wanted to live as though they were the only two people in the world.
But reality loomed before him like an insurmountable wall.
Why did he always become powerless when it came to Kwon Jae-jin?
He had lost count of how many times it had happened.
Unsolved impossibilities piled at his feet like a towering monument.
They called him the first S-rank Esper, but so what? What good was any of it? What did his abilities even matter?
Seo Eui-woo was terrified—so much so that he thought he might go insane.
At the same time, he loved Kwon Jae-jin—so much that it was driving him insane all over again.
No, maybe it was time to just admit it.
He was insane.
It wasn’t that he was about to lose his mind.
He had already lost it.
“…Jae-jin, I’m leaving now. Stay safe. Text me back immediately.”
“I understand. Go on. Don’t get hurt.”
“I mean it. If you take too long to reply, I’ll be pissed.”
“…Yes. I’ll reply.”
Seo Eui-woo turned and left, each step feeling heavier than the last.
Seo Eui-woo stepped out of the bathroom and headed straight into the dressing room. Moving with twice his usual urgency, he swiftly donned his combat gear and equipped his weapons. His hands fumbled in his haste to fasten the harness, and the metal clasp scraped against the back of his hand. Without pausing to tend to the fresh scratch, he loaded his rifle and stepped into the sterile transport chamber.
Outside the chamber, Kwon Jae-jin stood waiting, wrapped in a white bathrobe he had found in the bathroom. The double-sealed glass doors blurred their figures, but even through the translucent barrier, they continued to watch each other.
The transport signal activated, and just as Seo Eui-woo’s coordinates locked in, his body shimmered and vanished. Until the very last moment, their gazes never wavered.
***
A burst of brilliant white light flashed.
The scenery around him shifted in an instant, and Seo Eui-woo arrived at the 7th floor of the Central Hall.
As soon as he switched on his goggles and pulled them over his eyes, an incoming transmission popped up—Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san.
—”Captain Seo. You’re late. The other unit members have already boarded the transport helicopters.”
Jang Tae-san’s reprimand was sharp, but Seo Eui-woo remained composed, forcing the storm raging inside him to settle.
“I’m not late, sir. Lieutenant Colonel Jang.”
It was difficult to keep his emotions in check, but he had no choice.
Jang Tae-san had sharp instincts. He was someone Seo Eui-woo needed to be particularly wary of.
Not for a single second could he afford to show weakness.
A blue holographic map flickered to life inside his goggles. The mission details and destination coordinates were displayed in clear, precise text.
“I’ll use coordinate transfer to get ahead. I’ll arrive before the unit and wait at the site.”
