Cold sweat soaked Kwon Ho-eun’s entire body, making his skin clammy. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a tiger’s head mounted on the wall.
Where the hell is this?
He found himself locked in a room he had never seen before. The walls had no windows, and instead of a regular wooden door, there was a reinforced steel door with a number keypad on the inside. In other words, unless he knew the password, he wouldn’t be able to open the door and leave on his own.
The only silver lining was that while his phone had been confiscated, the walkie-talkie clipped to his waist was still there.
At least they didn’t take this.
“Wow, this room is huge.”
Ho-eun finally took in his surroundings. The tiger decoration on the white wall made it painfully obvious this was Tiger’s hideout. Aside from a double bed plopped in the middle of the room, there was nothing else, making the already spacious room feel even larger.
Oh. They didn’t take the doll.
He wasn’t sure what their criteria for confiscation were, but Han Yeo-ul’s doll was still resting next to the pillow.
There was a bathroom inside the room, stocked with all the essentials. After scanning the room—where there was nothing to see—Ho-eun stood still, strangely calm.
He closed his eyes to organize his thoughts, and the last thing he remembered was the shadowy figure.
Looks like I’ve been kidnapped.
Realizing his situation, Ho-eun first looked for a place to hide the walkie-talkie. He expected Tiger would smash it to pieces if he found it. After searching the room for a while, he finally slid it under the bed. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say, and there was nowhere else to hide it. Though it was his first time being kidnapped, the room’s ordinariness kept him from feeling particularly afraid. Ho-eun sat on the bed and slowly pieced together what had happened.
“Sun must be connected to Tiger.”
Every place he had run into Sun, Tiger had been there too. Now that he thought about it, was the whole “fan” thing a lie? The phone wallpaper had seemed convincing, but the way he had talked about hostages made it hard to believe he was harmless.
Is the scene wrapped up? What about Assistant Manager Bae Yeon-woo?
He had been swallowed by Seon Ak-yul’s shadow and ended up in what looked like Tiger’s hideout. The last thing he remembered was Bae Yeon-woo getting injured and Nam Yeon-woo throwing the key to the restraints. He had no idea how much time had passed since he blacked out—his sense of time had completely vanished after the kidnapping.
“Do In-ho…”
Do In-ho’s voice calling his name still echoed in his ears. And that face—twisted in pain like he’d never seen before. His hand, stretched out desperately, pale as death—Ho-eun hadn’t been able to grab it. His heart ached.
Gripping the sheet tightly, Ho-eun suddenly shot up and pounded on the steel door until his hands bled.
“Open the door!!! What do you want with me?!”
After ten minutes of pounding, his throat was hoarse and his raw skin stung. The outside remained silent.
Beep.
Just as he was about to kick the door in frustration, he heard the lock click from the other side. He quickly stepped two paces back.
“Sleep well?”
The door opened to reveal Sun, smirking at him.
Ho-eun’s lip curled in disbelief at the man who had deceived him.
“Mr. Sun. You’re Tiger?”
“Hmm. Not Sun.”
“…?”
“I’m Han Yeoreum.”
Ho-eun’s eyebrows twitched at the name.
Han Yeoreum?
It sounded familiar. The faint memory of someone named Han Yeoreum left only a vague shape—he couldn’t recall the details of his face.
“As I thought. You don’t remember me. What about this, then? BreadBoy.”
Ho-eun’s pupils dilated. BreadBoy was the username of a fan who had been commenting on his mukbang videos since the very first one. How did he know that?
“Hah. So you do remember. Guess those comments were worth it.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Think hard. BreadBoy. Han Yeoreum.”
“Han Yeoreum…”
As he repeated the name, the image of a small, frail boy flashed through his mind. Could the Han Yeoreum Sun was talking about be… the scrawny kid who had been bullied in middle school? The Han Yeoreum he knew and the man standing in front of him were nothing alike.
But if this was true…
“Now you get it? We go way back.”
Han Yeoreum grinned, baring his teeth, then suddenly lunged and wrapped his arms around Ho-eun. The moment their bodies touched, Ho-eun felt his guiding energy being drained and flinched.
“An Esper? But…”
He had never felt his guiding energy slip away during their previous encounters. Sensing what Ho-eun was about to say, Han Yeoreum lifted one corner of his mouth and pressed even closer.
“I used an Ability Product to block the guiding. Wouldn’t want to get caught too soon, would I?”
“So you’ve been…”
“Targeting you from the start. That’s right.”
Han Yeoreum whispered in Ho-eun’s ear, then playfully nipped at his earlobe. Ho-eun instinctively recoiled from the pain, and he heard movement outside.
“Boss. Maybe save that for when the door’s closed?”
The voice—laced with contempt—called him boss. Ho-eun’s heart dropped to the floor.
The boss of the anti-government Espers?
Shoving Han Yeoreum away, Ho-eun roughly grabbed him by the collar.
“You’re really the boss?!”
Han Yeoreum’s expression turned blank. He seized Ho-eun’s wrist and, in the blink of an eye, pinned him down onto the bed.
“?! ”
Ho-eun struggled to break free, but Han Yeoreum wedged his leg between Ho-eun’s, immobilizing him.
“Yeah. The pathetic kid who used to run errands for bread is now the boss of the anti-government Espers.”
“Why…”
“We’re the same. I’m just on the side of justice. The real villains are the ones in the Esper Corporation—where you work.”
Ho-eun’s wrist was already red with marks, but the pain of his guiding energy being drained was worse.
“It’s funny, isn’t it? We grew up to be an Esper and a Guide.”
Han Yeoreum slid his hand under Ho-eun’s shirt. The cold touch tracing his stomach sent shivers down his spine.
“Ugh! Get off me!!”
“Your blood made such a good guiding enhancer… But direct guiding is on another level.”
Han Yeoreum exhaled, his face flushed. His bloodshot eyes flickered with restraint as he stuck out his tongue.
“It’s like salvation.”
He couldn’t stop touching Ho-eun’s smooth skin.
“I should’ve brought you back that day.”
No matter how much Ho-eun thrashed beneath him, Han Yeoreum didn’t budge. He just kept talking.
“The regular guiding enhancers the Corporation gives out weren’t what we wanted. We needed a high-ranking Guide.”
Pressing his nose into Ho-eun’s neck, Han Yeoreum inhaled deeply, as if savoring his scent. The hot breath made Ho-eun’s skin crawl. He could still feel the needle in his neck, his blood being drawn.
“We weren’t sure if a high-ranking Guide would match us this well, even with just a sample.”
Ho-eun stayed silent.
“Turns out, you were the Guide we’d been searching for all along, Ho-eun. There were no S-class Guides on the 63 Square roster when we were looking for you.”
Sitting atop Ho-eun, Han Yeoreum tilted his head, staring at the ceiling.
“We thought the government must’ve hidden you. Then I found you on your mukbang channel—my old savior, now a Guide. Even if you were D-class, you were special to me.”
His gaze dropped back to Ho-eun, his face reddening.
“And then we found out the sample belonged to you, Kwon Ho-eun. You have no idea how happy I was. Ah, you really are my hero, here to save me.”
Han Yeoreum’s fingers traced Ho-eun’s plump lower lip.
“So soft. I watched your videos religiously. But you never showed your face—just your lips, every damn time.”
Ho-eun stared at him, uneasy.
Han Yeoreum’s dark eyes gradually turned crimson, and his black hair shifted to a deep indigo. Like Ho-eun, he must have used an Ability Product to alter his appearance during the infiltration.
Mesmerized, Ho-eun watched the transformation. As Han Yeoreum’s face drew closer, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“!!!”
Han Yeoreum bit Ho-eun’s lower lip repeatedly, tasting blood but not stopping.
“So this is what it feels like.”
The torn lip stung in the air. Ho-eun clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms, then swung at Han Yeoreum’s face without thinking.
Thud.
“Hehe. I’ve been curious. I wanted to suck on those lips you always showed off. Not much to it, but your blood tastes good. Soaked in guiding energy.”
Han Yeoreum easily blocked Ho-eun’s punch, his eyes curving into crescents.
“You’re insane.”
“Huh? How’d you know? I am crazy for you.”
Han Yeoreum whispered in Ho-eun’s ear, as if sharing a secret.
“I haven’t forgotten you for a single day in ten years.”
A confession that might have sounded sweet to someone else sent chills down Ho-eun’s spine.
“Why so scared? That I’ve been watching you for ten years without you knowing?”
Han Yeoreum gently stroked Ho-eun’s pale face.
“Back then, I was content just watching you—a normal person.”
He furrowed his brows, putting on an innocent expression, as if begging to be believed.
“But then you got a job… and became a Guide.”
A shadow crossed Han Yeoreum’s face, and he clicked his tongue.
“Fuck. I should’ve just kidnapped you as soon as things wrapped up.”
“Gah!”
Grabbing Ho-eun’s hair, Han Yeoreum chewed on his earlobe like he was taking out his frustration. The sensation was cold—what if he suddenly bit down for real?
“Then I wouldn’t have had to go through all the trouble of infiltrating just to bring you here.”
Ho-eun’s nails dug into his palms as Han Yeoreum’s tongue invaded his ear, toying with him like a chew toy.
“You’ve cost me a lot. This is fair compensation, isn’t it?”
Han Yeoreum chuckled darkly, his clouded eyes drinking in the sight of Ho-eun—hair disheveled with sweat, skin flushed red with heat, his shirt riding up to expose his chest. The man who had once protected him in middle school was now helpless beneath him.
Just as greed flickered in Han Yeoreum’s empty eyes, an unwelcome guest arrived.
