“Is this our first time meeting?”
“Let go of me!”
“Nope. Who are you talking to on that radio? One of the government’s mutts?”
“I said LET GO!”
His feet left the ground. The more he struggled, the more it felt like his scalp was about to tear off. Kwon Ho-eun tried to pry off Choi Seon-yul’s hand, but it was useless.
“Seon-yul-hyung, you can keep asking all day, but you won’t get a word out of him. Just watch how I do things.”
Wonsin had snuck up on them without warning, and Ho-eun shut his eyes. Wonsin was a Mental Domination Esper—he’d be fine as long as he didn’t make eye contact.
—Thwack!
“Guh.”
A blow to the gut from Choi Seon-yul forced Ho-eun’s eyes open. His vision blurred, making it hard to tell whether Wonsin was staring at him or not.
“Who the hell are you?”
In that instant, Wonsin’s irises turned violet.
“…….”
Ho-eun bit his lip. A silent vow not to speak a word. But mind control wasn’t something you could resist just with sheer willpower.
“Heh. You can resist all you want—you’re still going to talk.”
“…….”
“Come on, talk. Are you with the government? How many of you are here?”
“…….”
“??”
The meaningless stare-off between Ho-eun and Wonsin continued. As the situation turned strange, Choi Seon-yul, still gripping Ho-eun by the hair, eased his hold.
“What the hell? Shin, are you even using your power?”
“What are you saying?! Of course I am. Maybe he’s wearing an Ability Product?”
Still sprawled on the floor, Ho-eun’s eyes widened.
“Hey! Look into my eyes. You’re getting sleepy~”
Flustered, Wonsin turned to the woman tied up nearby and commanded her with glowing violet eyes. Her lids fluttered shut, and she immediately fell asleep.
“H-Haha… What now? Seems like your power doesn’t work on me.”
Seeing the woman collapse, Ho-eun let out a manic laugh as he sat slumped. He wasn’t sure if Wonsin’s power really didn’t affect him, but either way, it worked in his favor.
Just as his hair was yanked again, he clearly heard a voice in his nearly dislodged earpiece.
[Just hold on a little longer.]
[Kwon Ho-eun, you better not move a damn inch.]
[Team 2 is en route to apprehend Park Ki-hyun.]
[This is Paul. Han Yeo-ul has been secured, but— fzzzt]
Do In-ho, Bae Yeon-woo, Kang Him-chan, Paul—all his teammates’ voices rang out in his ear. The last message from Paul cut off midway, which left him uneasy, but for some reason, the one smiling wasn’t the anti-government Espers—it was him.
“Wol!”
Looking at the two men twisted with rage, Ho-eun barked:
“Yeah, I’m a government mutt. So what?”
He stuck his tongue out and grinned playfully, then quickly sprang to his feet, slipping free from Choi Seon-yul’s grasp.
“Interesting.”
Choi Seon-yul scoffed like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A deadly gleam lit up in his eyes. He began strapping on a pair of leather gloves, baring his teeth in a sharp grin.
“Let’s see how long that mouth of yours can run. If you’re just a civilian, killing you won’t be a problem.”
“Don’t kill him! He shrugged off my ability—I need to figure out why.”
Wonsin tried to rein Seon-yul in a bit, plopping down onto a nearby crate. He pulled out a chocolate bar and took a casual bite, watching the scene unfold like a spectator.
“So if he’s a civilian, you kill him, and if he’s an Esper, you add him to your little Overload Squad?”
“Huh?”
“You think we didn’t know? You’ve been watching potential Espers until they awaken and then snatching them up. What happened to those people?”
Ho-eun kept talking to buy time, peppering Seon-yul with questions.
“Like hell I’d tell you.”
“Oh? So I was right, and you’ve got no comeback?”
Sparks flew between their locked gazes. Seon-yul pulled a gun from his waistband. Even though Ho-eun had never served in the military, it was obvious this wasn’t an ordinary gun.
The colorful purple weapon looked more like a child’s toy or something out of a video game.
“An Ability Product in the shape of a gun? Not impressed, anti-government freaks.”
“When we catch you, I’m ripping out your tongue first.”
There was no loading chamber. The moment Seon-yul pulled the trigger, the gun unleashed a burst of laser beams that skimmed past Ho-eun’s hair.
That smell…
His nape was damp. The room was humid, and his body had been drenched in sweat from constant tension. Ho-eun recalled the breathing techniques Bae Yeon-woo had taught him.
The most important thing for a Guide was timing. If he got hit by one of Seon-yul’s beams, it was game over.
“…….”
“…….”
Crunch.
Just as they were locked in a standoff, Wonsin bit into his chocolate again, and that sound felt like the signal to start. The two of them moved at once.
Ho-eun realized he was faster than ever before—lighter than during any training session. He stripped away all excess movement. Minimal motion. Controlled breathing.
Those elements combined to create the perfect timing.
“!!”
“You need more shooting practice, huh?”
Perched precariously on a wooden crate after springing off a drum, Ho-eun stuck out his bright red tongue before quickly retracting it.
Seon-yul’s lips twitched. He looked like he was struggling to contain his fury.
“You do realize you’re being arrogant, acting like you’re faster than light?”
“No one’s faster than light. But I’m confident I can dodge some basic linear attacks.”
“Right. Straight-line attacks.”
Seon-yul pulled the trigger repeatedly, and his entire body lit up as he rocketed toward the crate, reaching Ho-eun in the blink of an eye. When Ho-eun tried to dodge, he lost his footing and fell.
Seon-yul was impossibly fast. So fast that he actually reached Ho-eun before his own beam did—meaning he ended up taking the hit from his own shot.
But as the one who wielded the power, the beam simply absorbed back into him.
Tucking and rolling, Ho-eun dashed in a zigzag through the warehouse, barely catching his breath. Taunting them had only served to seriously piss them off.
“Huff… Huff…”
Ho-eun pressed his body against a pillar, gasping for air. His lungs felt like they were being shredded. It felt like he’d been running for an hour, but it hadn’t even been ten minutes since the transmission.
“Playing hide-and-seek, are we?”
Click, clack—heels echoed ominously against the floor. Ever since 63 Square, Ho-eun had thought the Yul brothers were completely unhinged.
Who the hell plays hide-and-seek in a situation like this?
He swallowed back his retort and leaned against the cold pillar to cool down. He sensed movement in the distance.
His eyes met those of Han Yeo-ul’s father, slumped against a wall. The ropes tying him looked loose—maybe the chair had broken during the scuffle.
“!!”
Ho-eun hesitated, wondering if he should try rescuing the terrified man.
“He’s here!! Behind the pillar!!”
“What the hell—?!”
The man suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the warehouse, giving away Ho-eun’s location.
“He’s right here!! Huff, huff!!”
Seon-yul’s footsteps grew louder, closing in.
Before Ho-eun could even feel betrayed, his mind was already racing for an escape plan. But the area behind the pillar was wide open—no obstacles to use as cover or create a distraction.”So I’ve been found. Guess that makes me ‘it’ now, huh?”
Ho-eun deliberately stepped out from behind the pillar, forcing a smile as he met Seon-yul’s eyes.
There was no point hiding if the enemy already knew where he was. Better to observe what the opponent was doing instead of hiding helplessly.
“I-I helped you, didn’t I?! So let me go back! I’ll take care of Yeo-ul, I swear!!”
The man crawled like a worm to Seon-yul, groveling pitifully at his feet, as if rubbing his cheek against the heel of Seon-yul’s shoe might win him mercy.
“Pffft. You think you helped me?”
Seon-yul scoffed and stomped down on the man’s palm. Espers had strength beyond imagination. Crack. Bones shattered audibly, and the man let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“Insolent bastard. All you powerless people think you’re something.”
“And Espers can be as arrogant as they want?”
Crushing the man’s hand, Seon-yul turned to glare at Ho-eun.
“Oh, right. I was gonna rip that tongue out first.”
“Go ahead and try.”
Ho-eun wiped his sweat-soaked palms on his thighs, masking his tension behind a bold front.
“Yeah, let’s see just how long that tongue really is.”
ight flared from Seon-yul’s heel, and in a flash even faster than before, he reached Ho-eun.
Ho-eun twisted his body just in time, but his foot slipped and threw off his rhythm—
—Crash!
A ceiling light shattered above them. The warehouse was instantly plunged into darkness.
“Dokkaebi Fire.”
At the entrance, six blue flames burned in a perfect circle. Ho-eun used the distraction to quickly put distance between him and Seon-yul.
“Dokkaebi Fire? Pfft. What is this, matching flame names to ride into the afterlife together? Adorable.”
In the dark, Seon-yul redirected his aim toward the entrance. Beams rained down like a storm as he pulled the trigger, and the blue flames streaked through the air.
“You bastard?! Wonsin, dodge!!!”
The flames didn’t aim for Seon-yul—they went straight for Wonsin. Seon-yul lit up and zipped forward like a lightning bolt to shield him.
Something hit the ground with a soft thud. The crinkle of foil made Ho-eun think of the chocolate Wonsin had been eating.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“No, it was perfect timing.”
A familiar scent wafted over. It made Ho-eun’s body relax—felt like coming home.
Ho-eun looked up at Do In-ho standing beside him, now that his eyes had adjusted to the dark.
They said timing was the most important thing for a Guide.
The first was knowing when to run. The second was when to guide.
But Ho-eun had been waiting for the third kind of timing—
When the teammate you trust shows up exactly when you need them.
“Knew you’d come right on time.”
Do In-ho, unusually, smiled back at him.
“But… what is that?”
Seon-yul had gone after Wonsin, but the flames—what they’d called “Dokkaebi Fire”—still floated in place, undisturbed.
The strange part was that even though the flames had clearly made contact with both Wonsin and Seon-yul, they remained perfectly intact, gently hovering in the air.
“They just look like dokkaebi flames. As you can see, they’re nothing. A simple distraction skill.”
Do In-ho was too far away to see clearly, but Ho-eun was sure Seon-yul’s face had twisted in pure frustration.
“A distraction…?”
“Not everything can be protected just by attacking. Like now.”
Do In-ho gently cupped Ho-eun’s cheek, checking for injuries. Aside from some scrapes from being tossed around, he was mostly fine.
“I’m okay. Oh, and there’s a guy over there—and a woman tied to that chair.”
“Let’s separate them first, then.”
“Yeah. How’s it looking upstairs?”
“If it were a game, we already won.”
“Huh? Game?”
“Yep.”
Ho-eun blinked, confused. Did he just call this a game?
