Park Ki-hyun, worn down by Eom Tae-seok’s relentless attacks, finally had no choice but to surrender.
“Why’d you crawl out of your hideout?”
“Ugh… I was on leave…”
Park Ki-hyun answered Eom Tae-seok’s question with great effort.
“How long was your leave?”
“Two days…”
His body, already pushed to its limits, gave out mid-answer and collapsed.
“Two days is plenty.”
Bae Yeon-woo still stood in place, blankly staring at Eom Tae-seok’s actions, as if unable to believe what he’d just seen.
“What are you waiting for? Restrain him.”
“…Yes, sir!”
Eom Tae-seok handed over a pair of handcuff-shaped Ability Tools from his waistband. Hesitating slightly, Bae Yeon-woo took them and cuffed the unconscious Park Ki-hyun.
“Let’s head back to the Association, summon HR, and call for a full meeting. Since this was a joint operation, as Assistant Manager Bae said, we’ll need to hear what PR’s strategy was.”
Nam Woon-soo, observing the exchange between Eom Tae-seok and Bae Yeon-woo, seemed visibly uneasy—his pupils trembled slightly.
Was he worried because the relationship between PR and HR wasn’t all that friendly?
Nam Woon-soo always seemed especially nervous when HR got involved.
“…Ah.”
Maybe Ho-eun had been staring too openly, because their eyes met. Contrary to what he expected, Nam Woon-soo didn’t look away.
“…?”
Tilting his head slightly, Nam Woon-soo suddenly flinched and hurriedly dropped his gaze.
“I’ll call for the Cleanup Unit. Everyone else can head back.”
The front door had been obliterated, and blood was splattered across the floor and walls. If any of the regular residents from downstairs came up and saw this scene, they’d undoubtedly call the police on the spot.
Ho-eun felt a strange sense of relief knowing there was a department specifically in charge of cleaning up scenes like this.
As the strongest one among them, Do In-ho was tasked with handling the unconscious Park Ki-hyun. When they stepped out of the wrecked apartment, under the streetlight in the alley where the car was parked, someone was standing.
“…What the hell?”
Bae Yeon-woo, who had gone out first, grumbled irritably.
“You! You’re asking what the hell? That’s your reaction when you see someone’s face? I came all the way here worrying that—ahem—something might go wrong!”
Eom Seong-chan scratched at the back of his neck, which was flushed red. From Bae Yeon-woo’s back, which wasn’t visible to the others, Ho-eun could almost feel the murderous aura leaking out.
“Disgusting bastard.”
Muttering a venomous insult, Bae Yeon-woo got into the parked car. Eom Seong-chan stood frozen with a dumbfounded expression, blinking blankly before snorting out of disbelief.
“A damn battery thinks he can act like that?”
Grumbling to himself, Eom Seong-chan pulled out a cigarette.
“You’re… You’re not supposed to smoke on-site…”
As he passed by, Nam Woon-soo snatched the cigarette away.
“What the fuck? Give it back.”
“I-it could get us caught if we leave behind any cigarette butts…”
“Stupid bastard. What the hell are you even saying?”
Eom Seong-chan gave him a condescending pat on the shoulder before swaggering off.
“Ugh…”
Ho-eun visibly recoiled at Eom Seong-chan. That jerk’s the one seducing rookie Guides and turning them into Imprint addicts? Acting all sweet to their face? Just imagining it made his stomach churn.
Sure, now he was showing his true nature because Bae Yeon-woo had seen through him—but to think he used to hide all that? The thought made Ho-eun want to gag.
“Hey. We’ll load Park Ki-hyun into our car.”
Just then, as Ho-eun was trying to shake off his goosebumps, Eom Tae-seok pointed toward a black car.
“Put him in there.”
Eom Seong-chan opened the rear door. The backseat of the Carnival van was spacious enough to lie one person down without issue. Do In-ho tossed Park Ki-hyun into the back seat.
“Urgh…”
Even unconscious, Park Ki-hyun groaned in pain.
“I should ask if there are wet wipes in the car.”
Ho-eun looked at the bloodstains on Do In-ho’s palm with concern.
He recalled how Bae Yeon-woo used to carry handkerchiefs during field work. Apparently, they were essential tools for this job.
“Does it smell like blood?”
Do In-ho rubbed his palms against his pants, trying to clean them off as best he could.
“The hell are you doing in front of someone else’s car? Here, take this and move.”
Eom Seong-chan snapped, tossing over a pack of wet wipes. Ho-eun didn’t know who they belonged to, but the fact that they came from HR’s car made him feel uneasy.
Given his bad impression of Eom Seong-chan, even an act of kindness from him felt unsettling.
“It’s fine.”
Apparently, Do In-ho felt the same way. The two of them declined and headed toward the PR car.
“Damn PR punks are fucking rude.”
A barking dog behind me. Ho-eun plugged his ears and got into the car like he hadn’t heard a thing.
***
They sped down the open highway and eventually returned to the Seoul headquarters. If this were a normal company, the lights inside would’ve been off at this hour—but the Esper Corporation operated around the clock, so it looked nearly identical to how it had during the day.
After scanning their cards at the entry gate, they took the elevator to the HR floor. Inside the office, a few staff were still monitoring the CCTV feeds.
Ho-eun naturally glanced over at the monitors showing Han Yeo-ul’s surveillance. Since there were no cameras inside the house itself, they focused mostly on exit points—like the front door and windows.
She’s fine, right…?
He had removed his in-ear to focus at the scene earlier, so he didn’t know what had happened afterward. Audio surveillance would’ve been handed over to HR too, so whoever had the headset on was probably checking periodically.
After securely restraining Park Ki-hyun at the center of the meeting room, Paul and Kang Him-chan arrived in plain clothes. Kang Him-chan’s hair was a disaster—he must’ve been woken up from sleep.
“What happened here?”
Rubbing his eyes with his sleeve, Kang Him-chan stopped mid-step, shocked at the sight of Park Ki-hyun. It was clear no one had explained anything to him yet.
“This guy tried to hide his awakening.”
“You got proof?”
Eom Seong-chan replied lazily, but Kang Him-chan’s voice rose in surprise. Bae Yeon-woo removed the glasses he had been wearing the whole time.
“This is the evidence.”
He pressed the lens, and a tiny SD card popped out from inside the frame.
Ho-eun suddenly remembered the illusions Park Ki-hyun had created with his ability.
No—he’s not seriously gonna show that in front of Do In-ho?!
Ho-eun’s face turned pale. Noticing this, Bae Yeon-woo walked over to Eom Tae-seok and plugged the SD card into his laptop.
“Park Ki-hyun’s ability shows people their idealized self-image. As you can see, unless you’re the one affected by the ability, you won’t be able to see it. That’s why it was hard to distinguish from someone high on drugs.”
“What, we don’t get to see?”
Eom Seong-chan, who was standing behind Eom Tae-seok and looking at the screen, grumbled informally. Bae Yeon-woo let out a sigh.
“It involves one of our department’s staff’s private matters. I ask for your understanding, Team Lead Eom. Seong. Chan.”
“What? You little shit’s getting cocky now?!”
Though he used polite language, the way Bae Yeon-woo broke up each syllable made it sound utterly sarcastic.
“Eom Seong-chan, I don’t care if you two knew each other in the past. That tone’s not acceptable. Tsk.”
Eom Tae-seok clicked his tongue and gave Eom Seong-chan a disappointed look as he closed the laptop.
“…Tch. Fine, whatever.”
Eom Seong-chan pouted, his expression like a puffed-up pufferfish full of venom.
Thank god it wasn’t shown to everyone.
Ho-eun let out a quiet sigh of relief. To think that what he had been envisioning in his head was that ideal…
Maybe it had been exaggerated, but if Do In-ho had seen that? He would’ve bitten his own tongue out of sheer embarrassment.
“As you all know, the Dragon appears to be in alliance with the anti-government Esper known as Tiger. We need to find out why he’s working with a criminal organization, and what they planned to do with Park Ki-hyun.”
Finishing his explanation, Bae Yeon-woo opened a bottle of water sitting on the meeting table and poured it directly over Park Ki-hyun’s head.
“BWAAHH—cough cough! What the hell?!”
The doused Park Ki-hyun coughed violently, water having gone up his nose. Still sputtering, he looked around and realized he was tied to a chair.
“……”
His scowling face made it clear he knew he was in trouble. He pressed his lips tightly shut.
“Park Ki-hyun. You haven’t forgotten what I said earlier, have you? It’s better to betray your group than spend decades getting your body cut open over and over.”
“……”
Only Park Ki-hyun’s rough breathing filled the room. He furrowed his brow, hesitating—until he saw Eom Tae-seok raise his hand, then hurriedly opened his mouth.
“I only awakened recently. At first, I thought it was just the drugs being extra strong.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and confessed. Having only known how to fight, Park Ki-hyun had spent his life drifting through thug work.
He explained that he eventually got involved with a guy making drugs, first as a broker, then helping with production.
“That’s when they showed up. The Dragon…”
Everyone’s gaze locked on Park Ki-hyun. He stared into space, as if recalling a distant memory.
“The Dragon started gathering up small-time crews. The group I was with got wiped out because of them. The only ones who survived were lucky nobodies like me.”
He shivered at the memory.
“After going through that, you should’ve quit thug life and cleaned up.”
Bae Yeon-woo tapped Park Ki-hyun’s shoulder with his telescoping baton.
“If I could’ve, I would’ve. But I needed money to live. All I did was make drugs. Eventually, what I was selling got branded as ‘Dreaming,’ and demand shot up.”
Up to this point, his story matched what HR had already uncovered about him.
“You know what they say—if your tail gets too long, someone’s bound to step on it. I guess I got too famous, because even the Dragon heard about me.”
“When was that?”
“About a month ago…”
“Who scouted you from the Dragon’s side?”
“It wasn’t a member. It was a kid.”
“!!”
“A little kid came to buy drugs. He paid three times the usual price, so I figured he was running errands for some group. But turns out, he wasn’t just a gofer—he was Tiger.”
Park Ki-hyun let out a snort, which grew into wild laughter.
“Heh. Heheheh, HAHAHA! Turns out a piece of shit like me is actually an Esper?! Me! That I didn’t have to live like trash anymore?! That I could be crowned king of the underworld?! That’s what they told me and dragged me to the Dragon! After today, neither the Dragon nor Tiger will leave me alone—because I’m not just some useless grunt anymore!!”
— SMACK!!
“Shut up.”
Expressionless, Bae Yeon-woo slapped Park Ki-hyun across the face. Ho-eun glanced around to gauge everyone’s reactions, but no one seemed fazed.
“Get a grip, you bastard. This is the problem with awakened Espers. They think they’re hot shit. You enjoying getting hit by me?”
— SMACK, SMACK
He slapped him on both sides, face twisting in open disgust.
“Forget the fact that you’re a piece of trash—do you even realize your Guiding flow is all screwed up? You’re sucking up my emotions like it’s nothing, even though they’re filthy as hell.”
