“What the hell? You’re dumping me before I even confess?”
“……”
“That’s cold. After all I’ve done for you.”
Wolrang reached out as if to snatch the glass in front of Ho-eun, like she needed a drink to shake off her foul mood.
Ho-eun gently took it from her hand and brought it to his lips instead.
“I told you… you shouldn’t be drinking, Wolrang…”
His words trailed off, and even though he was sitting still, Ho-eun couldn’t keep his swaying body upright. Eventually, he tipped sideways, and Wolrang caught him with ease.
“Hmph. So being cute is all it takes, huh.”
Wolrang picked up the drunken Ho-eun in her arms and carried him back to the room he was confined in.
– Clack
“AHHH!!!”
As the lights came on, Han Yeoreum stood frozen in front of the bed where Ho-eun should’ve been lying, his face tight with displeasure.
“Boss… Weren’t you staying out tonight?”
“I figured it was about time I gave a warning.”
“Wha?! What the hell are you talking about?! I didn’t even touch him!! I was just helping him open his heart so he could think of Tiger as a friend!”
Yeoreum took Ho-eun from Wolrang and held him in his own arms. Wolrang stomped her foot in protest, clearly feeling wronged.
“Seriously, try being locked in this boring-ass place all day! It’s so dull. He needs someone to hang out with, or he’ll never feel any kind of belonging here.”
Despite her fiery tone, Wolrang instinctively kept her distance from Han Yeoreum, just in case. If he attacked, she looked ready to bolt right out the door.
“He doesn’t need that. The point is to make him feel alone.”
“And they say you’re not some obsessive fanboy. You really hate it when people get close to him, huh.”
Wolrang fumed at the thought that her favorite—Ho-eun, who was exactly her type—had already been claimed by the boss. Of all people, her rival had to be the boss at work. On top of that, rumor had it he’d been stalking Ho-eun for ten years. She never stood a chance in this fight.
But every time she looked at Ho-eun’s face, she just couldn’t give up.
“From now on, just leave him alone.”
“Tch. How petty.”
Wolrang pouted, lips twitching in irritation as she stomped out of the room.
Once the door closed behind her, Han Yeoreum gently laid the intoxicated Ho-eun down on the bed.
“Were you feeling so lonely you had to drown yourself in booze?”
Ho-eun’s lips remained tightly shut in his sleep.
“You could’ve let me know, you know.”
“…Mm.”
As Ho-eun mumbled in his sleep, Yeoreum pulled the blanket over his body, murmuring with a wistful tone.
“I could’ve kept you from being lonely. But you went and clung to the wrong person… That stings.”
He pressed his lips to Ho-eun’s.
No matter how many times he tasted him, it was never enough.
Maybe it was because he still didn’t fully have him.
As his fingers brushed over Ho-eun’s damp lips, Yeoreum simply watched him in silence.
***
Ho-eun rubbed his eyes as he woke up.
He wasn’t sure what time it was, but it still felt like dawn.
He waited until his eyes adjusted to the dark, then quietly climbed down from the bed and grabbed the radio.
“In-ho.”
He pressed the button and called out blindly, but after a week, he wasn’t sure it meant anything anymore.
“You’re coming for me, right?”
– crackle
“You’re going to come get me, right?”
– fzzzt
“You didn’t abandon me—”
“You were abandoned.”
The voice from behind made Ho-eun flinch.
Han Yeoreum had somehow slipped in, snatching the radio from Ho-eun’s hands and hurling it against the wall.
“!!!”
The shattered radio hit the floor, and Ho-eun’s heart sank with it.
“Ho-eun, you’ve been doing this behind my back?”
Yeoreum’s voice was low and dangerous.
He exhaled like he was trying to calm down, then crouched down to match Ho-eun’s sitting position.
“I told you not to betray me.”
“…Let me go.”
He didn’t want his voice to shake, but the last word quivered ever so slightly.
“Where do you think you’re going? The Guide Corporation dumped you.”
“No, they didn’t…”
“This is where you belong, Ho-eun.”
“No!! I want to go to Do In-ho!!”
“FUCK!!! So you can be with a Crystal Implant, but I’m not good enough?!”
The moment Do In-ho’s name left Ho-eun’s mouth, Yeoreum shoved him down onto the floor by his shoulders.
The ragged sound of his breathing betrayed the fury simmering beneath the surface.
“Why do you only feel sorry for him?! Why do you only ever look for him?! I came first! I was the one you saved like a goddamn hero! I went through those fucked-up experiments first!!!”
“Ugh…”
“Everything started with me.”
As Ho-eun struggled to wriggle away, Yeoreum seized his injured left ankle with brutal force.
The wound that had once healed enough to walk on tore open again.
“Ugh!!! Nngh…”
The pain was so overwhelming, tears spilled out instinctively.
Yeoreum grinned, cold and grim, at the now-docile Ho-eun.
“I’m the one you should pity.”
Over the past week, Yeoreum had slowly begun to open up about his past.
He’d told Ho-eun that the five Tiger officers were born from Espers and Guides.
Children born from such pairs rarely turned out to be Espers with innate guiding ability—but some did.
Somehow, Baek Woo-gyeong found out and began full-scale multi-ability experiments.
There were hundreds of trials.
Finally, one test subject awakened as an Esper at a young age.
Though unstable at first, once the subject fully awakened, they could wield their ability freely—without guiding.
But success didn’t come so easily.
These test subjects were born with a stockpile of guiding inside them—they couldn’t generate it themselves.
They could hold out for a few years, but eventually, they’d end up just like any regular Esper: dependent on a Guide.
That wasn’t the “multi” the Association had wanted.
And since these subjects were S-Class, they required massive amounts of guiding.
Deemed failed experiments and too difficult to guide, the project was shut down.
The test subjects were ordered to be disposed of.
“The day I was thrown away by the world for the first time.”
Ho-eun’s thoughts stopped as Yeoreum’s voice snapped him back to the present.
“We survivors made a vow—never to abandon each other.”
“……”
“And to take revenge on the world that created us.”
Yeoreum stared into space like he was remembering something long past.
“But you, Kwon Ho-eun, you’re not part of that revenge.”
“……”
“Because you were the only one who reached out to me first.”
When Yeoreum thought of his school days, he remembered everything—the weather, the temperature, the smells.
How could he forget the day the world, which had always seemed like trash, finally took his side for the first time?
“Ho-eun. Will you take my hand again, like you did back then? Let’s clean up the garbage together.”
If you only listened to Yeoreum’s story, it was clear the real villain was the Association.
They created life just to discard it—soulless, disposable.
They were the trash.
Ho-eun had long since grown sick of the Association.
And he did feel pity for Yeoreum, regardless of their current circumstances.
They were victims, in a way.
But could kidnapping normal Espers and turning them into monsters really be justified as revenge against Baek Woo-gyeong?
“This isn’t right.”
“Why not? All we’re doing is giving back what we got.”
“No. Something about this is wrong.”
“There’s nothing wrong here, Ho-eun. Think about it. They abandoned you, and I was thrown away years ago.”
“……”
“We’re the same!! We need each other!”
Yeoreum’s hollow eyes reflected the image of Ho-eun trembling pitifully.
“You didn’t imprint with him, right?”
“……”
“Then you’ll give me your first again, won’t you?”
“Don’t…”
“Give the imprint you wouldn’t give Do In-ho—to me.”
His hot breath brushed against Ho-eun’s ear.
Repulsed, Ho-eun grabbed whatever he could and hurled it with all his strength.
“DON’T!!! IN-HO!!! DO IN-HO!!!”
The last thing he threw—a stuffed rabbit—hit Yeoreum square in the face.
“Don’t say that bastard’s name…!”
– KWA-A-AANG!!!
Yeoreum didn’t get to finish.
An explosion rocked the entire building.
“…Hah. What’s with that face?”
Yeoreum’s lips twisted as he looked down at Ho-eun’s face, bright with hope.
“Boss. You should check out the second floor.”
“The second floor? Why?”
A lower-ranked Tiger member entered the room and blushed slightly at the sight of the two entangled bodies.
He looked away and continued.
“Looks like one of the multi-monsters exploded.”
“Exploded? Not overloaded?”
“Yes.”
Having said his piece, the man left the door open behind him as he exited.
The hallway light spilled into the room, illuminating Ho-eun’s face.
Hope bloomed—only to wilt into despair.
Yeoreum stifled a laugh.
“Too bad. That explosion wasn’t caused by an intruder.”
“……”
“I’ll take care of it. Be a good boy and wait here.”
His voice was like someone soothing a pet before stepping out.
Ho-eun turned his head away.
The weight pressing him down disappeared.
Yeoreum shut the door behind him.
The sound of the lock echoed especially loud.
– fzzzt, crackle
The broken radio sputtered static from where it had smashed against the wall.
Ho-eun, nursing his aching ankle, cautiously crawled over to it.
The top half was completely destroyed.
“It wasn’t working anyway…”
His hand trembled as he held the radio.
[Kwon Ho-eun, respond.]
“?!!!”
A voice he never expected rang out from the device.
[Can’t hear me? ─ crackle]
Ho-eun pressed the button, trying to steady his voice.
“Assistant Manager…?”
[Ah. You’re coming through clearly. But what’s with all the— fzzzt]
Ho-eun clutched the radio to his chest like it was precious, biting his lip to hold back tears.
“The radio seems to be broken…”
[How’s your condition?]
Hosoo’s voice came through just as broken as his own had been.
Keeping it brief seemed best.
[Ho-eun hyung, just hold on a little longer. We— fzzt —not abandoning you.]
[We never abandoned— crackle]
“In-ho? Do In-ho?!!”
The voice he’d wanted to hear more than anything finally broke through.
His heart leapt at the sound.
Do In-ho had even repeated himself, like he was worried Ho-eun hadn’t heard.
Suddenly, it clicked—Do In-ho had heard everything that happened with Yeoreum.
“You were eavesdropping…!!!”
Ho-eun hurriedly grabbed the stuffed rabbit rolling on the floor.
It had been given to Han Yeo-ul to monitor her.
There was a bug inside.
[You catch on quick. Yeah. We heard it through— crackle Tell us everything that happened.]
The radio might’ve been broken, but the bug inside the plushie still worked.
He didn’t know if Hosoo and Do In-ho were together, but there was no time.
Yeoreum could return any second.
He had to tell them everything—fast.
