“…!”
Every time Je-ha spoke, his breath brushed against my lips, sending a chill down my spine.
That sharp, electric feeling—I hadn’t felt it in ages. But now, it jolted back into me like a haunting memory of the times I used to Guide.
“I—let me go!”
I shoved him back with all my strength, and thankfully, he retreated without resistance.
“A Guide being all shy with an Esper?”
“That’s none of your business. And for your information, unwanted physical contact with a Guide counts as sexual harassment, didn’t you know that?”
I snapped at him, and Je-ha let out a soft chuckle.
“I’ve been a stray dog without a leash for too long. Lost control. It’s been ages since I was last Guided.”
Lost control, my ass. What’s next? You gonna tell me the sun’s rising in the west tomorrow?
The Hyun Je-ha I knew wasn’t some sleazy Esper who tried to get handsy with any Guide that looked at him twice.
Sure, there were those who used Guiding as an excuse to sleep around after giving up on everything—but Je-ha wasn’t one of them.
He was the one dragging those Esper degenerates back to their senses, like their damn schoolteacher.
So seeing him try to copy that same disgusting behavior now just made it all the more pathetic.
I slapped his hand away as he reached for me again and glared coldly.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Why not?”
“You’ve been chained to this vault like some ghost because you still haven’t moved on from the death of Guide Ahn Ga-hyun, haven’t you?”
At that, Je-ha flinched. Pain welled up in his deep blue eyes.
“…Don’t talk like that.”
The grief—the pain of losing someone precious—twisted across his expression, and I felt my own heart clench.
You stupid idiot.
Don’t chain yourself to this place.
Even if our bond was broken, even if I was now stuck wearing someone else’s body…
Hyun Je-ha was still my one and only partner.
With the bag now stuffed full of the inheritance, I slung it over my shoulder and turned toward the exit.
“Stop saying things you don’t mean. Don’t try to mess with me by pretending to remember your dead partner.”
“…”
“Go find your own happiness. Live the life you want. Stop dressing in black like some secret society enforcer trying to scare people. And from the looks of how you acted earlier, stop doing bad shit like threatening to kill people, too.”
Because if Ahn Ga-hyun were still alive, he’d hate seeing you like this.
Even though I was speaking through Yeon Yu-jin’s mouth, the words came from me—Ahn Ga-hyun. They were real.
“….”
“Well, I’m off.”
I turned and walked out, leaving Je-ha standing in silence.
I didn’t have any time left. I had to get back quickly. But for some reason, tears wouldn’t stop pricking at my eyes.
“Damn it.”
So fucking annoying.
If I gave up my life to save you, the least you could’ve done was live happily.
Seeing Je-ha stuck in the past like a shadow made my chest ache.
An S-Class Esper, yet he was living like a ghost.
[…Hey. You okay?]
No. I’m not okay.
Was it a mistake, saving him back then?
Should I have fought tooth and nail to survive, just to see a peaceful future with him?
Even though Potato had told me that people had been out to kill me—making that future impossible—I still couldn’t help but think…
Clawing through the remnants of our broken bond only left me feeling emptier than ever.
***
Among the vaults holding the legacies of Ability Users, Hyun Je-ha stood still for a long time.
“Ga-hyun would’ve hated seeing me like this…”
He repeated the words over and over, then finally collapsed to the ground.
“I know, Ga-hyun. I know. But… if I don’t avenge you, I’ll never be able to live with myself.”
He couldn’t bury the pain of being left behind.
Tears fell from Je-ha’s jewel-toned blue eyes.
It had been twenty years since Ahn Ga-hyun died.
Je-ha had lost control after his partner’s death—rampaged, then underwent a Second Awakening. When he removed his mask, hair as white as silken thread spilled out. His hair and eye color had changed completely after awakening.
And every time he looked in the mirror, it was as if the reflection screamed at him:
Never forget Ga-hyun’s death!
Not once had he considered forgetting.
Because Ahn Ga-hyun didn’t die just shielding him from a boss monster’s attack—he was killed.
Ever since learning the truth, Je-ha had been trapped, mind and soul, in the memory of Ahn Ga-hyun.
Even after the bond between them had been severed, he still believed his leash was firmly in Ga-hyun’s hand.
“I miss you, Ga-hyun…”
Crouched on the ground like a child, Je-ha sobbed. Nothing like the powerful Esper he was supposed to be.
“If you had walked through that door alive… what a miracle that would’ve been.”
After a moment, Je-ha pulled his mask back on and stood.
His eyes, the blood vessels burst red from crying, scanned the now-empty vault that Yeon Yu-jin had cleaned out.
He brushed a hand over the vacant space and murmured:
“This was the only place where Ga-hyun’s traces still remained… I guess I can’t even come here anymore.”
He couldn’t stay in this underground facility any longer.
Twenty years ago, Hyun Je-ha had deserted the government after his rampage.
These vaults belonged to a government-controlled columbarium where the legacies of Ability Users were kept.
The government, knowing how Je-ha felt about Ahn Ga-hyun, had rigged it—whenever the vaults were emptied, a signal would be sent to the central facility.
Je-ha, who had already failed once to take Ga-hyun’s inheritance, knew this all too well.
The Center’s agents would be here soon.
He had to get out before they arrived.
He couldn’t get caught—not until he’d avenged Ahn Ga-hyun.
Using a stealth artifact, Je-ha dissolved into the air, quietly slipping out of the underground vault.
Thanks to his unique ability—Telekinesis—amplified to the max by his Second Awakening, he didn’t need any transport to fly.
As he flew far from the café above the vault, he sensed a flood of Ability Users swarming the area.
Late again, huh.
He regretted not being able to see the government agents fume at the empty vault.
With nothing left of Je-ha’s presence there, the agents would scramble to figure out where to look next.
Je-ha soared through the sky, jaw set in a tight line.
The dungeon break that killed Ahn Ga-hyun… it had been unnatural.
A last-minute order. A sudden onslaught of high-level monsters, as if someone had intentionally triggered a berserk state.
After the chaos, Je-ha had broken into government research facilities and scoured every report he could get his hands on.
And that’s when he found a document they’d tried to burn:
[On Methods for Transplanting Esper/Guide Abilities to Other Individuals]
The test subject had been Ahn Ga-hyun. The name of the bastard meant to receive his powers had already been destroyed.
Ahn Ga-hyun was murdered. By someone who wanted his abilities.
After learning this, Je-ha never again considered returning to the government.
Instead, he gathered the few survivors he could trust and formed a secret organization—an underground force of Ability Users. All for one reason: to find and destroy the one who had killed Ahn Ga-hyun.
But they hadn’t found the killer. Even after twenty long years, the identity of the person responsible remained buried.
That led Je-ha’s group to suspect: Could it have been someone high up in the government? How else could all traces vanish so cleanly?
Je-ha agreed. He was already planning a terrorist attack against government targets when…
That Guide… he reminded me of Ga-hyun.
On a visit to the vault, part out of duty, part out of mourning, he had encountered that strange Guide.
Yeon Yu-jin… was that his name?
He didn’t look like Ahn Ga-hyun, but his speech, his temperament—he couldn’t ignore the similarities.
That was why Je-ha had gone soft on him.
Even if the whole “my mom knew Ga-hyun” thing was a blatant lie.
He let the kid run his mouth because, somehow, it brought Ga-hyun back to life. Because Je-ha was the only one who truly knew everything about Ahn Ga-hyun.
Ga-hyun had lost his entire family and hometown in a dungeon disaster. Even the people he’d known in childhood were long dead. He had no one to send letters to—Je-ha remembered how Ga-hyun had bitterly laughed about it.
And yet, this Yeon Yu-jin… he knew things. Things he shouldn’t have known.
How?
That’s where the questions began.
He looked like a fresh-faced kid just out of his teens, so how the hell did he know so much about someone who’d died twenty years ago?
There were no surviving records. The government had erased everything.
Only Je-ha and the other anti-government survivors even remembered Ga-hyun existed.
But he knew.
Je-ha’s expression darkened.
There was only one possibility.
That Yeon Yu-jin was a decoy sent by the government. A trap to lure out Je-ha and the rebels.
Even if that was true—Je-ha still couldn’t let him go.
I have to find out who killed Ga-hyun.
That was the only reason Hyun Je-ha kept himself alive.
Despite his youthful face—unchanged for decades thanks to his Second Awakening—the grief never faded.
Ga-hyun… This time, I swear I’ll find the bastard who killed you… and rip them apart. Then I’ll follow you into death.
