Director Shin Yoon-hee of the Ability Users’ Association was sweating bullets over the recent unexpected dungeon break incident.
The higher-ups had torn into her.
Complaints were flooding in, accusing the government of becoming dangerously complacent and neglecting dungeon safety protocols in the wake of the event.
Having just returned from a press conference, Shin Yoon-hee was visibly exhausted—but no amount of fatigue could shield her from her boss’s lecture.
“What the hell were you doing that a dungeon break happened right in the middle of the city?”
“I sincerely apologize.”
Out loud, she apologized. But in her mind, she was grinding her teeth.
If I’d known that was gonna happen, I’d have opened up shop as a fortune-teller in Gangnam instead.
“How is it possible that not one of our agents was on-site? If that idol group—Secreti or whatever—hadn’t stopped it, you’d be out of a job!”
“…I have no excuse. I’m truly sorry.”
You’re the one who said we could pull the assigned agents since Jin Eutteum was more than capable of handling it alone.
Granted, Shin Yoon-hee hadn’t expected Jin Eutteum to die.
Something’s changing inside the dungeons.
As she stood there, head bowed, trying to calculate the potential fallout, her boss’s nagging voice drilled into her eardrums.
“Are you even listening to me right now? Kids these days, I swear—”
Blah blah blah. Yak yak yak.
Shin Yoon-hee tuned out the barrage of condescension and scolding, letting it pass through one ear and out the other.
“…In any case, make sure this doesn’t happen again. The public can’t go through the same terror they did twenty years ago!”
“Yes, sir. Understood.”
As her boss finally turned to leave, Shin Yoon-hee silently flipped him off behind his back.
Typical civilian, knows nothing about fieldwork… acting like he’s some kind of expert.
All he cared about was avoiding political embarrassment. He hadn’t noticed the real red flags at all.
The first was the strange behavior of the dungeon. The second was that D-rank Guide they had under surveillance.
What kind of D-rank Guide jumps into action like a seasoned vet and helps contain a dungeon break?
From what she’d heard, those ability users were practically civilians—barely any formal training from the Guide Center.
There’s definitely something off here.
Shin Yoon-hee pulled her phone out of her suit jacket pocket.
“Section Chief Park? We’re heading to the scene. Now.”
– Right now?
“You’ve got the best psychometry in the department. I need you to take a look—see what really happened.”
***
Psychometry was considered a rare ability worldwide, and only a small number of Espers in Korea possessed it.
The highest-ranked psychometrist had gone missing. A B-rank had joined a private guild after receiving a generous offer.
And now, the third most capable—C-rank Psychometrist Park Ha-na—was crouched on the scene, reluctantly working overtime under the pressure of her director, with no extra pay in sight.
The park where the dungeon break occurred was still eerily quiet, the area cordoned off with police tape.
“Is this the spot, Director?”
Park Ha-na pointed to a sunken patch of land—where the Dungeon Dome had formed during the balrog outbreak.
Lighting a cigarette, Director Shin nodded.
“Yeah. Right there.”
“Soon as I’m done here, I’m going home. You promised.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up and get to work.”
“Tch. Not even overtime pay…”
“What was that?”
“Initiating the scan.”
Muttering to herself, Park Ha-na placed both palms on the ground.
“Accessing the memory record of the dungeon break incident that occurred on XX/XX/20XX at XX:XX.”
Her eyes turned a bright blue.
In her vision alone, time in the park rewound.
She tapped directly into the memories of that chaotic day.
Screams echoed as the balrogs emerged. The park fell into panic. A dome materialized. And inside… a Guide hurled his Espers around like cannonballs.
“Huh? Wait a sec…”
She could’ve sworn she saw a Guide forcefully performing mucosal contact guiding in the middle of it all.
And those five people—weren’t they members of that idol group all over the news? Serenity or something?
But even if it was Guiding, he literally kissed a male teammate. Why didn’t that make headlines?
Even with the chaos of a dungeon break, there was no way not one person would’ve blabbed.
As Park Ha-na paused, confused, Director Shin tapped her shoulder mid-drag.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-no, nothing. I’ll keep going.”
Her eyes glowed blue again.
She watched the Secreti members take down the balrogs, the Guide collapsing afterward. And then—someone approached and started manipulating the bystanders’ memories.
A man with stark white hair. Cold, icy eyes stared straight at Park Ha-na.
The moment their gazes met, the memory shattered.
“Gasp!”
Shatter—!
A sound like breaking glass rang out as the memory stream was violently severed.
Park Ha-na was thrown backward.
“Ugh…”
“Hey! You okay? What happened?”
Director Shin rushed over to help her up from the dirt.
“I-I’m fine…”
“You’re not fine—you’re bleeding from the mouth. You’ve got internal backlash, haven’t you?”
“Ugh… Yeah, seems like it. Can you grab me a potion?”
As Director Shin rummaged through her inventory, Park Ha-na mumbled,
“Make it a good one, please…”
“You little—do you think I’m made of money? I’m a public servant too, y’know.”
“At least spare a thought for your underpaid staff forced into unpaid overtime… cough.”
“Ugh, here.”
Espers seemed invincible with all their abilities, but in reality, they weren’t. Overuse led to energy depletion, and when that happened, they risked losing control.
That’s where Guides came in—to help restore balance.
When an Esper’s ability was forcibly interrupted by an external force, the resulting shock was called rebound.
In psychometry, reading especially intense memories could trigger a rebound. Like seeing someone you desperately didn’t want to see.
After sucking down a banana milk–flavored A-rank potion through a straw, Park Ha-na’s complexion began to recover.
“Phew. That hit the spot.”
“Now earn your potion.”
Director Shin’s sharp gaze drilled into her.
“So? Who’d you see that knocked your ability offline?”
Park Ha-na slurped noisily, determined not to waste a single drop.
“As you probably suspected… there’s only one person powerful enough to forcibly eject me from a memory.”
“It was him. Hyun Je-ha.”
“Yeah.”
In the memory, Hyun Je-ha had used a secondary awakening ability to erase people’s memories. He’d also scrubbed every photo and video of the mucosal contact guiding scene.
“He was targeting specific keywords…”
“Of course. He was erasing any memory of himself being there.”
“That’s the weird part. He didn’t just delete memories about himself—he erased anything that might harm the Guide he was supporting.”
“Like what?”
That Guide already had our attention after running into Hyun Je-ha in the special vault.
Director Shin’s ears perked up like a rabbit’s, hoping for a breakthrough that might finally lead them to Je-ha. But her excitement deflated like a balloon the moment she heard Park Ha-na’s answer.
“The… mucosal contact guiding.”
“What?”
“He deleted the memory of the kiss. The one between the Guide and his Esper teammates—all male.”
“…Seriously?”
“I mean, I guess it makes sense. They’re idols—probably wanted to avoid controversy…”
Park Ha-na’s cheeks flushed as she recalled Yeon Yu-jin attempting mucosal contact guiding.
He’s not some beast, but damn…
Even though he was a mere D-rank Guide, he wore a look of pure irritation as he executed a kiss that unleashed staggering levels of energy. The memory alone gave her chills.
Then she remembered Hyun Je-ha’s gaze—staring at the collapsed Yeon Yu-jin with an expression that was both tender and tormented. It felt way too personal, and she began to feel guilty for having witnessed it.
Director Shin narrowed her eyes.
“You’re having weird thoughts again, aren’t you?”
“N-no! Not at all!”
“Look, I know Espers and Guides get romantically involved all the time, but don’t let your imagination run wild.”
“Ugh! Director! Come on! You make me sound like some perv possessed by lust!”
Park Ha-na whined and flailed, but Shin Yoon-hee couldn’t shake the feeling.
Why the hell is Hyun Je-ha protecting that Guide, Yeon Yu-jin?
