“Haha. Now you’re finally looking at me. Nice to meet you! I’ve really wanted to meet you, but you’ve been so busy.”
“……”
“I heard you were here, so I seriously rushed over. I’m Lee Hansol, and over there is—”
“A Guide. You.”
Lee Hansol’s eyes widened as he’d been speaking quickly, his expression slightly flushed. Even though Gwan-young had cut him off rather rudely, Hansol didn’t look offended at all. Instead, he smiled so brightly that dimples sank into both cheeks as he answered.
“Yes! Yes, you can tell? I’m a ‘Guide’!”
“That Esper’s?”
It was clearly phrased as a question, yet strangely, it carried no curiosity at all. Choi Tae-hoon rolled his eyes toward the man who, until now, had said nothing and had only been holding him in place. His slightly dark skin and brown hair gave him a soft impression at first glance, but his gloomy face, showing no trace of emotion, carried a feeling difficult to name.
“Ahh, Jinwoo. Jinwoo is…… mm, yes, for now?”
Tae-hoon clearly caught the moment the man behind him flinched. But even so, that didn’t make the current situation any easier to understand. That young man, who said he was a Guide just like him, had clearly called Ji Gwan-young his “Esper.”
But now he was saying he was paired with this man “for now”?
Choi Tae-hoon was confused by everything right now. Lee Hansol continued in a bright voice.
“But I’m thinking of switching to Ji Gwan-young-ssi!”
Even the explanation that followed was no help at all.
Tae-hoon blinked slowly with wide eyes, chewing over Hansol’s words. He had never heard anything about Esper reassignment from The Center. More than anything, it wasn’t possible for anyone else—especially not “Ji Gwan-young”—to be reassigned……. It shouldn’t be.
Ji Gwan-young’s reaction was not very different from Tae-hoon’s. He looked at the young man smiling radiantly in front of him with languid, unreadable eyes, then slowly opened his mouth as if letting out a deep breath.
“You’re going to change your Esper to me?”
“Yes. Jinwoo really hates me, you see. Because of that, our matching rate fluctuates a lot, and he’s always having a hard time because of rebound.”
“……”
“But I heard Ji Gwan-young-ssi is a really strong Esper! The ‘third unmeasurable’—that’s the first one after Jinwoo, you know! I thought it worked out perfectly.”
The expressions of those who had been perking up their ears and eavesdropping changed. Until now, other than the fact that Ji Gwan-young had shown an astonishing matching rate with his Guide, no information about him had ever been released to the public. There was even a trashy site that wrote fiction every day about Ji Gwan-young’s ability.
In that situation, not only had his Guide been revealed, but even the ability that had been veiled until now was slowly beginning to come out. This was irresistibly enticing, more than anything else.
Unmeasurable? “Third”?
The monster slowly moved his feet while taking in every murmur from the people behind him. That brought out completely opposite reactions from the two Guides. The shorter the distance to the monster became, the brighter Lee Hansol’s expression grew, while his Pair, Choi Tae-hoon, turned strangely pale.
But whether he knew of that agitation or not, the monster opened his mouth in a voice that could not have been calmer.
“Who did you hear that from?”
“Huh? Ah, aaah…….”
For the first time, Hansol looked a little troubled by the question that had dropped on him, and after a slight pause, he answered.
“Uhh, mm. That’s a little hard to say?”
Then why bring it up in the first place!
Choi Tae-hoon shouted inwardly, feeling a little indignant. But the question his Esper had pointed out also snapped him back to his senses. Until now, no one at The Center had told them anything about the “second unmeasurable” Esper before Ji Gwan-young.
But to think that was the man holding him now—it somehow didn’t feel real. More than anything, it was strange that Hansol was casually spilling things about Gwan-young that had never been revealed anywhere.
Shouldn’t I contact The Center?
Tae-hoon tried once more to shake off the arm holding him, but of course, it was hopeless. It was then that Oh Jinwoo’s gaze flicked toward Tae-hoon. With a somewhat complicated expression, he looked at Tae-hoon’s profile, now pale from tension.
Thanks to that, the monster’s eyes, which had not wavered at any words or situation until now, narrowed slightly as well. Ji Gwan-young was a man who could not tolerate any Esper showing interest in his Pair, no matter who it was.
“Right. You said you were Lee Hansol-ssi.”
“Yes!”
“How exactly do you plan to make me your Esper, Lee Hansol-ssi?”
Thud. Something fell inside his heart.
Choi Tae-hoon stared blankly at his Esper beyond Lee Hansol’s shoulder. For a moment, his neck tensed so hard the veins stood out, and his heart began beating fast.
A faint smile hung in the black eyes clearly looking at him. Without realizing it, Choi Tae-hoon parted his lips and ran his tongue over the rough, dry roof of his mouth. He even tried once more to push away Oh Jinwoo’s arm, though he knew it would not come loose.
Only then did Lee Hansol notice that the monster’s gaze was fixed not on him, but only on Choi Tae-hoon, and he clicked his tongue softly.
“That’s easy.”
“Easy?”
“Of course. I just have to take Choi Tae-hoon-ssi over there and—”
At that moment, with the sound of his strengthless feet scraping against the asphalt, Tae-hoon’s body collapsed forward. It was a somewhat rough method, but in truth, it was Oh Jinwoo’s own form of consideration.
Tae-hoon lost consciousness and sagged against Oh Jinwoo’s arm. Ji Gwan-young only watched every single movement Oh Jinwoo made. He could have stopped Oh Jinwoo, but he did not.
Because right now, he was about to do something his Pair would not be very fond of. Lee Hansol’s words, which had been briefly cut off, continued.
“Kill him.”
The brutal content, spoken in an ordinary tone, made people inhale sharply here and there. Someone even whispered uncertainly, “Are they filming something right now?”
Ji Gwan-young’s gaze, which had seemed fixed to Choi Tae-hoon as though it would never leave him, finally began to move. Now, there was even a somewhat distinct smile on his face. The axis of an emotion that had been difficult to define until now had finally tilted to one side.
Hansol’s heart raced with excitement.
Oh Jinwoo and Ji Gwan-young. Which of the two was stronger? Now he just had to choose! Then the strongest Esper would truly become his!
Unlike Hansol, however, Oh Jinwoo only found Ji Gwan-young’s change puzzling. Just from touching this man, Ji Gwan-young had countered his power while making no effort to hide his displeasure. That invisible, razor-sharp force still made his fingertips tingle.
Yet that same Ji Gwan-young was now curving his eyes slightly, looking almost languid and amused. Even though his Guide was leaning unconscious against Oh Jinwoo. That incomprehensible change in attitude bothered Oh Jinwoo strangely. The instinctive anxiety blooming deep inside him, as though something were warning him, was so unfamiliar he could barely remember ever feeling it.
Ji Gwan-young’s mouth slowly opened.
“…….Now I understand.”
The man, for whom receiving someone’s gaze was only natural, stood alone smiling in the now-silent street. For a moment, Oh Jinwoo thought those sunken eyes flashed toward him.
“You don’t want to fight. You don’t have the confidence to lay a hand on Choi Tae-hoon either.”
“……”
“So that was why you made such an annoying fuss, begging me to go easy on you, ‘Mr. Second Unmeasurable’?”
Lee Hansol saw everything—his Esper averting his gaze from Ji Gwan-young first. After confirming Oh Jinwoo’s reaction, Ji Gwan-young let out a sigh-like smile and lightly gestured with his hand.
At first, there was only a faint rustling sound from all directions, like insects moving. It was a tiny irritation, just enough to bother the ears—something sensitive people might hear while others might miss it.
But that eerie noise grew louder and louder, until at some point a sharp sound, like metal being scraped, mixed into it. One by one, the sensitive people began covering their ears. That was when a trace of confusion appeared on Hansol’s face, which had been flushed red from beginning to end.
Ji Gwan-young moved his fingertips as though playing a delicate instrument. Then an object moving so quickly it looked only like a black mass floated up into the air.
“Uh, uhh? Huh?! What the hell?!”
Starting with one man’s cry, large and small screams burst out here and there. Now that the only man holding the monster’s leash was asleep, there was no way to stop the monster at his most complete.
Cameras, phones, laptops……..
Every lump of metal capable of stealing and transmitting his image failed to escape Ji Gwan-young’s sight. The strength of those struggling not to let go was laughable. The countless metal objects stolen by the Esper twisted together at high speed, producing a thunderous roar as though they were about to tear apart. Amid the chaos, where even his own voice would not have reached his ears, Oh Jinwoo met Gwan-young’s smiling gaze.
The monster looked as though he were reflecting Oh Jinwoo from moments ago like a mirror. Just as Oh Jinwoo had held Choi Tae-hoon, Ji Gwan-young now gripped Lee Hansol, who was looking around in a daze. But the people no longer had the leisure to look at the man they loved—no, had loved. They only wanted to escape the fear that the undulating mass of metal would crash down on them.
But the monster did not allow even that. What he wanted now was the complete sealing-off of this space. He knew very well that if too many unnecessary words had been spoken, all he had to do was prevent them from getting out.
Ji Gwan-young began gathering the soldiers he handled so well. Not long after, the sound of enormous streams of water rapidly gathering through every possible exit rang out. The water intertwined with the already bluish-black mass of metal and slammed down onto the asphalt in the form of a giant prison.
“But if you had the sense to be considerate like that, then before that…….”
“……Wait!”
Lee Hansol looked at Ji Gwan-young, who was slowly tightening around his throat, with almost entranced eyes. Oh Jinwoo’s somewhat urgent voice no longer mattered to him. Just before losing consciousness, he merely twisted up the corners of his lips at Gwan-young’s languid whisper in his ear.
—You should have made sure this one couldn’t act so damn arrogant.
***
Choi Tae-hoon said firmly.
“It must be samjae (a three year period of bad luck in Korean folk belief).”
Ji Gwan-young, who had been sitting close beside Tae-hoon and reading through a script, finally lifted his head. Choi Tae-hoon was glaring at his phone with an expression that could not have been more serious. Seeing that, Gwan-young became aware, unusually, that Tae-hoon was a man six years younger than him.
Since Tae-hoon was the eldest son of a large family, Gwan-young had always seen only his properly adult, almost overly courteous side. So seeing him search up free fortune readings while insisting it had to be samjae felt truly fresh. But whether Ji Gwan-young found it fascinating or not, Choi Tae-hoon was quite serious right now.
“Unless it’s samjae, there’s no way things could be going like this since the start of the year.”
“What about this year?”
“In twenty-eight years of life, I’ve fainted exactly twice. Once in Gangnam, and once the other day. This makes no sense.”
Ji Gwan-young closed the script and propped his chin at an angle with a thoughtful hum, as if accepting the complaint. In truth, this time even he—who usually looked down on almost everything—was aware that he had caused a major incident. After spending all that time with Tae-hoon, he had used his overflowing, surging power however he pleased.
As proof of that, The Center’s researchers were so busy cleaning up the aftermath that they did not even have a moment to explain that unpleasant Pair.
Still, Ji Gwan-young did not regret what he had done.
In any case, he had remembered Choi Tae-hoon previously telling him not even to think of killing people, so he had left that insolent Guide alive instead of killing him. Since the softhearted man whose ability he could not fully read had immediately taken him away, his life likely wasn’t in danger. He also thought that level of unmistakable warning had been necessary.
Esper deployment during the arrest and suppression of a special criminal organization.
The enormous prison Ji Gwan-young had created had been packaged with quite a plausible name. A joint police-prosecution-Center investigation—how grand. Gwan-young found the phrasing truly ridiculous, but he did not show any crooked attitude toward it. It was because of his Guide, who had woken up late, looked through the articles, and clicked his tongue while saying, “The world really is terrifying.”
