Among them were quite a few people he knew very well. But to Choi Tae-hoon, they all felt strangely unfamiliar, as though he were seeing them for the first time. Maybe it was because this was the first time he had ever seen faces fully prepared to genuinely harm another human being.
Realizing just how incredibly lucky he had been to come away unharmed, Tae-hoon suddenly felt the back of his neck stiffen.
The man standing expressionlessly in the center of the hall was someone all these countless Espers had sharpened themselves against with full force, someone they had to be ready to battle at any moment.
And once again, it struck him anew—
“There’s no need. Remove them.”
Ji Gwan-young spoke briefly toward the researchers who had started setting up protective barriers around him.
It was a voice overflowing with arrogant certainty. But there wasn’t a single person present who could object to it.
While sweeping his gaze across the densely packed crowd, Tae-hoon soon spotted someone who, like himself, was not an Esper.
It was Park Seungwon, Oh Yeon’s Guide.
When their eyes met, Seungwon gave a slight nod. Tae-hoon subtly dipped his head as well before finally noticing the Esper standing beside him.
It was Oh Yeon.
Sensing Tae-hoon’s gaze, he turned his eyes toward him belatedly. They were too far apart to exchange words, but Tae-hoon knew very well what meaning lingered in that stern-looking stare.
To Tae-hoon, before being a researcher at The Center and an Esper, Oh Yeon was an older brother figure he had known since he was seventeen.
Then, the sharp sound of heels striking the floor echoed out somehow resolutely.
Director Kwon Dahee had arrived. She sat at the center of a row of seats positioned directly facing Oh Jinwoo.
Tae-hoon still didn’t understand the meaning of that seat.
Meanwhile, ahead of the official interrogation, Oh Yeon quietly drew in a breath.
Ten years.
The younger brother he was seeing again after ten years had become far sharper and harsher than the version preserved in his memories.
Oh Yeon had treasured his little brother deeply—the child who had been seven years younger than him.
The final image remaining in his mind was of a twenty-year-old overflowing with innocence, a young man who felt closer to a boy than an adult.
But the younger brother trapped inside an Esper-exclusive prison built from thousands of reinforced layers had now become thirty years old.
Even though he looked slightly thinner, the body that had unmistakably matured into that of a fully grown man easily called to mind perfectly honed muscles beneath it.
Without avoiding the eyes of the younger brother staring directly back at him, Oh Yeon slowly opened his mouth.
“Name.”
“Oh Jinwoo.”
It was an answer everyone already knew.
Oh Yeon continued the questioning in silence.
“Are you the primary suspect in the murder case of Guide Kim Gaha from The Center ten years ago?”
“……Yes.”
Only then did Choi Tae-hoon realize that the Espers seated in a horizontal row facing Oh Jinwoo, centered around the Director, had their gazes fixed on him like machines.
Their eyes looked obsessively intent, as if trying to discern something.
“How were you able to infiltrate the Guide residential quarters—and accurately locate one specific Guide’s residence?”
“I had an accomplice. He manipulated the systems and taught me how to find it.”
“Who was that?”
“I don’t know. I never met him directly even once. I only received information from him.”
Oh Yeon paused briefly before casting his gaze toward where the Director sat.
At that moment, dark blue letters appeared across the electronic display attached to the wall of the hall.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward it.
T
Only then did Tae-hoon finally understand what they were doing.
If the man imprisoned in there was someone who rendered every scanner at The Center useless, then there was only one method left.
To directly monitor in real time every analyzable detail intelligence-type Espers could examine—his body language, vocal tone, pitch fluctuations—and determine whether he was telling the truth.
This was only possible because the people seated there were Espers.
“Describe the process through which you received information.”
“……Guide Lee Hansol made direct contact with that person. Mostly through the network black market, and occasionally through encrypted emails. I understand they met in person a few times as well.”
“Where is Guide Lee Hansol now?”
“I don’t know. My Pair with Lee Hansol has ended.”
At Oh Jinwoo’s answer, murmurs erupted throughout the hall.
Blue letters appeared once more on the display.
T
Listening to the whispers around him, Oh Jinwoo continued calmly.
“After saying he intended to obtain a new Esper, Lee Hansol completely disappeared.”
“A new Esper?”
“Ji Gwan-young.”
“Right now, Lee Hansol is targeting Ji Gwan-young to become his Esper.”
All eyes turned toward the man whose languid face revealed nothing of what he might be thinking. And naturally, toward the Guide beside him as well.
Oh Yeon thought Choi Tae-hoon’s face somehow looked pale.
T
At the clearly displayed letter, Tae-hoon unconsciously lowered his gaze toward the floor.
Realizing this, Gwan-young pulled the Guide’s hand—the one he was holding—closer and pressed his lips against fingers clenched tight with tension.
“How is it possible to steal an Esper?”
“……It’s a kind of struggle for dominance.”
For the first time, Oh Jinwoo’s previously calm expression wavered.
He inhaled softly, then lifted his eyes toward the brightly lit ceiling and slowly exhaled the emotion he had swallowed down.
The heavy metal restraints wrapped around his wrists clanked loudly.
After remaining silent for several seconds, Oh Jinwoo finally spoke again in an extremely low, slow voice.
“When an Esper and Guide exceed a certain matching rate and become a Pair, that means an intangible bond exists between them.”
“……”
“Lee Hansol possesses an unknown ability that can steal that intangible bond shared by a Pair. However, there is one condition required for it. The Pair Guide has to hand over that bond willingly. But Guides who surrender it obediently…… are almost nonexistent.”
“So?”
Over the course of ten years, Oh Jinwoo had gradually learned secret after secret about his Guide, Lee Hansol.
This was the first time he had ever spoken any of it aloud. Until now, he had never even been given the opportunity.
“So usually, he uses the easiest method. He kills the Pair Guide and takes it. Like some kind of inheritance ritual.”
One of Ji Gwan-young’s eyebrows twitched at the endlessly disturbing meaning hidden beneath those casually spoken words. But the agitation among the Espers in the hall was even more violent.
Truthfully, the possibility that Lee Hansol possessed the ability to steal Espers had always been one of the least considered hypotheses.
And because it came so late in consideration, it had largely been dismissed as absurd fantasy.
After all, it was far easier to cling to blind lies condemning Esper Oh Jinwoo as merely a criminal deviant than to face a truth that would leave countless Pairs trembling in fear.
Having spent ten years living beneath the stigma of being related to a heinous criminal—and being wounded by it over and over again—Oh Yeon finally spoke, his voice wavering slightly.
“Was the incident ten years ago your crime?”
“……No. I don’t think it was.”
“Answer clearly!”
“I don’t know. I have no memory of that time. When I regained consciousness, Gaha was already…… like that. And Lee Hansol was beside him. He told me he was the one who killed him.”
T
The calm admission flowing from the mouth of the “unmeasurable” Esper glowed blue, signaling truth.
The intelligence-type Espers seated in a row before Oh Jinwoo wore troubled expressions at the conclusion they had reached.
For a moment, Oh Yeon stared at the display showing the truth as though he had lost the ability to speak.
Lee Mihyun took over next. After lightly patting Oh Yeon’s shoulder in comfort, Mihyun stepped into his place.
Oh Yeon retreated a few steps, trying to ease the tension pulling tightly at his head.
“Why did you remain Paired with Guide Lee Hansol for ten years after the incident?”
“Because there were no other Guides.”
Mihyun frowned slightly at his answer. Watching her, Oh Jinwoo continued slowly.
“Until Lee Hansol finds a new Esper, I cannot match with any other Guide.”
At the desperate subjugation embedded in every sentence he uttered, several people audibly inhaled. Hearing every one of those reactions without missing a thing, Oh Jinwoo quietly added:
“You’re free to verify it yourselves.”
Spoken casually, the sentence was actually extremely dangerous.
After all, there was practically no chance any Guide would willingly permit a matching test with a criminal considered the strongest unmeasurable Esper in history.
But the silence did not last long. Because one young man stepped forward.
“……Park Seungwon.”
“It’s okay. Yeon-ah, let’s try it once. Let’s see if what he said is true.”
Smiling gently with his eyes curved softly, Park Seungwon tenderly pulled his pale-faced Esper into an embrace.
A matching test was a tedious process that required prolonged close physical proximity to the target Esper.
Several researchers quickly but carefully moved the testing equipment and prepared the area.
Watching the man who was both his Esper’s younger brother and greatest weakness up close for the first time, Seungwon narrowed his eyes slightly.
Would the result at least reach a single-digit matching percentage?
But even so, the phrase “there’s no Guide he can Pair with” didn’t sound correct.
Even if the matching rate were only one percent, it still couldn’t truly be said that there was no Guide at all, no matter how terrible the effectiveness might be.
As Park Seungwon stared indifferently at the machines linking himself and Oh Jinwoo together, that thought crossed his mind.
Everyone except the physical-type Espers standing in formation around them like an encirclement took seats prepared by headquarters, settling in for what they expected would be a long process.
Among them were Ji Gwan-young and Choi Tae-hoon as well.
Gwan-young pressed his lips against each stiffened fingertip of his lover, whose entire body had frozen rigid.
Normally, Choi Tae-hoon would have exploded in embarrassment at him doing something like that in public, but now he seemed too distracted even for that. His eyes simply reddened slightly at the soft sensation.
Everyone expected a long, tedious wait.
That was what matching-rate tests were like.
Even Ji Gwan-young and Choi Tae-hoon—who had never once experienced such a lengthy test themselves—relaxed slightly, loosening the tension in their rigid bodies as they leaned lightly against one another.
But that loose calm didn’t last long.
The voices of the researchers, who had been quietly discussing and organizing everything they had heard so far, began fading out from the front one by one, as though muted.
The instant the massive machine connecting Esper Oh Jinwoo and Guide Park Seungwon activated, a single number immediately appeared in enormous digits across the matching-rate panel.
Tae-hoon stared at it blankly, stunned.
A familiar notification sound rang out—the same one he had grown used to hearing so easily after becoming involved with Ji Gwan-young.
[SCORE ‘0’]
But the movement of the numbers still hadn’t ended.
The screen displaying the bond between Pairs began spitting out new numbers nonstop at a grotesque speed, as though it might explode at any second.
Faced with those endlessly changing figures, everyone in the hall forgot even how to breathe for a moment.
