Seo Won looked slightly surprised at something he was hearing for the first time. Though he had become somewhat familiar with the darker side of things—including the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility—through his ongoing ties with the Esper Association, the term “Artificial Guide” was completely new to him.
Min-hyung wore a conflicted expression and spoke bitterly.
“He was originally awakened as an E-rank Guide. For a year, they kept injecting my abilities into him until he reached S-rank.”
“Is that even possible?”
“144.”
What came in response to Seo Won’s question wasn’t an explanation, but a strikingly specific number.
“That’s how many children were trapped in sealed capsules, forcibly infused with other Guides’ abilities. Of them, 143 were killed… by my GP, which tried to forcibly embed itself into immature bodies.”
Even though he hadn’t been the one subjected to it, Min-hyung swallowed hard, visibly tormented.
“Number 01 lasted a full year. He survived with countless hoses piercing through his entire body, constantly pumping in other people’s GP.”
Seo Won’s face darkened as he imagined the scene Min-hyung described. He never really cared about what happened to strangers in these kinds of experiments, nor did he ever want to know. But when he imagined Cha Han-gyeom being subjected to that kind of treatment, his gut twisted.
He recalled again the state of Han-gyeom’s body—how he would’ve died coughing up blood if not for the organ Song Yeon-woo had created for him. With that image burned into his mind, he couldn’t simply dismiss Min-hyung’s words as idle chatter.
Even as Seo Won quietly swallowed his simmering fury, Min-hyung continued speaking.
“After taking in my abilities, Number 01 didn’t just mimic them. He also developed dangerous mutated abilities.”
Seo Won guessed that the mutation Min-hyung referred to was probably Kang Woo-chan’s “Fake Imprint” and “Guiding Addiction.”
“01’s guiding was violent and domineering. Some Espers immediately developed severe addiction symptoms and even suffered psychotic breaks just from receiving his guiding.”
Min-hyung closed his eyes tightly, his face contorted as if dredging up painful memories.
“That’s all I know. 01 was kept in complete isolation. I never saw his face, never spoke to him.”
After trying to recall a figure he couldn’t even visualize, Min-hyung adjusted his expression and raised his head.
“But there is one thing I do know.”
He spoke with conviction, recalling the remnants of the mine still lingering inside Seo Won’s body.
“If the Guide you met really is Number 01, then he’s not just a terrorist group member. He’s their leader—their ruler.”
“That’s what struck me as odd,” Seo Won replied. “A Guide acting like a leader, despite not being an Esper with ESP.”
Min-hyung let out a dry chuckle, as if to say that made perfect sense.
“The Seo Won I used to know probably couldn’t understand that—since you were never once bound by a Guide. But now… things are different, aren’t they?”
“You’re saying I’m bound to a Guide?”
“I don’t think you can deny it. Not as long as you have that heart.”
Min-hyung’s sharp words left Seo Won unable to refute him. What bothered him was the phrasing—bound, dominated—those words grated on him.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing for an Esper and a Guide to be connected to each other. It’s just that…”
Min-hyung trailed off, lifting his teacup. The rich aroma of black tea rose with the lingering heat, helping to soothe the emotions that had surged as he revisited the past.
His gaze quickly turned cold.
“What’s problematic is when someone like Number 01 forces countless Espers into his grasp. The ones already addicted to his abilities probably don’t even realize they’ve been brainwashed into loyalty.”
A bitter sneer escaped Min-hyung’s lips as he tilted his teacup.
“If Number 01 is the leader, then the ones under him are likely Espers from the Ability Analysis Research Facility.”
“You’re saying there are no other Ability Users among them?”
“Yes, probably not.”
Despite adding probably, his voice carried a tone of near-certainty.
“Do you remember what I said earlier about what happened to some of the Espers who received guiding from 01?”
“Yes, I remember.”
Guiding addiction symptoms and mental breakdowns. It hadn’t been that long ago; there was no way he could’ve forgotten.
“The reason I said some Espers is because those who ended up like that were either from the Association or unregistered Ability Users who’d been captured. They all showed extremely aggressive and violent tendencies.”
Min-hyung recalled the outside Ability Users he had occasionally encountered at the research facility. Aside from the child subjects, the lab would sometimes bring in adult Espers from the outside to measure guiding levels. Some days, they were polished Espers from the Association. Other days, they were disheveled and worn-out unregistered Ability Users.
Every time, there was an incident.
The Espers Min-hyung guided would always leave in awe, thoroughly satisfied. But those assigned to Number 01? Without exception, they went berserk. One Esper, in the throes of a psychotic break, even ripped two researchers to pieces on the spot under 01’s command. Min-hyung knew that story well—but saw no need to recount it now.
Yet aside from those certain Espers, the others within the facility received flawless guiding from 01. Sometimes, when his mood shifted, he would overdo it and trigger temporary addiction symptoms, but even that would pass quickly.
“He probably didn’t want to use those vicious abilities on Espers who were in the same situation as him.”
“You think he felt some kind of kinship or sympathy?”
Min-hyung lifted his eyes and met Seo Won’s gaze.
Seo Won’s eyes weren’t arrogant or mocking. He wasn’t looking down on anyone. He just wanted to understand. He wanted to grasp a feeling that only someone who had been tormented as a test subject in the Ability Analysis Research Facility could possibly know. That was all.
Meeting that gaze, Min-hyung found himself wearing a faint smile.
‘He’s changed.’
The Seo Won of the past would’ve scoffed at a moment like this, flashing a smug smile and dismissing it with a condescending, “Not my problem.” But now? Now he was trying—truly trying—to understand more deeply. Even now, this very moment, he was unconsciously striving to understand someone who wasn’t even in the room.
Back when he first learned about the existence of the Imprint in Seo Won’s heart, the man had been cold as ice, sharp as a blade. When had that started to change…?
“The sense of kinship and sympathy formed within the research facility is something you can’t ignore. Even Number 01—despite harboring deep hostility toward both the Association and Espers—wasn’t violent toward other Ability Users from the same lab.”
Min-hyung paused briefly, then firmly conveyed his thought.
“Someone like that wouldn’t bring other Espers into a group he intended to dominate. That terrorist group is likely made up entirely of Ability Users who escaped from the Ability Analysis Research Facility.”
Min-hyung’s gaze drifted toward the drawing room door, beyond which Cha Han-gyeom was likely resting in one of the rooms.
“That’s why they’re after Cha Han-gyeom.”
In Seo Won’s mind, the missing pieces of the puzzle finally began to fall into place. Especially the biggest one of all—He could now be certain of the reason behind the terrorist group’s relentless pursuit of Cha Han-gyeom.
The shared sense of kinship and compassion between those who had once been test subjects. And the fact that Han-gyeom was a Guide—that alone would make him a prime target.
According to Cha Min-hyung, the only Guide who’d successfully escaped was the artificial S-rank Guide, G_NO.01, from the First Ability Analysis Research Facility. Which meant he was likely the sole Guide providing support to all the Espers in the terrorist group.
Those with an innate distrust or resentment toward outsiders wouldn’t allow some other Guide to handle their guiding. And any Guide from the research facility possessed abilities far beyond the standard.
So for them, Cha Han-gyeom—the only Guide from the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility—would be an irresistible asset.
As Seo Won’s thoughts began to crystallize, Kang Woo-chan’s words resurfaced in his mind.
“You, of all people? A lowly Esper!?”
The contempt gleaming in Kang Woo-chan’s red eyes—such a stark contrast to his usual composed face—was venomous. He looked ready to spit at the very thought. There had also been that ever-present arrogance, as if he believed Espers were a rung below him, beings meant to be looked down upon.
After all, he had been infused with Cha Min-hyung’s abilities. No matter how powerful an Esper, they probably couldn’t touch him properly—so it made sense that he would scorn them.
And just guiding alone had been enough to utterly break someone—like Song Jae-woo in that hotel photograph. To Espers, he was nothing short of a natural-born nemesis.
“You think it’s not enough that you did all that to ‘us’? And now you dare to claim an Imprint—how DARE someone like you…”
To someone like Kang Woo-chan, there was probably nothing more revolting than a real Imprint. To him, who stood high above Espers and looked down with disdain, the idea of being bound to one—of being tied to a single person through an Imprint—was likely utterly contemptible.
‘He really must feel a deep sense of kinship.’
Thinking back on the word “we” that Kang Woo-chan had used, and the intensity of his reaction, Seo Won couldn’t help but wonder if Kang saw Cha Han-gyeom almost like a lost brother.
Just then, Jung Ah-young knocked on the door from outside.
“Director Seo, Han-gyeom’s calling for you.”
Seo Won had left a note asking her to call if he wasn’t there when Han-gyeom woke up—he must’ve gotten up sooner than expected.
Upon hearing Ah-young’s voice, Seo Won rose from his seat. Rather than respond toward the door, he turned to look at Min-hyung.
“Would you like to meet my Guide?”
Min-hyung stood up without hesitation, an odd urgency visible in his movements.
“Yes. Please, I’d like that very much.”
