After finishing his rant, Eom Seong-chan looked smug and triumphant.
“So let me get this straight. You’re falsifying a report to let Park Ki-hyun out?”
“That’s correct!!”
“And you’re doing it to catch the anti-government group?”
“I’m the one who proposed the idea. If someone has to take responsibility, it should be me.”
Baek Woo-gyeong’s gaze shifted to Eom Tae-seok.
“You’re telling me Director Eom Tae-seok suggested something like this? Ha. That’s… unexpected.”
A chilling glint flashed in Baek Woo-gyeong’s eyes.
“Hey! You guys! Why don’t you start blabbering like before?! Cat got your tongue now? Director, did you see that? This is what they do. When it benefits them, they yap away nonstop, but now that you’re taking the fall, they just sit there in silence.”
Arms crossed, Eom Seong-chan spoke with confidence, flashing Bae Yeon-woo a smug You’re dead with a movement of his lips.
“Looks like PR finally caught the anti-government’s tail. What a relief.”
Baek Woo-gyeong clapped his hands as if he were genuinely pleased.
“Let’s see what you can do. Anything that needs approval, I’ll sign off with Chairman authority.”
Apparently, Eom Seong-chan had no idea how deeply Baek Woo-gyeong was involved with the PR Department. That’s probably why he’d just marched up to him and dumped a whole story he thought the Chairman would love.
“C-Chairman? What do you mean by that just now?”
“I mean Director Eom Tae-seok won’t have to take responsibility for this. If you bring back even a trace of the anti-government group, I’ll take full responsibility myself.”
Ho-eun waved his hand at Eom Seong-chan, who was now glancing between Baek Woo-gyeong and Bae Yeon-woo, trying to process what was happening. He pointed at himself.
You. Are. So. Dead.
He exaggerated each syllable slowly, his lips forming the words with theatrical clarity.
Watching Eom Seong-chan’s face go pale was an absolute treat.
“Alright, then. Everything’s settled, right? Wrap up this meeting and get some sleep. You’ll need rest to plan properly. You’ve only got tomorrow, right? Sounds like a busy day.”
“…Thank you.”
Eom Tae-seok bowed his head in gratitude.
“Oh, please. I barely did anything. Anyway, I’ll get going. My presence makes people uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Oh, and Team Lead Eom Seong-chan? Insulting a Guide earns you demerit points. I’ll let it slide today and assume it was fatigue talking.”
“Excuse me??”
“You didn’t know? Enough demerits and your promotion gets revoked. If you talk like this regularly, I’d say you’re skating on thin ice.”
“……”
“Think about why the Guide Corporation and Esper Association were established separately. Neither one holds dominance over the other. Learn to coexist. Stop yelling all the time.”
Eom Seong-chan’s face turned blotchy red and blue. Like a storm, Baek Woo-gyeong swept through the conference room and exited, leaving everyone stunned.
“…Fuck.”
Eom Seong-chan spat a curse, but stayed silent for the rest of the meeting, lost in his thoughts.
The meeting went smoothly after that.
Under Eom Tae-seok and Bae Yeon-woo’s direction, the plan began to take shape.
They even woke up the unconscious Park Ki-hyun and forced information out of him—details about the Dragon’s hideout and its affiliated members.
“You all must be exhausted. Let’s begin the mission tonight at 10 p.m. That concludes the meeting. Kid, go fetch the remover for Park Ki-hyun.”
“On it.”
Kang Him-chan stepped out to retrieve the remover.
Just then, a staff member walked in through the open door.
“We’ve confirmed that Park Ki-hyun’s home has been fully restored to its original state and the surrounding CCTV footage has been cleaned up.”
After bowing politely, the staffer left.
A moment later, Kang Him-chan returned with a small blue bottle and handed it to Eom Tae-seok.
“Ugh…”
Still bound, Park Ki-hyun was visibly trembling—likely a result of the rough treatment he’d received during interrogation.
As if about to unhinge his jaw, he shuddered and clacked his teeth.
Eom Tae-seok grabbed his chin and forced his mouth open, pouring the liquid down his throat.
“What is that?”
Ho-eun asked, and Bae Yeon-woo, with a faint expression of annoyance, answered.
“The official name is Memory Remover. It erases prior memories. I doubt Park Ki-hyun could fake it convincingly enough otherwise.”
“Well, yeah. We are trying to deceive both Dragon and the anti-government group. If Park Ki-hyun acts weird, it’ll blow the whole thing.”
Ho-eun nodded in understanding.
After downing the Memory Remover, Park Ki-hyun slumped in his chair, eyes tightly shut.
Once he was clearly unconscious, Paul undid the ropes binding him.
“Since the house is prepped, I’ll drop him off.”
Grabbing Park Ki-hyun by the collar, Paul vanished from sight.
“The meeting’s over, right?”
Eom Seong-chan, still staring at the now-empty chair, stood and walked out without waiting for a reply.
“He’s insufferable to the very end.”
Ho-eun muttered near Bae Yeon-woo’s ear, then glanced nervously at Eom Tae-seok, realizing it was pointless to whisper around Espers.
“Haha. It’s fine. You’re not wrong.”
Eom Tae-seok chuckled warmly. Ho-eun rubbed the back of his neck and bowed apologetically.
Once Paul returned, the meeting was officially adjourned.
Ho-eun had been wondering when they’d finally get to the Incheon branch, but thanks to Paul’s ability, the entire PR team—and their car—were teleported to the Incheon branch’s parking lot within seconds.
The tension finally easing, Ho-eun let out a yawn. He was exhausted from staying up all night.
“You should go sleep.”
“We still need to listen to Yeo-ul’s surveillance audio.”
“HR is probably already reviewing it. Don’t worry.”
Do In-ho’s reassurance eased Ho-eun’s nerves. He rubbed his eyes.
“You’re right…”
Do In-ho made a mental note to light some relaxing incense in the room once they were back—to help them both sleep.
***
After about four hours of rest, Ho-eun showered and stepped into the living room.
Do In-ho was sitting on the couch, still in the same position as before bed—clearly he hadn’t really slept.
“What are you doing?”
Ho-eun leaned over and peered at Do In-ho, who was staring at his phone.
[Shh, it’s already too late.]
“!!”
Ho-eun grabbed the phone out of Do In-ho’s hands in a panic when he heard his own voice playing.
“I-it’s already out?”
“Seems like they sent the edited version.”
On-screen, Ho-eun appeared with a dramatic expression, holding a gun.
Do In-ho, who had stood up at some point, took the phone back and replayed the video from the part Ho-eun had missed.
“Cringe, right? But apparently, going with this kind of concept makes it more memorable.”
“…They said this one’s going to show my face, too, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Do In-ho’s face looked cold—chilled, even.
Even though he’d said it was fine last time, maybe it wasn’t after all.
Ho-eun carefully watched him for signs of anger, but instead, the large Esper suddenly collapsed into Ho-eun’s arms.
“??”
Hair tickled his neck.
Do In-ho exhaled deeply while holding Ho-eun close.
“Next time… I want to go see it in person.”
“Huh?”
“Watching through a video… isn’t the same.”
“O-oh? Isn’t it basically the same?”
“It’s not the same.”
Ho-eun didn’t fully understand what Do In-ho meant, but he was glad he didn’t seem mad.
“By the way, why’d they send the video to you?”
“They didn’t just send it to me. It looks like they sent it to PR first.”
Ho-eun quickly checked his notifications, which he’d missed while sleeping.
Just like Do In-ho said, the video had been emailed to them. The recipients were the PR Department, Kim Se-hee, and Ryu Yoon-jae.
“Want to watch it again?”
Do In-ho was about to play it from the beginning, but Ho-eun frantically shook his head.
“No, no thanks. I don’t need to see it. Seriously.”
If it weren’t for the anti-government op, there’s no way he’d have filmed something that embarrassing.
He gently pushed Do In-ho away.
From above, Do In-ho smacked his lips in disappointment, but Ho-eun didn’t notice.
“Speaking of which… it’s almost time for Yeo-ul to get out of school, isn’t it?”
Ho-eun stretched his arms toward the ceiling, loosening his stiff shoulders.
Rolling them left and right, his body finally started to feel a little better.
“I already loaded the mascot suits in the car.”
“Good job.”
Ho-eun gave Do In-ho a light pat on the back.
Tonight, before they infiltrated the Dragon’s hideout, they had another task to take care of.
“They’re keeping her under proper surveillance, right?”
“It’s their main job. I’m sure it’s fine.”
Still, Ho-eun checked his messenger, frowning at the lack of updates.
Early that morning, Paul and Kang Him-chan had taken on the role of surveilling Han Yeo-ul’s parents.
Meanwhile, Do In-ho and Ho-eun had chosen to focus on Han Yeo-ul herself—planning to make contact once more.
Dressed in casual clothes, the two left the dorm.
It took about fifteen minutes to walk to the parking lot. The leaves were slowly turning autumn colors.
“You didn’t sleep, right? Want me to drive?”
“It’s fine. I like driving.”
“You like driving?”
Seated at the wheel, Do In-ho adjusted the gear and gripped the steering wheel. Even without sleep, his sharp profile gleamed as he turned to reverse the car.
After leaving the Incheon branch, Do In-ho lightly tapped Ho-eun’s thigh with one hand—asking for his.
When Ho-eun placed his hand over it, their fingers intertwined.
“I like you.”
He said it much later, like a car suddenly merging without a blinker.
Was he talking about driving? Holding hands? Ho-eun couldn’t tell. Do In-ho was still vague like that.
The roads were quiet—not as much as early dawn, but definitely less crowded than rush hour.
Their car soon arrived at the wooded hill behind Han Yeo-ul’s elementary school.
After getting out, they pulled a large box from the car and began inflating balloons.
“At this rate, even the anti-government group won’t suspect anything.”
What Esper and Guide would dress in mascot suits and hand out balloons in front of an elementary school?
Disguising themselves to avoid detection was proving quite the ordeal.
“Delivery!”
At the sound of a voice from behind, Do In-ho quickly grabbed a bunny mascot head and shoved it onto Ho-eun’s. He then put on the bear mascot himself.
“You can leave it here.”
“Ah, right. Doing some kind of event, huh?”
“……”
When Do In-ho didn’t respond, the delivery guy scratched the back of his head awkwardly after setting the box down.
“What the… YouTubers, huh?”
He muttered as he walked off.
Do In-ho didn’t remove the suit until the man was completely gone.
Still wearing the mascot head, Ho-eun silently inflated more balloons.
Tying helium-filled balloons to strings, he finally donned the full costume.
“…About last night…”
Do In-ho looked like he was about to ask for something, his ears flushing red, but he shook his head and brushed it off.
“Looks like we’ve got enough balloons. Should we go?”
The bunny mascot tilted its head sideways.
“Hm?” a voice asked.
“Y-yeah!”
Do In-ho clenched his fists, soaking in the sight of the adorably suited-up man standing in front of him.
