Taking advantage of the moment, Ho-eun slipped through the steel door.
“……”
The room was bathed in a dull red hue, the single dim light barely functioning as proper illumination.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out several large wooden crates placed around the room.
They came up to his chest, and he was curious what they held—but first, he had to find Han Yeo-ul’s parents.
Surprisingly, there didn’t seem to be any Dragon staff inside, allowing Ho-eun to move relatively freely despite his earlier concerns.
He scanned the entire room, but it was completely silent. There were neither Dragon members nor any sign of Han Yeo-ul’s parents.
“This is Team 1. Han Yeo-ul’s parents entered an inner room on Basement Level 2—I followed them in.”
After confirming the area was clear, Ho-eun pulled the radio from his back pocket and reported in. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath, steadying his breathing and focusing all his senses on listening.
Tap, tap.
From deeper within, past where even the dim light didn’t reach, came the faint sound of soles tapping against the floor.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound came again, confirming it wasn’t just his imagination. Ho-eun rose and carefully stepped into the deeper darkness, making sure his footsteps were silent.
Should I be rescuing them if they’re tied up? Or is just keeping watch enough?
Ho-eun moved cautiously, keeping his tension high.
Earlier that day, Han Yeo-ul’s parents had won gambling money through Paul and Kang Him-chan. But the money they just bet was even more than what they’d won before. They must’ve borrowed from the Dragons.
Having already left the company, they obviously had no means of repaying the debt.
Yeo-ul…
One thought led to another, finally circling back to Han Yeo-ul herself. She was only ten years old. A little girl who understood her parents were broke, and yet she worked to make money while wearing worn-out shoes and grabbing cheap meals from a convenience store.
Even though Ho-eun had only spent a short time observing her, a sharp ache pierced somewhere deep in his chest.
“?”
As he continued walking, he spotted another door inside the spacious room. It stood wide open, but within was nothing but pitch-black darkness.
“Is it here?”
Ho-eun murmured quietly to himself as he stepped inside, as if willingly allowing himself to be swallowed by the dark.
[Kwon Ho-eun. I can’t see you. Don’t tell me you went after Han Yeo-ul’s parents? Was that you?]
A flustered-sounding message came through his earpiece—Bae Yeon-woo’s voice.
***
“Goddamn it, why isn’t he answering?”
Bae Yeon-woo hastily tucked the radio out of sight, glancing around to make sure no one had noticed.
A thick haze hung over Basement Level 1, carrying an odd smell in the air. The crowd lounging on the sofas was practically glued to one another as they smoked.
“Ugh.”
Bae Yeon-woo turned away, disgusted by the scene.
Blending into the group while pretending to smoke, he had taken a seat near the back. From there, he could spot Wonsin sitting at the cocktail bar where Park Ki-hyun was, sipping on something that may or may not have been alcohol.
“……”
No one seemed to care that a child was present in this place. Bae Yeon-woo slid on the silver metal glasses he’d brought with him last night.
“What the…”
More than half the people here had red-tinted eyes—Dragon operatives and regular patrons alike. A significant number had already fallen under Wonsin’s Esper ability. It was impossible to know when they might start acting on his commands.
“Why go this far?”
Grinding his cigarette into the ashtray on the table, Bae Yeon-woo bounced his knee anxiously.
No matter how he looked at it, one conclusion kept resurfacing. If something went down here, those under Wonsin’s control would make perfect hostages.
“Fuck.”
Cursing under his breath, Bae Yeon-woo grabbed the glass on the table.
The only fortunate thing was that neither the Dragons nor the anti-government faction had yet realized there were government agents among them.
“I’m going to check the area. You keep an eye on him.”
Bae Yeon-woo whispered so quietly that the background music drowned it out immediately—anyone watching would’ve thought he was just mouthing nonsense.
He looked across the room at Nam Woon-soo. Whether he caught the exact message or just understood the intent, Nam Woon-soo smoothly relocated to a table with a better vantage point over Wonsin.
Time to get moving.
Bae Yeon-woo stood up to begin gathering intel that the anti-government forces might have leaked.
The clientele here were mostly wealthy. He even spotted children of well-known public figures—proof that Dragon wasn’t just some two-bit gang.
Why would they team up with someone like this?
The first floor looked like a regular bar. Basement Level 1 was for drugs. Basement Level 2 was for gambling. All kinds of criminal activity were happening here—but Dragon was still a fledgling group.
There were far worse criminal organizations out there.
Is it because they’re easier to control?
Bae Yeon-woo quietly studied the Dragon personnel.
Some looked like typical club waiters, others wore suits and acted as guards, and then there were the rougher types dressed like stereotypical thugs, wandering the establishment.
The ones dressed like waiters likely weren’t in on the deeper operations. The suited guards might be from the Dragons—or they might’ve been planted by Wonsin. And then there were the sleazy-looking guys…
Target decided, Bae Yeon-woo sauntered over to a table where several gang members were seated, observing them through his glasses.
Found him.
Among the group, one man still looked alert—likely not yet affected by Wonsin’s ability. Bae Yeon-woo casually sat nearby.
“So you’re telling me they’re giving all the goods to that guy now?”
“Yup. And we get to do the job without bloodshed. Heard we’re getting paid well too.”
“That’s weird. Who the hell is he to be taking people away like that?”
“You’ve been locked up too long, man. The guy’s anti-gov or whatever. Some kind of terrorist.”
“That little punk?”
Bae Yeon-woo lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair, exhaling slowly as he listened.
They’re smuggling people? His brow twitched.
“They’re not just taking one or two people either. They buy them all?”
“No, not all. They do some kind of test—DNA or something. Then pick a few out.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? Why the hell would the boss partner up with freaks like them?”
“You didn’t know? We got sold, man. Even the boss follows that anti-gov dude’s orders now. Dragons aren’t the same as before. Now we’re, what—like a company. That’s how it works now.”
“A company? Pfft, so this is a damn office now?”
They clinked glasses and burst into laughter.
“Interesting.”
Bae Yeon-woo’s muttered remark was once again lost in the music.
Piecing together their conversation, it sounded like the Dragons had been completely absorbed by Tiger. And this talk about “taking people”—what did that mean?
People being smuggled, DNA tests… As those key words aligned in his mind, Bae Yeon-woo’s expression hardened.
No way. Are these bastards experimenting on living people? There aren’t any known Espers in their ranks who can do that… So are there others we don’t know about?
One revelation only raised more questions. He turned his gaze to Wonsin sitting at the cocktail bar.
Worst-case scenario, I’ll have to extract him.
But making a scene wasn’t an option. Too many eyes were watching.
And there were several people here he couldn’t afford to mess with. He could feel the wrinkles deepening in his forehead.
“……”
His eyes drifted to Eom Tae-seok, seated a little ways off from Wonsin. This felt familiar. The Team Leader promotion exam back then had also involved a criminal organization and an equally ugly situation.
Sinking into the haze like he was drunk on it, Bae Yeon-woo recalled the past.
***
“Once this mission’s over, you’re gonna Imprint with me, right?”
“……”
“Hey, you’ve totally hit the jackpot, you know. I’ve got a great family~ I’m about to be a Team Lead~ This is your chance, right? You miss it, and you’re a fucking idiot, you know that?”
“Shut up, will you?”
Irritation welled up inside me at Eom Seong-chan’s endlessly obnoxious comments.
Why the hell did I follow this bastard and become a Field Guide?
No matter how I look at it, I must’ve completely lost it from the depression back then.
To think I fell for that sweet-talking bullshit—“I need you”—and dragged myself into this shitty field position.
“Babe, you’re perfect, except for that shitty personality of yours. If you wanna keep hanging around with me, you’d better learn how to match my level, yeah?”
Eom Seong-chan had dragged me into HR acting like we were in some kind of office romance.
When in reality, there’d never even been a confession—nothing at all.
But maybe that was a good thing.
If I’d been the same person I was back then, I might’ve just accepted it if he’d confessed.
Not even realizing that this asshole had given me the nickname Bae-ttery—a play on “Bae” from my name and “battery”—saying I was like a portable power bank that’d come running to guide him wherever, whenever.
“You’re seriously lucky, you know.”
According to Eom Seong-chan, he had a prestigious family and was about to be promoted to Team Lead.
Why would someone like that need to be obsessed with Imprinting with a guy like me?
If he was such a perfect Esper, shouldn’t there be a line of Guides dying to Imprint with him?
The more I saw of him, the more his selfish personality and grating pride in his family made me feel like I was being strangled.
Put simply, getting entangled with Eom Seong-chan was nothing short of rotten luck.
Why the hell should I Imprint with this piece of garbage?
The betrayal and humiliation made me want to scream, but I held it in.
I had a plan—to go with him just as his support Guide for his Team Lead promotion mission, and then cut ties completely.
I’d already requested a transfer consultation with Department Head Eom Tae-seok.
“Stop flapping your mouth and focus on the mission.”
“Got it, my little prude.”
“Fuck off.”
Eom Seong-chan didn’t even flinch at my swearing—he just grinned and reached out to ruffle my hair like it was adorable.
I roughly slapped his hand away and stepped into the Incheon docks where the illegal Ability Product smuggling was taking place.
This mission involved taking down a ring illegally dealing A-grade Ability Products.
Civilians weren’t allowed to engage in trades involving Ability Products, and yet things like this kept happening.
In terms of actual difficulty, the mission didn’t deserve an A-grade rating—but it was clearly inflated for the sake of Eom Seong-chan’s promotion test.
“Tch. Fucking privileged family bullshit.”
After all, that way he could boast about getting promoted to Team Lead on an “A-grade” field mission.
There were only a few Espers at this site, and just three Guides total—including me.
After covering Eom Seong-chan through the initial entry point, I headed to the temporary Guide station and quietly pulled out the ring.
The same one Eom Seong-chan had given me a little while ago.
The same bastard who used to treat me like a disposable power source had the nerve to hand over a ring and whisper about our shared future.
It pissed me off—how becoming a Guide had shattered the carefully planned future I’d built for myself.
Even worse was that the one who’d gently opened the locked doors to my wounded heart turned out to be full of shit.
That future I’d held close, thinking maybe it was something worth hoping for—turned out to be literal garbage.
And I’d been a fool, treasuring it all like it meant something.
The ring Eom Seong-chan had practically forced onto me felt unbearably uncomfortable.
“What’s this? You got an Imprint ring?”
One of the senior Guides struck up a conversation, apparently catching sight of the obnoxiously shiny ring.
