“Ah, fuck. Why the hell are old memories suddenly coming back now?”
His gaze had been fixed on Eom Tae-seok, but at some point, it had shifted to Nam Woon-soo. He was craning his neck unnaturally just to keep staring at him.
“I must’ve stared too much at that shy little guy.”
It wasn’t obvious unless you looked closely, but the tip of Nam Woon-soo’s ear—partially hidden under his hair—was faintly red.
Bae Yeon-woo stubbed out his cigarette, now reduced to a nub, grinding it into the ashtray, then turned his head back in the direction of Park Ki-hyun.
His ears were still tuned to the table where the Dragon organization members were gathered, but judging by their stock market talk, there was no need to keep eavesdropping.
“…Wait, what the hell?”
Bae Yeon-woo shot to his feet after realizing Wonsin had suddenly disappeared. He’d gotten momentarily distracted and lost sight of him. A chill ran down his spine.
“This doesn’t feel right.”
He scanned the smoky, crowded room, but no matter how thoroughly he searched, Wonsin was nowhere to be found.
Bae Yeon-woo hurried toward the stairs.
But Wonsin had already descended—he was headed down to Basement Level 2.
“Kwon Ho-eun. Come in. Kwon Ho-eun, can you hear me?”
He called out desperately through the radio, but all he got was static in response—no reply.
“Wonsin just went down to Basement Level 2. Team 1, don’t look directly at him—keep acting natural like before. And Kwon Ho-eun, if you can hear this, stay hidden and don’t move.”
He spoke into the radio, but the silence continued. Bae Yeon-woo bit down on his lip anxiously as he stared down the staircase.
***
“Krrzzzt… Kwon… krrzzzt…”
“Is this thing busted?”
Kwon Ho-eun grimaced at the crackling noise coming from his earpiece as he moved along the wall, feeling his way through the darkness.
“I can’t see or hear anything. Where the hell is everyone?”
He muttered in irritation as he crept forward in a crouch. As if on cue, a faint light flickered in the distance.
When he stepped through the door further inside the room, a single bulb—clearly aged—hung from the ceiling, flickering weakly with a dingy, grayish hue.
“……”
Ho-eun rose to his toes and tiptoed toward the light. Two blurry figures slowly came into view. In an instant, he dashed behind a large oil drum and hid.
“Mm-mmph!”
The two people were bound tightly with rope, their mouths sealed shut with blue duct tape.
–tak tak tak
The man tied to the chair tapped the floor with his foot—the only part of his body that could move—trying to make noise.
Found them…
Ho-eun leaned against the drum and sat for who knows how long. The silence inside was so deep that he could hear the faint ticking of someone’s wristwatch.
Why hasn’t anyone contacted me yet?
He anxiously checked his phone, its brightness set to the lowest possible level. The message he’d sent earlier confirming he’d found them had gone through just fine.
Should he rescue Han Yeo-ul’s parents first? Or find out why they’d been put in this situation?
“Aah~ this new technique’s pretty cool, huh?”
“Right? I’m calling it Shadow Teleport.”
“Kihih! Seriously? That name’s so lame.”
“!!”
The shadows cast by the dim light morphed into human silhouettes, and familiar voices echoed in the room.
Those two…
It was the Yul brothers—he’d met them at 63 Square. Ho-eun clamped a hand over his nose and mouth. If they were Espers with keen hearing, they might even catch the sound of his breath.
“Hi there~ Been what, two years?”
Peeking out just a little, Ho-eun saw the white-haired Choi Seon-yul in a mask approaching Han Yeo-ul’s parents.
“Mm-mmph!”
“Yeah, yeah. Got something you wanna say?”
–rrrip
“You… It was you bastards!! You tricked us, made us borrow from loan sharks!!”
“Hyung, sounds like these fuckers are seriously delusional.”
“No kidding.”
With a cold sneer, Choi Seon-yul kicked the man’s chair. Thud! It skidded back and crashed into the wall.
“Ugh!”
“Boss said to raise her right. If they started acting weird, we were supposed to report it immediately.”
“Mmgh! Mmmmph!!”
The woman, who’d been quiet until now, suddenly tried to scream, like she had something to say. Seon Ak-yul, with one hand in his pocket, walked up and ripped the tape off her mouth.
“I did! I raised her right! I sent her to cram school, I—I even gave her baths! I did everything you asked. Please, let me go!!”
“Hah? What the fuck are you babbling about? You don’t even understand what it means to care for a kid. You think we didn’t know you dumped her at cram school while you two partied it up?”
As Seon Ak-yul advanced threateningly, his older brother held him back.
“That’s enough. No need to dirty your hands.”
“Hic… sob…”
The woman began to cry in fear. She was trembling so much, it was visible even in shadow.
“We’re just here to deliver Boss’s message. He was going to tell you himself, but… he’s a bit busy right now.”
Choi Seon-yul let out a low chuckle behind his mask, then reapplied the duct tape to the woman’s mouth.
“We recovered the money we gave you through gambling. But the debt you owe from the loan shark? You’ll be paying that back. Today.”
“MMMPH?! Mmmph! MMMMPHHH!!”
“Hyung, they’re gonna need a miracle to pull that off today.”
“Come on. It’ll be done before you can blink. By the way, miss, you’ve got pretty eyes. I’ll make it quick.”
At that, the woman started flailing like she was having a seizure. Tied to a chair, she couldn’t run. All she could do was squirm, inching the chair backward a few centimeters at a time.
……
So, Han Yeo-ul’s parents knew Tiger? If that was the case, then Tiger had intentionally handed Han Yeo-ul over to them.
“See? I told you—we should’ve just raised her ourselves.”
“You really don’t get it, huh? Boss wanted her to experience a real family, even just a little.”
“For what? Look at them. They didn’t raise her—they used her. Just imagine if I’d been raised by trash like them, Hyung!”
The flickering light illuminated the room with startling clarity for a moment before dimming again.
“Hah? I would’ve killed them right here, right now.”
“Hyuuung~ that’s so sweet.”
“That’s why Boss is so kind, y’know.”
“Agreed.”
The erratic light flickered violently, then returned to its original dim state. Thanks to Choi Seon-yul’s Esper ability, Ho-eun was able to make out his surroundings.
It looked like a storage room. Oil drums and large wooden crates were stacked in corners.
There was even alcohol rolling around in its original packaging. With so much clutter, there were plenty of places to hide.
Right… One of them had a light-based ability, and the other dealt with shadows.
Ho-eun recalled the Anti-Government Esper profiles from the PR Department. Digging into his memories of 63 Square, he began to grasp how the shadow ability worked.
The younger one, Seon Ak-yul, moved using shadows—he’d appeared through one again just now.
If he left Han Yeo-ul’s parents here, he could already guess their fate. They’d be sold off piece by piece for profit. And when that happened, would Han Yeo-ul be taken back by the Anti-Government side?
“Hyung. Instead of selling these losers for scraps, can’t we use them as test subjects for that?”
“True, with real-world data, the final version of that could be more refined…”
“Whaaaat?! You said testing its aggression was for the folks here in the hideout!!”
As a childlike voice echoed through the room, noise crackled in Ho-eun’s earpiece.
[Kwon Ho-eun, can you hear me? Wonsin just entered your room. Move if you can!]
“Why do you think I have to keep mind-controlling all these people…”
……
Of all places, Wonsin was walking right next to the drum where Ho-eun was hiding.
“Something smells off here.”
Wonsin hopped forward step by step, tapping the drum with his finger.
–BOOOOM!
“Ah, fuck. That guy pissed himself.”
The drum went flying and crashed down right beside the man slumped near the wall. His pants were soaked—whether from fear or the impact, it wasn’t clear.
Wonsin sniffed around, then skipped back to the Yul brothers.
That was way too close.
Ho-eun screamed inwardly. The drum he was hiding behind was right next to the one Wonsin had just kicked. A tiny misstep, and it wouldn’t have been a drum flying across the floor—it would’ve been him.
Why the hell were three Anti-Government Espers even here? And what the hell was this “that” they kept talking about?
His mind raced, but this wasn’t a situation where he could even groan.
“So. The girl—did she really awaken?”
“Well. Judging from the situation, probably. But those idiots haven’t said a word this whole time.”
Choi Seon-yul sounded bored, then suddenly grinned beneath his mask as a thought struck him.
“What’s this? Our Shin? Thought you said last time not to bring her along ‘cause she’d overlap with you. Having second thoughts?”
“W-what?! Hell no!! She’s not even my type—and we’d never have feelings like that for each other!!”
Ho-eun watched the three of them banter, slowly stretching his numb leg. He dabbed some spit on his hand and rubbed it on his nose—an old trick to stop a leg cramp, but it wasn’t helping much.
Ho-eun picked up his phone again. He quickly typed a summary of everything that had happened and sent it off, tucking the phone back into his pocket.
“So when are we dragging these losers out? The stink is getting on my nerves.”
“Right? Thought the guys from Dragon were supposed to show up.”
Seon Ak-yul grumbled, and Choi Seon-yul told him to wait a little longer. Ho-eun glanced toward the exit. The door was wide open.
“Oh! I just had a brilliant idea. Let’s bring her here. She needs a little shock to adapt to her new life, right? Let her choose to abandon her parents.”
Wonsin giggled like a little demon.
“Ooh, I like that!”
Seon Ak-yul laughed along.
“Hmm. Boss might be pissed, though.”
“Then you can protect me, Hyung.”
“You want me to get half-killed? Still… if my little brother wants it, fine. I’ll allow it.”
“Okay~ I’m off!”
Ho-eun instinctively grabbed the radio from his back pocket. There was no time to think.
“Paul! Seon Ak-yul’s headed to get Han Yeo-ul. Go protect her, now!”
He transmitted the message, then sprang to his feet.
–CRASH!!
The middle of the drum burst open, and the scent of fuel filled the storage room.
A second later and it wouldn’t have been the drum with a hole in it—it would’ve been Ho-eun, coughing up blood with a gaping wound in his gut.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Ho-eun didn’t answer Wonsin’s question. He bolted straight for the door, radio still in hand, repeating the same urgent plea.
“Paul! You have to protect Han Yeo-ul! Anti-Government agents are after her! She’s awakened—she’s an Esper! They’re targeting her!”
As he ran without looking back, he froze when he felt someone nearby.
“Fast, huh? But you’re not an Esper, are you?”
In a flash of light, Choi Seon-yul grabbed Ho-eun’s hair from behind, baring his teeth in a wicked grin.
