Jung Ah-young was a graduate of the Second Ability Analysis Research Facility and an Ability User capable of freely raising or lowering her own ESP levels at will. The facility had aimed to develop this into a way to enhance other Ability Users’ ESP, effectively turning her into a human amplifier.
However, despite years of experiments and research, they were never able to manipulate others’ ESP levels the way they had hoped. Had the experiments continued indefinitely, who knows what might’ve happened—but in the end, before she could be subjected to even harsher trials, she was rescued by Kang Woo-chan.
That didn’t mean Jung Ah-young’s abilities had remained stagnant throughout her time at the facility. Like the other children who came out of that place, her powers had evolved and deepened in a specific direction.
“So basically, you want me to pretend I’m just a regular person?”
Ah-young, her youthful face tinged with uncertainty, looked across at Woo-chan after finishing his guiding session. Having developed the ability to lower her ESP all the way down to zero, she could now pass even the Esper Association’s most rigorous testing and be officially classified as a “non-Ability User.” Thanks to this, she was the only one in Woo-chan’s group who could blend in and attend a regular school like any normal student.
Through her, Woo-chan was able to learn the general curriculum taught in schools and gather daily intel from the surface world. This wasn’t just for Woo-chan’s benefit—other members of the group gained from it as well, making Jung Ah-young’s role a critically important one.
Even so, she always carried a deep sense of guilt and shame for being the only one among them who got to experience a normal life. She had an overwhelming desire to someday repay Woo-chan for saving her life, and now that she’d been given this rare opportunity, she had no intention of turning it down.
Her only worry was messing things up and disappointing everyone—including Woo-chan.
“You really think I can pull this off?”
“I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t think you could. And don’t stress too much—there are others keeping an eye on things too.”
Woo-chan gently patted her shoulder with a warm smile.
“From what we’ve found out, he’s extremely picky about the people he keeps around him—especially Ability Users. Probably because he’s unregistered himself. But when it comes to normal people, he only evaluates them based on skill. That makes the bar a lot lower.”
In Woo-chan’s eyes, Jung Ah-young’s physical abilities ranked at the very top within their group—either first or second. And considering the only one who could rival her was an Ability User who boosted their body with ESP, Ah-young would easily dominate in any scenario where powers weren’t allowed.
“There was even a time when a teenage judo athlete stuck to that bastard’s security team for over a year. As long as you’ve got the skills, he won’t turn you down.”
Just as Woo-chan predicted, it didn’t take long for Seo Won to start paying close attention to Jung Ah-young’s capabilities.
Most security firms had systems in place that allowed talented high school students to work part-time and get their foot in the door early, grooming them as future team members.
Jung Ah-young started taking one-off jobs at the security firm where Seo Won’s personal protection team was based. She threw herself into it with a do-or-die mindset, utterly determined to land the job of guarding Seo Won. To help her along the way, Woo-chan and the other Ability Users occasionally created sudden incidents and accidents, giving Ah-young chances to shine.
As a result, Jung Ah-young, having finally caught Seo Won’s eye, gradually earned his trust—starting with guard duty at the mansion’s entrance.
While her ESP level was at zero, she was indistinguishable from an ordinary person. She couldn’t perceive manifestations of power, like the black aura or red energy currents typically associated with abilities—but the upside was that she didn’t require guiding at all. It took her four years to rise to the same level of trust as Lim Du-hyuk, the long-serving civilian guard by Seo Won’s side. Those four years, spent without receiving guiding even once, proved just how completely she had assimilated into her role.
All the intel gathered from tracking and interrogating those connected to the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility—and the information Jung Ah-young managed to acquire while stationed at Seo Won’s side—was eventually compiled into one cohesive picture.
There was a rumor that a curse had been passed down through the Kangsan Group for generations.
Age 32.
Every direct descendant of the Kangsan Group had died at that age.
On the day they turned thirty-two, even those in perfect health would suddenly collapse and die. Some perished in freak accidents, others from falls, and in some cases, the deaths were so gruesome that their bodies were mangled beyond recognition—too horrific to be coincidence.
Every one of them had met that fate—except for the current chairman of Kangsan Group.
There was widespread speculation that the curse might’ve been cast by an Ability User. Given the sheer variety of abilities in the world, the idea that one of them might be capable of creating a curse didn’t seem entirely far-fetched.
As a result, people were less concerned with whether the curse stemmed from ESP and more obsessed with why it had been cast in the first place. Surely the chairman—who alone had escaped the curse’s reach—must know something. Yet he had never once spoken a word about it.
Then came the moment when the chairman’s children and their families had all perished.
It was then that the chairman of Kangsan Group suddenly declared two young children to be his blood relatives and brought them into the mansion.
Those children were Seo Won and Yoon Jeong-ho.
They’d shown exceptional intelligence from an early age and, upon reaching adulthood, quickly took control of the group’s operations. Seo Won, in particular—named as the heir—demonstrated an uncanny talent for leadership, achieving astounding results with every endeavor. His accomplishments even surpassed those of the chairman himself.
But the shadow of the curse did not spare him either.
As soon as Seo Won turned twenty-eight, he collapsed, clutching his chest in pain. The diagnosis revealed a rare, incurable heart condition—one where his heart would intermittently stop beating.
Even under the best circumstances, the doctors estimated he had no more than four years left to live.
That meant he would die in the very year he turned thirty-two—the same age tied to the so-called curse.
The chairman of Kangsan Group was desperate not to lose yet another successor. Seo Won had already achieved so much and had the potential to accomplish even more. The chairman was determined to save him—no matter what it took.
That was when Kim Cheol-min, the Vice President of the Esper Association, came to him with a proposition.
What he suggested was a heart transplant—between Ability Users.
Because it involved Ability Users, the donor heart would need to be refined and stabilized. But if they moved quickly, the transplant could be completed before Seo Won turned thirty-two.
The chairman had no reason to refuse. Clinging to even the faintest thread of hope, he agreed to the deal proposed by Vice President Kim Cheol-min.
And what Kim Cheol-min wanted in return… was just one thing.
What Kim Cheol-min wanted was exclusive rights to further develop the secret technology Seo Won had been working on: the ability to store ESP in inanimate objects.
It was a revolutionary concept—allowing ESP to be infused into an object so that even an ordinary person could wield supernatural powers freely.
Kim Cheol-min was obsessed with the potential of this technology.
Desperate to save Seo Won from his fate four years down the line, Chairman Seo agreed to collaborate with him. Even if the heart transplant succeeded, there was still the possibility that the curse would kill Seo Won the moment he turned thirty-two. But by delaying the exclusive rights and additional development until four years later, the Esper Association would have every reason to invest everything it had into keeping Seo Won alive until then.
And so, the deal was struck—between the Association, Chairman Seo, and ultimately, Seo Won himself.
Woo-chan uncovered that the heart used in this contract had been a replicated organ extracted from an S-rank immortal Ability User held at the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility. What happened to the original host after the heart was taken was unclear. But considering the uncontrollable rampage that erupted not long after, it was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong.
‘Bastards…’
Woo-chan grit his teeth and hurled the stack of investigation files across the room.
The Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility—wiped out by their own hands. Yet people like Kim Cheol-min and the rest of the Esper Association continued to live their lives without a care in the world, as though nothing had ever happened. Most people didn’t even know such a facility had existed. And even those who did acted like it wasn’t worth looking into.
A lab built on the filthy greed and ambition of the Association, and the children who were imprisoned within it—vanished, as if they’d never existed.
‘If only they hadn’t been there…’
Woo-chan clenched his fists as thoughts of Kim Cheol-min, Chairman Seo, and Seo Won filled his mind. His pale, whitened hands trembled with fury, unable to contain the rage.
“Woo-chan…”
Ah-young, who had taken a break from her assignment to report in, called out to him with a conflicted look on her face. She quietly began picking up the documents Woo-chan had flung, gathering them in her arms.
“So… what now? Whatever you say, I’ll do it.”
Woo-chan turned to face her.
Jung Ah-young had always been obedient—then and now. The resolute look in her eyes said she was ready to do anything if it was his command, and he liked that.
But Woo-chan could see the inner turmoil hiding behind her determined gaze.
“What about Seo Won?”
“He was discharged safely. Doesn’t seem to have many aftereffects. But seriously… what if he collapses again? He’s already gone back to work, and the entire security team’s worried about him.”
Ah-young said it casually, but Woo-chan gave a bitter smile behind her back.
‘Safely… what if he collapses…’
Her words revealed that she had already grown attached.
‘Four years isn’t exactly a short time, is it…?’
Woo-chan didn’t want to trample her feelings or force her to carry out a cruel command. Especially since he knew all too well—Seo Won wasn’t someone who could be taken down so easily.
That’s why, for now, he ordered her to continue doing what she had been—stay close and keep watching.
The so-called curse might’ve passed without issue, but the real concern was the heart transplant between S-rank Ability Users. If the energy frequencies were to suddenly desynchronize and the heart malfunctioned, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if Seo Won dropped dead on the spot.
If it came to that, it might even be worth using his own Guiding to scramble Seo Won’s mind—just to screw over Kim Cheol-min and the Association.
And so, half a year passed… then a few more months.
Around that time, people had begun finding it strange that Seo Won had sent away all the Guides from the mansion and was only using his external avatars to appear in public.
Then, one day—out of nowhere and far outside the usual reporting schedule—Jung Ah-young suddenly contacted Woo-chan with a panicked voice.
—Woo-chan, it’s an emergency!
“An emergency? What kind of emergency?”
As Woo-chan tensed up, Ah-young lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
—Seo Won’s trying to snatch—no, kidnap some pretty Guide girl!
Her unexpected report left Woo-chan momentarily silent, struggling to process what she had just said.
