Cha Han-gyeom almost jumped out of his seat unintentionally. His heart was pounding rapidly, and his mind was quickly becoming a tangled mess.
However, contrary to his inner turmoil, he tried his best to appear calm on the outside.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Cha Han-gyeom said.
Despite his efforts, Yoon Jeong-ho immediately noticed Cha Han-gyeom’s reaction.
“What are you so surprised about? That you’re trying to kill Seo Won? Or that you know a way to make him commit suicide?” Yoon Jeong-ho asked, grinning mischievously.
“I have a rough idea of what the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility is. High-ranking members of the Esper Association occasionally visit, so I can overhear things,” Yoon Jeong-ho explained.
Following Chairman Seo’s orders, Yoon Jeong-ho had to periodically check on Seo Won’s condition and report back directly. During these visits, he sometimes saw Esper Association officials coming and going secretly. At first, he thought they were discussing collaborations with Seo Won, but he overheard the phrase “Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility” in passing.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Yoon Jeong-ho sneaked into Chairman Seo’s lounge. The lounge was quite spacious and filled with plants, making it easy to hide if he chose the right spot. He had to be careful not to be detected by the Esper guards outside the lounge, but it was manageable.
In this way, Yoon Jeong-ho occasionally overheard conversations between Chairman Seo and the Esper Association officials.
After that, he couldn’t enter the lounge even if he wanted to.
Chairman Seo, perhaps sensing something was off, had another Esper set up a barrier in the lounge. This barrier would trigger a loud alarm if anyone other than Ha Tae-soo tried to enter using teleportation.
Still, what Yoon Jeong-ho had overheard before the barrier was put in place was quite informative.
“Your former research facility sounds like an interesting place,” Yoon Jeong-ho said, his eyes slowly scanning Cha Han-gyeom from head to toe.
“You must have gone through a lot.”
It felt as if Yoon Jeong-ho’s tongue was licking Cha Han-gyeom’s entire body. Cha Han-gyeom, with a stern expression, reached out and roughly grabbed Yoon Jeong-ho’s collar.
“How much do you know?” Cha Han-gyeom demanded.
Yoon Jeong-ho tapped Cha Han-gyeom’s hand, signaling him to let go, but his face still wore a teasing smile.
“I don’t really care what you did with the Espers there. What’s important to me is the ‘Multiple Imprint Experiment’ and the ‘Guiding Addiction Amplification Experiment’,” Yoon Jeong-ho said.
Cha Han-gyeom’s grip on Yoon Jeong-ho’s collar tightened even more. This time, it was quite uncomfortable, and Yoon Jeong-ho frowned, pushing Cha Han-gyeom’s hand away.
“From what I heard back then, all those experiments failed. Well, failed might not be the right word. It’s more like the research facility was destroyed before they could achieve any results,” Yoon Jeong-ho explained.
He straightened his crumpled shirt, quickly regaining his composed appearance.
“But you managed to imprint with Seo Won… or rather, the owner of Seo Won’s heart, and you can still guide me. I heard you even made money as an unregistered guide before,” Yoon Jeong-ho said.
Instead of answering, Cha Han-gyeom glared at Yoon Jeong-ho with trembling eyes. His breath became ragged, and his heart pounded as if it might burst.
“That experiment was actually a success, wasn’t it?” Yoon Jeong-ho continued.
Everything Yoon Jeong-ho said was true.
All the Espers at the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility, including Song Yeon-woo, were addicted to guiding. They all desperately sought Cha Han-gyeom and craved his guidance.
The researchers always claimed to be “fixing” Cha Han-gyeom’s body while injecting him with strange drugs or forcing him to swallow bitter, peculiar medicines. Sometimes, they would place him naked in a transparent capsule filled with strangely colored liquids for hours, with a respirator attached.
Cha Han-gyeom preferred these strange treatments. They reduced the time he had to endure the harsh hands of the Espers, which made them somewhat bearable.
At some point, he began to feel a change deep within his body. Along with this, his GP seemed to ripen and intensify.
By the time he realized this was the effect of the amplifier that induced guiding addiction, the eyes of all the Espers in the research facility had already turned strange.
Even considering the experiment’s influence, Cha Han-gyeom had no intention of understanding them. Whether they were addicted to guiding or not, nothing could justify the humiliation and abuse they had inflicted upon him.
After what felt like an eternity, Cha Han-gyeom shared an imprint with Song Yeon-woo, who remained kind and gentle despite his addiction to guiding. Red patterns were etched onto their bodies, and they found peace in each other’s presence. Only then could Cha Han-gyeom finally smile genuinely.
Until he overheard that conversation.
“Sir! I did as you said. I imprinted with Han-gyeom!”
On the night they imprinted, Cha Han-gyeom was being led to the lab by a researcher who had come late at night. He overheard Song Yeon-woo’s voice through the slightly open door of another lab.
“All our years of effort have finally paid off!”
Strangely, Cha Han-gyeom didn’t want to hear any more of that familiar voice.
“You’ll keep your promise and take me out of the experiments, right? I won’t have to be in pain anymore, right?!”
“Yes, but G_NO.00’s experiments aren’t over yet, so you still need to cooperate.”
“Of course. I’ll do my best! Han-gyeom listens to me really well. He’ll do anything I tell him to.”
Song Yeon-woo’s excited voice, eagerly promoting himself to the lead researcher, was followed by a cheerful laugh. That sound pierced Cha Han-gyeom’s heart.
The researcher, startled by the noise, quickly closed the lab door. Through the frosted glass, Cha Han-gyeom could still hear Song Yeon-woo’s bright voice.
His pounding heart and racing mind went cold. What followed was a sense of ‘acceptance’.
‘I only imprinted because I needed someone to lean on. Yes, that’s all it was.’
Just as Cha Han-gyeom had used Song Yeon-woo to create a place of support for himself, Song Yeon-woo had done the same, using Cha Han-gyeom to ease his own pain.
They understood and accepted each other.
The presence or absence of affection didn’t matter. What was important was that they could use each other to alleviate some of their pain.
The day after they became imprinted partners, Cha Han-gyeom finally understood the true intentions of the lead researcher who had wanted Song Yeon-woo to imprint with him.
The researcher seemed to want to monopolize the credit within the research facility, as he shared information about the imprinting only with himself and a very small number of researchers. He even hid reports and research records, and only gave instructions in Cha Han-gyeom’s private cell.
“From now on, you will slowly increase and push your GP to a high concentration without letting Yeon-woo notice. Can you do that?” the lead researcher asked.
“I can, but… if I do that, he will become addicted to guiding, even if we are imprinted partners,” Cha Han-gyeom replied.
Usually, Cha Han-gyeom would simply nod, but this time he responded at length. The lead researcher, although puzzled, gave him a proper answer.
“That’s what we want. According to our predictions, when the imprinted partner becomes extremely addicted to the mutated GP, a peculiar withdrawal symptom will appear.”
Although he didn’t clarify at the time, Cha Han-gyeom soon found out what that withdrawal symptom was—suicide.
The experiment was brief and involved only one subject, but the results were sufficient. Song Yeon-woo, who had attempted suicide dozens of times without success, was the subject.
The lead researcher’s reason for conducting such a nauseating experiment was simple: to create disposable Esper soldiers. If they could be used and then commit suicide on their own, it would be convenient and reliable for those who controlled them.
The lead researcher and his assistant researchers aimed to utilize guiding addiction for this purpose and discovered that the effect was doubled when in an imprinted state. They conducted the experiment secretly to avoid having their achievements stolen, but the research facility was destroyed before they could submit their report.
The speaker in the conversation Yoon Jeong-ho overheard was likely a high-ranking official from the Esper Association who was anticipating the results of the Fourth Research Facility.
“You guide so passionately; you’re doing it on purpose, right?” Yoon Jeong-ho said to Cha Han-gyeom, who had turned pale from the memories.
“They say that once the Black Vein spreads, you can’t become addicted to guiding. Every time you receive guiding, those disgusting black tendrils interfere and diminish the guiding, preventing you from becoming deeply addicted. So, you’re desperately trying to suppress that, aren’t you?”
Cha Han-gyeom saw Yoon Jeong-ho in a new light. Although he sometimes seemed frivolous and immature, his powers of observation were impressive. With his ability to set coordinates for stealthy reconnaissance, he could gather more information than one might think.
Yoon Jeong-ho gently ran his hand through Cha Han-gyeom’s hair, admiring the smooth texture as if savoring it. He smiled softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he let out a low laugh.
“You can just keep doing what you want to do. We’re only trying to support you through a contract so you don’t waver. If you can help us in the process…”
Yoon Jeong-ho trailed off, his fingers pausing in Cha Han-gyeom’s hair. He grimaced and sighed in frustration.
“This guy always has the worst timing.”
Yoon Jeong-ho briefly touched his ear, and Cha Han-gyeom noticed a black AirPod tucked in. It seemed he was receiving some kind of report through it.
Just a few seconds after Yoon Jeong-ho looked at the door, the outside world erupted into chaos, and the door burst open.
