If Seo Won dies anyway, he won’t have much time left either. The ice apple he habitually kept close to his chest whenever he was alone in his bedroom would soon become useless. Once the person who recharged his ESP disappeared, it would be nothing more than an empty, frozen ornament.
Without the Imprinter’s ESP to sustain him, there was no way this body would hold together. If he could wish for one thing, it was to say a brief goodbye to Song Jae-woo before he died. Song Jae-woo, just like Ah-young, was someone who worried a lot. So he hoped he would forget someone like him and live long enough to make up for his older brother’s share. If only he could pass along that feeling over the phone, at least.
Now that he was truly aware of how little time remained, faces of others began to flash through his mind. Jung Ah-young, always kind and smiling at his side. Lim Du-hyuk, who stood behind him like an unshakable mountain. Even Cha Min-hyung, whom he had only met once, yet had made him feel an uncanny sense of kinship stronger than anyone else.
‘I should say goodbye to Kang Woo-chan, too.’
Even if no one else knew, he wanted to be honest with Kang Woo-chan and sincerely tell him thank you.
Their goals had been different, their thoughts never aligned. Even so, Kang Woo-chan had cared for him like a brother, going out of his way to help him with anything—almost to the point of blind devotion. Maybe that’s why Woo-chan lingered in his thoughts longer than anyone else.
‘By the next scheduled check-in, the Black Vein will probably be gone without a trace.’
Han-gyeom looked at Seo Won’s chest, where the tingling resonance continued. A vivid red mark, resembling a flame, had surfaced—almost as if it were trying to obscure the black vein.
‘You’ll only realize it when it’s already time for you to die.’
He couldn’t bring himself to look up at Seo Won’s face.
‘That all this time, I was keeping you alive just so I could kill you.’
As the contradiction struck him, a guilt he should never have felt began to well up inside him. Useless emotions—only hindrances to revenge—reached out one by one. Those reaching hands seemed to twist his throat and pry open his vocal cords.
Every feeling inside him threatened to turn into words and spill out of his mouth. Was it because he wanted to get it all out before he left?
Han-gyeom pressed his lips tightly shut and squeezed his eyes closed. None of the emotions rising within him could be allowed to escape. The heat churning inside him had to be smothered by the cold fire of revenge.
But deep down, Han-gyeom already knew—he couldn’t suppress these feelings forever. They had swelled to the point where even the prick of a needle could make them burst.
***
“Thank you for your full cooperation.”
“No, not at all. If you require any additional investigation, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”
Cha Min-hyung shook hands with the lead prosecutor and exchanged parting words before exiting the Prosecutors’ Office under the man’s watchful gaze. A small cluster of reporters had formed at the entrance.
Ever since Kim Cheol-min was stripped of his position as Vice President of the Esper Association, Min-hyung had been widely regarded as the strongest candidate to succeed him. Given that he had now appeared before the prosecution as a key witness and representative of the Association, it was only natural that the public’s attention was fixated on him.
Amidst the flurry of camera flashes and excited questions from the press, Min-hyung delivered a formulaic response:
“I apologize for the commotion. We at the Esper Association promise to continue cooperating fully with the prosecution’s investigation.”
By using the phrase ‘we at the Esper Association’, Min-hyung made it clear that his statements reflected the Association’s official stance. He offered no further comment. Under the protection of Association-affiliated bodyguards, he stepped into a black vehicle waiting in front of the Prosecutors’ Office. Even then, the reporters’ relentless questions didn’t stop.
Only once the car had driven a fair distance away from the building did Min-hyung let out a quiet sigh of relief. He loosened his tight necktie slightly and unfastened the top button of his shirt. In the car, it was just Min-hyung in the backseat and one man in the driver’s seat.
“Everything’s proceeding without issue, right?”
There was only one person in the car capable of answering that question.
“Symptoms should start showing by this evening. Later, the prosecution will announce that it was due to ‘mental trauma resulting in diminished responsibility.’”
The reply came from the driver’s seat—polished, stiff, and formal.
“Make sure to keep up regular supervision so nothing else goes wrong.”
Min-hyung’s gaze shifted to the man’s eyes reflected in the rearview mirror. The moment their eyes met, the driver gave a slight nod.
“Understood. I’ll operate without alerting the Association.”
The man was a B-rank Esper officially affiliated with the Association. But in truth, he was one of Cha Min-hyung’s own. Loyal enough to throw himself into hell if ordered.
After Vice President Kim Cheol-min had exposed the Association’s darker underbelly, most of those who became aware of it ended up aligning themselves with Min-hyung. And for good reason—many of them had lost siblings or children at the hands of Kim Cheol-min’s Ability Analysis Research Facility.
Other Guides who had worked alongside Min-hyung in the First Ability Analysis Research Facility came to see the experimental subjects from the various labs as part of their own crew, their own family.
Yes, sometimes they resorted to terrorism and other illegal means to push their agendas. But Min-hyung couldn’t say that their methods were entirely wrong. After all, he too had been quietly forming bonds with the families of test subjects from inside the Association and preparing his own kind of reform.
Those who worked with Min-hyung quietly referred to themselves as the Reformists. Because Min-hyung stood too exposed to the public eye, they became his hands and feet, working from the shadows to gradually change the Association from within.
Even now, other arms of his operation were working behind the scenes to ensure Kim Cheol-min wouldn’t say anything foolish—beginning with mental collapse and progressing through various other contingencies.
Of course, the prosecution wasn’t stupid.
Even for Espers, it wasn’t easy to slip past the prosecution and meddle with a suspect like Kim Cheol-min, unless, of course, it was through a covert deal with Cha Min-hyung.
‘If Kim Cheol-min runs his mouth, it’ll be a massive headache for the higher-ups at the prosecution too—so they’re probably just turning a blind eye.’
And they could use the opportunity to cozy up to the next Vice President of the Association, so it wasn’t exactly a losing bargain for them.
As Min-hyung sat in silence, lost in thought, the man in the driver’s seat spoke up.
“Would you like to see Kim Cheol-min one last time?”
“No need. He’d only say the same things as always.”
‘Why won’t you help me? Have you forgotten I was like a father to you? After everything I did for you, even before founding the research facility… how could you do this to me…’
Min-hyung could already hear the tired script playing in his head.
To him, Kim Cheol-min was nothing more than a pathetic old man, whining and sniveling, blind to his own age. Maybe it was easy to think that way now, after all, everyone with whom he’d built shady ties had abandoned him.
But Kim Cheol-min still didn’t seem to understand. The real reason he’d been taken down wasn’t just the report from Seo Won or the evidence Seo presented.
No—everything that followed, all the dirt that had come pouring out, the records of corruption, the monstrous acts he committed under the Association’s protection… All of that had come from Cha Min-hyung. Evidence he had gathered over the years—painstakingly, without leaving a single gap—came bursting out as if it had been waiting for this exact moment.
If Min-hyung had gone public first, he would’ve been shut down by Kim Cheol-min and his lackeys before he even had the chance. And if by some miracle he had managed to expose everything, there was still a high chance the upper levels of the prosecution—those tied to Kim—would’ve flipped the story and painted Min-hyung, the whistleblower, as the actual culprit.
The only reason it worked at all was because the tip came from the heir to the Kangsan Group—a direct participant in the illegal contract. Kangsan’s influence had enough weight to make even Kim Cheol-min’s deepest allies turn their backs.
Min-hyung gave a short, dry laugh and turned to look out the window.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to see him in the moment his mind finally collapses.”
He was, after all, the very reason the Ability Analysis Research Facility had been founded—Min-hyung’s most trusted right-hand man, and what he once believed to be the ultimate test subject.
To be ridiculed by someone like that… just how spectacularly would those wrinkled features twist in disgrace?
“Yes, I’ll arrange the timing.”
Seeing Min-hyung in a visibly good mood, the man in the driver’s seat allowed himself a faint smile as well.
Just then, a message arrived on the phone mounted on the dashboard. After checking it, the driver glanced at Min-hyung through the rearview mirror.
“There’s quite a crowd of reporters gathering at the Association too. Should we use the back entrance barrier?”
“Hm… no.”
Chances were, there were reporters lurking by the back door as well. Maybe it would be better to just head home for the day.
As he thought that, his gaze caught the large LED news ticker flashing outside the car window. On it was a scene of Seo Won, surrounded by a sea of journalists, actively dealing with the fallout of the scandal involving former Vice President Kim Cheol-min’s illegal dealings.
‘Live broadcast…’
Exclusive report. Live broadcast.
Min-hyung narrowed his eyes as he noticed that Seo Won, appearing on the news, was wearing a black shirt. Seo Won’s real body always wore black shirts to conceal the Black Vein. In other words, if the Seo Won shown live on camera was the real one, then the mansion was currently occupied only by the bodyguards and Cha Han-gyeom.
“I have a quick stop to make.”
“Where shall I take you?”
“I’m heading to Director Seo’s residence.”
The driver had been there once before with Min-hyung. Back then, he’d stayed waiting in the car, but the mansion had been so grand that he still remembered it vividly.
He, too, had seen the news ticker outside.
“He’s probably not there right now.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going.”
“…Sir?”
The man responded with visible confusion, but Min-hyung didn’t change his destination. From the start, he wasn’t going to Seo Won’s residence to see Seo Won. He was going to see someone else.
