Seo Won’s condition was nothing short of catastrophic.
The Black Vein, which had previously been suppressed to some extent, had crept all the way up to his jawline. The black tendrils that had been pushed back to his forearms were now slowly inching toward the backs of his hands.
Fortunately, he hadn’t lost consciousness completely, which seemed to be the only reason he was still able to exert some control over the ESP within his body. But even that wouldn’t last long. Judging from his current state, the moment he lost consciousness, there was a very real chance he would go berserk.
Cha Han-gyeom scanned his surroundings, then took off the jacket he was wearing and gently draped it over Seo Won’s head. For now, they had to cover the Black Vein spreading up his face as much as possible.
“Du-hyuk-ssi, take off your gloves and put them on him.”
“My gloves?”
Lim Du-hyuk echoed in confusion but quickly complied, removing the leather gloves he was wearing. Though Seo Won just looked like someone who had collapsed in pain to him, he figured Han-gyeom—being a Guide—must be seeing something he couldn’t.
While Du-hyuk busily slipped the gloves onto Seo Won’s trembling hands, Han-gyeom cradled Seo Won’s face in both hands and lowered his gaze to meet his.
Seo Won’s unfocused blue eyes barely managed to lock onto Han-gyeom’s.
“Get a grip, Seo Won.”
If Seo Won broke down here, it would be a disaster of epic proportions.
His resonance matched that of the deceased Imprinted One, and the passage aligned perfectly—there was no doubt: Seo Won was an S-rank Esper.
The image of the obliterated research facility flashed through Han-gyeom’s mind. Not just the building, but the entire grounds had been decimated as if the place had detonated from within. That same nightmare was beginning to mirror itself here and now.
If Seo Won lost control, the exact same catastrophe would repeat itself.
If that happened, he would lose the Imprinted One’s heart, the Imprinted One standing before him, and everything he had been preparing to set in motion when the time came.
That— can’t happen.
Han-gyeom’s eyes blazed with a crimson fierceness like never before.
“I won’t let you die. No matter what.”
And with lips as red as his eyes, Han-gyeom leaned in and kissed Seo Won.
***
At that moment, inside the broadcasting room connected to the main hall, two men stood watching the scene unfold below as if enjoying a show.
“Chaos. Pure chaos.”
The smaller-framed man chuckled and hummed to himself as he tapped his fingers on the surface of the amplifier.
Plugged into that amp was a USB drive—the source of the bizarre sound currently flooding the building. A sound audible only to ability users, crafted to send any Esper’s ESP spiraling out of control.
It was the silencing noise of a demonic force—designed to compel and suppress.
The broadcast room had been set up so that no sound leaked inside, allowing the man with horn-rimmed glasses, an Esper himself, to remain entirely at ease amid the chaos.
“What do you think? The output’s already maxed, so I can’t raise the volume any higher.”
He turned once more to the tall man standing beside him.
“Should we let it play for another ten minutes, Woo-chan?”
But Kang Woo-chan didn’t respond. He stood there in silence, eyes locked through the soundproof window on a single point in the hall below, as if he couldn’t hear a thing.
The man called out to Woo-chan a few more times, then finally followed his line of sight down toward the far end of the platform.
There, several Espers lay collapsed on the stage. Amid them was a man—likely a civilian—who held Director Seo Won of Prism BioBattery in his arms, supporting him as though cradling a wounded companion. From this angle, Seo Won’s face was clearly visible, and Woo-chan hadn’t taken his eyes off him since.
Then another figure, the man from the lobby earlier, suddenly entered the scene.
Rather than panicking, he immediately took off his jacket and draped it over Director Seo Won’s head. Then, using the gloves from the man who seemed to be a bodyguard, he covered Seo Won’s hands. This managed to obscure the progression of the Black Vein—something that any ability user would normally recognize on sight.
But the man didn’t stop there.
A red aura began to ripple from his entire body like a shimmering heatwave. It wasn’t the typical kind that only appeared where skin met skin—this was something altogether different.
And the moment he saw that same man press his lips to Director Seo Won’s in a Guiding act, a sharp glint flickered in Woo-chan’s eyes.
“…Looks like we’ve found him.”
No wonder he couldn’t stop looking.
Woo-chan’s eyes curved like crescent moons, a grin playing at the corners of his lips.
***
BEN (Blocking Extrasensory Neuron).
One of the unique abilities belonging to G_NO.00 of the Fourth Ability Analysis Research Facility.
It nullifies ESP by partially or fully blocking the neural passage—known as E-neurons—through which ESP flows.
I never thought I’d end up using it like this again.
Cha Han-gyeom let out a bitter smile.
With help from Du-hyuk and Ah-young, Han-gyeom had quickly relocated to a nearby hotel. He now stood by the bed, staring down at Seo Won, who lay as still as death.
His face was drained of color, and black tendrils crept up his skin—so sinister in appearance it sent a chill down Han-gyeom’s spine.
Stripping off his clothes one piece at a time, Han-gyeom climbed onto Seo Won, wearing nothing but his drawers. Then, as if undressing himself, he began removing Seo Won’s clothing piece by piece.
Back in the main hall during the product demonstration, Han-gyeom had embedded barriers—constructed from GP—into Seo Won’s E-neurons at precise intervals throughout his body.
Thanks to that, the ESP had been fragmented and sealed off—trapped like broken pieces inside a tiny chamber blocked off at both ends by the barriers. Once the barriers were lifted, it would all come back together and flow freely again, but until then, it would remain motionless, suspended in that shattered state.
As a result of the ESP that had been rampaging inside Seo Won’s body suddenly quieting down, the advance of the Black Vein was also brought to a temporary halt. The black tendrils that had climbed all the way to his cheeks hadn’t progressed any further, even during their transfer to the hotel. The same held true for the dark strands that had spread across the backs of his hands.
But this was only a temporary fix.
Unless Han-gyeom stayed close like this and continued layering those GP-crafted barriers again and again, the thin walls would eventually give way. And when they did, the liberated ESP would surge back to life, preparing once more for a violent outbreak.
That was the one thing that had to be prevented at all costs.
Having fully stripped Seo Won’s upper body, Han-gyeom now looked down at the skin so heavily overtaken by the Black Vein that it was nearly impossible to find a patch of natural flesh beneath it. The black lines were tangled and overlaid so thickly, they almost looked woven in.
It was hard to know where to start, or even how to start—but he had no choice.
Because he was the Imprinted One. No one else could do what had to be done.
Han-gyeom cupped Seo Won’s face with both hands and pressed their lips together.
Seo Won’s half-lidded eyes flared with a crimson hue.
At the same time, a red sigil glowed to life between Han-gyeom’s shoulder blades. It looked like a pair of skeletal wings, once full and strong, now stripped feather by feather until only a bare framework remained.
In response, a burning mark emerged from beneath the Black Vein on Seo Won’s chest—his own seal—shining red through the dark tendrils that had tried to conceal it.
For six full hours, Han-gyeom pushed his internal GP to its absolute limit.
It was all spent on erecting red barriers within Seo Won’s body to stop the rampage—and shaving down the black tendrils, cutting them back little by little, restoring what had been lost.
Almost there. Just a bit more… just a little more…
Even as dizziness clouded his vision, Han-gyeom focused every last shred of his senses on Seo Won. He scraped at the dark vein branching out over Seo Won’s collarbone, using what little GP he’d managed to scavenge from the very bottom of his reserves.
His breathing came in ragged gasps. His eyes flickered in and out of focus, blinking rapidly without him realizing. His thoughts were dulled to the point that only a single, mindless command repeated inside his head—shave it down, get rid of it, keep going.
His body, barely staying upright, slumped over Seo Won like a blanket, trembling as it struggled to move.
His vision blurred and his limbs went slack, and his fingertips kept drifting away from the vein he needed to reach. His GP was gone. The only way left to scrape down that vein was to make direct contact with his own body—but the uneven dip of Seo Won’s collarbone made it hard to get proper leverage, and his touch kept slipping.
Groaning in frustration, Han-gyeom moved the closest part of his body to the spot instead—his head.
His lips touched Seo Won’s collarbone.
Breath hitching, his lips pressed against the vein’s endpoint, and his tongue flicked out, timidly licking the dark strand that curled upward.
Where that soft red glow lingered, Han-gyeom’s constant kisses and gentle licking continued, layered again and again over the corrupted flesh.
Perhaps it was because Han-gyeom had poured his energy into Seo Won with such tender, almost reverent caresses—like an act of devotion—but fortunately, the black vein relented, pulling back without much resistance.
Seeing this through his bleary eyes, Han-gyeom let out a long, heavy breath and buried his face in Seo Won’s chest.
It’s over…
The crimson barriers he had so painstakingly embedded throughout Seo Won’s E-neurons—barely held in place this entire time—finally began to melt away in rapid succession.
One by one, Seo Won’s once-blocked ESP flows flickered to life, popping like gentle sparks before gradually resuming their natural rhythm.
Thankfully, the ESP didn’t flare up in a frenzy. It had been pacified, worn out even, after being carefully cradled for hours in a deep state of resonance with the Imprinted One. Its strength had been spent. It no longer had the will—or the capacity—to lash out.
Only after confirming this did Han-gyeom finally allow himself to breathe in true relief.
And as if reacting to the return of that flow, Seo Won—who had been unconscious this whole time—slowly opened his eyes.
The moment he did, it was like a passing of the baton—Han-gyeom, utterly drained, drifted off into sleep.
Seo Won, now awake, sluggishly surveyed his condition through the fog of grogginess. His body… felt lighter than it had in a very long time. Since the Black Vein had begun consuming him from the inside out, there had always been that sickening weight pressing down on him—a suffocating, ever-present pressure, paired with an exhaustion like perpetual burnout.
But now, it was gone.
What the hell happened?
And then he felt it. The unfamiliar warmth, the pressure of another person lying atop him.
