The two men moved swiftly, slicing through the cascading tendrils that poured down like strands of hair. As expected from Team A, their coordination was seamless. Park Se-yul expanded their range with icy staircases formed by his freezing ability, while Lee Sang-heon darted between them, tearing into the tendrils like a beast unleashed.
Jung Tae-seok, wielding a shotgun, picked off every tendril the other two missed with ruthless efficiency. Of course, he didn’t let any of the charging monsters near him get away either.
Bang! Bang!
The shots rang out faster than the eye could follow. As the three men pushed deeper into the gate, Eun-jo tightened his grip on his gun and picked up the pace.
Time blurred as sparks flew and severed tendrils piled up around them. Panting, Eun-jo wiped the sweat from his brow.
Something’s not right.
The tendrils kept coming without end, but they had no offensive power at all. Swatting away the clinging strands with the butt of his gun, Eun-jo frowned, trying to piece it together.
Was there a gate like this in the novel?
Even for a B-rank gate, this was absurdly weak. The tendrils weren’t threatening in the slightest.
It’s like they’re just trying to stall for time…
Park Se-yul must’ve been thinking the same thing. He slammed his ice spear down into the ground.
From the point of impact, frost spread rapidly, sealing the cave in solid ice. Once the space was locked down, the tendrils stopped emerging. As the onslaught paused, he looked over to Lee Sang-heon.
“Is it nearby?”
Lee Sang-heon slowly shook his head.
“Then we either go deeper… or wait for it to come to us.”
The problem was, they didn’t have time to wait. Park Se-yul tapped the frozen ground with the tip of his spear, deep in thought.
That’s when it happened. The entire cave lurched violently. The walls and floor began to writhe as if the whole place was alive.
Wait… alive?
Thrown off balance, Eun-jo hit the ground hard and scrambled through his memory. He’d definitely read something like this in the novel. An episode where what they thought was a cave turned out to be the inside of a giant monster’s stomach.
It had tripped him up at the time because of how much focus was placed on the “cave” setting. But that wasn’t the only reason it stood out so clearly in his mind now. Eun-jo turned sharply toward the person sprinting toward him.
“Eun-jo hyung!”
A massive tendril burst up through the frozen ground and yanked Jung Tae-seok by the ankle. It was far thicker than any of the ones they’d encountered so far—more like a tentacle than a vine. It coiled around him, dragging him down across the icy floor.
And just like when he’d saved his manager before, Eun-jo’s body moved on instinct, faster than thought.
“Yeo Eun-jo!”
Park Se-yul shouted, but it was useless. Eun-jo hurled himself toward Tae-seok, tackling him and wrapping his arms and legs around him in a tight hold. The tendril wrapped around them both, squeezing tighter and tighter. Bones felt like they were going to snap, but Eun-jo didn’t let go.
The ground gave way beneath them. They fell—down, down, into darkness. The last thing Eun-jo saw was Park Se-yul, frantically building an ice staircase to follow after them. Panic—rare and uncharacteristic—flashed across his face.
“You reckless idiot!”
His voice echoed through the collapsing cave.
***
“Ah, fuck…”
It felt like his tailbone had shattered. Groaning, Eun-jo rubbed his aching backside and looked up.
“…Where the hell am I?”
This wasn’t a cave. It was a classroom. Blackboard, desks, lockers—it was a perfect replica of a high school classroom.
Except for one detail: the students were tendrils.
Between them, sitting at a desk, was Jung Tae-seok. He was wearing a sky-blue summer uniform shirt, looking for all the world like a bored student zoning out in class. One hand propped up his chin, while the other spun an invisible pencil.
It looked like something out of a sports drink commercial. The color of the uniform suited him almost too well. Even though he’d graduated long ago, it didn’t feel out of place on him at all.
Eun-jo stared, blinking slowly.
This is no time to stand around.
These tendrils—at first glance they seemed like physical threats, but in reality, they were more like psychic monsters. Their tactic was to isolate team members and trap them in fabricated spaces built from their deepest traumas.
Which meant this place… was inside Jung Tae-seok’s trauma.
Eun-jo stood up and started scanning the classroom—
“Ugh…!”
Thud!
With a loud crash, Tae-seok collapsed to the floor. His entire body was convulsing like he was having a seizure. Light began leaking from inside his shirt, and a siren wailed through the room. The tendrils around him writhed like panicking students.
It was happening—his Esper awakening.
“Aaaaagh!!”
His scream ripped through the air like something was being torn apart. Eun-jo turned his head sharply, then squeezed his eyes shut.
Park Se-yul would snap out of it soon. He always did—just like the reliable team leader he was.
This isn’t real. That’s not really him.
If he played along now, he’d only fall deeper under the monster’s influence. Just a little longer. He just had to hold out—
“Teacher… h-hic… Teacher…”
The broken voice made Eun-jo crack his eyes open.
There, writhing on the floor, was Jung Tae-seok. Tears streamed down his face. Their eyes met.
“Please… save me… p-please…”
Something twisted painfully in Eun-jo’s chest. He remembered this moment—he knew exactly how it had happened.
Shit.
He realized too late he’d already crossed the line.
Eun-jo rushed forward and dropped to his knees beside him, brushing Tae-seok’s damp hair away from his forehead.
“Tae-seok, hey—look at me. Come on. Focus.”
“Ugh… T-Teacher…”
“I’m not your teacher, remember? I’m your hyung. Eun-jo hyung.”
First it was “Yeo Eun-jo,” now it was “Eun-jo hyung.” Even trapped in a nightmare, he was all over the place. Eun-jo cupped Tae-seok’s face in both hands. Tae-seok flinched at the touch, then whimpered softly.
“Nngh… mm…”
Tae-seok buried his face in his chest, rubbing his cheeks fiercely.
“Good, good…….”
His mind was completely blank. As if his head was filled with fog, Jung Tae-seok couldn’t think of anything. He wondered if the teacher had always been this small, but the thought quickly vanished as an overwhelming pain surged through his entire body.
The important thing was that every time he touched the teacher, his vision brightened. Like someone surfacing from underwater, he hastily pulled Eun-jo into an embrace.
The pain subsided, and he could breathe again. At the same time, an uncontrollable thirst arose. After kissing his palm, he looked up at Eun-jo.
“Teacher……..”
“Yeah, sure, let’s go with ‘teacher.’ Why not?”
“Teacher, hmm, it’s hot down there…….”
What? As Eun-jo stammered in confusion, he suddenly yanked Eun-jo’s hand.
“Ugh!”
In the blink of an eye, their positions were reversed. Eun-jo’s wrists were bound by vines as he lay on the ground. Before Eun-jo could reach for his gun, both wrists were tightly bound and fixed above his head.
Jung Tae-seok climbed on top of him. Biting his lip as if enduring pain, he panted heavily. His sweat-drenched neck was exposed, and the bulging veins throbbed.
“Hoo, damn…….”
“It’s strange down there, hoo…….”
He murmured, stroking Eun-jo’s cheeks.
“When I touch the teacher, hmm, it feels better.”
“Then I’ll hold your hand. Can you untie this a bit……?”
As Eun-jo wriggled his hands, Jung Tae-seok’s gaze moved upward. Soon, his gaze returned, seemingly uninterested.
“I don’t want to.”
“N-No, Tae-seok!”
Instead of answering, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Eun-jo’s cheek. It was soft and fleeting—like a shy high schooler caught up in his first love. But his lips didn’t stay there long. They trailed lower, following the curve of Eun-jo’s neck as he leaned in deeper.
With practiced ease, he stripped off the clothes in his way and paused, taking a moment to appreciate the sight before him. Smooth, unblemished skin and a plump, rosy chest—just looking at him was intoxicating.
If only he’d spread his legs a little…
The thought barely formed before vines erupted from the ground, responding to his unspoken desire. They wrapped tightly around those pure white thighs and calves, locking them in place.
His wrists were drawn up above his head, and with his calves folded back, his legs were forced open. Spread wide, the soft, flushed entrance between them was exposed. Fuck… Jung Tae-seok cursed under his breath—and took a mouthful of Eun-jo’s chest.
“Haa… mm…”
Eun-jo let out a shaky moan as his nipple was sucked into the wet heat of Tae-seok’s mouth. He suckled like a child—then, abruptly, bit down.
Heat surged through Eun-jo. Just having his chest devoured like that sent a heavy ache through his lower belly, made his thighs tremble with sweet tension. But more than anything, the setting—being pinned beneath Jung Tae-seok, still in his uniform, inside a classroom—added a twisted sense of guilt that made his body burn hotter.
“Mm, mm…! Tae-seok, hngh…!”
He tried to squirm, to move somehow, but with his limbs bound, all he could manage was a desperate roll of his hips. His moans grew louder, his chest offered up instinctively, mind fogged over. And all the while, the vines crept closer without a sound.
Something cold brushed against his entrance. Eyes squeezed shut, Eun-jo flinched—but then glanced down.
A vine was tapping at his hole.
“Ah… ahh…”
Panic gripped him, and he began to thrash wildly. But before he could beg for help, the vine forced its way into the tight opening.
“Hnngh…! No—no, wait…!”
