# Chapter 20
## 6. Future Left in the Past Ver.1
# Extra Story 1. Seo Jaeyoon
The private guide center building was so plain it was difficult to identify the entrance at a glance. Since it was a place where only specific people came and went, and the activities were almost illegal, it was quite closed off.
The moment a stranger entered the building, the guards watching inside focused their attention. The tall visitor with a solid body that couldn’t be hidden by clothes walked down the long corridor without hesitation.
As the visitor moved, several alarm devices including an ability detector began scanning. The guards’ vigilance subsided as the visitor passed through without any warning sounds.
The visitor, who came inside without hesitation, got straight to the point with the receptionist who was pretending to be busy.
“I’m looking for a guide.”
“Oh my, an Esper I haven’t seen before?”
It wasn’t uncommon for new Espers to visit the private guide center. It was because many couldn’t find matching partners due to the recently strengthened Guide Protection Act. Since Espers had treated guides so poorly that their human rights were trampled, their patience was also at rock bottom. Thanks to this, the private guide centers were booming every day.
The receptionist’s eyes slowly examined the tall Esper.
“Hmm. You don’t seem to need a rental guide. If you came to have fun, how about me?”
“Guide Seo Jaeha.”
The guide receptionist, who had been showing instinctive friendliness toward the Esper emitting strong magic power, immediately frowned.
“He’s off-limits. He exceeded his guiding limit today.”
“Where is he?”
As the Esper pressed, the receptionist checked the guide status board and pointed inside with her chin, not hiding her annoyance.
“Anyway, all Espers are perverts. Wait in room 3. It’s going to take a while.”
The receptionist’s attitude was haughty, perhaps because there was an Esper behind her who treated her quite well. If that was the case, this guide was truly lucky. Her position would be completely different from other guides who would be working to death in there.
The receptionist urgently called out to the tall Esper who was heading straight inside past room 3, but it was useless. The Esper’s steps toward the inside were relentless. The security guards were rushing over, but the Esper moved much faster.
Even without wanting to know, the Esper remembered the wavelength of guiding he had experienced before. The remnants of guiding spreading painfully as if about to break from the deepest place. The Esper who found this torturous guiding being squeezed out with nothing left did not have much patience.
“Damn it.”
The Esper’s hand, unable to hold back anymore, swung toward the wall.
Bang! Pop-pop!
Precisely one room withstood without even cracking. Instead, the walls on both sides exploded as if hit by bombs.
The Esper who had rushed here looking for Seo Jaeha, Seo Jaeyoon, had a dark, somber look. Defensive barriers that Seo Jaeyoon’s abilities couldn’t penetrate were rare. There was someone he could guess, so he anticipated this wouldn’t be easy.
As Seo Jaeyoon was preparing himself to use his power again, he held his breath at the disgusting smell that flowed out as the door opened. Another Esper who came out through the leisurely opened door waved his hand in greeting when his eyes met Jaeyoon’s.
“Oh?”
Before the man with a friendly smile that suited the description of an likable handsome man could say anything, Jaeyoon spoke first.
“I came to find Seo Jaeha.”
Unlike Jaeyoon, who excluded emotion, the other Esper gave a friendly smile and acted like they knew each other.
“Long time no see, Jaeha’s little brother.”
“…Don’t call me that.”
“Oh dear. Then what should I call you? Brother-in-law?”
“You son of a bitch!”
Jaeyoon’s reason flew away easily at the opponent’s provocative words. It wasn’t an effective attack using appropriate energy, but rather power like an emotional bombardment poured out.
The surroundings exploded enough to make Espers and guides who were in the middle of guiding jump out in surprise.
“Aah! Crazy Esper bastard!”
“Run to the safe zone!”
“Who accepted such a dangerous guy?!”
Despite the threatening situation that made everyone scream and flee, the building designed to respond to abilities held up fairly well even as walls collapsed. But even in this situation, the defensive barrier spread by the opponent Esper didn’t budge at all.
“At this rate, the building will collapse, Jaeha’s brother. Even if you’re promising these days, if you get on the Association’s bad side, you won’t be able to receive guiding. Ah, could it be you’re acting recklessly because you trust your brother?”
“Shut up!”
In front of the defensive barrier that had never been broken in the country until now, Jaeyoon’s attacks disappeared meaninglessly. Unlike the surroundings that were being half-destroyed as Jaeyoon’s excited power bounced around in various directions, the area around the opponent was peaceful without even a breeze.
It was too much to call it a defensive barrier. An absolute defense that nullifies attacks. Moreover, if he continued using power like this, it was Jaeyoon who would become exhausted.
“Haa, ha……”
The wavelength of Jaeyoon, who had emotionally poured out his power, was running wild in chaos. He quickly gathered his strength, but it was difficult to control the wavelength that had already started to run amok. This is when a guide was needed.
The desire to calm the raging wavelength immediately surpassed his original purpose of taking his brother away.
The man who noticed this showed leisure by even shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh my. Is Jaeha’s brother still young? Of course you become unstable when you use power at maximum output. Then you’ll be controlled by a guide.”
“Haa… Give Seo Jaeha back.”
“You still don’t call Jaeha ‘hyung’? Despite that, everyone knows he’s your brother.”
“Give Seo Jaeha back, I said!”
“If I let him go? In your condition, you’ll just end up clinging to your brother again. Did you come to rescue him, or to extort him?”
The other person’s words stabbed at Jaeyoon’s contradiction.
What an Esper with entangled wavelengths would do with a guide was obvious. Even if the initial intention was rescue, the situation had changed because he responded to the provocation.
“Hmm……”
The man, who had been calmly watching Jaeyoon grinding his teeth and struggling to calm the raging wavelength, went inside. A few seconds later, the man came out again, dragging Seo Jaeha whose arm he was gripping. Seeing Jaeha in a complete mess with traces that he didn’t want to identify, Jaeyoon’s gaze became even fiercer.
“Don’t touch him.”
“Can you take him away like that? Or since I’m done with him, you can come inside.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Or, should I make you more desperate?”
At the same time the gentle smile on the man’s lips twisted, Jaeyoon sank to his knees under the pressure that pressed down on his entire body.
“Kugh!”
“Jaeha’s brother is really foolish.”
The defensive barrier was just a name given for convenience; depending on where the barrier was deployed, it was recognized as an effective attack.
“You put forward an impossible sense of justice to make up for your own mistakes, and cherish vain hopes to recover a brotherhood that’s already over.”
“Ugh… It’s not… over.”
“Jaeyoon, the world has changed. Why do we need to be like this? We can just share nicely.”
The deepened smile easily changed from goodwill to mockery.
“Your brother is a bottom-tier guide who deals with any Esper.”
“You bastard…”
“Oh my, you should speak nicely. Or should I make you shut up?”
“Kuh, ugh! Mmph!”
As Jaeyoon’s hands scratched the floor, feeling the pressure on his throat separate from the defensive barrier pressing down on his entire body, the floor was destroyed and his body fell. It was Jaeyoon’s quick choice to escape the range of the defensive barrier, but it consumed a significant amount of his remaining Esper energy. He had entered a state where he needed guiding immediately.
“Keu… ugh…”
“Ah, self-destruction?”
Jaeyoon’s condition didn’t look good as he panted without being able to move, even though the opponent had withdrawn the defensive barrier.
“It’s so sad that you’re really stupid. Because Jaeha’s brother did something useless, my wavelength has also become unstable. There’s no choice. I’ll have to get guiding from your brother again.”
“Damn it, Joo Dojoon!”
“Oh. At least you didn’t forget my name since I’m your brother’s friend?”
Despite Jaeyoon’s anger, Dojoon showed a good-natured smile again. After withdrawing the defensive barrier, Dojoon’s natural nonchalance, including a playful wink, was disgusting.
“All this is because of Jaeha’s brother? I was about to finish up soon.”
Dojoon’s natural smile as he waved through the ceiling hole and disappeared stuck in Jaeyoon’s eyes. The following humming was a repeated defeat, familiar enough to be sickening.
While Dojoon took Jaeha away, Jaeyoon endured by holding his arm that was turning black. If no one else, at least he should not desire his brother.
Because he had learned about the sacrifice Jaeha had made for him, Jaeyoon scratched the floor, trying to overcome the temptation of a cup of water encountered in the desert.
“Jaeha… hyung.”
Uttering the title he had desperately avoided calling, Jaeyoon recalled the reason things had gone so wrong.
After the Great Change.
The world changed with the appearance of the awakened. The confusion caused by the emergence of gates and monsters was quickly organized with Daesung Group’s declaration to establish the Esper Association. As such, many things changed as a new class was created.
Jaeha awakened before Jaeyoon. His ability acted as a stabilizer for strong Espers, as if it might be mental. Until Jaeha left home to live with A-class or higher Espers shortly after awakening, Jaeyoon didn’t know he would lose contact with his brother.
While Jaeyoon, who belatedly awakened and was trained as a D-class Esper, was left alone, Jaeha only stayed with strong Espers. Jaeyoon felt betrayed by Jaeha, who followed the logic of power. Yet he also cursed his own weakness for not being able to stay with them.
To become even a little stronger, he overused his power, and unlike others who awakened around the same time, his body underwent changes. Excessive use of power led Jaeyoon to a provisional B-class, but the price was miserable. The overused power burned his limbs, and the rampaging mana made it difficult to sleep at night due to pain. However, what troubled Jaeyoon even more was that Jaeha didn’t come to see him despite knowing his condition.
One day when he thought he might just die like this. Jaeyoon, who couldn’t move, buried in pain, was able to receive something called guiding with the help of the Association. Guiding, experienced in a state of dim consciousness, was salvation. The burning pain disappeared, and the suffocating feeling like being underwater was relieved.
An Esper’s power wasn’t infinite. The use of power came with a price, and side effects were essential. The act of offsetting and releasing this was called guiding, and the person who made it possible was a guide.
And his brother was a guide.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
