Where am I…?
Just moments ago, he had been stacking up a mountain of crustaceans with Yu Je-hyun. Then suddenly, the view outside the window turned pitch-black.
As if the sky had cracked open and the end of the world had arrived, a void of absolute darkness had appeared. It was the kind of sight that stole your gaze—impossible to ignore.
The moment he looked into that gaping hole, a wave of disorienting vertigo overtook him—and the next thing he knew, he had been pulled into some bizarre, unfamiliar place.
Everything’s pitch-black…
No matter which direction he turned, it was impossible to tell whether his eyes were open or shut. Darkness blanketed everything.
Am I… even moving right now?
Normally, no matter how dark a space is, your eyes adjust. You can usually make out at least a faint silhouette in time.
But here, even as he felt time pass, the blackness remained complete and unbroken.
Esper Yu Je-hyun! Where are you?!
Fear rose from the soles of his feet and surged up through his entire body. He screamed as loudly as he could, but he could not even be sure the sound had left his lips.
This was a different kind of fear than being afraid of ghosts. It was something deeper—something more existential. A bone-deep dread that his very existence might be unraveling brought tears to his eyes.
Even when he tried to move his hands, there was no sensation of movement. His nose stung. His tear ducts burned. And yet, his body felt as if it had completely vanished.
Ugh, what kind of nightmare is this? I was just eating lobster…
He wanted to clutch his head and scream, but he could only think about it. He had no idea how long he had been drifting like this.
Just when it felt like his mind was being shredded by the endless dark and mounting terror, the void suddenly lifted. A blinding light poured down, burning his eyes.
“Are you awake…?”
Someone was shaking him. The sensation of opening his eyes came and went in an instant. Then the tears finally broke free, streaming uncontrollably down his face. Lee Haru clenched his eyes shut.
Could you maybe stop shaking me…? I feel like I’m going to throw up…
But his voice would not come out. The words remained trapped inside his mind, nothing more than silent whispers.
The voice he had just heard was unfamiliar. Which meant this was either someone he had not been introduced to yet, or someone he had once known. But his body felt too wrecked to figure out which.
He had been eating peacefully, only to be hurled into some unknown place without warning. If he thought about it carefully, it felt like only his consciousness had been dragged here—but he could not be sure.
Where had Yu Je-hyun gone? Based on everything he knew, the man could be a bit playful, but he was not the kind of person who would leave someone behind in a dangerous situation.
“They are going to come back soon. You need to pull yourself together. Please…”
As he tried to settle his nausea and untangle his scrambled thoughts, the stranger spoke again.
“Nnngh…”
Lee Haru reluctantly opened his eyes. Through the tear-blurred haze, a faint face slowly came into focus.
“W-Who are you…?”
The hazy outline sharpened with every blink. Just as the voice had been unfamiliar, so too was the face—someone he was definitely seeing for the first time.
It was still possible this person had been someone Lee Haru had known before, but there was no way to verify that now.
The young man had brown hair and soft brown eyes—and looked even younger than Lee Haru. His cheeks still carried the faint remnants of baby fat, and his flawless skin glowed with a fine layer of peach fuzz.
“My name is Ji Yeon-woo… But that is not really important right now.”
As Ji Yeon-woo blinked, his long lashes fluttered gently like a fan.
His large, doe-like eyes gave him a gentle expression. Beneath the faint line of a soft double eyelid, his eyes were filled with fear.
“It has been three days since you were brought here.”
“…What?”
Three days? What the hell did that mean?
Lee Haru was lying on a bed. Startled by Ji Yeon-woo’s words, he tried to sit up—but a violent wave of dizziness hit him, and he fell back onto the mattress.
He grabbed his forehead, and a moan slipped from his lips.
“Ahh, my head…”
“D-Do you want some water?”
Seemingly concerned, Ji Yeon-woo crawled on his knees to retrieve a bottle of water from nearby and handed it over.
Where… am I, even?
Taking the bottle, Lee Haru drank and began surveying his surroundings.
Across from him was a bed identical to the one he was lying on, pushed against the opposite wall.
The room was so cramped that even just two single beds made it feel suffocating. Aside from the beds, the only other items inside were several bottles of water neatly lined up along one side.
There were no windows, and the air was heavy and oppressive. The walls were not even covered in wallpaper—just cold, gray cement. The whole place felt sealed off.
Why are there iron bars on the door?
Even the single door had a square opening at the top, like a prison window, with thick iron bars spaced evenly across it.
This looks like a prison cell…
No—on closer inspection, it was even worse than a prison. There were no windows. Not even a bathroom.
“Where exactly are we?”
After finishing the bottle, he had no choice but to ask Ji Yeon-woo.
Unlike him, who was completely in the dark, Ji Yeon-woo looked like someone who knew exactly where they were.
“…This is Black’s base.”
“Black…?”
“Wait… do not tell me you have never heard of Black?”
“Uh…”
He did not know. But judging by Ji Yeon-woo’s expression, admitting that felt like a mistake. The boy’s wide, stunned eyes practically screamed, What planet are you from?
If you were going to throw me into a novel, couldn’t it at least have been one I actually read…?
Knowing he had transmigrated was useless—especially when he knew absolutely nothing about the world he now inhabited.
While Lee Haru hesitated, unsure how to respond, Ji Yeon-woo looked him over as if studying a rare specimen.
“Wow… I guess there really are people who don’t know about Black.”
Seriously—what was Black?
From the way this place was described as their “base,” it sounded like some kind of organization, but beyond that, he was utterly lost.
“Black is the largest villain group in South Korea. It is made up of Ability Users who either refused to join the Association and serve the state or committed crimes that made them fugitives. Everyone in Korea knows who they are…”
He had been born and raised in Korea—but not this Korea. And that was not something he could explain to Ji Yeon-woo.
“R-Right! My head’s been killing me. I must’ve blanked for a second.”
In situations like this, shameless confidence was the best survival strategy.
“…I guess that makes sense.”
Ji Yeon-woo’s expression darkened instantly. The fact that his bluff had worked was a relief, but the sight of those trembling eyes—like he might burst into tears at any moment—struck Haru with unexpected guilt.
The boy was still kneeling on the floor beside the bed where Haru sat. He must have stayed in that position the whole time, trying to wake him. Even earlier, when he had gone to get the water, he had crawled on his knees.
Lee Haru still felt dizzy, but the water had helped—enough that he could move again.
“You don’t need to kneel. Sit up here.”
He reached out and gently grasped Ji Yeon-woo’s forearm. Haru was already slim, but the other boy felt even more fragile.
His arm was so slender that Haru’s thumb and middle finger nearly touched around it. The frailty of it sent a dull ache through his chest.
Once they were seated side by side on the bed, Ji Yeon-woo lowered his head, his expression sinking even further.
His fingers brushed the exact spot on his forearm where Haru had touched him. They trembled slightly.
“I’m really sorry. Did I scare you by grabbing you like that?”
That was when Haru finally noticed what Ji Yeon-woo was wearing. The long-sleeved tunic resembled the sterile garments worn by test subjects in dystopian films.
The hem had ridden up to mid-thigh, revealing legs just as thin as his arms—and mottled with bruises. The sight made Haru wonder how he had missed it before.
Was the arm he had touched bruised too?
He had not grabbed him hard, but the guilt settled heavier on his shoulders. Then, another thought surfaced—his eyes widened.
Now that I think about it… that face—
It was striking. Not just conventionally attractive, but quietly captivating. In a completely different way than Haru himself.
Lee Haru had a kind of refined contrast—raven-black hair and pale skin that lent him an air of ethereal seduction. Ji Yeon-woo, on the other hand, had a soft, disarming charm. His clear eyes and delicate features only became more enchanting the longer one looked.
Right… Lee Haru never really gave off “main character” energy…
He had always felt more like a villain—at least, that was how others treated him. The way people talked about him, the way Espers responded to him—it all made sense now.
Even when Haru had done nothing wrong, it always felt like the world forced him into the role of the antagonist, cornering him until he had no choice but to act the part.
But Ji Yeon-woo… there was something about him that stirred a visceral instinct to protect. Even now—having only just woken up in this unfamiliar place, seeing him for the first time—Haru felt a heavy pressure in his chest, a silent ache.
A beautiful, gentle soul, trapped inside a villain’s lair.
He’s the main bottom… it has to be him.
Then what was Lee Haru doing here?
No matter how hard he tried to remember, his mind drew a blank. From the moment he had stared into that gaping black void, his memory had vanished. All that remained were flashes of something strange and unreal.
“I really am sorry. If I’m making you uncomfortable, I can sit a bit farther away.”
The words left him before he could think. But the thought hit hard—he needed to make a good impression on Ji Yeon-woo.
If his hunch was right—if Ji Yeon-woo was the story’s main bottom, and he was cast as the villain—then his best shot at survival was making sure that boy stood on his side.
