I Possessed a Promiscuous Guide 63

I am not insane… right?

Well, it was no wonder. Anyone would lose their mind after going through so many disturbing experiences, one after another. It would not have been surprising if he had developed full-blown schizophrenia by now.

[Can someone who’s truly mad even know they’re mad? Would anyone believe me if I said I made soybean paste out of red beans?]

…No.

So this is what it feels like to face your natural predator. From the start, he had not been able to get the upper hand in their conversation.

Then what do you mean by ‘you are running out of time’?

Lee Haru decided it would be easier to just accept the situation and adapt. Whether he had really gone crazy or become some kind of ghost haunting the living, it was impossible to tell anymore.

It was not like he had the ability to see ghosts in the first place.

[The bastard who brought you here will be coming into the room soon.]

…Who is it?

Now that he focused, the space around him felt unfamiliar. The room had to be at least ten pyeong wide—quite spacious.

But despite its size, the only furnishings were a massive bed—large enough for half a dozen adults to sprawl out on—and a nightstand beside it.

There were two doors on the wall. One looked like it led out of the room; the other gave the impression that it might open into a bathroom.

[The one who caused my death.]

Esper…Kang Min?

[Who knows.]

Why was the answer so vague?

He was just about to press for more when one of the doors abruptly swung open without warning.

“You are awake.”

“Uh…”

It was Esper Kang Min. That ever-handsome face was slowly drawing closer. Instinctively, Lee Haru edged away.

The headache that had briefly eased came surging back. All he had done was shift on the bed, but his clothes were already soaked through with sweat.

Something was off. Kang Min’s aura felt subtly different than usual. Just by entering the room, he had altered the entire atmosphere—made it heavier.

Breathing itself became difficult. Something hard pressed against his back. He had backed up so far, trying to avoid Kang Min, that he was now pressed against the headboard.

“You really have changed. You used to cling to me with zero pride, even when I brushed you off for being a nuisance.”

Kang Min stopped at the foot of the bed, observing Lee Haru’s desperate attempt to retreat. His eyes, calm and quiet, swept from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

The gaze was so blatant it felt physical, like it was touching his skin. As the sweat began to dry, it sucked the warmth from his body along with it.

Lee Haru’s shoulders tensed. The comforter, which had once felt as soft as clouds in his sleep, now felt like it was made of lead.

“Was this not what you always wanted? A life where your eyes were only on me, and you guided no one else but me?”

The bed tilted to one side. Before he could react, Kang Min had climbed up and crossed the mattress toward him.

Lee Haru swallowed hard. The person before him did not feel like the Kang Min he used to know.

The polite yet indifferent gaze he had once been familiar with had transformed into something far more suffocating, like a noose tightening around his neck. The pressure in the room was so heavy that even lifting a single finger felt impossible.

It was the Kang Min he had seen in his dreams. Watching him from a distance and facing him in person were entirely different beasts.

A large hand reached out slowly. As the unfamiliar touch grazed his cheek, Lee Haru’s lashes trembled involuntarily.

Like a predator licking its prey, Kang Min tilted his head slightly at Lee Haru’s terrified reaction.

“A person really can change in an instant. As if a different soul has taken over that body.”

The words struck a nerve. Lee Haru squeezed his eyes shut. They say the eyes are windows to the soul.

Avoiding eye contact might have made him look suspicious, but if he kept locking eyes with Kang Min, it felt like his innermost thoughts would be laid bare.

“…Even if that is the case, it makes no difference. You are never getting away from me.”

It was the kind of obsessive line only a classic Gwanggong would utter. Lee Haru clenched his fists. It felt like only the identity of his captor had changed—first it was Zero, and now it was Kang Min.

“Where is Esper Yu Je-hyun…?”

Lee Haru asked for the one person he thought might take his side. He still had no idea where he was.

Maybe this was the mansion where he used to live with the Espers. He had never set foot on the second floor before.

But instinct told him this was not some open space where just anyone could walk in.

Like the room where Zero had held him captive, there were no windows here either.

“…So your heart has shifted to someone else.”

Instead of responding, Kang Min’s expression turned frighteningly cold.

“Yu Je-hyun. Yu Je-hyun…”

As he repeated the name, his face twisted like that of a demon. It was such a violent shift from his usual emotionless self that it hardly seemed like the same man.

If Yu Je-hyun were standing there in that moment, Kang Min looked like he would kill him on the spot. The murderous aura radiating from him drained the blood from Lee Haru’s face.

“Even after all the contempt he showed you, you still managed to fall for him.”

Kang Min’s voice trembled—just barely.

Lee Haru, for his part, clasped his sweat-drenched hands together as his heart pounded wildly in his chest.

It was hard to believe this was the same person who had so carefully hidden his true nature all this time. Kang Min had completely become someone else.

“…So in the end, I really was chasing an illusion. If even after all this, I still could not have you…”

Kang Min’s voice, thick with self-mockery, drifted out as he slowly raised his head from where it had been hanging. The gleam in his eyes was so sharp it stole the breath from Lee Haru’s lungs. And in that moment, he felt a familiar, suffocating pressure wrap around his neck.

The hand that had been gently stroking his cheek had moved without his notice—now it was gripping his throat. Those long fingers easily encircled his neck, enclosing it completely.

For the love of god, can you assholes stop grabbing my damn neck…

It stung that the two of them—Zero and Kang Min—touched that vulnerable spot as if it belonged to them, a place even Haru himself had never handled carelessly.

The sensation of his airway being crushed was so familiar now, it made him bitter. As oxygen drained from his lungs and pain began to claw at his chest, Lee Haru glared up at Kang Min’s rage-distorted face.

You think you’re the one who has the right to be angry…?

Kang Min clearly believed that Lee Haru had developed feelings for Yu Je-hyun—and in truth, he was not wrong. If someone were to ask which Esper Haru felt the most drawn to, he would name Yu Je-hyun without hesitation.

Though he had tormented him at first, over time, their relationship had softened. And then Yu Je-hyun had stolen his first kiss—something that, oddly enough, had not left him feeling upset.

In fact, it had stirred something deeper, something uncertain within him.

Unlike Kang Min, whose intentions were always unreadable, or Hong Seong-jun, who constantly kept him under threat, Yu Je-hyun had never hesitated to lay himself bare.

He was beginning to understand what had been in those steady eyes that always met his without hesitation.

Even the daily hospital visits, when Yu Je-hyun would bring him food without fail—those had been his way of expressing affection. And when Haru had gotten closer with Ji Yeon-woo, the jealousy Yu Je-hyun had shown had not been directed at Ji Yeon-woo, but at Haru.

According to the original story, Yu Je-hyun was supposed to be in love with Ji Yeon-woo. But here he was, quietly, earnestly, revealing his heart to Haru.

In this strange and unfamiliar world, it only made sense that his heart would be drawn to someone who offered such gentle warmth.

And compared to that, Kang Min was the type of person it was nearly impossible to fall for.

He built walls too high to approach, and among the three Espers, his attitude toward Haru and Ji Yeon-woo was the most glaringly different.

Even with his naturally optimistic personality, Haru could not pretend the blatant favoritism was not there.

Besides, feelings did not form in a vacuum—they needed time, and proximity. Since arriving here, the only one he had truly spent time with was Yu Je-hyun.

Kang Min had always been busy. Maybe it was because he was Team Leader, but just catching a glimpse of him had been rare.

So rare, in fact, that when Kang Min came to pick him up after he was discharged, Haru had been genuinely surprised.

And how could anyone fall for someone who acts this violently…? Lee Haru must have been a damn saint back then…

Yes, if they were talking about looks alone, Kang Min was absolutely his type. But no one lives their life just looking at a face.

No matter how outrageously handsome someone is, if they raise their hand whenever something does not go their way, they are the kind of person who should be cut out of your life without hesitation.

“Ghhk—p-please…”

Whatever his feelings toward Kang Min, the fact remained—Kang Min was holding his life in the palm of his hand.

With great effort, Haru managed to lift a trembling arm and grab hold of Kang Min’s wrist. The pressure around his throat loosened—just slightly.

And in that moment, he felt it: the gentle trickle of Guiding energy beginning to flow from him into Kang Min.

It was something he understood instinctively. The only way to calm an Esper who had lost control was through Guiding.

By the time some color had returned to his pale, bloodless face, Kang Min finally let go of his neck.

Author: Levia