# Chapter 54
Despite experiencing many misunderstandings, this was quite a situation. I had to keep my eyes closed desperately to avoid showing my astonishment. It was ridiculous enough that they mistook me for a Guide, but even more so…
Did that mean their original target was Haegang? Were they trying to kidnap Haegang but ended up kidnapping me instead?
‘Kidnapping that person…?’
Recalling Haegang’s physique, I questioned whether that would even be possible. If their target had been Haegang, they were certainly brave fools.
“Forget it. Just properly hand over the Esper to that location, and let’s put this Guide somewhere safe. As long as he doesn’t wake up before the Esper notices and comes looking, we’re fine.”
“But why aren’t we taking the Guide too?”
“Who knows. Well, they said something about the contracted Guide being a high-ranking Guide, and if he tracks us down, we’re finished.”
Thanks to their chattering, Dohyun could comfortably gather information while hoping the car would quickly reach its destination.
After traveling for quite some time, the car stopped, and Dohyun, with his eyes still closed, felt himself being lifted and seated somewhere chair-like. Pretending to be asleep, he relaxed his body. Without properly resting his back, he slightly shifted his center of gravity sideways, causing a commotion around him.
“Oh, oh!”
“Is he falling?”
“He can’t wake up! If he falls, he might wake!”
“Wasn’t that drug strong?”
“Still, if his body gets shocked, he’ll wake up!”
“Do you sleep through pain or something?”
As the presence drew closer, Dohyun, who had been calculating when to fall from the chair, relaxed his body and leaned forward as if about to drop to the floor. He counted the voices of the panicked people. Since his face was still covered with some sort of sack, he couldn’t confirm how many people there were. He leaned into the force properly seating him and differentiated the voices he heard.
There were definitely two people who initially kidnapped him. When getting out of the car, he heard someone greeting them, and including the voices he just heard, there were four voices in total.
How should I subdue four people at once? Dohyun recalled the abilities he could use.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just lay him on the floor?”
“But he’s still a Guide. If he gets badly injured and makes a fuss, it’ll be more troublesome.”
Dohyun could hear them laughing and talking about how they could just take him back to where he was originally, and it would only be attempted kidnapping, or how they could leave him somewhere easy to find and the police would eventually stop searching. Their attitude suggested they believed they could never be caught. Dohyun just wished they would remove the strange sack-like thing covering his face.
The four of them would chat and laugh, then sigh deeply as if waiting for some signal. Then, unaware that Dohyun was awake, they had an anxious conversation.
“When we bring the Guide, the Esper shows up, right?”
“Yeah. Even though he’s a contracted Guide, they live together, so I heard their relationship is solid.”
“Are they lovers?”
“They might even be married.”
“Sheesh, Espers are just like monsters. What’s so good about them…”
“Well, they have nice faces.”
Their snickering was irritating. The words they were spouting as jokes made Dohyun feel unwell. Should I keep listening to this? He considered just getting up and subduing them.
“They’re here, they’re here.”
“Ah, looks like it’s time.”
“Then we don’t need the Guide anymore, right?”
“Who’s going to take him away?”
Someone approached and removed the sack from Dohyun’s face. With his eyes still closed, Dohyun sensed someone checking his face. A shadow passed over his closed eyelids. One of the kidnappers, leaning this way and that as if to check if Dohyun was sleeping, opened his mouth in admiration.
“This one is pretty good-looking too.”
“Are Guides usually like that?”
“I don’t think so?”
The kidnappers, who were commenting on Dohyun’s appearance as if evaluating him, froze when Dohyun’s phone rang loudly. The phone, which had been ringing for a while, abruptly stopped shortly after.
“Ugh.”
“Ah, shit.”
“That startled me.”
“Should we break it?”
“Leave it. Anyway, it’s not our building, and since it’s an abandoned place, it doesn’t matter if the location is revealed. It’s early summer, so he won’t freeze to death outside, but for him to be found quickly…”
The phone rang again. Thinking it would be more suspicious if they hung up in the middle, the kidnappers ignored the ringing and continued their conversation. They discussed which location would be best for him to be discovered, how they should leave him not too far away and flee, gradually trying to extract themselves from the situation. Taking advantage of this moment, Dohyun opened his eyes and picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“What the hell? Who answered…!”
The kidnappers, who had thought Dohyun was an unconscious Guide, froze at the sight of him completely fine.
“Esper Baek Dohyun.”
“Yes.”
“You’re answering now, but why didn’t you answer the phone earlier?”
After Haegang had told him to always answer his calls, Dohyun had set Haegang’s ringtone differently from others. Since ignoring his call twice might cause problems, he had to answer. Judging by the calm voice, it seemed Haegang already knew Dohyun was fine.
Dohyun subtly took out water from his bag and transformed some of it into a potion.
“Ah, there are four people here.”
“Shit, what’s going on!”
“Did the drug go wrong?”
Seeing them pull out what must have been weapons from their pockets, Dohyun made a troubled expression.
“Do you need help?”
“No… I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Dohyun, who had drunk the potion, raised his hand, and the person closest to him collapsed with a thud. The startled kidnappers widened their eyes.
“What, hey…”
“Hey! He’s an Esper!”
Someone who grasped the situation shouted loudly.
“He’s an Esper?”
“What? Then who’s the Esper who went there!”
“Isn’t he a Guide? The Esper is supposed to be S-class!”
“This one is small!”
“Didn’t you check properly, you bastard!”
Dohyun awkwardly watched as they trembled, blaming each other.
“Um, I don’t really know where I am right now.”
“I’ve already confirmed the location through your phone.”
“Then I’ll just leave them lying here.”
“I’ll be there right away.”
The kidnappers’ faces turned pale, knowing Dohyun’s words were directed at them. Dohyun, holding the phone, stood still and spoke calmly to the kidnappers who were hesitating with their knives. By anyone’s standards, this was not a stance of someone confronting armed individuals.
“They won’t stay asleep for long.”
When you wake up, you’ll be at the police station. Dohyun raised his hand again, and the remaining three people collapsed to the floor.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Tell me honestly. It seems like Esper Baek Dohyun had plenty of time to escape. Is it true that you deliberately let yourself be taken, even though you could have escaped?”
Haegang, who had arrived at the scene, watched the Somyeong Guild members carrying away the kidnappers and asked while reaching out to give Dohyun Guiding. The memory of having his neck bound with cloth was more unpleasant than expected, and the suffocating feeling didn’t easily dissipate. Dohyun, touching his neck, considered the answer before slowly nodding.
It was natural for Haegang to ask such a question. From winter to spring, Dohyun had been training with Handam’s help to properly use his abilities. He had received attacks from Espers under the pretext of studying energy control, and had already confirmed he could use those abilities. He also carried water with him at all times in case of unexpected situations.
‘You’ll need to listen to hyung well then.’
Jiwhan had spoken as if certain Dohyun would meet him again. He clearly needed to prepare for an attack, and wanted to capture even the slightest trace. He also needed to confirm why they were targeting him.
Therefore, as Haegang said, there were many opportunities for Dohyun to counter-attack. At the beginning, when his nose and mouth were covered with a drug-soaked handkerchief, he could have easily escaped, and even after ingesting the drug, he hadn’t lost consciousness so he could have fled.
They had given him a strong drug and, perhaps worried he might wake up quickly and see their faces, the kidnappers had tied a string over the cloth, but because they didn’t think Dohyun was an Esper, his arms were left untied. He could have freely untied the cloth but chose not to, and after arriving, he pretended to be asleep to eavesdrop on the kidnappers’ conversation.
After hearing Dohyun’s explanation, Haegang frowned briefly before relaxing his brow. It was a judgment that there was no point in saying anything.
“Then was there anything strange? Is that why you pretended to be asleep, to listen?”
“Nothing that strange really. Just… that they weren’t the masterminds, I guess?”
It was obvious. If the person targeting Dohyun had moved directly, he would have recognized the face. Either the mastermind gave vague instructions to avoid being tracked, or the kidnappers assumed Dohyun was a Guide based on prejudice.
“There’s a high probability they were several middlemen away…”
Since they had called the guild immediately after subduing them, the guild would be investigating what had happened.
Watching the kidnappers being taken away, a thought suddenly occurred to Dohyun, and he turned to Haegang.
“Earlier, the kidnappers received a call saying an Esper had arrived. They were also talking about having to release me. Who was that? Was there any mention of where to go?”
“Esper Ye Handam went. They boldly sent a note with the location.”
Among Espers, there were only about ten S-class Espers, and since they were already famous, the probability of them being involved in such an incident was non-existent. Handam was an A-class Esper, so unless the opponent’s numbers were significantly large, he could subdue them all. Moreover, being an explosion-type ability user, Handam was unlikely to be overwhelmed even in a one-against-many situation.
Still, Dohyun was worried. After all, there was the case of Jiwhan, whom he thought was dead but reappeared as an Esper and threatened him. What if there was an unregistered high-class Esper that Handam couldn’t handle? Should he go check? Dohyun was lost in thought.
“Don’t go unnecessarily. Stay here.”
“…I didn’t say anything.”
“Yes, I know. Also, Sa Gongchan said to call him when this is all wrapped up.”
“…He knows too?”
“Yes.”
Dohyun became quite perplexed about how to explain this to his friend who had always been nagging him. Should I not? Couldn’t I just not call? Despite his hesitation, he eventually called Chan.
“Hey, you crazy person! Are you out of your mind or what!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
