Whew~
Peter whistled at Do Wonjin’s bombshell statement. I didn’t dare look at Jeong Seyeon and Yang Garam’s expressions. As a man who understood how tragic it is when things don’t get up down there, I asked Do Wonjin with half embarrassment and half concern.
“Seriously, it doesn’t get up?”
I was hoping he’d say it was just another one of his jokes since he plays around so much, but Do Wonjin nodded gravely with a very serious expression.
“You two haven’t imprinted yet, have you?”
In this suddenly solemn atmosphere, Peter chimed in.
Do Wonjin’s condition, which only responded to me, seemed to have made quite an impression on him. Peter made a gesture of encouragement toward Do Wonjin while looking at me.
“If Jeongjae-ssi is okay with it, shall I teach you how to imprint?”
When I imprinted with Yang Garam, I was unconscious, and Yang Garam only found out later that I had imprinted on him. Though I wanted to imprint with the other guides too, I was more focused on my revenge than finding methods for it. I thought that if I kept receiving guiding as I had been, imprinting might happen naturally someday, but Peter’s words turned all those thoughts upside down.
“You knew how to imprint as well?”
“Like awakening, it’s entirely based on my own experience, so I’m not sure if it will work the same way for you, but I don’t think it would fail.”
I wasn’t sure how Peter had imprinted, but he seemed quite confident.
“So, shall I tell you?”
Feeling even more focused attention than when Jeong Seyeon brought news about the headquarters, I nodded.
“Yes, please.”
“There are two ways to imprint. The first is to receive guiding while the Esper’s energy is completely released, and the second is emotional synchronization—feeling the same emotion simultaneously.”
I heard Peter’s words, but it was still puzzling as there was no standardized method.
“The first method requires the Esper to completely trust the guide and be completely disarmed, but this happens almost unconsciously, which makes it difficult in a conscious state. I recommend the second method.”
“How does emotional synchronization work?”
“Just have a comfortable conversation while receiving guiding. Emotions are most transparently revealed when exposing vulnerable parts of oneself that one doesn’t want others to see. You share this with the person you want to imprint with. When the Esper opens their heart to the guide and they both feel the same emotion, the Esper naturally flows their energy to the guide. The guide must continue guiding during this process.”
“And that’s how imprinting happens?”
“Yes. That’s all there is to it.”
The commonly known information about imprinting was that it works better with deeper physical union, that excessive guiding increases the probability—but after hearing Peter’s explanation, I felt like I was getting closer to the fundamental principles.
“That’s different from what’s commonly known.”
“It’s not all wrong. When emotions synchronize and both become intense, bodies naturally match as well, and excessive guiding frequently occurs during that process.”
Do Wonjin, who had been listening intently to Peter’s words, nodded in strong agreement with his last statement.
“But since success on the first try is rare, don’t expect too much from the beginning.”
As I listened to Peter’s advice, I looked at Jeong Seyeon. Our gazes locked immediately—I wasn’t sure how long he had been looking at me. Seeing the expectation in Jeong Seyeon’s eyes, my face burned unconsciously, and I had to turn away from his gaze. My heart was pounding loudly.
A week had passed since then. Peter said the method he taught would be difficult to succeed in one attempt, but amusingly, I imprinted with both Jeong Seyeon and Do Wonjin simultaneously that night. Perhaps because it had been a long time since I spent the night with my guides, I felt a sense of regret as morning dawned, even though we had talked all night.
My daily life remained the same after imprinting. No, there was one thing that changed.
Peter, who had been gradually increasing the training intensity due to my secondary awakening, started giving me impossibly harder training as soon as I imprinted with the rest of my guides, as if he had been waiting for it.
“Try this too.”
“Peter-ssi, I’m dying here.”
“Do you feel like you’re about to have your tertiary awakening?”
Since tertiary awakening supposedly happens right before death, whenever I complained of suffering, he would go on about tertiary awakening. I felt my blood pressure rising as I grabbed the back of my neck.
“I miss the Peter-ssi who tried to stop me at first. Don’t you think you’re being excessively enthusiastic these days?”
“Well, I didn’t expect Jeongjae-ssi to have a secondary awakening within a week. Honestly, I thought even two weeks would be difficult, but this is truly unbelievable.”
“I feel like I’ve heard that exact statement over 100 times already. It’s already happened, so why do you keep saying it’s unbelievable?”
“I was thinking that perhaps when the teacher is exceptional, the student must be exceptional as well.”
“I’ve heard that even more. I’m sick of it now.”
Peter was happy, claiming his skills were proven through me.
His training methods were indeed effective, so I couldn’t particularly refute him, but having to hear it not just once or twice, but several times a day, during every training session, was torturous for me.
“Anyway, since you can do it, try this too.”
The assignment Peter gave me was simple: increasing the duration of my ability.
Through secondary awakening, I was able to break through the limitations I had set for myself. I had successfully “removed the hose,” so to speak. Now I could freely use large amounts of ability without being constrained by the danger level of going berserk. However, there was still a limit to how long I could maintain my ability, so Peter pushed me with training that focused specifically on that aspect.
“This is actually still mild. You know that, right?”
But tertiary awakening required abilities at an even higher level than that. Strictly speaking, it needed abilities of a different dimension, not just a different level, but since Peter didn’t have any clever solutions for that part, we could only repeat the training we had been doing.
“We’ll stop here for today.”
The training wasn’t in vain. I was clearly growing, feeling more disciplined than before. But it was far from the transcendental sensation felt during awakening. There were no signs of tertiary awakening at all.
[You won’t awaken even in ten years in that state.]
The Masu approached me, sauntering over as I collapsed on the floor, exhausted from training. Since Jeong Seyeon’s interrogation ended, it had been freely wandering around the dungeon, but whenever I trained, it would always come to watch. It had been behaving well for the past few days, but now it was unexpectedly excited for some reason.
“I’m exhausted, so don’t provoke me. Go play somewhere else.”
I barely managed to speak due to extreme fatigue, and the Masu pretended not to hear me while scratching its ear with its hind leg.
[If you let me meet Serubi, I’ll make you awaken in three days.]
So that was why it was in a good mood—it had found an excuse to meet Serubi. I shook my head, recalling the prickly Serubi who became particularly irritable in front of the Masu.
“Serubi says he doesn’t like you, so why do you keep wanting to see him?”
[I knew at first sight. We’re destined for each other.]
“…”
I couldn’t bring myself to say it, but I could clearly see the thorny path ahead for the Masu.
“What did you say your name was again?”
[Roberi.]
“Ah, yes, Roberi. What did you mean earlier about making me awaken in three days? You’re weaker than me.”
I raised my body from the floor where I had been sprawled and faced Roberi. It wasn’t difficult for me to arrange a meeting between Serubi and Roberi, but the question was whether the awakening method Roberi mentioned was realistically possible.
[If you go to the demon realm, three days is enough.]
I was right to check. Roberi’s suggestion was impossible no matter what. Since the dungeon incidents started, there had been cases of people being swept into gates and disappearing into other worlds, but not once had they returned alive.
Even if the demon realm Roberi mentioned was one of these other worlds, there was no way for me to return.
[I can send you to the demon realm.]
“And can I return from the demon realm?”
[That… I haven’t thought about it.]
“Roberi, do you know why I want to awaken?”
[I know. You want revenge, right?]
“But what’s the point of awakening in the demon realm if I can’t return to take my revenge?”
Roberi seemed to understand my point, widening its eyes with an “oh” expression.
[We just need to make it so you can return!]
Realizing it might not be able to meet Serubi if this deal fell through, Roberi began desperately trying to persuade me.
[Those guides you’ve imprinted with? With them, they can find you wherever you are. Then coming back won’t be a problem.]
“And if they can’t find me?”
[That would mean the imprint has been broken, which would imply you’re dead…?]
Roberi trailed off, watching my reaction. I stared at the anxious Roberi’s face and fell into thought.
Half of the month I had set aside had already passed. I knew the location of the terrorist organization and had already arranged for Do Wonjin’s acquaintance to help us infiltrate. I could execute the plan whenever I was ready.
‘Three days, huh.’
Initially, I had planned to proceed with the second phase of my plan after achieving secondary awakening, but once I awakened, I became even more ambitious. I wanted to render the terrorist organization led by the Center Director completely incapacitated with overwhelming skill, to ruin his plans and crush them so thoroughly that he couldn’t even dream of recovery. For that, tertiary awakening wasn’t an option but a necessity.
‘I’ve been risking my life from the start, so there’s nothing to fear now.’
There was only one thing I hesitated about.
‘If the guides find out about this, all hell will break loose.’
Having imprinted with them, I could no longer hide anything from my guides. Roberi’s proposed method was on a completely different level from training with Peter. I would have to go to the demon realm alone without my guides, and if I died, my body would never be found. Rather than being for the sake of tertiary awakening, it was practically no different from going to die.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
