“Nice to meet you. I’m Baek Gahee, Jeonghyun’s partner Esper.”
With neatly cut short hair and pale white skin, her cool eyes were colorless, directed at me without revealing any emotion.
“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you too. I’m Woo Jeongjae, Esper.”
I responded a beat late to her greeting, feeling like I’d seen her face somewhere before. But my greeting seemed merely perfunctory to Baek Gahee, who showed little reaction. Instead, she seemed more interested in my Guides than in me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your meal.”
Baek Gahee’s gaze returned to me.
“Would it be alright if I took Jeonghyun with me?”
I glanced at Woo Jeonghyun’s empty seat. On his plate, more than half of his food remained untouched.
“He hasn’t even finished his meal yet. Is it so urgent that you need Jeonghyun right now?”
It was rude to barge in during a meal and ask to take someone away, regardless of being partners. I felt a surge of indignation, wondering why our Jeonghyun should be treated this way, but I managed to maintain a neutral expression as I spoke. However, it was Woo Jeonghyun, not Baek Gahee, who objected.
“No, I’m done eating, Hyung. Sorry to leave when we’ve finally all gathered together.”
With the person in question saying that, there wasn’t much I could say, but I still felt somewhat hurt.
‘Right, you probably prefer your lady over your brother.’
I decided to be understanding, knowing that Jeonghyun was completely smitten with his partner. I swallowed my sigh and nodded, and Woo Jeonghyun and Baek Gahee greeted me and the Guides before smoothly departing.
‘Now when am I supposed to talk to him?’
Not only was the meal interrupted, but my plan to speak with him afterward was also ruined. The Guides had encouraged me to speak up, but now I felt like I’d been blindsided.
I sent Woo Jeonghyun a message asking him to contact me when he had time, then resumed my meal.
‘But why does that Esper seem so familiar?’
She was a hidden S-class Esper whose existence was unknown to anyone but me, and this was definitely our first meeting, but strangely, she looked familiar.
‘Did I see her before the regression? Or after?’
As I tried to piece together who Baek Gahee might be, with memories that seemed just out of reach, the ship was steadily approaching Quardo Island. Thirty minutes before arriving at Quardo Island, Woo Jeonghyun replied.
[What’s up? I’m free now.]
[Can you come to my room?]
[Okay, I’ll be right there.]
While waiting for my brother, I received a message from Peter. He informed me that he had just arrived at Quardo Island and shared additional information about the terrorist organization that he had obtained in the United States.
—The executive of the terrorist organization I’ve been tracking is an Asian woman. And while it’s not certain, there’s a high probability she’s a mental-type Esper.
Baek Gahee’s face from our earlier greeting flashed in my mind, but I immediately shook my head. Woo Jeonghyun had only contracted as her dedicated Guide two months ago. I knew she had awakened as an Esper late and was hastily matched with a Guide, so logically, it made no sense that she could have been active as a terrorist executive before that.
—Have you ever seen a woman with these characteristics near the Center Director?
As Peter mentioned the Center Director and listed the woman’s characteristics, a memory flashed through my mind.
“She has post-traumatic stress disorder. She also has a strong aversion to male Espers.”
The Center Director, who was reviewing the documents, nodded and responded casually.
“Good, you found well.”
“Shall we proceed with the matching?”
At the businesslike woman’s voice, the Center Director briefly pondered, resting his chin on his hand. A crease formed between his brows, then quickly smoothed out.
“What’s the matching rate?”
“65%.”
“Change it to 85%.”
There was a woman present at the location where the Center Director manipulated the matching rate between me and Joo Seolhyeon.
A woman who reported the investigation findings about Joo Seolhyeon and received instructions from the Center Director to manipulate the matching rate. At that time, I thought her face was shadowed and difficult to see, but in the resurfaced memory, her face was so clear that I wondered how I hadn’t recognized her. And I found the answer to why Baek Gahee’s face had been bothering me.
That woman was Woo Jeonghyun’s partner, Baek Gahee.
‘Then the terrorist executive Peter mentioned…’
Just as I reached that thought, there was a knock at the door.
“It’s me, Hyung.”
Woo Jeonghyun had arrived.
I told Peter we’d talk when he reached the island, then ended the call. With about 30 minutes until we reached Quardo Island, my mind was still a jumble of thoughts, but I knew I had to tell Woo Jeonghyun everything. Including the true identity of the partner he had contracted with.
“……”
After I finished telling him everything, Woo Jeonghyun remained silent, his expression stiff as he kept his gaze lowered. His shadowed eyes gave no hint of his thoughts, appearing incredibly deep and dark.
I understood why Woo Jeonghyun was at a loss for words, as I too had been in a state of panic for a while after reading Joo Seolhyeon’s memories. On top of that, he had just learned that his partner was in league with the Center Director, a betrayal that must have been indescribably painful.
“I understand everything else. But.”
Woo Jeonghyun covered his face with his hands without raising his head.
“I need to confirm for myself that Gahee Noona brainwashed Mom and kept me by her side as a Guide while knowing everything.”
Previously he had referred to her as “that person,” but now their relationship seemed close enough to call each other by name.
“And if it’s true?”
His shoulders flinched, as if he hadn’t thought that far. He slowly lowered the hands covering his face and said in a small voice:
“I want to ask her why. She might have had circumstances that left her no choice.”
I felt something snap inside my head.
My chest tightened, and heat rushed to the top of my head. Woo Jeonghyun was the first person I trusted and shared my past with. He was my only family, and I naturally thought he would support me. This time was no different. But now, I wasn’t sure if that choice had been right. His reaction was so different from what I had expected.
“Woo Jeonghyun. Are you in your right mind? You don’t even know what Mom went through after being brainwashed, and you’re spouting that kind of bullshit?”
I spewed out my boiling emotions, and Woo Jeonghyun made a pained expression.
“That’s…”
BOOM!!
At that moment, a powerful impact struck the ship. Simultaneously, the ship tilted, and furniture lost balance, crashing to the floor with a tremendous noise.
“What’s this…”
I lowered my body to maintain my center of gravity while opening my abilities. Scanning the entire ship, I discovered that the problem had occurred at the lower right section of the vessel.
“We’ve hit a reef.”
“A reef? There shouldn’t be any reefs around Quardo Island.”
“It seems like someone used an ability. The wavelength is distorted.”
I expanded my perception further. The ship was floating on a sea littered with reefs in all directions. And there was an island nearby, but it wasn’t our intended destination, Quardo Island.
“It seems someone has transported the entire ship.”
Based on the underwater terrain and the size of the island, I could tell this was the terrorist organization’s base that we were heading to.
The ship, which had temporarily stopped due to the impact, began to move again. At the same time, all the Guides who had given us space to talk burst into the room. Just as everyone was checking on each other and feeling relieved, the ship hit another reef. The hull shook violently with an even greater impact than before, as if it might sink at any moment.
“We should go up to the deck.”
To better assess the situation, we went outside and saw numerous passengers who had already gathered on the deck, milling about in confusion.
“As expected, the phones are dead.”
During our preliminary investigation, Jeong Seyeon had pointed out that this area had distorted wavelengths. This seemed to affect radio waves as well, as our phones showed “no service” indicators.
“KYAAAH!!”
A woman’s scream spread across the deck. All eyes turned toward her.
A gate emitting a blue light was opening beneath her feet, and through it, a Masu’s hook-shaped arm had emerged and grabbed her leg.
“Masu!!”
As someone shouted, the woman’s foot was dragged into the mouth of the Masu that had appeared, and people were gripped with terror. But that was just the beginning. As if someone had flipped a switch, blue lights flashed beneath the feet of numerous random individuals. Gates had opened.
“Huk!”
“AACK!!”
“Help…!”
Death cries erupted simultaneously, and in an instant, the deck became a scene of carnage.
I stood with my abilities open, not knowing what to do. Prevention was impossible since I couldn’t predict where the gates would open, and attacking recklessly was difficult because people were in contact with the gates. Moreover, the gates seemed to follow people like shadows as they fled from the Masu. With people in a state of panic and moving unpredictably, randomly attacking the floor risked injuring innocent people or damaging the ship enough to cause it to sink.
“Why is this happening?”
Fortunately or unfortunately, once the person serving as a medium was either eaten by a Masu or pulled into the gate, the gate also disappeared, preventing additional Masu from emerging onto the ship.
“The gates are appearing only under Guides.”
Woo Jeonghyun, who had turned pale beside me, muttered. I recalled our previous conversation.
‘You talk as if the research participants aren’t ordinary people.’
‘Oh, right. They’re all Guides.’
I urgently grabbed Woo Jeonghyun’s arm.
“Did the research participants take any specific medication?”
At my words, his pupils dilated as if he’d realized something.
“…They distributed motion sickness medicine.”
“What?”
“Most of the Guides felt dizzy and nauseous after boarding the ship, so while they didn’t give it out uniformly, almost everyone would have received the medication.”
I asked Woo Jeonghyun with an incredulous face:
“The one you gave me?”
As I looked at Woo Jeonghyun’s face, which now seemed on the verge of tears, I felt a slight vibration beneath my feet.
Looking down at the gate opening under my feet, I softly muttered a curse.
“Goddammit.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
