Chapter 3
“Boss!!”
No sooner had he spoken than the door burst open, and another organization member appeared shouting.
“The inspectors are here! You need to clean up quickly!”
“What?! Ah, shit.”
Manager Kim swore roughly as he jumped to his feet. This building was filled with materials related to illegally distributed Guiding drugs. Of course, there were also quite a number of Guides being held captive.
Time was of the essence if they wanted to evacuate people and move the documents before the special team arrived. He was about to leave the room but stopped in his tracks and approached Seoyul. Then, with a menacing aura, he grabbed Seoyul’s collar and pushed him against the wall while shouting.
“You go straight home and don’t take a single step outside until I contact you! Understand?!”
Seoyul’s breath caught in his throat, and his legs trembled uncontrollably. Even though this was the second time experiencing this, the man before him still appeared frightening and ferocious.
Seoyul stood on his tiptoes and nodded with difficulty. However, a second warning followed.
“If you ever meet those special team bastards, never let them know you’re a Guide. And never mention anything about the organization. You know how vicious we are, right? Whatever you do, we’ll follow you to the end and show you just how filthy life can get. Understand?!”
They were people who followed through on their threats. If things went wrong, unspeakable horrors that ordinary people couldn’t imagine could easily happen. Seoyul had seen countless people who defied the organization members or tried to escape only to be caught.
That’s why he was more afraid. He couldn’t refuse due to fear of what would happen if he defied them.
‘But now…’
Either way, wasn’t he destined to die anyway? The only difference was whether he died sooner or later. So…
Seoyul trembled as he nodded. At least with his airway constricted like this, he didn’t need to manage his expression, which was a relief.
“Damn it.”
As soon as Manager Kim heard Seoyul’s response, he released him and hurriedly left, climbing up the stairs.
“Cough, cough…”
As he sat down coughing lightly, he heard loud noises from upstairs.
His whole body was trembling, but there was no time to waste. Just like then, he had to escape the building, shaking with fear, to meet him.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His heart started racing madly. The knowledge that a turning point that could change everything was fast approaching paralyzed his entire body.
‘I, I need to get up.’
He needed to get up and run. He needed to bump into him and fall down to come face to face. And instead of running away at the sight of the special team uniform, he needed to ask for help.
‘Get up!’
Seoyul squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them as he stood up. And he ran. Just like that day. He ran and ran the same path until he was breathless.
For some reason, tears came to his eyes. Worry flooded him that he might take a wrong turn due to his blurred vision and miss the encounter.
But just as he was about to dash around the corner, Seoyul collided with a man.
“Aaack!”
Due to momentum, he rolled over several times ungracefully, his vision distorted. His head was spinning, and he felt nauseous.
‘Endure it.’
To show that he was different from before, Seoyul steadied his vision and lifted his head.
“Ah…”
There he was, unmistakably, the same man. The one who was knocking down several organization members and casually throwing aside the last one remaining.
The large organization members that Seoyul had been so afraid of were being handled like paper dolls in front of him. His aura was more fierce and dark than anyone’s, instilling an instinctive fear.
‘This is… an S-grade Esper…’
Still, the emotion he felt now was a bit different from then. Back then, he was just scared, but now he could see clearly.
‘That’s…’
It was the aura of someone worn down from not receiving Guiding for a long time… someone honed to a sharp edge.
Thud, thud.
The sound of heavy footsteps was heard. Seoyul was so captivated that he couldn’t move a muscle. It was just like the past. The S-grade Esper was beautiful and frightening.
But somehow, knowing where that fear originated from made it feel less intense than before.
‘This person is okay. He’s not a scary person. He’s just in pain.’
As he repeated these words to himself, the man who had approached right in front of him extended his hand. In the past, he had been too scared to take that hand. But this time…
‘I must take it.’
His heart started racing madly. Could his life really change if he took this hand?
Now that the moment of choice had come, he had doubts.
‘It can change. I’ll make it change.’
Seoyul gathered his courage once more and reached out his hand. What an opportunity this was. What a moment he had reclaimed.
The moment he had regretted to the very end was right before his eyes.
Grab.
As he grasped the large hand, he felt a burning heat. He was startled because it wasn’t a temperature an ordinary person could have, but more than that, he screamed at being pulled by such a rough touch.
“Aaack!”
With a short scream, he opened his eyes, and heard a voice that seemed somewhat perplexed.
“…Are you okay?”
His head was dizzy from the sudden change in vision. Nevertheless, what he clearly felt was that the man’s voice wasn’t as frightening as he had thought.
“This place is currently under control of the Korean Ability Management Association’s Special Inspection Team. Regardless of whether you’re connected to the organization or not, you need to be investigated, so stay put.”
He said this while taking out handcuffs. It seemed he wanted to restrain Seoyul first and then go deal with urgent matters since his team members hadn’t arrived yet.
But that would be problematic. There was a risk of being discovered by organization members if he stayed here, and the man would also miss catching most of them.
“W-wait a moment!”
Seoyul urgently stopped him and swallowed hard. The cold handcuffs remained touching his wrist.
Tension flowed through his body. His heart started racing again. Now he had to speak. Tell him that taking him along would be useful. Please catch these terrible people.
Please… help him.
But perhaps because he was too nervous, what came out of his mouth was something completely different.
“Please… pick me up!”
* * *
“…”
Dowoon was at a loss for words. He had no idea what this man was saying.
Pick… him up?
The organization was already moving quickly, and he was already quite irritated.
The insignificant ones swarming to stop him were annoying, and the nagging he’d receive if he failed to rescue the Guides was a headache.
In other words, he had absolutely no energy to interpret these strange words.
“Huh? Oh… th-that’s not what I meant. I mean, well…”
But it seemed the other was equally flustered, as he began to ramble with a face that had turned bright red.
Seeing the pupils darting around in those round, large eyes, he looked like a squirrel that had lost its acorn and was panicking.
‘I don’t have time for this.’
Dowoon had been earnestly begged to please spare his words when dealing with potential civilians. So he couldn’t do anything either way and just watched the situation with a frown.
Beep-!
At that moment, a sudden loud ringing in his ears was accompanied by a terrible headache.
“Ugh… damn it… of all times…”
He had taken the Guiding drug before coming, but that didn’t mean his condition had completely improved. Still, he thought he would be fine for a while since he had taken the medicine.
But the worst side effects came rushing in like a tide, regardless of time and situation. The tinnitus devoured the surrounding sounds, and the splitting headache numbed the sensations throughout his body.
“Are you okay?!”
The flustered man quickly supported him with a surprised face. Given their size difference, it looked like Dowoon was falling on top of him. But he was providing quite a good support.
“I’ll Guide you… oh, no… at least some medicine. Oh…”
Judging by his mumbling about Guiding and medicine, he seemed to be a Guide. Moreover, seeing him wandering near the organization’s headquarters, there was a high possibility he was a Guide captured by them.
If so, he needed to keep him here even more. He might run away in fear of the organization.
Click.
“Haah…”
Dowoon exhaled a long breath and handcuffed the man. In response, the confused man made an “Uh…?” sound, raised his head, and then quickly began to speak.
“Don’t leave me here! Take me with you! I know everything well. Even if you go now, they would have all escaped… I’ll guide you!”
“…”
Those words, spoken in an urgent voice, sounded somewhat desperate.
‘Is this a trap?’
His gentle-looking face didn’t seem like it would lie. But…
“Why should I trust you?”
Right. There was no reason to trust him. Nevertheless, the man looked up with his round eyes and said,
“B-because I want the Esper to help me. If you don’t catch them all, I’ll be dragged back. I don’t want to live like this anymore. So please… take me with you!”
His voice was still as urgent as if he were desperate. Usually, Guides captured by the organization tended not to divulge information out of fear. But he was different.
What did that imply?
‘Only when they’ve come to know an even greater fear.’
He had realized it. That there was something more frightening than defying the organization. What that was varied from person to person. What had this man experienced? Where did this desperation come from?
Dowoon was lost in thought for a moment. But perhaps interpreting his attitude as rejection, the man began to pour out words breathlessly.
“I-if you take me with you, I’ll be useful. I’m a Guide… though I might not be much help since I’m C-grade… but I have wide compatibility…”
Compatibility?
Dowoon’s eyes widened at those words. The person he needed to find was also a Guide with frighteningly wide compatibility. A Guide estimated to have over 60% compatibility with 70% of the Espers in South Korea.
Of course, being C-grade meant the effect was low, but it was still an impressive ability. The Center speculated that such a Guide might have an effect on Dowoon as well.
‘Could it be…’
A possibility rushed into Dowoon’s mind. But having been disappointed countless times, he steadied himself, thinking not to have high expectations.
‘Still, I should check.’
Dowoon spoke in a stiff voice to the Guide who was now almost sobbing and trembling.
“Then try Guiding me.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
