‘Was Jung Hyun-soo always an Esper?’
He had never heard anything like that. Which meant, chances were high that she wasn’t.
It made sense—normally, when someone awakened as an Esper, it was publicly announced worldwide almost immediately. Everything from their Rank and ability type to their personal information would be published in news articles. There was no way he wouldn’t have known, especially if they were attending the same school.
‘Then how am I supposed to explain the energy I’m sensing right now?’
That was why he couldn’t get a solid grasp on the situation. Even as he cautiously approached Jung Hyun-soo, he wasn’t sure what to do next.
What if the energy he was sensing wasn’t coming from Jung Hyun-soo at all, but from another Esper who had entered this Gate? It wasn’t impossible—after all, some time had passed since they had been sucked into the Gate.
“……Ugh.”
He instinctively stepped back from Jung Hyun-soo, who looked visibly distressed, and turned his gaze back outside the window. He had hoped to spot an Esper, but all he saw was the pitch-black ground growing ever closer.
If his guess was correct, it was a Dark Slime. He had only ever read about them in books—this was his first time seeing one in person, so he couldn’t be completely sure.
Even if it was a Dark Slime, slimes were classified into multiple subcategories depending on fine details. Judging by the faintly putrid smell and sluggish movements, he guessed this was the most commonly appearing type.
The slimes were inching closer, little by little. They could probably sense even the slightest noise, including human voices. No matter how quiet they tried to be, it was almost impossible for ordinary people to hide from a slime that detected vibrations instead of sound.
Slimes devoured their prey by enveloping them and dissolving them inside their bodies. In other words, if they got even a little closer, they’d be swallowed whole in an instant.
Unfortunately, the slimes weren’t approaching slowly. Still, there were no Espers in sight. He prayed that the energy he was sensing wasn’t coming from Jung Hyun-soo… but the situation was looking increasingly grim.
“Khak! Gasp…!”
“Hyun-soo!”
“Shh!”
“Ugh, nghh!”
Amidst the tension, a commotion broke out behind him. He whipped his head around to see Jung Hyun-soo, who had been showing signs of distress earlier.
Now, Jung Hyun-soo was outright writhing on the floor, her whole body curled up in agony. Feeling a chill creep down his spine, he instinctively moved to rush over—only for Kim Geon-ung to grab his wrist.
‘Why?’
Kim Geon-ung didn’t make a sound, perhaps recognizing how serious the situation was after having kept an eye outside as well. Reading his lips, he shook his head as if to say it was nothing.
‘Just wait.’
He mouthed the words back, following Kim Geon-ung’s lead. Kim Geon-ung eventually let go of his wrist, though his face was still clouded with suspicion.
He turned back to Jung Hyun-soo. Her hair, once neatly tied, was now completely disheveled from thrashing around in pain. The friends who had been trying to shake her awake were now shrinking back in fear.
“……”
Slowly, he reached out and placed his hand on Jung Hyun-soo’s arm. In that instant, he felt the sharp pulse of energy even more vividly through his fingertips.
He wanted to believe an Esper had arrived—but it seemed that was just wishful thinking. The pulse growing colder and sharper made him exhale heavily and pull his hand away. His palm, where it had touched Jung Hyun-soo, was now tingling.
Was Jung Hyun-soo really an Esper?
It didn’t seem likely that she would have hidden it. Even if she had wanted to, it would have been impossible. And besides, there was no reason to hide it. Espers were required to register with the Esper Association in order to receive the mandatory Guiding they needed. Unless she had some clandestine Guide secretly working with her, which was even more far-fetched.
Even without that, an Esper’s awakening always came with an initial rampage. Awakening without anyone noticing, and managing to keep it hidden all this time? That was absurd.
“……”
It made more sense to think that this was Jung Hyun-soo’s initial rampage happening right now, at this very moment.
‘We’re fucked.’
He had already suspected it, deep down. He had just been refusing to acknowledge it. Once an Esper entered a rampage, there was no saving them.
Hadn’t they all seen it countless times in documentaries?
An Esper in rampage mode was humanity’s enemy. If Jung Hyun-soo completely lost her rationality, they could end up losing their lives not to monsters, but to her instead.
“……We have to get away.”
He could no longer turn away from reality.
In the meantime, Jung Hyun-soo’s energy pulse had grown even sharper. Her writhing body had gone still, her breathing rough and uneven. Instinctively, he knew there wasn’t much time left.
He pressed his lips tightly together and looked around at the students who were stuck in the same situation as him. These were people who hadn’t managed to escape the building before the Gate appeared, gathering here in a lecture room out of fear. There had to be at least a few dozen of them. They had huddled together in terror, only to end up in danger of being killed by an awakening Esper.
“We have to get away,” he repeated.
His voice carried a little more strength than before, but no one seemed to understand what he was saying.
There was nowhere to escape to. This lecture room was the only shelter from the monsters outside. So where exactly were they supposed to run? Why? He could see those questions written all over their faces.
Kim Geon-ung approached, tugging at his arm, silently asking for an explanation. He stared straight into Kim Geon-ung’s eyes.
His heart, gripped by fear, pounded irregularly. He didn’t know exactly what they should do either. All he knew for sure was that they had to get everyone as far away from Jung Hyun-soo as possible, and fast.
“Geon-ung, take everyone to another classroom. Go up to a higher floor.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Just… those things are going to climb up soon. This place is too low. But don’t go all the way up to the rooftop—maybe around the 6th floor? If anything falls from above… no, wait. No. Maybe going up is a bad idea…”
What were they supposed to do?
If Jung Hyun-soo rampaged and started demolishing the building, they could all end up falling from the upper floors. No—if the building collapsed, the lower floors wouldn’t be any safer either.
And they couldn’t escape outside either. If they tried, the slimes would devour them. It was a complete dead end.
“At least tell me why. What’s going on?”
“……I think she’s awakening as an Esper,” he whispered to Kim Geon-ung, making sure no one else could hear.
Instantly, Kim Geon-ung’s face crumpled. Even though he had been trying to keep a composed front, he must have been incredibly tense ever since they had been dragged into the Gate. And now, on top of everything else, someone was awakening. Everyone knew that an Esper’s awakening always came hand in hand with a rampage.
“Ha…….”
Kim Geon-ung, at a loss for words, rubbed his face roughly with his hands. It was just one disaster after another. His unfocused eyes darted around, unable to find a direction.
He clapped Kim Geon-ung’s shoulder firmly, urging him to stay calm. This was no time to lose focus. They had to keep it together. Someone would come—they wouldn’t just leave them like this. They had to hold out until rescue arrived—
BANG!
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
But unfortunately, staying calm was impossible.
Jung Hyun-soo, who moments ago couldn’t even stand, suddenly shot up and swung her arm at a nearby friend. It all happened in an instant.
The boy slammed into the wall with a loud thud, coughing up blood. The wall cracked from the impact—there was no need to think twice about it.
He had hoped he was wrong. But his worst fear had come true. Jung Hyun-soo was in the midst of an Esper awakening—right on the verge of her first rampage.
“Ji-hoon! Park Ji-hoon! Wake up!”
“Hyun-soo, why—why are you doing this…?! Hey, Jung Hyun-soo!”
His body refused to move, frozen stiff with fear. He instinctively turned his eyes to the window—and clenched his teeth.
The slimes outside were speeding up, drawn by the noise. Their massive forms, slithering across the ground, picked up speed with a deafening roar.
“Geon-ung, take the others and get to the farthest lecture room you can. Don’t go up, don’t go down. Just stay on this floor—and stay quiet.”
“What? Then what about you?”
“I’ll… ha, I’ll…”
Could he really do this? Was it even possible?
But there was nowhere to run. There was no time left. Waiting patiently for an Esper to come rescue them was no longer an option.
Jung Hyun-soo was staggering again, like she was about to launch another attack. Soon, an onslaught incomparably fiercer than before would erupt.
He had learned enough about Esper rampages thanks to Cha Jae-woo to know: any brief moment of calm would be fleeting.
Which meant—whether it would work or not, he had to try. It wasn’t the time to weigh possibilities.
“I’m going to try Guiding her.”
“Are you crazy?!”
Kim Geon-ung immediately barked back at the words he uttered with grim determination. But he had no intention of backing down either.
“If we don’t do something within the next minute, she’ll lose his mind completely and kill everyone. You know what a rampage is, don’t you? We don’t have time to argue!”
“Can you even suppress a rampage just by Guiding? Is that even possible?”
“I don’t know! But does it matter right now? We’re going to die anyway if we just stand here doing nothing!”
“Ha, fuck…!”
Kim Geon-ung muttered curses under his breath, violently ruffling his hair. His restless feet shifted and fidgeted, a clear reflection of his growing panic.
He pushed Kim Geon-ung aside and nodded with a deliberately calm expression.
“It might work. Let’s just believe it will. Then we have to think about what comes next. Once I calm that Esper down, everyone’s going to know I’m a Guide. Honestly, just thinking about it makes me sick. Don’t you agree?”
Kim Geon-ung’s lips had turned deathly pale. He knew it too. If Jung Hyun-soo rampaged, they would all die. Even if they managed to dodge him, the explosion of noise from his rampage would draw the slimes in a frenzy—far worse than what they were facing now.
“Hey. Kim Geon-ung. We’re out of time.”
“Can’t we just… toss her out? Outside?”
Kim Geon-ung asked, his expression twisted with disgust at himself for even suggesting it. He shook his head firmly.
“She’d probably die instantly. She’d get devoured by the slimes the moment she was thrown out. Maybe if she had fully awakened, it’d be different, but right now… no.”
“But still…….”
“Yeah. If she awakens like this, we’re screwed. But this is all we’ve got. Even if you’re right, even if it would be safer to throw her out… I can’t do it, Geon-ung.”
He knew. He knew that it might be smarter to sacrifice her, to let the slimes find him first instead of them.
But he didn’t have it in him. If Jung Hyun-soo ended up dying because of that, how could he ever live with the guilt? No—even if she didn’t die, it would be the same. Just the fact that he had abandoned her to die would leave a scar he could never erase. He would never be able to meet Jung Hyun-soo’s eyes again.
Kim Geon-ung probably wasn’t any different. The way he could barely bring himself to say it proved that much. Even if Jung Hyun-soo survived, could Geon-ung really live with it?
“Go. Now. We really don’t have time.”
There was no time left to argue about something that couldn’t be undone. He strode purposefully toward Jung Hyun-soo, stepping directly into the twisted, unstable energy she was radiating.
“……Move to another classroom,”
Kim Geon-ung finally managed to croak out behind him.
Soon after, he could hear Kim Geon-ung trying to persuade the others, who clearly had no idea why they needed to move next door. Before long, the huddled group began to scramble, rushing out of the lecture hall en masse.
At the same time, he charged toward Jung Hyun-soo.
The moment he did, she locked eyes with him. Her hollow, vacant gaze gleamed sharply, like a predator searching for its next target.
