“Is this the end?”
“There is still one more person left.”
“Ah, damn. This is annoying.”
Lee Jae-hoon furrowed his brow and shook his head. At his feet lay a Guide who had just lost his life.
Jo Gyeong-hoon slightly raised the corner of his mouth and said,
“You seem to be enjoying this.”
There was no denial. In truth, Lee Jae-hoon was enjoying the situation. He didn’t care what it took as long as he could bring down Cha Jae-woo.
The same went for Jo Gyeong-hoon. Unfortunately, he had underestimated Cha Jae-woo and made a mistake. However, no one could have predicted that Cha Jae-woo could use mental abilities as well.
Espers are divided into physical and mental abilities. Among them, Jo Gyeong-hoon considered mental abilities to be superior. No matter how strong one is, if controlled by mental abilities, it’s over. In that sense, Cha Jae-woo’s abilities were useless.
Of course, controlling Cha Jae-woo is difficult. Being a strong Esper, there are very few mental Espers who can properly use their abilities on him. Even if they could use their abilities, it would only last a few minutes. Cha Jae-woo could easily break free from the hypnosis cast on him. Moreover, if his wavelength was stable, it would be even more so.
Losing Cha Jae-woo would be a great loss. But a pawn that doesn’t move according to one’s will is no different from an enemy. Therefore, Jo Gyeong-hoon set out to eliminate him.
There was no need to confront him head-on. The plan was to lure Cha Jae-woo, control his mind to render him powerless, and then push him into the gate. Normally, Cha Jae-woo could kill monsters with a wave of his hand, but an Esper who can’t use his abilities is no different from an ordinary person.
Afterward, they planned to announce that he had entered the gate alone and met with an accident. They would say that Cha Jae-woo never moved according to anyone’s will and overestimated his own power, leading to this unfortunate accident.
‘But who would have thought the abilities wouldn’t work at all.’
Jo Gyeong-hoon had carefully selected mental Espers who could control Cha Jae-woo’s mind, even for a moment, and brought them there. Unfortunately, Cha Jae-woo was not affected by their abilities at all.
Like the others, Jo Gyeong-hoon was bewildered. Bewildered and terrified. His plan had failed, and he was sure he would die right there.
Cha Jae-woo turned the tables on them. Instead, he used his mental abilities on Jo Gyeong-hoon and the others. Jo Gyeong-hoon had no choice but to enter the gate on his own.
‘Was putting Esper Lee Jae-hoon into the gate intentional?’
But Jo Gyeong-hoon survived. Thanks to Lee Jae-hoon being thrown into the gate afterward.
He had been attacked by Cha Jae-woo but only suffered a brief loss of consciousness. Thanks to this, he regained consciousness shortly after entering the gate. Otherwise, Jo Gyeong-hoon would have died right there.
“So, who’s next?”
If it was intentional, Cha Jae-woo had made a mistake.
Hot-blooded and unable to stand losing, sometimes brutally so, Lee Jae-hoon was determined to defeat Cha Jae-woo at any cost. Keeping such a person alive was a mistake if Cha Jae-woo thought it wouldn’t matter.
The Guides with even a slight matching rate with Cha Jae-woo were being killed one by one. An Esper without a Guide is a ticking time bomb, and that was Cha Jae-woo’s original state. Jo Gyeong-hoon intended to put him back in his place.
“Guide Lee Ju-yeon. You should know him. He was reported in the media as the victim of Jang Gijun’s experiment.”
“Well, I don’t know.”
Lee Jae-hoon shrugged. Whether he knew or not didn’t matter to Jo Gyeong-hoon, so he just nodded.
“Like Guide Lim Haeyul, he has a special ability. He can increase the matching rate with the desired partner.”
“Oh… really?”
Lee Jae-hoon’s attitude was indifferent. In fact, he was already fixated on Lim Haeyul. With the clear goal of making him his Guide, the abilities of other Guides didn’t interest him.
“Anyway, since he has the ability to increase the matching rate, Guide Lee Ju-yeon must be eliminated. He is the last one. Excluding Guide Lim Haeyul.”
The corner of Lee Jae-hoon’s mouth twitched. At the mere mention of Lim Haeyul’s name, he looked delighted.
“I should have gotten a taste first. I haven’t had him yet, damn it’s frustrating.”
He whistled and moved, muttering to himself. It was clear that the subject was Lim Haeyul and that “tasting” did not refer to guiding.
Jo Gyeong-hoon did not bother to respond. Instead, he followed Lee Jae-hoon. He had no interest in such frivolous lust. He only wanted to cut off Cha Jae-woo’s power as soon as possible.
“……Oh.”
Jo Gyeong-hoon, who had been moving slowly, stopped at the vibration of his phone. After checking the message, a faint smile spread across his face.
“Looks like we’ve made a breakthrough.”
He turned to Lee Jae-hoon, who had also stopped and was looking at him. Jo Gyeong-hoon smiled and showed him the phone. After reading the message, Lee Jae-hoon narrowed his eyes and looked back at Jo Gyeong-hoon.
“It says Cha Jae-woo is moving towards Guide Lee Ju-yeon.”
While Cha Jae-woo acted arrogantly, Jo Gyeong-hoon had been consoling the Espers who had been harmed by him. As a result, they grew to resent Cha Jae-woo over time, and Jo Gyeong-hoon believed in them. So, they naturally took on the task of monitoring Cha Jae-woo and Lee Ju-yeon.
Of course, Jo Gyeong-hoon expected that they would be easily detected by Cha Jae-woo. However, recently, Cha Jae-woo seemed distracted and hadn’t noticed those monitoring him. This made Jo Gyeong-hoon’s task easier, so he didn’t mind.
“Guide Lee Ju-yeon has been keeping an eye on Jang Gijun. And today, Jang Gijun, who was sent to the prosecutor’s office, is being moved.”
“So what?”
“Didn’t I tell you? Lee Ju-yeon lost his younger sibling due to Jang Gijun’s experiment. He experimented on ordinary people to make them Guides, and there were quite a few victims. He must have held a grudge against him. So… he must be trying to take revenge?”
At first, Jo Gyeong-hoon did not pay much attention to Lee Ju-yeon. However, Lee Ju-yeon provided the most crucial testimony that socially buried Jang Gijun.
Jo Gyeong-hoon knew that Lee Ju-yeon had been cooperating enthusiastically with Jang Gijun. He had also met him several times. But as soon as Jang Gijun’s corruption was exposed, Lee Ju-yeon turned his back on him, which seemed premeditated.
“Cha Jae-woo is probably cooperating with Lee Ju-yeon’s revenge. Whether he kidnaps or kills him, whatever.”
“Get to the point, why are you beating around the bush? What does his revenge have to do with me?”
Unsurprised, Jo Gyeong-hoon smiled. Then, he kindly explained what Lee Jae-hoon would like to hear.
“Cha Jae-woo, who has been holed up at home doing nothing, now has something to focus on. This is the perfect time for Esper Lee Jae-hoon to bring Guide Lim Haeyul, as you’ve been wanting.”
“……Aha.”
After a moment of silence, Lee Jae-hoon sighed and nodded. He chuckled, amused, as Jo Gyeong-hoon put his phone back in his pocket.
“We should target Guide Lim Haeyul first. This time, we must not lose him.”
“I’m sure you’ll handle it.”
Before Jo Gyeong-hoon could finish speaking, Lee Jae-hoon turned around. Worried that his impatience might ruin things, Jo Gyeong-hoon decided to let it go. After all, Lee Jae-hoon was currently his best asset, and it was the perfect time to steal Lim Haeyul back from Cha Jae-woo.
* * *
I seemed to have been in a daze. Even now, I felt groggy. As soon as I came to my senses, I washed up, got dressed, and had been staring out the window ever since. I didn’t know what to do.
Many eyes were watching me. Cha Jae-woo was not home, but they were watching to make sure I didn’t go outside.
I closed my eyes to ignore them. I didn’t want to think about anything.
I wanted to erase all the thoughts—the suspicion that the people I thought were close might be similar to Cha Jae-woo, the strange idea that the friends who came to this house last night might have been mind-controlled by Cha Jae-woo, and the anxious prediction that I might be trapped in this house forever.
“Haeyul.”
But my mind was already racing with all sorts of thoughts. I couldn’t erase any of the ominous ideas.
“You should eat something. You haven’t eaten all day.”
I didn’t respond. It wasn’t for me. It was all for Cha Jae-woo. They were pretending to care about me so that I could guide properly.
“Haeyul, kyaaah!”
The voice calling me turned into a scream in an instant. I had been sitting blankly, but I had to jump up.
With a loud crash, the window shattered, and suddenly, flames rose from the garden outside the house.
“What, what’s going on…….”
I quickly checked outside the window. I saw the attack on the house with my own eyes, but I couldn’t believe it. After all, this was Cha Jae-woo’s house.
“……Ah…….”
“Hello.”
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I soon found out who had done this crazy thing. Lee Jae-hoon, who had been thrown into the gate but was suspected to still be alive, was suddenly right in front of me, waving his hand.
