They had been living together for over half a year now. A short time, if you wanted to call it short; a long time, if you looked at it that way. He acknowledged his own sins and made efforts, in his own way, to stay on my good side—but personality isn’t something that changes overnight. For Jang Hee-gang, who had once been a full-blown psycho criminal, this must’ve been an excruciatingly long and trying stretch of time.
“If that’s what you want.”
And yet, in the end, he still said he’d keep trying.
I felt both a strange sense of reassurance and, almost unconsciously, a twinge of sympathy at Jang Hee-gang’s softened demeanor, and my expression grew complicated. I clutched the hem of my clothes tightly before standing up and turning away. Jang Hee-gang quietly followed.
We walked along the neatly maintained path and entered the house. I could tell everyone was home, but the only one visible in the living room, going through documents, was my brother. His eyes sharpened the moment they met Jang Hee-gang’s. The lingering murderous intent in those black eyes—something he would likely never be able to shake off for life—was beyond anything I could fix.
“…Step back.”
My brother strode over, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me into his arms. Jang Hee-gang, whose energy had been relatively calm when we were alone, immediately turned sinister.
Here we go again.
“If you were going to lose your shit every single time, then why did you even bring up the idea of us all living together in the first place?”
Jang Hee-gang’s voice dripped with sarcasm, his tone brimming with the kind of leisure that comes from being the older one—yet the displeasure etched on his face was obvious. My brother frowned.
“Watch your mouth.”
“I meant that this kind of attitude won’t do you any favors… Was that too hard to grasp?”
Jang Hee-gang and my brother stared each other down. If emotions could take shape, they would’ve turned into blades—sharpened and ready to shred each other without mercy.
And just then, a sudden instinct flashed through my mind. For some reason, I had a gut feeling the other two were probably growling at each other the same way these two were.
Closing my eyes with an exaggerated sigh of fatigue, I used my inner “third eye” to look for Shim Tae-seong and Joo Cheong-gyeong. When the vivid scene of their brawl filled my mind, I let out a sigh of resignation.
Of course.
In the underground training room of the annex, a violent battle disguised as a sparring match was raging. It looked like they were trying to kill each other—though whether it was a way to relieve stress or build even more of it was hard to tell. Just watching made my head ache and my brow furrow.
Don’t tell me they’ve been at it since before dinner?
Not that it was all that surprising. These S-rankers seemed to have wanted to live under one roof just so they could spar constantly. They had gone so far as to hide not only their frequent matches but even the very existence of the training room from me.
That’s why they all thought I didn’t know what was underneath the annex. Every time they wrecked part of the barrier with their deranged fights, they made it seem like it had broken during some monster hunt the day before. Looking back now, all four of them were ridiculously sly.
This is all just repressed frustration manifesting. It’s not just me who’s sexually frustrated, goddamn it.
This can’t go on like this. I need some kind of solution.
Something like… Right. If we’re all naked together in one space, maybe that’ll help ease the emotional distance, even just a little. Maybe it won’t get them to actually like each other, but at the very least, it could reduce some of the animosity. I mean, even kids learn to get along by sharing food and making compromises with their friends.
Yeah, fuck it. At this point, I honestly can’t say I have no ulterior motives anymore.
But that’s not what matters right now—what matters is how I steer things toward that situation.
[Searching for a method to enforce participation from specific subjects.]
Suddenly, a familiar mechanical voice echoed in my mind. Blue always read my thoughts and reached out when it sensed I needed help—and it must’ve decided this was the time to intervene.
[Gathering list of options…]
[Calculating probability…]
[One quest has been selected for recommendation.]
[Would you like to issue the recommended quest?]
But the quest description…
A quest—what the hell?
For a moment, I just blinked, stunned, wondering if I’d misheard.
***
Cha Eun-hyuk stood staring at Cha Eun-soo’s bedroom door. Watching the useless standoff between himself and Jang Hee-gang must’ve drained him; Cha Eun-soo had retreated into his room and hadn’t come out since. Aside from the occasional rustle of movement, it was completely silent. Even by the time midnight rolled around, nothing had changed. It seemed the nap earlier had left him wide awake.
Eun-hyuk eventually moved toward his own room—and as he walked, he realized he couldn’t remember the last time his little brother had smiled that bright, carefree smile.
Eun-soo used to smile so often, but now, his face had grown dim, shrouded in a darkness shaped by all the scars he’d accumulated over time. These days, he hardly ever smiled.
That heavy, mature atmosphere of his—it wasn’t the gentle warmth of the past. It was something different. Something far more magnetic.
Shhhh— In the bathroom, the sound of water splashing echoed as Cha Eun-hyuk looked down at his own groin beneath the cascading shower stream. The aching throb in his chest and the heat pooling between his legs surged at the same time, and he couldn’t believe how absurd the whole thing was. The fact that he was even thinking about this made him feel like irredeemable trash.
But when he thought of Cha Eun-soo, the arousal that flared up—it came so naturally, so inevitably. The desire to touch, to connect, to lose himself in flesh—it was an instinctive craving, a physiological urge he couldn’t suppress.
And ever since his forced celibacy had dragged on longer and longer, the moments of boiling-over had only grown more frequent.
In truth, Cha Eun-hyuk wasn’t the only one who had never crossed a certain physical line with Cha Eun-soo. Every Esper in this house had abided by that same unspoken rule. It was, in a sense, a late but sincere attempt to atone through restraint and self-control. More than that, it was because none of them wanted to place any undue burden on Cha Eun-soo.
He exhaled a heavy breath and turned off the shower. As he stepped out of the bathroom and began rubbing his hair with a towel—
Dding!
[A new quest has been issued.]
—a sudden, unfamiliar window appeared in front of him.
Cha Eun-hyuk froze on the spot.
[Group Guiding Drill]
Unexpected emergencies can occur in wartime situations involving monsters. In the event that multiple Espers must receive guiding from a single guide, preemptively practicing group guiding is recommended.
Success: ‘Cha Eun-soo’s’ lifespan will be maintained.
Failure: ‘Cha Eun-soo’s’ lifespan will be shortened.
Time Remaining: 72 hours
[Quest Tip has been provided.]
[Quest Participants]
Espers: Cha Eun-hyuk, Shim Tae-seong, Joo Cheong-gyeong, Jang Hee-gang
Guide: Cha Eun-soo
The quest will not be completed unless every individual participates.
Before he could even form the most basic questions—What is this? Why is it here?—his eyes reflexively scanned the contents of the window. And then they landed on the words under Failure.
“…..!”
His breath caught in his throat. There it was—the one name that should never be touched, standing out in plain text.
And the ominous phrase tied to it: lifespan shortened.
His dark eyes froze over, like a storm of frost beginning to gather. His mind, trying to process the message as it was, turned utterly blank.
What came next, of course, was explosive fury.
He had to find out who had dared—who had the audacity to threaten him by using Cha Eun-soo like this.
Where is it?
Where is this ability being activated from?
Cha Eun-hyuk, trying to steady his unstable breathing, shifted only his gaze to scan the room. But there was nothing—no intruder hiding nearby, no unfamiliar presence detectable even from outside.
Is it some kind of long-range ability?
He closed his violently trembling eyes tight and reopened them, then moved swiftly, prioritizing checking on Cha Eun-soo’s safety.
In a flash, he stormed toward Cha Eun-soo’s bedroom and flung the door open. Inside the darkened room, his younger brother was already fast asleep. Lying neatly on the bed with his eyes closed, his peaceful face calmed Eun-hyuk’s pounding heart, even if just slightly.
He strode over and carefully examined him up close. That was when he sensed the familiar presences gathering in the living room.
Cha Eun-hyuk paused for a moment, adjusted Eun-soo’s blanket, and stepped out of the room. The moment his gaze tangled with the others, the atmosphere thickened—grim and heavy.
“…Eun-soo seems fine for now.”
Jang Hee-gang was the first to speak, his expression hardened like stone as he glanced toward the door behind Cha Eun-hyuk.
“I take it everyone got the same message?”
“Just the fact that we all showed up like this kind of answers that,”
Joo Cheong-gyeong responded coldly. He’d just finished washing up after sparring—his hair still damp. His gleaming red eyes bore into the floating window still hanging in the air before him.
“‘Unexpected emergencies may occur during wartime situations involving monsters. In the event that multiple Espers must receive guiding from the same Guide, group guiding should be practiced in advance. Success: Maintain Eun-soo’s lifespan. Failure: Reduce Eun-soo’s lifespan. Time remaining: 71 hours and 57 minutes.’ Does that match?”
He practically spat the words, each one bitten out like a curse. The others nodded grimly.
This so-called quest, its origin unknown, could possibly be some kind of bluff—a false ability with no real impact. But this wasn’t just about anyone. This was about Cha Eun-soo. More precisely, it was using Cha Eun-soo’s lifespan as bait to manipulate them.
There was no way they could afford to ignore it.
What miserable fucker, so desperate to die, would pull a stunt like this?
Savage energy radiated from the Espers as each of them, in their own mind, began fantasizing about torturing the invisible enemy responsible.
If any ordinary human had been present, they would’ve suffocated from the sheer concentration of rage and bloodlust in the room.
