His psychic energy wove through the air in chaotic streams. His hair stood on end, and raindrops floated midair.
Having unleashed an enormous amount of power against the creatures in the preceding battle, the residual energy now leaked out in an unbalanced, distorted state. It was vicious and menacing, yet at the same time, desperate and aching.
Kwon Jae-jin took in a hollow, shaky breath.
“…You want to lock me up?”
The dilemma burst forth like an erupting volcano, its core unmistakably clear. Jae-jin felt like he understood what Seo Eui-woo wanted.
<I like it when it’s just the two of us. When it’s completely just us…>
<It was always just the two of us from the very beginning. Always. So isn’t it only natural that you only look at me? Am I the weird one…?>
“You want us to live as if there’s no one else in the world but the two of us…?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s it… Please.”
“I want that, too. It would be nice if we could. But…”
Jae-jin’s dry lips parted slightly. His tongue tingled. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitated, then tried again—only to stop once more. He wavered.
After a long, agonizing pause, he muttered in resignation,
“How are we supposed to live like we’re the only ones in the world when the world is like this…?”
“…What did you just say?”
“The creature wave isn’t over yet. No… It’s only just beginning. The battle will continue at least until the alpha creatures start crawling out of the gates.”
“…”
“The awakened on the frontlines will die mercilessly, and no one will even remember them. Espers will lose control. Guides will have their barriers torn apart and be forced to guide with their bare flesh. Even at this very moment…”
“…”
“Knowing full well how utterly fucked up this world is, no matter how much we love each other, we can’t just sit here and stare only at each other… Can we? I mean, sure… if you want my eyes, my claws, whatever—I can give them to you. That kind of thing doesn’t matter. But, honestly, I…”
Jae-jin turned his head slightly to the side. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Eui-woo directly.
But the moment he averted his gaze, Eui-woo grabbed his chin, pulling him back, forcing their eyes to meet once more.
“Honestly? Tell me. Be honest—what is it?”
The grip on his face was tight. As if wanting to claim Kwon Jae-jin completely, Seo Eui-woo held his head firmly in place, refusing to let go.
Jae-jin barely managed to squeeze out a response.
“…I still want to change the world.”
It wasn’t that he prioritized revolution over Eui-woo. It meant he wanted to be with him.
“If we live together in a changed, different world… wouldn’t that be enough? Not here, not in this horrible place.”
“And then…? Keep going. You still have more to say.”
A chilling vibration pulsed through the air from all directions.
The energy pouring out of Eui-woo was wild and volatile, on the verge of exploding at any moment.
“…Guiding.”
“Yeah.”
“Guiding, haah, yeah… if I’m being completely honest, there’s still a part of me that wants to try it.”
Kwajijik!
A deafening rupture filled the air as the thick steel walls and reinforced floor of the underground bunker cracked apart. Deep fissures spread in all directions, as if they had been torn open by a beast’s claws.
Eui-woo let out a rough breath, his shoulders shaking. His brows twisted into a savage scowl of rage and shock, and the pale color of his face darkened into something lifeless.
“Jae-jin, how could you… How could you do this to me?”
Before Jae-jin could even respond, Eui-woo fired off his words like a machine gun.
“Is it because I said I wanted to lock you up? Because I said I wanted to do terrible things to you? Is that why you hate it? Are you scared I’ll hurt you again… scared it’ll be painful? Is this my fault?”
“Wait, just—”
“I told you no! I fucking told you no espers, no guiding, none of those bastards! I told you not to even think about letting them touch you!”
Eui-woo’s arm shot out like he was about to strangle Jae-jin. His large hand grasped his nape but trembled violently instead of squeezing. His gray eyes were flipped with fury, and his twisted lips looked like they were about to scream.
A violent, soundless howl threatened to rupture Jae-jin’s eardrums.
Jae-jin caught Eui-woo’s wrists, pushed him away, then hesitated—before ultimately letting him stay as he was. His eyelids fluttered.
His gasping breaths mixed with his voice, pressed down and strained to the breaking point.
“It’s just holding hands. You’re not the same, Eui-woo…”
Jae-jin hunched his shoulders and shivered slightly.
For a brief moment, his expression wavered. His brows gradually drooped, and red welts began to form at the corners of his eyes.
“Eui-woo, you… You’re different.”
“What? How the fuck am I different?! Espers are all the same. Every single one of them—filthy, disgusting, wretched—”
“No, you know that’s not all there is. We’re more than that.”
Kwon Jae-jin took a moment to catch his breath. Just talking felt exhausting, as if their very souls were clashing against each other.
“Eui-woo, when I came back after being guided by Mateo… did you start hating me?”
“What? No, of course not!”
“Then what about earlier? You said you were confused. Said you wanted to lock me up and do terrible things to me. Are you tired of dating me now?”
“No? No, I’m not!”
“That’s exactly my point… We already made a promise. To stay the same. To hold strong.”
“But…”
“Holding out my hand doesn’t change anything. Of course, I completely understand how esper instincts are inherently repulsive. I hate it too. But even so, we are still us. You and I… We’re different.”
They had chosen to live properly.
Just as you couldn’t have a normal relationship while standing atop a mountain of corpses, you couldn’t live properly while turning a blind eye to a world drenched in blood.
It was painful, but that was the kind of person Jae-jin was.
If he had chosen to run away from the start, it would’ve been different. But Jae-jin had already set foot on the path of resistance. He didn’t want to stop here.
Awakeners dying like flies, espers being used as weapons until they lost control, guides exploited like tools—he had been holding the key to overturning this rotten world all along.
<Amplifying an esper’s ability through guiding. If that’s real, the entire world will change.>
<From now on, mutants won’t have to die. Guiding will be done in a humane way. And if they wish, they’ll be free to travel to any residential district.>
<Not mucosal contact, just skin contact. If it’s just holding hands for a brief moment, I’m willing to try guiding.>
An S-Class mutant guide.
A bottom-tier hybrid, not even recognized as an awakener, rising up in rebellion with an unprecedented ability.
Could there be a more perfect revolution?
“…Then what about me?”
Seo Eui-woo muttered hollowly, his grip tightening ever so slowly. The fingers around Jae-jin’s throat began to press in, little by little.
“I have to kill every bastard who so much as touches your hand…”
“Ugh…”
“I want to lock you up so badly it’s driving me insane…”
“Eui-woo…”
“I… I don’t even know anymore. I love you, but all I feel are these contradicting urges. It’s like… It’s like I’ve turned into a monster…!”
“Ah…”
“What if it’s because I’m an awakener? Because I wasn’t born as a normal human? Maybe I was never meant to be with you from the start… Maybe I… I don’t even qualify. I don’t deserve to be your lover.”
Every contradiction imaginable consumed him.
He wanted to beg Jae-jin for a kiss, yet at the same time, he wanted to strangle him. The violent urges twisted together inside him, leaving him in complete turmoil.
Seo Eui-woo yanked Kwon Jae-jin closer by the throat. Their dry lips crashed together, and an impatient tongue pushed past the parted seam of his mouth, invading aggressively.
The moment the tips of their tongues met, a desperate, feverish heat surged between them.
His entire body burned like a raging fire as he threw himself at Jae-jin.
Overwhelmed by the searing intensity, Jae-jin’s eyelids quivered.
Far from being unfit to be a lover, Eui-woo was only now truly beginning to grasp what it meant to be in a relationship.
Jealousy, possessiveness—things that any adult raised in the general residential districts would consider common knowledge—were foreign, unfamiliar concepts to Eui-woo. But these raw, negative emotions were simply a natural part of love. A challenge he would have to face and overcome someday.
“Then, Eui-woo, ugh… did you think love would always be nothing but good?”
Jae-jin lowered his gaze, forcing out the words with difficulty.
“I told you, hhngh… there’s something vicious about it…”
<Respecting your partner, trusting them, loving them… That’s what being in a relationship means.>
<…Love? You mean like wisdom teeth?>
<Yes. It’s something like that. Once it starts, there’s no going back. It’s insidious.>
“When you love someone… there’s no helping it.”
“…Love?”
