I had no clue why—or how—I ended up in the body of a D-rank guide named Yeon Yu-jin. But there was one thing I knew for sure.
That I was nothing more than a stranger—an outsider—possessing someone else’s body, suddenly thrown twenty years into the future with nowhere to go.
Je-ha… What happened to Je-ha…?
My pair. My partner.
Even if our bond had been severed when I entered this unfamiliar body, I still found myself aching for him.
I managed to drag this weak, trembling body to the window, but nothing changed.
“……”
Below the hospital, the world looked unbearably normal.
Students heading home from school. Parents holding their children’s hands. Office workers rushing off somewhere. A scene I’d desperately prayed to see, even while hacking off monster limbs.
And now, seeing it for real… felt disturbingly out of place.
“Haaah….”
I couldn’t breathe.
I clutched my throat and gasped for air. A nurse must’ve been walking down the hallway, because she rushed over in a panic.
“Patient! Are you okay? Sir?!”
“Hff… hff…”
“We’ve got a patient showing signs of hyperventilation—”
My vision blurred again.
What the hell was wrong with this Yeon Yu-jin guy’s body? Just a little mental shock and it’s already shutting down from hyperventilation?
There’s no way someone this fragile could survive as a guide. He’d be monster chow. No wonder he ended up as an idol instead…
Still, I don’t know why everyone seems to hate him so much.
If it were me, I would’ve quit this ridiculous idol gig already.
From what I’d read online, the group was a total flop—completely ignored and even mocked as “fail-dols.”
That was my last thought before I blacked out. And in my dream… Je-ha appeared.
***
Je-ha looked exactly the same as the moment I’d died.
Drenched in blood, still in his combat uniform, sobbing over my body. It was nothing like the bright, cheerful Je-ha I knew.
“No… Ga-hyun. I can’t lose you like this. There’s something I never got to tell you…”
Tell me what?
This was just a dream—my unconscious mind grasping at what might’ve happened after death. There was no way to know if this was how Je-ha truly reacted.
“I wanted to tell you that I…”
Can’t hear you, dumbass.
I died protecting him. Whatever he wanted to say… I’d never know now.
It’s been twenty years. He’s probably an old man by now… or maybe he died in some dungeon.
Would I ever hear news of Je-ha again—my esper, my partner?
I crouched beside him in the dream, tracing the remnants of our severed bond.
What happened to Je-ha after I died?
The odds of him surviving were slim, given the circumstances.
But I hope… he made it out alive.
I stared at his face—one I’d conjured up from longing—etched deep into my subconscious. But then something strange happened.
Soaked in tears, Je-ha looked up… and met my eyes.
Wait—what? He’s looking at me?
No way. I had no memory of this.
I let out a shaky breath, telling myself I was imagining it. But Je-ha walked right past me—and toward someone else.
The dream warped.
The bleak dungeon gate was gone, replaced by a brightly lit room.
It looked like a lab, packed with medical equipment.
The hell is this?
My corpse lay in a glass chamber in the center of the room. Tubes and cables were attached to it, like someone was still trying to preserve it.
I thought I’d been buried already.
Seeing my body, a gaping hole in its chest, preserved like some grotesque experiment… it made my skin crawl.
Then…
Clang.
“…Ga-hyun. So this is where you were.”
Je-ha shattered the glass chamber and clutched my corpse, pleading with the medical staff.
“P-please help him. Please treat Ga-hyun. He’s my guide. He was hurt protecting me. If we don’t act fast, he’ll die!”
You idiot. I’m already dead.
Was he in denial?
It was just a dream, but it felt so real it made my chest ache.
I’d seen too many espers and guides lose it after their partners died.
A man who looked like a doctor responded bluntly.
“He’s been dead for quite some time. We declared time of death in front of you, Esper Hyun Je-ha.”
“You’re lying!”
“Guide Ahn Ga-hyun died from massive blood loss. You witnessed the fatal injury. It was critical. I understand losing your bonded guide is devastating, but Esper Hyun Je-ha, you are still valuable. You can—”
The doctor didn’t finish his sentence.
“Aaaargh!”
“Shut up.”
Je-ha hadn’t even moved. But the doctor’s arm twisted grotesquely. His joints bent the wrong way.
Telekinesis.
Je-ha’s signature power—strong enough to shred monsters to pieces—was now being used on humans.
“Ga-hyun’s not dead. He can’t be. We promised each other—we’d get out of this hell alive.”
This is… way too vivid to be just a dream.
And yet, there was no way this was real. I was dead. I shouldn’t be able to see or hear anything.
So what the hell kind of dream is this?
Also, I’d never seen Je-ha this angry before.
That sweet, gentle guy was losing his mind over my death? Was my imagination always this wild?
Even as I stood there confused, Dream Je-ha kept using his powers.
“Bring Ga-hyun back. Bring him back—!”
“Gaaaah! Aaaaagh!”
I could hear bones twisting, cracking under pressure.
“Please, stop! Aaagh!”
The medical staff screamed as Je-ha crumpled their bodies like paper, one after another.
The rest fled, shouting into their radios.
“Emergency! Emergency! Alpha-12 has gone berserk after losing his bonded guide! We request immediate termination authorization!”
…What?
Too cruel.
I’d heard rumors about how berserk espers were handled. But I never imagined it would happen to my esper.
Let alone that they’d issue a kill order.
Je-ha! Run! Get out of there!
It was just a dream—my subconscious piecing together a tragic story. But I screamed at him anyway, begging him to run. But he didn’t.
He just kept sobbing like an idiot, clinging to my body.
“Ga-hyun… I’m sorry. I swear, I’ll find a way to bring you back…”
You dumbass, shut up and run! RUN!
“This is Codename Scylla. Esper confirmed berserk. Proceeding with elimination.”
A massive armored vehicle rolled into the room. Military-grade weaponry—normally used on monsters—locked onto Je-ha.
“Alpha-12. You’re charged with civilian casualties. Lethal force authorized.”
Bzzzzzz.
“Fire.”
BOOM.
A massive explosion engulfed him. And the corpse he’d held onto until the very end.
***
“No!”
I woke up screaming in a pitch-black hospital room.
“…Was that… a dream?”
[What do you mean, ‘No’?]
“AAAGH!”
Still half-shaken from the nightmare, I nearly leapt out of bed. Something strange was right in front of me.
“…What the hell is that?”
[What do you mean ‘that’? Rude.]
It was whining in a sulky voice.
That… that’s definitely a sprouted potato.
I rubbed my eyes over and over. But there was no mistaking it. That round, tan lump had actual sprouts growing out of it.
Am I so sleep-deprived I’m hallucinating now? What’s next—a potato with leaves?
The room looked the same as it had before I passed out. A single-occupant hospital room.
Was I still dreaming?
The… potato thing leapt at me and pulled on my cheek like dough.
“Why am I suddenly thinking of that children’s song… ‘Potato sprouts, potato sprouts, pull one off, and there’s one less!’”
[WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SPROUTED POTATO?!]
“Gah!”
It socked me. Square in the face.
Its twig-like limbs packed way more power than they should have. My cheek stung.
Not a dream. That really hurt.
This… this is real.
“…Why am I getting punched by a sprouted potato?”
[I told you! I’m NOT a sprouted potato!]
It had a bit of a villain personality, too. As it tried to punch my other cheek, I caught its stubby little fist.
“What kind of potato is this violent?”
[Hmph!]
One hit was enough. I wasn’t about to keep getting decked by a tuber. I was once an SSS-class guide. If I couldn’t dodge this, I’d lose all pride.
[Let go of me!]
I covered its mouth to shut it up.
What is this thing? Some kind of new pet?
In dungeons, you could find more than just weapons and artifacts.
Sometimes you’d come across creatures—eggs, young beasts—that you could tame and summon as pets.
Unicorns, pegasi, even mythical beasts showed up occasionally, sending collectors into a frenzy. But a sprouted potato? That was a new one.
I tried to examine it, running my hands over its smooth surface to find a master tag or something.
The potato screeched.
[I’M NOT A PET!]
“Then what are you?”
Unless humanity had gone full mad-scientist and evolved genetic engineering like crazy in twenty years, this thing had to be a pet.
If not, then it was a talking magical beast—either way, it wasn’t normal.
Breaking free from my grip, the potato huffed and puffed.
[Ahn Ga-hyun. I’m your ability, idiot!]
