While I drifted off to sleep, finally able to relax, Potato kept his sprout standing tall, on full alert as he monitored the situation outside.
As if it was obvious that X being in the area couldn’t have been just a coincidence.
“Go to sleep.”
[You go to sleep. I’m a weird little thing born from your ability. I’m not a living organism, so I don’t need sleep, food, or any kind of energy activity.]
Then what was that snoring I heard the other day?
But I was too exhausted to press the question.
Each time I blinked, Potato crept closer and closer.
[Enough. Get some real sleep.]
Potato gently pulled my eyelids down over my eyes.
I fell asleep immediately, without dreaming at all.
***
Once his master was asleep, Potato focused fully on the fading aura and energy ripple of X as it moved away.
X wasn’t close enough to be detected easily, but Potato silently tracked the unfamiliar traces of the fake Esper’s aura in his mind.
Despite Je-ha’s claim that X had stolen multiple abilities, Potato only sensed two distinct energy signatures.
One must be stealth… and the faint one… if it leaked this far, it’s probably tracking.
As a special ability that had separated from Ahn Ga-hyun, Potato shared part of his master’s brain.
Of course, Ahn Ga-hyun had no way of reading Potato’s thoughts, and thus no clue what his own ability was scheming.
Potato shut his eyes, tuning out everything except the distant presence of an Esper’s aura circling outside.
The tracking aura was weak, likely from an E or D-rank Esper. There was no foreign energy overlaying it, which led Potato to guess the person was probably under mind control.
If he’s using a tracking ability despite being afraid of Je-ha… then he must be trying to find something he can exploit as a weakness.
It seemed Ahn Ga-hyun had made the right call. If X had seen Je-ha and Yeon Yu-jin together, it would’ve been bad for everyone involved.
He’d probably come to tail Je-ha, but by the time he got here, Je-ha had already vanished somewhere with Telekinesis. Ahn Ga-hyun, too, was lying low and pretending like nothing had happened.
There’d be no useful information to gather here.
The late-night stroll of this poor low-level Esper, presumably being used by X, should have ended there.
But the suspicious energies of stealth and tracking didn’t dissipate. Instead, they began circling the area.
Like a pack of hyenas, sniffing around to make sure they hadn’t lost their prey.
Even though Je-ha’s trace had already faded, they stared fixedly at one spot for a long time before moving again.
Potato felt a chill creep over his round, roasted-rice-colored body.
They were definitely looking toward the dorm where my master, Yeon Yu-jin, is.
He was sure of it. Of all beings, it was the ability core born inside a Guide or Esper that could best detect and interpret the energy fluctuations of other abilities.
As a sentient embodiment of ability itself, Potato could respond sensitively to those kinds of shifts.
They shouldn’t have seen Je-ha and Yeon Yu-jin together today…
Could it be that the reason X kept hounding Yeon Yu-jin’s trail was because of that run-in with Je-ha back at the testing center?
Creepy bastard…
X didn’t know that Yeon Yu-jin was actually Ahn Ga-hyun come back to life.
Right now, he probably saw Yu-jin as nothing more than a mysterious Guide who caught Je-ha’s rare interest—possibly one hiding his true ability level.
But the more contact they had, the easier the truth would be to uncover.
No one knew who X really was, what he looked like. But if he ever discovered that Yeon Yu-jin and Ahn Ga-hyun were the same person…
He would celebrate. He’d sing and dance and praise the heavens for the incredible fortune that had fallen into his lap. Because the one person who could destroy Hyun Je-ha most thoroughly was his Guide—Ahn Ga-hyun.
A miracle had brought Ga-hyun back. How could he not become something unbearably precious?
And if someone had to die in a similar situation again, Je-ha would sacrifice himself for his Guide without hesitation.
Potato knew this well. He had been born the moment Ahn Ga-hyun died, and Hyun Je-ha, consumed by grief, lost control and went berserk.
So X would go hunting for the one person most important to Je-ha.
And now, Yeon Yu-jin had been designated as the next target. Even if Yu-jin had been officially classified as a C-rank Guide, it wouldn’t matter.
Wasn’t X himself someone who lived under a false identity?
Just the possibility that Je-ha might have come here to meet Yu-jin was enough for X to start digging into his past.
Potato stared down at his sleeping master and let out a long sigh.
[ Why’d you have to really come back to life…]
He’d been so lonely without his master.
No ability user in the world could even perceive him. Even when he screamed right in their faces, they passed by as if he didn’t exist.
Maybe because he’d been forcefully separated from Ga-hyun during a moment of crisis, rather than by choice.
There was no other case like his. Even when he called out to Espers and Guides with special abilities, no one ever answered.
[So what if I have Resurrection? I couldn’t bring back my dead master. And now I just float around in this half-living, half-dead body, not alive but not quite gone either.]
Potato had been painfully alone. He prayed, again and again, to whatever god might listen. It didn’t matter which one—he just wanted someone to hear his voice.
[Give us back our master. Damn you, heaven. He died unfairly. His ability was Resurrection—he should have come back! He died early because of some rotten bastards! If he died before his time, shouldn’t he be returned? You stingy assholes. GIVE HIM BACK. If his body’s too far gone to restore, then at least give us his soul!]
Was it a prayer, a curse, or just a tantrum? Who could tell? Either way, Potato kept pleading.
Until one day…
He felt a strange, yet achingly familiar energy signature—and followed it.
There he found his master.
True, the human he found looked nothing like the person he used to know. More like some delicate, ethereal orchid. But still—Potato recognized him at once.
This was the person he originally belonged to.
The final puzzle piece that could fill the gaping emptiness in his heart.
He was so happy to be reunited, but there were still unresolved problems.
The biggest one: they had to kill X.
Potato continued to track the aura that might’ve belonged to X’s companion or hostage, staying on high alert.
Don’t come in here. I won’t let trash like you take our master away.
It wasn’t just Hyun Je-ha who had suffered from losing Ahn Ga-hyun. The ability that had suddenly become an orphan and wandered the world alone was just as determined to protect him.
Potato even gathered up the residual Guiding energy Yu-jin had been releasing in his sleep and buried it away deep in a corner, erasing the scent.
Only then did X’s crew disappear.
Exhausted, Potato’s sprout flopped over his round head.
[Man. Protecting my master is hard work.]
Sore all over, he jumped up onto the bed where Yu-jin was sleeping and rolled around.
Snuggling under the same blanket as his master, Potato made another wish.
[If only… if only Je-ha could see me too, maybe we could team up. That wouldn’t be so bad.]
He’d thought Je-ha would be able to see him. When it turned out he couldn’t, Potato had been disappointed.
Maybe there’s some special condition required?
He didn’t know. It was his first time existing like this too. But he still desperately wished Je-ha would become aware of him.
Because… Potato had something he planned to do for Yeon Yu-jin one day. And he didn’t want to leave behind any regrets or unfinished business.
He pressed his face against Yu-jin’s cheek, letting out a small breath as he fell asleep.
[I really can sleep better next to my master.]
Funny, isn’t it? A sentient ability that supposedly doesn’t need sleep, mimicking human habits like this.
Potato giggled softly before drifting off, dreaming of the old days—before he even had a will of his own—when his master and his partner hunted monsters in perfect sync.
***
The moment I woke up, I called the Bureau agent.
“Hello?”
That voice—it was the one who had pretended to be a staffer at the testing center back then.
I decided to cut straight to the chase and demand the authority I’d been promised.
“Hello, you’re with the Bureau, right?”
“Uh, yes… that’s correct.”
His voice kept shrinking, like he knew exactly who I was.
I didn’t care and went straight into it.
“I want to access the domestic ability user database—the one I was going to be given authority for to help catch that bastard from before.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. Immediately. Even one second sooner would be better.”
