30.
—30 minutes have passed since drug 1 was administered. Current body temperature 38.7 degrees, pulse range 63 to 140. If the condition does not improve after 5 more minutes, a sedative will be administered.
The coldly clinical voice through the microphone washed over his entire body—a sound he thought he’d never have to hear again. A piercing ringing echoed in his ears, and despite lying with his hands and feet firmly secured, waves of phantom dizziness kept washing over him.
5 minutes. When converted to seconds, it’s only 300 seconds—not a particularly long time. When watching Ryu Ho-yeon’s sleeping face, what was 5 minutes? Even 30 minutes or an hour would pass in the blink of an eye. But 5 minutes alone on this examination table was unbearably long.
Choi Jae-won gritted his teeth and counted seconds internally. 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds… Even before he could count all 300 seconds, his vision turned bright yellow and a pungent smell rushed from his nose. Someone wearing experimental gloves quickly turned his face to the side. This was to prevent blood from entering his airway. His stomach felt like it was being wrung out. He wanted to scream. Yet, he had no intention of giving up. This wasn’t his first experience with pain, nor was it the first time he’d suffered.
Ever since he heard the news that Lee Han-seo had decided to become paired with an Esper other than Ryu Ho-yeon at the age of fifteen, this physical agony had been his sole guide and beacon.
From his toes to his fingertips. If he endured this pain that seemed to slice through his entire body once, twice, three times—Ryu Ho-yeon reliably moved closer to him each time. Through this closeness, he eagerly seized the opportunity to devote himself to Ryu Ho-yeon. So it would be the same this time. In fact, now Ryu Ho-yeon rarely lost consciousness when crossing the gate, even when nearing the precursor state of runaway power.
It was only natural to pay an appropriate price for clear results. Choi Jae-won’s unrequited love had never come easily without cost, and he was prepared to pay the price. As long as results were achieved.
—Hmm, that’s enough for today. Administering sedative.
Another cold voice transmitted through the microphone. His hand stung briefly before the sedative spread throughout his body, making him sluggish. He drifted into a hazy sleep.
When he regained consciousness, he was on a bed in the Guide’s lounge as always. He skillfully removed the gauze blocking his nose. The nosebleed had already stopped. Checking the time, it seemed he’d been unconscious for just under an hour. On a day like today with no mission, Ryu Ho-yeon would spend at least three or four hours alone in his workshop, so there was still plenty of time left.
He rubbed his tired eyelids and fumbled in his pocket. As expected, it contained neatly packaged pills that needed to be taken daily until next week’s experiment. The number of tablets had increased compared to what he used to take. Previously, the experiments had only aimed at increasing the matching rate, but now they were also targeting the improvement of guiding purity itself. The pain and duration of the experiment had increased accordingly. Suddenly, he envied Lee Han-seo. As cousins, they should share some common genetic traits at the root, but why did none of the genetic traits he inherited and expressed involve superior guiding? S-class? No, even proper A-class would have allowed him to support Ryu Ho-yeon much more strongly.
Though the amount was very small compared to the horrifically painful price, the total amount of guiding was increasing bit by bit, making it difficult to give up.
Choi Jae-won rested for about thirty more minutes with his limbs sprawled powerlessly on the bed, then tidied his disheveled clothes and stepped out of the lounge.
“Choi Jae-won.”
“Ah, senior. Hello.”
“…Can we talk for a moment?”
There stood Lee Jung-hyuk, one of Ryu Ho-yeon’s few acquaintances and an A-class Guide, with a rather stiff expression. A workplace superior suddenly appearing with a serious expression asking to talk was not at all a positive signal for a junior, but Choi Jae-won had never been in a subordinate position in his entire life to understand such social contexts. (Except in front of Ryu Ho-yeon.)
“I don’t mind, but I can’t spare much time if I need to be back when Hoyeon hyung comes home.”
“Even a moment is fine. This way.”
He had always thought Jung-hyuk was the most taciturn and serious type among those around Ryu Ho-yeon, but today it seemed especially severe. What could he possibly have to say that was so important? Choi Jae-won thought carelessly, not suspecting at all that his long tail had been stepped on. Well, the reason was that he didn’t care if anyone other than Ryu Ho-yeon stepped on him.
The place Lee Jung-hyuk led him to was the Esper Team Leader’s office, currently vacant. It seemed to be lunchtime, as all the regular department members’ seats outside the office were also empty.
“You can sit there. Coffee?”
Choi Jae-won shook his head as he took the seat Jung-hyuk offered. He had completely given up coffee since resuming the experiments that had been halted when he officially entered the Center. His body, soaked in various drugs with unclear side effects, struggled to accept caffeine. Even after the experiments were completely finished, he would probably need a long period to recover various parts of his damaged body.
“…”
“…”
Time was precious, yet Lee Jung-hyuk, seated across from him, kept his gaze lowered and showed no signs of speaking. Finally, an irritated Choi Jae-won broke the silence first.
“If you have nothing to say, may I leave first, senior?”
Despite the irritation in his voice, the words themselves were relatively polite. It was difficult to act as he pleased since Jung-hyuk was a close acquaintance of Ryu Ho-yeon, unlike a mere senior or superior.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“Yes. If you have something to say, please make it quick.”
Raising his head to look at the much younger junior Guide, Lee Jung-hyuk finally managed to utter one sentence. “…Dr. An Yong-su.”
“So that’s what this is about. It’s because of Dr. An.”
“…Yes, that’s right. I heard he was dismissed from the Center due to an unfortunate incident, but I discovered he returned recently. And at Choi Jae-won Guide’s request.”
“Hmm.”
A slight change flickered in Choi Jae-won’s indifferent gaze. If Lee Han-seo had reached the pinnacle of Guides with his innate ability, the man now before Choi Jae-won was a veteran among veterans who had never yielded the lead to any other Guide in combat contributions, even from the time he was incorrectly known as a B-class Guide. It seemed experience truly counted for something. Both Dr. An’s return under the Research Director’s authority and the fact that Choi Jae-won himself had requested it were classified as confidential—how had he found out?
In fact, the weekly experiments he was receiving were also being conducted secretly in a hidden space provided by the Research Director. Even researchers in the lab were completely unaware that Choi Jae-won was undergoing experiments to enhance his guiding ability.
His intelligence-gathering abilities were certainly impressive. But that was all.
“So what?”
He asked calmly, leaning back into the sofa.
“You’re right, senior. I requested Dr. An’s return, and he’s been back at the Center for quite some time. As you know, it hasn’t been made official because of that ‘unfortunate’ incident in the past. Is there a problem?”
Problem. Of course there was. And not just one or two. Especially since the vaguely expressed “unfortunate” incident was related to Kim Jun-young, Lee Jung-hyuk’s pair.
Dr. An Yong-su, originally the chief researcher directly under the Research Director, was a scholar among scholars with international renown for his research achievements on Esper biological characteristics and guiding mechanisms. The list of patents for his creations based on his research was endless—from guiding substitutes with fewer side effects to improved, smaller Esper ability amplifiers, as well as various cutting-edge items useful in combat situations.
People sent fervent support for Dr. An’s brilliant achievements. They firmly believed that if he continued to develop steadily for a few more years, South Korea would also stand tall in the ability user combat equipment industry, currently led by Germany and the United States.
But after it was revealed that all of Dr. An’s dazzling achievements had sprouted from biological experiments strictly prohibited by international treaties, everything came to nothing. And the most representative victim of those experiments was none other than Lee Jung-hyuk’s pair Esper, Kim Jun-young.
