Lee Miyeon spoke in a slightly sharp tone, filling the silence left by Choi Taehun, who had his lips pressed tightly shut.
“For example… ‘Esper Ji Gwanyeong will lose all information about Guide Choi Taehun and revert to the state he was in eight months ago.’”

The Director let out a disbelieving laugh, while Miyeon sighed in frustration, unable to comprehend the absurdity. Choi Taehun, however, couldn’t even muster such a reaction. Frozen in place, the guide struggled to process the experiment the Teacher was explaining.

“I’ve always been curious,” the Teacher continued, “whether Guide Choi Taehun could truly control the strongest Esper, even in a numerically perfect non-pair state, using only his innate guiding abilities instead of relying on these boring numerical match scores churned out by machines.”

In some ways, it sounded romantic. But in reality, it meant stripping Choi Taehun of the only recognition he had as a guide. Without the blatantly obvious numbers known as matching rates, Choi Taehun would be utterly useless to Ji Gwanyeong. He wouldn’t be able to anchor or save an Esper pushed to the brink of madness.

The guide’s lips moved as if to say something, but all that escaped was the faint sound of a shaky inhale.

“Ah, yes. What was it you called this again… dating? Yes, that’s it. I heard the two of you are dating,” the Teacher mocked with a chuckle.

“What a needless game of hormones,” he sneered. “But in an ambiguous experiment like this, there’s nothing easier to measure than something like that. Now then, this is the goal of my experiment.”

The middle-aged man, who wore an air of gentleness, tilted his head unnaturally to the side as he made his proclamation.

“Guide Choi Taehun must make Esper Ji Gwanyeong his own Esper in a non-pair state. The time limit is one month.”

Choi Taehun, initially too stunned to comprehend the statement, slowly repeated its end.
“…One month? What in the world…”

“Well,” the Teacher said lightly, “you could interpret it as starting a cute little hormone game in the absence of a pair. During that time, let’s hand the reins over to Lee Hansol here. It’ll be a bit bothersome, but if Choi Taehun steps aside for a while, Hansol will manage just fine.”

The reaction to the idea of transferring control was divided. Choi Taehun’s face flushed red with anger as he glared at the Teacher, while Lee Hansol let out a faint chuckle. Ji Gwanyeong, meanwhile, remained silent, lost in thought.

The Director finally snapped, her voice rising in a furious outcry.
“Stop this nonsense! How can you call that an experiment!”

“It is an experiment!” the Teacher retorted gleefully. “A very simple one, in fact. Choi Taehun only has to prove himself. And look, everyone wins—Oh Jinwoo lives, and Ji Gwanyeong survives, too.”

At the mention of Jinwoo, his head drooped even lower, while blue veins stood out on the back of Oh Yeon’s hand. It was clear that the experiment was nothing more than shifting Jinwoo’s torment onto Ji Gwanyeong, a thought that brought no joy to anyone.

The Teacher smiled brightly and made his pitch.
“If Choi Taehun succeeds in the experiment, I will release all the guides I’ve ‘counseled.’ I promise. I don’t tell lies.”

It was an offer no one could easily refuse. But, of course, it came with a sinister catch.

“Well, if he fails, then everyone dies. After they’re all dead, I suppose someone will come for my life as well. Haha, so it seems my fate is tied to Choi Taehun’s success!”

Twenty years ago, ten years ago, and even now, the Teacher’s sole focus was producing the ultimate experimental results. His voice, now quick with excitement, caused Kwon Dahee to close her eyes instinctively.

“If you reject my proposal, I’ll kill one guide every day until Choi Taehun agrees. Today, it was Kim Gwonseok… So, who shall it be tomorrow?”

Miyeon raised her voice in response. Her guide had been under the Teacher’s “counseling” for months, and she had been the one to connect both her guide and Choi Taehun to him. The intelligent and cheerful woman now looked like a completely different person, as if transformed in just a few hours.

“You! You’ve been going on about how you could deal with other guides so easily, but what exactly are you relying on…?”

“Ah. Just one example, like Kim Gwonseok, isn’t enough for you?”

The teacher narrowed his eyes. Lee Miyeon faltered, her words trailing off as she stammered, “It’s not that, I just…” She repeated her hesitant denial like a broken record. The humility now evident on her face was a far cry from the confident demeanor she usually carried, even in the presence of Espers with immeasurable abilities.

As an Esper herself, Miyeon knew she couldn’t gamble with her own guide’s life, especially not after witnessing Kim Gwonseok’s fate.

“Well then,” the teacher said, his tone suddenly chipper as if he’d reached an epiphany. “To prove my point, why don’t I make the guide who sits next to you in the research lab my next subject?”

“…Wait! Wait, please!” Miyeon cried out.

“Your guide will die because of you, Miyeon. Ha ha ha!”

“Don’t! Please don’t! Teacher, sir, wait a moment!”

Her pleas, desperate and frantic, didn’t stop the teacher from beginning his countdown. His voice took on a theatrical quality, making it almost seem like a joke. Starting at ten, the numbers steadily decreased, each one spoken as if it were part of an elaborate performance.

If he were bluffing, Miyeon’s desperate reaction might have looked comical. But as an Esper, the reality of what a guide’s life entailed left her and everyone else with no choice but to watch helplessly, trying to stop the inevitable.

The center director grabbed the teacher, shouting in a panic.
“Teacher, what are you doing?! Stop this right now!”

They needed to figure out how he was controlling the guides. Oh Yeon’s sharp eyes scanned the teacher’s every move, attempting to uncover the mechanism behind his terrifying power. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t discern anything unusual.

The teacher simply appeared to be counting backward. Even when multiple Espers had attempted to scan his mind in the past, they had failed to unravel his methods.

As the countdown reached its conclusion, the teacher’s lips curved into a broad, unsettling grin.
“There. All done. Feel free to check, Lee Miyeon.”

Miyeon staggered to her feet, trembling. She couldn’t bring herself to leave the room, her body shaking uncontrollably as she glared at him with desperate eyes. She silently prayed that his words were empty threats.

…It couldn’t be true. It had to be a lie.

Her voice cracked and wavered as she muttered in disbelief. But it wasn’t long before a message arrived via the hotline, confirming the death of another guide.

This time, the incident hadn’t even occurred within the center. An anxious Esper had sent their guide home for safety, only for the guide to end their life in their own bathroom, slashing their wrists in what could only be described as a grotesque and shocking death straight out of a B-grade horror film.

Miyeon collapsed to the floor, her legs giving out beneath her. She trembled violently, unable to return to the sofa, her entire being overtaken by instinctive fear.

The center director clenched her teeth as she observed Miyeon’s devastated state. When the teacher had begun his countdown, not only she but also Oh Yeon, Ji Gwanyeong, and even Oh Jinwoo had focused every ounce of their senses on uncovering his methods.

Yet, they had found nothing.

Once again, the director had been forced to watch helplessly as one of her own was lost. Aside from the hollow plea to stop, she had no means of resistance.

Clenching her trembling hands into fists, she suppressed the anger boiling inside her.

The teacher, on the other hand, seemed amused by her reaction, his eyes gleaming with twisted delight.

Watching him, Choi Taehun suddenly recalled something the center director had once said.
[“A genius whose limits no one can fathom… Yes, that’s who ‘the teacher’ is. Sometimes I wonder—no matter how powerful an Esper is, they’re still human, aren’t they? Is what he does even possible for a human?”]

How? How is he doing this?

Taehun’s thoughts swirled with unanswered questions as the teacher, as if reading his mind, finally voiced the question himself.