“Right now, Lee Hansol is targeting Ji Gwanyeong as his Esper.”

Everyone’s gaze shifted to the man with a languid expression, whose thoughts were unknown, and then to the guide next to him. Oh Yeon thought that Choi Taehun’s face seemed strangely pale.

Choi Taehun unintentionally lowered his gaze to the words that clearly came to his mind. Ji Gwanyeong then grabbed the guide’s hand and kissed the tightly held fingers.

“How is it possible to steal an Esper?”

“…It’s a kind of power struggle.”

For the first time, the Esper, who had maintained a calm face, showed signs of agitation.

Oh Jinwoo took a small breath, then slowly turned his gaze to the ceiling, where light was pouring down, and slowly exhaled the emotions he had been holding back. The heavy metal on his wrist made a creaking sound. The Esper remained silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth in a very low, slow voice.

“When an Esper and a guide have exceeded a certain matching rate and become a pair, it means there is an intangible bond between them.”

“….”

“Lee Hansol has an unknown power that can take that intangible bond from a pair. However, there is one condition: the guide has to give up that bond. But there are hardly any guides who would willingly surrender that bond.”

“So?”

Over the course of ten years, Oh Jinwoo learned some secrets about his guide, Lee Hansol. This was the first time he spoke of these things aloud. Until now, he hadn’t been given the opportunity to do so.

“So, usually, the easiest method is used. The guide is killed, and the bond is taken. It’s like a kind of succession ritual.”

The casual words contained a deeply unsettling meaning, causing Ji Gwanyeong’s eyebrows to twitch. But the agitation among the Espers in the hall was even more intense.

In fact, the possibility that Lee Hansol could steal an Esper had been one of the latest and most unlikely theories. Of course, this theory had been dismissed as a wild guess until recently.

The truth that made many pairs uneasy was far more unsettling than simply blaming Oh Jinwoo, the Esper criminal, for the crimes.

Oh Yeon, who had lived under the stigma of being the family of a notorious criminal for ten years and had been wounded by it repeatedly, spoke with a slightly wavering voice.

“Was the incident ten years ago your crime?”

“…No. I don’t think so.”

“Answer me clearly!”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember that time. When I came to, it was already… and Lee Hansol was there. He said he killed them.”

The calm admission from the ‘unmeasurable’ Esper carried a blue light that signaled the truth. The intelligence Espers sitting in front of Oh Jinwoo showed signs of unease. Oh Yeon stared at the electronic board where the truth had appeared, as if lost for words.

Miyeon took over the baton.

Imihyun gently patted Oh Yeon’s shoulder to calm him, then stood in his place. Oh Yeon took a few steps back to release the tension in his neck.

“Why have you been paired with Guide Lee Hansol for the past ten years after the incident?”

“Because there were no other guides besides Lee Hansol.”

Miyeon slightly frowned at his answer. Oh Jinwoo continued slowly, watching her.

“Until Lee Hansol finds a new Esper, I will not be matched with any other guide.”

Each sentence he uttered carried a sense of desperate subjugation, and a few people could be heard inhaling sharply. Oh Jinwoo, taking in every sound, softly added, “Feel free to verify it.”

The casual continuation of that sentence was actually quite dangerous. There was no guide who would permit a matching test with a criminal, considered the most powerful Esper with an unmeasurable ability. But that silence didn’t last long, thanks to the young man who walked out.

“…Park Seungwon.”

“It’s fine. Yeonah, let’s try it. Let’s see if what he said is true.”

Park Seungwon smiled gently with his eyes narrowed, lovingly embracing his pale-faced Esper.

The matching test is a tedious process that takes place over a long period, with the Esper and guide being in close proximity to each other. Several researchers moved quickly but with restrained motions to set up the test equipment and prepare the space. Seungwon, for the first time, narrowed his eyes as he observed his own Esper, the man who was both his younger sibling and weakness.

Could it be that a single-digit matching rate will appear?

However, even with that in mind, the expression “no guide to pair with” wasn’t quite right. Even if the matching rate was only 1 percent, even if the effect was poor, it couldn’t be said that there was no guide. As he stared absentmindedly at the machinery linking him and Oh Jinwoo, Park Seungwon thought.

Except for the physical Espers standing in a tight formation, the others began to prepare for the long wait by sitting in the chairs provided by the headquarters. Among them were the Ji Gwanyeong and Choi Taehun pair.

Gwanyeong stiffly kissed the fingertips of his frozen lover. Normally, Choi Taehun would have jumped at such an action in public, but now he seemed too overwhelmed to react, his eyes slightly red from the soft touch.

Everyone expected the long wait to be tedious.

This was the kind of matching test they all knew. Even Ji Gwanyeong and Choi Taehun, who had never experienced such a lengthy test, slightly relaxed their stiff bodies and leaned gently against each other.

But such ease didn’t last long.

The voices of the Espers, who had been gathering their thoughts and speaking, slowly began to fade, as if being muted. The moment the enormous machine connecting Oh Jinwoo and Park Seungwon was activated, a large number appeared on the matching rate display panel.

Taehun stared at it blankly, stunned.

A familiar notification sound followed immediately after he had been with Gwanyeong.

[SCORE ‘0’]

But the numbers didn’t stop moving.

The screen showing the bond between the pair displayed an eerie, rapidly increasing speed, generating new numbers without pause. The people in the room forgot to breathe for a moment, stunned by the endlessly changing numbers.

How much time had passed?

The machine blinked before showing a dark blue error message, having reached its maximum possible value.

-999999.

That was the number between Esper Oh Jinwoo and guide Park Seungwon. No matter how low the matching rate, hearing a negative number below single digits was something no one had ever heard of before. Everyone was in shock, unable to speak. The most stunned was Oh Yeon.

No one in the room didn’t understand the significance of that number.

Not a single guide with a matching rate of 10 percent, or even 1 percent, meant that the outcome could only be one thing. Oh Jinwoo, exhausted, stared at the number before slowly speaking.

His voice sounded somewhat weary.

“Lee Hansol… said he would go to find my ‘father’ last.”

“Father?”

“…‘The teacher’ is still alive.”