“Where could it be? It’s dangerous.” The guide furrowed his brow slightly to get a clearer view beyond the transparent barricade.

Given Kim Gwonseok’s meticulous nature, it was obvious that he wouldn’t leave his assigned maintenance area and would likely be nearby.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s a suicide incident. A guide suddenly… before anyone could stop it…”

“Good grief, what is this… Is it an external certified guide?”

“No, that’s not it…”

The researchers’ conversation was abruptly cut off.

A massive chunk of marble flew out with a crash, smashing into the wall and violently striking the barricade outside, creating an earth-shattering noise.

Taehun froze in place at the terrifying sound. In contrast, his partner, Ji Gwanyeong, calmly fixed the slightly twisted barricade with ease, his expression indifferent. But soon, even Ji Gwanyeong furrowed his brow and turned his gaze inward.

A horrifying scream echoed.

The reason it was described as horrifying was that the sound was so sharp, like it was squeezing the heart, that no other word could capture it.

“No, no, no…!”

A piercing sound like tearing wind mixed with the warning siren. The shattered walls of the training area beyond the transparent barricade revealed the interior clearly. Taehun’s gaze drifted blankly toward the source of the desperate cry.

“No, oppa! No, no, no!”

Ji Gwanyeong recognized someone in the center of it all.

As soon as he saw them, he muttered a curse under his breath, something uncharacteristic for him. The esper hastily blocked his guide’s path, blaming himself for bringing Taehun here.

“…Taehun, turn your head!”

In the middle of the training area, a huge pool of blood had formed. The guide’s eyes slowly moved from the red center upward. At the end of his gaze, a man, pale as if made of wax, was hanging there.

Taehun knew exactly who it was.

In that instant, the strength drained from his legs. Ji Gwanyeong, noticing his partner’s dazed eyes, pulled him into an embrace to shield him.

“Please, please open your eyes, okay? Oppa, please… No, no, don’t do this! Oppa, no…”

Kim Gwonseok was dead.

—

The center director, Kwon Dahee, still sometimes dreams of the nightmares from the past.

The dark dream always starts with the day she first visited the teacher’s experimental lab more than twenty years ago. The teacher’s laboratory was located in the deepest basement of the center, a place no one knew about.

“Kwon Dahee, you’ll understand what this means.”

At the time, she was a new researcher who had just joined the center. She thought she had grabbed the rope to reach higher places when she saw the senior researcher leading her with a serious face.

But the center’s secret was beyond anything she could have imagined. The center created people, erased them, and created them again. It seemed as dry and routine as cultivating bacteria.

The person standing in the middle of that horror was the “teacher.”

An unknown esper, with a relaxed expression as if unable to do anything, reached out and waved his hand toward his child. The sound of a newborn crying and a woman’s voice, pleading with tears to return her child despite her body being drenched in sweat, blended together.

“Dahee, watch carefully. This is something you have to do too.”

The teacher gave a faint smile toward Kwon Dahee, then injected a thick needle into the small life that still had a trace of red energy around it.

At that moment, Kwon Dahee couldn’t stop it.

“AAAH, AH, AAAAAH!”

The agonizing cry, as if scratching deep inside the throat, made the center director swallow hard, as if the shadow of her dark past had suddenly emerged.

“Director! Currently, a physical esper is on standby!”

The shrill warning sirens mixed with the cries of an esper who had lost their guide. Kwon Dahee lifted her gaze, no longer focused on her past but on the immediate, present reality in front of her.

She could barely breathe. The reason neither the researcher asking the question nor she, the center director, could make a decision easily was simple.

The esper before them was disturbed by the deep despair of the woman in front of them. The same went for those waiting for the attack. Just an hour or two ago, they had been colleagues, and now they had to face each other with their lives at stake. They knew all too well the reason why she had gone berserk.

“Our most beautiful young lady in the world,” Kim Gwonseok’s constant phrase.

Even in his dazed state, with his senses dulled, Taehun felt relieved that Kim Gwonseok wasn’t able to witness her current condition. He was a guide who couldn’t bear to watch his esper, who was always so proud of sharing things like good food and beautiful sights, suffering like this.

Around her, as she screamed, her eyes completely bloodshot and her veins bulging, fierce winds whipped through. The overwhelming power, growing stronger with each passing moment, seemed intent on swallowing everything that came close to her and her deceased lover. The training area for the esper was slowly being crushed under the ferocious onslaught.

These were the very things her guide, who had been a maintenance worker here, had meticulously tended to every day.

As time passed, Ji Gwanyeong frowned slightly at the increasingly violent energy surge from the esper. He also couldn’t help but notice the shocked expression on Taehun, who remained clinging to his arm in silence.

The pair was waiting a fair distance away from the site where the esper had set up his position, accompanied by a few other researchers. Taehun had refused to distance himself from Kim Gwonseok and the esper’s final moments.

Miyeon watched Taehun with a pitying gaze.

“Taehun, you should drink some water.”

“…Yes.”

Taehun took the water bottle from Miyeon with a heavy voice. But his pale lips trembled slightly, unable to drink properly.

If someone asked if it was his first time seeing a death, the answer would be no. But it was the first time someone who had been smiling and dreaming of the future only moments ago had so brutally given up on life.

And it was the first time witnessing the pain of a lover discovering that.

Ji Gwanyeong, seeing Taehun’s trembling hand, placed his own hand over Taehun’s, the pressure making his bones pop out. The guide, as though relying solely on the warmth of the touch, rested his head on his partner’s shoulder. The esper, gently caressing Taehun, slowly opened his mouth.

“Miyeon.”

“Yes?”

“If I take care of the situation inside, can we protect Taehun at the center?”

Miyeon and the other researchers turned their gaze toward the lethargic-faced man. Taehun, who had been leaning weakly, did the same. Ji Gwanyeong was looking at the training area, where the explosive sound of destruction seemed to tear the space apart.

“I’m not sure what the situation will be. Simple suppression is easy, but that’s not what I want.”

“…Understood. I’ll prepare.”

The researchers quickly moved into action.

Some reported Ji Gwanyeong’s suggestion to the director, while others ran to those who were standing with gloomy expressions. Meanwhile, Taehun, feeling a dry mouth, called out to his esper in a faint voice.

“Gwanyeong…!”

“Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous.”

“How is it not dangerous?!”

“What I need to focus on right now is how to bring the other pair out safely, that’s all. Trust me.”

His voice was as gentle as possible, like a man soothing his lover. Taehun knew it in his mind. The best person to resolve this dangerous situation was his esper. But his heart couldn’t accept it easily.

Ji Gwanyeong lightly stroked Taehun’s hair.

Ever since he casually mentioned that he liked Taehun’s hair exposed, Taehun had made sure to keep it neatly styled. It was always something his lover did, something he couldn’t help but love.

The guide took a deep breath and then slowly nodded. Even if it was something he didn’t want to do, he would allow it for the sake of others. Watching his partner, Ji Gwanyeong smiled faintly and turned his eyes toward the training area.

Inside, where the intense winds had begun to reveal the structure, the sounds of scraping and clashing were unbearable. The esper gently massaged the back of his neck, tilting his head. There was no hesitation in his steps as he walked toward the center of the chaos, where all the deafening sounds were coming from.

Of course, a protective shield, enhanced by various esper abilities, surrounded Taehun, who was left behind. If, by any chance, Ji Gwanyeong were injured or mentally affected, Taehun, his pair, would be the only one able to hold him back, so he couldn’t be too far away.

Ji Gwanyeong clicked his tongue as he looked at the small woman standing at the center of the storm, feeling like a massive typhoon. He knew her name. ‘Yoo Jin-Young.’ The man lying behind her like a pale, sleeping person had told him so.

When the woman saw Ji Gwanyeong, she made a noise that seemed more like an animal than a human. Her body, her eyes completely bloodshot, with thick veins protruding through her skin, made an unsettling chill crawl down the spine.

‘Simple suppression.’

In other words, it would be easy to kill Kim Gwonseok’s lover. There was no need to even hesitate. But if he wanted to save her, it would be a different story.

The esper, who had completely lost control and was resisting with all his might, would need to be restrained as gently as possible, without causing harm. Ji Gwanyeong let out a small sigh as he watched the force of the incoming energy without the slightest hesitation.

– KWAANG, BANG!