“Hahaha, if you don’t want to see a guide, who wouldn’t even feel pain if you put them in your eye, hanging themselves, you’d better protect me well. Those Esper friends over there, they don’t seem to mind at all that their pair hasn’t gone through me, they’re quite scary.”

The researchers’ faces turned pale. They had just witnessed how an Esper, who had lost their guide, transformed. Well, in truth, they didn’t even need to see it to know.

If your pair dies right in front of you…
If they take their own life…

Ji Gwanyeong slowly turned his head towards Choi Taehun, almost like a broken machine. His lover was slumped, sitting against the wall as if in a daze. The Esper, who had always walked with a stiff posture, wobbled a little but followed his instincts to find the one he sought.

“But what if you touch Lee Hansol over there?”

The teacher looked down at the researchers and chuckled.

The initiative in this situation had now fallen into the teacher’s hands. If a guide holds the life thread of an Esper, then the one who holds the power of life and death over that guide is the ‘teacher.’

“Would Hansol die over the control of ‘Oh Yeon’s younger sibling’? You know very well that would mean Oh Jinwoo would also die.”

The teacher, at some point, twitched his fingers, then quickly leapt from the wall where he had been pinned. He appeared too carefree to be called a terrorist, especially one rumored to be at the center of so many brutal incidents. But it was inevitable. There was no one here who could stop the man.

Not even Ji Gwanyeong, kneeling in front of Choi Taehun, with his head bowed.

“‘You’re trying to stop me from becoming Lee Hansol’s Esper’? Ha, hahaha, hah! That’s a lie you don’t even mean!”

The voice, imitating Oh Jinwoo, sounded endlessly pleased despite occasional groans of pain as if his bones were starting to fuse. The teacher, giggling, looked down at Oh Jinwoo shackled before him, eyes twisted in amusement.

“In fact, Ji Gwanyeong was finally waiting for the third one to appear…”

“…”

“Are you happy?”

Oh Jinwoo’s breath grew rough, as if a nail had pierced his lungs. Lee Hansol, freed from the Esper’s grip, stretched and gave a small chuckle.

“After ten years of nightmares, a chance to escape this wretched life is finally in front of me? Ah, but our kind Jinwoo doesn’t lie; he just says he’ll carry me! I’ll bear this nightmare alone!”

Oh Yeon’s eyes were red as he watched his younger sibling, pale with fear. To him, Oh Jinwoo was still that twenty-year-old little brother from ten years ago, no matter what he had done or how he looked now. Even if he hung his head as if he was the one at fault, he was still his only remaining blood relative.

“In truth, you really want to live now, don’t you, Jinwoo?”

“…”

“You always followed and loved your older brother, and even when you couldn’t attend the funeral, you wanted to visit our parents’ grave, right? Now, at least, you should meet people and breathe. Huh? Hahaha, hahaha!”

‘F.’

Oh Jinwoo’s lie was exposed.

But that lie wasn’t some great secret, not when Oh Jinwoo was crying with his head still bowed. He simply wanted to escape from Lee Hansol. That was all.

Ji Gwanyeong was the only one who noticed that lie.

“Well, now it’s time for negotiation.”

The teacher massaged his muscles, which were beginning to activate anew, and adjusted his slightly crooked glasses.

“I’ve got an experiment I want to do quickly.”