I saw the guide staring at me with wide eyes in shock. The esper felt a sense of suffocation.

“I’m curious about how far that great love can go,” Ji Gwanyeong said.

He thought Taehun wouldn’t be able to do it. The man, with a neat face who couldn’t hide the rapid heartbeat as soon as he looked at me, would surely get upset and angry at such teasing words.

However, Taehun, with a pale face, clenched his fist tightly and let out a small sigh. Then, he grabbed the hem of his short-sleeved T-shirt and lifted it in one motion.

As he inhaled, his well-defined muscles faded in a smooth shape, revealing the large outline of his chest. It was a much more appealing sight than the rough sketch he’d made earlier over his clothes.

The guide placed the shirt I had taken off beside the sofa and took another deep breath. Despite clearly reducing his hearing, the sound of his heartbeat grew louder and more oppressive in his ears.

“Is that enough?”

His low, composed voice was tinged with the same tremble as his loud heartbeat. It bothered Ji Gwanyeong that the man, who seemed like he could never do something like this, was trembling yet following his words.

A few days ago, Ji Gwanyeong had found a photo on my phone that hadn’t been there before. As an esper, he never felt the need to take pictures. His nearly perfect brain could simply store everything in it.

But I, on the last day before losing my memory, had taken a picture. Maybe because I knew I wouldn’t remember it. That photo was taken here, in the staff house.

The moment Ji Gwanyeong stepped into the staff house, he realized the view of the veranda through the window was the same background as in the photo. In the slightly dark photo, Taehun was smiling faintly.

It wasn’t the trembling face he wore now.

There was no place between the me from eight months ago and the Taehun in front of me where I could stand now. The monster, chewing on the fact he’d realized, truly wanted to ask the me before I lost my memory: ‘What was the reason I left time with that man?’

Had I been supposed to envy the self who had only had eight more months and yet looked at the world with such different eyes? He really wanted to confront the me from before I lost my memory.

The esper eyed the man, who was faintly trembling in front of him, with an intense gaze, as if examining him. Every muscle that moved with each breath seemed to be imprinted in his mind.

As the man’s eyes roved mockingly over his body, Taehun couldn’t find a place to look and chewed on his lips. He knew very well the silence of lovers and what it meant. The guide took another deep breath, then stood up.

His hands, now visibly trembling, reached for the hook of his pants. The sound of the zipper opening seemed especially loud. With a soft thud, his pants dropped, revealing his long, well-formed legs, still clad in tight-fitting drawers.

The esper mocked him, opening his mouth as he observed.

“I’m not sure if you’re undressing to roll around willingly or if it’s because of that great love, but, well. It’s interesting.”

Now, Ji Gwanyeong, using his own judgment, had come to learn a new fact that was not from my memories: ‘When Taehun tries to pretend he’s not hurt, this is the kind of expression he makes.‘

The guide furrowed his brow slightly, blinking rapidly several times, trying to maintain his composure. He was certainly hurting the guide right now.

But, in truth, Ji Gwanyeong wasn’t sure.

He wasn’t certain whether the sharp words he was about to say were directed at the man in front of him or at the past version of himself who had loved that man.

“What are you doing? Is it because you love me that you’re willing to roll around?”

A long sigh escaped from the guide’s lips.

Ji Gwanyeong was amazed that no sense of humiliation showed in Taehun’s eyes. The man, with his stiff face, only looked… a little sad. That was all. His smooth skin moved up and down with each breath. Taehun lifted his head and looked at his esper, then slowly pushed down his remaining underwear.

It was an unfamiliar experience for Ji Gwanyeong to watch someone standing naked without a single thread on their body. His gaze slowly moved from Taehun’s face, along his collarbone, chest, and beautifully sculpted abdominal muscles, to the long, slender legs, eventually passing over his revealed private parts. His eyes came to a stop at one point.

“What’s that?”

Taehun, who seemed to be struggling to swallow as his vision blurred, followed the motion of Ji Gwanyeong’s chin and turned his head.

It was a red leather bracelet. Rather than giving off an expensive or refined vibe, it had a somewhat rough and simple feel. It was something Taehun had worn since the day it was given to him.

The guide’s expression wavered completely with that single question. In hindsight, it might have been a trivial question, but sometimes a small disturbance is all it takes to ruin a delicate balance. For Taehun, it was the words his lover had just said.

“What should I do next?”

Ji Gwanyeong swallowed the sharp words he had been rolling around in his mouth as he stared directly into the guide’s eyes. His throat burned and stung.

The guide’s dark brown eyes were filled with tears, yet he barely held them back, not letting them fall. It was a painfully restrained outpouring of emotion, his face as calm as could be. The esper, feeling as though his tongue had just been weighed down by a heavy burden, briefly avoided the guide’s gaze.

“I’ll do as you say. Anything, I’ll do as you ask.”

One week after his lover had lost his memory, and with the three days he had been waiting added, it had been ten days. Taehun was finally letting out all the feelings he had been holding in. The man in front of him had lost his memory, and Taehun was relieved.

Thankfully, his lover wouldn’t be hurt by the words he had been carelessly throwing out. Only Taehun would be the one to suffer from the sentences formed by Ji Gwanyeong’s mouth.

“Should I spread my legs?”

The esper had often mocked the roles he played in movies or dramas. The endless sweet stories, despite being slightly different in each case, were nothing more than tiresome and predictable emotional exchanges. Yet people always fell for the expressions he created, completely captivated.

The monster had believed he could imitate human emotions well—joy, anger, sadness, pleasure, disappointment, sympathy, envy… He had believed there wasn’t an emotion he couldn’t mimic.

But now, Ji Gwanyeong was at a loss for words. He couldn’t even attempt to imitate the emotion that was before him. Now he was facing the real thing, hidden behind the beautiful words.

He hadn’t known that love could look like that—such eyes and expressions.

He had thought that sweet eyes, or perhaps a somewhat sad face, with carefully crafted sentences, was all that love meant.

His mouth went dry. The monster, feeling the sting of the weak man’s gaze, quickly turned away and left the staff house in hurried steps. Taehun collapsed onto the spot where he had been, only after his lover fled from him.

Despite it being a summer day with no air conditioning, Taehun felt a chill deep in his bones. His fingers were trembling, and he finally managed to throw on some clothes and curl up.

Since he had left earlier than expected, the manager’s van wasn’t visible.

Ji Gwanyeong took a deep breath. His heart was racing. He wondered if Taehun had been hearing the pounding of his heart the entire time. While he could close off his hearing to avoid Taehun’s heartbeat, he couldn’t escape his own.

During the short wait for the manager, the esper tried to make a composed face. After a while, the familiar black van appeared. Ji Gwanyeong took a deep breath and climbed in.

The view of the mansion was as familiar as ever.

Ji Gwanyeong knew very well what lay at the end of that road. He had created eight months of memories. What had started as mere data eventually became information, and then, a memory with a name tag. Ji Gwanyeong, lost in thought for a while, glanced at the man in the rearview mirror but missed his gaze.

“Uhm… Gwanyeong-ssi.”

The monster simply glanced away instead of answering.

The manager, feeling a sudden tension in his gaze, swallowed hard. The actor he was managing was in a very bad mood. He could sense it immediately. The best course of action in such situations is to leave him alone. But this time, he couldn’t.

“I got a call saying that you couldn’t be reached, and they asked me to contact you.”

The Esper finally remembered the unknown caller who had been bothering him since early morning. Ji Gwanyeong tilted his head slightly, as if asking, “What is it?” The manager fumbled and pulled out something he had placed on the seat next to him.

“They said they needed it as soon as possible… I went and got it for you.”

Ji Gwanyeong, observing the object for a few seconds without taking it, finally accepted it with a hesitant hand.

The monster returned to his space, which was naturally empty.

Everything he saw was “that guide.” He was the man he had just made cry, the man he had loved so deeply for the lost eight months.

He finally managed to move his feet, which felt heavy as if shackled, and arrived at the bedroom. Lying down on the bed without changing clothes was something he would never have done before, but now, everything just felt annoying.

Ji Gwanyeong lay on the bed and lifted the small shopping bag the manager had given him. It was surprisingly light for its size. The Esper couldn’t take his eyes off the small box tied with a ribbon inside, and only after a while did he unwrap it.

Finally, a red case appeared.

A shopping bag, a box, and then another small case. This gift, given by the manager, was protected several times over, as if it were something precious and valuable that he wanted to keep safe.

Ji Gwanyeong lifted the lid of the case.

The diamond, flat and embedded in the center, spoke volumes, its meaning as clear as its color. The Esper couldn’t even touch the silver ring with his fingertips, only managing to catch a glimpse of it with his eyes.

It seemed like it would fit him perfectly. But it would fit him perfectly. The slightly sharp lines would suit him better than it would me.

The last memory of the eight months that had passed led back to this bedroom. Ji Gwanyeong, holding the ring in his hand, read the last sentence, written in bold, clear letters.

<I am this person’s Esper>

It was the only sentence he wanted to be remembered by, not data or information, but a memory. The Esper pressed his hand against his eyes, covering them.

***

Three weeks, twenty-one days.

There are only three weeks left. Nine days have already passed out of thirty.

The man, who was the most perfect in this space, sat there, a little dazed, unlike himself. “Ji Gwanyeong” who is someone! He was known for never showing a disheveled appearance. But today, he was unusually unguarded.

As a result, the staff’s eyes darted towards the man with a face like a sculpture. He sat there for a while, then picked up his phone and stared at the screen.

Ji Gwanyeong was now sitting there, dazed, looking at his phone, then again, looking at something, his eyes relaxed, as if lost in thought.

One of the staff members on the CF set, who had been hovering around the man, who was sitting with his legs crossed, finally spoke cautiously.

“Ji Gwanyeong ssi.”

“…”

“Gwanyeong ssi?”

“Ah, yes.”

Ji Gwanyeong’s condition today was truly strange.

The manager, who had been in charge of Ji Gwanyeong for almost five years, could only move his lips. The man’s inexplicable behavior had begun after he visited the apartment the day before yesterday.

It was because of “that guide.”

The manager scratched his chin. He knew very well the meaning of the ring he had picked up for him two days ago. He had called the store directly and nagged them to get it for him, because it was clearly for a proposal, so Ji Gwanyeong’s name had been mentioned in a few financial news articles yesterday and today.

If we are to believe the speculations of the gossipmongers, it’s a mystery why a man who could be wearing the happiest face in the world still looks like that.

‘…Could it be that he was dumped?’

As he lazily rubbed the back of his neck and tilted his head, the manager swallowed dryly. Over the past six months, this man had changed so much.

The manager vividly remembered the joy of realizing that the man, who had always seemed untouchable and floating above everyone else, had finally touched the ground and started observing his surroundings.

He raised his phone subtly as he saw the actor I was in charge of returning to the shoot. In a manager’s duties, ensuring the mental and physical stability of the actor was always a priority.

The advertising shoot, which had lasted almost the entire day, was finally over.

You can’t imagine how many people get involved and how much time is invested in a short video that lasts less than a minute. Ji Gwanyeong always thought this work was inefficient.

But people often judge an actor’s status based on how many commercials they appear in, so he endured this tedious process a few times.

“Thank you for your hard work! You did well.”

“It’s nothing.”

Ji Gwanyeong responded briefly, closing his eyes lightly.

Right now, the Esper was barely managing to force a smile. After seeing the guide’s expression the other day, Gwanyeong began to doubt whether he was mimicking people’s expressions correctly.

‘Doubt.’

It was a word that didn’t suit him at all. But there was no other way to explain it. Ji Gwanyeong scanned the chaotic scene, looking for his manager among the busy crowd. The monster just wanted to quickly return to its dark hiding place.

There, ‘he’ was.

The one who confessed his love to him.

But just as the somewhat bored Esper’s eyes widened, staring intently at a spot, they stopped, as if nailed to the ground. There was a man with a slightly worn-out appearance, as if he hadn’t slept well.

Even though his face looked tired, his posture remained straight and unwavering, the very image of Choi Taehun. The simple shirt and jeans suggested he had rushed out hastily.

The moment Choi Taehun realized that Ji Gwanyeong’s gaze was on him, he immediately walked briskly toward Esper. Esper, impeccably dressed, stared blankly at this man who looked so different from him and slowly opened his mouth.

“What are you doing…?”

“21st.”

The number Ji Gwanyeong had been thinking about all day slipped from his lips, forming a perfect line.

“Three weeks, 21 days left.”

The looks of the people who had been watching the man so closely, doubting him, changed to one of certainty, followed by murmurs.

‘That guide.’

He was Esper’s only pair, someone who lacked nothing and was perfect in every way. Choi Taehun, staring at his lover with wide eyes, spoke in a clear, deliberate voice.

“I plan to start dating Ji Gwanyeong again within the next 21 days.”

“……”

“You may not know this, but my nickname is ‘Ji Gwanyeong’s boyfriend.'”

I know. I know it all too well. It’s the cursed name that’s even saved in my phone contacts.

Ji Gwanyeong furrowed his brows as he saw a faint smile lingering on the guide’s lips. But the guide knew very well what kind of face Esper made. The proud, arrogant lover would put on such a face when he wanted to hide his true feelings. Choi Taehun was the only person who had seen the monster’s innermost, most vulnerable side. A lie of that level was laughable.

Taehun clenched his fist once, then released it as he saw the eyes of everyone around him shifting toward me and Gwanyeong. To claim someone like Esper as his own, he had to endure and take it all in. Only then did Choi Taehun understand why Ji Gwanyeong had been so desperate for that press conference. When it’s in front of everyone, there’s no escape route left.

“I’m never giving up. Ji Gwanyeong’s personality is terrible, that’s not new, and honestly, I’ve been through enough of it over the past 8 months to get sick of it.”

Ji Gwanyeong has a bad personality?

People stopped tidying up their equipment and scattered belongings, blinking in disbelief at the guide’s unbelievable testimony. Esper barely moved his frozen tongue and, in a slow voice that didn’t sound like him, spoke.

“How did you get in here? You were here last time too…”

Ji Gwanyeong’s eyes finally landed on my manager. From a distance, the manager, who had been eavesdropping, flinched and quickly averted his gaze at the cold expression. Gwanyeong’s face twisted in disbelief.

That guide… managed to capture a man who spends the whole day with me, looking so neat and composed. It was utterly absurd.

“They say the beginning is half the battle, don’t they? So, Ji Gwanyeong, you’re already halfway there.”

“I’m going crazy. Have you really given up on thinking?”

The voice that always carried smooth and gentle words now carried an expression that had never been heard before. But it wasn’t unpleasant—it made the distant, perfect man seem more human than ever.

Choi Taehun tilted his head slightly at his lover’s question, almost mimicking Gwanyeong’s own habit.

“What you said the other day.”

The proud man’s shoulders jerked slightly, his neatly arched eyebrows bending just a little.

“You’ll regret that too.”

“What?”

“I’ll get an apology within 3 weeks. Think of how you’ll apologize. An insincere one won’t do.”

Choi Taehun, with a blank expression on his face, clearly placed Esper in his sights, then closed his eyes and flashed a bright smile. He bowed as if nothing had happened and elegantly left the set.

Ji Gwanyeong watched in disbelief as the back of his pair, guide, and lover disappeared, then placed his hand on his waist and let out a long, empty laugh.

It was a complete declaration of war.