“Esper, Esper Do Ganghyun!”
Do Ganghyun didn’t respond to my call. Not only did his eyes lack focus, but there were traces all over his body of him injuring himself, unable to bear the agony. Even at this moment, deep wounds were being carved into his flesh following his fingertips as he scratched around his eyes.
In that instant, I noticed deeply gouged marks on the floor and walls throughout the isolation room, as if clawed by fingernails. I could easily tell that this same force was being directed at his face. I couldn’t easily dare to stop him at that horrific sight.
Moreover.
‘The wounds are regenerating.’
The wounds were regenerating in real-time, then necrotizing, and even as new flesh sprouted, they would repeatedly be injured by his own sharp waves. It seemed like his uncontrolled waves were devouring their master while also pushing his physical recovery ability to its limits to survive.
The problem was that this would only worsen the situation in the end. Even if wounds regenerated, this too was ultimately an Esper’s ability. Physical abilities were merely maximized through the rampaging ability, and in a state where guiding wasn’t being performed, this would only accelerate the rampage further.
That was enough situation assessment. I couldn’t hold him and ask if he was okay to get an answer, and there was no more time.
I steeled my resolve and put strength into my trembling hands to grab Do Ganghyun’s face. Then I immediately crashed our lips together.
We made contact so forcefully that the expression “crashed” was truly fitting. The fishy iron scent rose to the tip of my nose, making the fact that I had grown accustomed to the blood scent filling the research lab seem meaningless.
However, I suppressed the rejection rising from within and actively opened my mouth. Since he, with his reason blurred, wouldn’t respond to me, I needed to forcibly attempt guiding.
‘I’m sorry! I was startled, I was startled. It really wasn’t intentional—!’
Suddenly, the memory of that day when our matching rate had suddenly risen came to mind. Despite the serious situation, I somehow felt like laughing. Of course, what actually came from me was only suppressed moans and tears.
“Ha, wait, just wait…!”
Though there was no way he could hear, I gasped roughly and pulled my lips away. The amount of guiding flowing out was more than I had anticipated.
I had thought it wouldn’t be easy since I was guiding a rampaging SS-rank Esper. If I was lucky, I’d faint; in the worst case, I had considered even death. But I had held a vague belief that if I accepted the sacrifice, I could at least stop his rampage.
It was arrogance.
The belief that my life would bring meaningful results, forgetting my own position as a C-rank guide.
Far from his reason returning, his sharply edged waves showed no signs of subsiding, yet I already felt dizzy enough to feel like my eyes would roll back.
It meant Do Ganghyun’s condition was that bad, but even in such a desperate situation, I couldn’t think to resent anyone else. That was my nature, and so was my self-esteem buried underground. The fact that blood kept flowing over through our connected mouths, making it overwhelming, also played a part in blurring my concentration.
‘Nothing like this has happened before…’
No matter how bad Do Ganghyun’s condition had been, there hadn’t been many cases where I felt burdened while guiding. It must have been thanks to our matching rate, but even though our matching rate had clearly increased, I felt this moment was overwhelming.
‘I can’t lose consciousness.’
With the single-minded thought that I must not lose consciousness, I pulled my lips away from Do Ganghyun. I couldn’t lose control in front of a rampaging Esper. If I did, the situation would surely become irreversibly worse.
At least, until Do Ganghyun regained minimal consciousness. I had to endure until then.
I desperately pushed his body away like that. My body was rolling on the floor, and my clothes were entirely dyed with dark red blood.
But I had no time to pay attention to this. It was when I was catching my breath again, thinking about what to do next.
‘…Wait, blood?’
Suddenly, the blood filling the surroundings caught my eye.
There were various types of guiding. Broadly, non-contact and contact. Among them, contact could be divided in detail according to the area of touching surfaces and how deeply bodily fluids were exchanged.
And blood was included in those bodily fluids.
Once my thoughts reached that far, I could no longer delay.
With a body whose physical abilities were no different from an ordinary person, I couldn’t attempt immediate intercourse by undressing the SS-rank him, and if I left it to him, I couldn’t handle the guiding flowing out.
Above all, he hadn’t clearly recognized my existence with awareness. He was voraciously devouring while sensing guiding, but clearly couldn’t think to increase efficiency through relations with his guide right in front of him. There might be the reason that his consciousness was quite blurred, but it could also be that my rank was too low for him to recognize, so he couldn’t find my substance.
Even if bitter, this was reality.
I held a bitter smile, then steeled my resolve and bit my tongue hard. A sharp pain rang from the inside of my throat to my ears, and bloody water quickly pooled in my mouth.
Guiding didn’t have a clear form but was an existence that circulated inside the body like oxygen. If it was impossible to control this flow and transmit it to the Esper, I just needed to directly transmit what always flowed and was contained with guiding.
I immediately pressed my lips to Do Ganghyun’s.
I felt the flow velocity of guiding escaping from the body touching him slow down, and guiding that wasn’t wasted at all through blood passed over as it was. A feeling of burden rose along with pain, but even in the nausea hitting my diaphragm, there wasn’t the dizziness of feeling like I would lose consciousness.
This time, I actively pushed him and didn’t give him room to breathe. Just as I felt with my whole body his Adam’s apple bobbing several times as my blood passed over,
“…Myeong Eunha?”
For the first time since entering this place, I heard Do Ganghyun’s proper voice, not a groan filled with pain.
“Esper! Are you conscious?!”
I urgently called him and released the strength from the jaw that had been pushing. Bloody water flowed through the separated lips. Since I, as a guide, didn’t have healing power like his, blood kept flowing from the wound. I quickly wiped my mouth with my sleeve, but since my clothes weren’t in perfect condition either, I felt blood spreading to my lower face. I awkwardly let out a laugh while looking at him, when he opened his mouth with a face filled with shock.
“How are you here—”
That’s when it was. Do Ganghyun, who had been scanning me with eyes that had regained focus, suddenly changed his gaze. The moment I felt something eerie,
“Hheup, mmng…”
Do Ganghyun instantly pounced on me, entangling our tongues and pressing his body against mine.
As if interrogating me. Roughly.
***
I didn’t remember the process of entering the isolation room. I just felt more fatigued than usual, and only a faint memory of visiting the research lab remained in my head. Since the schedule had been quite tight lately, I considered it something that could happen.
From the time I had considered finding a guide overseas, I had been refraining from seeking out Myeong Eunha as much as possible even in the research lab. It was to maintain appropriate distance and adapt to situations without a guide. Especially since there was a high possibility that even if I found a guide, their matching rate would be lower than Myeong Eunha’s, there was a need for harsh management.
Of course, since I planned to terminate the pair contract after finding a guide overseas, there would be no gap, and even if adaptation with a new guide was a bit difficult, it was clear that continuing to receive guiding would be better than stopping guiding altogether, but I didn’t bother to recall that fact. If I did, I would have to reveal even the uncomfortable reason that I simply couldn’t face Myeong Eunha.
‘I guess it can’t be helped today.’
However, there was a limit to stubbornly enduring. I had been thinking I needed to receive guiding before it was too late.
‘Esper Do Ganghyun—!’
Not long after arriving at the research lab, my body’s center finally collapsed. I didn’t remember the circumstances before and after this either. It seemed like I had felt something off while talking with the Research Director just before, but I wasn’t certain.
However, I recalled a few research lab employees screaming and running away in one corner of my memory. Also the image of the Research Director desperately calling my name and shouting to come to my senses.
How did I act then?
‘Move aside.’
I don’t remember exactly, but I think I looked for the isolation room first. In that process, I strangely seemed to have recalled Myeong Eunha’s face.
Right. I had recalled Myeong Eunha’s face.
An SS-rank Esper’s rampage was more than enough to blow away an entire area. Of course, there would be various preparations in place to suppress it before that, but these were things that had only been prepared until now and never actually used. So I couldn’t be certain what kind of repercussions there would be, or whether they could definitely stop me. And the face of one guide who would be at the forefront of being caught up in those repercussions was vivid in my head.
That was why. It was why I held on to my reason until the very end.
‘I feel like I want to hear a voice, but also not.’
Even while complaining of pain, I had frivolous thoughts. Surprisingly, such thoughts helped maintain my reason. It wasn’t a fact I particularly wanted to know.
However, even that couldn’t hold on for long.
It was when my consciousness was fading, thinking this was really the end.
“Esper…!”
