# Chapter 125
But something was strange. The surroundings were quiet. Not a single person was moving.
“What are you doing! Kill Lee Jaehee and Kang Dohyun! Tear them to pieces right now!”
Rather, the more Jiwoon spoke, the darker the expressions of the ability users became, and eventually they began to take combat stances toward Jiwoon.
Jiwoon’s pupils trembled greatly at this.
“Why? Why aren’t you listening to me? Why isn’t anyone listening to me?!”
At that moment, someone broke away from the group and quickly approached Jaehee.
“Guide Lee Jaehee!”
It was Hyeono. He quickly came over and checked Jaehee’s condition, looking worried.
After looking at him briefly, Jaehee turned his gaze to check each of the ability users one by one. And he discovered one commonality.
“Are all of you Espers who have completed their Bonds?”
Familiar faces. And Jeong Hyeono. Jaehee retrieved the information he knew.
“Ah, yes! The Center Director told us to only let Espers who have completed their Bonds enter. He said that’s what we needed to do to deal with Guide Yoo Jiwoon.”
When Hyeono answered affirmatively, Jiwoon’s face turned white. Jiwoon took a step back. His pupils trembled greatly as he watched those who were slowly approaching him.
There was no choice but to do so. The hostility toward Yoo Jiwoon was clearly evident on the faces of everyone who had learned about the message received from Geonwoo before entering the Gate, Yoo Jiwoon’s past actions, the traces of Yoo Jiwoon found in Minhun’s body, and all the circumstances and evidence that he had tried to brainwash and control Espers through Guiding.
Everyone was seeing Yoo Jiwoon as the villain. Yoo Jiwoon, not Lee Jaehee!
“Ha, ha.”
Jiwoon suddenly contorted his expression and made laughing sounds, his mouth splitting into a wide grin.
“Hahahahaha.”
Then he soon began to laugh like a madman. He looked like someone who couldn’t control his laughter.
“Guide Yoo Jiwoon, please come with us quietly.”
One of the Espers approached Jiwoon. Jiwoon looked at such an Esper and suddenly raised his hand holding a jack knife and without hesitation slashed his own arm. Everyone looked bewildered at this unexpected impulsive action.
Blood poured profusely from Jiwoon’s arm. Beneath Jiwoon’s feet, countless geometric patterns were intertwined.
Tuk, tuk, tududuk.
A dangerously large amount of blood flowed down, and the pattern reacted strongly to it. Jiwoon smiled cruelly, as if to tear his mouth.
“If everyone sees me as the villain, I should act like one.”
The interior of the Gate vibrated greatly. Another sacrifice, but one easier to devour than Choi Geonwoo who was standing before it, and one who was calling to it by shedding even more blood than Choi Geonwoo.
Jiwoon filled the eyes of the S-class monster.
“…!”
It happened in an instant. The S-class monster that had been confronting Geonwoo suddenly turned its body and quickly approached Yoo Jiwoon.
There was no time to block it. The stone statue that instantly approached Jiwoon gripped him tightly. Soon, crack, crack, starting from the head of the statue, large cracks formed, and the statue began to crumble.
“Wha-what is that thing?!”
But the astonishing event happened after that. Something like black smoke flowed out from the crumbled statue and, as if pouncing on Jiwoon, the soul that had been sealed in the statue began to transfer to Jiwoon, the human offered as a sacrifice.
The process was very smooth and was completed in a mere instant. This was because Jiwoon didn’t reject it but accepted it all.
Jiwoon’s body, having accepted the soul of the S-class monster, began to change little by little. Starting from the fingertips and toes, petrification gradually progressed. As if becoming a being to replace the broken statue.
And the nightmare began.
“Lee. Jae. Hee.”
The deep desire of the sacrifice.
‘I want to kill Lee Jaehee.’
The monster responded to Jiwoon’s desperate wish. It wasn’t a wish it couldn’t grant with its power, and killing someone was something it enjoyed as well!
Jiwoon, who had undergone petrification and gained the power of the S-class monster, targeted only Jaehee relentlessly. So that he could disappear from this story along with him. So that Lee Jaehee couldn’t have what he couldn’t have either.
The Espers tried to block him, but it was useless. The Espers’ powers couldn’t even make a small scratch on Jiwoon’s body, which had turned into a statue. Such a Jiwoon, with eyes only for Jaehee, targeted only him. He stretched out his hand as if to grasp Jaehee’s heart at any moment. There was no one who could stop him.
Only one person, Geonwoo, could protect Jaehee.
An endless confrontation continued. But the fight between one who had someone to protect and one who had no one to protect could only tilt in one direction.
Finally, when the situation reached a point where Jaehee might get hurt if he dodged, Geonwoo offered his body to protect Jaehee. Yoo Jiwoon’s hand, which had turned to stone due to petrification, penetrated Geonwoo’s abdomen.
Geonwoo’s blood flowed over Jiwoon’s hand.
To make matters worse, monsters began to gather one by one in the boss monster’s room, as if they had been waiting for the S-class monster to awaken. The Espers were busy dealing with these monsters. They had no time to turn around, no strength to help Geonwoo, no leisure to do so.
“Geonwoo!”
“It’s, okay, stay, behind me.”
Even in this situation, Geonwoo’s only thought was to protect Jaehee. It would be dangerous if this fight dragged on. Because even a single mistake could drive Jaehee to death.
Geonwoo’s face was gradually turning white from the blood he had lost.
Seeing this, a cruel smile formed on half of Jiwoon’s face that had undergone petrification. He was pleased to see the one who had been pushing him back earlier now falling by his hand. The S-class monster looked at Geonwoo as if it liked this situation.
“Yes, this is what I wanted.”
It was the same for Yoo Jiwoon. A deep smile was also drawn on half of his face that hadn’t fully petrified yet. It was a smile created by Jiwoon’s consciousness, which hadn’t been fully consumed yet.
“I wanted to see Choi Geonwoo dying. Because then there would be no one to prevent Lee Jaehee’s death.”
Jiwoon spoke with a mix of scorn. The wavelength emitted by the S-class monster gradually grew stronger. Its intrinsic power was fully awakening as it merged with the sacrifice.
The situation that Geonwoo feared was gradually forming.
“…Hyung.”
Geonwoo called to Jaehee who was behind him. Jaehee was trying to transmit Guiding energy in any way to help Geonwoo. High-purity Guiding energy was conveyed.
If they fought like this, which side would win? It was unknown. Geonwoo didn’t want to take that risk. So that’s why he did it.
Suddenly, Geonwoo pushed Jaehee who was behind him. Dohyun urgently caught Jaehee who was about to fall.
As if he had judged this would happen and pushed accordingly, Geonwoo faintly smiled in relief after confirming Jaehee’s safety.
Geonwoo told Dohyun to take Jaehee and move away. Geonwoo’s pupils gradually turned red. It meant he would fully reveal his power. Even at the risk of running wild.
‘If Yoo Jiwoon dies, this fate will all end.’
Geonwoo recalled what Jaehee had said.
At the same time, Geonwoo also recalled his own situation of being unable to regress.
‘If I can no longer regress…’
He couldn’t allow even the slightest danger before Jaehee. Therefore, Geonwoo didn’t think about his own well-being. He just wanted to protect his hyung; in this life that would be the final cycle, he wished for Jaehee to live differently from the previous cycles. Even if he wasn’t by Jaehee’s side, at least Jaehee…
KWAGWAGWAGWAK—!
Enormous powers collided. The balance of equal powers didn’t easily tilt to one side.
But the scale gradually tilted toward Geonwoo. It was because the positions had been reversed. The S-class monster, which treasured its own life terribly, and Yoo Jiwoon, who wanted to somehow preserve his life before killing Jaehee.
Geonwoo before them had nothing to fear. Because even his own life wasn’t important.
That difference determined the outcome of the battle.
Under Geonwoo’s continuously pouring ability, Jiwoon’s petrified body crumbled. Eventually, Jiwoon, who could no longer move as he had used all his strength, fell to his knees. He gradually breathed his last.
As if letting out a final scream, a terrible sound that seemed to tear one’s ears echoed, and the S-class monster collapsed.
But the problem wasn’t over. Jiwoon, who was dying, shook the thread of wildness that Geonwoo was barely enduring with the radiant Guiding from Jaehee and other Guides. As a last resort, he used the ability to brainwash and control Espers at will to amplify Geonwoo’s runaway state.
So that Geonwoo would run wild, so that he could die just like that, so that Lee Jaehee would be unhappy!
“Geonwoo!”
The power that wouldn’t calm down finally triggered the S-class Esper’s runaway. Feeling the uncontrolled, rampaging power, Geonwoo looked at Jaehee. With power that wasn’t properly regulated, he created a pillar of fire around himself to prevent Jaehee from coming near him. The focus gradually disappeared from Geonwoo’s eyes. His pupils gradually turned red.
‘I thought I wouldn’t want anything more if I could just change hyung’s fate…’
In his fading consciousness, Geonwoo imagined a future without himself by his hyung’s side. Then deep sadness came upon him.
Still, he didn’t regret his actions. Rather, he thought it was fortunate. Because Jaehee’s fate would have changed.
Geonwoo moved his lips as he looked at Jaehee with increasingly blurry eyes.
[…I, love you. Hyung.]
And soon, uncontrollable wavelength covered his entire body, bringing terrible pain. At the same time, the focus in Geonwoo’s eyes blurred, and they began to turn pitch black.
