With each step he took, cold sweat broke out. His entire body was drenched, and his legs trembled violently, but he couldn’t stop.
Even if it turned out to be completely useless… Onyul thought he had to go meet Gu Baekyoung.
I don’t know if I can still use my past abilities or if I’ve become a Guide, but still, Baekyoung liked holding my hand.
When he held my hand, his complexion became comfortable as if he’d received Guiding.
He thought he was the only one who could help Gu Baekyoung, who couldn’t receive Guiding.
He wanted to help him, even if just a little bit. In the end, he couldn’t do anything about his foolish meddling that had finally burst forth.
Thanks to taking a taxi nearby, he was able to arrive at the scene quickly.
The surroundings were in chaos. People were in a panic, and the quite familiar Management Bureau staff were controlling the area.
“Don’t come closer! Evacuate!”
Where is Gu Baekyoung?
At that moment, four people burst out from the Gate where red energy was surging. It was Alpha Team, their appearances in complete disarray.
As soon as Alpha Team emerged, the rampaging Gate closed. The ominous energy and oppressive pressure that had been surging around the area also disappeared without a trace.
He didn’t know what had happened, but it seemed they had suppressed the rampage and exited the Gate.
Everyone looked clearly exhausted, but Gu Baekyoung’s condition looked more serious than the others. The moment he escaped from the Gate, he collapsed face-down on the ground and couldn’t seem to get up.
The Guides who had been waiting in advance tried to approach, but then Na Geonwoo shouted.
“Stay… huu, back.”
An unusual energy was flowing out from Gu Baekyoung’s body. The glimpses of Gu Baekyoung’s eyes that could be seen were red.
Dark red veins irregularly bulged and subsided repeatedly on his two hands that were desperately clenched tight.
‘It’s a rampage.’
It was a precursor to an Esper rampage.
The Guides who had experienced Gu Baekyoung’s rampages turned pale and retreated.
At that moment, the only person who didn’t retreat was Onyul.
‘I can’t leave him like that…’
He couldn’t delay any longer. However, with everyone watching, he didn’t have the courage to step onto the scene with his bare face exposed.
If there’s some good way…
As Onyul was stamping his feet anxiously, a helmet that someone seemed to have abandoned caught his eye.
It was a cute helmet customized with a cat character, which made him feel reluctant, but he had no choice. If he wore that, he could approach Baekyoung without worry of being discovered.
The figure with his face covered pushed through the people.
The Management Bureau staff controlling the surroundings were also tense from Gu Baekyoung’s unusual atmosphere, so no one stopped Onyul.
Na Geonwoo, who discovered him belatedly, tried to stop him, but he immediately recognized Onyul and made a face as if wrapped in contemplation.
“I’ll help.”
“But…”
Without listening to more of Na Geonwoo’s answer, Onyul lowered his posture.
Na Geonwoo’s body, which had been about to stop him, momentarily froze.
‘Radiant Guiding…?’
Na Geonwoo felt the warm energy pouring out from his body in its entirety.
Come to think of it, he seemed to have felt a similar energy inside the convenience store too. Back then, it was such a faint energy that he hadn’t paid much attention to it.
But for some reason, the concentration of that energy was much denser now than then. This was undeniable Guiding…
‘Perhaps this person might be able to calm Baekyoung down.’
Na Geonwoo was also an S-rank Esper. He possessed sharper instincts than anyone else. And he firmly trusted his instincts.
However, he couldn’t be completely at ease.
Na Geonwoo paid attention to them in preparation for any situation that might occur. If the situation didn’t look good, he was thinking of using magic to separate them.
Na Geonwoo’s anxious gaze didn’t leave them.
On the other hand, Onyul’s vision was filled only with the collapsed Gu Baekyoung.
When he grasped Gu Baekyoung’s hand without Na Geonwoo’s interference, Baekyoung’s gaze fixed on him.
He still couldn’t be certain of his abilities, but he couldn’t let go of their clasped hands. Even though the energy transmitted through their palms was as rough as the breath of a sharp-edged beast.
“Please… don’t rampage. Come back as Gu Baekyoung.”
When Onyul’s low voice rang out, Gu Baekyoung’s body flinched.
His blazing red eyes returned to their original black color for just a brief moment. Like someone floating up to the surface for a moment from deep underwater.
This is the opportunity, Onyul instinctively realized.
‘Please…’
Onyul closed his eyes while gritting his teeth.
‘Please, let me be able to help him. Help him return to his right mind.’
A desperation close to prayer spread from within him.
At the same time his heart beat strongly, a faint sensation bloomed from deep within his heart.
It was the feeling of gentle energy flowing from his fingertips and reaching Gu Baekyoung.
Soon, an amazing thing happened.
The ferocious energy that had been pressing down on all sides began to gradually subside. Even the pressure that had been weighing down on shoulders gradually thinned.
Before long, Gu Baekyoung’s eyes also began to completely return to normal.
Amidst everyone’s surprise at the sudden appearance and activity of the cat helmet, Park Hanil, the Guide Center Director watching from a few steps away, was the most surprised.
“Ra-Radiant Guiding?”
The amount of energy extending in all directions was so considerable that it was hard to believe it was Radiant Guiding.
The concentration seemed like it would recover not only Gu Baekyoung but also the rest of Alpha Team who needed Guiding.
Park Hanil unconsciously opened his mouth wide.
‘…C-could it be an S-rank Guide?’
It was such a shocking matter that he hesitated to even utter it aloud.
Meanwhile, Onyul, who had poured all his attention into bringing Gu Baekyoung, who was on the verge of rampaging, back to his senses, didn’t perceive the reactions around him.
He simply thought it fortunate that Gu Baekyoung’s eyes had returned to normal.
Gu Baekyoung, who seemed to have returned to his senses, completely enveloped Onyul’s hand. A strange light sparkled in his eyes as they faced each other.
Facing those eyes like stars in the night sky, Onyul’s strength completely drained.
‘I did it…’
Gu Baekyoung wouldn’t rampage and be confined again in that inhumane Box. Onyul repeated to himself the fact that he had saved someone without repeating the mistakes of the past.
It was overwhelming enough to bring tears.
“Haah…”
Onyul’s body, which had suddenly lost strength, swayed. Almost simultaneously, Gu Baekyoung embraced his small body.
“Coming here wearing something annoyingly cute like this.”
Gu Baekyoung held him tightly so that no one could see Onyul and leaped high.
The people wrapped in shock couldn’t open their mouths until Gu Baekyoung disappeared as a white dot.
***
In a quiet area somewhat removed from the noisy city center, a man sitting on the rooftop of a tall building let out a sigh.
Real-time news was flowing from the phone in the man’s hand.
[“…A man wearing a cat helmet who appeared suddenly stopped Esper Gu Baekyoung’s rampage and then disappeared with him. While the Management Bureau is keeping his identity confidential, there are voices saying that the nation’s first S-rank Guide may have been born.”]
The man paused the news and greatly enlarged the cat helmet captured on the screen.
It was a helmet with delicately expressed eyes dotted like points, a small nose, and even a ribbon attached to one ear.
“…The appearance of a cat.”
It was somehow a cute appearance to deal with immediately.
Moreover, the cat helmet seemed to be on close terms with Gu Baekyoung.
Not only had they won over the heart of Gu Baekyoung, who doesn’t get close to others, but the Management Bureau was keeping their identity confidential.
They were an existence that piqued his interest in many ways.
If they were a Guide not registered with the Management Bureau, he thought it might be good to draw them over to his side.
‘Gain a capable Guide and watch Gu Baekyoung go crazy too.’
“Killing two birds with one stone.”
A captivating smile formed on the man’s red lips.
“Well, I didn’t think I could kill him easily anyway.”
At that moment, a call came to the man’s phone.
The caller ID was ‘Ghost.’
As soon as he answered, Ghost’s voice was heard.
—Hey, Hunting Dog. You said you’d make Gu Baekyoung rampage this time for sure… but you failed spectacularly, didn’t you? Kekeke.
The giggling laughter contained mockery.
The man answered languidly without showing any displeasure.
“Something cunning interfered.”
—Ah, the cat helmet that the whole nation is paying attention to right now?
“Yeah, investigate who it is.”
The man commonly called ‘Ghost’ was the Anti-Management Bureau’s information network, an Esper who moved without a trace like a ghost, collecting information.
—Okay, something fun has happened after a long time. Wait a bit.
“Yeah.”
—Then…
“Hey, wait.”
The man called Hunting Dog suddenly stopped Ghost with a serious voice.
—Why?
And then he asked seriously.
“That cat character… did it have a boyfriend or something?”
—Puhaha! Crazy bastard, how would I know… I was about to answer that, but why does someone come to mind? There was a male cat character who was a childhood friend. A handsome cat, I guess.
“Handsome cat. That’s me.”
—What are you talking about? You’re going to do it?
“If I seduce the cat helmet, I’ll be able to finish off not only Gu Baekyoung but also the Management Bureau better.”
—I’ll look forward to it. Kekeke.
The call ended with Ghost’s laughter.
“I like cats. Is it fate?”
The smile formed at the man’s lips deepened. Though somewhat twisted, it was a beautiful smile that once seen, one couldn’t take their eyes off it.
He was the leader of the Anti-Management Bureau organization that opposed the Ability User Management Bureau, a man commonly called ‘Hunting Dog.’
