# Chapter 124
At that sight, Geonwoo tensed up. Fearing Jaehee might get hurt, he concentrated all his attention on Jaehee’s safety.
Soon, with a crumbling sound, fragments of stone fell from the statue’s mouth, and the statue pulled up the corners of its lips like a human. But the smile it created, with its mouth ripped all the way to its ears, was bizarrely chilling.
Simultaneously, the statue’s body moved, and with sounds of stone cracking here and there, the monster charged at Geonwoo. To exchange its old, broken stone body that mimicked a human form for a new physical body. To obtain a living human body, a blind attack began.
BOOM!
With a tremendous sound, Geonwoo and the S-class monster clashed. The impact caused the surroundings to shake violently. At this rate, Jaehee, who was by his side, could be in danger. Judging this, Geonwoo distanced himself from Jaehee. To keep the S-class monster that had targeted him away from Jaehee, he lured it to the furthest end of the boss monster’s room.
CRASH!
The gigantic statue immediately pursued Geonwoo. But due to Geonwoo’s ability, parts of the statue began to crack and break. The monster, having just awakened, couldn’t yet use its power fully. Sensing the power that was gradually beginning to awaken, Geonwoo tried to quickly deal with the S-class monster.
But Jiwoon wasn’t going to just watch.
“Kang Dohyun!”
Jiwoon shouted, looking at Dohyun.
“Help the S-class monster attack Choi Geonwoo.”
At those words, Dohyun used his ability to quickly move toward Geonwoo, who was facing off against the S-class monster. Loud explosive sounds from the battle echoed around Geonwoo.
But neither Jaehee nor Jiwoon could turn their heads toward that direction. Their gazes locked without yielding an inch.
“Seeing as he left you here like this.”
Yoo Jiwoon was the first to speak. Jiwoon slowly walked toward where Jaehee was.
“I guess he thought it would be better to leave you here alone.”
Jiwoon smiled as if Geonwoo’s choice had been a misjudgment, then picked up the jackknife that Dohyun had dropped earlier and started to casually stretch his hand.
Keeping his eyes on Jiwoon, Jaehee spoke.
“Are you going to kill me directly now and end the story?”
“Why ask when you already know?”
Jiwoon gripped the handle of the jackknife tightly.
“Yoo Jiwoon.”
Jaehee called out to Jiwoon. Jiwoon looked at him as if asking why he was calling.
“As you know, the story ends with the villain Lee Jaehee dying, and a happy ending coming to Choi Geonwoo and Yoo Jiwoon.”
“So?”
“And you said you’re trying to kill me to correct the story.”
Jaehee said, looking at Jiwoon. His gaze seemed to penetrate something.
“But you’re trying to kill Geonwoo?”
That was a contradiction. As if realizing that his own words were somehow misaligned, Jiwoon looked at Jaehee with a crooked gaze. Then, as if shifting the blame, he said:
“It’s all because of you. Because you’re alive, because you’re changing the story as you please, I have no choice but to kill Choi Geonwoo.”
“Did you kill Lee Minhun and all the Espers you brainwashed and controlled to kill me before the regression for that reason too?”
At those words, Jiwoon lowered his gaze for a moment before raising it again. Then, looking at Jaehee, he said:
“Yes.”
It was a dry answer without a trace of guilt. It carried the meaning of what was wrong with that.
Looking at Jiwoon, Jaehee said:
“Yoo Jiwoon, who shed more tears for others’ pain; Lee Jaehee, who couldn’t empathize with others’ pain.”
That was the story of the characters in the original work.
“Lee Jaehee, who failed to possess Geonwoo with possessiveness rather than love, and then tried to hurt both Yoo Jiwoon and Choi Geonwoo, and all the surrounding Espers.”
At Jaehee’s words, the tip of Jiwoon’s eyebrow rose as if displeased.
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“How is your current appearance any different from the Lee Jaehee in the novel?”
A being who put everyone under his feet and only tried to use them. A character born as a villain who only wanted to treat everyone as his chess pieces.
“I said I twisted the original work, right? So the fate changed, and that’s why Geonwoo chose me, and people come to me instead of you.”
“……”
“Do you really think so? That only I changed fate? Didn’t you yourself change your fate?”
Yoo Jiwoon, who had said Lee Jaehee’s misfortune was gradually transferring to him. Lee Jeongwoon, who tried to shift the responsibility for all his actions onto others.
“If there were a god who created this fate, wouldn’t they want to remove you from Yoo Jiwoon’s position?”
“……”
Jiwoon’s face froze coldly. Then he immediately spat out cold words.
“Why does that matter? If I kill you, it will all be over.”
A world after the original work where fate could be changed—Jaehee wasn’t the only one who wanted that. To correct his position that had changed too much, to escape the fate targeting him, Jiwoon also wanted to finish the original work. With Lee Jaehee’s death as the end.
“Have you said everything you wanted to say?”
Jiwoon arrived in front of Jaehee. Jaehee seemed somewhat freed from paralysis thanks to Geonwoo, but he still didn’t seem completely recovered. Sneering at such a Jaehee, Jiwoon swung the knife. It was a gesture without a moment’s hesitation.
But Jaehee caught the blade and blocked it.
“I also want to end the original work.”
Because that was the only way to escape this fate.
“Then just die already!”
“No, I don’t plan to die.”
Jiwoon glared at Jaehee. Jaehee looked at Jiwoon and said:
“Because what’s needed for the ending isn’t Lee Jaehee’s death.”
At Jaehee’s next words, Jiwoon’s expression hardened.
“More precisely, the death of the villain is needed.”
At those words, Jiwoon gritted his teeth and applied force to drive the blade into Jaehee. But although Jaehee’s paralysis hadn’t completely worn off, there was no way the physical strength of Jiwoon, who had only brainwashed and controlled Espers, could match that of Jaehee, who had been training at the Center since he was 13.
“Kang Dohyun!”
Finally starting to be pushed back, Jiwoon called Dohyun to cut off Jaehee’s breath. Though stopping Choi Geonwoo was important, what mattered most now was eliminating Lee Jaehee right before his eyes.
At Jiwoon’s call, Dohyun, who had been disrupting Geonwoo’s fight with the statue, quickly approached.
“Kill Lee Jaehee now!”
At those words, Dohyun extended his hand toward Jaehee. As his ability concentrated at his fingertips, rough waves scattered around Dohyun.
However, with a BOOM!, the one who was sent flying was not Jaehee but Yoo Jiwoon. Hitting his back against the cave wall, Jiwoon coughed up blood and looked at Dohyun with surprised eyes.
His guiding energy should still be present, so Dohyun should have followed his will, but why?
In Jiwoon’s eyes, a bracelet rolling on the floor came into view. It was definitely the Guide’s ability control device he had put on Jaehee. It had come off somehow.
The reason Dohyun suddenly disobeyed Jiwoon’s words and attacked him was because of Jaehee’s guiding energy.
Jaehee’s guiding energy and the poison Dohyun had been consuming had changed Dohyun’s constitution, making it take longer for Yoo Jiwoon’s guiding energy to infiltrate his body. Because of this, the infiltration was slow, and there was room for Jaehee’s energy to seep in. That gap allowed Dohyun to receive enough of Jaehee’s guiding energy to control his actions!
“Don’t come near me!”
Having lost the card of Kang Dohyun, Jiwoon’s face turned pale blue.
Jiwoon wildly swung the jackknife at Jaehee who was approaching him.
“I said don’t come near me!”
That’s when it happened. The sound of people’s footsteps started to be heard faintly, and soon there was a commotion near the doorway.
“Guide Yoo Jiwoon?”
When the gate entrance opened, ability users who had entered the gate looking for those who had entered first had found their way to the boss monster’s room. With surprised faces, they tried to assess the current situation.
“Ahh.”
Jiwoon looked at them with relief and showed a bright smile.
“You’ve come at the right time, my Espers.”
It was a gaze full of affection. Jiwoon smiled brightly and extended his hand toward the ability users. Immediately, Jiwoon’s guiding energy filled the surroundings of the Espers.
At this, Dohyun retreated hesitantly. Guiding energy with a density so high it was suffocating was spread all around. It was an enormous amount that would have been difficult to maintain consciousness without Jaehee’s guiding energy.
“Now.”
Jiwoon commanded the Espers.
“Kill Lee Jaehee and Kang Dohyun!”
With a vicious expression, Jiwoon looked at everyone and shouted resolutely.
