# Chapter 78
As his vision began to blur hazily, he struck his thigh with the back of his knife. The sharp pain forcibly awakened his mind.
Dohyuk quietly watched as the remaining two Eudeuksinis disappeared into the shadows, spewing black smoke and body fluids.
15 seconds again in his head.
After letting this brief time pass, Dohyuk moved his body quickly.
It was obvious where the fatally wounded monster was heading.
The place where the core was located.
*
[Esper Choi Dohyuk, report the situation immediately!]
“Five already-awakened Eudeuksinis appeared from the dimensional rift and attacked the research building. I’m hunting them now.”
[Already awakened, you say?]
“Yes. Three have been eliminated, and I’m confronting the remaining two. Are there any injuries among the evacuees?”
[Evacuation completed without injuries, but…]
“Please speak.”
[No. I’ll send support in 3 minutes.]
With Sangjun’s radio transmission ended, Dohyuk easily reached Room 807-C. There was no need to sneak in under the pretext of the Eudeuksini invasion.
The first thing he cradled upon arriving at the laboratory was a pitch-black box. As he had requested from Junwoo, the cage containing the cat had its power turned off, and though the door was closed, it wasn’t locked.
Did that cat know? That if it had wanted to, it could have had quite a long time to escape beyond the cage. But the courage to leap out alone would have already been erased. It would have been waiting for death in resignation.
Dohyuk still didn’t know whether his touch would approach the cat as salvation or as empty hypocrisy. But to Dohyuk, this action felt like a strange consolation.
The body, already worn down by countless pains and surrenders, felt incomparably light, as if it might be blown away by the wind at any moment.
“I’m late.”
The feeling of turning his back on the headquarters’ will for the first time was nothing special. The world didn’t end, and time didn’t stop. It just felt like his drowsy throat had finally opened, allowing him to breathe. He felt rather excited by the sound of his pounding heartbeat.
I am alive, and you are alive. We will continue to live that way.
“I’m sorry.”
Only now did he realize. That he truly wanted to save this tiny life form. It felt like a sturdy support had been erected behind his heels, which had been flowing through countless moments of time until now. Dohyuk lowered his eyes. It was a strange feeling. He felt like crying all day, and also like laughing emptily.
Suddenly, he missed Yu Junseo.
Though afraid of how different the weight of Junseo’s emotions might be from his own, he simply wanted to be honest about his feelings. Wasn’t Junseo the one who had inevitably drawn out the suppressed self that had been watching cautiously from the corner and breathed greed and hope into him? Even at the risk of acting despicably by demanding that Junseo take responsibility properly, he wanted to possess him.
Would Junseo make a troubled face if Dohyuk kissed the feet of his only support and clung to him, unable to bear his desire?
There was no way to stop the feelings pouring through the open cage door.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s outside now.”
With a gentle hand, Dohyuk picked up the furball that was curled up like it was dead. When he caressed it, releasing a slight ability through his hands, the ears that hadn’t moved at all stood up faintly.
Let’s go home, Dohyuk whispered in its ear, then placed the cat in the black box and set it down in what looked like the safest place, then sighed.
Soon Dohyuk’s gaze turned to the floor. Beneath the bookshelf, where the shadow was much darker than elsewhere, looking damp and wet. Ignoring the beeping alert from his control device, Dohyuk directed his toxic energy there.
His vision rippled for just a moment as the ability left his body.
“…No time… for hide and seek…”
The shadow, as if struggling against the infused toxicity, grew larger before finally, the upper body of a Eudeuksini emerged from the darkness. Black smoke continuously poured out between the shadows. Dohyuk cut off the wrist from the arm of the one remaining Eudeuksini. Normally, he would have finished the hunt at once, but what Dohyuk wanted now wasn’t an ordinary hunt.
‘KRAAAAK!’
The bookshelf, densely packed with books, collapsed. The cabinet crumpled, and the monitor screen shattered with a cracking sound. The monster tried to attack Dohyuk, launching attacks in various directions, but Dohyuk narrowly avoided every attack.
The sound of the laboratory being completely destroyed continued. As if adding to that sound, Dohyuk threw a punch. But what he destroyed wasn’t the monster.
With a ‘thud’ sound, the bars of a large cage crumpled. The wall that had looked so solid was actually nothing special. Each time the bars bent pathetically, Dohyuk, feeling a strange satisfaction, punched a couple more times, then melted the Eudeuksini’s wrist until its original form was barely recognizable before carelessly throwing it on the floor.
At that moment, the black energy of the Eudeuksini shot towards Dohyuk. As Dohyuk tried to dodge once more, another Eudeuksini that had emerged from his shadow fixed his shadow in place. It was the one that had been pierced through the left chest by Dohyuk. As Dohyuk, fixed in place to the extent that he couldn’t even move his lower body, drew up his ability to emit toxic energy, a damp, bloody smell spread from beyond his throat with a surge.
“…!”
The dark red blood dripped between his palms as he reflexively pressed his lips.
It clearly wasn’t his limit yet. The confusion was brief; Dohyuk looked at the rippling black energy rushing towards him with wavering eyes. If he couldn’t avoid it, he would confront it head-on. The veins on the back of his hand, gripping the dagger, bulged.
That’s when it happened.
Thud!
The black energy, which had been shooting like an arrow with its bristles stiffened, collided with something invisible right in front of Dohyuk’s nose and vanished like smoke.
“I told you to prepare for hunting. Prepare! What kind of situation is this where an A-class tries to hunt five A-classes? Esper Choi Dohyuk, whose loss will it be if you die from disobeying orders?”
A fierce wind that completely ventilated the damp air was fired. The remaining Eudeuksinis were helplessly hunted by the strong attack that condensed a storm.
At Sangjun’s voice, Dohyuk spat out the clump of blood rising again in his throat without regret and straightened his waist.
“…I was inevitably pursuing the Eudeuksinis that invaded the research building, and just…”
The hand of Dohyuk, who was trying to make excuses with a pre-prepared repertoire, was grabbed by someone unexpected.
“From now on, it seems that any actions you want to take should come with the condition ‘while prioritizing hyung’s body.'”
His heart dropped with a thud. His face, which had been exceptionally calm even while wiping blood from his mouth, changed instantly. Dohyuk looked at Sangjun and Junseo with a greatly surprised expression, his eyes darting around. That beloved face had appeared before his eyes without warning. Like someone who had been ambushed, Dohyuk momentarily stopped breathing.
“Why, why, why is Guide Yu Junseo here…”
While saying this, he gave Sangjun a look asking why he had brought this fragile, sugar-cookie-like guide into such a threatening space. Already accustomed to that gaze to the point that he wasn’t even angry anymore, Sangjun sighed.
“In conclusion, it was good that I brought him. Esper Choi Dohyuk. Receive guiding.”
But Dohyuk tried to move his body clumsily. An awkward lie followed.
“Just a moment… I need to report first, and there are things I need to collect. I received a request from Dr. Yu Junwoo.”
“Hyung, do you know you’re really bad at lying? Ji Sangjun. The guiding is urgent, so you take care of the cat.”
“…Don’t tell me the doctor told you?”
“Why do you look betrayed? Of course I should know! I’m your Guide, not that old doctor.”
Junseo, who was holding Dohyuk’s blood-soaked, messy hand and lightly guiding him, scolded him. Even with that brief guiding, Dohyuk felt his insides, which had been in chaos from the intense use of abilities, calming down, so he hastily removed Junseo’s hand, but the beautiful hand was already stained with blood. Dohyuk exhaled and wiped Junseo’s hand with his own clothes. Yet, there was no sign of the blood stains clinging to the white hand being removed, making Dohyuk frown.
It was amazing how his insides, which had been boiling chaotically until he saw Junseo, became so docile the moment he touched him, curling its tail. He had wanted to proudly tell Junseo that he had saved the cat, and with a clean appearance at that, but it felt like everything had gone wrong.
“Don’t touch it, it’s dirty.”
“Hyung.”
While he was worried that even the tip of Junseo’s fingers might touch the dirty blood, Junseo called out to Dohyuk. Dohyuk vacantly raised his gaze, which had been fixed on Junseo’s hand.
Sangjun, who had instructed, ‘I’ll take care of the report, so just gather what you need and get out to receive guiding,’ before leaving first, was truly an Esper with excellent intuition.
It was because Junseo—Dohyuk now realized that this smile was the expression Junseo made when something displeased him—who had been smiling sulkily, displeased with something about what Dohyuk had said, kissed Dohyuk’s lips. Dohyuk almost lost his breath at the sensation of Junseo deliberately licking inside his mouth.
The face that separated from the stunned, rigid Dohyuk tilted slightly. Dohyuk looked at those lips, now even more dark red than usual after stealing his blood, and then sighed, pulling Junseo closer.
He licked with his tongue. So that no marks would remain.
While acting like a gentle dog, his fingertips trembled with the delusion of wanting to tear open Junseo’s wounds and suck, taking even a part of him.
He felt like he would go crazy with the greed he had acknowledged.
