# Chapter 1
## 1. Premature One-Way Street
Team Delta, an Esper team without a Guide.
Though they boasted top-tier performance with their collection of prestigious S-class Espers, they constantly faced life-threatening situations due to the absence of a Guide who could handle each individual’s rampaging powers.
But Yeo Dowoon didn’t feel any particular discomfort.
‘Is Guiding really necessary?’
If non-contact Guiding didn’t work, they’d have to resort to contact Guiding, and the thought of physical contact with someone he barely knew made him instinctively shake his head with an “ugh.”
When he declared that he’d rather die from a rampage than accept that, his teammates each threw remarks at him as if he were a foolish child.
‘You know how those guys’ lives eventually ended, right?’
They always accompanied this with cases of promising Espers who died in terrible agony. Whenever that happened, Dowoon would respond with an awkward smile.
‘I’m fine. My rampage probability is only 0.02%.’
It sounded like a statement of arrogance to anyone who might hear it, but everyone nodded in agreement.
That was because despite possessing S-class natural abilities, Dowoon showed remarkably low rampage potential, making him the ace Esper within the team.
However, typical S-class Espers lived with a 20-30% rampage probability on their backs and tended to be dependent on Guides.
The three A-class Guides in South Korea took turns stabilizing them, but Delta’s members were still notorious for constantly expressing anxiety symptoms and causing concern for the management headquarters.
“Yeo Dowoon, come down! I said come down!”
So it was quite mysterious that Dowoon, who sympathized with his colleagues’ suffering but couldn’t truly understand it, experienced a rampage despite the low 0.02% probability.
“Kuhuck… ugh…”
It was August 14th.
Dispatched to destroy a ground-type dungeon that had emerged in downtown Seoul right after the rainy season ended, Dowoon was mercilessly attacked by an unknown monster not registered in the Esper database.
His abdomen was torn open by enormous claws, and his skin surface melted sickeningly after being drenched in highly acidic gastric fluid.
Covering his mouth as it spewed blood, he barely managed to straighten his legs. But he had no strength left and collapsed with a thud.
“Yeo Dowoon!”
He could hear his teammates calling, but he didn’t even have the strength to respond.
He managed to lift his hand and wave it weakly, catching a glimpse of Captain Kwon Jeonghoo rushing toward him in a gas mask. Suddenly, the Captain’s voice resonated sharply in his mind.
-Don’t close your eyes, Yeo Dowoon. Hold on and stay conscious.
“It fucking hurts… Captain, did you hurt this much too?”
-It’s something you get used to with experience.
Dowoon shook his head irritably at that response. In truth, he was suffering more from his heart racing madly than from his shredded abdomen.
His blood vessels were boiling throughout his body and his head was burning hot. This wasn’t a metaphorical expression—the veins all over his body were literally bulging and causing havoc.
With a groan, Dowoon leaned slightly against a dungeon pillar formed from the monster’s outer skin. Kweeeek! The monster’s filthy cry rained down. He murmured desolately.
“It’s probably A-class.”
-What?
“That bastard who tore my guts open… I think it’s A-class.”
-The base estimates it’s S-class. Hang in there.
Nonsense. Dowoon muttered softly and continued. As drowsiness began to set in, his eyelids blinked sluggishly.
“If it weren’t for the rampage, I could’ve beaten that thing… S-class?”
-Yes. Since it was enough to make you rampage, it must be S-class.
When Kwon Jeonghoo, who normally would have scolded him for being impudent, explained in a kind tone, Dowoon tossed a worthless joke about hearing hallucinations before dying.
He would like to live longer if possible, but he naturally had no intention of blaming anyone if he couldn’t.
After all, it was the Esper base that allowed him to live like a human being when he had been wandering the back alleys without properly graduating from high school, and it was the Delta teammates he met here who took him to a GED academy so he could finally get his diploma.
“Captain. Can I… leave my last words?”
-Shut up.
Dowoon ignored Kwon Jeonghoo’s curse and spoke in a halting voice.
“I worked my ass off and saved a lot of money… please, give it all back to society.”
-Esper private assets revert to the state after death, Yeo Dowoon.
Kwon Jeonghoo immediately rebuked him. Smiling as if dejected, Dowoon squeezed out his last bit of strength and built a pillar of ice in front of Kwon Jeonghoo.
“Haha. You told me to shut up, but you still answered…”
The inside of the dungeon had already become as hot as a cauldron due to the flames he had released earlier. Because of this, the monsters were also thrashing about wildly, making survival prospects slim at best.
-Stop doing useless things and just focus on staying conscious…!
The ice formations blocked the passage connecting to the point where Dowoon had fallen behind, and Kwon Jeonghoo, who noticed his intention, shouted fiercely. Choosing voluntary isolation, Dowoon responded resolutely.
“I take back what I said about not needing Guiding.”
-Yeo Dowoon, you!
“It’s absolutely necessary, shit…”
Even while staggering, he tenaciously stood up. As the monster was gradually getting closer, he planned to shower it with flames as soon as it came within range and melt together with it.
It might be a reckless attempt, but it was worth trying.
“Let’s die together, you son of a bitch.”
Beyond the corpses of monsters he had somehow managed to crush despite his unstable mental state, the final monster with its formidable appearance was charging toward him like a bull.
***
He had never felt such fulfillment in his life.
The feeling of his various deficiencies interlocking and making his chest burn was as addictive as it was strange, so Dowoon nuzzled his forehead against the hand stroking his hair, as if seeking affection. Then someone’s fresh laughter flowed in.
‘Such a baby.’
Baby? He wondered who would use such a ticklish word for a 22-year-old man, but it must have been the owner of this hand.
He continued to whisper, ‘Young, so young,’ and then removed his palm.
Dowoon frowned, feeling regretful. He wanted to savor this sense of security a little longer. He wished the hand would gently caress his face, not just his hair.
‘Get up now, baby.’
It was then. A gentle voice approached, warming Dowoon’s ear like a spring breeze.
‘I’m suffering because of you alone. Hmm?’
Though the content seemed far from kind, Dowoon was pleased enough to smile, his lips curling upward. Then the hand that had fallen away coldly was placed on his forehead again, gently stroking his skin.
Dowoon thought he should give that hand a little kiss, so he slightly twisted his head. But his lips were caught like a duck’s and pulled straight.
Feeling sad, Dowoon tried to frown again, but this time his face was grabbed entirely and roughly lifted.
He tried to open his eyes with all his strength, but his eyelids stuck together without any movement, offering only darkness.
‘Haah…’
After someone’s sigh, Dowoon couldn’t help but tense his muscles as he felt something soft landing on his lips.
A slippery piece of flesh ransacked his mouth, sucking intensely on the tender insides.
The feeling of another’s saliva coating his palate was ecstatic enough to make his lower region throb, but it was also terrifying enough to send chills down his spine.
Just as a hand descended along his nape and began to slowly lift his hospital gown, Dowoon let out a short moan, “Ah,” and with difficulty opened his eyes to face the man mounted above him.
Only then did the man remove his lips with a smack and curl his eye corners with a bright smile.
“Hello.”
He was a person with particularly impressive features—facial characteristics that seemed to have been drawn delicately stroke by stroke with a brush, and eyes of a tender color.
Dowoon felt his face flush and remained silent. His heart beat weakly. It wasn’t simply because the man’s appearance possessed a kind of beauty he had never seen before.
“You won’t be able to speak right now.”
With each touch of the man’s hands brushing against him, Dowoon felt like his chest was being soaked in sugar, becoming soft and mushy. He instinctively realized that this person was his Guide.
Even when facing the monster and spewing flames, some distinct energy had penetrated his body, helping him maintain his sanity. He had hastily created the ice barrier too.
“Your esophagus was corroded.”
It was all thanks to you.
With that thought, Dowoon couldn’t help but fall rapidly in love. You saved me.
Like many Espers who first experience a Guide’s touch, he too developed an uncontrollable emotion for the one who stabilized him.
But as soon as his condition improved, Dowoon was frustrated by the wall of reality.
“Your Guide? …What are you talking about, Dowoon? Your Guide?”
Cha Haseong.
The hope of Team Delta who awakened by chance while passing a dungeon entrance and became South Korea’s first S-class rating, the promising talent who attracted substantial support from the Esper base.
“He’s our Guide.”
According to the contract, he wasn’t Dowoon’s personal Guide, but the exclusive Guide for the entire Delta team.
