Chapter 18

Baek Ihyun had originally been a Guide treated like a plaything by the Espers.

Over the past few days, however, the Espers who had received his Guiding had been carried out one after another, while Lee Juwon—the Supernatural Bureau’s human bomb—had started walking on eggshells around him. Unsure how they were supposed to treat Ihyun now, the Espers on his team could only sneak uncomfortable glances in his direction.

Ihyun ignored their stares and kept his gaze fixed on the empty auditorium stage.

Moments later, the Deputy Director, dressed sharply in uniform, stepped onto the stage.

“We will now begin the anti-terrorism exercise. Please treat this as a real emergency and act accordingly.”

Wrrrring!

No sooner had the Deputy Director finished speaking than the alert sensors mounted on the walls blared loudly, followed by an announcement over the speakers.

[This is an actual emergency. Everyone, please follow instructions and proceed to a safe area.]

At the sound of the alarm, Guides and Espers moved as one. Ihyun followed his Esper team leader toward the emergency exit.

Modeled after the ability of the rebel leader Han Taeyoon, the exercise began with heavy gravity-type mana raining down in all directions alongside the broadcast.

In an instant, Ihyun’s limbs felt as though sandbags had been strapped to them. Descending even a single flight of emergency stairs left his fragile body—possessing nothing more than ordinary civilian muscle—screaming in protest. Pain throbbed through his calves, and he desperately gasped for air.

They call this a drill?

Ihyun clutched his aching legs and clicked his tongue inwardly.

That bastard can crush a tank flat with a flick of his hand. I’d love to see the face of whatever moron came up with a half-assed plan like this.

If Han Taeyoon actually intended to invade, there wouldn’t even be time for a pathetic drill like this.

“Stop pushing!”

Looking around, Ihyun realized he wasn’t the only one struggling. The other Guides, possessing no more stamina than ordinary civilians, had gone pale beneath the crushing gravity. Huffing and puffing as they barely clung to the handrails and picked their way down the stairs, they looked less like they were participating in an anti-terrorism exercise and more like they had been dragged into a hastily improvised physical fitness test.

With the gravity intensifying with every flight, even keeping their knees straight had become a struggle.

Clack, clack-clack!

Just then, the blaring alarm abruptly cut out amid a burst of harsh static.

This was part of the simulated scenario: an ongoing gravity-field attack had temporarily disabled all mana sensors and communication devices.

The power went out, plunging the Supernatural Bureau into darkness.

As pitch-black shadows swallowed everything around them, shrieking Guides and murmuring Espers turned the stairwell into complete chaos.

In the darkness, illuminated only by flickering red emergency lights, the corners of Ihyun’s mouth curled upward.

Even Espers with keen senses wouldn’t notice a single person moving against the flow of the crowd—not while their perception was dulled by the crushing pressure of gravity-type mana. With communications severed and the emergency generators only just kicking in, wasn’t this the perfect opportunity to raid Baek Seungho’s office?

Shrouded in the red emergency glow, Ihyun began slipping upward against the flow of the descending crowd.

His destination was the Supernatural Bureau Director’s office.

“Whew… pant, pant… This is insanely exhausting.”

As Baek Ihyun climbed the stairs, his legs quivered like a newborn calf’s.

The fact that his vision was already spinning and dizziness had set in after such minimal exertion was something he could neither comprehend nor accept. In his previous life, he could have sprinted up a building like this without even losing his breath.

As he drew closer to his destination, Ihyun clung desperately to the stair railing, dragging himself forward one step at a time. His lungs felt squeezed tight, while his legs had gone so numb that it seemed they might refuse to move another inch.

He had to search Baek Seungho’s office before the exercise ended.

Driven by urgency even as his body failed him completely, Ihyun’s gaze grew sharper and fiercer.

At last, he managed to push open the fire door on the floor where the Director’s office was located.

He checked his surroundings.

The hallway, normally heavily guarded, was unnaturally deserted thanks to the drill.

Ihyun kept to the shadows beneath the emergency lights. His legs had long since given out, and he practically crawled toward Baek Seungho’s office. Cupping both hands over his mouth and nose to muffle his ragged breathing, he finally reached the door—

—and froze.

…Huh?

The office door, which should have been firmly shut, was open a crack.

Low, hushed voices leaked through the gap.

It was the voice of Jeong Yura, the Head Guide overseeing all the Guides in the Supernatural Bureau.

Why was the Head Guide, who should have been in the shelter, inside the Director’s office at a time like this?

“Baek Ihyun’s Guiding wave has changed, and he genuinely seems to have lost his memory. His personality has undergone a complete 180. These days, he’s been spending time with Esper Lee Juwon instead of Esper Lee Changhun.”

“I’ve already heard about the change in his Guiding wave from the lab. Whether it was a chain reaction caused by the drug he took to kill himself or not, his previously unstable mana circuit has stabilized. Add that to the database.”

Baek Seungho chuckled softly as he stepped closer to Jeong Yura, who was standing in front of his desk.

Inside the gloom-shrouded Director’s office, the distance between them closed far too much.

Baek Seungho’s thick fingers brushed past the collar of Jeong Yura’s neat uniform before trailing down the nape of her neck in a slow, intimate caress.

Jeong Yura neither flinched nor resisted. Instead, she accepted his touch and whispered softly.

“…He has finally become the perfect S-rank Guide you wanted, Director.”

“Indeed. All your painstaking work to break the child down and control him has finally paid off, Yura.”

The tips of Baek Seungho’s fingers pressed firmly against Jeong Yura’s red lips before slowly pulling away.

Watching the sickening display of affection through the gap in the door, Ihyun let out a dry laugh.

Thud!

At that moment, the aura of an S-rank Esper began pouring through the crack in the door.

Goosebumps rose along the back of Ihyun’s neck.

“…Looks like a rat snuck in.”

A chilling pressure pierced straight into his brain, squeezing the breath from his lungs.

The door burst open, casting a dark shadow over Ihyun.

Baek Seungho looked down at him with cold eyes.

“Shouldn’t you be participating in the anti-terrorism exercise right now? What brings you here?”

“…I was scared, so I ran away.”

The corners of Baek Seungho’s lips slowly curled upward.

“You’ve gotten better at lying.”

Slap!

“Argh!”

Without warning, the crack of an impact sent Ihyun sprawling onto the marble floor outside the Director’s office.

Stars exploded before his eyes, and it felt as though his cheek had been split open.

Then the toe of Baek Seungho’s dress shoe slammed mercilessly into Ihyun’s shin.

Thud, thump!

Had this been the body he’d possessed during his days as an Esper, kicks like these wouldn’t even have tickled. But Baek Ihyun’s current body was so fragile that the slightest impact left a bruise.

The agonizing pain made his vision flash white, and tears spilled involuntarily down his cheeks.

Jeong Yura, standing beside him, took a startled step backward.

Baek Seungho grabbed Ihyun by the hair and yanked him upright, forcing his head back.

“Ugh…”

His grip was tight enough to tear at Ihyun’s scalp.

Even so, Ihyun’s eyes locked onto Baek Seungho’s icy gaze through the tears.

Baek Seungho growled softly.

“I admit that ever since you lost your memory, I’ve used being busy as an excuse to neglect your discipline.”

Even as pain wracked his body, Ihyun clenched his teeth.

Held by his hair, he glared at Baek Seungho through tear-filled eyes.

“So I suppose I ought to pay attention to your mental discipline once more.”

The veins on the back of Baek Seungho’s hand bulged.

At that exact moment, Ihyun’s mind was forcibly ransacked.

His chin trembled. His eyes lost focus, and his hazy gaze drifted aimlessly into empty space.

A cold operating table.

The glaring white light of surgical lamps pouring down from above.

Fragments of memory flooded into Ihyun’s unconscious mind like a tidal wave.

“The purity still isn’t high enough. Inject a higher concentration.”

“Director, adding any more than this could cause fatal shock.”

“Then just adjust the dosage so he doesn’t die.”

Baek Seungho’s ruthless voice echoed through the laboratory.

Bound hand and foot, young Baek Ihyun could only watch as an unidentified blue fluid coursed through his veins.

“Aaah! Dad, it hurts! Please stop…!”

Despite the child’s screams, Baek Seungho merely looked down at his chart and conferred with the research team.

“…Cough!”

The sensation of his veins burning and his heart thrashing as though it might burst.

His limbs quivered uncontrollably, and Baek Ihyun’s eyes rolled back. Blood streamed from his nose, and he vomited blood from his mouth.

Again and again, the child lost consciousness, only to regain it moments later.

The experiment continued.

“Who sent you?”

Baek Seungho’s voice echoed from somewhere far away.

“…I… I came on my own.”

Looking down at Ihyun’s unfocused eyes, Baek Seungho questioned him coldly.

“What did you do in the Guide wing?”

“…That’s…”

Baek Seungho’s mana burrowed into every corner of Ihyun’s brain, rummaging through his mind as though trying to forcibly unearth every hidden thought and memory.

A burning heat flared inside his temples.

Then came a violent surge of nausea.