"How much are you offering for that?"
"What?"
"What I mean is, I have something to say about this whole thing. It seems that you, Mr. Seo Ui-woo, are quite satisfied with this 'guiding' business and have no intention of sending me back to General Residential District 6. From my perspective, it's all rather frustrating…"
Jae-jin popped the beef that Ui-woo had ignored into his mouth and chewed. It was delicious. The natural pine mushroom aroma was exquisite, and the meat was perfectly cooked, tender, and full of rich juices.
"Guiding, for Awakened ones, is essentially like an expression of affection for ordinary people. You can't force something like that — it has to come from genuine feeling."
"An expression of affection?"
"That's right. I don't feel like explaining it any further right now. In any case, from an ordinary person's perspective, things like kidnapping and assault are crimes. No matter the differences in perception or the reasons behind them, these are serious offenses that are hard to forgive."
"Is that so? Even if it is, there's nothing to be done. You're a guide now, Jae-jin."
A strange breeze stirred.
An invisible force surged upward, lifting Jae-jin.
The metal chair Kwon Jae-jin was sitting on defied gravity, slowly rising into the air. Seo Ui-woo was using psychokinesis, smiling quietly as he did so.
"I know you want to cling to the life of an ordinary person, but you can't go back. If you try, you'll be brutally killed…."
As the chair rose higher, Jae-jin's seated figure grew taller.
Seo Ui-woo's eyes followed the path of Jae-jin's ascent.
A moment ago, Seo Ui-woo had his head bent low, kissing the crown of Jae-jin's head. But now, he straightened up, bringing himself face-to-face with Jae-jin, who had risen to the same eye level.
"Jae-jin, you're a mutant."
Seo Ui-woo's eyes narrowed playfully, and he slowly licked his lower lip.
Beyond his deepening gray irises, an abyss seemed to stir.
A white-hot euphoria, fueled by primal instincts, surged within him.
Every moment of physical contact with Kwon Jae-jin seemed to bring Seo Ui-woo an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
"Do you know what a mutant is? It's what they call Espers or Guides who awaken late, like you. Those who didn't awaken right after birth. Uncontrollable, dangerous factors."
"..."
"Awakened ones who don't complete the regular training on time are all disposed of. There's no way the state would let a mutant like you live. Uncontrolled Awakened individuals are nothing but a threat to human society. They're exterminated immediately. Every single one."
A chill ran down Jae-jin's spine. The fine hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Seo Ui-woo's voice, though calm and steady, carried a cold and menacing edge. Jae-jin had known for some time that there was no escape from him.
Like a predator cornering its prey, Seo Ui-woo leisurely sucked on Jae-jin's parted lips, savoring the moment before pulling away with a whisper.
"So, what's it going to be? Should I let you out so you can be killed? Or will you stay hidden, living as my guide?"
At times like this, it hit Jae-jin hard just how different the world Seo Ui-woo came from.
The reason Jae-jin had been able to live safely in the general residential district, graduate from university, work, and lead a normal life was that Awakened individuals like Seo Ui-woo bore the burden of risking their lives on the front lines.
The reality of this was never fully disclosed to the general public.
If it were, no parent would willingly send their child to be isolated and raised as an Awakened.
To the average person, Awakened individuals were seen as a group of professionals who lived in luxury, earning tens or hundreds of billions in annual salaries in special residential zones. They were celebrities, more popular and talked about than entertainers — heroes, chosen by fate, to lead humanity. That was the general image. The media only showed them using their extraordinary powers to spectacularly subdue creatures, as if to suppress the truth.
"So, you're telling me to choose? Am I an ordinary person or a guide?"
A cruel choice was presented.
At first glance, it seemed like two paths, but in reality, it was only one.
"Of course, I have no intention of letting you die as an ordinary person. I'm not letting you go anywhere."
For a moment, the air around them grew heavy, as if it had absorbed too much water.
An invisible pressure weighed down on Jae-jin's shoulders.
The tableware on the table began to rattle, clinking against one another, while water spilled over the rim of the glass.
"If you say you want to leave, I'll just tie you up and keep you locked here. Handcuffs… how do you feel about handcuffs?"
Even without meaning to, the power radiating from Seo Ui-woo overwhelmed the space around him.
Thud!
In an instant, the world flipped.
"Ugh…!"
Jae-jin, who had been sitting in the chair, was suddenly thrown onto the table, his stomach pressed down painfully. Seo Ui-woo had pinned him down, his hand resting on Jae-jin's lower abdomen. From the point of contact, a rough vibration rippled outward, like concentric circles spreading across the surface of a pond.
"I'll gag you too, and tie you to the bed. I'll feed you myself. The bathroom? Once a day should be enough, right? I'll hook you up to a catheter, so don't worry."
Seo Ui-woo's voice was low and harsh as if he were suppressing an intense thrill that threatened to escape him.
His face, staring down at Jae-jin from above, was terrifying. Despite the soft, weightless way his hair floated as if defying gravity and the perfection of his pale, handsome features, Jae-jin's instincts screamed fear.
Seo Ui-woo slowly moved his hand up from Jaejin's abdomen. Incredibly, wherever his five fingers passed, the fabric of Jae-jin's shirt tore with a sharp, ripping sound.
The white T-shirt was shredded into pieces as if it had been slashed by the claws of a wild animal.
"So… so… Jae-jin, you have to guide. You'll be my dedicated guide, and we'll live here together. I'm desperate right now."
Seo Ui-woo lifted the loose, hanging remnants of the T-shirt, peeling it off as if it were nothing more than an orange rind.
He pressed his cheek against Jae-jin's now bare lower abdomen, rubbing his face against the exposed skin, like a child clinging to a toy they don't want to give up, marking his territory.
"I didn't believe what other Espers said about guiding. It never made much sense to me, and I didn't trust it until I experienced it myself… But this… I don't know, I just… I like it. It's like I've been reborn."
A slight frown appeared on Seo Ui-woo's face.
His thick eyebrows furrowed, and a wrinkle formed on the smooth bridge of his straight nose.
Jae-jin recognized this look — it was Seo Ui-woo's "frustrated" expression.
The kind of face he made when things didn't go his way.
"Seo Ui-woo…"
"It's like… I'm addicted to you… on a cellular level… It feels that good."
It wasn't just Jae-jin's understanding of the world that had collapsed — Seo Ui-woo's had as well.
Just as Jae-jin had lost his normal life, Seo Ui-woo, too, had lost his ordinary existence to Jae-jin.
Now that he had come to know the blind devotion to guiding, the primal cry, and the overwhelming thirst for it, there was no turning back to the time of ignorance.
"Every single strand of my hair wants you."
He had finally found the missing piece he had craved since birth.
Like someone who had starved their entire life and was, at last, satiated,
Like someone who had suffered from insomnia their whole life and finally found the peace of sleep.
Desperate not to lose what he had in his grasp.
"Right now, with the way I feel, I'd commit any crime, even murder, if it meant I could keep receiving your guidance."
"Seo Ui-woo…"
"I wasn't joking about tying you up with handcuffs either… Oh, and the fact that I've secretly hidden you, a mutant Esper, is already a major crime."
"…"
"But it doesn't matter to me. I wouldn't hesitate to do worse."
Seo Ui-woo bared his teeth in a bright, unsettling grin, and Jae-jin found himself smiling back, his lips curling upward.
For some reason, it was a slightly bitter smile.
'Was Seo Ui-woo this desperate back then? In my memory, he only left behind an image of terror and horror.'
His chest felt noisy. His heart was beating wildly, his muscles tightening as if his ribs were clamped shut, and a heavy weight pressed down beneath his sternum.
Kwon Jae-jin forced down his inner turmoil and laughed. His dark eyes glimmered with a complex, shifting light.
"…So, have you said everything you wanted to say? Then it's my turn to talk."
He wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand before speaking.
The oppressive atmosphere made it hard to even open his eyes properly, but that didn't matter. He sneered, his face scrunched in defiance.
"Who said anything about going out to die? I'll be your guide, Seo Ui-woo. I just have a few conditions, that's all."
Every breath felt like his lungs were being squeezed flat. Struggling, he managed to extend his trembling fingers, just barely brushing the tip of Seo Ui-woo's nose.
Jae-jin pressed down on the frown that creased Seo Ui-woo's nose, smoothing out the small wrinkle.
As his fingers gently brushed against his skin, Seo Ui-woo seemed pleased by the contact, his eyes narrowing into long, horizontal lines as he smiled. He lifted his head, looking at Jae-jin.
"Conditions?"
"First, money. I should be paid for the work I do, right?"
Jae-jin's dry response hit Seo Ui-woo's ears like a sharp jab.
He repeated himself clearly.
"Awakened individuals get paid billions by the state. I should be getting that too. You, Seo Ui-woo, will pay me."