DB Vol 1 Part 18

[9 years ago, Ji Geun-oh discovered a preventive medicine for Guide Disease. When he said he would distribute it for free for public purposes, he instantly became a hero to Guides. Under the pretext of distributing the cure for free, he established his family foundation called ‘Guide One’, and at some point even swallowed up the Guide Association. The preventive medicine is distributed for free, but its effect only lasts for a year. So it needs to be taken every year. Guide One became heroes by giving out this medicine for free, but they don’t reveal the ingredients. Rather, they’re using this medicine to hold Guides’ lives in their hands and act as leaders as they please.]

Of all the explanations Nani had given about this world over the past few days, the most fascinating was about the Ji family. How did they find a preventive medicine for Guide Disease? And they even supply Alpha seeds almost exclusively.

“Then when did Alpha seeds appear?”

[Around the same time.]

“Why did this good fortune suddenly start for the Ji family at that time?”

[Try to remember. It’s your family, after all.]

What family? They had never been a family, not even once. When he was young and needed someone’s care, he was neglected, and when he asked for what he wanted, it came back as violence. For Won-woo, home and family were only them. The ajumma and him. Recalling the past, Won-woo’s eyes darkened.

[Get a hold of yourself.]

Won-woo raised his head at Nani’s cold voice. He felt grateful that his counterpart was an AI. It prevented him from getting too emotional. Won-woo returned to the original topic and asked Nani.

“You said to find a Guide, you have to access only through Guide One, right?”

[Yes. All Guides are registered with Guide One from birth because they need to obtain treatment for Guide Disease.]

“If you don’t care about Guide Disease, you don’t need to belong to Guide One, right?”

[Why wouldn’t you care about Guide Disease?]

Well. Won-woo shrugged.

“It’s not necessarily fatal even if you catch it, right?”

[The mortality rate is over 30%. One in three dies.]

“But two survive.”

[A Guide who doesn’t take the preventive medicine because they underestimate probability would have already died from other stupid actions.]

Won-woo, while examining the thick Guide regulation book, briefly laughed out loud looking into the air.

“Haha.”

[You find my words funny?]

“Ah, sorry. You just sounded like a smart kindergartener for a moment.”

[Haa.]

You really use sound effects well at the right moments. Won-woo resisted the urge to say this too.

“The mortality rate is high, but there’s a treatment that can be used in the early stages, right? That’s why I said that, because few actually die.”

[There’s no cure for Guide Disease.]

“…No cure? What about C14?”

[What’s that?]

Plasma treatment. But C14 was made from only one person’s blood. Even in his world, it hadn’t been 15 years since they discovered the value of that person’s blood as a treatment. It was a miracle created by a doctor’s chance discovery.

A few other plasma treatments were discovered later, but that was much later. If C14 hadn’t been discovered, the other plasma treatments wouldn’t have been found either. But what if C14 wasn’t discovered in this world?

Or the person who became the cure might have died early. They were already old in the original world, so the chances of them having passed away here were high. Maybe in this world, the doctor never encountered that chance. He suddenly realized how remarkably fortunate it was that the cure was discovered in his world. If that luck didn’t exist in this world, C14 might not exist either.

Ah, so that’s why. Won-woo, like someone who had gained enlightenment, understood this world in an instant. It was the butterfly effect. Because the one person who could create the cure didn’t exist here, this was still a world dominated by Espers. Guides were the weak, exposed to Guide Disease that could kill them at any time.

But the problem was that the Ji family held the preventive medicine for Guide Disease. They were parasites that clung to the strong, so they wouldn’t use it for the Guides. Well, even in his world, the preventive medicine wasn’t for the Guides. It was the Espers who held the preventive medicine.

They used it as a weapon to threaten Guides. Saying if they stand with the Purifier, they won’t receive the preventive medicine and will die. But a few years after the preventive medicine came out, other side effects were revealed, and no Guide would take it anymore.

Then, more Guides joined the anti-Esper faction led by the Purifier. The Espers, having lost their card to play, imprisoned the remaining Guides. Some were chained like slaves on their wrists and ankles, but many voluntarily sided with the Espers.

Ji Geun-oh was one of them. Won-woo’s biological father. He was a representative Guide who amassed wealth by sticking to Espers. He was able to do this partly thanks to the help of an Esper he was inseparable from.

There’s a saying accepted as truth in any era since Espers and Guides have existed: Espers are obsessed with Guides. Ji Geun-oh’s Esper was also obsessed with him. The way Ji Geun-oh strutted around, trusting him, was quite disgusting. But here, he gained power through the preventive medicine.

“Well, they wouldn’t care about the side effects of the preventive medicine here.”

Won-woo muttered inadvertently and then realized his mistake. Nani, though a machine, was listening.

[…There are side effects?]

The lowered voice somehow sounded ominous. Won-woo, not yet intending to reveal his identity, was relieved that Nani was a machine.

“All medicines have side effects. That one probably does too.”

Won-woo brushed it off casually and examined the ‘Guide One Handbook’ he had been looking at. He wanted to read most of it, but it was too thick. Even quickly flipping through the pages and skimming with his eyes, it seemed it would take time to find the information he needed.

“Why do they have so much to say?”

As he grumbled slightly, the usual indifferent voice asked.

[What are you looking for?]

“A way to get kicked out of Guide One.”

Won-woo preemptively answered, anticipating that Nani would naturally ask ‘Why?’

“I checked the Center’s regulations, and affiliated Guides can’t choose the Esper they want. But it’s different for contracted freelancers. The problem is that only Guide One affiliated freelancers can contract with the Center. There’s only one way for a Guide not affiliated with Guide One to work at the Center.”

[If an important Esper at the Center has an unusual wavelength, a Guide to handle them can be contracted regardless of conditions.]

“You know well?”

[Is the Esper you want to Guide an unusual wavelength?]

Yes. As Won-woo answered and rummaged through the handbook again, a seemingly sarcastic question was heard.

[And is it an ‘important’ Esper of the Center?]

“Even if not now, I can make them important soon. A-rank Espers are rare here too, right?”

[Are you going to raise their rank with Alpha seeds?]

“Yes. Alpha seeds.”

After a moment of silence, Won-woo heard faint mutterings mixed with crackling noise, barely audible.

[…He really believes it. Completely crazy…]

“Ah, but.”

The noise cut off immediately.

“Among Guide One’s expulsion conditions, there’s ‘violation of Guide’s top priority basic ethics’, what’s this?”

[You must Guide any Esper in danger, regardless of who they are.]

“That’s ridiculous.”

[Yes. It’s a ridiculous thing.]

Won-woo, who had been nodding, paused.

“Why do you find it ridiculous?”

[Because Ji Geun-oh deliberately neglected an Esper in a rampage state, letting them die right in front of him. And it was a friend he said he respected the most.]

As it wasn’t such a surprising story, Won-woo responded casually.

“That’s just like him.”

[So, Mr. Ji Won-woo, you’re planning to violate the basic ethics of Guides to get out of Guide One?]

“If there’s no other way. Anyway, I have no intention of guiding an Esper who’s not on my side, even if they’re dying right in front of me.”

[You’re just like the Ji family. Exactly like your father.]

The emotionless voice sounded particularly colder. If it were a person, it would have sounded like mockery, but Won-woo rather twisted his mouth. Once, being told he resembled his father or brothers was the worst insult to him. But having become a bad person himself while fighting the war, he was no longer emotionally shaken.

He felt no conscience even if someone was dying in front of him. His only minor concern was how to avoid the debris of exploding people. War erodes humanity. It was different from cruelty. Countless deaths and killings had turned the inside of Won-woo into a wasteland.

This wasteland left by the war was a land where it never rained, a land that could not be restored. The only proposition that allowed Won-woo to endure and live in that land was this: Save only those on my side. This was too obvious a truth for Won-woo.

“I might be even worse. Even if all Espers who aren’t on my side die, I’ll just watch.”

There was no response. Won-woo briefly wondered if he had taught Nani something too bad, but quickly dismissed the thought. It’s better for even a machine to quickly understand what kind of person Won-woo is. He had an amusing thought that he might be called by the same nickname as in his original world. Won-woo chuckled and searched the Guide book a bit more. There was one more expulsion condition for Guide One.

“‘Expulsion upon contracting with anti-Guide forces designated by the association.’ Anti-Guide forces?”

[Places that don’t get along with the Ji family.]

“There must be more than a few?”

[Yes. Many. But they’ve all submitted to the Ji family. There’s only one place the Ji family has officially named as an anti-Guide force. The only place that fights the Ji family.]

Won-woo was about to ask where that was when his phone rang, swallowing his question. Geon-young’s name appeared. Ah, right, it had been about three days of rest, so it was time to talk. But he had planned to meet face to face. Won-woo rejected the call and got up from his seat. Won-woo’s destination was a company teeming with Espers.

Sang-cheon had borrowed money from many places and met numerous gangsters, but he was most wary of the ordinary-looking man in front of him. He wasn’t an Esper, nor was he coercive or cursing. Rather, he was a soulless office worker wearing glasses, suffering from chronic fatigue. However, even though he only said what needed to be said like a machine, Sang-cheon knew. This person was the chief secretary of the brute family. He couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person.

“…You’re saying the stolen goods are Alpha seeds?”

Even for someone extraordinary, he seemed dumbfounded. Sang-cheon nodded to his counterpart, Chief Jung, then shook his head.

“They’re Alpha seeds, but not stolen goods.”

“Then did you discover Alpha seeds yourself?”

“…Are they stolen goods?”

When Sang-cheon became unsure, a human emotion appeared in Chief Jung’s eyes. It was contempt. Sang-cheon felt wronged.

“No, the person who entrusted them claimed they were Alpha Seeds. I don’t think they are. I mean, how could these possibly be Alpha seeds? The person just put them in their pocket and came! Does it make sense to handle them so carelessly if they’re Alpha seeds?!”

Sang-cheon shook the black seeds in the ziplock bag. Fatigue overlapped in Chief Jung’s eyes. If it weren’t for the brute’s orders, he wouldn’t have needed to come in person. He had only been told to receive something and handle it, but Alpha seeds? Is this a joke?

Alpha seeds are enshrined deep in the Ji family’s special vault, and when even one seed is moved, A-rank Espers stick to it as bodyguards, moving in several cars. Not dangling in a ziplock bag like this. But what could he do even if he didn’t believe it? If the higher-ups say roll, you have to roll. Chief Jung looked at the black seeds in the ziplock bag with frustrated eyes and asked.

“So if they’re Alpha seeds, you’re saying you’ll sell them to us?”

“Well, the original owner wants to sell them.”

“We’ll take them and run a component analysis first.”

At those words, Sang-cheon handed over the ziplock bag, and Chief Jung held out a receipt.

“Please sign this.”

Yes, Sang-cheon quickly signed and handed it over, then carefully asked.

“Just in case, if they are Alpha seeds, ahem, how much could I get?”

Chief Jung was about to put the ziplock bag in his suit’s inner pocket but stopped and looked at Sang-cheon incredulously.

“We’ll pay you appropriately according to the market price. If they’re not stolen goods.”

“If they are stolen… can’t they be sold?”

“No. Except in special cases, most can’t.”

“Aren’t Alpha seeds special? I mean, there’s no serial number engraved on the seeds or anything.”

“Are they stolen goods?”

Sang-cheon couldn’t look Chief Jung in the eye and turned his gaze away.

“They might be. The owner is from the Ji family.”

Chief Jung’s expression instantly hardened.

“Who?”

“Um, Ji Won-woo, the youngest in the Ji family…”

“Ah, Ji Won-woo.”

The tension immediately disappeared from Chief Jung’s face.

“Mr. Ji Won-woo hasn’t been to the main house for over 3 years.”

“Really? He didn’t even go to family gatherings?”

“No, because he wasn’t invited.”

Not invited even though he’s family? This was incomprehensible to Sang-cheon. The Ji family often appeared in the media, and everyone knew how castle-like and huge their mansion was. When it was Ji Geun-oh’s birthday, hundreds of people gathered in that big house for a celebration party.

Of course, Ji Geun-oh’s children attended too. The eldest daughter who married an Esper from an incredible family, the second son who practically runs Guide One, and the third son who’s always surrounded by various topics. They were all as famous as their father. But they don’t invite the youngest son to an event where hundreds of guests come?

“I didn’t know he was treated that much like an outsider.”

“Yes. That’s how it is.”

So how could he get his hands on Alpha seeds? Understanding Chief Jung’s implication, Sang-cheon nodded. Then he immediately frowned. The brute must know this too, yet he’s trying to use Ji Won-woo to dig for information.

“We’ll contact you as soon as the test results for these seeds are out.”

Yes, Sang-cheon stood up to say goodbye, but before he left, he hesitantly asked.

“Do you also know how Ji Won-woo is treated in his family?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Just… well, I was wondering if he might have been abused…”

“Mr. Hwang Sang-cheon.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t your debt too large to fall into unnecessary sympathy?”

It was a warning to stop caring about Ji Won-woo and just follow the brute’s words well. Sang-cheon sighed, looking at the closed door after Chief Jung left. He knew it well himself. He just needed to follow the brute’s words well, but he kept thinking about Won-woo’s face when he first saw him crying pitifully. To think he was treated so coldly at home. No, it’s too pitiful.