DB Vol 2 Part 3

[Do you have any idea who the culprit might be?]

“I’ll check and let you know.”

Won-woo stripped off all the bedding, replaced it with new ones, and laid down his tired body.

[Are you just going to sleep?]

“Yeah. It’s time to sleep.”

[What if the pervert comes again?]

Nani is an AI, so it’s probably just curious. The tone is dry too. But to Won-woo, it somehow sounded like concern, which made him feel good. He closed his eyes for a moment and mumbled.

“They won’t come. This pervert is an Esper but a coward who sneaks in without the homeowner knowing. But if they’re not satisfied with this and need a bigger thrill, then they might come.”

But I’ll deal with them before that. Won-woo muttered the last part to himself as he turned to his side. In the dark bed, although no one was there, the small crackling noise in his ear felt like someone else’s breathing, which was comforting. He felt pathetic for filling his loneliness with the presence of an AI that wasn’t even human, but it was hard to push away this sense of satisfaction.

When he used to live in the north, he found comfort in someone’s breathing like this every night. That person was like family, someone Won-woo had to protect. But he didn’t speak, didn’t make a sound. Still, when the night became quiet, Won-woo could hear his sound in the silence. It was a faint breathing sound. No, Won-woo used to deliberately lean against the bed where he lay to sleep, just to hear his breathing.

He needed to hear the breathing that proved his survival to feel at ease. My ally is still alive. Happy with this fact, he would chatter alone to the unresponsive person for a while before falling asleep. And for some reason, this crackling sound now reminded him of the peace he felt back then.

“This is nice.”

He mumbled without realizing, but immediately heard a criticism.

[You like that a pervert came and went?]

“No, just lying here like this.”

[The pervert might have lain on that bed too.]

Won-woo immediately canceled his thought about it being similar to the peace of the past. It must have been peaceful back then because he was talking alone. He didn’t expect an AI that couldn’t stand perverts to disturb his peace.

“There are plenty of perverts, don’t worry about it too much.”

[…Have you been victimized that much?]

The voice sounded sharp like a blade. I must be tired, making such strange imaginations. Won-woo took a deep breath and answered with a laugh.

“Victimized? I’ve just encountered many perverts, that’s all.”

[You haven’t actually been victimized, right?]

“Do you even know what being victimized means when you ask that?”

The communication cut off for a moment. Ah, it must be at a loss because it doesn’t know. Won-woo felt pleased with Nani’s innocence. But he didn’t want to give sex education to an AI just yet.

“I’ve been lucky enough not to be victimized. But not all Guides are like that.”

No matter how much the center and the Guide association try to protect guides by imposing sanctions on Espers, those who have power superiority don’t easily listen. They say that experiencing guiding sex with a well-matched Guide is hard to control like a drug, but that’s nonsense.

I don’t understand why male Espers in particular are so uniquely unable to exercise that self-control. Maybe Espers should just be neutered when they reach a certain age…

[We should catch the pervert and cut off their dick.]

Won-woo opened his eyes again.

“Hey, that word…”

[It hasn’t been registered as inappropriate yet.]

Director Hwang must have been busy? Won-woo looked up at the dark ceiling as he tossed and turned.

“But you’re right. It would be better if all Espers were castrated.”

[There are Espers who aren’t perverts.]

The response came out urgently. Won-woo chuckled.

“If there are, they must be Espers with unusual wavelengths who haven’t experienced guiding sex yet.”

[…Just because they experience it doesn’t mean they have to become perverts.]

“No. They will. You could call them potential perverts.”

For some reason, the communication cut off again. Won-woo, thinking he might have teased too much, called out to him with a small laugh.

“Nani, I’m joking. Of course, not all Espers are perverts.”

[Yes. But if they’re definitely perverts, we should cut off all their dicks.]

AI must be cold-hearted towards humans. Won-woo suddenly realized that his counterpart was a machine.

“That’s fine too. If we punish only the real perverts, Espers will soon become extinct.”

[Do you want Espers to become extinct?]

In the past, when he was full of thoughts about killing Espers, he would have immediately answered yes. But now it’s different.

“Even if Espers disappear, the world won’t improve much. New power holders will appear and fight each other for power again.”

They barely won the war against the Espers, but afterwards, those who remained started dividing themselves into classes and began another war. Is power the problem? Or is it because humans are greedy that they struggle so hard to gain power?

Those who loudly proclaimed human equality and freedom disappeared at some point. Instead, those who were less conscientious and more selfish than others incited people to fulfill their own greed.

“So I don’t care whether Espers disappear or not. I just need to have my own people.”

[Have you ever felt lonely because you didn’t have your own people?]

Won-woo laughed briefly and rolled over to the other side. He curled up with his hand supporting his face.

“Not lonely. Just empty.”

[……]

“Because I came to know happiness that I wouldn’t have known if I had been alone from the start.”

[……]

“This time, I have to protect it well.”

I really have to protect it well. Won-woo relaxed his body as if surrendering to the rapidly approaching drowsiness.

“Nani, should I tell you an old story?”

[…G…Go to sleep.]

“It’s definitely more fun to have responses than talking alone.”

[I won’t respond, so just go to sleep.]

“When I was alone, I couldn’t sleep even after talking for an hour… but now, yawn.”

[……]

Won-woo felt his eyelids becoming heavy like iron, but out of a desire to chat a bit more, he forcibly pushed away sleep. However, with his dulled mind, words didn’t come easily.

“When I had nothing to chat about, I would sometimes sing.”

Stories about himself that he couldn’t tell anyone came out easily, under the pretext of being half-asleep and talking to a machine.

[Don’t sing.]

“I don’t remember any songs anyway. I haven’t sung for years. Always having to be quiet when dealing with enemies… not being allowed to sing…”

[Chatting is okay but singing isn’t?]

“Singing seems too relaxed. So I didn’t even listen… As a result, I forgot what songs I liked.”

What were the songs I really liked? But maybe because his mind was sluggish from drowsiness, he couldn’t remember anything.

[You can just make up songs you like now.]

Ah, is that so? It’s okay if I don’t remember. Though it was a blunt response, it sounded very warm to Won-woo.

“You’re kind.”

Only the crackling that felt like breathing continued for a while. When Won-woo’s consciousness had almost reached the bottom of sleep, he heard a voice denying it.

[No, I’m not.]

“Yes, you are. You even said you’d find the pervert for me. Oh, by the way, how were you planning to find them?”

But Won-woo fell asleep before hearing the answer to his own question. As his steady breathing continued, an emotionless voice flowed softly through the communicator.

[How else? I’ll go out myself.]

Chief Jung clearly had a lot to do. Even though all the secretarial staff were chosen as trustworthy people, there were still many things he had to handle personally. One of them was related to the family head’s younger brother.

The strongest member of the Gye family who voluntarily walked into prison to assign a Guide to his nephew. He was someone who willingly sacrificed himself for his family, but in the world, he was called a brute. Of course, within the Gye family, he was respectfully treated as the vice family head, but there were those who didn’t hesitate to call him a brute.

“You’re saying our brute is coming out because of Ji Won-woo?”

Jae-hak asked, seemingly surprised. As the husband of the Gye family head, he was responsible for overseeing the family’s affairs in place of the busy family head.

Having worked for the Gye family for generations, he too had lived in the Gye household since childhood. As a result, he was also good at handling the family head’s younger brother. He was the only one who playfully used “brute” as a nickname.

“It’s certainly something that would anger the family head if she knew.”

Jae-hak said with a smile, but Chief Jung only looked more tired.

“She’d be more than angry, she’d probably order us to bury him underground.”

“The youngest is already confined in a place without windows, not much different from being underground.”

There was a hint of pity in Jae-hak’s voice. However, Chief Jung, whose workload had increased due to that youngest’s orders, didn’t have even a gram of sympathy.

“If it’s no different, he might as well go underground.”

“Chief Jung, you’re being harsh.”

“I’m just anticipating the family head’s orders. It’s problematic enough that he approached Ji Won-woo while hiding his identity, but actively trying to solve problems around him is another issue altogether. Moreover, he even said he’d come out personally.”

“Because of an Esper stalking Ji Won-woo?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I don’t think our youngest actually intends to come out himself. If it becomes known that he’s out, the Ji family will take back the Guide they assigned to our child, and then…”

Jae-hak couldn’t finish his sentence as he swallowed a sigh. It was painful to think about losing the Guide who was barely giving his child some breathing room, but he also felt indescribably sorry for the youngest who was sacrificing himself for his nephew.

“The youngest must have said that to emphasize how important this matter is to him.”

“But the person in question is Ji Won-woo.”

“Ji Won-woo is a D-rank Guide, right? If he’s dealing with an Esper doing bad things, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to handle alone? Regardless of Ji Won-woo’s status, the Gye family would have helped anyone facing such difficulties. There’s no reason to stop our youngest from doing a good deed.”

Always saying such carefree things. Chief Jung inwardly scoffed, but it was also why he liked Jae-hak.

Everyone in the Gye family was similar. While everything in the world became sharp like a blade from enduring cruel winds and rain, they remained like a round, green mountain. And the good-natured Jae-hak smiled and said what Chief Jung wanted to hear.

“I’ll take responsibility. Look into it as the youngest wants.”

“He said to call in cleaners to handle it.”

“No, we can’t do that.”

Even the good-natured Jae-hak shook his head seriously. Cleaners? Isn’t that like using a kitchen knife to catch bugs?

“It won’t do us any good to let the Ji family know we’re involved, so have the information team handle it discreetly.”

As this was also what Chief Jung wanted, he nodded and stood up. Using the information team meant they could find something without having to send someone personally. Then Jae-hak suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, they say a person named Director Hwang handed over an Alpha seed?”

“We’re checking on that. It’ll take a few days because we don’t have a control group to verify the authenticity of the Alpha seed.”

“I know the Alpha seed is important, but I’d prefer not to report it to the family head. I don’t want her to worry about Ji family matters.”

Of course. Chief Jung nodded.

“It’s unlikely to be an Alpha seed anyway.”

Jae-hak agreed with a bitter expression.

“That’s right. It can’t be real.”

***

‘Don’t worry about me.’ Even without Ji Won-woo’s words, Yoo Geon-young had no intention of paying attention to him anymore. The guy he had ignored like a bug suddenly looking him straight in the eyes and giving orders? It hurt his pride.

But isn’t it human nature to want to do something more when told not to? As soon as he entered the office, his gaze unconsciously went to Ji Won-woo’s seat. His seat was empty. What, he didn’t come?

“Could you move from the entrance?”

Startled. Yoo Geon-young almost bit his tongue at Ji Won-woo’s voice suddenly coming from behind. Shit, he cursed inwardly as he stepped back, and there stood Ji Won-woo dressed all in black, wearing a backpack.

“Where are you go… going?”

“We got a text. There’s a monster bloom caution for D41 farm, so there’s a clean-up operation for the 14th and 15th. We’re told to participate.”

“You’re going too… sir?”

“Of course. I’m a team member.”

At Won-woo’s words, everyone in the office looked up at him. As he was about to sit down, receiving gazes mixed with incredulity and displeasure, he glanced up. When his eyes met with one Esper, the Esper quickly turned away. Won-woo looked at him for a moment before sitting down, but immediately heard a complaint.

“Damn, why is he making a fuss about going?”

The muttering, audible to everyone, came from a fellow Guide. After Chang-hee died from going rampage, the other Espers seemed to be ignoring Won-woo, but the two Guides were different.

“He’s not even going to do the work properly, shit.”

“Right. I have no intention of working this time either.”

At Won-woo’s retort, the Guide who had cursed gaped in disbelief. How could he shamelessly say such a thing himself? Seeing the shock in their eyes, Won-woo nonchalantly added,

“There’s no need to do work we didn’t do when there were five Espers on the team, now that there are only four.”

When he spoke while looking directly at them, the Guide flinched and turned away. He was the Guide who had lured Won-woo to the decontamination room. Though he was an accomplice with the Esper, Won-woo had no intention of bringing up that incident. If they were fellow Guides, it was better to create a debt instead. As expected, the other Guide, perhaps feeling guilty, spoke in a somewhat softer voice,

“The farm we’re going to this time is far, so we have to take the transport portal. Won-woo, you fell into the middle of a farm in that accident before. Will you be able to ride it?”

“Yes.”