DB Vol 3 Part 10

Fortunately, there were Center personnel near Woo-rim, and the Guides who were clinging to him would have forcibly stopped the Rampage. But suddenly a strange sound was heard, and everyone misunderstood it as a Rampage and ran away.

Thinking about it again, that sound wasn’t a sign of a Rampage. Because even though he had witnessed countless Rampages, he had never heard such a sound. It was more like an artificial force than a Rampage…

“Was that you?”

Won-woo looked up at Gye Yoon and asked sharply. Gye Yoon stared intently only at Won-woo even when the explosion sound was heard, then blurted out.

“I made some sound effects.”

Sound effect? That eerie sound like the air was wailing? Everyone was so terrified by that resonance that they ran away, calling it a Rampage and giving up on guiding, so it seemed fitting to call it a sound effect. It seems Park Woo-rim really did go on a rampage without receiving guiding.

“You’ve done something quite pointless.”

Ji Won-woo said coldly as he stepped back, but his face betrayed his exhaustion. Just moments ago, he had looked stronger than anyone, unilaterally beating down an Esper.

But now, Won-woo looked pale and drained, as if he might collapse at any moment. So, even if his words stung, Gye Yoon could generously overlook it.

“Pointless? You were planning to kill an Esper anyway, weren’t you? To get kicked out of the Guide Center.”

Won-woo paused, then frowned.

“Did Director Hwang tell you?”

“You think I might have heard it from Nani?”

That could be possible too. As Won-woo looked at him with suspicious eyes, Gye Yoon tilted his head and looked down at him.

“Nani never tells anyone else what it hears.”

That was true. It’s just that playing two roles meant they both knew the same things. To Won-woo, who still seemed doubtful, Gye Yoon drove the point home.

“You know how tight-lipped and serious Nani is.”

Hmm? The praise for the AI seemed excessive, but Gye Yoon didn’t give him time to think and asked,

“Are you sure you want to sever ties with the Ji family?”

“I can handle it myself.”

“You might be able to. But you’ll be caught again. You can’t hide your guiding ability forever, can you?”

Won-woo agreed with Gye Yoon’s words. He couldn’t hide it forever. But he hated being held back under the guise of help even more. So, the words came out sarcastically.

“You’re going to guarantee my safety and take my ability as compensation? But be careful. I might not guide you, but turn you into Hong Eun-tae.”

“That’s fine.”

Gye Yoon spat out indifferently, then smiled, as if he liked the idea the more he thought about it.

“Can you do that? I really like it. That means the pain will disappear too.”

If he had heard these words for the first time, he might have dismissed them as bluff. But he had already heard similar words from Seona, so he believed it was genuine. Still, it was unexpected that another Esper would think the same way as Seona. No matter how painful it was, Espers, without exception, tried not to let go of their abilities.

That’s why they regarded Purifier as such a terrible enemy. But here, in front of him, was someone willing to easily discard his ability. Won-woo stared at him intently, then stated.

“I can do it. But then your revenge will be difficult, Gye Yoon-ssi.”

The smile slowly disappeared from Gye Yoon’s lips. The two men met each other’s eyes in silence for a moment. Gye Yoon was dumbfounded to find himself thinking that Won-woo’s eyes were like starlight, even in the darkness.

“All I need for revenge is my life. Not whether I have my ability or not.”

“…”

“Even if I’m deaf and have my limbs cut off, I’ll find a way to get revenge.”

The low voice was a moment of genuine sincerity. Gye Yoon didn’t like revealing his inner thoughts, so he turned his gaze away, not noticing the other man’s eyes wavering.

Even though he knew it wasn’t true, Won-woo couldn’t help but think of that person from the past at Gye Yoon’s words. The person who had his legs cut off, his fingers gone, and was deaf. This time, Won-woo looked away.

“If you want, turn me into an empty shell like Hong Eun-tae. If that’s the condition for helping you, I don’t mind.”

“If you become an empty shell, you won’t need guiding, so you won’t need my help, will you?”

“There’s a kid who needs guiding besides me.”

Won-woo remembered that he had been trapped somewhere for over a year for his nephew. Then Gye Yoon added, as if muttering to himself.

“Even if that weren’t the case, I need you.”

Won-woo looked up and saw Gye Yoon still staring elsewhere. He added an explanation in a blunt tone.

“Because you’re useful.”

“I know. I’m quite useful.”

As Gye Yoon slowly turned his head, Won-woo said tiredly.

“But thanks to my good abilities, I’ve suffered a bit. Now I want to live quietly if possible.”

“Ji Won-woo-ssi, I think you’ve lived more quietly than anyone else so far.”

“…Yes, Ji Won-woo did.”

Won-woo muttered, then quickly continued.

“Anyway, I don’t want to get involved with anything problematic.”

“Then help me secretly so you don’t get involved.”

At the shameless request, Won-woo asked incredulously,

“So what do I get out of it?”

“I’ll be by your side.”

What nonsense, it should have come out immediately, but Won-woo’s mouth didn’t open. Gye Yoon stared down at Won-woo like that and lowered his voice.

“I won’t leave your side until the moment you die.”

“In the world, that’s called a stalker.”

Gye Yoon twisted up one side of his mouth.

“Or it could be your ‘ally’.”

Could it really not have been Nani who told him? Won-woo asked suspiciously.

“What will you do if you become my ally?”

“I told you, I’ll be by your side. I’ll listen to you anytime.”

Ha, Won-woo was about to let out a sneer. Gye Yoon frowned slightly and said one more thing.

“If you need it, I can eat cucumbers for you too. Only when you really, really want it.”

“…”

“What?”

“You don’t like cucumbers?”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t dislike cucumbers?”

An absurd response was heard, but Won-woo tensed his jaw and averted his gaze. Why did coincidences keep piling up? The fact that the guy from the past disliked cucumbers was one of the few pieces of information he had heard from Aunt. But still, many people dislike cucumbers, right? Even as Won-woo tried to think lightly of it, he couldn’t ignore the strangeness and asked,

“You’re not allergic to cucumbers, are you?”

“No. I pretended to be allergic to avoid eating them, but that just got me beaten severely by my parents and scolded by that aunty too.”

As Gye Yoon clicked his tongue, seemingly displeased at the memory of her, he heard a muffled voice.

“…Aunt?”

“There was this aunt. Someone like a cucumber monster who took care of me in the past.”

Gye Yoon muttered grumblingly and then casually looked at Won-woo, but paused. Won-woo’s eyes were wavering like waves. But before he could confirm it, Won-woo lowered his gaze to the floor.

“By ‘took care of you’, do you mean a nanny?”

“Similar. She was my Guide when I was young.”

“…”

“Ji Won-woo-ssi.”

Gye Yoon was about to ask what was wrong, but couldn’t because Won-woo suddenly grabbed his hand. Won-woo was holding Gye Yoon’s hand. Won-woo’s hand trembled slightly, but Gye Yoon thought it might be an aftereffect of the vomiting earlier, so he just observed him. Even in the moonlight, his pale skin was visible. Just as he was about to ask if he was alright, the hand gripping him tightened.

Won-woo had impulsively grabbed Gye Yoon’s hand, but the storm-like energy made him snap to his senses. In truth, he had been suddenly frightened. What if what he had been denying all along was true?

What if, just maybe, Gye Yoon was him? What if the man before him, suffering without guiding, was the one he had believed was living happily somewhere in this world? Won-woo stared at their hands for a long while before murmuring.

“It’s quite a mess.”

But Gye Yoon didn’t ask to be guided, as he had said. So when he felt his energy slowly draining through their hands, his eyes widened in surprise.

In an instant, an enormous amount of energy swirled like waves, enveloping the surroundings. Gye Yoon must have felt his energy completely leaving his body, but he didn’t resist, as if his words about wanting to become an empty shell were sincere. Instead, he asked a puzzled question.

“Why?”

Why suddenly guide me? Understanding the implied meaning, Won-woo bluntly replied,

“It’s such a mess I can’t stand it.”

As he said this, he tried to control the endless sea-like energy by drawing it out. If all this energy is removed, even someone as extraordinary as him would truly become a husk. Suddenly, a doubt arose in Won-woo’s mind. What if his past self had his power taken away like this?

Until now, he had assumed it was a simple rampage due to his body’s condition. But what if he had been injured in an accident after having his power taken by a Purifier? No, Won-woo shook his head internally. If the Purifier had done it, the core should have been shattered. Even the Purifier would find it difficult to empty out power while leaving the core intact. So they usually choose to break the core, and the shattered core remains in the body.

But he had heard that very rarely in a rampage, the core could disappear without a trace. And only the empty space where the power had been remains. Like him from the past.

You never know what might happen to a person, right? What if he had been an S-ranks Esper instead of D-ranks, and survived a rampage by some unbelievable miracle? Or if some Purifier had destroyed even his core, leaving no trace?

It was an absurd idea, but he couldn’t completely deny it. Hadn’t something unbelievable happened to him too? He had crossed over to another world, after all. What if something equally impossible had happened to him?

“Are you alright?”

Noticing that the outflowing power had stopped, Gye Yoon asked. But Won-woo slowly raised his head as if he couldn’t hear Gye Yoon’s urging. And he looked into his eyes. Eyes that he had thought looked so similar when he first saw them, like they belonged to the same person.

“Ji Won-woo-ssi?”

Gye Yoon’s puzzled question came again, but instead of answering, Won-woo started to carefully stack the power he had drawn out back inside Gye Yoon’s body.

Unlike Gye Yoon’s interior, which was becoming firmly stabilized, Won-woo’s interior began to shake like a typhoon due to the “what if” hypothesis. Now, only one thought occupied Won-woo’s mind.

Let’s confirm it.

***

Why had he done it? Gye Yoon looked down at his hand, trying to understand why Ji Won-woo had guided him, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. He should have been glad to escape hell by receiving guiding again, but instead, his mind was coldly sinking. The person who had been so ruthless, acting as if he would never guide again, had suddenly helped him.

He said verbally that he couldn’t stand to see such a mess, but Gye Yoon naturally didn’t believe it. He couldn’t forget Won-woo’s trembling hand and the look in his eyes. He had seemed like someone shocked by something. But why?

[As you said, the incident at the Center dormitory has already been posted on the Guide and Esper community. A video was uploaded calling it a fight between an Esper and a Guide, but it was immediately deleted. It seems the Center side has started managing it and deleted it right away. Of course, we’ve secured the video.]

At that moment, Chief Jung’s reporting voice was heard through the communicator. When there was no response from Gye Yoon, Chief Jung carefully called out after waiting for a while.

[Vice Head?]

“When is the Women’s Association vote?”

[It’s in five days.]

“Block the video as much as possible, and instead spread dirty malicious rumors. Don’t reveal Ji Won-woo’s name, but make the Ji family stand out instead.”

Even after Gye Yoon gave these instructions, Chief Jung immediately understood his intentions.

[Ah, isn’t that what the Ji family is good at? Putting up sensational titles and turning the truth upside down. I’ll try to blow it up as ‘Ji family attacked an Esper’ or something like that. But if the incident gets bigger, won’t Ji Won-woo inevitably be exposed and criticized?]

“That’s what I’m hoping for. That way, Ji Geun-oh can easily discard Ji Won-woo.”

[Well, with only a few days left until the vote, he might show a righteous image of even abandoning his child to suppress public opinion.]

Chief Jung laughed briefly, as if he could see it clearly without even looking.

[Ji Geun-oh has been going around persuading people that this bill is for Espers, so this will definitely be a blow.]

“A blow isn’t enough. Ji Geun-oh needs to go wild. When he gets angry, doesn’t he smash everything? Make him flip out enough to destroy a whole house.”

That way, the Ji family would be pointed at by everyone in the world, and Ji Won-woo would be disowned by the family. The only person to reach out a hand should be himself alone. The truth that Park Woo-rim, who died from rampage, was Won-woo’s stalker could be revealed later. After he had gotten Won-woo in his hands.

[Ji Won-woo could really be in danger. The Ji family might try to confine him.]

“Not until the voting day.”

So everything needed to be finished before then.

[Should we put guards around Ji Won-woo?]

“Have you found out where Won-woo spends his nights?”

After a brief silence, Chief Jung answered.

[…No.]

“Right, you kept losing him.”

It wasn’t a rebuke. Gye Yoon had lost him too, after all. He disappears like a ghost into crowds of people or into buildings, using some unknown method. Like someone who has practiced only infiltration for years.

Why would a Guide from the Center have acquired such skills? The more he learned about Ji Won-woo, the more questions arose, but right now, Gye Yoon was just irritated that there was a time in Won-woo’s life he knew nothing about.

[But he’ll go to work at the Center. The Ji family will surely send people to the Center.]

At Chief Jung’s speculation, Gye Yoon snorted. Ha, go to work? He’d give a reward to anyone who could make a phone call to Ji Won-woo.

“Won-woo won’t go to the Center.”

As he asserted this, he cast an irritated and envious gaze at a window of an old building across the way. The faded sign on the window had lost a few letters, but it was still readable.

‘Hwang Sang-cheon Laboratory – All Electronics Repair’

[The Center must be in chaos, right?]

So what? Gye Yoon replied as if uninterested.

“They’ll sort themselves out.”

***

“So, you’re saying… the guide who killed the Esper… was really you, Won-woo-nim?”

Hwang Sang-cheon asked with his mouth half-open, as if he couldn’t believe it. Won-woo had been sitting in Sang-cheon’s office since morning, though it wasn’t clear when he had arrived. Sang-cheon had diligently toasted bread to serve his early visiting benefactor and started going about his business as usual. That’s why he found out late about the uproar all over the internet. And apparently, his benefactor was the protagonist of it all.

“I didn’t kill him, he went into rampage on his own.”

After finishing the remaining bread Sang-cheon had given him, Won-woo wiped his mouth and the bread crumbs on the table with a tissue.

“But I heard there’s an uproar here about a Guide killing an Esper? They say the Guide beat him to death. Such false rumors…”

“Ah, the beating part is true.”

…What? Sang-cheon was confused. A Guide beat an Esper?

“Was it a D-rank Esper?”

“No, probably B-rank. He was a team member.”

Ah, I see. He beat up the head department Esper of the East Center. Sang-cheon nodded as if he understood, while internally worrying about Won-woo. Had his mental illness relapsed?

“Was there anything else strange yesterday?”

As Sang-cheon asked to check his symptoms in detail, Won-woo put a cup of milk to his lips and thought for a moment. After taking a big gulp of milk, he nodded.

“I met Director Hwang’s adopted son.”

“Oh, really? That kid… What?!! Where did you meet that bastard?!! Did he stalk you?! Daring to ignore the contract! Did he curse and threaten you to guide him?!”

“No. He just asked me to be on my side. Does he often curse and threaten people?”

Cursing and threats make up 2/3 of conversations with him. But Sang-cheon couldn’t speak of his own experience. Now that brute was his adopted son.

“…No. I was just worried.”

“He must treat Director Hwang well since he’s your adopted son.”

“…”

“Director Hwang, are you alright? Are you having trouble breathing?”

It was hard. He could barely breathe from the injustice.

“…They say the secret to longevity is breathing less.”

“You really do know a lot.”

Sang-cheon sometimes suspected this benefactor knew everything and was just playing with him, but he put aside the sincere compliment for now.

“If Gye Yoon bothers you again asking you to guide him, please tell me.”

“He wasn’t asking for himself, but for his niece.”

Ah. Sang-cheon let out a regretful sigh. Then, watching Won-woo’s reaction, he spoke.

“It seems Ji family is taking steps to prevent even that young niece from receiving guiding. Gye Yoon seems to be trying to free that child from suffering.”

“He sounds like a good person. Well, if he were really as bad as a brute, Director Hwang wouldn’t have adopted him and treated him so affectionately.”

He thought he heard a rather unpleasant word.

“Affec-what?”

“Affectionately. Even Nani knew that.”

Of course he knew. That guy is that guy after all.

“Actually, I had no intention of paying attention to him, even if he is Director Hwang’s adopted son.”

“Don’t! Ah, don’t!”

Sang-cheon cried out sincerely, but Won-woo just laughed, misunderstanding it as a considerate personality.

“It’s alright. I won’t treat Director Hwang’s precious son like a stranger.”

Treat him like a complete stranger! Before he could shout, his chest vibrated with a buzzing sound. He thought it might be acute heart pain from stress following the difficulty breathing, but it was just his phone vibrating. Sang-cheon took out his phone and looked at the screen. There was a message.

[Shut up.]

Of course, the sender was ‘the brute’. He’s eavesdropping! From where?! Of course, that doesn’t mean he’ll shut up…

Bzzt.

[If you don’t like it, why don’t you expose everything about me being a brute?]

…Sang-cheon decided to shut up a little. He wasn’t ready to disappoint Won-woo, who firmly believed everything he said.

“…I tend to treat those I care about roughly, so I’d like you to do the same with me, Won-woo-nim.”

He barely managed to say this much as he tried to get up from his seat in agony, but Won-woo called out to him.

“About Gye Yoon, does he really not have a single Guide? I heard there was a Guide who took care of him when he was young. Even if the Gye family has become an enemy of Guides, wouldn’t there be at least one Guide trying to help?”

“Well, the Gye family has such a strong image as an enemy of Guides now. And as you know, if you Guide the Gye family, you can’t receive the preventive medicine for Guide disease. It’s difficult to help with just goodwill.”

“But if someone raised Gye Yoon like a parent, they would surely help.”

“If there were such a Guide, he wouldn’t be suffering without receiving guiding like that bru… like that.”

“…That’s right. They wouldn’t have just left him alone. Absolutely not.”

Won-woo muttered, lowering his gaze as if lost in thought. Sang-cheon couldn’t disturb him, so he quietly came to his desk and focused on the monitor.

A moment later, when he glanced back, Won-woo had curled up on the small sofa and fallen asleep. Sang-cheon carefully covered him with a blanket, worrying like a father. Did he not sleep properly at night?