IDSEGI Chapter 85

Chapter 85

To the Center Director, who was stomping his feet in frustration, Ihan replied flatly.

“How would I know?”

“This isn’t my problem, it’s yours! At least pretend to care. You can’t find a Guide with a decent match rate like this, you’ll die!”

The Director pounded his chest in exasperation, but Ihan just snorted.

“What kind of Esper is afraid of dying? That’s not an Esper, that’s a strutting punk.”

God, should I really kill him? The Director almost threw the tissue box on the table at Ihan but restrained himself—it would just burn up for no reason.

“I’ve already told the Zone 1 Guides that a new Esper is coming in for match rate testing. We’ll have you wear a disguise during the test.”

“You want me to pretend to be a newbie?”

“Would you rather I announce, ‘Something’s wrong with Yoo Ihan, so let’s retest his match rate’? We have to do it discreetly.”

“Hm.”

Watching Ihan’s halfhearted reaction made the Director feel his blood pressure rise in real time. He tried his best to keep calm and speak gently.

“If we can’t find one in Zone 1, you’ll have to travel all over the country. That’ll make keeping this a secret much harder. So please, keep a low profile. We’ll tell the press you’re on an overseas mission, so don’t go out.”

The Director repeated his warning again and again.

“You know you can’t get caught, right? This is top secret, top secret! If it gets out that you’re retesting match rates, who knows how the rumors will spread—so be careful.”

“Aren’t you tired of saying that? Just say it once.”

“It’s because you don’t listen, you brat!”

When Ihan continued to respond absentmindedly, the Director gave up on talking. He sank back into his chair, rubbing his eyes.

“Even if a gate opens, don’t you dare get involved. Just stay home for now.”

“Yeah, yeah. You done? I’m leaving.”

As Ihan started to head out, the Director made one last plea.

“Please, watch what you say and what you do, okay? Save me some trouble, Ihan.”

“Every man for himself, every man for himself. It’s a rough world, you’ve got to learn to survive on your own.”

“Damn it, if you weren’t S-class…!”

“Then hurry up and find me a Guide before that S-class goes to waste.”

Waving a hand, Ihan left the office.

“I’m going.”

The moment he stepped outside, he headed straight for a gate.

To hide the fact that his match rate with Guides had dropped, he’d been skipping deployments with the excuse of being on some top-secret mission. But after a week of that, he was getting restless.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist.

‘Still within range.’

34%. Headquarters had been breathing down his neck, so he’d been conserving his energy. Truthfully, even without using his ability, Ihan’s physical power and skill alone were more than enough to handle a C-class monster.

He’d been ordered not to go near any gates, but staying cooped up at home wasn’t in his nature. If he couldn’t use his ability, he’d just beat them to death with raw strength.

‘I’m fine for now.’

He fiddled with the watch. Sitting at home only left him with pointless thoughts. Moving his body was better. Headquarters could tell him to stay put all they wanted, but Ihan couldn’t relax.

Injustice was always half a beat ahead. For an Esper, taking personal time was a luxury. To take down evil before it struck, he had to move faster than anyone.

What if, while I’m resting… while my guard’s down… someone else dies?

Every time the unease lapped at his feet, Ihan drove himself harder. Move. Train. Stay sharp.

Save at least one more person.

That was why he chose to fight monsters, even knowing he couldn’t receive guiding. Fighting monsters he could see was better than fighting the invisible ones inside himself.

‘Can’t hide it forever.’

Gates had been occurring less frequently lately, and most were low enough in rank that Ihan didn’t need to step in—allowing him to keep his secret. But there was no telling when the frequency might spike again. Getting caught was only a matter of time.

For the past week, guiding hadn’t worked—not with any Guide.

Using various excuses, he’d retested with the Guides who’d once had good match rates with him. The results came back the same every time—below 20% with all of them.

Strange, wasn’t it? Barely a week ago, his match rate had been as high as the 60s. How could it suddenly drop below 20% with every single Guide tested?

Headquarters was in crisis. An S-class Esper who could no longer receive guiding was no small matter.

“Hey, Yoo Ihan! Did you imprint with someone?”

He’d been accused of that, but unjustly—he really hadn’t imprinted with anyone.

Still… the results were something that could never happen without an imprint.

At this point, even Ihan was starting to wonder.

‘…Did I actually imprint with someone?’

No, fuck. Who the hell would it be? I have to know.

Imprinting isn’t something that just happens because you exchange blood. It’s done with full mutual consent, with desperate intent, and most of the time, it doesn’t work after just one or two tries.

An imprint is something hard to achieve, even when both sides want it badly—so what, I imprinted without knowing, with some Guide whose face I don’t even know? That made no sense.

“If it were just my match rate dropping, that would’ve been better…”

In that case, I could just take stimulants and sleep around with several Guides until it worked. Filthy and disgusting, but if that’s the only way, what else could I do? I’d do it.

But this wasn’t just a drop in match rate.

‘Why the hell doesn’t it work all of a sudden?’

Ihan clicked his tongue and ground his teeth. For now, he was quietly searching only within Zone 1 for a matching Guide, but if this kept going, he’d have to start cycling through other zones too.

“Isn’t there a single Guide out there who matches with me?”

He’d heard of an S-class Esper in Zone 5 who’d had the same issue but lucked out a few years ago when a matching Guide appeared, and had been doing fine ever since.

“His name was Yoon Geon, right?”

Lucky bastard. His Guide just popped up on their own. Muttering to himself, Ihan headed toward the concert hall where the gate had opened.

* * *

When Ihan saw the man in the ridiculous pink hat being dragged away by a tentacle, he forgot he wasn’t supposed to use his powers and saved him on reflex.

Pulling the man to his feet, Ihan was surprised at how light he was. Does he not eat? A flicker of shock was quickly followed by the urge to hold that small frame that seemed like it would fit perfectly in his arms. That sudden spike of desire caught Ihan off guard.

It was the first time he’d felt such a pull toward someone—especially someone whose face he hadn’t even seen.

As he helped the man up, the sweet scent that wafted over nearly drove him crazy. He wanted to bury his nose in the pale nape exposed above the T-shirt.

But Ihan considered himself a fairly decent guy—or at least, he liked to think so—so instead of biting the man’s neck, he asked politely,

“Are you alright?”

“…”

The man said nothing. Ihan couldn’t even see his face, hidden under the hat.

He wanted to speak to him more, but the concert hall was too loud. First, he needed to save the others. Pushing aside his personal wants, Ihan brought the man to a safe place.

“Please wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

In truth, he wanted to see his face, ask his name, find out where he lived, his hobbies, his favorite foods, his ideal type—but he was an Esper.

For an Esper, justice had to come first.

Forcing himself to turn away, Ihan headed back into the concert hall.

Only one thought filled his head:

Take that bastard down, then get back to that man as fast as possible.

In his rush, he used his powers instead of just beating the monster down physically. The Center Director would probably collapse frothing at the mouth, but Ihan didn’t care.

He wanted to finish quickly and get back. But before he could leave, a crowd of people swarmed around him.

Fuck, nothing ever goes the way I want.

Forcing a polite smile, he greeted them, though the urge to teleport away immediately grew stronger and stronger.

Then someone grabbed his hand.

Guide energy shot through his veins.

It was guiding that warmed his body, gently untangling his twisted Esper energy. At the same time, someone else’s emotions flowed into him—joy, exhilaration, elation.

Before he could figure out who it was, the person’s hand was gone. With so many people pressing in, he couldn’t tell who they were.

Just like that, he’d lost the Guide who had appeared before him.

And they weren’t the only one he lost—by the time he got outside, the man from earlier was gone too.

“…Ha.”

A hollow laugh slipped out as he looked at the empty space that had gone cold. Running a hand roughly through his hair, Ihan started walking.

His destination was the concert hall’s control room.

“This is Esper Yoo Ihan. I’m investigating the scene. Can I check the CCTV footage?”

He had no intention of letting either the Guide or the man from earlier slip away.

And maybe… just maybe…

His instincts told him the two people he was looking for might be the same person.

If that was true, I’ll apologize in advance.

Your life is fucked now.

Blame fate for catching the eye of someone like me—because I’m never letting you go.

A twisted smile curled sweet and bitter on the tip of his tongue.