The morning dawned. The hazy sunlight streamed down the exterior walls of the high-rise building. The sky of this country had long been eroded by fine dust. The clear blue skies and floating puffy clouds had become relics of the old days that could only be seen in photographs and video materials.
Many existing buildings and factories were destroyed due to the Outbreak. However, that was also when new industries bloomed. New factories that process by-products of mutant species to make new materials and manufacture special weapons and protective equipment boomed. Buildings and facilities were packed so tightly that there was no space to step on in an area that was not even that large. There was no room to be concerned about environmental conservation in the situation where mankind was about to be perished. The uninhabited land was abandoned and turned into a jungle, while the inhabited land turned into an asphalt forest.
Looking at the contrasting landscape between the gray metropolis and the green outskirts of the city, the man held a steaming cup of coffee. He sat reclining on a sofa made of the finest leather, legs crossed.
The sunlight that came through the glass window shone brilliantly painting over his side profile. A stylish man enjoying his coffee in a penthouse in the middle of the city, it was like an elaborate men's magazine fashion pictorial.
The door behind him swung open. The tranquil atmosphere was broken.
"Woo Shinje!"
The man, Woo Shinje, tilted his head and glanced back. His ash gray hair was scattered on the back of the sofa. He responded calmly, not surprised by the appearance of the uninvited guest.
"Good morning."
"Good morning? It's a hell of a morning."
A tall man strode in through the open door. With the shortly cut hair, tanned skin, a grimly distorted face looked menacing.
"What's your problem? What happened back there?"
Shinje passed his question like flowing water and gracefully gestured towards the espresso machine.
"Why? Chan, care for a morning coffee?
"No thanks! What happened to the guy who was literally dying before he left because he couldn't get a guide? What actually happened to you? You looked... fine?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"This bastard."
Chan looked like he was going to die because his blood pressure rose high. Among the S-classes, he was rich in emotions and outspoken in expression - easy to anger, excitement and laughter. It was rather human.
"You said you were going to find Almuten but instead you only received guiding? From whom? You have never had a match rate more than 2 percent with anyone."
"Well, that's... "
Shinje crossed his arms, leaned back, buried himself on the sofa, and took a leisurely manner, slowly blinking his eyelashes that looked white under the sun. Chan waited for his answer, feeling like a thousand fires burning in his heart. Finally, Shinje opened his mouth.
"It's a secret."
"If I die tomorrow, I'll come break your neck as a ghost."
"I was wondering where the smell of a mop was coming from. It was your mouth, huh?
"How did I end up working for this guy?"
Chan gnashed his teeth. His veins stood out on his forehead. Although he was always determined not to be swayed by the bastard, he could never stop his face from wrinkling whenever he faced Shinje.
The first time he met Shinje was in his teens, so the years he'd spent like that had already passed a decade and approaching 20 years. It had come too far to simply call the bastard a bad friend. Now, the opponent was an abominably vicious boss and a mortal enemy.
"Don't get too hot-headed. Your blood vessels might burst."
"What?"
"Hunter Yoon, you should get a blood pressure test and a brain test soon. The cost will be covered by the Order's budget, but a guide wouldn't be able to fix your head."
"Take it yourself, asshole."
Shinje ignored him, grabbed the coffee cup again and took a sip. While Chan was struggling to speak again, one more person came in through the open door.
"I'm just here to check on you… And I wanted to see Chan hyung get dunked on. I asked Taein hyung to come with me, but he refused. He said he didn't want to see it."
A man who looked like he just turned twenty, and fit to be called a boy rather than a young man confessed innocently. Chan held his forehead, frustrated.
"You all are bastards."
"Leader, can you bring him here? That guide..."
"Hey, Kwon Heesu."
Shinje, who was the person concerned, did not respond much, but Chan meddled in with a strict tone. Heesu immediately responded with an innocent face.
"Delicious food should be shared with family and friends. It's not fair that Leader is the only one who has it."
"No. How do we know if that guide is a good fit for us?"
"I don't know, so let's bring them in first. Even if the match rate doesn't fit with us, isn't it a good thing that Leader can receive guiding?"
"I asked you to hire a rental guide or borrow someone else's, not an exclusive one."
"How was the guiding?"
"I don't know how great the guiding is, but there are two S-classes and two A-classes here. We all don't have guiding partners, and I can see them trying to swing around us like they can do anything."
The number of guides was small and there were too many Awakened people who needed guiding, so this was often the case. There were many guides who treated the Awakened people's obsession and desperation towards themselves as trophies, and enjoyed the sense of superiority while using skinship as a weapon. A whole Hunting Order had collapsed before because of one such person.
It could become worse, if they were in charge of the highest level of Awakened people like S-classes or A-classes. They became a partner of an S-class Awakened person just because they matched well with luck. Some became disillusioned and condescending as if they themselves became S-class Hunters. Well, the guides might think otherwise, but it was like that from the perspective of Chan, a Hunter.
Unlike the Awakened, the guides did not have a ranking system. This was because the guiding compatibility value called ‘fit rate’ varied widely depending on the person. Guiding two people of the same grade could record a 0 percent fit rate with one and a 100 percent fit rate with the other. A guide who was not compatible with an F-class Awakened could be a perfect match for an A-class. Of course, it was the most extreme example in theory, but in reality, there were statistics that rank and fit rate were inversely proportional in general.
"What if the guide is not interested in that kind of thing? He can just work as it is..."
"Fuck, then that's even more of a problem. What sane person would walk in here with their own feet and think the whole thing is not crazy? Didn't the guide last time went crazy in just a month?"
"The sweetness ran out too quickly. They couldn't even stay sober while I was playing with them. And it was only for a few hours a day. I was even considerate of the people behind me and cleaned up nice and neat."
Heesu sat on an empty sofa and grinned like a boy. The gap between the young face and the words that came out of his words was enormous. Unlike other awakening people, who were born and lived as ordinary people, and whose abilities manifested in childhood or adolescence at the earliest in most cases, Heesu had been an Awakened since birth. His mother and the obstetrician who received him were the first victims of his ability.
A rare psychic ability, an A-class even at that. Even before an ego was formed, he was labeled as a threat. No one dared to talk to the infant that everyone was extremely terrified of. Morality, conscience, and law became of little significance to him. You could kill a person smashing a bug with just one finger. As he grew up, he learned that there were more Awakened people just like him, he then entered the Hunting Order and became socialized.
Whenever Chan looked at Heesu, he sometimes thought of Shinje from his childhood. Although their personalities were very different, the two were similar in some ways. The fact that they both were born with excessively violent and powerful abilities. And, that they did not understand humans at all and were curious about them at the same time.
"This is ‘Erewhon’. There's a line of people who want to be hired, even as a day job. But you want to parachute a guide that hasn't even been verified? Then what is even a system for? Why bother making the rules?"
"Who decides the system?"
Shinje, who had only been listening to the conversation with a habitual smile on his face, responded. The air cooled down in an instant.
"I really need him. System? Rules and regulations? If something like that becomes an obstacle, I will just rip them apart and bring him to us."
"The others..."
"If there's anyone who's protesting, bring them along. I wonder if they can say the same thing in front of me."
"Let's put it that way. How are you going to convince that guide? You want to be honest? There are four crazy guys here who are on the brink of rampage if they can't receive the guiding, so you're gonna have to suffer to death while you sleep with them? I'm sure they will like it very much."
"...."
Shinje's smiling face just frowned slightly. It was a sign to stop. Chan involuntarily shut his mouth. Shinje was more insidious than anyone else in this place, though he was pure and noble in appearance. Chan could spew harsh words at him all day but it was only because he had known him since their childhood. However, the moment he crossed the line, Chan could not be sure of his own safety.
"I'll bring him soon. I can't let that one roll around anywhere. If I can get what I want from him, I don't care if you guys share him or not."
"So how?"
"I'm going to propose. I have to make it as pretty as possible."
Then, he clasped his fingers under his chin, tilted his head slightly, and smiled softly. Since it was morning, the hair that had not been set yet flowed down naturally. It was an overly cute gesture for a grown man. However, the facial features were like a flower, so it didn't look too ridiculous.
"What do you think?"
"I hate it."
Chan immediately raised his middle finger. Either way, Shinje closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa and murmured pleasantly.
"Should I prepare flowers and a ring? Oh, I'm excited."
Yugeon opened his eyes. He got up abruptly without even thinking about where he was. The thin blanket on him rustled. A throbbing pain was clinging to his whole body. It wasn't a bleak street lined with abandoned factories. It was a quiet room with fluorescent lights on. The walls and floors were ivory with no pattern. And across from him was⏤
"Hyung..."
He murmured with a moan. Not realizing that the IV line in his hand was being pulled, he reached out his hand. Someone stopped Yugeon from behind.
"Stay still."
Yugeon still tried to get up recklessly without even acknowledging the existence of others in the room. Heeseong was lying on the bed just a few meters away. He had bandages all over his body and IV needles inserted, and unlike Yugeon, who was relatively healthy, Heeseong looked miserable. Heeseong was covered with bandages and gauze from head to toe, so he couldn't even see his face properly. Numerous wires from medical equipment were also connected to his body. A pulse was drawn as a thin line from time to time on the monitor. It was the only way to guess the survival of his brother.
"I'm that person's guide. I'll treat him now."
"No, you can't. Please step back."
"My brother is in pain. Without me, my brother… Please let me go. I said let go!"
Yugeon's voice, which rarely lost its composure, cracked. His last memory was that he lost his consciousness next to his brother, who was nearly at death's door due to rampage. There was no way that he could keep his composure.
"Baek Heeseong is in a very bad condition right now. I don't think there's any point in holding hands or hugging over clothes even if you guide him."
"It's meaningless?"
Yugeon stared blankly with unfocused eyes for a while. Then, he fumbled for the buttons on the hospital clothes he was wearing. His fingers trembling pitifully.
"I'll do it. Anything I can. I'll do it. What should I do so my brother...."
"Patient! If you do this..."
The nurse who was standing by Yugeon tried to hold him back. The other person in the room opened their mouth at that moment.
"Guide Baek Yugeon."
It was too much of a stern and unfriendly voice for a patient who had just woken up from a coma. A stranger stood by the window of the hospital room, neatly dressed in a dark red uniform.
"I'm Major Jeong Changhyeok, a C-class Esper."
He introduced himself in a businesslike tone. Yugeon's lost gaze reached the badge hanging on his chest. Hands gathered in a circle to support the air, a flame burning in the middle. It was the symbol of the Awakening Management Headquarters. He looked quite young for the rank of a major. It was in fact a normal thing. There is no point in determining the correlation between rank and age in the Awakening Management Headquarters. If your awakening class is low, it was the end for you even if you had served for decades, and if the class was high, even a minor could become a commander.
"Baek Heeseong, an F-class Hunter. Is that your older brother?"
"Yes."
"And you participated in yesterday's gate attack as a guide for Hunter Baek Heeseong?"
".....yes."
"Hunter Baek Heeseong has been identified as a suspect in the accident and is currently under investigation. I would like you to cooperate with the investigation as a witness. Please note that, depending on the situation, you, Baek Yugeon, can also become one of the suspects."
It was a completely unrealistic story, a lightning bolt out of the blue.
"What are you….."
His eyes went to Heeseong. A faint vapor formed on the inside of the respiratory tract, which covered more than half of his face, appearing and disappearing. He looked like a victim, not a suspect.
"Hunter Baek Heeseong, you and 23 other Hunters attacked the gate created in the closed industrial complex in Seonram-dong around 11 p.m yesterday. And so far, only five survivors have been identified. But they're either partially amputated or unconscious."
Terrible memories resurfaced. People crying out in fear and running away, blood and flesh splattering everywhere. A terrible chill ran through his body even though he was in a warm hospital room.
"The gate was classified as small to medium-sized at the time of the preliminary investigation. Most of the participants were F- to E-classes, but the number of participants was large enough to handle the gate. Even if you were unlucky, it would have only resulted in a few wounded Hunters. But it turned out to be such a big accident."
"What do you want to say?"
Major Jeong Changhyeok brought up the main topic with a calm expression without agitation.
"Our Awakening Management Headquarters is suspicious of whether Hunter Baek Heeseong intentionally caused a rampage."
His body moved first before the brain could digest the information. Rattle! His shin hit the edge of the metal bed. Yugeon jumped to his feet with no recognition that the needle for the IV line stuck in the back of his hand fell out.
"Among the Awakened, there are rare cases of suicide terrorism by intentionally running out with a grudge against society or people around them."
"My brother is not the type to do that kind of thing!"
"Hunter Baek Heeseong was psychologically unstable and was ignored or bullied by the Hunters around him. There are also testimonies that say he has repeatedly said, along the gist of ‘I'll kill all the people who bullied me’."
Heeseong definitely said that. But it was all talk. He was always like that. He would pour out harsh words to Yugeon in a fit of nerves, then he would apologize soon after. It would have been in the same vein the night before. It would be nothing more and nothing less than words thrown out of a moment's rage while faced with unfriendly fellow Hunters, exhausted from a series of tasks.
Heeseong was not bold enough to put his words into action. He was afraid of the others just as he was afraid of getting hurt. Even though it had been more than 10 years since he became a Hunter, Yugeon could see that Heeseong was still reluctant to kill mutants. How could such a weak-willed person commit suicide terrorism?
"Rampage symptoms usually occur when the mind and body are pushed to the limit due to lack of guiding for a long time. However, Hunter Baek Heeseong caused a rampage even when his exclusive guide was always by his side."
"......."
"Did you sympathize with Hunter Baek Heeseong and deliberately let him run wild without guiding him?"
"Are you saying I intentionally risk my brother's life? My only family?"
Yugeon's lower lip trembled softly as he asked in disbelief.
"Do you have any other explanations that make sense?"
"A mutant of a type we've never seen before at any gates emerged. It was powerful enough to cause insanity just by looking at it, and that had an effect on him."
"Espers scoured the scene all night long. There were no traces of any other mutants other than the insect-type low level mutant, commonly referred to as ‘mantis’."
"It appeared and disappeared in an instant. But it was big enough to cover the whole area in air, so I'm sure some of them saw it."
"None of the survivors made such a statement. Everyone's been testifying consistently. They said it was after the gate was opened, they were thinking it was strange because there was no sign of mutants attacking. At that moment, Hunter Baek Heeseong made a loud noise, so they went there to see if all the mutants were flocking there. It was then he suddenly rushed at them."
"No, it can't be. There's no way they could have overlooked that big thing... Oh, there was… Actually, there is one more witness besides me and my brother."
"Who are you talking about?"
"......."
At that time, there was an S-class Hunter at the scene. A spine-chillingly beautiful man who smelled like fresh flowers and rotten blood at the same time. He appeared in the middle of the ruins like a shooting star passing through the night sky, and left abruptly, leaving behind meaningless words and violent kisses. Yugeon didn't even know that man's name. The encounter with him itself made him wonder if it was a dream that he had while he was unconscious. He didn't think the other person would believe him even if he talked about it.
"Guide Baek Yugeon. I understand you wanting to cover for Hunter Baek Heeseong. But please stop making groundless false statements. The more you do that, the more confident we are in the hypothesis that you are also an accomplice."
Without further comment, Yugeon lowered his shaky gaze to the floor. An unstable breath leaked out. He gritted his teeth and nervously brushed away the messy black hair.
Major Jeong Changhyeok silently glanced over at him. A thin scar drawn on the young man's left eyelid was easily noticeable. Drops of blood spurted from the spot where the IV needle was pulled out and ran down his wrist.
The patient in front of him looked young. On paper and in reality, according to a preliminary review before coming here, Baek Heeseong is currently 29 years old and Baek Yugeon is 23. If the Outbreak didn't happen or if he didn't become a guide, he'd be a normal college student by now.
Baek Yugeon in front of him was tall and thin, but he was quite solid. However, he did not look like a fully matured man yet. He looked like he was used to many battles and had a hard expression in his cold eyes, but if you looked closely, you could still find boyish traces here and there. He looked even more pitiful because of the baggy patient's clothes and was covered with wounds.
Major Jeong Changhyeok sighed inwardly. Maybe Baek Yugeon might not be able to suppress his bitterness, flung himself around and lost his temper. The people he had met so far while investigating the Awakened-related crimes, especially the young boys around Yugeon's age, often reacted violently to the shocking news.
"Guide Baek Yugeon."
Major Jeong Changhyeok called him again. But unlike before, the tone had softened noticeably. Like coaxing and appeasing a fussy child. Yugeon still had a confused look on his face.
"I heard you and Hunter Baek Heeseong were the only survivors of the Hwangan Bridge disaster 13 years ago. Is that correct?"
Yugeon's shoulders flinched for a brief moment. Major Jung Changhyeok intuitively felt that under his expressionless face. He got it right.
"That incident became a big issue because we couldn't find a single clue even though so many people died. Do you think you still have the trauma of that time and are having hallucinations? Like, ‘I see a monster that no one else can see, and it is driving me crazy’."
"......."
"That's possible. I understand. The world that made you unhappy seems so hateful, and you must have wanted revenge somehow."
Yugeon, who had been quietly listening up to that point, bowed his head. His shoulders moved up and down slightly. Major Jeong Changhyeok watched him. Will he explode in anger or will he burst into tears?
Yugeon then looked up and met his eyes. He was smiling. Wide eyes curved into crescents, the impression of a wild wolf with blades in his eyes quickly changed to that of a gentle meek dog.
"This case is already concluded."
But the words that came out of his mouth were sharp as razor blades, far from gentle.
"I think you've already sketched it out before you came here. Isn't that right, Major?"
"......."
"Don't make false statements? Then what do you think the truth is? Are you even willing to listen to what I have to say?"
Major Jeong Changhyeok smiled inwardly without realizing it. It was so different from the impression of Yugeon he knew from the papers, which consisted only of statements heard from people around him. Those who knew Yugeon said in unison. ‘He is a bit blunt and dull, but he's always sincere, takes care of his brother to the point of being foolish, and has a subtle naïve side, maybe because he's still young’. But they were completely untrue.
Major Jeong Changhyeok left the room, leaving only the words that he would decide on their disposition as the investigation proceeded. As the hospital room door slid open, Yugeon saw them through the gap. Those in dark red uniforms standing guard outside the room.
Yugeon realized it then. This was a hospital room, but they were not in a hospital. It was a prison used temporarily by the suspects, no, by the criminals until they have recovered to some extent.
Yugeon was soon separated from Heeseong and isolated alone in another room. The reason they gave him was that Heeseong's condition was bad, but the real reason was something else. This was because Yugeon's position had been upgraded from a witness to the investigation or a prospective suspect to a strong accomplice. They must be worried that Yugeon and Heeseong would be locked up in the same space and that the brothers might do something reckless.
As time went by, the situation got worse. More Espers were sent to the scene to find the ‘unknown mutant species’ according to Yugeon's testimony, but they could not get any more evidence.
Rather than clinging to unrealistic hypotheses, it became more comfortable for them to conclude the accident as Heeseong and Yugeon's joint crime. Brothers who lost their parents in a terrible accident as children and grew up in poverty while being abused by the people around them, the hatred that sprouted from their hearts led to suicide terrorism using a rampaging Awakened. What a neat picture it was. Dozens of phrases have already come to mind to use at the press conference.
Heeseong, who could not even regain his consciousness and had to depend on a respirator to breathe, was tightly restrained. The reason was that they had no way to know when he would go wild again. Even though he was in a coma and an F-class Awakened, they did not keep their guard down.
It was the same with Yugeon. He ended up with handcuffs in one hand, connected to the edge of the bed. The chain attached to the handcuffs was long, so he could walk around the hospital room or go to the bathroom, but he couldn't get out of the door. Even if he left, he would immediately encounter the Espers who were guarding the hospital room.
The room was dark without the lights on. Yugeon couldn't tell whether it was day or night. He curled up on the bed with his handcuffed hand hanging down. He pulled his knees up and buried his head in his lap. There was a creaking sound from the long chains.
He thought and thought for a long time. Now, what will happen to him and Heeseong? Will Heeseong be able to regain consciousness, or will he be able to live like a normal human being even if he woke up from the coma?
Yugeon had never dreamed of something like this happening to his brother. They were barely making a living in the outskirts of a shabby city. He had no idea how to clear up the ridiculous accusations that had been placed on them.
Then he fell asleep without realizing it. In his shallow sleep, Yugeon wandered through reality-like nightmares and nightmare-like realities. The first thing Yugeon saw when he woke up was a man sitting in a chair in the corner of the darkened hospital room, watching him.
Goosebumps ran down his spine. His whole body stiffened and he couldn't even make a sound. Since when had he been here? He didn't notice it at all. But there was a more urgent question. Just outside the door of this room, the Espers from the Awakening Management Headquarters must be on duty 24 hours a day, so how the hell did that person get in?
"Did you sleep well?"
The man smiled as he watched Yugeon, with his legs crossed and his head tilted at an angle. And then he muttered to himself like a self-talk.
"It's amazing. I wanted to soothe you when you were bleeding out under me... but when I saw you sleeping so well, I felt like I wanted to ruin it."
His silhouette was visible in the hazy darkness. It was quite different from when they met on the street lined with abandoned factories. His hair was neatly brushed, and was dressed in a suit without an inch of disorganization. An overcoat was held by one arm. A black sleeve garter is tightened on the forearm, wrapped in a well-ironed light gray shirt.
The red and blue bruises that had dyed the white skin had disappeared. The memory of the violent forced guiding, as if eaten to the bone by this person flashed through his mind. Something hot inside Yugeon swelled up, and then it went cold right away. There were so many things he wanted to ask. But only one question came out of his mouth.
"Who are you?"
"Have you forgotten already? I thought we had a good time together, back then."
Yugeon remained silent with a stiff face. The expression on his face was as if he was wondering what the hell was wrong with this man.
"We rolled around very passionately in an open space. I couldn't forget you, so I came all the way here."
"Just answer the question."
He was joking around to lighten up the mood in the room, but Yugeon did not follow. Shinje, who was acting cute, swallowed a laugh inside.
"How did you get in here?"
"How did I get in? I walked in with my own foot."
"What about the Espers outside?"
"There was no one there."
"That can't be true. They must have been commanded to guard the door 24 hours a day."
"Really? The Espers' service here is a mess then. It's really a big deal…"
Shinje shook his head without even batting an eye. If anyone who knew him well saw it, it was a sight to shudder with disgust.
"Do you like the present?"
He pointed somewhere with his chin. When Yugeon turned his head, he noticed a large bouquet of flowers next to the pillow. The colorful flowers in bloom were half immersed in darkness. It's not a flower basket or a vase, but a bouquet. It was quite an ambiguous gift for a hospital visit.
The scene in which the man in front of him broke through the strict security and entered the room with ease, leaning over sleeping Yugeon and putting down the bouquet, was pictured in his mind. If he had decided to do something else, Yugeon would have died without even noticing anything. It was a terrifying thought.
"I don't know what kind of flowers you liked, so I bought a mixed one."
"......."
"You do not like flowers?"
"I told you to identify yourself first."
"Do you know that you've been too cold to me since a while ago?"
Shinje sighed and pulled something out. Yugeon was startled. He thought it was a weapon. But soon he changed his mind. There was no reason for an S-class to carry a gun or a knife.
He took his business card out of a rectangular case and handed it to him. It was strange because it was rather an ordinary behavior anyone can have. A murderer would not present his ID card and introduce himself before killing someone. Yugeon took the business card by surprise. The letters were faintly visible in the moonlight seeping through the window.
"Erewhon?"
Yugeon murmured with an expressionless face. Shinje watched him quietly. He didn't expect him to know the meaning of the name.
"Leader…. Woo Shinje."
"Guide Baek Yugeon."
He only repeated the name written on the business card, but Shinje also sang Yugeon's name as if matching the rhythm. Even though he has been called countless times in his life, his name, which he heard with the man's soft voice, came to him like an unfamiliar sound.
Yugeon didn't even wonder how he knew his name anymore. He was someone who came alone into a hospital ward located deep inside a facility dedicated for the criminals, and even where the Espers were all over the place. It was no longer a surprise that the man knew his name.
"I told you, we'll meet again soon."
"......."
"Is the guy from last time still alive? He is a lot tougher than I thought."
Yugeon stared at him and bit his lower lip, reminding himself not to get caught up in the opponent's pace. Sitting gracefully and smiling, the egg yolk inside that pretty shell was cruel and vicious. He could mercilessly explode Yugeon's head if his mood was spoiled. Not unlike the mutant corpses that were crushed with every step he took, just like the very night they first met.
".....What do you want?"
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out why the man was interested in him. An S-class Awakened who would have lived with the world under his feet. He could get anything with a flick of his hand, so what was he sad about? He decided to be straightforward.
"I've never had a fit rate of any more than 2 percent with any guide. Do you know what that means?"
Instead of answering the question, Shinje brought up a rather random story.
"To get 100 percent of the guiding efficiency, you have to do it with one person at least 50 times in a row. So, I have to take 50 people, line them up and do the thing."
"......."
"Low-ranking Awakened people go crazy because they can't get a guide. High-ranking Awakened people are crazy for this reason."
It was the first time Yugeon had ever heard of this. The F-class Hunters, who rarely had a chance to meet the high rank Awakened people, were envious of them only with their poorly crafted imaginations. Since those people had a lot of money, they could be extravagant, and they could buy any kind of guide as much as they wanted.
"Some people like it, at the beginning. You can roll around with a lot of people under the excuse of guiding. But they soon realize it. That there's no end to this suffering. That we will die of thirst for the rest of our lives, struggling to fill what we can never fill in a single lifetime."
Reactions after realization varied from people to people. There were those who gave up on receiving guiding altogether and humbly waited for death, some tried to live without it, and others vented their anger by abusing their guides.
"What do you think, Guide Baek Yugeon? Will there ever come a time when I will be freed from this hell?"
After finishing his speech, Shinje stared at Yugeon with an expressionless face. It put an unfamiliar look on the man who looked like he had a smile in his eyes at all times.
Shinje in the ruined alley came to mind. His eyes, mixed with madness and blind longing, gleaming in the darkness. Could it be that those eyes were a sign of a desperate effort to fill in the unfillable?
A precarious silence ensued as they faced each other across the dim space. Shinje smiled again as if he never stopped.
"So, in conclusion. It was like you broke that 2 percent wall for the very first time. I didn't even have to shove my dick in you, and only sucked on your lips and tongue."
He casually uttered the obscene words in a voice like he was reading a love poem.
"I don't know if I should congratulate you or say thank you, but…. well, let's do both."
"What does that mean….."
"Did you not know? Of course. You wouldn't know. The F-class bastards who don't even know your abilities would be satisfied with just holding your hand."
"......."
"I need you, Guide Baek."
"You are saying….. Are you asking me to be your guide?"
Shinje tilted his head slightly as if asking why he was asking for the obvious, but soon smiled softly and nodded. Yugeon and he had surprisingly good guiding compatibility. It could be known without even having to measure the fit rate separately. The sensation of his energy being sucked out of the nerves and blood vessels of the whole body was not something he could easily feel. He could understand that much.
The thing he didn't understand was something else. Let's say they broke through the odds of one in millions or hundreds of millions and found someone with an amazingly good match. But why would that make Yugeon this man's guide?
Yugeon had Heeseong. He had never even thought about having a partner other than Heeseong. From the very minute he became a guide, his brother was the one he had to take responsibility until his death. Heeseong was framed and wandering through life and death just beyond a wall, how could he leave him alone and go to another Hunter? Not even when someone gave him a hundred billion won.
"I have to decline. Please leave."
It was an immediate answer without a single hesitation. Shinje shut his mouth and stared at him.
"Did you think I'd accept such a ridiculous offer? Do I look like an idiot? Stupid enough to get under you because you liked it?"
The more he said, the angrier he became. Did he think Yugeon was just going to keep his head down and say yes to his every suggestion? Did he think he'd be over the moon like a commoner who was chosen as a royal servant?
"Just because this bastard can earn some money…"
Shinje broke the silence and chuckled. Yugeon, who thought he was mocking him, raised his voice.
"I said no...!"
"No, Yugeon-ah."
Shinje cut off Yugeon's words. In an instant, the tone of his voice changed. His voice was still soft and mellow, but in the midst of it was an intense forcefulness as if he was stamping down the opponent.
"When did I ever give you the right to choose?"
He loosened his crossed legs and sat leisurely against the back of the chair. His smiling eyes looked down at Yugeon.
"As I was saying. If you want to save the man lying in the next room."
"You..."
Yugeon took a rough breath. Cold sweat pooled in his tightly clenched hands.
"You are saying you can save my brother? How?"
Heeseong was already being treated like a criminal. The medical treatment he's currently receiving was a simple life-saving procedure. They couldn't possibly kill a patient on purpose, so they were letting him live, but even if he died right now, there was nothing they could do about it.
From the standpoint of the Awakening Management Headquarters, Heeseong was a felon, so it would not be a waste to die. Rather, they seemed to want him to die in a coma. If he woke up and went on a rampage again, or protested that he was in fact innocent, it would be troublesome.
Plus, the surgeries that Awakened people undergo were exorbitantly expensive, unlike regular surgeries. It was natural that there were a lot of unusual symptoms that could not be resolved with conventional medicine, and in some cases, a guide from the hospital or an Esper from the medical community had to be mobilized.
At this rate, Heeseong will eventually die like a burned candle. And there was nothing Yugeon could do. All he could do was lay down and wait for his brother's death. He felt so helpless. But this person was saying he can save him.
"Can I just save him? I'll even make sure the Espers who are writing their silly little scenarios to shut up. Spend whatever you want on hospital bills. All of this isn't going to make a dent in my balance."
Shinje tilted his head slightly.
"What do you say, darling? Is this enough for a coma?"
He let out a dry chuckle as if he heard a funny joke despite what he had just said. However, there was no sign of easing Yugeon's harsh face.
He knew the man wouldn't take his refusal easily. Shinje rose from his seat and slowly walked towards the bed. Like a beast approaching the prey he had been aiming for a long time and did not take his eyes off Yugeon even for a moment. His hand, cladded in black leather gloves, gripped Yugeon's bare hand in handcuffs. Yugeon's hand, with calluses and scratches here and there, was placed on top of his bigger hand.
"What are you doing?"
Yugeon flinched reflexively, but did not resist. He knew that resisting this was of no use. However, he did not loosen his guard and just glared at him with murderous eyes. Shinje, who was looking at Yugeon's hands, let out a sad sigh. Everything was fine, but the hideous handcuffs were bothering him. In any case, the center guys did not have any sense of aesthetics.
"I came here thinking about choosing a ring... but you are already wearing a bracelet."
He pulled Yugeon's hand up, and put his hand under it. So that their fingers were entangled. When he raised their tightly woven hands, there was a chirping sound of chains being dragged from below. He lightly pressed his lips on the back of Yugeon's dry hand, thin and bony.
"No more shackles from anyone but me. I'll give you something strong enough that no one else can break it."
"What are the conditions?"
Yugeon was nervous the whole time Shinje was touching him. Even when he kissed his hand, he only frowned slightly. Leaving his hand held by Shinje alone, he focused only on staring straight into his eyes and asking his true intentions.
Shinje burst into laughter. It was his first time to see a reaction so plain. He expected him to shudder or freak out. Was it because he had no experience or had no interest at all in sexual matters, or was he just so easy that he would not respond to a mere kiss on the back of his hand? From the last time he kissed him, he could tell it was the former.
Until now, he must have lived as a ‘beloved kid’ with his older brother. Since he was acting as a guardian and taking care of his sibling, he probably didn't have a chance to play around with others.
"If you were just simply looking for a guide that was the right fit, you wouldn't have paid such a generous price. What exactly are the conditions?"
"I was wondering what you were thinking. So that's the question rolling around in your pretty head for so long."
Shinje was again using gentle honorifics. Rather, it was even more insulting. What was the use of those words? It's already been revealed that he did not see the other person as his equal.
"He's smart, too. You did a great job."
It sounded like a child was being praised. Yugeon gritted his teeth and repeated.
"Conditions!"
"Be a guide to Erewhon and obey my orders. Endure anything that comes to you, and… follow me into the gates."
The first and second conditions were foreseen. It was not really a common thing to see high rank Awakened people who treated and respected the guides as equals. There were quite a few cases where they were not even viewed as the same human being at all. There were many guides who longed for a life of wealth and honor as the companions of the high rank Awakened people, but on the other hand, they were also afraid of the off chance that they might end up choosing the wrong partner. And whenever that happens, you are surely going to lose your life.
However, the third condition was a problem. Take your guide and enter the gates. The thought, ‘Inside the gates? Is this guy crazy?’ came to his head immediately.
Guides were originally non-combatants. They never went anywhere near the gates, let alone inside it. In principle, it was necessary to reside in the headquarters building and wait for the Awakened person in charge to return from the battle, and even if they were forced to leave the building due to the need for emergency guiding on the field, they usually waited in the vehicle or at the base camp.
Beyond the gate, that is, entering the Pit, even the veteran Hunters often came out dead. No, it was fortunate that they came out even as a lifeless body, as there were cases where the bodies couldn't even be retrieved. Why would someone drag a guide into such a place? It was like taking a military surgeon naked in the middle of a carpet bombing. There was a limit to treating the guide like a disposable recovery potion.
But now, how could he refuse? There was no other way, and even if he would have to throw his life away like a piece of tissue paper…
"So, what's the answer?"
"......."
A number of disastrous thoughts swirled in his head. He felt like he was being suffocated. Yugeon said nothing. Instead, he closed his eyes tightly. His lower lip trembled. That alone was enough as an answer. The smile around Shinje's lips deepened.
Yugeon had a hallucination under his closed eyelids. The hallucination of concrete pieces swimming in the dark sea, flowing down and sticking to his ankles.
The concrete fragments clumped together to form a heavy mass and firmly bound his feet. The last breath he exhaled desperately became a bubble and rose to the surface. But on the contrary, he was dragged down more and more. To the depths that he could never think of.
Eventually, he will drown in the depths of the sea, without even a single scream. Instead of fresh air, wet and fishy seawater will fill his lungs. Only then will he realize that it was a human's hand, not the concrete, that bound him. Whose hand was that? Shinje or Heeseong? Before he knew it, he will become a corpse that had been blown blue and sank.
However, he didn't even have the right to choose how he dies. Just as Woo Shinje said.
[Breaking news! Woo Shinje (S), the Leader of Erewhon, has an emergency press conference regarding the incident at Seonram-dong Industrial Complex.]
Emergency breaking news appeared at the bottom of the over-the-air channels. The same was true for Internet portals. A new headline filled the top of the news page. A Press Conference room was on the live screen. Bright lights were constantly poured down on the empty podium. Soon after, a man in a suit entered without a slightest distraction. Click, Click, Click! The sound of camera shutters got louder.
Even though flashlights were pouring from all sides, the man was relaxed. Standing upright in the most plausible position on the screen, he even slightly changed the angle for cameras in different directions. He looked more like a model with a brilliant career than a Hunter.
Shinje lightly greeted here and there, approached with a leisurely pace and sat down in front of the podium. As soon as the ceremonial greetings and opening remarks were over, questions from reporters rushed in.
"There are many opinions that the direct cause of the incident was the rampage of one of the F-class Hunters who participated in the raid. In particular, suspicions are being raised that this Hunter may have intentionally caused a rampage. What do you think?"
"I'll start with the conclusion. It's not true at all."
"What's the rationale?"
"I was there at the time, and I saw it with my own eyes."
"Are you saying that Hunter Woo Shinje was at Seonram-dong Industrial Complex?"
"That's right."
"This raid was not reported in the Official Raid Schedule announced by Erewhon."
"It was because I moved personally, independent of the Order."
It was a remark that would be a major turning point for the ongoing investigation so far. Currently, there were less than ten S-class Hunters nation-wide, and it was unbelievable that a high rank person of an Order was at the outskirts of the country messing around. Many wondered why a sudden press conference was held in Erewhon, a place where media exposure was rarely welcomed, and it was to make such a bombastic remark.
Shinje closed his mouth after saying what he had to say. Flashlights from hundreds of cameras poured over the white face of the man facing them without avoiding a single glance.
"Then did you witness exactly what happened at the scene and what caused it?"
"Even though it was a small gate, most of the people who participated in the attack were killed. What do you think?"
"Couldn't the damage be reduced at Hunter Woo Shinje's discretion??"
S-class Hunters were both an object of awe and an easy prey to satisfy the curiosity of the general public. Dozens of articles were created whenever an S-class Awakened person spoke a word in public, and various Internet communities and streaming sites poured out content that bit and chewed on their movements.
The intent of the question was clear. F-class Hunters were killed in a swarm, but an S-class Hunter couldn't stop it? It was an interrogation disguised as a question.
"Hunter Woo Shinje, please respond."
"My question first!"
Continuous flashlights, ear-splitting shutters, reporters shouting with their hands up. It was a sight that would have caused a person with a weak will to panic. However, Shinje watched them silently with his hands clasped on the table. It was as if this had happened countless times before.
"I arrived at the site later than expected due to poor conditions. As you all know, Erewhon Team 1 hasn't had an exclusive guide in recent months. By the time I arrived, things have already happened."
The reporters, who were tapping their keyboards like crazy, exchanged glances at each other. There was a glimmer of understanding on their faces. It was well known that high rank Awakened people finding a suitable guide was akin to picking stars from the sky, but among them, Erewhon was especially famous for having no dedicated guiding partners. In addition, the management policy of the Order was also extremely aggressive, contrary to the external image of Shinje, the leader and the face of the Hunting Order.
Hunters belonging to Erewhon were forced to take powerful drugs to handle their vicious raid schedule. It was not an exaggeration to say that drugs instead of blood flow through their veins. Other Hunters watched their mouths in front of them, but behind them, they were "crazy druggies" or "junkie bastards".
Despite such fatal shortcomings, Erewhon had always been the undisputed No. 1 Order in the Hunter community. Being the only Hunting Order in the country that employed two S-class Hunters also played a part, but the biggest reason was elsewhere.
Some of the Hunting Orders had long been deteriorated from their initial purpose of their establishment and busy playing money with chaebols or politicians on their backs as sponsors. In some cases, internal strifes rose as executives quarreled over issues such as stakes and profits. On the other hand, Erewhon pursued sheer strength without being bound by any other conflicts of interest. In line with the ‘destiny’ of those so-called ‘Awakened’, they constantly challenged bigger gates with stronger mutants.
However, disturbing rumors had been spreading recently, especially among Hunters and people in related industries. The apparent reason for the lack of an exclusive guide in Erewhon Team 1 was not that they couldn't find a guide with a suitable match, but for entirely different reasons. It was said that every guide who went in was either kicked out on the verge of death or abused until they died.
No matter how much the liver hurts, they couldn't just ask the question directly to Shinje. The reporters waited for his next words, all eyes on him.
"Obviously, it was just a small gate, but even I couldn't have expected that a powerful mutant would appear. The Hunter who rampaged showed the signs because he risked his life to deal with it and used his abilities excessively."
The whole story of the mysterious incident was revealed through the mouth of Shinje. Although some may have doubts about the authenticity of those words, no one dared to directly question Shinje, saying, "How can we believe what you say?". This was an era in which a single testimony from a high rank Awakened person had more power than any other evidence.
CCTV footage? Pictures? Data stored in memory? As long as there was a person with the ability to manipulate radio waves, they could play around as much as they wanted. And whenever mutant species with magnetic fields appeared, damage was also common.
"His rampage was by no means intentional. If you had been there and witnessed the truth, you'd never make that claim."
Shinje lowered his gaze with a sullen look. Long, light-colored eyelashes lowered. Not only the reporters at the scene, but even the people watching through the broadcast stopped breathing for a moment.
"I hurriedly eliminated the remaining mutants, but it was after we have already lost too many victims. If I had come a little earlier, I might have saved at least one more person, even if I couldn't save everyone."
A long, elegant hand, cladded in black leather gloves, gripped the underside of the tabletop microphone on the podium. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again.
"......."
He turned his head slightly as if he couldn't bring himself to speak. His innocent eyes, like lilies blooming on the water's edge, were gleamed with a light red color. Not many people would be able to face that face and asked the right questions.
Shinje exquisitely kept the proper expressions. The corners of his eyes were moist, but he never shed tears or sniffled. Officially express your regrets, but avoid undermining your authority. Then he cleared his throat slightly and looked straight ahead again. A faint trace of sadness remained on his firm and determined face.
"I would like to express my sincere respect to the Hunters who died fighting for mankind until the end. As one of the survivors of their sacrifice, I will make sure to honor their souls and relieve their pain."
"What do you mean?"
"First of all, Erewhon will support the cost of repairing damage in the area and consolation money for the families of the victims. I hope you can accept my apology, even if it is not much. And to the Awakening Management Headquarters."
Shinje smiled facing the artificial lights that filled his field of vision. His every move will be delivered to them in real time through hundreds of camera lenses.
Finally, all the cards were in order. The Hunting Orders, which were considered the strongest combat power in the country, had collected information from behind the scenes for decades. And now that the last card, Baek Yugeon, had finally revealed himself, he was finally ready to descend down the abyss beyond the gate in search of "that guy". He was now fully armed, ready to chew the throat of that Mad God, who could have easily devoured the entire human race in one bite, but who had been playing around with him for decades just like a cat playing with his prey before filling its belly.
He can finally end this tedious play. The Awakening Management Headquarters, the Hunters, the mutants, and even himself, he can now get rid of all the hateful things in this world once and for all, and finally find peace. And for now, he intends to start a war by publicizing all the hushed-up affairs.
"I'd like to hold you accountable for decades of deliberate cover-up, not just this incident, but also that you haven't publicized the fact that the gates have been showing abnormalities since a long time ago."
Shinje casually dropped the bomb in a friendly tone as usual. Everyone at the press conference fell into a deathly silence. But the silence did not last long. Within seconds, the spacious hall became noisy as if it were a beehive. Reporters latched onto the sudden big scoop that came out of nowhere.
"Hunter Woo Shinje! What do you mean they covered it up on purpose?"
"We need more explanation!"
"Then, are you saying something like this has happened before?"
"What does this case have to do with the Awakening Management Headquarters?"
"Are you talking about the rumor that an unusually strong mutant species spawned from the gate?"
"What you just said, what exactly do you mean?!"
Shinje leisurely looked around the seething crowd with a faint smile. Everyone was going crazy, and only he alone was calm.
A reporter raised her hand timidly. She looked as if she had been hit on the back of her head, in other words, as if she had quickly realized something. Shinje smiled generously, raised his hand and pointed to that side. The reporter's face brightened up as she didn't expect to get a say in the midst of this chaos.
"Oh, I'm Heo Yoonah from 〈Real Issue〉!"
"Yes, Reporter Heo. Go ahead."
"Then, if the Hwangan Bridge incident 13 years ago was also an abnormal phenomenon that Hunter Woo Shinje spoke of..."
Shinje, who met the reporter's eyes, smiled as if praising a child who listened well. At that moment, the reporter realized something like a hunch. That he had deliberately chosen someone to ask a specific question, and that was her.
"I think that question is best answered by the Awakening Management Headquarters. You can ask them directly. It's been a while since I've belonged to that side."
The words were vague, but they were actually positive.
A luxurious car was parked out of place in a shabby alley. A sleek sports car, with a black matte paint. It was a car that couldn't be seen properly at night.
The driver's door opened up and a stranger got off. He was wearing a black dress shirt and dark gray suit pants. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up below his elbow, revealing his strong bare forearms. His dark brown hair was parted and neatly styled.
If Shinje was like a model for a luxury suit brand, this man looked like an office worker who was just working in a high-rise building in the middle of the city until a while ago. Although he had a strong physique and an intimidating aura for a regular office worker.
Just like Shinje, this man was of great stature. He wouldn't be lower than 190 centimeters. Although Yugeon had been called a ‘kid’ when he was working with his brother and other Hunters, no one had ever called him short, but when he stood in front of the man, he had to raise his head to meet his eyes.
"Guide Baek Yugeon?"
The man asked, frowning slightly like a habit. It was a low-pitched voice that sounded like a hum from the depths.
"Yes."
"I am Joo Taein from Erewhon."
After the simple introduction, Taein glanced at Yugeon. A slightly loose hoodie, a backpack wrapped around one shoulder, and black hair covering his forehead. Unarmed Yugeon looked really young. If he had books in his arms and a smartphone in his hand, he would look like an ordinary college student.
Taein doubted if this person was a legal adult, if he knew how to guide properly, and if he really knew the situation he's in. And Shinje's going to take a kid like this in as his exclusive guide? What the hell was that guy thinking? Taein's brow furrowed a little deeper. But he soon gave up the thought. He didn't want to know much about Shinje's inner thoughts. Knowing wouldn't make any difference after all.
"Is that all you need?"
Yugeon nodded. He cleaned up the house, but there was less than one backpack to carry with him. All of the equipment they originally had was useless in the last battle. And it didn't matter as it would have been useless to take the cheap gear with him with where he was going now.
So he just packed extra clothes and called it a day. In the first place, he had no desire for material things and he didn't like anything cumbersome, so when it came to clothes, three or four pairs were everything he had. He couldn't believe that his life with his brother could be put together in just one bag. As he was packing, he felt bitter again.
Taein turned around without saying a word and opened the passenger's door. It was because he didn't feel the need to talk more and because the necessary conversation was over. Yugeon was also second to none in terms of words. In addition, the other person was a Hunter belonging to Erewhon who came to fetch him under Shinje's orders. There was no way he wanted to be friendly. He didn't have any social skills for that.
There was a heavy silence between the two men who had their first ever meeting today. Taein reached out his hand. He meant to ask for the bag. Facing a very unfamiliar and awkward situation where someone was offering to carry his luggage to be considerate of him, Yugeon hesitated for a while before pulling down his backpack. It was then their bare hands briefly touched together.
"......"
At that moment, Taein frowned and shook his hand. It was as if he touched something dirty and disgusting. Thud! There was a loud noise as the backpack was tossed to the ground.
".....ah."
Yugeon, who was hit on the back of his hand, reacted one beat late. It was rather ambiguous whether it was an exclamation or a sigh. Taein sighed and took a pair of gloves out of his pants pocket. They looked like the same black leather gloves that Shinje was wearing. He put the gloves on with careful and neat motion like a doctor performing an operation, and bent down to pick up the fallen backpack.
The redness quickly rose on the back of Yugeon's hand as if he was slapped with the man's full strength. Coincidentally, it was the place where Shinje had kissed. Yugeon silently got into the passenger seat, his expression unreadable. He did not protest against the sudden violence nor did he complain of pain.
When he accepted the proposal from Shinje, he was already prepared for this. No, this was good enough. In the low-level Order he was in, he was used to suddenly being kicked around for someone having a bad day, called out from time to time and shouted at all night, and slapped until his lips burst in front of dozens of people. A slap on the back of his hand was nothing compared to that.
"Please be careful. I'll be more careful in the future."
Taein, who glanced at him, warned in a low voice. It was a very dry sound. Anyone would sound more cheerful even if they were reading Korean literature books.
"I don't like it when guides touch me recklessly."
He started the car engine with those words. There was no apology. There were also no questions asking if he was okay or not. The sleek sports car roared to life with a loud noise. The car, carrying the two, left the familiar back alley and got onto the main street.
Throughout the drive, Taein never looked back at him. He didn't say anything, didn't pay attention, and treated Yugeon as if he didn't exist at all. Yugeon bit his lower lip and pinned his eyes on the car window. He was in a high-end foreign car that he had never dreamed of riding, but it was not comfortable at all. He felt like someone was strangling his throat. The black tinted car window reflected like a deep sea, cold and dreary.
The silence felt too long. At last, the destination appeared before his eyes. The building was once a five-star hotel that was a landmark in central Seoul, but it was bought and renovated after it was forced to shut down due to a large-scale attack by mutants. It was now the Headquarters of Erewhon.
"Good morning, Deputy Chief."
As soon as he stopped the car in front of the front door and got off, an employee who was waiting approached. Taein handed the car keys to him with a familiar attitude.
The interior of the building was as grand as it looked from the outside. A dazzling chandelier was hung in the middle of the ceiling high enough to look up only when the neck was bent. In the lobby, soft classical music was heard, contrary to the bleak image usually associated with the Hunters. There were even marble sculptures and decorative fountains. Even the bathroom in this building seemed to be bigger than the house where Yugeon and Heeseong lived.
The walls and floors were all marble, black with a silvery luster. Looking at the color, Yugeon suddenly thought of Shinje. This building itself resembled the man's taste. Flamboyant but not too loud, calm but not plain.
Taein crossed the lobby with Yugeon. Occasionally, there were people who recognized him and greeted him, but there were also a lot of people who just passed by. It was certainly a freer atmosphere compared to the Espers who guarded the front of his hospital room with a stiff posture.
They took the elevator in the lobby. He thought that would be the end of it, but they got off half way and changed to an elevator dedicated to exclusive floors. When Taein's keycard was read by the sensor, and pressed the floor button, the elevator began to move smoothly. The number of floors displayed on the liquid crystal rose at an alarmingly fast pace.
"Where are we going?"
Yugeon, who had been following Taein silently without a word so far, asked a question for the very first time. Even if he was dragged to an unfamiliar place, he wanted to know where his final destination was.
"We are meeting the Leader."
"Hunter Woo Shinje?"
Taein made a light impression as if he was asking the obvious. His expression was saying he did not want to exchange a single word with Yugeon. However, Yugeon was not very faint-hearted to shut up just like this. He scoffed at the other person's foul attitude and asked again.
"Didn't he send you instead because he was busy? Why?"
"He was busy earlier, but he's probably not at the moment. The center has been hounding him since morning."
"Does the center have anything to do with this case? What is the identity of that mutant? What he said at the press conference..."
"I don't know why Guide Baek is asking this. Did you think I'd answer them all?"
Taein cut off Yugeon's words halfway through. There was a hint of contempt on his firm lips.
"I don't think you'll understand even if I explain."
Yugeon snapped back with a dry look.
"It's up to me to decide whether I will understand or not."
The air between the two men froze. Taein, who had been standing facing only the front, turned to Yugeon. Due to the difference in physique, a shadow fell over Yugeon.
"Guide Baek Yugeon. Please act like you don't exist. Don't be interested in useless things and just do what you are asked to do. Anyway, you will soon….."
He opened his mouth as if to say more. At that moment, the elevator stopped with a soft beep. It was the topmost floor. He sighed briefly, shook his head, and walked past Yugeon. There was a large door in the middle of the spacious hallway. When this building was a hotel, it was probably used as the Presidential Suite.
Shinje liked to spend time quietly in his room, unlike his appearance that he would attend all kinds of noisy and glamorous places. When he didn't have a schedule, he would shut himself here and didn't come out for a few days. It was not enough to fill every meal with room service, so he sometimes received work reports in his suite, and even called others to hold meetings. It didn't matter anyway, as the room had a drawing room and a study.
Taein rang the doorbell and waited for a while, then opened the door without hesitation and entered. He already knew all too well that Shinje was not the type to come out to the front door with socks on and opened the door.
The first thing Yugeon noticed was a glass window that took up the entire wall on one side. The blinds were raised to give a clear view of the city. He realized that this was the topmost floor of the dizzyingly high building. Shinje was leaning on a sofa that looked wider than the bed where Yugeon had been sleeping on, looking at a tablet, and turned his head.
He put down the tablet he was looking at and put his arm on the armrest of the sofa in a relaxed position. A casual look with a shirt undone without a tie. It was neither the disorganized appearance when they first met in the blood-stained ruins nor the unrealistically perfected appearance when he visited Yugeon's hospital room. He looked pale as if the guiding he received last time had lost its effect, but not as much as when they first met.
"Hello, my guide."
Instead of saying something, Taein stared at him. Shinje gave an insignificant flick with his fingertips.
"Should I say our guide?"
"Do as you please."
"Did anything happen on the way here?"
"There wasn't."
Shinje lowered his eyes. Yugeon's hand, which was sticking out from under the sleeve of the hoodie, still had redness on it.
"Take good care of it. It was hard to find."
"I'll be careful."
A conversation dealing with a person like an object was exchanged casually in front of the person concerned. Shinje spoke to Yugeon, who stood still, as if he had just remembered him.
"Guide Baek Yugeon. Take it off."
It sounded as serene as ever. But the content of the words was not at all placid.
"Take off your clothes. It's something I'm going to eat to my heart's content in the foreseeable future, but there shouldn't be defects on your body."
When living among the rough and crude Hunters, Yugeon had heard all sorts of obscene stuff. Yugeon had never given guiding to anyone using his body, but it wasn't one or two times that crude jokes were made whenever he was guiding them. Shinje's words, however, were once again insulting. There was a big difference between the words of those who usually use profanity as if they were breathing and the words of a man sitting gracefully on a luxury sofa.
"......."
Yugeon gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Thin bones on the back of his hand stood out and blue veins could be seen.
"There is a condition in our contract to obey my orders, isn't there? You have to listen to me well. That is if you want to keep your brother alive for one more day."
He did not feel shocked or betrayed by Shinje's words and actions. He didn't have any expectations in the first place, so there was nothing to be disappointed about. That man had been like that since they first met. It was not at all unexpected that this would happen. It was just ridiculous.
Yugeon realized it again. To him, the whole world was an enemy and a struggle, except for Heeseong, his blood and flesh. The stiff expression gradually disappeared from Yugeon's face, which was a mixture of confusion, shame and hatred. He took a deep breath, crossed his arms and grabbed the underside of his hoodie. Then he lifted it up and took it off at once.
Once he made up his mind, his hands hesitated no longer. He immediately threw off the short-sleeved T-shirt that he was wearing underneath. Shinje, who was watching the scene, softly whistled. Taein's tight-lipped mouth was strained. However, he did not make any move to stop either Shinje or Yugeon.
He knew it when they were together on the asphalt floor stained with blood and dust, but he really liked the body. Yugeon was not bulky, but he's not skinny, he was just moderately fit. There were several scars on his upper body, perhaps from a mutant. Even that did not look out of place. It seemed like he needed to gain some more weight to make it perfect for Shinje's taste, but well, it was fine for now.
How would Yugeon react if he bit the collarbone that stood out under the pale neck with all his strength? What if he ripped open the skin that smells like cheap soap and drank his blood? What if he wrapped his wrists around with a thick rope and dragged him across the room?
"Take it off. It's down there that counts."
Shinje smiled and ordered. Like a robot, Yugeon snapped open the button of his pants and zipped them down. His eyes, which had been looking down with his head slightly bowed in concentration on taking off his clothes, suddenly rose upward and turned to Shinje.
"......."
It was a face void of expression, except his eyes. A lukewarm murderous intent was boiling in his dark eyes. Like a wild beast that vowed never to forget the face of an opponent who trampled it, never to forget this disgrace.
He was impressed. It was hard to bear. Shinje sat upright on his upper body, half buried on the sofa. With a slow touch, he pulled out a cigarette, bit it, and lit it. If he wasn't sucking on this, he thought the tingling sensation would lose its place and run wild.
His eyes were still fixed on Yugeon as he took a deep breath in the smoke. Soon the pants fell at Yugeon's feet. Shinje nodded with the cigarette in his mouth. Greedy and arrogant like a nouveau riche watching a strip show. 'What am I even doing when I still have work to do?', he muttered silently.
Finally, even the dark blue drawers were crumpled and thrown on the pile of clothes. The air that touched his bare body, with nothing on, felt particularly cool. However, he couldn't do anything because if he shrank or covered his body, it would seem like he was conscious of the other person.
"It looks clean from the outside. Well, you don't have any disease, do you?"
"If I say yes, will you return it unused?"
"It has not been used, but it's already been opened, so it cannot be returned. I can't help it. I just have to use it."
"......."
"My guide is really good at joking around."
Shinje bowed his upper body and laughed, his shoulders shaking. Then he looked up suddenly as if he had remembered something. There was a smile in his slow eyes.
"Your legs hurt from standing up all along, right? Oh, I wasn't being considerate… So make yourself at home. Sit anywhere comfortably."
He told him to take off all his clothes, and now he wanted him to sit down? It was a ridiculous command. He was asking him to sit on the floor like a dog, naked, in front of its owner.
"I don't..."
Yugeon faltered back. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. He was prepared to do whatever they asked him to do, but words of rejection popped out without realizing it.
"You don't want to? Why?"
Shinje opened his eyes wide, covered with long eyelashes, and asked in a calm but obnoxious tone. His gray eyes were half-opened, as if they were soaked in drugs.
Then something cool touched his skin. A large hand with black gloves reached out from behind, grabbed Yugeon's shoulders and waist firmly and pressed him down. A heavy force was suddenly put on his whole body.
The whole thing was so quick. His knees bent helplessly. Thud! There was a dull noise from the marble floor. Yugeon staggered, but managed to balance himself. The sound of footsteps drew nearer. The moment he looked up, his jaw was caught.
Holding his cigarette in one hand, Shinje grasped Yugeon's chin with the other hand and bowed his head. He observed Yugeon with great concentration like a child who had acquired a new toy. He looked into his eyes distorted by pain and discomfort, saw the scar curved on his eyelid, and caressed his lips.
The face he held in his hands was thin. It seemed like if he applied force even a little bit, he could crush the jaw joint with ease. Underneath his black hair, a soft, round earlobe was revealed. It was too cute to match the ferocious expression. Shinje made eye contact and smiled.
"Ha..."
Yugeon shook his head desperately. But his face didn't budge. The more he tried to move, the more his jaw hurt. The same was true of under his neck. Taein did not let go of his hand even after he forced Yugeon to kneel. Strong forearms lined with veins tightly held his waist. Large hands cladded in leather gloves held Yugeon at will from the front and the back. The feeling of cool leather sticking to his bare skin was horrible.
"Open your mouth."
Shinje held Yugeon's chin and put his thumb between his lips. When Yugeon did not open his mouth voluntarily, he dug in with force. A finger pierced through his clenched lips and pressed down on his tongue. The slippery and tough leather texture was felt.
"Guide Baek Yugeon."
Shinje called him gently.
"Has anyone ever undressed you? Have you ever touched your own body? Has another guy touched you? Your dick, hands, tongue."
"......."
There was no way he could talk back. Instead of answering, Yugeon raised his eyes and glared at Shinje. The reddened eyes were slightly wet with physiologically leaked tears.
"Looking at your face, I can understand even if you don't answer me. Have you ever touched yourself? You haven't been able to sleep well with your beloved brother every night, holding your hands tightly. Am I wrong?"
Every time he brought up his brother, the focus went out of Yugeon's eyes. How was he so easy to understand? Shinje barely managed to hold back his laughter.
He was devoted to his family, did not blame his own misfortune, did not show off his abilities, and did not blame others' faults. It was a life lived so foolishly that it was pitiful. Yugeon's uprightness was brilliant. At the same time, if he hadn't held his hand, he would have lived his whole life crawling at the bottom with his brother.
Shinje was again impressed. As expected, he chose a good guide. We are in a relationship to die together floundering at the bottom of the abyss, so aren't we a perfect match?
"It's not really a big deal to get beaten up, is it? I'm sure you are used to pain. You must be thinking you got unlucky, so you are going to close your eyes and play with the crazies."
After poking around in his mouth, Shinje pulled out his fingers at one point. The thumb of the black glove was wet. From Yugeon's lips, the clear liquid was thinned out. Shinje stared down at it, then bit the edge of the glove with his teeth and pulled it off.
"...so, I am not going to be that cliché."
The gloves fell off at random. A hand that seemed to be made of white marble was revealed. It was a contrast to Taein, who was still wearing gloves, refusing to touch Yugeon with his bare hands.
"I want to leave you with painstaking pain, Yugeon-ah. What do you think?"
"......."
"How many times do I have to rape you to be completely ruined?"
"Uh-huh, ugh!"
Once again, his fingers slammed into his mouth. This time it was the index and middle fingers. He even brushed his molars and fangs one by one, and rubbed his tongue between his two fingers like he was playing with it.
"Your mouth is narrow. Lips are thin too, and if I poke it wrong, it might rip."
Yugeon's cheeks were protruded gently enough that his fingers could be seen from the outside, twitching. His throat moved up and down, swallowing saliva accumulated in the back of his tongue.
"Here..."
He felt around the flesh of the insides of his soft cheeks. Then, the roof of his narrow mouth, pressing the soft parts.
"I think it'd be nice if I put a dick in it and stuff it whole."
All of a sudden, nausea came up his throat. Yugeon's shoulders moved up and down. Tears welled up at the corners of his bloodshot eyes. But there was no sign of the fingers coming out.
"What do you think, Taein-ssi?"
Shinje asked, still stirring Yugeon's mouth.
"I don't think he can even swallow half of it, and he looks like he's about to vomit."
"He's just drooling? I think that's nice, too."
"I don't like it because it's dirty."
"Again, your taste is boring."
"It's better than being overly perverted."
Conversation flowed back and forth over Yugeon's head, who was panting painfully. Yugeon stretched out his arm to push Shinje away. Taein grabbed his wrist and twisted it back sharply. A groan that could not come out broke in his throat. Saliva was dripping down the corners of his mouth and chin.
Ashes fell from the cigarette that was burning alone. Shinje let out a brief exclamation and flicked his fingertips as if he had forgotten about the cigarette. He pulled out his fingers and held the half-burned cigarette to Yugeon instead. Yugeon clumsily bit the end of the cigarette. Shinje gently stroked Yugeon's head as he looked up at him blankly.
"Good boy. Hold this for a minute."
"Ugh..."
Yugeon stopped breathing it in abruptly. Instead of the acrid and musty smell of regular cigarettes, there was a strange smell coming out of it. It was strangely fragrant, but repulsive. It was not a regular cigarette. It wasn't even the cheap marijuana that low-level Hunters often smoke to forget their pain. He didn't know what it was, but he thought it wouldn't be okay to smoke it carelessly.
Yugeon spat out the cigarette. Shinje was faster than him. The hand that was gently stroking his hair changed suddenly, grabbed his hair and pulled it back sharply.
"Eug... ah!"
The pain felt as if his scalp was being ripped open. The cigarette butt with tooth marks on the filter part fell. However, it was after he had already reflexively inhaled the smoke.
Shinje's cigarettes were for S-class Awakened, especially those who had not received guiding for a long time and those who hat had already developed drug tolerance. It was too toxic for Yugeon. Less than a sip and it could cloud your reason.
The drug worked too quickly. Flames spread from the nose and throat along the airway. It was a deathly cold fire. Frozen acidic flames seemed to corrode the respiratory tract and lungs.
"Heuk, kek, no, ugh, no!"
Yugeon writhed like a seizure. Even with both arms pinned by Taein, he tried to get out of it somehow, scratching and kicking around. With how desperately he was resisting, his wrist flushed red with handprints, and his knees stained black and blue. His vision quickly blurred. The ceiling fell and the floor rose in the opposite directions. He couldn't even see Shinje properly who was just in front of him.
"Ah…. ha, ugh, ah..."
Yugeon's weak voice leaked out of him. Shinje approached, smashing the cigarette butt rolling on the floor with his shoe, extinguishing the embers.
Without hesitation, he knelt down on one knee on the floor littered with cigarette ashes, pulled Yugeon from the back of his head and kissed him like he was taking a bite. He devoured the food he had been saving by not eating on purpose and taking his sweet time. His tongue squirmed through Yugeon's lips and gulped down the feverish tongue. The flesh in his wet mouth was rubbed against his fingers to the point where it was already drenched.
"Mm-hmm….. ah..."
As if the stopper at the bottom of a bathtub filled with water was suddenly pulled out, the guiding flowed out with strong force. The nerves swirled all over. The drug crushed all his senses, leaving only the pleasure sharp. Even that felt chillingly good now. Yugeon let out a moan over his blocked mouth.
The response was more enthusiastic than expected. Like a child sucking on a bottle, Yugeon just rushed at him, but he was satisfied with it nonetheless. Shinje's hand, which was carefully wrapped around Yugeon's cheek, went down. Without stopping the kiss, he drew the outline of a hard collarbone with his fingertips. He swept down his chest and squeezed the nipple between his fingers and twisted lightly.
"Ah!"
Yugeon's waist trembled. Shinje flicked the tip of his nipples. It was not long before blood was gathered on the soft nipples and soon, they stood upright. His cock twitched and half stood up between the thighs which were taut from kneeling. Terrible shame flushed through his whole body.
Yugeon leaned back, but soon bumped into an obstacle. Behind his back was a man's chest as hard as a wall. It wasn't just that. An erection pressed against Yugeon's buttocks over the neatly ironed suit pants. He thought it was going to rip through the few layers of thin cloth and penetrate him.
Yugeon tried to turn around unconsciously. Before he could, Taein's arms, which were hugging his waist, tightened. As if he's telling him not to do nonsense.
"Ugh..."
Taking advantage of the gap between his lips while moaning, Shinje shoved his tongue deeper. Sitting on the cold floor, his trembling body gradually warmed up.
Shinje's hair, which had been neatly arranged, was also messed up as he pulled Yugeon close and kissed him passionately. Nose blades were crossed, foreheads touched, and bangs of different colors rustled and mixed together. The tangled lips barely fell apart. As if he had come to his senses a little later, Yugeon reached out and grabbed Shinje's shirt collar. He wriggled his tongue, which was not moving properly, with his eyes wide open.
"Fuck, what did you feed me... ugh."
"I told you to use such pretty words."
"You're really, ugh, I will kill you..."
"Oh... I'm really scared."
Shinje smiled and put his forehead on Yugeon's sweaty one. His white cheeks were flushed red, like a flower in full bloom. Was it because of the guiding or the guide itself?
"Please cut me some slack because I'm pretty. Yes?"
Yugeon was already out of his mind, dazed. What did he just say?
"Taein-ssi, don't just sit there and please cooperate."
The two men's eyes met over Yugeon's shoulder. Taein sighed a little. The body, which was firmly fixed like a rock, moved for the first time. He looked down at Yugeon leaning on his chest. He was instructed to cooperate, but he had no intention of biting, sucking and tangling up like Shinje did. It was unpleasant just to imagine.
There was no emotion in Baek Yugeon himself. To be honest, he felt a bit sorry for him as he was struggling at such a young age. But he did not like this Guide Baek Yugeon. His feeling for that person was disgust mixed with hatred. It wasn't just Yugeon. For Taein, all the guides were the same.
In actuality, there was something he hated more than the guides. It was no other than himself. You could never live a decent life unless you held on to your guide and begged for mercy. How inferior and ugly. Parasites would be better off than this.
Taein's gloved hands spread Yugeon's thighs apart. The action was not rough but not soft either, it was an emotionless touch as if he was simply handling an object. Yugeon's dick was half standing. Taein resisted the urge to frown and reluctantly reached out to grab the length. It was fortunate to touch it over the glove.
"Ugh!"
With the thumb, he gently rounded the dent at the tip, soaking it in fluids, and swept up and down along the erection.
"Ugh, heuk, stop."
Yugeon's voice cracked. He tried to get up and move away from him, but couldn't, with his legs trembling as he was put on his knees for too long. Taein, who was watching the struggle, grabbed Yugeon's waist, lifted him and sat him on his thigh.
"Guide Baek Yugeon, relax. It's a waste of time if you resist."
He stroked the inside of Yugeon's stiff thighs, and lightly tapped the skin close to the groin with the back of his hand. The hard length let out more liquid as he moved.
"I don't want to do this for long either, so let's not drag it out and get it over with."
Taein shut his mouth after saying those words and focused only on what he had to do. He stroked, pinched, and fondled with indifferent and mechanical hand movements. His gloves gradually got wet.
"Heuk! Ugh! Huh! Ah! Ah...!"
Yugeon's response was clumsy and honest, even considering the drug. As Shinje said, he wondered if Baek Yugeon had ever masturbated properly, let alone sex. Every time he kneaded his arousal, his waist trembled and moved his hips up and down without realizing it.
From Taein's view, he could only see Yugeon's back. His reddened ears and nape, and his coal-black hair. Whenever Yugeon recklessly twisted his back and twitched, Taein's dick throbbed and raised its head at will. The buckle and zipper parts were pulled tight. White liquids leaked out, and it felt damp as if his underwear was wet. However, Taein ignored the changes in his body with a stiff face.
Shinje grabbed Yugeon's nipple and twisted it. He just touched it a little, but it turned red and hardened easily. Like a reflex, a small scream that sounded like weeping leaked out.
"I sucked your lips, touched your nipples, and Taein-ssi is touching you in the front, so where is it left?"
He threw a question to himself as he did not expect an answer, and Shinje tapped Yugeon's loosely spread thighs with his knees. The trembling legs spread wider. He felt further down than Taein's hand, holding Yugeon's shoulder in one hand. The hole between his well-shaped buttocks was tightly closed.
"Heuk..."
A place that no one had ever touched was caressed. Yugeon shuddered with fear. However, Shinje's hand held his shoulder firmly, so the resistance was stopped in advance.
"It's so dry I can't even put one finger in it. I think it will bleed if I just force it in. Your ex-partner is pretty good. I don't know how he endured all these years without messing with this."
Taein raised his eyebrows as if he heard something unpleasant.
"I heard it was his blood sibling."
"What kind of relationship an Awakened and a guide can have? Taein-ssi best knows that when you're hungry for a guide, your eyes can see nothing, not a parent or a sibling."
"......."
The face of the man who looked like a stone Buddha finally showed a hint of anger. The hand that was rubbing Yugeon's arousal suddenly got more forceful.
"Ugh, ah... heuk!"
Yugeon's spine stiffened with pain. Sweat dripped from the back of his trembling neck. Taein, who was looking down at him, slowly relaxed his strength. As if to soothe Yugeon, he gently rolled his cock in his palm. Soon a gasping moan broke out again. It was not a moan to seduce someone but one akin to the breath of a wounded animal.
"No bloodshed. Are you trying to make the guide you've been looking for so long to fall sick in one day?"
"What does it matter if I kill the guide, Taein-ssi? ...Yes, that's right. Good boy."
Shinje gently patted Yugeon's head as if he were playing with a pet, taking Taein's words in a cold way. He lightly rubbed the tip of his nose on Yugeon's sweat-soaked forehead. Contrary to his gentle voice, he was still groping the dry hole below.
"Heesu has been making a fuss since last night because he wants to see the new guide. Shouldn't we let them say hello in a good state? At least use some lube."
"Do I have to? Why? Can't I just shove it in and make it sting."
Shinje closed his eyes and smiled softly.
"Taein-ssi, your hand skills must not be that good? It's taking too long."
The expression on Taein's face, who was showing discomfort, quickly disappeared. He even let go of the hand that was holding Yugeon's wrist, and concentrated on caressing him with both hands. With one hand, the thumb and index finger wrapped around the rounded tip and rubbed it. With his gloves on, he lightly poked the tip with his blunt fingertips. At the same time, he wrapped the entire length with his other hand and stroked it hard and fast. Transparent fluid dripped down the back of Taein's hand.
Yugeon's eyes, which had been struggling to focus, blurred again. The black eyelashes that hung over the half-closed eyes trembled. Concentrating on the sensation of his cock being rubbed, he didn't even feel Shinje's finger sliding inside.
"Huh, ah, gah, mmh, mm, ah!"
The moans grew higher and higher. Yugeon now seemed to have no idea where he was or what he was being done. He shook his pelvis and tightened his thighs, trapping Shinje's arm, which was between his legs.
Hateful, disgusting, pitiful guide. Did he know he would be violated like this when he followed him into the car in that narrow, dirty alley a few hours ago? What if he knew about it? Would he have followed him even though he knew? Taein bit his lower lip. He wrapped his arms around Yugeon, who had become stiff from exerting his strength, tightly locked him in his arms and spurred him on.
"Haak, ah, ah!"
The erection, wrapped in a thin skin, twitched. He was close. Yugeon stopped his meaningless struggle and opened his eyes. His throbbing length was held tightly in Taein's hand, faintly red.
"Ah...!"
Yugeon's head flung back. The back of his head smacked into Taein's shoulder, and thick black hair rubbed against his neck, exposed through the collar of his shirt. Yugeon's body scent wafted from the rising body temperature. The young man, who was likened to a wild animal that was captured and brought into captivity, smelled like soap and baby powder. It did not suit him.
"Ah...ah...heuk...hmm..."
The heat, which had been crushed somewhere in the lower abdomen, gathered at the root of the arousal, and then poured out through the urethra. Yugeon couldn't even moan properly, trembled and came with his mouth open. Half of the grayish white liquid was sprayed on his chest and stomach, and half on the back of Taein's hand. Then it dripped down and pooled on the smooth marble floor.
Taein creased his brows. No matter how much it was on the gloves, he felt very uncomfortable with the feeling of someone's semen being sprayed on his hands, especially the guide's. He wanted to take off his gloves right away, throw them in the trash, and take a long shower.
Shinje smiled silently when he saw his expression. He reached out, swept Yugeon's chest and stomach as if he had been waiting. Semen was smeared on the long white fingers and ran down the back of his hand. He lifted up the back of his hand and licked the semen. Even though he looked as if he would not touch the food unless it was prepared by the chef of a top-notch restaurant.
"It was a lot. And it tastes good... well, it's nice to see you healthy."
He spoke generously of Yugeon's semen. It would have been a remark that would have Yugeon gritted his teeth in disgust and shame if he heard with his sound mind. Currently barely hanging on Taein's arms, he couldn't do so.
He poked the hole again with his middle finger. The finger was inserted easily this time thanks to slippery semen.
"Ah, no..."
"You need to get used to it. In the future, it is going to eat a lot bigger things than this."
The knuckles were caught in the thickly tightened entrance. He lightly patted his twitching buttocks and pushed it all the way in. Press, press, press, press. On several occasions, the middle finger pressed into the narrow inner walls.
"Ack…!"
Yugeon’s insides were very stiff. The soft inner walls clenched Shinje's finger tightly. Rather than consciously tightening it, he seemed to be trembling in surprise at the sensation of a foreign object suddenly poking in.
The whole finger was pushed inside without mercy. He rubbed his own semen on the inner walls, then gently scratched and tugged around. Without giving Yugeon a chance to adjust to his middle finger, he tucked the index finger in. With two fingers, Shinje pressed at one place, twirled around and scratched the other. He also tried to widen the inside by opening his index and middle fingers as if he were scissoring.
"Ah...... heuk."
Yugeon groaned painfully at the feeling of being forcibly opened up. He desperately grabbed Taein's arm over his shirt as if telling him to stop. It seemed that he couldn't tell if it was Shinje or Taein who was digging his insides. The well-ironed black dress shirt was crumpled in his hands.
He closed his fingers together once more. There was a sound of juice and wetness on the thin inner wall. Pulled them out once, and then plunged them deep back in until the joint at the bottom of the fingers and the back of his hand were pressed into the hole. In that position, he flicked his fingertips and pressed deep inside.
"Haeuk!"
In an instant, Yugeon's body spasmed violently. Shinje's fingers were tightened to the point of being numb. Under the slim belly, which was tensed and vaguely outlining the abs, the erection that went down just a few minutes ago stood halfway up once again. Taein reached out and grabbed the arousal as if possessed.
Shinje deftly unbuttoned with one hand and rolled up his sleeves over his forearm. He stopped groping and fondling around here and there, and started thrusting only back and forth. Repeating the same movement quickly made his arm muscles and veins stood out.
Puck, puck, puck. Two fingers slipped out of the opening one after another. At the same time, a gloved hand covered with semen stroked his erection. There was a loud squelch as the hand moved up and down. Then there was a hoarse moan.
"Uh, eung, ah... ah! ah! ah!"
Shinje thrusted his fingers inside Yugeon as if shoving a dick in. He moved his hand, imagining how he would with his cock, hitting the inner walls that tightened and loosened without a break. How would Yugeon react if he reached the insides that his fingers could not reach.
When he took out the fingers, the red rim puckered out slightly. Applied more force and inserted again. In such a brief moment, the hole closed back tightly, so he had to pry open the crack again. When he shook off the pressure and shoved back in, the firm and smooth mucous membrane wrapped around his knuckles and shriveled.
"Who do you like better? Yugeon-ah, which one do you like better? The front or the back?
Shinje asked. Every time he thrusted deep inside, his palm slammed against his hips, making a slapping sound.
"Hmm…"
Instead of an answer, only broken sobs came back. His red, wet lips, intermittently quivering, reminded him of the hole he was now digging through. He's pretty screwed. Next time, he'll have to stick it in his mouth.
"If you say the front is better, I'd be a little disappointed."
Following the words, Shinje came close together. He dug between Yugeon's trembling thighs, which were helplessly spread out, and pulled his calves to wrap his legs around his waist. The outline of his hard cock sticking out over the pants threatened Yugeon's groin. He felt a bit sorry for the bruises on Yugeon's knees.
"..... you're going to be so sick of me from now on."
Pugh! Fingers bent like rakes scraped the inner walls and pressed down the prostate. It finally broke the dam. The itching heat spread uncontrollably. It was a bone-deep pleasure close to pain. His thighs, which were loosely wrapped around Shinje's waist, convulsed with seizures and then stiffened. The tip of his toes in the air turned white and curled up.
"Aah, eurgh, heuk. Uhhh!"
Yugeon, who was shaking between the two men, swallowed one breath at a time. His tightly closed eyes were wet and blood vessels stood on his neck. His arousal in Taein's hands trembled, hardened to his limit. Each time, semen gushed out and flowed down the length.
"......."
Yugeon tossed his head around, suffering from a steep climax. The frizzy hair tickled Taein's neck repeatedly. It was very unpleasant. Taein grabbed Yugeon's chin impulsively and turned his head. Obviously, it was only to move the back of his head, but... in the next moment he was kissing Yugeon. Yugeon's mouth was helplessly open as he had just experienced the peak. The tongue, the roof of the mouth, and the insides of his cheeks were hot. It was strangely sweet. Taein was completely reluctant to make physical contact with the guide. It wasn't that extremely difficult for him to find a guide like Shinje was, but he himself was not willing to receive guiding. He lived on drugs day by day, while looking like a monk who claimed to be an ascetic and hated illegal stuff like drugs.
The guiding that he received was dangerously dizzying. How should this be compared? When a cigarette was handed over to a smoker who was suffering from severe withdrawal, and when a sacramental feast was served in front of a person who starved for 10 days. It was a thousand times the pleasure of that. Hasn't it been said that Shinje's compatibility with other guides never exceeded 2 percent? So what was the fit rate percentage with Yugeon? 10 percent? 20 percent? More than that? He didn't know. He couldn't even guess.
There's never been a guide like this before. Did his older brother keep such a person next to him 24 hours a day? They must have lived a peaceful life without knowing or needing to know how the Awakened people who couldn't receive guiding were going crazy with every passing minute.
If it was just an F-rank person, just holding hands or hugging him over clothes would have been enough to have a guiding effect. No, rather he would have seen heaven if they had had sex. He's been trying to hog this all his life? Envy rose without reason.
Holding Yugeon's chin and kissing him, Taein naturally became curious. Is this how his insides felt like? Instead of putting his tongue in the mouth, why not put his dick in the hole? The moment he thought that far, he came to his senses. Realizing what he had been doing, he parted his lips as if he had been burned. The person whom he had been kissing before, and himself, felt disgusted to death.
"Gasp, heuk. Ugh… Ah!"
As soon as he let go of his hand, Yugeon fell flat on the floor. He sprawled helplessly, gasping in pain. His chest moved precariously. Apart from his overworked legs, even his hands were shaking like a leaf. It was a side effect of drug overdose.
"Didn't you tell me not to make the guide fall ill from the first day?"
Shinje tossed the question lightly. It sounded like he was joking around, but there was no smile on his face at all. The eyes that hid the madness under the beautiful appearance were chillingly cold.
"I apologize."
Shinje got up and lightly tapped Yugeon's thigh with his shoes. It was like checking to see if he was alive or dead.
"Call someone and fix him. Wash him well, bring him to a room and get him treated. Buy some pretty clothes for him, including a uniform. You can't let him walk around like he was rolling around and eating on the streets while he's the exclusive guide for Erewhon Team 1."
"Yes."
Shinje left without hesitation after saying what he wanted to say. It was hard to believe that he had fervently rushed in just a moment ago, biting and sucking Yugeon.
Taein took off his gloves, which were covered with all sorts of body fluids. He took out his cell phone and tried to call an employee, but stopped his hand as if he suddenly remembered something. He opened the collar of his shirt slightly and peered inside. His chest, which was horribly wretched due to self-harm whenever he couldn't stand the madness and pain, had been completely healed.
The wounds disappeared without a trace, but self-loathing was newly engraved in its place.
Yugeon, who had lost consciousness, was moved to an unknown place by a stranger. The shocking memory of being caught between Shinje and Taein blurred like a randomly mixed palette. There was no time to think of anything else because of the drug.
A single puff of cigarette he accidentally inhaled messed up his body. The roof of his mouth and the airway were all torn apart along the path of fragrant and poisonous smoke. His head felt like it was split open, his stomach nauseous, and a terrible chill engulfed his whole body.
This was too much to call it a drug. It was deadly poison. He remembered Shinje, who was smiling casually with a cigarette in his mouth. If he smoked this kind of stuff habitually to this extent, how long must he have suffered from excruciating pain?
He woke up in a dark and unfamiliar room. It was the very first time in his life that he was lying in a cozy futon, and both the duvet and the pillow smelled good. He felt like he was floating endlessly in the clouds. It was completely different from the cheap bed in the old studio he lived in, which made a squeak every time he inhaled and exhaled.
"......."
Rustle. He felt another presence in the room. Yugeon blinked his stiff eyes a few times and looked around. With all the lights out, he couldn't tell who it was. It was dark everywhere, and the silhouette could only be seen faintly like a black mass.
The unidentified opponent did nothing. They entered the room where Yugeon was passed out, came to the bedside, and did not talk to him or touch him. They just stood there motionless. Who was it? He moved a little when he was noticed. There was a faint rattling sound. It was the sound of a water bottle shaking.
As soon as he recognized the existence of water, his forgotten thirst surged. The feeling so terrible that he wondered how he had lived never known of this. Whenever he took a breath, the dry airway stuck and fell. It felt like his throat was burning.
He thought he'd die if he couldn't drink water right away. With only his head turned to the other side as he was lying down, Yugeon muttered in a hoarse voice.
"Water..."
That one syllable alone was like a stabbing pain in his throat. Normally, he would never have begged a suspicious person whom he didn't even know, but he had not entirely regained his reason at the moment to think more of the situation.
"Do you want to drink water?"
It was the voice he had never heard of before. It was neither Shinje nor Taein. The man's voice was soft and gentle, but a little childish.
"......."
Yugeon nodded with a gasp of breath. He didn't even have the strength to reject the stranger. Across the darkness, the other person stifled a giggle.
"I'm Heesu. Kwon Heesu. Twenty this year."
What an out of the blue timing. What kind of self-introduction was it all of a sudden in front of a thirsty patient?
"Call my name, hyung. Then I'll let you drink."
Yugeon twisted his face still. What the hell is this about? He tried to glare at the stranger, but the room was so dark that he couldn't see his face.
"Can't you do even this much? I was waiting to say hello to you."
Heesu immediately became sullen. The attitude of not hiding his emotions was very cute. But Yugeon did not relax. This was Erewhon. The outer shell was fine, but the kernel was full of people who have been in this place for a long time. No matter how cute he looked, the man in front of him was already far from a ‘normal and cute boy’.
Should he call his name or not? Yugeon was briefly at odds. He didn't want to be obedient to his opponent's demands, but he also could not ignore the price that would follow if he did not comply with the request. He just wanted to yell ‘fuck off’ at this person… but judging from the precedents of Shinje and Taein, there was a good chance it might backfire.
"Kwon, Heesu."
Enduring the burning pain in his throat, Yugeon licked his dry lips. His voice sounded so cracked that it was hard to hear. He did what he wanted, but Heesu showed no sign of letting him drink water. Rather, he hid the water bottle he was holding behind his back.
"What is hyung's name?"
"Are you really asking because you don't know?"
The Hunters from Erewhon and the Espers from the Awakening Management Headquarters were all familiar with Yugeon's personal details, which he had never revealed before. He had never officially belonged to any group, and he did not have any Internet activity, which was strange.
Heesu in front of him must have already known enough that he came to this room where Yugeon was located and already calling him 'hyung'. Nevertheless, pretending not to know and asking his name was disgusting.
"I know. I read your profile more than 30 times. I memorized your height, weight, foot size, date of birth, zodiac sign, and blood type. Oh, just in case you didn't know, I also memorized your lunar birthday."
"........"
"But I still want to hear it from you, hyung. That's what self-introduction is, right? It's really important."
It was a spectacle. Let's say that his date of birth and blood type were recorded when he registered at the center as a Guide, so it was easy to find out. Height? Weight? Foot size? How the hell did he find this all out? Did they secretly do a physical examination when he was unconscious?
At this point, he could no longer stay still listening to all that. Yugeon bit his lower lip and raised his upper body. The legs, which were forced to wrap around Shinje's waist shook with pain, and the wrists, which were tightly held by Taein's hand ached to death. Again, he gritted his teeth.
He reached out his weak hand with difficulty, a small LED light had been blinking since a while ago showing a switch. Click. The mood light by the bed turned on. The face of the stranger was revealed in the soft light.
Heesu stood by Yugeon's bed with his hand holding the water bottle. It was a much better impression than he had imagined after hearing only the voice in the dark. He felt rather uncomfortable since he didn't look like a crazy person who talked nonsense about lunar birthdays to the person he first met.
A soft-looking round-neck knit, cotton pants, slippers on bare feet, and brown hair that covered his forehead. He looked like an artist's muse standing in front of a canvas. There was a single dot on the bridge of his nose, where a pale orange light had fallen. Even it looked as if it had been painstakingly painted by the artist.
"That's enough."
"What?"
"Water, that's it."
Yugeon gave up the water. Although his throat was terribly dry, he was not desperate enough to adjust to Heesu's rhythm. In this world, water was not only found in a bottle that came from Heesu, it could be obtained elsewhere later. If it didn't work, he would rather drink tap water from the bathroom sink.
"Are you really not going to drink?"
"Yes."
"Really? I worked hard getting it for you hyung. I put my heart and soul into the bottle..."
"I said I don't need it."
Heesu immediately felt depressed again. He took a step closer and held out the water bottle. Did he decide to quit now because the prank got boring? Yugeon tried to grab the bottle of water casually.
"Hyung, ah."
Heesu flicked the bottle back. Yugeon's hand cut through the air meaninglessly.
"Go ahead."
"What?"
"I'll feed you."
"Ha..."
Yugeon burst out laughing in vain. His whole body hurt like he was beaten by an iron club. He was still dizzy and his vision fluctuating. What was he doing? He just wanted to give it all up.
"Let's stop."
Heesu laughly softly.
"No? Drink. Hyung is thirsty."
The back of his neck was suddenly grabbed. Heesu's hands, which seemed more suited to writing, drawing and playing musical instruments than fighting, were surprisingly strong. A brief groan broke out from Yugeon.
"Ugh...!"
As he pushed open the bottle cap with one thumb, Heesu briefly appreciated Yugeon's face caught in his grasp. No matter what he said, his calm face cracked. The black eyes swayed to and fro, taken aback. Heesu swallowed a laugh. Ah fuck, those hyungs. If the new guide looked like this, they should have told him sooner.
"Drink. Hyung is thirsty."
He repeated the same words without changing his expression. The mouth of the bottle was clamped between his slightly opened lips. Yugeon let out a suffocating sound. The bottle was then tilted and the water poured in.
"Eugh! Heuk, uh… keuk!"
With his head tilted back with force, Yugeon's throat went up and down steeply. A stream of water leaked from the edge of the lips and ran down.
"Drink more."
A constant gushing of cold war filled his throat. The tip of his nose was aching, and he couldn't breathe properly. He thought he was going to die. He tried to push the other person away, but he did not have any strength in his body.
"Drink more."
He grabbed Yugeon by the scruff of his neck, shook his head slightly and whispered. It was similar to the act of setting the angle just before kissing. Heesu's voice was harmonious no matter how many times it was repeated.
"Drink more."
Yugeon's hand, which had been wandering desperately on the blanket, froze, stiffened. And slowly climbed up towards the water bottle. Irrespective of his own will, Yugeon grabbed the water bottle with shaking hands. The surface of the water shook wildly and overflowed.
At a glance from the distance, it would appear he was drinking water voluntarily. But he was in a state of panic and unable to do anything. He never thought losing control of his own body would be so terrifying. He was more afraid now than when he was nearly beaten to death, or when he was being humiliated.
With his vision all blackened, the pieces of the puzzle were put together one by one. Heesu was an Awakened. Awakened people with mental abilities were especially rare compared to those with physical talents, so they were treated with great respect. It was no wonder that there was at least one Hunter with psychic abilities in Erewhon, where all kinds of talents gather.
The conclusion was not difficult. It was the rare ability of hypnosis, and mental manipulation. Then came the eerie thought. What if Heesu had ordered something else instead of ordering him to drink water? He could have ordered him to hold his breath. Then Yugeon would have died without even a proper resistance. The cause of death would be a murder under the guise of suicide.
A loud beeping tinnitus rang in his ear. Even his consciousness became blurred by the constant flow of water that kept running through his nose and mouth.
"Keuk! Heuk, Keok, Keuheuk!"
Heesu let go of his hand and backed away. A water bottle with almost no content rolled over the quilt covering Yugeon's lower body.
"I'm sorry, hyung. Did it hurt a lot? The blanket is all wet. Oh no, your clothes are wet too. I'll wipe it off right away."
Yugeon lowered his head and coughed one after another. His shoulders and back were seizing. Water dripped down the ends of his wet black hair and his jawline.
"I lost my temper without realizing it. I was disappointed because hyung pushed me away... Ah, I shouldn't have done this from the first meeting. This time, I really promised myself that I'd take good care of it and not break it."
Yugeon raised his head and glared at him. His bloodshot eyes were red enough to be seen under dim lighting. Below it was even worse. His nose, cheeks, and lips were soaked wet as if he had washed his face. Heesu reached out as if possessed and wiped Yugeon's eyes with his thumb. Yugeon clenched his teeth and slapped it away. It should have hurt because he hit it with all his strength, but Heesu didn't blink an eye.
"You bastards. What the hell are you up to? What do you want from me?"
"Hyung?"
"You guys are going to play with me until I die, and if I die, are you going to change it to another guide? And if that guide dies, you are switching to another one, right?"
"......."
"Is that fun? Are you having fun doing something like that, you bastards?"
Anger was mixed with Yugeon's voice, pouring out sharp words through his gasping rough breaths. It was the anger of the weak who had to endure injustice. Heesu opened his eyes wide and listened to him. His lips slightly opened and his eyes blinked in succession. They looked serious. Then he smiled brightly, his eyes curved to crescents.
"Of course, it's fun, isn't it?"
Yugeon was at a loss for words. For some unknown reason, his heart tightened. He could not even get angrier.
"It's fun, but we didn't bring you here just to have fun."
"Then?"
"Didn't you hear it from the leader? Hyung has to die with us. That's why you are here."
Yugeon doubted his ears. It was a shockingly depressing story. It was not something that should come out of one's mouth in such a nonchalant way.
"That's the goal of our leader's life. Kill them all, and then kill himself. To be honest, I don't quite understand... But he's a little hard to understand. I don't really want to understand him."
He then tried to touch Yugeon's cheek with a smile on his face.
"You're the only one who needs to understand. I want to understand you. Hyung understands me, too. Yeah? Let's take the time to get to know each other."
Yugeon dodged his touch expressionlessly.
"What does that mean?"
"To understand each other? What was that... First we lie down together..."
"He's going to kill them all and then kill himself."
"......."
Heesu remained silent. He decided to pretend he did not notice the sudden change in his expression for a brief moment. Instead of answering, he smiled quietly.
"Anyway, welcome to Erewhon."
It was followed by a name. Naturally as if he understood everything from the beginning.
"Please take care of me, Yugeon hyung"
The voice of a man who was not here was superimposed over it.
Be a guide to Erewhon and obey my orders. Endure anything that comes to you, and… follow me into the gates.
Shinje was looking for a giant mutant floating in the sky. He persisted even though he was half out of his mind due to side effects. He called the mutant ‘Almuten’, and asked Yugeon if he had seen it. He also said that one day it would come to visit Yugeon again.
He dared to take Yugeon into the gates where even many experienced Hunters would die like flies. As if… there was an enemy there that could only be killed by doing so, even at the risk of his life.
Yugeon felt like he understood the meaning of what he said, without even listening to Heesu's answer.