Episode 2.
‘Where… is this…….’
When he lifted his heavy eyelids, a ceiling both unfamiliar and familiar came into view.
That place.
The room he had imagined right before death, where he had stayed with his mother until the very end.
‘A dream? Or my life flashing before my eyes?’
But it was far too vivid for that. Seoyul slowly raised himself up and looked around. An old wardrobe and a single desk came into view.
His mother had specially prepared them for him when he had just become a middle schooler, saying he should now study in a proper place.
But seeing the desk neatly organized, it seemed this was not when he was a middle schooler, but after his mother had passed away.
‘If only it had sent me back even further…….’
Seoyul got up from his seat with regret. When he opened the creaking window, he could see broken flower pots scattered here and there on the road that rose to eye level.
When his mother was alive, she had planted things like lettuce, but after she passed away, he had never once been able to care for them.
‘Huh? Wait. This…….’
He realized there was no such scene in his memories. He had never seen broken flower pots after time had passed like this. Because back then, things had been so hard that he could barely take care of himself.
‘What, is it……?’
Ding.
At that moment, a notification rang from his phone signaling a message. Startled, Seoyul moved with careful steps and grabbed the phone lying on the desk.
[You made today’s delivery properly, right? Don’t be late and get here by 8.]
The sender listed as Manager Kim was one of the organization members who had supplied Guiding drugs before Seoyul was imprisoned.
‘My life flashing before my eyes…… shows even things like this?’
Seoyul hastily shoved on his shoes and went outside. Then, wind rushed through the narrow alleyway. His hair fluttered in the wind as white cherry blossom petals obscured his vision.
It was a tree his mother had loved while she was alive, saying a person should live seeing beautiful things too.
‘Today is…… what date?’
Seoyul checked his phone to confirm the date.
[April 15th]
‘……It’s that day.’
The unusually warm day.
The day pure white cherry blossom petals had scattered like snow.
The day two crossroads had appeared in his life.
The day he failed to take that man’s hand, making him regret it until the moment he died.
‘This can’t be real.’
Seoyul hurriedly went back inside and opened a shabby, crumpled cardboard box. Inside were familiar bottles. They were Guiding drugs.
With trembling eyes, Seoyul checked the message again. And with shaking hands, he looked into the box once more.
‘There’s one more…… inside.’
That’s right. This was the day he had increased the quantity for the first time, thinking that if he made even one more, he could pay off the debt faster. He was certain.
‘Could it be…… that I’ve come back?’
To that day when he was twenty—the one he regretted most?
Seoyul sank down where he stood. He was confused. Whether he had really returned to the past, why this had happened, whether this was truly reality—he couldn’t form a proper judgment.
But one thing was certain…….
‘If this is reality…….’
He wanted to change. He wanted to find courage. He wanted to throw away the foolish past and change his life of regret, to change himself.
Perhaps this was the last chance given to him? A last chance fueled by someone’s pity.
Perhaps his late mother was helping him, urging him to keep his promise.
‘The sky…….’
Is so blue.
Facing the sky visible beyond the door, tears fell for no reason. But this was no time to be lost in sentiment.
Seoyul wiped his tears and went back into the room. He pulled out a chair he hadn’t used in a long time, sat down, and picked up a pen.
He rummaged through the old pockets of his memory and began writing down everything he could remember. The events of that day were still vivid, so there was no difficulty in writing them down. But after being imprisoned, there had been no way to obtain proper information, so what he knew was limited.
Still, there was one thing he remembered clearly.
‘That man will die in one year.’
He had heard that the man who had held out the hand he should have taken died going berserk while fighting in a large-scale Gate that had opened, a rarity.
He couldn’t fathom how much he had regretted it. The fact that that man was no longer in this world had seemed to erase even the last shred of hope.
‘His name was…….’
He picked up his phone and searched for the man’s name. Unlike back then, when he had neither the courage nor the opportunity to look even if he wanted to, he was free now.
[Cha Do-un]
Age: 26
Affiliation: Korean Esper Management Association, Seoul Center
Classification: S-Class Esper
Below the simple profile at the top, various pieces of information appeared. Due to the fame of his rank, most of it was nothing more than reports of where he had been spotted. But among them, one piece of information stood out.
└But is Cha Do-un really okay? His complexion seems to be getting worse.
└└Are there really people who don’t know Cha Do-un has a filthy personality? His face has always been like that.
└You mean he’s handsome, right?
└I heard he can’t receive Guiding properly?
└└What kind of nonsense is that again?
‘He can’t receive Guiding properly?’
Now that he thought about it, the man’s complexion hadn’t looked good on the day they first met either. Moreover…….
‘Ugh…… Damn. Why now of all times.’
He had clearly witnessed him groaning in pain, sinking down and clutching his head. His face had been deathly pale, twisted into a fierce grimace, and a sinister energy had filled the surroundings.
He remembered being so frightened that he had run away immediately. But thinking back on it now, it hadn’t been the appearance of someone who had received proper Guiding. It was a typical phenomenon shown by one who had gone without Guiding for a long time.
It was the side effect of Guiding deficiency.
‘Why…… isn’t he receiving Guiding?’
What could be the reason? S-Class Espers originally received such great benefits and care that they were called national assets.
Why had such a man gone berserk a year later? Although they said the Gate had opened on an unprecedented scale, an S-Class Esper going berserk was not a common occurrence.
‘Perhaps…… he can’t receive it.’
Seoyul had seen countless Espers with poor compatibility with Guides. Most of those who bought Guiding potions from the organization were such people.
The efficacy of a Guiding potion was determined by the Guide who made it, and the same was true for compatibility. Therefore, Guiding drugs with broad versatility that suited everyone were sold at expensive prices.
Especially for those who could only obtain drugs through unauthorized channels, they were sold at even higher prices. That was why Seoyul had been able to sell them.
‘In my case, they said my Guiding potions have much broader versatility…….’
Do-un might be such a case too. And he was an S-Class. If he couldn’t find a proper Guide with compatible synergy, then compatibility took priority over rank.
Moreover, to perfectly Guide an S-Class, several people would likely be needed.
‘Maybe…… I might be able to ask him for help.’
Seoyul’s eyes brightened. He couldn’t simply receive help from him. Because the organization was tenacious; no matter how thoroughly it was eradicated, it would surely survive somewhere, parasitic as ever.
That day had been the same.
The special team dispatched by the government had been formidable, but half the organization had cut their losses and escaped, rebuilding their power again.
‘But now is different.’
Back then he had been a child who knew nothing, but not now. He had seen and picked up many things during his long entanglement with the organization. So he knew how the organization moved, where they stored what, and what routes they used to escape.
If he utilized those things, he could deal them a heavy blow, if not a perfect one.
If only that happened…….
‘Could I too live a proper life?’
Could he overcome his fear?
As a child, from his father; as he grew, from the organization members.
Having experienced violent words and actions for a long time, Seoyul had a condition where his body would freeze up when he encountered similar types.
The violence and atmosphere of the brutal S-Class Esper he had seen that day had made him, who was already withdrawn, shrink back even more.
‘No. I can do it. I came back for this.’
He didn’t want to regret again. If he ran away now, only a cold floor awaited him. A life spent imprisoned forever, dying with a ruined body from overworking himself making Guiding drugs.
That was the fate of one who had failed to be brave and ran away.
‘I must…… absolutely do it.’
Seoyul’s eyes blazed fiercely as he made a firm resolution for the first time in his life.
This time, he would try to take that Esper’s hand, which might be his last hope. He would try to escape from the pitch-black darkness.
And start…… life anew.
* * *
Time passed, and the appointed time with Manager Kim arrived. Seoyul hugged the box of drugs he had to deliver close to his chest and headed toward the organization members’ office.
If you went endlessly through narrow, dark alleys designed to keep the location untraceable, a shabby building appeared.
There was no signboard, and all the windows were blocked so the inside couldn’t be seen from outside. It was the organization’s headquarters, which he had had to visit constantly ever since his father had sold him off for a large sum of money.
‘Originally, I would have been locked in one of those rooms too…….’
The reason he could commute from home like this was because the organization knew he was someone who didn’t have the courage to run away.
Of course, after being raided by the Association’s special team, he had been imprisoned under the pretext that he needed to be thoroughly managed.
Knock, knock, knock.
Knock, knock.
Seoyul smiled bitterly and knocked on the rusted iron door five times. This was the signal that people like him had arrived.
“You here?”
The door burst open and Manager Kim revealed himself. Even though it was still spring, he wore a thin sleeveless shirt as if showing off his muscles and the tattoos covering his entire body.
With a tall frame well over 180cm and hulking muscles, he was an even greater threat to Seoyul, who already grew withdrawn around people bigger than him.
Before coming here, he had vowed and vowed again not to be scared, telling himself he should be used to it by now, but trauma was not such an easy thing.
“Yes…….”
With his head bowed deeply, he stepped inside with careful steps. The cigarette smoke filling the office filled him with disgust while also making him vividly realize that he had truly returned to the past.
“Let’s see. Did you make them properly, or were you slacking off?”
With a light tone, he put the box he had been holding down on the table and checked the count.
“Oh! What? There’s one more inside?”
“Yes…… I had a bit of spare time…….”
He mumbled quietly, avoiding the man’s surprised gaze. He wondered if there was any difference from the past like this, and clenched his fist tightly, but he couldn’t hide his trembling.
“Hey, why are you trembling so much? I’m praising you for doing well.”
He smiled with greedy eyes as if in a good mood and sat down leaning back. Then, without fail, he recited the words he always said when Seoyul came here.
“Keep doing well from now on too. You know the moment you short me even one bottle, you have to go upstairs, right? If you want to keep even the freedom you’re enjoying now, bring them regularly. Got it?”
Seoyul nodded his head slightly as he listened to those words. But he already knew.
The daily life of being locked in that small room making Guiding drugs, the endless continuation of pain in time that spun like a hamster wheel.
Seoyul knew those days all too well.
“Answer. Aren’t you going to?”
Manager Kim growled threateningly, demanding an answer. Seoyul’s body froze up again at that sight, but he desperately calmed his mind and opened his mouth.
“Ah, I understand. I’ll make them properly and bring them next time too.”
“Good. That’s how it should be. You’re so well-behaved, I like that.”
Only then did his mood ease, and he withdrew his fierce momentum and laughed boisterously. At that sight, Seoyul let out a small sigh of relief, but it was too early to feel safe.
‘It will begin soon…….’
The incident he had long regretted.
—Boom!