20XX Love Chapter 15.2 - 14. TEMPT FATE

“……I’ll receive the guiding. I’ll go to the guiding room when I’m called.”

Satisfied with Jo Heechan’s answer, Section Chief Jo Dongui gave a few more nagging words of advice before leaving.

He was a grateful person. There were numerous Esper teams belonging to the headquarters, yet his attentiveness went beyond necessity; it was Section Chief Jo Dongui’s consideration and care.

Jo Heechan watched Section Chief Jo Dongui’s retreating figure for a moment before returning to the hospital room. He intended to finish reading the book to Seo Jungin, rest for a while, and then call the caregiver. He thought he could ask the caregiver to take Seo Jungin for a walk while he was receiving guiding.

It was at the moment Jo Heechan was about to pick up the book he had left on the table. Suddenly, his vision blurred and receded, accompanied by a terrible heaviness in his head and tinnitus piercing his skull.

“Ugh, ah……”

Jo Heechan grabbed the table to keep himself from collapsing and endured it for a moment. When his vision returned, he checked his toxicity level on his watch.

“Ha…… I really need to get some guiding.”

Jo Heechan pressed his heavy, throbbing head and sank into the armchair.

“Hyung…… I’ll read the book to you later. Is that okay…… My head hurts.”

“…….”

Seo Jungin stared silently at Jo Heechan instead of replying. Jo Heechan, also looking at Seo Jungin’s face, fell into thought.

He seems to understand what I’m saying. He even looks at my face like this. He seems to see me now. Can’t he just talk to me……?

If he keeps receiving treatment and I keep taking care of him, he’ll get better, right? Then someday, will the day come when he calls my name again like before……?

Heechan-ah. Like this…… like before……

[…….]

[I like you…….]

[I like you, Heechan-ah. I really like you…….]

[I promise. I will never give up…….]

[I won’t leave you. I will never leave you.]

[I will never leave you alone.]

[Even if you don’t remember anything else, you must remember this.]

[You must…… remember…….]

Startled by the familiar sound of Seo Jungin’s voice ringing in his ears, Jo Heechan’s eyes snapped open. He had dozed off while sitting in the armchair with his chin resting on his hand.

Jo Heechan lifted his head and examined Seo Jungin’s face. He was sure he had just heard Seo Jungin’s voice.

“Hyung…… Hyung, did you just talk?”

Seo Jungin was leaning against the headboard, staring blankly out the window.

“Hyung, you just talked to me. You just said something to me.”

“…….”

Seo Jungin slowly shifted his gaze to Jo Heechan without saying a word.

“You said something to me…… Remember something…… You told me to remember something.”

“…….”

Jo Heechan, his eyes wide with hope, scrutinized Seo Jungin’s face, but when he saw no reaction, he realized it hadn’t happened and his eyes drooped with disappointment.

“Was I dreaming……?”

Jo Heechan got up from the armchair, went over to Seo Jungin, and sat close beside him. The place where they touched was warm.

On a whim, he leaned against Seo Jungin’s chest and buried his face there. His heart was pounding.

Because he’s alive. He lost everyone from the K814 team. But Seo Jungin is alive and breathing next to him, who also survived. For now, that alone is enough.

When he pulled his head back and looked up, he saw that Seo Jungin’s cheeks were plump and his hair was glossy, probably because he’d been eating properly recently. Seeing that, he felt he had made the right decision to hospitalize him.

Jo Heechan wrapped his arms around Seo Jungin’s waist and hugged him. His once-emaciated body had gained some weight. He caressed his warm body and then slyly moved his hand down to his buttocks.

“Mmm…… Now you’re finally getting some meat on you. You really don’t understand how I feel, Hyung. Starving yourself was really not the answer.”

“…….”

Seo Jungin let Jo Heechan knead his buttocks without moving, looking down at his red hair. Jo Heechan mumbled, his nose buried in Seo Jungin’s chest.

“You need some padding on your ass so I can pound you properly.”

“…….”

When he looked up, Seo Jungin was dozing with his eyes closed. Jo Heechan helped him lie down on the bed, where he wriggled under the covers and quickly fell asleep, breathing evenly.

Jo Heechan felt a pang of loneliness but quickly composed himself.

This is enough for now.

Just then, a guiding call came through his watch.

“Guiding. Right, I need to get guiding.”

He checked the message and saw he had some time before his scheduled guiding. Jo Heechan went to the sink and looked in the mirror.

“Wow…… I look like a wreck.”

Messy hair. Sunken cheeks. Dark circles under his eyes. Bloodshot eyes stared back at him from the mirror.

As if he had given all his vitality to Seo Jungin, his reflection looked extremely haggard. Moreover, his headache was so severe that he felt like his eyeballs were going to pop out. He felt nauseous too.

Jo Heechan splashed some cold water on his face, dried it with a towel, and combed his hair. He returned to the bedside, adjusted Seo Jungin’s blanket, called the nursing station for a caregiver, and then went to Section Chief Jo Dongui’s office. He hadn’t given it much thought, assuming he would be there, but he was out, so he headed straight to the lobby on the first floor.

The section chief had said he was meeting someone there briefly, so he figured he could relay his message and then go directly to the guiding room, making it just in time.

As he entered the lobby on the first floor of the headquarters, he saw Section Chief Jo Dongui talking to someone in the distance by the large window. He casually approached, and as he got closer, the back of the other person looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was the guide from that day.

‘Ha…… I don’t want to run into him……’

He was thinking of turning back when he suddenly heard Section Chief Jo Dongui’s surprised voice.

“You’re asking to be transferred to a branch office……! There’s no need to go back to a branch office.”

‘……He’s going back to a branch office……?’

Jo Heechan leaned against the back of a tall decorative pillar.

‘Didn’t he say he came from a branch office this time? What? It can’t be because of me, can it?’

The request to be transferred back to a branch office made Jo Heechan wonder if it might be related to the guiding that day. He wasn’t in the habit of eavesdropping, but he was concerned that it might be his fault.

“I wanted to help Esper Jo Heechan, not make him uncomfortable.”

Hearing his name, Jo Heechan’s eyes widened, and he peeked around the pillar.

“It was the first time I’ve seen such a high compatibility rate. And since he was the surviving Esper from the K814 team, I really wanted to guide him.”

“I know. You wanted to help Heechan.”

“I heard that the surviving guide was ill…… As a fellow guide, I felt sorry for him……”

“That’s why I assigned Heechan to him. Not just because of the compatibility rate.”

The guide, who had been facing the window, turned his slender face up to look at Section Chief Jo Dongui.

“I heard that Esper Jo Heechan takes care of Guide Seo Jungin every day.”

“Heechan cares deeply for Jungin. They were the only two survivors of the ward search operation.”

“He probably tried to protect his team members with his guiding ability until the very end.”

“Jungin lost his guiding ability in that operation. It was converted to an offensive ability.”

The guide turned his gaze back to the window. His eyes, looking off into the distance, seemed somehow melancholic.

“I heard about that too. He’s probably hurting even more because of that. Because of the guilt of losing his team members.”

He blinked and gave a faint smile.

“Maybe I’m thinking this way because I’m a guide, but……”

Section Chief Jo Dongui, seemingly reluctant to send the guide to a branch office, immediately added, “So, reconsider going to the branch office. You wanted to help those kids.”

The guide hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“The Guiding Director showed me the photos. I saw them all. Guide Han Seungmin and Guide Seo Jungin’s faces……”

At those words, Section Chief Jo Dongui’s face immediately clouded over with worry.

“I didn’t understand why Esper Jo Heechan was angry with me last time, but after seeing the photos, I think I understand. And why you initially said no.”

“……If their images are similar, it could trigger sensitive issues.”

“One guide died, and the surviving guide lost his guiding ability and is so ill…… and then I suddenly appeared, resembling both of them, and offered matching guiding.”

Jo Heechan’s eyes widened. The guide, his clear brown eyes sparkling, continued to speak to Section Chief Jo Dongui.

“He must have felt hurt…… thinking that I was taking the place of the two guides.”

Jo Heechan stared at the lobby ceiling, his back against the pillar, speechless. He felt inexplicably complicated.

What’s with this guy? What the hell. My head hurts. It hurts enough as it is, and now this unnecessary…

I heard unnecessary things. Things I didn’t need to hear.

He didn’t need to hear what kind of person this guy was or what he was thinking.

‘I don’t have the luxury of feeling guilty.’

Jo Heechan curled his lip and bit down on it. He bit down so hard he could hear a grinding sound.

He heard the sounds of Section Chief Jo Dongui and the guide exchanging farewells, and a moment later, the guide approached the pillar Jo Heechan was leaning against. However, he didn’t notice Jo Heechan and passed by.

Watching his receding back, Jo Heechan finally took a few steps after him and called out.

“Excuse me!”

“……Uh…… Esper-nim……”

Not wanting to see the guide’s flustered expression, Jo Heechan turned his head away and spoke in as indifferent a tone as possible.

“Excuse me. I happened to overhear. You don’t have to go to the branch office. Don’t do that because of me.”

“Ah…… Ah…… That……”

Even without seeing his face, he could sense the guide’s discomfort.

“You don’t have to go to the branch office just because you’re not assigned to me. It makes me feel bad.”

“That’s…… It’s not entirely because of you, Esper-nim.”

“Whatever. Just tell the Section Chief you’ll stay. It makes me uncomfortable, like I chased you away. Don’t make it seem like you’re quitting because of me after offering to help and all.”

It wasn’t what he intended to say, but he had said what he needed to say. As Jo Heechan turned to leave, his wrist was suddenly grabbed. An unpleasant look crossed Jo Heechan’s face, and he tried to shake the hand off, but before he could, the guide spoke hurriedly.

“I’m sorry……! I overstepped my boundaries.”

“…….”

He couldn’t help but look at the guide’s face, which was filled with embarrassment and apology. I shouldn’t keep looking at that face.

“I also lost an Esper when I was at the branch office…… That’s why I did it. So if I hurt you…… I apologize. I’m sorry.”

Don’t apologize. Don’t keep making that apologetic expression with that face.

“Uh, but Esper-nim, your toxicity level……”

The guide looked down at the wrist he was holding with a slightly surprised expression, then his face became worried. As a guide, he could sense Jo Heechan’s toxicity level through the contact.

Jo Heechan knew it too. He had been sweating cold and nauseous, so even if he said he needed guiding right away, there would be no argument.

But the guide wouldn’t do such a thing without Jo Heechan’s consent. Instead, he spoke carefully.

“Make sure you eat properly and receive your guiding. Today…… You really need to receive it.”

“…….”

The hand gripping his wrist was warm.

He’s a kind person. A warm-hearted person. There’s no need to be so harsh.

He was trying to help. Everyone was trying to help. Thanks to those who helped, Hyung Jungin is getting better.

Jo Heechan felt his eyes getting hot.

My heart is getting weak. I shouldn’t be like this, but my heart keeps getting weak.

Jo Heechan abruptly turned his head away, avoiding the guide’s face.

“……As you know, my condition isn’t good right now. I don’t have the energy to care about trivial things. And I’m not in a state to be considerate of others.”

“Yes. That’s right. I understand.”

Jo Heechan gently twisted his wrist free.

“That day…… I was also sorry. Just cancel going to the branch office.”

“Esper-nim……”

When Jo Heechan glanced at the guide’s face, he smiled brightly. His bright smile, like Han Seungmin’s, and the happy upturn of his lips were just like Seo Jungin’s. Seeing the corners of his eyes, containing his clear brown pupils, curve softly, Jo Heechan’s heart lurched.

‘I really shouldn’t look at that face.’

He felt he shouldn’t keep encountering that face and that voice, which seemed to dig into and shake all of his sadness, pain, memories, longing, guilt, and sense of loss.

He really shouldn’t.

Wheen.

At that moment, the lights illuminating the lobby all changed to red. Startled, he looked around as siren alarms began to blare. A Blood Hole had opened in their jurisdiction, triggering a Red Alert.

An announcement began to play over the headquarters’ internal broadcasting system. It instructed all Esper teams to assemble immediately, receive their mission briefing, and deploy to the affected area.

Panicked, Jo Heechan’s thoughts immediately filled with Seo Jungin. Since Seo Jungin wasn’t in a specialized hospital but the headquarters’ special ward, he would know the Red Alert had been issued as soon as he left the ward.

I asked the caregiver to take him for a walk.

If he stepped outside the ward and heard the alarm or saw the Espers deploying, it could trigger another episode due to his trauma. He could relive the hallucinations of the K814 members dying one by one, screaming, wailing, and self-harming again.

Jo Heechan immediately bolted, running down the hallway. He thought he heard the guide shouting something behind him, but the siren and the terrible ringing in his ears made it impossible to understand what he was saying.

As he ran desperately, the hallway strangely began to spin around him. He couldn’t understand what was happening, everything was swirling, and he couldn’t keep his balance.

“Uh……?”

Jo Heechan saw the floor suddenly rushing up to meet him and covered his head with both hands.

Thud.

As he collapsed, Jo Heechan saw a figure running towards him in the distance.

“Esper-nim!”

The shouting voice sounded like Han Seungmin’s.

“Esper Jo Heechan collapsed in the lobby on the first floor, please come quickly!”

No, that voice also sounded like Seo Jungin’s.

Han Seungmin and Seo Jungin flickered interchangeably in his blurry vision. Their faces were full of worry, but they also seemed strangely delighted.

Is my vision hallucinating because of the high toxicity levels?

“Don’t worry, Heechan-ah. I’ll help you.”

It sounded like both Han Seungmin and Seo Jungin speaking together. And their way of talking is weird. Why are they suddenly speaking informally?

“Hyung will guide you, don’t worry.”

Who’s Hyung? Why are you Hyung?

In his fading consciousness, he felt his body being placed on a stretcher and moved somewhere. Every time he opened and closed his eyes, he saw Han Seungmin and Seo Jungin alternating. Their faces, full of concern, sometimes turned into seductive smiles. Their languid, half-open eyes sometimes seemed flushed. He couldn’t understand what was going on.

It must be my head acting up because of the rising toxicity levels. Or maybe I’ve finally gone crazy.

As the blinding light hanging from the ceiling left afterimages several times, slow and distant voices reached his ears.

“Endocrine metabolic disorder…… blood pressure dropped due to toxicity……”

“He hasn’t been eating properly recently……”

“Vasovagal syncope……”

“We’ll administer the neutralizer first……”

“I’ll guide him since our wavelengths are compatible……”

Amid the terrible headache and nausea, Jo Heechan realized from the vaguely heard voices that he had fainted. Not eating properly, being exhausted from focusing all his attention on Seo Jungin, and the rising toxicity levels, all of it must have combined.

Looking at the IV line connected to his arm, he figured they were giving him a neutralizer or nutrients. Maybe they included a sedative too, because Jo Heechan felt overwhelmingly drowsy.

‘I need to see Hyung Jungin…… He might have an episode. I have to be there for him. I have to be by his side……’

As Jo Heechan drifted into unconsciousness, a clear voice pierced through and lodged itself in his mind.

“I’ll make you cum so much you won’t even think of Seo Jungin.”

He couldn’t believe those words. He couldn’t believe they came from the guide’s mouth.

Convinced it was a hallucination caused by the high toxicity levels, Jo Heechan slipped into unconsciousness.

💘

A nice smell.

Feels good. Hyung. Come here. Come here and kiss me.

C-c-cold.

Ha…… Sweet, Hyung’s lips are as sweet as candy. Kiss me more, more. Suck my tongue too.

Ah…… C-cold, mhm, mm…… Feels good. Feels so good.

Ha, you’re sucking my neck too? Do it more. More.

Ah! Haha. Where are you sucking? It tickles. My nipples just get ticklish.

Mmm…… Ah, what? What are you doing, Hyung? Wait, why are you so hasty?

Ah! Hng, ha…… I’m going crazy. Don’t make it hard. Don’t make it hard now.

Are you going to ride me? Are you trying to ride me? Ha, then do it with your mouth. Suck it with your mouth.

Ugh, hng, your throat is so soft. It’s driving me insane.

Hng, hng, wait, wait a minute. Ah, what? Why are you so good at this? Your throat feels just like inside Hyung’s body. It feels so similar. Ugh, slippery and hot. I love how tight it is.

Haah, ugh, it tingles. Ha…… It tingles so much.

Are you excited? Hyung, are you excited right now? Because the tingling is flowing out of you……

Ugh! It feels so good. Ugh, I think I’m going to die. Wait, wait a minute.

“Keuk, keuheuk!”

Jo Heechan gritted his teeth and lifted his head at the moment his penis was sucked hard into the hot mouth.

A tingling sensation was rushing in relentlessly from the mucous membrane and flesh enveloping his penis.

“Hyung, wait, wait a minute, ah, hng!”

As the mouth enveloped his penis and sucked it in with strong pressure, the hand gripping and stroking it like a massage, Jo Heechan threw his head back again and moaned in dizzying pleasure.

“Ah, haaah!”

A thrilling sensation so intense that he couldn’t think of anything poured over him.

He rolled his half-lidded eyes around, and although this was clearly the guiding room, the emitted guiding sensation from Seo Jungin filled the entire space. The air itself crackled and tingled.

“Hyung, hng, wait, the sensation is too strong, ha, I think I’m really going to die, haah!”

Seo Jungin showed no mercy, sucking his penis and bombarding him with the tingling guiding sensation. His hand stroked rapidly, his lips puckered, and his hot tongue rubbed against the sensitive shaft and glans.

Perhaps because it had been so long, Jo Heechan felt a rush of urgency.

“Heuk! Heuh! I’m cumming, hng, hng, heuheuk!”

With his eyes rolled back so far the whites showed, Jo Heechan grabbed Seo Jungin’s hair and started spurting his fluids into his mouth. Even as Jo Heechan coated the inside of his throat with semen, Seo Jungin gripped his penis tightly and continued to rub the glans smoothly with his mucous membrane.

Jo Heechan truly felt like he was going to die. His spongy tissue, buried in the electrically charged mucous membrane, throbbed and vibrated, pumping out an enormous amount of semen.

“Euuh…… euuh…… heuuh…… euuh……”

Jo Heechan squeezed his eyes shut and ground his hips against the soft flesh of Seo Jungin’s throat.

“Ungh, keup, euup, keuk.”

Even the moans escaping Seo Jungin’s lips were thrilling. Jo Heechan gasped, clutching his soft hair and thrusting his penis into his mouth.

“Ah, ha, haa, it feels good. Hyung, it feels really good……?”

As his rolled-back eyes returned to their normal position, Jo Heechan was thrown into strange confusion as he saw the face gripping his penis.

Jungin Hyung. No, Seungmin Hyung. No.

Who…… is this?

“Keup, haa, ha, Esper-nim.”

Jo Heechan’s eyes widened in shock. The person dripping semen from their trembling lips wasn’t Seo Jungin.

“You…… you……”

The person looking at him with hazy, clear brown eyes wasn’t Seo Jungin, but ‘that guide.’

Jo Heechan sat up abruptly. He scrambled back on the transport bed, causing the IV line attached to his arm to swing violently.

Jo Heechan ripped the needle out of his arm and flung it away. Watching the blood droplets scatter, he gasped. The emitted guiding sensation filled the air. It was a sensation that sent a dizzying pleasure through him from head to toe.

“Who are you? What…… what are you doing to me? What are you doing……?”

“Esper-nim, that’s……”

The guide, his eyes brimming with tears, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Seeing the semen smeared across his hand, Jo Heechan felt a terrible surge of self-disgust.

“Fuck!”

Jo Heechan cursed as he fastened his buckle.

“I asked you what you’re doing!”

“C-calm down, please, heuk, Esper-nim, heuh.”

The guide, frightened, backed away from the transport bed, clutching his uniform collar and sobbing.

“Heuk, they said, heuh, I had to guide you quickly, heuh, the infirmary said……”

“But, but why you, no…… then why didn’t you just hold my hand and guide me! Why did you suck me off!”

“That’s! That’s because you asked me to……!”

The guide’s lips were red as he protested tearfully. Jo Heechan’s eyes wavered wildly as he recalled thrusting into Seo Jungin’s mouth in a memory that was a confusing mix of unconsciousness, dream, and hallucination.

“……I asked you to……?”

“Sniff, as soon as we started the hand-holding guiding, heuh, you pulled me closer……”

Intoxicated by the sweet scent, he’d begged for a kiss. More, he’d begged for more.

He thought it was Seo Jungin. The scent, the feeling, the tingling sensation, he thought everything was Seo Jungin.

Jo Heechan’s heart pounded rapidly.

So, I mistook this guide for Hyung Jungin and begged him to suck me off? Me?

“Y-you idiot, you actually did what I asked? Do you do everything an Esper asks you to?!”

“No!”

The guide lifted his tear-streaked face and shouted angrily.

A face filled with affection, pity, shame, and resentment. Seeing that face made Jo Heechan even more confused and overwhelmed by a maddening emotion.

Even the tingling sensation filling the space shook Jo Heechan’s body and mind.

It was strange. How could this be? It’s strange. Everything is strange. It’s unbelievably strange how much you shake me up. You’re like someone prepared to shake my entire being.

Just then, the glass door of the guiding room suddenly opened and several people rushed in with looks of panic on their faces.

“Jo Heechan-nim!”

“Esper-nim!”

It was the Guiding Director and Dr. Park Eunseon. And standing behind them with a helpless expression was Seo Jungin’s caregiver. Instinctively knowing something had happened to Seo Jungin, Jo Heechan jumped off the transport bed.

“Where’s Hyung Jungin? Where is Hyung Jungin?!”

“We’re looking for him right now.”

Jo Heechan’s vision went black.

“It seems he had an episode while on a walk with the caregiver.”

Because of the Red Alert. Because of the sirens. He remembered that day.

“He went outside the ward for a walk…… and when the sirens went off, he suddenly……”

I should have just kept him with me.

“He covered his ears and started screaming.”

I should have just locked him up at home and tied him to the bed.

“I tried to calm him down, but he pushed me and I fell, and I tried to chase after him but I sprained my ankle so……”

I should have hidden him at home and been the only one to see him. Then he would have been there waiting for me, unchanged.

Jo Heechan clutched his hair as if to tear it out and gasped for breath. Panic set in, and he felt suffocated.

“Esper-nim!”

As Jo Heechan tried to run out, everyone reached out and grabbed him from all sides. The guide, the doctor, the director, and the caregiver all reached out and grabbed his hands, arms, and body. Jo Heechan shook off their claw-like hands, throwing them off and pushing his way out of the guiding room.

The hallway he ran down was flashing with red lights and filled with the blaring of the Red Alert.

It can’t be, is this a hallucination? Is the premonition that I’ll lose Seo Jungin setting off sirens in my head?

“Jungin Hyung! Seo Jungin!”

Jo Heechan shouted Seo Jungin’s name as he ran through the headquarters building, the red lights flashing. Just like the day he saw Kim Yikyung’s last moments, he searched every corner of the headquarters, running frantically.

The headquarters were strangely deserted. Had everyone deployed to the affected area? Then who will find Hyung Jungin? He could be anywhere, doing anything.

What if he screams and cries and then slits his wrists? What if he hangs himself? What if he drowns himself in the bathtub?

“Seo Jungin!”

Jo Heechan shouted Seo Jungin’s name in the wide lobby hall. His name echoed loudly, reverberating through the high ceiling.

Jo Heechan stood in the center of the lobby and spun around, looking in every direction. The entire area was surrounded by large windows, allowing him to see both inside and outside, but he couldn’t find Seo Jungin anywhere.

“Jungin Hyung…… Jungin Hyung……!”

It’s strange. Everything is strange. Everything is strange as if time has flowed to this day for this very purpose.

As if everything, this time and space, was prepared for this moment!

As if it wants me to see something. As if it wants me to witness it.

As if it wants me to witness this moment.

Thwack!

“……?”

He heard something collide and burst. A chilling sound of shattering that sent shivers down his spine.

Behind him. Behind him, over there. From behind the pillars supporting the incredibly high ceiling.

Frozen in terror, Jo Heechan couldn’t bring himself to turn around, his trembling pupils darting around in the white haze.

“Esper-nim!”

“Ah…… Aah……!”

“Aah…… No!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Don’t scream. Don’t scream. Please don’t scream like you’ve seen something terrifying.

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Something like that should never happen.

Jo Heechan’s body slowly turned. Red blood was splattered on the floor, hidden behind the pillar.

The person lying there behind the pillar can’t be Hyung Jungin, can it? Because that would be too perfect. Like a scene on a well-crafted and designed stage, it would be too perfect. The fact that I’ve been feeling all these emotions for so long, for this very moment, is terrifyingly perfect.

Being so chillingly perfect is perfectly impossible, isn’t it?

Jo Heechan staggered towards the pillar. As he approached, his gaze followed the limp hand and arm that slowly came into view, and his face crumbled in horror.

Seo Jungin’s pale face, his body twisted and broken, lay sprawled on the floor. Red blood bloomed like a flower on the floor where the back of his head lay.

Losing strength in his legs, Jo Heechan collapsed to the floor and crawled towards Seo Jungin.

Unable to cry or make a sound, he touched Seo Jungin’s face with trembling hands. As he carefully lifted his neck, red matter spilled from the back of his head onto the floor with a sickening thud.

“Eu, euuh, euuh, euuuh.”

Jo Heechan recoiled in horror, pulling Seo Jungin into his arms and scooping up the matter spilling from his shattered skull with his hands. He frantically scooped the gushing blood and brain matter back into the wound, terrified that Seo Jungin would die if it all leaked out.

“Aah…… Aaaah…… Aaaaah……”

Taeyong Hyung, Taeyong Hyung could heal him if he were here. Where did Taeyong Hyung go?

Yikyung Hyung, Yikyung Hyung copied a healing ability. Where did Yikyung Hyung go?

Section Chief. Call a healing Esper quickly. Call the Healing Response Team.

Please, anyone.

“Call a healing Esper! Quickly!”

Jo Heechan pressed his hands tightly against the back of Seo Jungin’s head to prevent anything else from leaking out. What if it all leaks out and his head becomes empty, and he becomes a vegetable?

What if he becomes a vegetable?

What if he becomes…… a vegetable……?

“Euheuuuh, aaah, aaaaah……”

It’s okay even if you’re a vegetable, just don’t die. You don’t have to talk, just don’t die. You don’t have to call my name, you don’t have to look at me, just don’t die.

What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do alone in a world without you, Hyung?

Everyone is dead, and if you die too, leaving me all alone, what am I supposed to do?!

“Promise, you promised, promise, euuh, euuuh, you definitely promised me……”

Promise, you promised. You definitely…… promised me. Me.

You told me to remember. You told me to remember, no matter what. You said I had to remember this, even if I forgot everything else.

“You promised. You definitely promised me……”

As Jo Heechan mumbled, clutching Seo Jungin’s body with blood-soaked hands, medical personnel arrived. When the staff in white coats tried to take Seo Jungin from his arms, Jo Heechan held him protectively, looking up at each of them warily.

“Did the healing Esper arrive? Who is it, heal him quickly. Forget everything else, just heal him.”

Dr. Park Eunseon gently touched Jo Heechan’s shoulder.

“Please let us examine Seo Jungin-nim. We need to assess him.”

Assess? What assessment? Time of death assessment?

Jo Heechan looked down at Seo Jungin in his arms. Through his thinly parted eyelids, he saw his beautiful, unfocused eyes. Eyes that didn’t look at him. Eyes that were looking somewhere else, not at reality, still not looking at him.

What were you thinking when you jumped? What were you thinking, looking down at the ground from that height?

“He must have thought it was his fault……”

Jo Heechan’s bloodshot eyes widened.

“He must have thought that everyone died because he couldn’t guide…… He must have thought that……”

He was blubbering and crying as he said those things. That guide.

“He’s pitiful. So pitiful. So, so pitiful……”

Shut up. Please…… please shut up.

“Everyone died because he couldn’t guide. He must have thought that, because he was the only one who survived……”

I know all that, so please shut up.

“I’m sorry, Esper-nim…… I should have woken you up then.”

Jo Heechan stared intently at the guide’s tear-stained face.

“When you asked me to kiss you. I should have just woken you up then.”

“……?”

The staff took Seo Jungin from Jo Heechan’s arms as he stared blankly. They busily examined and handled Seo Jungin’s body and then covered his head with a thin plastic adhesive pack to contain the matter spilling from it.

“Time of death confirmed. Time of death is——————.”

As Jo Heechan’s gaze shifted to the voice announcing Seo Jungin’s death, the guide’s words continued, sharp with feigned sorrow. The voice that had comforted and resonated with him now pierced his heart like a knife.

“If it hadn’t been for what happened between us…… We could have prevented Seo Jungin-nim’s death.”

Jo Heechan staggered to his feet. He looked down at Seo Jungin’s body and then at the blood and flesh splattered horrifically on the floor.

“Ha, haha……”

That’s right. You’re right. That’s absolutely right.

While I was asking that guide to suck my dick, Hyung Jungin must have been wandering around, calling out the names of his team members.

While I was thrusting into that guide’s mouth and fucking him, Hyung Jungin must have been screaming in guilt.

While I was rubbing my dick against that guide’s throat and cumming, Hyung Jungin was climbing the stairs, higher and higher. To fall to the floor here.

“Esper-nim…… are you alright? Esper-nim.”

Jo Heechan looked at the guide’s face. He had Seungmin Hyung’s face, filled with sorrow, and Jungin Hyung’s eyes, brimming with tears.

I would have wavered. Honestly.

If there had been more time. If more time had passed. I definitely would have wavered for him.

While comforting myself that Hyung Jungin was getting better. While deceiving myself that he was improving.

Even though I knew that my heart had already died that day the K814 team died, and that it had been rotting away every day since, I would have wavered, pretending not to know.

“Esper-nim……”

The guide approached and gently embraced Jo Heechan, who had fallen into a complete state of shock.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, so don’t think about anything. Even if you blame yourself for Seo Jungin-nim’s death, I understand…….”

Tears streamed silently down Jo Heechan’s vacant face. They kept flowing without a sound.

“You mistook me for Seo Jungin-nim…… It was inevitable that you would mistake me for him. I truly understand.”

While Jo Heechan sobbed quietly and rummaged through the guide’s uniform pocket for the capsule case, the guide simply patted his back. Even as Jo Heechan pulled the guide’s hand to the case for fingerprint recognition, the guide just looked at him with a tearful, pitying expression.

After staring at Seo Jungin’s body on the transport bed for a long time, clutching the capsule, Jo Heechan finally swallowed the Detoxin capsule.

“Ha…… Esper-nim……”

The guide whispered softly, as if sighing.

Suddenly, Jo Heechan wrapped his arms around the back of the guide’s head and kissed him deeply on his surprised lips. His tongue pushed all the way to the back of the guide’s throat, and a moment later, the guide’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently in shock.

Gulp.

“!?”

As soon as their lips parted, Jo Heechan pushed the guide away roughly with both hands and spat on the floor. The guide’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stumbled backward.

“Fuck, that was convincing.”

“Guh, guh……”

Jo Heechan felt a chill run through his body. He had never felt his cryokinetic ability so intensely as in this moment.

The guide before him no longer appeared as Han Seungmin or Seo Jungin. He could clearly see the crudely patched-together, repulsive form meant to deceive him.

“I remember everything now, fucker.”

It was all a manipulation of illusions by the Separator.

In the isolated ward, Seo Jungin, Jo Heechan, and the Kim Yikyung clone finally found the emergency ladder, a telepathic barrier created by the Separator. When the Kim Yikyung clone reached out, claiming he would withstand the mental attack, the attack didn’t begin. The clone simply grabbed the emergency ladder.

It was a telepathic barrier that controlled all senses, so even the cold, metallic touch and the sense of its actual presence could be felt, but why wasn’t the mental attack working? Was this not a nest, but a real emergency ladder after all?

The Kim Yikyung clone ran his hand over the wall beyond the emergency ladder, but all he could feel was the smoothly polished concrete surface.

If this wasn’t a nest, there was no other way. No matter how much Jo Heechan’s ice barrier was reinforced by Seo Jungin’s amplification ability, it would soon melt away in Choi Suhyuk’s heat. Trapped within the isolated ward, they were isolated again, confined to the fifth floor. Caught in a trap within a trap, there was nowhere to escape.

‘Ah, is it because I’m a clone……?’

No matter how much he possessed all the memories of the original, he was merely a 24-hour multi-atomic replica. Could that be the reason he couldn’t penetrate the telepathic barrier? Because there’s a limit to activating new electrical stimuli in neurons. Because he lacked the energy. Because he only had enough energy to last for 24 hours.

“Heechan-ah. I think I can’t break through the telepathic barrier…… because I’m a clone.”

Ultimately, to penetrate the telepathic barrier, they had to break the illusion manipulation mental attack. If he couldn’t do it, someone else had to.

Before the Kim Yikyung clone could even turn around, both Jo Heechan and Seo Jungin jumped to their feet.

“I’ll do it.”

“I’ll do it.”

The two looked at each other.

“Hyung, you can’t. With your current mental state, if you get hit with a mental attack, you’ll commit suicide immediately.”

“But Heechan, you, you can’t either.”

“No, why?”

“You, you, you’re the youngest of our team……”

“Eh…… huh?”

Jo Heechan looked down at Seo Jungin with a truly bewildered expression, but Seo Jungin also seemed sincere, fidgeting nervously before stroking Jo Heechan’s hair.

“I’m the Hyung, I’m the Hyung, Heechan-ah.”

“Ha…… What am I supposed to do with this crazy cute Hyung?”

Jo Heechan puckered his lips and rubbed them against Seo Jungin’s.

“Mm, Heechan-ah. Mm, mmmph, it’s better if I, mm, the Hyung, does it.”

Jo Heechan sucked on Seo Jungin’s lips and then whispered quite seriously, “Since mental attacks exploit psychological weaknesses, I’ll try first since I’m positive and really don’t want to die. If I can’t break it, then Hyung can try.”

“…….”

Hearing Choi Suhyuk’s low growl of warning from behind the ice barrier, Jo Heechan glared in that direction and continued, “Hyung, remember the VIP ward last time? When Yikyung Hyung broke the barrier, it was the blink of an eye for the observer, but for the person under attack, who knows how long it feels?”

“Yeah. I remember.”

Jo Heechan turned his gaze back to Seo Jungin’s face.

“So, give me some positive reinforcement.”

“Positive reinforcement……”

“No…… tell me something good, something that will help me overcome even the worst nightmares.”

Jo Heechan etched every detail of Seo Jungin’s face into his memory. He wanted to take this face with him, and he wanted to hear comforting words, so that he would have no regrets even if he died in the illusion.

“I like you, Heechan-ah.”

Seo Jungin blurted out a confession, just like Jo Heechan would, and then hugged him tightly. Their chests pressed close, close enough to feel each other’s heartbeats. The next confession, though the same words, was even more tender.

“I like you……”

“Hyung……”

“Listen carefully, Heechan-ah. I promise. I’ll protect you until the end. I will never give up.”

Seo Jungin held Jo Heechan’s face in his hands and looked up at him. He said it once more, with conviction in his eyes.

“I won’t leave you. Not in dreams, not in reality. I will never abandon you. I will never leave you alone.”

His eyes no longer held a fragile light. They sparkled like the strongest, most brilliant jewels in the world.

“Even if you don’t remember anything else, you must remember this, Heechan-ah.”

“Yeah, Hyung.”

“As long as you’re alive, I will never die.”

Jo Heechan’s heart pounded at Seo Jungin’s confession. He was so moved by his words, he felt a renewed surge of affection.

You’re really cool. Jungin Hyung. The best. You’re good with words. Good at guiding. Your ability, your sex, both double S-rank.

“Double holes too. Truly the best.”

“…….”

“Jo Heechan.”

The Kim Yikyung clone interrupted, urging him on. They were running out of time.

“With my head full of happy thoughts, it probably won’t be easy to make me kill myself.”

And with that, Jo Heechan confidently grabbed the emergency ladder.

At that moment, Jo Heechan opened his eyes within a perfectly orchestrated illusion and witnessed the Kim Yikyung clone’s final moments.

He abused Seo Jungin, who was suffering from PTSD. He tormented himself, crumbling under the weight of his guilt.

Jo Heechan’s current psychological state also had a significant weakness. Han Seungmin and Seo Jungin. Trapped in a nightmare woven from guilt and compassion for them, Jo Heechan grew weary, deceiving himself and wavering, believing that Seo Jungin would recover.

And then Seo Jungin died. Because he couldn’t stop it. Consumed by guilt that his wavering emotions had prevented him from saving Seo Jungin, Jo Heechan clutched the Detoxin capsule.

‘If I just die. Me too…… then I won’t be in so much pain and agony.’

Faced with imminent death, he remembered the promise Seo Jungin had made.

‘We definitely made a promise. Me and you. We promised……’

But what was the promise?

‘He told me to remember. He told me to remember no matter what. He said I shouldn’t forget……’

What did he tell me to remember?

The kind words Seo Jungin left behind. Words that would leave him with no regrets, even in death.

[I like you, Heechan-ah.]

[I promise. I won’t leave you.]

[You must remember.]

Jo Heechan’s eyes widened as he stared at the capsule. Only at the brink of death did he recall the comforting words Seo Jungin had spoken.

[As long as you’re alive, I will never die.]

The guide’s clear brown eyes before him instantly turned pitch black.

“Guh…… guh……”

The guide, having swallowed the Detoxin Jo Heechan had forced down his throat, was rapidly asphyxiating, his cardiopulmonary functions ceasing.

Jo Heechan approached the guide, who was clutching his throat, gasping for breath, his shiny black eyes blinking, and spat out, “You put a lot of effort into making one person commit suicide, you son of a bitch.”

The guide collapsed backward, convulsing on the floor. Cryokinetic energy began swirling around Jo Heechan’s hands as he looked down arrogantly.

“Heuheuheu. Heuheuheuheu. Hahahahahaha!”

The cryokinetic energy exploding from Jo Heechan’s hands swept through the headquarters lobby. The doctor, the Guiding Director, the caregiver, the guide, the medical staff, and even Seo Jungin’s bloodied corpse on the transport bed – all were caught in the icy storm, freezing white.

“Wow…… I’ve always wanted to shout this in the headquarters lobby. Section Chief!”

It seemed Section Chief Jo Dongui had been deployed elsewhere as part of the perfect scenario.

Jo Heechan raised his blizzard-wreathed hands towards the high ceiling and shouted, “Blizzard Storm!”

Crash!

He thought he heard that sound.

It was the illusion of the burning fifth-floor infirmary’s shell lifting like a glass membrane and shattering. Although no actual glass shards fell, Seo Jungin, Kim Yikyung, and Jo Heechan covered their heads with their hands.

“Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!”

“Heechan-ah, are you okay?!”

“Heechan-ah! You did it!”

It was truly the blink of an eye for those watching. The moment Jo Heechan grabbed the emergency ladder, the isolation broke, and the telepathic barrier lifted. However, Jo Heechan had been trapped in the illusion for a grueling six months. Reality and illusion were jumbled, leaving him incredibly dizzy and disoriented.

“Gasp, gasp, wow…… what a fucked up, crazy, depressing illusion that was.”

“What, what kind of illusion was it?”

“Was it hard to break? How did you come to your senses?”

“Gasp, gasp, I’ll, gasp, I’ll tell you later.”

Jo Heechan panted, looking back and forth between Seo Jungin and the Kim Yikyung clone.

Could that happen? If they escaped this ward and the clone Yikyung Hyung disappeared, could that be the ending?

But one thing was certain: he had been able to escape the illusion because of Seo Jungin’s promise. The promise that as long as Jo Heechan was alive, Seo Jungin would never take his own life.

He had no choice but to believe in that promise. And that meant that no matter what, he must never die.

“But if the isolation is broken, why is it still dark outside?”

At Kim Yikyung’s words, everyone looked towards the windows. They had clearly felt the isolation break, but as Kim Yikyung said, outside the windows was pitch-black darkness.

“Hyung, the emergency exit stairs are back!”

So, they were back to the previous state. Only the trap within the trap had been broken. The isolation of the fifth-floor infirmary was lifted, but the isolation of the entire ward remained.

Why…… why?!

Kim Yikyung, without hesitation, reached into the black hole that had appeared where the emergency ladder had been and grabbed the Separator’s slender ankle.

“Heeek!”

The moment he grabbed the screaming Separator’s ankle, he understood. A sigh and a curse escaped Kim Yikyung’s lips.

“Ha, fuck……”

“Why?!”

“It’s not the main body. This is another archetype.”

“Kuuuh…… euuh……”

Choi Suhyuk’s groans from beyond the ice barrier were growing louder. The ice barrier confining him, melting in the heat, was on the verge of collapse.

“Heechan-ah, can you still use your ability?”

Jo Heechan checked his watch and nodded at Kim Yikyung.

“Jungin, you?”

“I can use it. I’ll use as much as I can. If we can’t stop him, we’ll all die here anyway.”

“I’ll try to replicate the archetype’s ability again. We might be able to find the main body’s location. You two reinforce the ice barrier. Now!”

Kim Yikyung gripped the archetype’s thin ankle, which was struggling to escape, and began absorbing its ability. His eyes quickly turned pitch black, like the Separator archetype’s.

Jo Heechan immediately wrapped his arms around Seo Jungin’s waist and pulled him close.

“Give me a deep kiss, quickly.”

“We can amplify with our hands, why?”

“It’s been over a month since I kissed Hyung.”

“You experienced the illusion for a month?”

A month? Jo Heechan smiled, but his eyes drooped sadly as he gazed at Seo Jungin. He looked at his eyebrows, his eyes, his nose, his lips, taking in each feature, his gaze so different from before the illusion that Seo Jungin was momentarily captivated.

“In the illusion…… I only looked at Hyung. Hyung lost his voice and wouldn’t look at me, and he kept having episodes. So I tormented Hyung a lot……”

“Heechan-ah.”

Seo Jungin looked into Jo Heechan’s eyes, which seemed to have aged.

“I thought he was getting better, improving, but it wasn’t true at all.”

You must have gone through a lot. Enough to make you want to die. I thought so, but…

“Hyung died behind me without a last goodbye…… He died covered in blood…… and I feel like it’s all my fault, mm……”

Seo Jungin pressed his lips against Jo Heechan’s, gently rubbing against them and then darting his tongue out to lick them deeply. He couldn’t bear the surge of pity and affection he felt at Jo Heechan’s story and kissed him impulsively, but the ice barrier was their priority. Seo Jungin channeled his amplification power through their connected lips.

Jo Heechan’s eyelids trembled, his gaze becoming hazy, but his outstretched hands continued to swirl with cryokinetic energy. Infused with Seo Jungin’s amplification power, the energy thickened and strengthened the ice barrier with a crackling sound.

As soon as the ice barrier was sufficiently reinforced, Seo Jungin pushed Jo Heechan against the wall. He slipped his tongue into Jo Heechan’s open mouth, licking and rubbing against his surprised, curled tongue.

“Ha…… C-cold, ah, Jungin Hyung. Cold.”

“Haa, it was hard, wasn’t it? So hard.”

“It was hard, mm, haa, tell me about it…… I tried to die too. Cold, mm……”

Seo Jungin found Jo Heechan so endearing he could hardly bear it.

The fact that it was my death that caused you so much pain. The fact that that was your nightmare.

The fact that your desire to die after me was your most vulnerable, true feeling.

Jo Heechan’s eyes widened as he felt Seo Jungin’s hardening crotch rubbing against his own hardened member, a wave of heat washing over him.

Seo Jungin moved down to Jo Heechan’s neck, pulling down his uniform collar and licking and sucking at his soft skin.

“Ugh, ah, it feels good. Hyung…… It feels really good.”

“Heechan-ah. Cold, cold.”

As Seo Jungin’s lips sucked at his neck, his hand undid Jo Heechan’s buckle and slipped inside his waistband.

“Ah! Ah……!”

A white hand slid inside and began kneading his hardened penis, which was nestled against the side of his pants.

“Ha, haa, crazy, Hyung, why are you so aggressive, aah, haa.”

Seo Jungin zipped down Jo Heechan’s pants the rest of the way and slid his other hand inside, quickly pulling out his penis. One hand massaged his scrotum while the other stroked his shaft.

“Haa, I’m going crazy, haa, it feels so good, ugh, ha!”

Seo Jungin boldly caressed Jo Heechan’s penis and then pressed his lips against his, showering him with kisses. Seo Jungin couldn’t quite understand his own feelings. They had lost everyone, everyone was dead, and now they didn’t know when they would die either. He simply wanted to shower the living Jo Heechan with affection, expressing his feelings through every action he could.

Bang!

Only when they heard the explosion from the Separator archetype’s nest did Seo Jungin’s hands and lips stop.

“Ha, haa, haa.”

Seo Jungin gasped and looked back. Kim Yikyung was pulling his arm, covered in black blood, out of the nest.

Kim Yikyung’s expression was grim. He had tried to replicate the archetype’s ability, but it didn’t seem to have worked.

“Let’s go to the roof.”

“The roof…… will the main body’s nest be there?”

“No…… the roof is the only place we can escape to now. We’ll block the emergency exit with an ice barrier and wait until it resets. Once it’s safe, we’ll search for the main body on the other floors.”

Team leader Kim Yikyung. He always had a plan.

But now, Kim Yikyung’s mind was filled with dark images.

Why? He had tried to replicate the Separator archetype’s ability, but he couldn’t. Instead, like last time, he had seen a vision.

A horrifying vision. What could it possibly mean? Why did he see that vision when he accessed the Separator archetype’s consciousness?

Kim Yikyung saw Choi Suhyuk shimmering beyond the thick ice barrier. Inside the ice-filled infirmary was his own body, frozen and devoured by Creepions. The ashes of Hwang Woohyun and Nam Taeyong, who had died from Detoxin, floated in the ward’s air.

Would we, in some future summoned by the Separator, be trapped in the recurring nightmare of this ward, eternally killed by our own hands? Was that the meaning of the vision I saw?

“Let’s go. To the roof.”

Kim Yikyung led the way up the emergency stairs, followed by Seo Jungin and Jo Heechan. Kim Yikyung frowned deeply as he looked down at the two.

I must get these two out alive. I must ensure their survival.

What is this ward? What is it that the Separator showed me that vision?

‘What is it? Seungmin-ah……?’

When the three of them quickly climbed the stairs and flung open the door to the roof, Kim Yikyung finally understood. What this ward was. What the vision he saw meant.

This place was hell. A hell created just for the K814 team. That’s what this ward was.

White ash swirled across the rooftop, thick enough to choke the air, and bodies continuously poured from a black hole in the sky. The piled bodies formed a mountain, almost reaching the hole itself.

It was an Ash Hole. The final hole from another world, designed to instill the most terrifying fear. A black hole that relentlessly spewed corpses while scattering white ash.

The bodies piled up on the roof of the ward, where the Ash Hole had opened, were all the same person. The hole continued to churn, spewing out more and more bodies.

The vision the Separator archetype had repeatedly shown Kim Yikyung.

It was the corpse of Han Seungmin, his stomach ripped open.