The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 27

It was something the three of them had never experienced even once before.

A rift tore through the sky and swallowed the three whole. In an instant, they were expelled from the gate.

From the ground up into midair, the space was split apart like shredded scraps of paper.

Yet no matter how desperately they reached toward it, the rift rejected them—as if it existed in a completely different dimension.

They could only stare blankly as it faded away.

Still, Hyea was alive.
If she had died inside the snake’s stomach, a death would have been recorded—but the counter showed zero.

She would come out unharmed.
For survivors, an exit gate always appeared.

But what if—just as they had feared—she had lost consciousness…?

“Y-Yoon Hyea. Come out already. What are you doing…!”

Even though there was no way she could hear him, Dogyeong shouted in a trembling voice.

His face was deathly pale, lips drained of color, eyelids fluttering weakly—fear bled through every inch of him.

As time passed, the rift began to shrink.

Eyes bloodshot, Eunhwi vomited dark red blood as he reached out once more.

If he could just get inside, he would bring Hyea back—but there was no connection left to grasp.

In the end, the gate closed completely.

Shinra, his face corpse-like, began clawing frantically at the ground.

“N-No, we have to open it. Again—the gate… She’s still—inside—noona is still—”

With strength far beyond that of an ordinary human, he easily scraped away the dirt.

But the hardened earth beneath was too much.

Crack.

The sound of his fingernails breaking rang unpleasantly in his ears.

Shinra stared blankly down at his hands.

“Ah… ah…”

The warmth of the hand he’d lost was gone.
He didn’t even realize he was crying.

Cha Eunhwi, who had collapsed to the very back, was no different.

Blood now flowed from his eyes and nose.

The hand pressed against his forehead was smeared red. With the crushing headache and dizziness, the situation felt unreal—like a dream.

Yes. A dream.
There was no way this horrific nightmare could be reality.

He wanted to believe that.

 

 

****

 

 

 

A day later, the Geumgang First Unit and the Baekok Unit were dispatched to support the Geumgang Second Unit, which had lost contact.

Director Jeong Sigyeom was waiting to assemble a raid team once the situation was clarified—but the report that came back was this:

Integrated gate cleared.
And the whereabouts of an S-rank guide—no, of his legal ward—were unknown.

Everyone has a memory they can never forget for as long as they live.

For the three of them, it was the day they first met Yoon Hyea.

“So you’re Dogyeong, you’re Eunhwi, and you’re Shinra, right? The director—ah, I mean, sir—told me a lot about you. Nice to meet you. I’m Yoon Hyea.”

A snow-white face.
Gently curved eyes framed by fluttering lashes.
Glossy lips beneath a small nose.

When the smiling girl reached out her hand, all three felt it at the same time.

Ah. She’s my guide.

My savior.

Cha Eunhwi, Lee Shinra, and Yeon Dogyeong were trainee D-rank espers, but due to their exceptional potential, they had already been evaluated as confirmed A-rank.

However, perhaps because their abilities were so strong, all three were excessively sensitive—even by esper standards—overly sharp, overly irritable.

Among them, Cha Eunhwi was the most skilled at controlling his power and thus the most stable.

But that didn’t last long either.

He was merely enduring. Enduring with everything he had.

Every day was hell. No matter how much guiding they received, stability never came.

It always felt like insects were crawling through their heads, gnawing at their brains. Hallucinations constantly rang in their ears.

If they smelled anything even slightly strong or unpleasant, their noses would bleed. Putting anything in their mouths made them gag; their tongues burned.

Normal life was impossible, which was why they were sent to headquarters—but a change in environment didn’t make things better.

They couldn’t even eat properly and had nutrients forcibly injected through thin veins.

They never wanted to awaken in the first place.
Without any choice, the boys were forced to become heroes.

But that word—hero—only applied to those who were prepared.

Not many parents rejoice at having a child who is abnormal.

And if that child has the power to hurt others without even realizing it, even fewer can accept them.

Espers who awakened too young were often abandoned—not officially, but effectively—and brought to headquarters.

Sadly, all three were such cases.

They were living days so painful that death seemed inevitable—so painful that dying didn’t sound so bad—

When Yoon Hyea appeared before them.

“How is it? Does your head still hurt?”

After holding their hands for a long while, Hyea asked with a worried look.

Dogyeong and Shinra blankly shook their heads.

Thank goodness.

Truly relieved, the girl smiled brightly and walked over to Eunhwi.

“Eunhwi, your hand. You need guiding too.”

“I’m… okay. Dogyeong and Shinra are having a harder time. Take better care of them.”

“Don’t lie. I know you’ve been holding it in. You’re my esper too—so from now on, I’ll guide you as well. We’ll stay together, and if you’re ever struggling, tell me.”

My esper.

At those words, Eunhwi felt tears prick his eyes.

Even as a child, he endured too much. He always had.

Normally, once someone awakens, they’re exempt from mandatory schooling and must live at headquarters.

But many parents wanted their children to live normally at least through elementary school, and if certain conditions were met, they could stay with family until graduation.

Those conditions were threefold:

First, not an attack-type esper.
Second, stable even without guiding.
Third, good family and peer relationships, with a sociable personality.

Eunhwi met all three.

At least—until his parents suddenly divorced.

After his father left, Eunhwi lived alone with his mother, and it was still okay.

But that peaceful life began to crack when his mother remarried.

His stepfather didn’t like him.

He constantly talked about sending Eunhwi to headquarters.

Each time, his mother refused—and for her sake, Eunhwi tried to be a good child.

But the siblings his stepfather brought with him shattered Eunhwi’s patience with ease.

“Why do you live in our house? Monsters should live at the association.”

“…I’m not a monster. I just have a slightly unusual ability.”

Eunhwi always said that, but the children—mirror images of their father—kept provoking him.

A balloon that keeps swelling will eventually burst.

“Waaah! He hit us!”

“Dad! Waaah!”

In front of the siblings who lied while pretending to cry, the stepfather slapped Eunhwi across the face.

And when he began yelling at Eunhwi’s mother, Eunhwi lost control.

When an esper’s emotions spiral, their ability runs wild.

The siblings and stepfather who had been snickering were suddenly dragged across the world, clinging to each other before barely returning.

The edge of space, where breathing was barely possible.
The deep ocean, where pressure crushed the body.
A decaying attic packed with corpses.
A savage plain crawling with beasts.
A jungle.

In just five minutes, they saw it all.

The stepfather and siblings fainted from overwhelming terror.

And Eunhwi, who had used his power fully for the first time, collapsed as well.

When he woke up, he was restrained in a hospital room at headquarters.

Even at that young age, he instinctively knew—

He would never return to that house again.

Later, he heard that his stepfather and step-siblings had undergone memory-erasure therapy due to severe trauma.

The cause itself—Cha Eunhwi—was completely removed from their memories.

His mother left behind an apology.

And never once came to see him.

And so, Cha Eunhwi was left alone in the world.