CRSV Ch 1

It’s not difficult to make an Esper go berserk. All it takes is repeatedly brainwashing them with this simple message:

“Your Guide is dead. You, too, die.”

It took Seo Haewon an incredibly long time to discover this method. Haewon didn’t know how many winters had come or how many springs had passed.

He only felt that an immensely long time had elapsed. After such a long time, Haewon grew bored of everything.

The reasons Haewon deliberately caused the Esper rampage were, first, because he hated the Center; second, because he was utterly sick of certain Espers and Guides; and lastly, because he needed the energy that would be generated when a large number of Espers went berserk simultaneously.

Even a single Esper going berserk generates enough energy to devastate their surroundings. But what if it’s dozens, hundreds, or thousands?

It might generate energy powerful enough to collapse the world.

And with that level of energy, it could overload the world beyond its capacity, potentially rolling back time. That was Seo Haewon’s calculation.

Of course, it might be impossible.

If it was impossible, then they could all just die together. This shitty world wasn’t worth clinging to.

If all the Espers and Guides died in the rampage, that would be satisfying enough on its own. So, he gathered all the Center’s Espers in one place and thoroughly scrambled their minds.

It was quite an entertaining task.

Eeeeeeng—!

That day, the emergency alarms at the Center blared chaotically. All sorts of barriers decorating the Center’s corridors slammed down urgently, and every emergency light flashed red while emitting a deafening roar. Collapsing the Center wasn’t difficult at all. Laughably so.

“Zone 1 is being sealed!”

The broadcast from the central control room was drowned out by a cacophony of screams, causing the audio to distort. The Center’s buildings and equipment shattered under the chaotic waves caused by the rampaging Espers.

“Zone 1’s wall is collapsing!”

A shrill voice echoed like a scream inside the control room. The voice of a researcher watching the zone through a screen trembled uncontrollably, losing all composure.

“Damn it, seal Zone 2! And do something about that, please!”

Amid the shouting, a group of about a dozen researchers huddled in a corner of the control room. At the center was a large glass tank. Placed on a table about waist-high, the tank was so large that an adult man would barely be able to wrap his arms around it.

“Zone 2 sealed! Sixteen Espers are rampaging in Zone 2! Estimated time to collapse: 14 minutes!”

“Let’s rip it all out.”

One of the researchers lifted the small hoses and tubes connected to the large glass tank.

“If you disconnect that, the Center will collapse!”

Other researchers forcibly pried the hand off the tubes, shoving the owner backward. A wail close to a sob escaped the researcher who tumbled to the floor.

“It’s going to collapse anyway! Can’t you see the Espers are collectively rampaging!? And that thing’s an Esper too. It’ll go berserk!”

“Then disconnect it! If we remove all these tubes, can you guarantee it won’t go berserk?!”

“Well! If we disconnect everything, it’ll stop in two minutes. Or just smash it!”

The researcher screamed, frantically pressing buttons near the glass tank. The opaque shield covering the tank disappeared, revealing its contents.

What the man pointed at was a brain that had once belonged to someone. A brain submerged in nutrient fluid, connected to electrodes. The last remaining fragment of what was once a person—undoubtedly a person at some point—Seo Haewon’s brain.

“Zone 13 has been breached! Zone 12 has exploded!”

It was a horrific sight, utterly devoid of humanity. But the researchers’ gazes were devoid of feeling. They weren’t looking at a person. Of course not—it was just “a brain in a glass tank,” not a person.

“Zone 2 has exploded!”

Emergency broadcasts continued endlessly. The researchers remaining in the central control room began physically fighting each other. Panic set in, and hell began.

“All Espers in Zone 11 are dead!”

A man flung open a toolbox meant for machine repairs. Grabbing a wrench, he swung his arm wildly. Blood spurted from the head of someone struck by the haphazardly swung wrench.

Now, people attacked each other as if they could see nothing else. It was hell. Amid the chaos, a researcher crawling on the floor grabbed a handful of tubes connected to “that thing” in the center of the control room and yanked them out. Sensors connected throughout the control room blared frantically.

“You crazy bastard!”

A researcher who had opposed disconnecting the tubes struck the one who had pulled them out with a pair of pliers. Screams and curses filled the air from every direction.

Beep! Bweeeeng!

And in the midst of the chaos, a horrific high-frequency sound reverberated. People clutched their ears and heads, collapsing to the floor. It happened in an instant. The control room, once filled with shouting, was now filled with groans and the sounds of dying breaths.

Amid it all, the only thing perfectly still was the brain. Floating in the solution-filled glass tank, the brain alone was steady and calm.

The tubes supplying nutrient fluid and oxygen had been disconnected, but contrary to the researcher’s claim, it didn’t stop in two minutes. The brain floated, pulsing faintly for a bit longer.

Seo Haewon was an Esper. Even now, as a brain that had once been an Esper—deprived of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and all bodily senses—it still retained a faint trace of an Esper’s perception.

This was true even though the electrodes that once detected external information were now half-functional. Despite being reduced to a brain, Seo Haewon could sense that he was about to go berserk.

“All Espers are rampaging. Soon, all will be dead. Including me.”

A stiff, crackling voice came through the control room’s speakers. It was the “brain’s” doing. The voice, generated through the computer’s audio system, was flat and emotionless. As if to prove those words, the brain’s pulsing grew stronger. It quickened, then slowed irregularly.

That’s when it happened. The tightly sealed control room door opened. The “brain” sensed a faint biological reaction. It didn’t seem to be an Esper.

“Ah… fuck.”

The person who entered swore and let out a sigh. They looked like they could collapse and die at any moment. But soon, as if regaining composure, the man shook his head and surveyed the control room.

The man’s eyes lingered briefly on the glass tank dominating the center of the room and the brain inside it.

“Ha…”

For a moment, it seemed like the man might approach the tank, but he soon crossed the control room. During the short 10-meter walk, his knees buckled several times.

“Commencing full Center lockdown.”

The man who crossed the room was covered in blood. Blood flowed from his dragging leg, and his missing right arm told the story of what he had endured to get here.

Still, the man barely managed to stand, broadcasting according to protocol. The brain couldn’t hear the voice but sensed that a broadcast was being transmitted. This was thanks to the electrodes still connected to the main board.

But the brain was already nearing the end of its function and couldn’t interfere with the man.

“Today is February 3, 2035. The Center is fully locked down. One minute from now, the Center will be demolished.”

With those words, the man collapsed. His hand had pressed the Center’s self-destruct button with force.

Beep—! Beep-beep—! Beep—!

After sixty beeps, the Center would explode. The man who had collapsed on the floor rested for about a second before crawling. He reached the front of the glass tank.

Barely gripping the table’s leg to prop up his upper body, the man touched his fingertips to the tank. He had no strength left to stand further. The man, Chae Jinheon, thought in the final moments before everything ended:

“Is this still alive? If it’s alive, is it rampaging too?”

Twenty seconds before Chae Jinheon’s death, twenty-five seconds before the Center’s explosion. It was Chae Jinheon’s final Guiding.

✈︎

The world seeks to correct distorted flows. The method doesn’t matter. What’s sacrificed doesn’t matter either. The world doesn’t operate in ways humans can understand. Haewon realized this far too late.

“It’s doing this again…”

In a corner of the Center, a sealed laboratory was Haewon’s place. The people who came and went were predictable: four researchers, one Esper, one Guide.

“The wavelength isn’t good.”

A researcher busily recorded something while attaching electrodes to Haewon’s closely shaved head. This was Haewon’s life.

“Hmm. For now, add more of Drug 2.”

“Understood.”

“How’s the research on this storage tank going?”

“There’s a problem.”

“What’s the issue?”

“Well… we’re not sure if the Esper’s body and brain can be sustained after separation. The results vary with each subject.”

Haewon heard everything, saw everything, calculated, and processed, but he couldn’t remember or think. Everything simply overflowed. Haewon’s sole role was to be the Center’s hidden supercomputer.

“No common factors between them?”

“Not yet.”

“Did you have this thing calculate it?”

“Yes. We tried, but…”

The researcher shook their head. It meant Haewon had refused to calculate.

“Tch. It knows it’s doomed, huh? Living like this, being just a brain might not be so bad, right?”

“Haha… yeah. I’ll try again.”

“Hit it with stronger hypnosis. What’s Kim Junhwan doing?”

“There seems to be a limit. Maybe the difference between S-rank and A-rank?”

“Ha. Try more drugs, then. So annoying… we don’t have much time left. Got it?”

The voices of the two faded. Haewon couldn’t discern the flow of time. He only drifted in and out of drug-induced haze.

It was only after a long time had passed that Haewon could think again. Something in the drugs the researchers used had changed him. As his brain became explosively active, he could maintain his usual information processing while occasionally managing to think.

Oh, was it not the drugs but the fact that, after losing his body and becoming just a brain connected to a computer?

In any case, at some point, Haewon got a hint from one of the researchers’ words:

“If I could go back ten years, I’d buy lottery tickets.”

From then on, Haewon thought: If I go back ten years, I’ll kill you all. Of course, no one noticed those thoughts. No one cared whether a “brain” was thinking or not.

After reviewing billions of hypotheses, Haewon reached a conclusion: his very existence was at odds with the world’s flow.

Haewon endlessly devised plans. Tens of billions of plans were created and discarded after thought experiments. There was nothing else to do anyway.

When Haewon’s brain was used for himself, the researchers noticed anomalies. Sometimes, results came out as if there was buffering. When that happened, the researchers got annoyed and turned the computer connected to Haewon off and on again. It was laughable.

One day, Haewon arrived at a simple truth. If he gathered all the Espers at the Center and made them rampage at once, it would create an unimaginable flow of energy. The world wouldn’t be able to withstand it, and in the process of recovery, time might partially roll back—to fix the error.

It wasn’t a high probability, but he decided to try. There was no reason not to.

If time rolled back, great. If everyone just died, well, that was fine too.

That was the extent of the plan. The unprecedented incident of the Center’s collapse and the death of all its Espers.

✈︎

The eyes glaring at the opponent were fierce. Light footwork continued, searching for an opening. A brief gap appeared on the opponent’s left side, only to close again repeatedly.

A trap?

No, it seems like a habit. Judging as much, the moment Jinheon took a big step forward, the pager he’d left under the ring blared at maximum volume.

Bweeeeeep—!

Jinheon’s focus shattered. A fist aimed at the opening struck his left cheek, and the sparring was halted.

“Ah, hyung!”

It was an emergency call. Dragged out mid-sparring, Jinheon whined loudly to Hoonyoung.

“I was about to win. Ugh, seriously.”

The whining only added to his exhaustion. Hoonyoung pressed his cold eyelids down hard.

“Sit, Chae Jinheon. We need to talk.”

Sensing the serious tone, Jinheon quickly read the room and found a seat. It was best to play along when Hoonyoung got like this.

“What’s up?”

Still, he couldn’t hide his frustration, and his lips pursed sulkily. He really could’ve won this time.

“Seo Haewon, the Esper. You know him, right?”

At Hoonyoung’s words, Jinheon’s face crumpled.

“Know him? Who at the Center doesn’t? Total jerk, total nutcase, completely shameless.”

Hoonyoung let out a faint sigh but quickly steeled himself to coax Jinheon.

“You shouldn’t say that. You’ve seen him yourself.”

As if waiting for the cue, Jinheon widened his eyes and shot back.

“Yeah, exactly. Total nutcase.”

“…”

Hoonyoung was momentarily speechless. It was true.

Seo Haewon was a nutcase. And he was a jerk.

“So, what about him? Why’d you call me?”

Hoonyoung steadied himself again. Sigh…

Just thinking about the reckless punk in front of him made his stomach twist.

Work life is tough, seriously.

“You, guide Seo Haewon.”

At Hoonyoung’s words, Jinheon responded with a sullen expression. He lazily scratched his ear and stood up.

“Oh, my ears lately… I think I burst an eardrum when I got hit earlier. Your fault, hyung. Gotta go to the hospital.”

As Jinheon tried to walk out, Hoonyoung stopped him.

“You leave now, I’ll empty your bank account.”

“Ugh, I was just stretching. Legs were numb.”

Jinheon plopped back down. But he slouched defiantly on the couch, radiating attitude. Hoonyoung already felt a headache coming on.

“Seo Haewon, the Esper, is nearing his limit.”

“So? Why tell me? He throws a fit about not taking male Guides anyway.”

“…”

“And I’m a guy.”

Hoonyoung let out a long sigh.

“Anyway, it’s been decided. Your father agreed too.”

That shut Jinheon up. His biological father was the most infuriating person in his life.

After a brief silence, Jinheon started fussing again.

“Ugh, hyung, seriously… I already heard. He half-kills any male Guide he’s matched with. The Guide department’s a mess because of him—what’s this about? Oh, is this it? You’ve got a grudge and want to bury me?”

Hoonyoung pressed his forehead at Jinheon’s outburst. Too loud.

“Quiet. I’m not planning to bury you in the mountains, so shut up.”

“And what’s with Dad? Why’s he meddling again?”

Jinheon raised his voice irritably. He genuinely didn’t get it. His father ignored him his whole life but stuck his nose in at times like this.

“You, your matching rate’s high. With Seo Haewon, the Esper.”

“…? High matching rate?”

“Yeah.”

“Even with his rejection?”

“Maybe the rejection’s worse because the rate’s high.”

“That’s even more annoying… No way. I’m out. Pass. Won’t do it. Done.”

“Jinheon.”

“…”

“You know, right? Seo Haewon, the Esper, is from Sunjung. His brother’s about to become CEO of Sunjung Chemical. Stock’s been soaring.”

“So what? Everyone knows he’s a jerk. What, I have to do whatever Dad says? Am I a bomb squad?”

The rejection was as fierce as expected. Jinheon flailed his hands like an angry chihuahua. Hoonyoung hesitated.

Will this work? Even for Chae Jinheon… He wavered but decided to throw the bait. Nothing to lose.

“Fine, the rumors are true. He’s a bit much, huh? Got it. Shame, though… Guess we’ll look for foreigners. National wealth drain.”

As Hoonyoung backed off, Jinheon nibbled at the bait. National wealth drain?

“Shame? What’s a shame?”

“Their family offered a stake in a Sunjung Chemical subsidiary as a contract fee. Thought you’d do it.”

“Oh. So, big contract fee, and Chae Jinheon’s in? Hyung, you think I’ll do anything for money?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not true.”

“Jinheon, be honest. How many times a day do you check your banking app?”

“…Not that much?”

“You know what the Center admins call you?”

“I’m not an admin, how would I know?”

Jinheon snapped back, annoyed. Sunjung Chemical, riding high lately, had many subsidiaries. He wanted to ask which one and how much stock.

But he held back, afraid he’d get sucked in if he asked.

“Magpie. They say when a dungeon opens, you ask if there’s a magic stone first. If there is, you Guide. If not, you don’t.”

“No, that’s…”

As Jinheon faltered, Hoonyoung grinned triumphantly.

“Exactly. I just thought you might do it… Well, like they say, even a governor quits if he doesn’t like it.”

“How much are they offering to make you say that?”

Jinheon took the bait.

“Jinheon, he’s the youngest son of Sunjung’s CEO, Seo Chang-joo. Seo Seungwon’s brother. That family adores him.”

“That jerk?”

“…Anyway, he’s loaded. No way he doesn’t have stocks. Just two brothers, and the whole family dotes on him? And it’ll grow. S-rank Esper, and look at his face. If he’d just shut up… Hey, you seen his Insta followers? He’s raking in money globally. Easy pickings.”

True. If he’d just shut up. Actually, he’d opened his mouth plenty, and people still liked him.

“And you’d be his Guide. You’d rake it in too. Play your cards right, he might even hit dungeons with you. If he says he’s in, he’s priority one.”

Jinheon’s expression wavered subtly.

“Just get along with him. You’d hit every magic stone dungeon, shoot every ad, plus he’s from a chaebol… Come on, would I steer you wrong, Jinheon?”

Jinheon’s expression wavered more. His slouched posture gradually straightened.

True. Hoonyoung wouldn’t push him into something that bad. No, still, he’s such a jerk. And that rejection’s intense. Last Guide got his finger snapped just for being a guy…

“Still, not him, hyung.”

Seeing Jinheon’s wavering eyes, Hoonyoung threw the final bait.

“Come to think of it, didn’t Seo Haewon get gold bars when he came of age? If you play it right, you might get a truckload.”

Gold bars… Jinheon’s eyes suddenly glazed over.

“Hey, don’t come crying later saying I didn’t tell you. I told you. You’re the one passing.”

Hoonyoung looked at the increasingly dazed Jinheon with pity. It worked. God, he’s embarrassing.

“No, I mean, I feel kinda bad for him. But Guiding’s not just on me, right? If he refuses, that’s that…”

Jinheon’s words trailed off, then his eyes sparkled. A glint of madness.

“Even if he says no, I still get the contract fee, right?”

Sensing victory from Jinheon’s dazed look, Hoonyoung forcibly suppressed a smirk. This idiot’s so predictable.

“Of course. It’s not him paying—it’s his dad, Sunjung Group’s chairman, Seo Chang-joo. Don’t trust me?”

Chae Jinheon’s eyes gleamed. Pure madness.

“Which subsidiary stake? How much? Listed? Unlisted? Can I sell anytime?”

“I think it was Sunjung Logistics…”

Hoonyoung answered vaguely, grabbing the contract.

“Let me see it.”

“What? No way. This is confidential.”

Distracted searching Sunjung Logistics on his phone, Jinheon snapped his head up.

“Wait, hold on. You’re supposed to see a contract before signing. Who signs blind—”

“Worth about 100 billion won.”

Hoonyoung pointed to a page in the contract. Jinheon’s eyes widened like saucers.

“Are they insane? I’m in. Let me see. Signature’s fine? Need my seal?”

Jinheon lunged for the contract.

“No, signature’s enough. Here, sign and fingerprint.”

“Okay, okay.”

Jinheon hurriedly signed and fingerprinted, then slumped back like a satisfied cat.

“Wow, they must be desperate. Who pays this much for a Guiding contract?”

Hoonyoung organized the contract and stood by the fax machine.

“Seo Haewon, the Esper, is in bad shape. Kinda mid-rampage, you could say…”

“If he’s rampaging, he’s rampaging. What’s ‘kinda mid-rampage’?”

Jinheon asked nonchalantly. Thinking of the contract fee hitting his account, the world looked like a flower garden. Hoonyoung glanced at him with pity.

He doesn’t even know his head’s a flower garden. Ugh.

“Rejection issues.”

“Rejection causes rampaging?”

“Not exactly… Anyway.”

“But will Guiding even work? Doesn’t seem like it. Wouldn’t finding a Pair be better? Then again, who’d want to?”

“Hm. You? It’s a Pair contract.”

“…?”

Grinning and chuckling, Jinheon leapt from the couch. He tried to snatch the contract from Hoonyoung, but it was already being faxed.

Fuck, I trusted you, Lee Hoonyoung. Betrayed. Jinheon ground his teeth.

“Hyung, are you insane?! Selling me off?!”

Hoonyoung calmly collected the original contract, ignoring Jinheon’s trembling.

“Shall we go meet him?”

Jinheon didn’t answer, just glared. He was genuinely pissed for the first time in a while.

Fuck.

“Let’s go see your Esper. Gotta work hard to be a Pair.”

Jinheon felt like his head would explode from anger. What kind of bullshit is this?

“Fine, let’s go. I’m canceling that contract.”

Jinheon stormed out of the office. So, Hoonyoung held off mentioning the penalty and let him be.

“His temporary Guide is Lee Yeyeon. No rejection, but the matching rate’s too low, so there’s barely any Guiding effect. Too low for a Pair either.”

Jinheon didn’t respond.

“They’re using machines and drugs alongside Guiding, but… Seo Haewon got injured recently and is near rampage. He’s not calming down. Rejection’s so bad, they can’t even try other Guides.”

That made Jinheon snap.

“Then why try me? With a scam, no less.”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t done a matching test with him.”

“Obviously! I Guided him right after he awakened, before a test. And he was a total asshole. Whose bright idea was it to test us?”

“CEO Seo Seungwon. Asked if they could try with you.”

“Ugh!”

Jinheon kicked at empty air. He was huffing so much he looked like an animal.

“Anyway, your matching rate’s over 80.”

Jinheon, storming ahead, froze.

“Not a mistake from him rampaging?”

“Could be. If so, once he stabilizes, the rate might drop, and he’ll ditch you.”

“So I’d just suffer?”

“You’re getting paid. How’s that suffering?”

“Ugh, hyung. You know how much I’ll struggle with his rejection?”

“You won’t die.”

✈︎

This regression is wrong.

Was it because he did it without much hope to begin with? Or because he killed too many people for one regression?

Whatever the reason, this regression is wrong. Terribly wrong. Staring blankly at the ash-gray sky, Haewon’s brow twitched as he sank into thought. The cloying smell of blood and guts with every breath was irritating. Sprawled among the filthy remains of various monsters, Seo Haewon forced his eyes open. They stung.

This is driving me insane.

He felt inexplicably wronged. But what could he do? It was a disaster he’d brought upon himself.

He didn’t even have the energy to sit up. Barely moving his hand, he jabbed a Guiding drug into his thigh. Even that made his whole body ache.

Fuck, life’s such shit. No matter how many times I live it.

Seo Haewon is a regressor.

In that sense, you could say he’s blessed. He got a chance to rewind time and live again.

But in truth, Seo Haewon is cursed. Considering the process it took to regress and his current state.

For starters, Seo Haewon killed thousands to rewind time. Espers, Guides, ordinary people. The reason he went to such lengths was because his life was shit.

No regrets. But Seo Haewon only half-succeeded. He learned that no matter what, life stays shit.

When he rewound time, Seo Haewon wanted two things: to return to before his awakening and to never awaken again.

He succeeded in returning to before his awakening but failed to avoid it. Despite rewinding time, Seo Haewon became an Esper again.

“Congratulations, you’ve awakened as an Esper!”

Congratulations, my ass. It was the start of a shitty life replay.

Of course, it’s usually something to celebrate. It was a turbulent era. Ever since monsters appeared in the world one day, everything changed. At first, only minor mutants showed up. Botanists were the only ones interested.

Then herbivores started changing. Scholars said it was from eating mutant plants. People still didn’t care.

Then came the carnivores. And so, the world became a monster-ridden place. Then, all of a sudden, something called dungeons appeared. Abandoned caves in the mountains transformed into game-like dungeons. Monsters were endlessly spawned.

Minerals changed too. Eventually, people changed.

Espers emerged in the world. People cheered. A way to defeat monsters without great sacrifice had appeared. But the cheers were short-lived—only until the Espers started going berserk.

In the end, though, people found Guides. They were stabilizers capable of calming Espers, who had grotesque abilities beyond human limits, strong enough to slaughter monsters. And so, Espers became leashed dogs.

Even so, people wanted to become Espers. Because it was cool, safe, and paid well.

But not Seo Haewon. Seo Haewon was already cool, safe, and rich without being an Esper.

“Fuck… hurts like hell.”

The world turning upside down didn’t make chaebols disappear, and having money could roughly solve most other problems. If he hadn’t been an Esper, he wouldn’t have needed to lie among monster corpses like this.

The only time Seo Haewon’s safety was shaken was because of the butterfly effect caused by his awakening. That single awakening made him lose his shining life and plunged him into the muck.

Before he rewound time, Seo Haewon awakened at seventeen and went berserk immediately. It happened at his high school entrance ceremony, attended by his entire family. Seo Haewon was the only one who survived that ceremony. But the fact that he survived was covered up. With his family dead, the cover-up was easy.

Dragged to the Center as is, Seo Haewon spent years as a test subject in a corner of the facility, and then more years with just his brain extracted. He forgot the exact amount of time.

Because it was too shitty to remember.

But inevitably, Seo Haewon was an Esper, and no matter how hard he tried, not all his memories disappeared.

That’s what drove Seo Haewon insane.

Born into one of Korea’s top chaebol families, pampered as the youngest, Seo Haewon’s life had plummeted into ruin.

Because of that damned awakening.

This time, though, he awakened without going berserk. He wasn’t dragged to the Center either. The problem was that this time, Seo Haewon became impotent.

What a truly shitty world—no, worse than shit. If only it would all disappear.

If an Esper doesn’t receive Guiding, they go berserk and die. And when an Esper goes berserk, the surrounding area is usually reduced to rubble. Controlling an Esper who uses their abilities to the limit is difficult, and a rampaging Esper is killed.

Seo Haewon didn’t want to die like that.

But he also hated Guiding.

The problem was that since his regression, his Guiding consumption had become excessively fast. Guiding had stages: radiative Guiding, which happens when an Esper and Guide are in the same space; contact Guiding, done through touch; and mucosal Guiding.

The more an Esper uses their abilities, the more Guiding they need. Depending on the nature of their abilities, they might need even more.

Even accounting for all that, Seo Haewon’s Guiding consumption was unusually rapid. To the point where mucosal Guiding was absolutely necessary. That was the most wrong thing about this regression. Because along with the regression, Seo Haewon became impotent.

That said, he’d rather die than Guide with a male Guide. Besides, matching rates with male Guides were always low anyway.

But something was off. Even after injecting Guiding drugs, the trembling in his body didn’t subside. Was the dose too low?

Haewon jabbed another dose into himself.

Again, again, again…

Blood faintly seeped through his torn pants from the injections he stabbed into his thigh without controlling his strength. But Haewon didn’t notice. Even though it was obvious that bruises would form around the needle marks.

His vision grew increasingly hazy. An overwhelming fatigue engulfed Haewon. His ears rang, and his sight was blocked.

Amid the buzzing tinnitus, he could hear sounds around him. He faintly sensed light beyond his eyelids. But as if under anesthesia, he couldn’t move.

Haewon recalled a scene from a movie about waking during surgery. He instinctively knew that even if someone came and cut open his stomach right now, he wouldn’t be able to react.

Is this how I die? So futilely.

Well, considering it’s the price for killing thousands, maybe this is fitting.

Then, from a distance, he heard the voices of the rear guard spotting him.

“Shit, bring a stretcher!”

“God, it’s a mess!”

“He didn’t even hit the pager. Contact the Guide…”

I didn’t contact anyone on purpose. Pointless. Haewon gave a dry laugh in his fading consciousness.

He did want Guiding. Something warm and comforting, like sinking into a bathtub… He’d never experienced it, but still.

For Haewon, Guiding was always disgusting and painful.

The stretcher carrying his body jostled.

His consciousness flickered on and off at random. In between, he heard his brother’s somber voice, and occasionally, the sound of prayers.

After a while, an unfamiliar male voice caught his attention.

“Doing Guiding in this state?”

I’ve heard that voice before. Who was it?

“Think of it as emergency treatment.”

His brother’s voice came through too.

Guiding, huh? What bastard is trying to Guide me now? Haewon inwardly ground his teeth. He hated male Guides. No, hated wasn’t strong enough.

The most disgusting and hateful was Han Taejung, but all male Guides were like that. Especially in a helpless state like this.

Memories of brutally horrific Guiding sessions flooded back. Himself, limbs bound, and bastards recklessly shoving their dicks in.

That was rape. Not Guiding.

Seo Haewon was certain his visceral hatred for Guides stemmed from those bastards. Because of that disgust.

“This is… ugh… quite a treat.”

In an instant, Haewon was sucked into the middle of past memories. He heard Han Taejung’s panting voice. It was always like this.

Unable to move a finger. Limbs bound.

That day was probably when he was hypnotized. Words stabbed into him through his faintly returning consciousness stuck with him.

“Hyung, Junhwan hyung. Is this guy in a trance state? Can you change the hypnosis?”

“What.”

That bastard Kim Junhwan acted nonchalant but joined in whatever Han Taejung did. Using his pathetic ability to cast shitty hypnosis and screw him over.

Kim Junhwan was a mental-type Esper. Hypnosis and brainwashing were his abilities.

Haewon sometimes fell under the hypnosis, sometimes didn’t. It varied. But he was always completely immobilized.

“No, hyung. Should we wake him? Wanna fuck him together?”

Their cackling was loud.

“This guy doesn’t make a sound, so it’s like screwing a corpse, right? It’s a treat, but… I’m getting bored. Let’s wake him and fuck him together.”

Han Taejung spewed that kind of crap so easily. Disgustingly.

“Look at this. It’s going in with room to spare. Or should we tear it a bit?”

Han Taejung giggled, and Kim Junhwan laughed along.

Bastards. I wanted to rip their mouths open first.

“How about it?”

Those guys were truly vile. So much so that when he was reduced to a brain, the one good thing was that he no longer had a body to be raped.

“Move aside. I’ll wake him. Get the gag—this guy’s vocal cords are still intact, so he’s loud.”

With a sickening click, his blocked voice burst free. Strength returned to his limp body.

“Oh, he’s twitching.”

Han Taejung snickered.

“See? This is more exciting today.”

Han Taejung, who had stepped back, lunged again. Pain he hadn’t fully felt under hypnosis now overwhelmed his entire body.

“Ugh… urgh…! Urrr…!”

He screamed incoherent sounds and twisted his body, but his tightly bound limbs only twitched.

“Haha, he’s going wild.”

Han Taejung grabbed more restraints and tied Haewon’s legs even tighter. His thighs and calves were bound together, and his legs were secured to his torso again.

He felt like a frog about to be dissected. Arms tied behind, legs spread and flailing toward the ceiling.

Physiological tears streamed endlessly from his eyes. Out of rage, sorrow, wishing he’d rather die… That’s why they were tears.

But it seemed to excite Han Taejung more. He looked genuinely thrilled. Psychopath bastard.

Han Taejung lifted the bound Haewon and held him from behind, pulling him onto himself. Han Taejung shoved his dick into Haewon’s already ravaged body, and Kim Junhwan, standing in front, eagerly joined in.

At first, Haewon swore revenge. He’d kill all those bastards.

But he also gradually gave up. When the number of bastards joining in kept growing, when he realized later that the researchers knew about the dicks being shoved between his bound limbs and turned a blind eye.

When he realized his lower body was so ruined that his guts were practically spilling out, and finally, when his vocal cords were cut…

Haewon remembered the words dozens of bastards babbled gleefully as they violated his body.

“Feels good, huh? Man, where else would you get a chance to be Guided like this all at once? This guy’s lucky.”

“Looks like he’s losing it.”

“He would. Yo, can three even fit?”

Haewon grew more and more exhausted. He thought it’d be better to have his brain extracted and submerged in solution, as the researchers wanted.

But those bastards wouldn’t have agreed. The Guides changed over time. At first, it was just that bastard Han Taejung…

No, was Kim Junhwan the real start?

When Kim Junhwan got involved in the experiments, it was practically decided that Han Taejung would be the Guide.

Birds of a feather. Kim Junhwan was trash, so he could only attract trash.

And now, those bastards probably don’t even remember it. It’s something only Seo Haewon knows, something only Seo Haewon is driven mad by.

His body convulsed. The memory alone sent electric pain coursing through him. Like being tortured.

So, Guiding was hell for Haewon. Then and now. His convulsing consciousness, lost in memories, faintly returned. He felt something touch his fingertips.

It was just his fingertips, but it burned like they’d been plunged into fire, so he knew instantly. A Guide.

No, get lost.

Haewon repeated endlessly in his mind. Not anymore.

Get lost, damn it!

The other person seemed to sense Haewon’s sharp energy and quickly pulled away.

The surroundings grew noisy. Through ears that felt submerged, muffled voices came through.

With all his strength, he dragged his consciousness to the surface. Even screaming, his consciousness flickered like it could fade any moment.

“Ugh, what… Guiding isn’t working at all.”

Fuck, that’s why I said get lost.

He felt slight relief as the energy touching his fingertips moved away. But then, as if changing their mind, a whole palm pressed against his and gripped tightly. The grip was strong.

Energy slithered through the cracks Seo Haewon had sealed shut. What the hell is this?

He tried to scream and resist, but it didn’t work well. Seo Haewon’s body and consciousness were already at their limit.

To begin with, Seo Haewon’s consciousness wasn’t sturdy.

It had already crumbled too many times.

“Hey, it’s working.”

It wasn’t a Guiding drug injected into his veins, yet it forced its way in, unsettlingly.

The fog in his head cleared slightly. But it felt awful.

This bastard… who does he think he is, doing whatever he wants…

His ears, which felt submerged, started to clear bit by bit.

“What kind of…”

An irritated voice came through. Once the energy started being absorbed, like a dam breaking, it gained speed.

Strength returned slightly to his completely limp body. But not enough to stop the Guiding.

Haewon felt powerless. He hated feeling like this.

“What a mess.”

Hearing those words, Haewon gritted his teeth. His other hand was grabbed too. Lying down with both hands held, he felt a shadow loom over him.

The Guiding speed increased a bit more.

He thought he’d soon be able to move. The moment some strength returned, he used the momentum to forcefully sit up.

And he kicked the stomach of the Guide leaning half over him with his knee.

“Urk!”

Caught off guard, Chae Jinheon, who had been sitting precariously, collapsed to the floor.

“Haewon!”

The equipment connected to Haewon’s body was flung off by the recoil.

“Fuck…”

Moving suddenly made his head ring. Haewon clutched his head and glared at Chae Jinheon, sprawled on the floor.

No wonder the voice sounded familiar… It’s that bastard again.

“You okay?”

“You okay?”

Two voices rang out at once. One was Seungwon’s, the other Hoonyoung’s. Seungwon rushed to Haewon, Hoonyoung to Jinheon, each checking on them.

“Ugh… That guy’s nuts, hyung. Crazy strong.”

Jinheon groaned first. That’s my line, Haewon thought to himself. His wrist hurt from Jinheon’s tight grip after being hit in the stomach. Really, it hurt.

“What the hell.”

A raspy, metallic voice came from Haewon’s throat.

“What? It’s Chae Jinheon.”

Jinheon shot back, not backing down.

“…What? Where’s Yeyeon?”

“I’m here.”

Yeyeon, pushed to the side, timidly raised her hand.

“Your condition was too bad… They found you have a high matching rate with Guide Chae Jinheon.”

At Seungwon’s answer, Haewon’s head whipped around. A high matching rate with him?

“High matching rate? When it feels this shitty?”

Haewon asked, genuinely puzzled. But his words twisted Jinheon’s mood.

“I feel shitty too, okay? Ugh, cough, cough…”

Sprawled on the floor, Jinheon suddenly coughed, and faint blood mixed with his spit.

“…Spitting blood on someone’s floor, gross.”

“…”

Haewon’s comment caused a brief silence. Even Seungwon was momentarily speechless.

“Is that something you say to the guy who saved you? Hyung, I told you he’s a total nutcase!”

Breaking the silence was Jinheon, still coughing but bristling with indignation.

“…Yeyeon, can you call Dr. Kim?”

At Seungwon’s words, Yeyeon slipped out of the room. She couldn’t stand watching Seo Haewon’s antics. Avoiding him was the best move.

“Lie down, Haewon. You’re not fully recovered.”

Seungwon tried to calm Haewon and tidied the area. He reconnected the Guiding machine that had come loose.

Haewon was too tired to keep throwing a fit. He slipped back under the covers obediently but didn’t stop talking.

“What’s going on? I said no male Guides, ever.”

Jinheon, fuming, was about to shout that he didn’t want this either. Quick-witted Hoonyoung clamped his hand over Jinheon’s mouth before he could.

“The only Guide with a high matching rate was Chae Jinheon.”

Seungwon tried to keep the conversation calm.

“How high?”

At Haewon’s question, Seungwon glanced at Hoonyoung.

“Around 80. Considering Seo Haewon’s condition, it’s practically a miracle.”

“…”

“Your highest matching rate so far was 45, right? With Guide Yeyeon, it’s not even 20.”

Haewon let out an irritated groan. Matching rates are innate. They’re like fingerprints. It’s about the Esper’s and Guide’s wavelengths syncing.

Several conditions affect wavelength compatibility. The conduit’s size and the wavelength’s speed need to be similar. The Center sometimes describes it in terms of blood vessels.

If one side has fast blood flow but narrow vessels, and the other has slow blood flow but wide vessels, the force can only flow one way. Guiding works similarly.

Haewon’s wavelength was unusually fast. Guiding requires the Guide’s wavelength to push into the Esper, but no Guide had a wavelength faster than Haewon’s.

Haewon knew this better than anyone.

Before the regression, it was normal. Any Guide could Guide him.

After the regression, Guiding stopped working, but that was actually a relief. Being picky was easily justified.

But now, of all people, Chae Jinheon?

If you asked who his first Guide was after regression, it was none other than Chae Jinheon. It happened almost simultaneously with Haewon’s awakening.