Aren't Guides Allowed to Bite Espers? - Chapter 5
Thunk!
“Kieeak!”
The creature’s ferocious roar echoed ominously. Yugeon felt his mind go blank and ran like a man possessed.
Soon, a blurry figure came into view. A black figure sat on the ground, making a slurping sound as it greedily sucked in blood without any restraint. Yugeon’s eyes welled up with heat.
“Gu Sawol!”
He jumped up with all his might, his fists striking wildly without proper aim.
“…!”
At that moment, a gentle scent, like a midsummer shower, brushed against his nose. It was a familiar fragrance, akin to the smell of wet grass. On instinct, he halted his movements.
As if sensing his presence, the other person turned their head, and the dense fog gradually dissipated. Their eyes met. Sharp pupils stared intensely at Yugeon.
“Why are you…?”
Right in front of Yugeon’s clenched fist was not a creature but a human being. Well, calling them human was a stretch; they appeared deformed, evoking a sense of repulsion.
“Baek….”
A stench of blood mixed with the previously recognized rain scent. Sharp claws and teeth, jet-black skin that seemed swallowed by darkness, and yellow eyes reminiscent of a fierce beast.
Time seemed to stretch out slowly, like a tape being played in slow motion. The deep blue veins on the forehead stood out even more against the pale skin.
“Yugeon…?”
It was a characteristic of being half-human and half-creature. What stood before him was… a Creman.
“You…!”
The creature that had broken through the wall lay collapsed with its leather torn open. Sawol sat in front of it, blood flowing freely around her hands and mouth.
***
Roar, crash! Rumble, boom!
A massive thunderclap reverberated, as if splitting the sky. Rain had poured ceaselessly throughout the night. Beyond the windows, the strong wind made the trees sway precariously. Despite their stubborn roots, they eventually snapped with a sound like a pencil tip breaking.
“Just hold on a little longer.”
I sank back into the bed, tossing and turning, pulling the blanket tightly up to my head. My ears felt stuffed, and my breath came in quick gasps. Whenever a storm approached as if the world would collapse any moment, that day came to mind.
The sensation of sharp teeth digging into flesh. The creature’s venom coursing through my veins, spreading throughout my body. Cells writhing in agony. Accepting it all, my body grew sluggish, and an insatiable thirst would follow. Not a single memory of that time was blurry.
And what happened then? It felt like I had heard familiar voices screaming.
My parents were researchers at the Center. They were working on inventing an antibiotic that could turn Creman back into humans at the B Area Research Institute. So, despite being bitten and torn into by a Creman, I could be spared from turning into one by administering the experimental antibiotic.
However, the antibiotic was not yet a finished product, and I became neither fully Creman nor fully human. I still couldn’t decide whether what happened to me was unfortunate or fortunate. My parents, dying by their own daughter’s hand during the administration, became heavenly beings in the sky.
At that time, I lost my sanity during the course of the antibiotic spreading through my body. I was dominated solely by an intense urge to kill.
My body boiled with heat. The sounds of a living being’s heartbeat and the scent of blood made my mouth water uncontrollably. If I didn’t clear what was in front of me, I felt like I would be consumed by this heat.
When my sanity returned, there was no one around me. There were only unrecognizable, scattered corpses. No trace of any human being.
After that, I attempted countless acts of self-harm and attempts of suicide. My stomach, which might have ingested my parents’ blood, the cells that swelled with nutrients, everything that made up me disgusted me to the point where I couldn’t bear it. But no matter how I slashed my throat or even if my heart burst, I survived.
If my arm got severed, it would regenerate immediately, and if I threw myself into a river, when I regained consciousness, I’d find myself somewhere on land. I had become a body that couldn’t die recklessly.
Since I had become a Creman, there must be a nucleus the size of a thumb somewhere in my body like in creatures. Despite countless attempts at self-harm, I hadn’t found that nucleus in the five years I lived as a Creman.
Living without being able to die. That was my current situation.
But then, I met Baek Yugeon.
Baek Yugeon. He was a newly recruited Esper who had joined Team Alpha a little while ago. Awakening at the relatively late age of twenty-three, he possessed an S-level psychic ability, making him a significant figure.
The Center welcomed him, and not just the Center, the whole nation was ecstatic about him to the point where he made it to the headlines. If an A-level Esper could protect one district, it was said that an S-level Esper could protect an entire region. It was a natural reaction.
I had known for a few days that Hangyul’s younger brother was going to join Team Alpha. Unlike Hangyul, who was calm and had a significant presence, Yugeon had a bright and cheerful image.
He looked like a kid who had come to an amusement park, his eyes darting around with wonder. To be frank, he seemed like a puppy who didn’t know how terrifying a tiger could be.
However, Hangyul had asked me to take care of him since he was still young and inexperienced, and he was a newbie. I wanted things to go well at first, too. I was sincere about it.
“Are you Gu Sawol?”
However, he blurted out informal speech out of the blue. He had a small face with neat and distinct features. His light-colored hair and eyes gave a soft and warm impression.
His slightly slanted eye corners formed a lovely curve when he smiled. His smile was genuinely beautiful.
