“Captain. You must receive Guiding today.”
“…Get out.”
“Depending on machines has its limits. If you keep this up and actually lose control….”
“I told you to get out. Do my words sound like a joke to you?”
“…I-I’m sorry. I was only worried about you, Captain….”
“…Worried… worried, huh. I’ve said it over and over again—there’s no need to worry about me. Just do your own job properly. If you keep making noise, I’ll kill you. So shut up and get lost.”
“…Understood.”
His uncut blond hair had grown wild, tangled roughly together, and between those disheveled strands his darkened, sunken red eyes gleamed.
Frightened, the administrator bowed and scurried out in a hurry.
Kim Wooju stared at the closed door for a moment, then lowered his gaze toward his own body.
Without Guiding, his body had grown so sensitive it felt cracked and parched, like land stricken by drought. Even the slightest shock brought searing pain in its wake.
But Kim Wooju dismissed it as nothing and looked back out the window.
*This kind of pain is laughable… compared to back then…. *
Ten years ago, he’d been dragged into Dungeons by force, enduring this kind of torment.
Dying and reviving there was routine….
If he hadn’t met Aru, wouldn’t he still be living like that even now?
“Aru….”
Aru.
Aru.
Aru!
As that name filled his head to the brim, blood trickled from between his clenched lips. But Kim Wooju didn’t feel any pain.
Since the day Aru abandoned him and left, he hadn’t felt true pain at all.
Aru had said he’d go fetch food—and then vanished without a trace. Kim Wooju had endured, clinging on, waiting in that place again and again.
Starved for days, sleepless, yet he believed Aru’s promise to return. In the end, he collapsed, and the one who saved him was a runaway with a story— the villain who placed him in the position he now held.
Of course, that man was dead now.
'I killed him with my own hands….'
Because he learned too late that the reason he’d been saved was nothing but lust.
'Aru. Aru who abandoned me…. He’s a dragon, so he wouldn’t have died easily somewhere.'
Kim Wooju clenched his fist.
A dragon he thought he had in his grasp, only to vanish in an instant.
Whatever the reason, whether it was circumstances or because he truly got sick of him and cast him aside—it didn’t matter anymore.
He would search through every Dungeon if he had to. He would definitely find him again.
A crooked smile twisted Kim Wooju’s lips.
If they were to meet again, Aru—running would be your only chance.
If he appeared before him once more, Aru would never again be free to roam the outside world.
He had already prepared the handcuffs and the room built solely for him inside the building. All that was left was to bring back its rightful owner—Aru.
Just then, the wound in his chest, never fully healed from lack of Guiding, tore open again. Blood trickled down between his chest and dripped onto the floor.
His coughing wouldn’t stop.
Watching his own blood drip, Kim Wooju pulled up the corner of his mouth.
'…Yeah. That man was right just now.'
At this rate, he wouldn’t last much longer.
He couldn’t die before meeting Aru again.
Guiding.
This cursed body craved Guiding.
'At this point, kidnapping the Guides the government treasures so much doesn’t sound like a bad idea either.'
The Guides in Box Code were few, and their grades weren’t high, so they were hardly useful. But the Guides supported by the government’s Centers would be better.
If he could receive Guiding from them, he could endure for a few more months.
How many Dungeons still needed to be erased?
Would Aru’s Dungeon be among them?
Until he found Aru, until then, he had to endure with this damned body.
He had to live.
Fondling the sturdy, soft-material collar he had crafted with his own hands—for the sole purpose of hanging it around Aru’s delicate neck—Kim Wooju smiled more wickedly than ever before.
***
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
Why are there so many people here today?
After resting with a beer at the government-supported Guide dormitory, I went to the Center the next day like always, only to find the atmosphere more restless than usual. On days when the place was this crowded, there was always some kind of incident, which made me uneasy.
After greeting the receptionist I often exchanged words with, I received the documents listing my schedule.
Today’s Espers for Guiding were about ten. Slightly more than usual.
“…Did something happen today? The place feels more unsettled than usual.”
I skimmed my paperwork as I asked the receptionist.
“Today, for some reason, lots of Espers are requesting Guiding. The bookings are filled through the afternoon. But you don’t need to worry, Mr. Aru. Most of them are asking specifically for high-grade Guides, B-rank or higher. You can just work like normal and go home after.”
Ten is already a lot. My average was around seven or eight a day.
“Ah, I see. That’s a relief.”
I smiled brightly as I said it and turned away. But the smile had already left my face. I mulled over the staff’s words.
'So today, there’s an unusual surge? And they’re specifically asking for high-rank Guides?'
That’s fishy….
Not just many—but demanding high-grade Guides….
Given the nature of webtoons, any deviation from the usual was a sign an incident was brewing.
I’d read enough webtoons to recognize that much.
But I had no clue what kind of incident this could be.
I carried that unease with me as I headed to the room. But hidden beneath my hair, my eyes never stopped scanning the surroundings.
The crowd of Espers brushing past me—I scrutinized each one as I walked into the room.
'…Shit.'
The moment I entered, any pretense of calm froze in place at the door. I had to bite back the urge to scream.
'…Why are they here?'
Familiar faces.
The villains from the webtoon, known as Box Code, were scattered all over the Guide Center!
At first I wasn’t sure.
They all had brutish, thuggish faces, but this world didn’t give extras any defining looks, so I brushed it off.
Guess today’s batch of Espers just happen to look nasty and ugly, I thought.
But then I spotted a few strikingly handsome ones among them.
Faces that were unmistakably not extras.
Among them was someone I knew.
An A-rank Esper—Han Seokho.
Kim Wooju’s right-hand man, and the one who served as Box Code’s administrator.
A firm, righteous-looking face with sharp features, and a small scar beneath thick brows.
No doubt about it.
I couldn’t have mistaken him.
Han Seokho, who was supposed to stand beside Kim Wooju as his aide, was here.
Which meant….
I slumped into a seat and grabbed my head with both hands.
'When I was desperately searching, he was nowhere to be found—'
But the moment I let go and tried to live normally, he showed up blatantly in front of my eyes.
I hadn’t even met Kim Wooju directly, yet seeing those tied to him tangled my thoughts into knots.
'No, but why are they here?'
Their invasion of the government was supposed to happen far later.
And when they did, they stormed in openly, making a huge scene to threaten the government’s Espers. Never had they infiltrated the Guide Center covertly like this. Was there some episode I’d missed?
No, impossible. I’d read that webtoon thoroughly….
Which meant this was an episode that hadn’t appeared in the original.
Just what was Kim Wooju thinking?
Frustration welled up inside me.
'Calm down….'
Overnight, Box Code had descended on the Guide Center under the pretense of requesting Guiding. Why had Kim Wooju set this in motion?
I tried to steady my racing heart from the tension and excitement.
It couldn’t simply be that they all decided to come here for Guiding.
Even the usually immobile administrator, Han Seokho, had moved. Which meant Kim Wooju had given the order.
And that pointed to only one conclusion.