Yihyun stared at him expressionlessly instead of answering. The attending physician carelessly flipped through the chart, shone a penlight into Yihyun’s eyes, then gave a perfunctory diagnosis.
“The sedatives and high-dose sleeping pills probably temporarily suppressed your central nervous system. You say you can’t remember anything? Drug-induced memory impairment is the most likely explanation. If you suffered hypoxia, some of your memories may have been damaged as well. Or there could simply be something wrong with your brain.”
The attending physician scribbled something on the chart before adding casually,
“Well, I’ll report to the Director that you’ve lost your memory. From his perspective, it’ll probably be more convenient for you to quietly stay out of the way as an idiot who knows nothing than to keep living as the troublemaker you used to be.”
He tossed a prescription onto the bedside table and left the room without bothering to examine his patient any further. Yihyun watched the door close and coldly curled his lips.
‘Perfect. It would’ve been a pain in the ass if he’d started interrogating me about every little thing.’
Through the attending physician, he had confirmed just how lazy and arrogant the people keeping an eye on Baek Yihyun were. Yihyun threw the prescription the doctor had left behind into the trash and stared up at the ceiling.
Perhaps it was the aftereffects of the powerful drugs, but the moment his frail body lay down, it became as heavy as waterlogged cotton, and even his consciousness began to fade. As Yihyun stared blankly at the ceiling, a memory surfaced in his mind from five years ago—no, from much longer ago, from the day he had first met Han Taeyun.
The first place he had encountered that bastard was an ability-user training facility.
At the time, Lee Seunghyun had been the perennial No. 1 ranked Esper and the pride of the Ability Bureau. Then, one day, rumors began spreading that a rookie Esper who had appeared like a comet was breaking every existing record. Proud as he was, Seunghyun went to the training grounds just to get a look at the bastard’s face.
The place was crawling with huge, muscular Espers who looked as fierce as brown bears or hunting dogs. Yet among those hulking men, there was one presence that felt strikingly out of place.
“……?”
Seunghyun unconsciously stopped walking. Sitting among the men in that sweat-reeking place, Han Taeyun’s first impression was that of a pure, exquisite beauty. His features were even more striking and flawless than Baek Yihyun’s pretty face in the mirror. Not a single strand of his hair was out of place, and his deep, indifferent eyes made him look less like an Esper and more like some pampered young master raised in luxury.
‘How the hell does a face like that produce such monstrous mana?’
While Seunghyun was staring, momentarily captivated by that unreal face, Han Taeyun turned his head and met his eyes. Those clear, cold eyes. His face looked like an angel’s, but his gaze resembled that of a sword demon who had already cut down thousands.
At that moment, Seunghyun knew instinctively.
This bastard was going to become the rival who would turn his entire life upside down.
***
“That bastard isn’t even greeting you, hyung?”
“Get off me, you disgusting bastards. It’s hot.”
After training, in front of the showers. Kim Junho and Lee Juwon had towels hanging around their necks as they watched Seunghyun’s reaction and started running their mouths. Seunghyun shoved the two clinging men away and spoke irritably.
“That bastard seriously needs to be taught a lesson, doesn’t he?”
Kim Junho jerked his chin toward Taeyun’s retreating back and spat out the words through clenched teeth. Despite his heavy, brown-bear-like build, his eyes were filled with jealousy.
“I mean, he’s got a face that belongs over in the Guide wing, but his eyes are arrogant as fuck. He doesn’t even answer when his seniors talk to him. How long are you going to put up with that pretty-boy bastard ruining the atmosphere at the Esper training center?”
To the men around Seunghyun, Han Taeyun, who seemed to have dropped out of the sky from nowhere, was nothing but an eyesore. Since they couldn’t even dream of competing with him in terms of ability, they cowardly directed their attacks at Taeyun’s appearance and attitude instead.
“And that’s not even all. The Guides are worse. Even the skilled ones who used to line up waiting to guide you have been hanging around that bastard’s training grounds lately just to get another look at his face. He must think the Ability Bureau is his own damn house just because he’s got some talent. Shouldn’t somebody put him firmly in his place?”
Lee Juwon, standing beside him, joined in with a scowl on his Tosa-like face.
“Exactly. Bastards like him only come to their senses after you grind them into the dirt from behind when they’re out in the field. I don’t know if he thinks that face makes him special or if he’s got someone backing him, but I can’t stand watching a bastard who doesn’t even come up to your toes strut around like that.”
Seunghyun listened without saying anything and closed the locker-room door. The jealous gossip of these hot-blooded, immature bastards was irritatingly loud, but the only thing lingering in Seunghyun’s mind was Han Taeyun’s cold yet tranquil gaze from their sparring match moments earlier.
“Enough. Barking is what dogs do.”
At Seunghyun’s words, Junho and Juwon fell silent as though struck where it hurt. But inferiority toward Taeyun still simmered in their eyes.
The bastards interpreted Seunghyun’s indifferent response however they pleased. Apparently, they twisted ‘Enough’ into ‘He’s not worth me dealing with personally, so handle him yourselves.’ Junho and Juwon exchanged nasty smiles and began plotting a way to screw Han Taeyun over.
A few days later, Seunghyun was passing near a gloomy warehouse behind the training building when he heard familiar voices.
“Hey, lure that bastard Han Taeyun to the warehouse during independent night training later. Tell the Guides there was an error in the Guide assignment, and they’ll come running because they’re dying to see his face. Then we’ll crank the mana suppression device all the way up and make that bastard Han Taeyun crawl.”
It was Junho’s brown-bear-like snickering voice. Seunghyun frowned. It was an unbelievably petty scheme. He was about to ignore it and continue on his way, but for some reason, his feet refused to move.
A little while later, he encountered Han Taeyun walking toward him from the end of the corridor with his usual indifferent expression. His appearance looked as though a sculptor had painstakingly carved every feature, giving him an atmosphere so otherworldly that he hardly seemed human.
As Seunghyun passed beside him, he casually muttered in a voice low enough that no one else could hear.
“Hey.”
“……?”
“Don’t go anywhere near Warehouse No. 3 tonight. Those fucking dogs dug a cesspit and are waiting for you to fall into it.”
Taeyun stopped walking. By the time he looked back, Seunghyun was already moving away. It was impossible to tell whether those words had been a warning or an insult, but the faintest hint of interest appeared at the corners of Taeyun’s lips.
From that day onward, a strange current flowed between the two of them. Seunghyun paid no particular attention to Taeyun, and Taeyun never uttered a single word of thanks. But whenever they faced each other on the training grounds, their mana exploded as though resonating with one another.
Seunghyun poured his innate instincts and the experience accumulated through thousands of real battles into driving Taeyun back. Yet strangely, not even once could he defeat Taeyun completely.
Clang-!
Their practice swords collided, scattering sparks. Seunghyun was breathing hard, his lungs burning, while Taeyun looked down at him with an immaculate face that hadn’t shed so much as a single drop of sweat.
“Hyung, you’ve gotten slower again.”
Seunghyun clenched his teeth at Taeyun’s indifferent voice.
“Shut the fuck up, asshole. It’s not over yet.”
There were certainly many moments when Seunghyun held the technical advantage, backed by his years of training. His precise swordsmanship and his instinct for never missing even the briefest opening were strengths that belonged to Seunghyun alone.
But at the decisive moment, the density of the mana erupting from Taeyun’s body defied all common sense. The difference existed on a level that could not be overcome through refined technique or razor-sharp instincts alone.
Seunghyun realized it.
No matter how desperately he struggled, he would never escape the fate of chasing after this bastard’s back.
And strangely enough, the sense of defeat he felt then gradually transformed not into hatred for Taeyun, but into a peculiar recognition and bond.
Leaving that memory behind, Seunghyun opened his eyes as Yihyun on the cold bed of the present.
‘A bastard who was that fucking exceptional…… Why the hell.’
Yihyun clenched his fist tightly. That noble genius he had never managed to defeat to the very end was now a murderous demon who had slaughtered half the world. The unbelievable reality made his head feel ready to burst.
“Are you awake, Young Master?”
The nanny’s cautious voice came through the crack in the door. Yihyun, who had been lying on the bed, opened his eyes sharply and sat up. The sensation of having returned from the brink of death still lingered coldly inside him.
“Yes. Ma’am, please make me a proper, filling meal.”
“…Ah, pardon? …Yes, Young Master.”
The nanny answered almost automatically as she watched Yihyun head toward the bathroom, though she could hardly believe her own ears.
The usual Baek Yihyun complained every morning that he had no appetite and habitually picked at his food without even finishing a single bowl of porridge. He was already painfully thin, and after his suicide attempt, she had been worried that he might stubbornly refuse to eat altogether.
Yet he had just asked for a ‘filling’ meal.
As she blankly listened to the sound of water pouring forcefully inside the bathroom, a dull ache spread through the nanny’s chest.
‘Maybe losing his memory was actually for the best….’
Had completely forgetting everything that had tormented him enough to swallow all those powerful drugs made him this spirited?
Seeing life in his movements again, to an almost unfamiliar degree, made her happy. Yet at the same time, her nose stung at the thought of just how cruel the memories that had driven the old Baek Yihyun so mercilessly must have been for his brain to erase them all in an attempt to protect itself.
But now wasn’t the time to be sad.
Her Young Master, who had lost his memories and been born anew, had asked her for food.