‘…He certainly had specific tastes.’
The thought of a frail illegitimate child with nowhere to turn, living quietly in this cramped room while relying on things like these for comfort, left a bitter taste in Yihyun’s mouth. As if shaking off his stray thoughts, Yihyun turned on the terminal sitting on the desk.
“Let’s see how much I can access with Baek Yihyun’s authorization.”
[Access Successful: S-Rank Guide Baek Yihyun (21)]
Data flooded the screen. Without delay, Yihyun entered the keywords ‘Han Taeyun’ and ‘Gehenna Gate.’
[Classified Document: Gehenna Gate Raid Report]
[Contents: Survivor — Han Taeyun (age 20 at the time). Deceased — Lee Seunghyun (age 22 at the time) and 13 others.
Special Note - Immediately after the boss monster was killed, Han Taeyun experienced a sudden reversal of mana flow, followed by confirmed awakening.]
“Awakening? He awakened after a reversal? That makes no fucking sense.”
Yihyun’s brows drew together. An Esper’s mana flowing backward meant overload. But Han Taeyun hadn’t died. Instead, afterward, he had become strong enough to blow away half the world.
Feeling goosebumps rise along the back of his neck, Yihyun clicked the screen to open the next detailed page. But a red warning message immediately appeared in the center of the screen.
[Notice: The individual in question has been classified as a ‘rebel’ and ‘major perpetrator of treason against multiple nations.’ In accordance with the Ability Bureau’s classified information management guidelines, all related detailed data has been permanently deleted or placed under restricted access.]
“…….”
Thoroughly pissed off, Yihyun clenched his fist.
“They deleted it because he’s a rebel? Bullshit. The bigger the threat, the more information you’re supposed to scrape together.”
Yihyun aggressively clicked through other categories. Han Taeyun’s early activity records, Gate raid history, even trivial personal information. But everywhere his cursor landed, red warning windows followed as though mocking him.
[Access Denied: The relevant data has been discarded.]
[Access Denied: Administrator approval is required.]
“This is practically a cover-up.”
Running an irritated hand through his hair, Yihyun switched to the public network and began searching for news clips and footage of rebel activity. Once the video finished loading, Han Taeyun’s recent appearance filled the screen.
“…Han Taeyun?”
Yihyun’s lips trembled slightly. The man on the screen was the same person he had known, yet somehow looked like a completely different person.
Even five years ago, Taeyun had been called beautiful, but the Han Taeyun of the present looked somehow ravaged. His skin was so pale it was almost translucent, his bones standing out sharply beneath it, while deep shadows beneath his eyes lent his expression an air of weary ennui. He looked like a glass doll that might shatter at any moment.
His tall stature and naturally broad frame were unchanged, but he had lost so much weight that there was not an ounce of excess flesh left on him, making his entire figure look as sharp as a finely honed blade.
The pressure radiating from his body went beyond fear. It was closer to awe—the sensation a mortal felt when overwhelmed by an irresistible, absolute power. In the footage, Han Taeyun casually swept one hand through the air, and armored vehicles unable to withstand the crushing force of gravity crumpled like sheets of paper.
His immense power over gravity had become far more precise and powerful than it had been five years ago. But what unsettled Yihyun most was the look in his eyes.
Those weren’t the eyes of someone who had killed thousands and shattered the world. There was neither rage nor madness in them. Only an unfathomably vast emptiness and a terrible sense of futility, as though nothing in the world mattered anymore.
Yihyun stared blankly into Han Taeyun’s eyes in the paused footage before murmuring very quietly.
“…Why are you living like this?”
Yihyun’s heart tightened. Before his competitive spirit came an inexplicable sense of indebtedness.
Just then, the waiting-room door shook with a loud bang.
“Baek Yihyun! The Director wants you. Crawl your ass out here right now!”
‘Fine. Let’s go see your face. I want to know what the hell you’ve been doing.’
The moment the heavy doors to the Ability Bureau Director’s office opened, Yihyun’s brows visibly furrowed.
‘……Who the hell is this guy? …Ah! I think he used to follow the former Ability Bureau Director around like a damn shadow.’
Beyond the nauseating smell of cigarettes and the oppressive atmosphere, the man seated behind the desk was not the old bastard etched into Seunghyun’s memories. He was much younger and far sharper—a middle-aged man with seemingly not a single feature in common with Baek Yihyun, a cold-blooded bastard flipping through documents.
Sometime during the five-year gap, the head of the Ability Bureau had been replaced. Concealing his confusion, Yihyun stood there crookedly and studied Baek Seungho, the man who was supposedly his biological father.
Without even looking up from the documents, Baek Seungho spoke.
“I heard you caused a disturbance in the lobby.”
Not a drop of paternal affection could be heard in his low voice. It was filled solely with the disgust of someone dealing with an annoying insect.
“I know I made myself clear. Live quietly, as though you were dead. Once was more than enough for you to disgrace me.”
Yihyun scoffed inwardly. His own child had swallowed pills in a suicide attempt, yet instead of asking how he was doing, this bastard was worried about saving face. In his previous life, Seunghyun would have started by flipping the desk over on the spot, but right now, information came first. Yihyun remained standing at an angle and stared directly at the Director.
“Well, those bastards started it, so I responded in self-defense. More importantly, I came because there’s something I want to know.”
“Something you want to know?”
“Han Taeyun’s records. Why have they all been wiped? You say he’s the leader of the rebels.”
Baek Seungho’s hand stopped.
He slowly raised his head, a cold gleam settling in his eyes.
“That is none of your concern.”
“No, if he’s a rebel, that makes him the enemy, doesn’t it? Know your enemy and know yourself, and you’ll win every battle. What’s the problem with an Ability Bureau Guide wanting to look at some information about the leader of the rebels?”
At Yihyun’s glib response, a deep crease formed between Baek Seungho’s brows. He had received the attending physician’s report, but the Baek Yihyun standing before him now gave off an entirely different air, as though more than his memories had disappeared—as though his very soul had been completely replaced. Where had this weak illegitimate bastard, who used to hang his head and cower pathetically, learned to look at him with such arrogance?
Baek Seungho pushed his chair back and slowly rose. He strode toward Yihyun, roughly seized his chin, and spoke in a low voice.
“Since when have you been so interested in the Ability Bureau’s affairs? You used to tremble in fear at the mere sight of an Esper. It seems coming back from the dead made you lose your sense of fear.”
His breath, tainted with the acrid stench of cigarettes, brushed unpleasantly against Yihyun.
“Don’t misunderstand your position. The reason you’re still alive and living comfortably in that penthouse isn’t because you’re my son. It’s only because you happen to be an S-Rank Guide. So stop talking back and do as you’re told. Keep your head down, live as though you don’t exist, and crawl out only when I call for you so you can prove your worth. That is the only reason you exist. Get out.”
It was a blatant dismissal and a threat.
Deciding that asking anything more would only be a waste of breath, Yihyun raised his chin and slapped Baek Seungho’s hand away.
“Prove my worth…. Look forward to it. I’ll make sure to prove it beyond any doubt.”
Yihyun turned away without hesitation. He heard Baek Seungho’s derisive laugh behind him but ignored it.
‘Live quietly? That’s what you want.’
After leaving the office, Yihyun’s eyes turned cold. The fact that the Ability Bureau Director reacted so sensitively and went to such lengths to hide information was more than enough reason to suspect some filthy dealings between the Ability Bureau and Han Taeyun’s fall—or at the very least, some shameful secret they desperately wanted buried.
And then there was what Baek Seungho had said about keeping him alive because he was an S-Rank Guide. Ironically, that meant Yihyun must be one hell of a Guide. From what he had checked on the internal network earlier, his access privileges were fairly extensive as well. If he used them properly, it seemed entirely possible that he could gain access to the Ability Bureau’s classified information.
‘I guess I’ll have to ask people.’
The Director might have kept his mouth shut, but the Ability Bureau was full of people with mouths of their own. The Guide Wing in particular was a gathering place for information. Guides who touched the minds of Espers shared their deepest inner selves. There had to be at least one Guide who knew why Han Taeyun had gone mad over the past five years and what the Ability Bureau had done in the process.
‘I’ll take over the Guide Wing first.’
Yihyun strode toward the Guide Wing without hesitation.
***
He needed to immediately start getting close to the people working in the Guide Wing and fill in the five-year gap in his knowledge, but in reality, he found himself blocked by the workload right in front of him. Yihyun scrolled through the day’s guiding assignments displayed on his tablet.
‘I can’t believe I’m stuck cleaning up after these bastards instead of smashing monster skulls.’
He was clutching at his hair in anguish over the crushing sense of reality when the door flew open with a rough kick utterly devoid of manners.
The man who entered was Go Cheolsu, the A-Rank fire-type Esper Yihyun had seen on the list.
The instant Yihyun matched the face and name on the tablet screen with the bastard walking into the room, fire sparked in his eyes.
One of the disgusting messages he had seen on Baek Yihyun’s phone.
[There’s a whole line of guys waiting to fuck you. Crawl your ass over to the Ability Bureau tomorrow.]
The sender of that message had just walked in here on his own two feet.
“Hey, Baek Yihyun. Heard you caused one hell of a scene in the lobby today. You came back from the dead, but are the drugs still fucking with your head?”
Go Cheolsu strode inside with a vile grin.
Instead of answering, Yihyun examined the status window displayed for him on the monitor.