GTLTGIDES chapter 48

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“Ah, that kid? I heard they held out without undergoing an investigation.”

“What kind of guts is that? Do they have something to rely on?”

“They say the kid’s spoiled. Just thinking about someone like that being the dedicated guide for Special A Team and trying to seduce Junseong… ugh.”

“I was curious too—if they have such a great ability that they can make an Esper go berserk, why haven’t they come forward until now?”

“What do you think? The kid said they had nothing to say even during the investigation.”

“Right? They’ve had an easy life.”

“Must’ve been real devotion. It’s ‘Polwel’ after all.”

“No wonder they’d want to stay there.”

Laughter filled the tent.

…It was unbearable noise.

“Huh? But isn’t that kid… probably under Heewoon’s care right now…?”

Someone belatedly realized who was the guardian of the kid they were talking about.

All eyes turned to me.

Beeeeep…

The tent fell into an awkward silence.

But in my head, the loud ringing that started from someone’s laughter kept, kept echoing.

Thanks to that, the voices that followed—those cursed voices—were drowned out.

The voices of those who remembered too late that I was the guardian of the ‘spoiled kid’ Ye Eunsoo, and were now spitting out excuses that weren’t worth listening to.

I just focused on the ringing in my ears and left the tent with a hardened face, without uttering a single word in response.

I covered my mouth as a wave of nausea surged. It took me a while to calm down enough to speak.

“Ah… I really hate this…”

This is why I didn’t want to be in that tent. Because I knew it would come to this.

The story “The Genius Guide’s Melancholy” is a tale of ruin.

What ruined Ye Eunsoo’s life were the criminal acts committed against him by Jake Polwel, and the three Espers who constantly clashed with and tormented him… but there’s more to it than that.

The prejudice, the shameless finger-pointing, and all the hatred towards a child who had his youth stolen from him as a victim of captivity…

People who couldn’t protect him from being exposed to crime accuse him, saying, “You must have done something wrong,” “You must have given them an opening,” “You must have enjoyed it,” pushing Eunsoo to the edge.

And this to a child who’s already alone in the world…

So… Eunsoo became more closed off, unable to trust anyone, and ended up at odds with the Espers of Special A Team…

“Those damn bastards…”

I despise them so much.

Who the hell do you think you are?

What gives you the right to say those things to Eunsoo?

Eunsoo is just… a naturally gifted, kind, and ordinary child…

He was trapped in a small, narrow world at such a young age, afraid to step out into the wider world because he hadn’t experienced it yet…

And when he finally comes out into the world, the only people he meets are trash like them…

I covered my mouth with both hands again.

“Ugh…”

In the end, I couldn’t hold it in and vomited in the flower bed, not even having time to reach the nearby bathroom.

The only saving grace, if any, is that I hadn’t eaten much, so I only brought up bile.

My throat burned, but what hurt even more was my heart. It was hard to breathe.

I clutched my chest and collapsed.

I want to see Eunsoo. I want to be by his side.

I want to see him smile.

I want to tell him that he’s never alone.

“Ha… ha…”

But my legs wouldn’t move.

I couldn’t get up. My body felt too heavy.

In the end, I gave up trying to stand and sat leaning against a tree.

I tried to steady my breathing, but it wasn’t easy.

‘I don’t want Eunsoo to be hurt, so I can’t tell him I’m sick…’

I wasn’t thinking straight.

If I knew it would get this bad, I wouldn’t have eaten.

I shouldn’t have been greedy.

The child almost lost his powers because of the shock that I nearly died because of what he did…

This is the worst.

“Hello. Excuse me. Can you look at me for a moment?”

I was pretending to be okay, trying to keep my eyes closed, thinking that the last thing I wanted was to go to the hospital, when I heard a voice speaking in clumsy Korean.

When I opened my eyes, a woman was looking at me.

Then she suddenly grabbed my hand.

“What the… Ah…?”

“You feel better now, right?”

I was about to snap at her for the sudden contact, but I quickly realized her intent.

A refreshing energy flowed through from where she held my hand, and my body felt astonishingly light.

It was the first time I’d felt this light since I became Yang Heewoon.

I stood up.

The heaviness that made breathing hard just moments ago felt like a dream, as I easily lifted my body.

After a moment of stunned silence, I finally managed to speak.

“Uh… Thank you.”

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” she said with a satisfied smile.

After vigorously shaking my hand, she left as if her task was complete.

“Thank you so much!”

I called after her retreating figure.

Seeing her wave back with a warm smile made my heart feel at ease.

Healers who willingly use their abilities for others are rare.

Their powers are usually traded for enormous sums of money.

But for someone to use their abilities on a complete stranger they met on the street…

However, a sudden doubt crept into my mind.

If someone could rejuvenate my weak body with just a brief touch, they must be at least an A-rank, maybe even an S-rank Esper.

‘Is there such an incredible healing Esper in our country?’

I would know if there were.

Healing Espers are all big stars.

Even someone like me, who generally has no interest in others, knows a lot about them because of my condition.

But the woman who just helped me didn’t exist in my memory at all.

She wasn’t even Korean… With blond hair like Jake’s… and a striking resemblance…

“Oh.”

As soon as the suspicion arose, I began to walk.

One step, two steps, my pace quickening with each as a sense of unease gripped my heart.

And when I saw her meeting with an elderly woman, I quickly covered my mouth and hid.

‘No way…’

My heart was pounding again, but this time it wasn’t due to health issues—it was from the shock of what I had just witnessed.

The healer Esper wasn’t the real surprise.

Sure, she was impressive as an S-rank Esper, but she wasn’t a particularly significant character in the novel “The Genius Guide’s Melancholy”.

The real issue was the woman beside her, the one she was assisting.

‘Why is she here in our country?’

An elderly woman with snow-white hair dulled by time, a wrinkled face, and a frail figure, yet with an air of dignity that hadn’t bent with age.

At first glance, she might just seem like a wealthy foreign tourist.

But I knew who she was.

The owner of the “Insight that Sees Through the Essence.”

The head of the Polwel family and Jake’s great-grandmother.

Elizabeth Polwel.

The only S-rank prophecy-type Esper in “The Genius Guide’s Melancholy”.

She was the one who founded the current Esper family “Polwel” and remained at the center of all its influence.

Despite her enormous influence worldwide, she didn’t engage in much public activity.

Probably because her ability to see the future made her an easy target.

Even before Jake Polwel was born, he had already withdrawn from public life, erasing all traces of himself from the world.

So now, decades later, the information known about “Elizabeth Polwel” is very limited.

An elderly woman, the head of the Polwel family, and her golden eyes that shine due to her ability to “Insight that Sees Through the Essence.”

Aside from those three points, she’s shrouded in secrecy.

‘Why on earth would such a person come to Korea…?’

In the original story, Elizabeth Polwel did get involved in the situation in Korea, where Eunsoo was active.

But that was much later.

Even though this is a time before the main storyline begins, there’s no way he would have entered Korea at this point.

‘Things have gone awry…’

The story has taken a significant detour.

How did this happen?

My goals weren’t that grand.

All I wanted was to guide three Espers to avoid taking the regretful route as they did in the original story.

And to make Eunsoo’s time as a minor a bit happier.

I wasn’t doing anything that would drastically affect the world.

But things are going wrong. Something major is amiss.

‘Maybe it’s inevitable, since the protagonist gets involved no matter how trivial my actions are…’

Indeed, a major incident has already occurred due to my intervention.

Eunsoo has lost his ability.

But unlike that, this situation isn’t something that can be easily overlooked.

While I can’t be certain what Elizabeth Polwel’s involvement means yet, it suggests that the entire world might be diverging significantly from the original story.

I hope this change will be positive for Eunsoo, but…

“…Un.”

‘I can’t shake this ominous feeling…’

“Yang Heewoon.”

“Oh.”

I snapped back to reality.

Right. I wasn’t alone.

I turned my gaze toward the man who had called my name—Cha Junseong.

Cha Junseong furrowed his brow as he asked me, “What are you thinking about so deeply?”

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