I want to be your guide Chapter 1- Prologue

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The peaceful street turned into chaos in an instant.

Tall buildings collapsed, the ground split open, and the delayed sound of sirens filled the city.

“An attack has occurred. Citizens are advised to evacuate to a safe place immediately. An attack has occurred. Citizens are advised to evacuate to a safe place immediately…”

Amid the cloud of dust, people screamed.

Jungyun, waving his hands blindly in the air due to the poor visibility, called out to anyone who might be there.

“Is anyone there? Someone’s hurt! Is anyone―ugh!”

Every step he took sent pain shooting through his ankle. He must have twisted it when he fell, startled by the explosion.

He needed to find safety to avoid being caught in another attack, but his injured ankle made it impossible to move quickly.

“Citizens are advised to evacuate to a safe place immediately…”

“Ugh!”

With a piercing noise, the broadcast stopped, and the dust that had filled the air magically cleared away in an instant.

Lowering his hand, which had been groping through the air, Jungyun took in the clear view of the ruins before him.

This place was hell.

“Aaah!!”

A scream of agony came from somewhere. Jungyun quickly turned around. A man, whose hands were stained with blood, had just casually crushed someone’s head.

Around the man’s neck, there was no choker that an Esper should have been wearing.

He was an unregistered Esper.

The perpetrator of the attack, a madman driven to murder.

He had to run. If he stayed here and the man saw him, he would end up just like that.

However, despite his urgent thoughts, his terrified legs refused to move.

Clatter.

“Ah…”

As soon as he took a step, a rock hit by his shoe rolled away.

The screams that had echoed through the ruins were suddenly gone, leaving the surroundings eerily quiet.

The sound of the rock falling was deafening in the silence.

“Well, well, looks like we have a little rat.”

The man noticed Jungyun. A sinister smile appeared on his once indifferent face. His moving lips seemed to say, ‘Stay there.’

The man was getting closer, but Jungyun’s body was frozen with fear, unable to flee.

He’d always thought that protagonists in horror movies who couldn’t run from killers were foolish, but now he understood that in the face of extreme fear, his body wouldn’t respond.

‘Please… just move.’

He pounded his legs with his fists, but until the man was right in front of him, Jungyun couldn’t take a single step.

In that moment, he had to face the man.

“P-please, please―.”

His trembling lips couldn’t even properly form a plea for mercy.

The man looked down at Jungyun, who had collapsed to the ground, and pulled his hand from his pocket.

“Did you enjoy watching secretly?”

The man wiped the sticky blood off his hands onto Jungyun’s head and laughed, baring his teeth.

Jungyun shook his head desperately. Who could enjoy watching a murder? Only a madman would.

“Well, since I gave you a good show, it’s time to pay up.”

At the mention of payment, Jungyun quickly rummaged through his pockets and pulled out his wallet.

With shaking hands, he offered all the crumpled bills he had to the man.

Two 10,000 won (around 7 USD) bills and three (around 0.70 USD) 1,000 won bills—a meserable sum.

“If… if you need more money, I-I’ll go get more…”

His voice wavered so much that he couldn’t finish his sentence. The man, upon seeing the money Jungyun held out, suddenly threw his head back and laughed hysterically.

“Ah, is this you trying to pay?”

Wiping the tears from his eyes, the man took the money from Jungyun.

Just as hope began to rise that he might survive, the man stopped laughing and cruelly crumpled the bills.

“…Shit, are you messing with me?”

The moment he saw the bulging veins on the man’s forehead, Jungyun thought he was truly going to die.

He instinctively knew that he would soon be as crumpled as those discarded bills, and he shut his eyes tightly.

“Aagh!!!”

At that moment, a scream rang out. It was not Jungyun’s voice echoing through the ruins.

Opening his eyes cautiously, Jungyun saw the man clutching his grotesquely twisted hand in agony.

What on earth had happened?

A large hand gently rested on Jungyun’s shoulder, still bewildered by the chaos.

“Don’t be afraid.”

At the tender whisper that could melt his ears, Jungyun slowly nodded. The surroundings remained silent.

In this place, there were only him, the man, and the boy who had suddenly appeared.

Following the boy’s instructions, Jungyun calmed his trembling body and looked straight ahead. The boy patted Jungyun’s shoulder, praising him for doing well.

The comforting warmth faded as the boy stepped forward, asking,

“Would you mind staying behind me for a moment, hyung?”

Despite his youthful voice, the boy was a head taller than Jungyun.

Trusting the boy’s reassuring figure, Jungyun obediently stepped back.

The boy hid Jungyun from the man’s view. Jungyun saw the boy’s back, protecting him. Tall stature, broad shoulders, and a black choker around his neck.

A government-affiliated Esper.

“You son of a bitch!”

The man, still writhing in pain from his mangled hand, charged at the boy. But the boy, who had been watching the scene, simply raised his hand toward the man and lightly clenched his fist.

With a pop, a sound like an explosion, blood sprayed in all directions. The man who had been rushing forward vanished with absurd ease.

“Ah…”

Jungyun wanted to confirm the situation, but the boy stood blocking his view, refusing to step aside.

The boy slowly turned to Jungyun. The dust cleared, and a shaft of light from the sky illuminated the boy, who was smiling brightly.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

His charming smile was so captivating that it made Jungyun forget the life-threatening danger he had just faced, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

No one could dislike a hero who appears like in a movie at the moment of crisis, but this was more than that.

“Shall we head to a safe place now?”

Collapsed buildings, silent ruins, blood splattered everywhere.

His mind, once filled with fear, had already shifted emotions. Jungyun raised his trembling hand and clutched his dirt-stained shirt.

This was the beginning of a deep infatuation that would linger for years.

(I used the boy to indicate the other man.)