* * *
“…Enough!”
Seo Jaewon shoved Joo Youngha’s face away, hard.
That nonsense about “mine” or “yours” wasn’t even worth replying to. People aren’t property!
Joo Youngha looked vaguely dissatisfied but obediently backed off.
Seo Jaewon let out a deep sigh and started pulling the situation back together.
“Anyway, from now on, our team is not using powers outside the dungeon for no reason! …Sir.”
He barely managed to add the honorific in time.
“Joo Youngha, release Esper Ji Myunghoon, too.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ji Myunghoon staggered unsteadily—the invisible force that had been holding him vanished.
“Uhh…?”
Even after being freed, Ji Myunghoon still looked dazed with fear.
His eyes followed Joo Youngha’s every move, flinching at the slightest gesture.
Joo Youngha glanced at him but quickly looked away, back to his usual indifference.
“Anyone who’s packed their gear, head to the comms team and help carry supplies. The car just arrived.”
“Okay.”
“Ugh, grunt work again…”
The other team members, who’d been tensely watching the situation, finally relaxed and wandered off toward the comms team.
It seemed they hadn’t realized how close they came to real danger.
Ji Myunghoon hurried to follow them, almost tripping over himself.
Whether or not he’d packed everything, he clearly just wanted to get away from Joo Youngha.
Well, at least he was cooperating now.
Seo Jaewon needed to get ready for the mission, too.
First, he dealt with Joo Youngha.
“You. Sit over there. Don’t take off your gear or mess with anything.”
At Seo Jaewon’s warning, Joo Youngha quietly lowered the hand that had been tugging at the zipper on his neck.
Leaving him be, Jaewon moved quickly.
He pulled on his heavy bulletproof vest, slid tools into place, and made sure everything was working properly.
As his body moved through familiar motions, the heightened tension slowly settled.
The sharp, dangerous air around them mellowed into something warmer and damp—closer to normal.
‘Looks like we avoided the worst… somehow.’
Nearby, a field agent carefully stepped around Ji Myunghoon to tidy up some cables.
Seo Jaewon walked over to help.
“Need a hand?”
“Eek!”
The moment he stepped closer, Ji Myunghoon practically leapt away.
‘Was that really necessary…?’
Somehow, he felt lumped together with Joo Youngha, treated like another ticking time bomb.
It wasn’t a great feeling.
‘I’m the one who helped you, for god’s sake…’
But arguing would just make him look petty, so he let it slide.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Seo Jaewon stepped up to the gate.
“Seo Jaewon, Esp—no, Guide—entering the dungeon.”
His vision wavered slightly, followed by a brief sensation of falling.
It was the familiar spatial distortion of dungeon entry.
Dungeon interiors often mimicked their emergence point.
Not always, but often enough that it helped Espers prepare.
Familiarity gave an edge.
Thankfully, this dungeon had followed that trend.
It resembled the actual ‘The Mirae’ Department Store quite closely.
Granted, the ankle-deep water and overgrown foliage were unusual for a shopping mall.
“Huh. Pretty standard.”
Hwi Sara mumbled with a deadpan face.
Behind her, Ji Myunghoon and Hwi Saul splashed in after her, both looking miserable.
“Looks like the year 2050 version of Deo Mirae.”
“What, humanity already went extinct, Sara?”
Ignoring the siblings’ pointless banter, Seo Jaewon scanned the area.
The inside of the mall had transformed into a swamp.
Beneath sleek white pillars, water and soft mud spread across the floor, and tall grass brushed against their legs with each step.
Trees with a strange metallic teal hue formed a jungle-like canopy, dotted with exotic flowers and leaves.
Lights flickered as in a real department store, but most were obscured by foliage and structures, leaving the place dim.
“Think this is the first floor?”
Guide Min Yoomin looked around and asked.
“How would you even tell?”
When Seo Jaewon blinked in confusion, Min Yoomin raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve never been to Deo Mirae?”
“Nope.”
“Well, it feels like a department store’s first floor.”
Does it?
Seo Jaewon glanced around, unsure.
What did a first floor even feel like?
Even in his past life, he’d hardly ever gone to department stores.
Thanks to the open atrium design, the upper floors were visible from below, which made it easier to guess where they were.
There were four winding, layered tiers stacked like a multi-tiered cake.
“This kind of structure just makes you nervous.”
For one, there were too many blind spots in his field of vision—including overhead.
It was easy for monsters to hide among the trees and bushes.
The water made the ground unstable and limited their mobility.
Walking through such a place without any abilities only heightened his unease.
He found himself missing his Esper powers more than ever.
His powers had felt like an extension of his own body.
Without them, everything—from combat ability to the smallest movements—felt off.
It was like losing a limb.
Back in the day, he wouldn’t have even gotten his feet wet.
He could’ve just frozen the surface beneath him.
Maybe his power didn’t have the flashy impact of someone like Ji Myunghoon, who could control fire, but it was incredibly useful when applied with precision.
He’d trained long and hard, and he’d been proud of his skill.
Now, he was just some guy with wet feet.
‘Sigh…’
If he could find any consolation, it was that he wasn’t alone in this discomfort.
Everyone gets wet when they touch water.
Turning his head, he saw his teammates slowly getting drenched in the muddy swamp.
And then, in the midst of it all, was Ju Youngha—his slim waist held straight and proud…
“…?”
Seo Jaewon suddenly sensed something off.
“Youngha.”
“Mm?”
“Did you… grow taller?”
“Jaewon, you say the weirdest things sometimes.”
So not taller?
Then why did his head look so high up?
Jaewon eyed Youngha from top to bottom, suspicious.
Then it hit him.
“…What the hell are you doing?”
Youngha’s feet weren’t sinking into the mud.
He was walking lightly on the surface of the water—using telekinesis to levitate.
And he did it so casually, so shamelessly, as if he were just standing on solid ground.
He even seemed to be surrounded by a thin barrier, because not even the edges of his combat boots were wet.
“It’s dirty.”
Youngha replied with a calm, emotionless tone, not even cracking a smile.
That somehow made it all the more infuriating.
“It’s cheating. That power is just plain cheating…!”
Telekinesis was an extremely convenient ability.
And incredibly annoying…
Jaewon was too dumbfounded to hold back.
“So I can get dirty, but you can’t?”
What happened to all that fuss over a single hair being out of place?
But now you just leave me to drown in mud?
Youngha tilted his head like a confused puppy.
“You looked like you liked making things harder for yourself…”
Then, the corners of his lips curled into a subtle smirk.
The kind that said, “I really don’t get it, but I respect you anyway.”
“……”
Why did his nape suddenly feel cold…?
“99% of my suffering is because of you.”
Jaewon gritted his teeth.
Just thinking about the crap you pulled in your past life keeps me up at night!
“Really? That kind of makes me happy.”
“…?”
Jaewon was speechless.
‘Happy?’
What part of that made you happy?
Youngha looked genuinely pleased, his gem-like eyes sparkling as he gazed down at Jaewon.
There was even a strange hint of affection in his voice.
“But that’s kind of unfair. I’m the one holding back because of you.”
‘Holding back? Ju Youngha?’
Jaewon’s jaw dropped at the shameless claim.
You’re the one who causes trouble.
The one who will cause trouble.
The one who already did cause trouble!
Out of everyone, you’re saying that?
“When have you ever held back?”
“I’m doing it right now.”
There was a flicker of weariness in Youngha’s expression as he said it.
His words dragged Jaewon back into the past.
It felt like the remnants of old memories were layering over his vision.
Endless doors and columns… and Youngha’s hollow, lifeless gaze.
“I’m done with this,” he had said.
Was that really just a mood swing?
A sudden whim?
Back then, Youngha had sounded truly sick of it all.
Could it be… Maybe…
Maybe Youngha had wanted to kill them all from the beginning.
And he’d just been holding it in—waiting for some tipping point.
“……”
His fingertips went cold in an instant.
His breath caught in his throat. His heart felt like it slipped and hit the floor with a thud.
That silly smile, those casually affectionate words—what if they were just meaningless whims?
A way to pass the time?
A bored man playing along?
Youngha could easily kill everyone, like squashing bugs.
All it would take was a shift in mood.
Jaewon wasn’t even sure if this guy saw other people—saw him—as real people.
Maybe he thought of them as nothing more than dumb monkeys, or insects, or meaningless noise…
“Jaewon.”
After a long silence, Youngha leaned down to meet his gaze.
His own reflection distorted in those large, round eyes.
Youngha calmly studied him—but gave away nothing.
* * *
