‘Are you out of your mind, Joo Youngha? You’re not a child, and we’re in the middle of a mission!’
“Comfort you? Forget it, man!”
“You’re my guide, but you’re only cold to me…”
“……”
Well, in terms of age, he was young.
If he counted his past life, there was more than a ten-year gap between them, so it was a bit awkward to get seriously angry at him for acting childish.
“Stop talking nonsense and go do something. Your job is to draw attention.”
Their role today was to keep the shadow people tied to the hunting grounds so that Ji Myunghoon could sneak into the King’s bedroom.
Joo Youngha let out a deep sigh as if he were the one being wronged.
“I’m going to die from overworking because of Jaewon someday.”
If the hardworking Espers of the world heard that, they would all clutch the backs of their necks and faint.
Without a shred of conscience, he continued his slick grumbling.
“But I guess I have no choice… They say the person who likes the other more is the one who loses.”
“No, seriously, what are you talking about!”
The corners of Joo Youngha’s mouth curled up.
“I’ll do as you say. But you have to give me a prize.”
Then, without giving Seo Jaewon a chance to reply, he picked up a bow.
Unlike Seo Jaewon, who took some time to get used to it, he pulled the string a few times and then drew it with a perfect posture as if he had been trained for years.
It was a movement without hesitation.
One might even call it elegant.
The light filtering through the leaves dappled over his sunset-colored eyes.
His clear gaze fixed steadily on the sky for a moment.
And then he shot.
With a sound of tearing air, the arrow flew out refreshingly.
Just when it seemed the arrow would fly forever, it hit a point in the sky.
Black wings fluttered in the wind, and it fell like a stone.
“…!”
The shadows all jerked their heads toward them at once.
Everyone began to look at Joo Youngha, clapping with a chillingly accurate rhythm.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap…
It was a starkly different reaction from when Seo Jaewon had shot.
It seemed he had finally secured the shadows’ undivided attention.
Seo Jaewon couldn’t help but be beyond impressed—he was horrified.
‘How is this possible?’
A guy who had never touched a bow in his life could hit a flying target in the sky immediately?
Moreover, he wasn’t even an Augmentation-type.
Even for an EX-rank, was this possible through physical ability alone?
“They finally look at me when I do this.”
Joo Youngha gave a teasing smile and skillfully urged his horse toward where the prey had fallen.
“…Hey, Joo Youngha! Don’t go off on your own!”
Seo Jaewon hurriedly chased after him, forcing his uncooperative horse to speed up.
The light-colored head disappeared into the dark forest.
After galloping frantically for a while, Seo Jaewon finally managed to catch up to Joo Youngha.
“Pant, pant…! You! I told you not to wander away from me!”
Even stopping the running horse wasn’t easy.
After a short struggle to come to a halt, he finally saw Joo Youngha.
The guy was standing quietly by a stream in the forest, waiting for Seo Jaewon.
He wasn’t even holding the reins, yet the horse stood calmly behind him.
Despite riding at full speed for a considerable distance, Joo Youngha’s face was the definition of peace.
The faint colors that composed him and his straight posture created a strange atmosphere in the shade of the forest.
He looked like a bizarre flower that had sprouted right there, or a marble statue erected a thousand years ago.
At his feet lay a massive shadow bird.
If you added the wingspan, its size would easily exceed a person’s height.
As if the prey was of no concern to him, Joo Youngha looked at Seo Jaewon and smiled brightly.
“Now it’s just the two of us.”
“What?”
Seo Jaewon looked back in confusion.
Now that he heard it, the others had been left so far behind that he couldn’t even hear a sound.
‘Was this on purpose? No, was he the type of guy who could pull a stunt like this?’
“You have to give me my prize now, Jaewon.”
Joo Youngha approached Seo Jaewon without a sound.
In his daze, Seo Jaewon ended up giving one hand to Joo Youngha.
“I never agreed to that—Ack!”
Soft lips touched the back of his hand. Seo Jaewon pulled his hand away in horror.
Joo Youngha looked dejected.
‘Dejected? You?’
“I’m disappointed… You said you’d be nice to me if I listened well. I thought Jaewon didn’t tell lies.”
“What?!”
“You promised. Were you planning to just use me with lies?”
‘The reward you get as an Esper is your salary!’
Before he could give him a proper scolding, Joo Youngha tilted his head and looked up into Seo Jaewon’s face.
Particles of light clung to his gold-thread eyelashes like tiny jewels.
“If you keep acting like this, I might not want to do anything anymore.”
Once again, Joo Youngha’s fingers wrapped around his wrist like a spiderweb.
His sticky touch persistently traced the shape of the wrist bone and veins as if admiring them.
“Uh, what… huh?”
The air felt heavy and humid. It was enough to take his breath away.
Even amidst that, Joo Youngha’s body heat felt vivid next to him.
An unknown tension tightened around his heart.
‘What is this? What is going on?’
Seo Jaewon swallowed hard.
He wanted to pull away, but he felt as though the slightest movement would break the fragile balance and send him falling somewhere.
His skin tingled as if he had a fever from the strange presence Joo Youngha was radiating.
‘No.’
He was going to get swept away at this rate.
He knew it instinctively.
If that happened, his relationship with Joo Youngha could never be the same again.
If that happened, he couldn’t do anything.
Seo Jaewon forced his dry mouth open.
“Stop joking and listen.”
He didn’t know what Joo Youngha was thinking by playing such jokes.
He didn’t know if there was an intention behind the touch on his skin or the seemingly tender gaze, or if even this warmth was just a reflection of confusion.
However, whatever the truth was, one thing remained unchanged…
He could not control Joo Youngha by relying entirely on the man’s mood.
Even the friendship he believed would last a lifetime had ended easily at one of Joo Youngha’s whims.
What about affection? Or lust?
Such emotions meant nothing.
A shallow impulse of the moment had no power.
To Seo Jaewon, this was nothing more than an uncontrollable variable interfering with his plans.
He didn’t need that.
What Seo Jaewon wanted was a secure leash that would never break.
Joo Youngha just laughed lightly.
It was a refreshing attitude, as if he had expected Seo Jaewon’s reaction.
“Man… that doesn’t work anymore.”
‘What?’
The restlessness vanished in an instant.
Seo Jaewon finally couldn’t hold it in and raised his voice.
“Hey! You really—!”
But the rest of his words were swallowed whole.
It was because he locked eyes with a bloodshot eyeball protruding like an egg.
The bloated face of a middle-aged man covered in blood was staring at him with wide, white eyes.
The thing opened its mouth while its neck snapped with a sickening crack behind Joo Youngha’s back.
“Monster, monster, monster!”
It was a scream that sounded terrified.
Yet, the face making the sound was completely expressionless.
It was like a broken tape recorder.
Joo Youngha glanced at the head thrust next to his own.
“Ah—it was still alive…”
With a relaxed gesture devoid of tension, Joo Youngha gently pushed Seo Jaewon back and stood in front of him.
The monster was a bizarre sight, looking like a mix of a human and a bird.
The arrow Joo Youngha had shot was lodged in its neck.
The bird part of its body didn’t look like it was made of shadows; instead, it was stained with something black, sticky, and slimy, as if it had been doused in dark mucus.
It was a form where a human face was attached to the end of a long, snake-like neck extending from the body.
From the bloated face, where the features were almost unrecognizable, only the eyeballs rolled around busily with an ominous vitality.
The thing flapped its wings and spoke again.
“Boss, is it a boss monster? No. Something. Something.”
‘…Boss?!’
Terms like “boss monster” or “core” are just names humans use for convenience.
They aren’t things a monster should know.
‘But how does a monster know?’
Could it have had contact with Team 12?
The creature tilted its head.
The head didn’t stop tilting; it kept going, spinning a full 360 degrees.
The forehead was where the chin should be, and the mouth gaped where the forehead should be.
The monster flapped its wings with stiff movements and its whole body trembled as if having a seizure.
At the same time, the shadows scattered, and for a moment, the feathers clumped into a bizarre shape like a human hand before returning to normal.
“Kill! Kill! Kill it for now! Ack, Esper Kwak Kyungshin!”
Esper Kwak Kyungshin.
Seo Jaewon, who had been momentarily overwhelmed by the grotesque sight, suddenly snapped out of it.
“Do you mean the Teacher?!”
As if reacting to Seo Jaewon’s question, the bird flapped its broken wings and raised its voice.
“Kwak, Kwak, Gyeong, Sin.”
Thump—!
In an instant, a boot crushed the bird’s neck.
Joo Youngha looked down at his foot and said:
“So noisy…”
