* * *
The storm obscured everything, but the sounds of violent collisions echoed continuously—like massive objects slamming into each other.
Then, Yeonwoo’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He kept his gaze fixed on the source of the noise, waiting.
Slowly, the mist began to clear.
Kiwoo stood with one hand blocking the golem’s enormous fist.
His arm, now grotesquely swollen with bulging veins, was a stark contrast to before.
It was clear he possessed a power specialized in physical enhancement.
Behind Kiwoo, Jaerim launched into the air.
In an instant, he was above the golem’s head, raising his sword.
As orange light erupted from the blade, he drove it straight into the back of the golem’s neck.
CRACK!
The hardened skin split as the sword struck true.
The golem’s crimson eyes dimmed slightly—its health had dropped, but only by a fraction.
“Tch. That’s all the damage we did?”
“This is gonna be annoying.”
They dodged the golem’s sweeping fists, muttering in frustration.
“Hey. Kiwoo. That rock-headed bastard’s definitely the boss, right?”
“It’d be weirder if it wasn’t.”
“Why the hell did I have to get stuck here with you of all people?”
“Likewise.”
They both grimaced as the golem prepared another attack.
“Kiwoo, what’s your corruption level at now?”
“63. No, 64. You?”
“Just hit 61.”
Without proper guidance from Koo Seojin, their levels were higher than usual.
To get them back under 50%, Seojin would need to guide them nonstop for two full days.
They’d brought plenty of high-grade stabilizing meds as a precaution, but if things went wrong, they could still end up in serious danger.
Even targeting the golem’s weak spot had barely made a dent in its health.
“If we screw this up, we’re fucked.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Kiwoo’s gaze shifted to Yeonwoo, who was struggling to stay upright inside the barrier.
His skin was flushed an even deeper red than before—he looked on the verge of passing out from fever.
Kiwoo’s brow furrowed slightly.
The situation was already precarious, and now their guide was barely hanging on. It was beyond frustrating.
“The wild rabbit looks worse than before.”
“Flying squirrel?”
CRASH, THUD!
The two men dodged the Golem’s fist, leaping into the air before landing smoothly, their eyes flickering toward Go Yeonwoo behind the barrier.
“Tch, damn it. Of all the fucking times for this to happen.”
Park Jaerim kept glancing at Yeonwoo, visibly distracted.
Even in a situation where they could barely afford to lose focus on the Golem, his attention kept drifting.
That’s how bad Yeonwoo looked right now.
Now sprawled on the ground, Yeonwoo was panting heavily, his breaths ragged.
Jaerim irritably ran a hand through his hair.
“Well, at this point, there’s only one way.”
“We finish this as fast as possible, right?”
“Obviously, you idiot.”
“For once, I agree.”
Faster than ever before, they reached a consensus and immediately unleashed their abilities at full power. Soon, massive waves of energy, each a different color, erupted from their bodies.
“Ghk—kuh! P-please… spare—!”
“You useless piece of shit! You had one fucking job—watching the damn house—and you let this happen?! You wanna die, huh?!”
Kim Sungchan dangled in the air, his collar gripped in Kang Taewon’s furious grasp as he flailed helplessly.
Shin Heesung bit his lip, his face tense.
“My fucking house… with those bastards—”
He paced in circles, gnawing at his nails.
Meanwhile, Lee Dohoon and Han Jihyuk were scanning the area with other espers, trying to assess the situation.
Like Taewon and Heesung, they didn’t look good either.
Dohoon’s expression was eerily stiff, and Jihyuk kept clenching his fists.
Just hours ago, the warmth of Yeonwoo’s body had been real in their hands—now it felt like a mirage.
Suppressing his agitation, Jihyuk glared at the patch of ground where Yeonwoo had been dragged under.
The smooth, unmarked earth mocked him, showing no trace of what had happened.
Then, Dohoon approached, shaking his head.
“Still no traces. Even the detection specialists can’t pick up anything.”
Jihyuk didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His mind was a storm of thoughts.
Why did it have to be Park Jaerim and Seok Kiwoo?
Why did this happen the moment those bastards got close to Yeonwoo?
It made no sense—like some sick joke orchestrated by an unseen hand.
If they’d been forcibly dragged underground, this wasn’t normal.
At least with those two around, Yeonwoo’s life was probably safe.
But that was the only reassurance.
What gnawed at Jihyuk wasn’t Yeonwoo’s physical state—it was the fact that Jaerim and Kiwoo were with him.
This wasn’t an ordinary situation. From the start, this gate had been abnormal—its attributes unreadable even before they entered.
And now, inside this rare desert-type gate, two S-class espers and Yeonwoo had been snatched away.
No—correction. Based on Sungchan’s account, only the two S-classs had been forcibly taken.
Yeonwoo had already been in Kiwoo’s arms before it happened.
“Tch…”
Jihyuk’s mood darkened further, disgusted by every detail he’d heard.
The whole situation was fucked up.
A suffocating pressure seeped from him, weighing down the air.
Normally the most emotionally controlled in the team, Jihyuk had struggled to keep his cool ever since Yeonwoo came into the picture.
Even his steady breaths were turning uneven.
Until now, he’d managed to hold it together, keeping his composure.
But his emotions were spiraling, fraying his nerves dangerously.
Two S-class espers and one guide—a guide who, even with dozens of items, could barely suppress his guiding energy, let alone be properly measured.
This was a ticking time bomb.
Yeonwoo’s unstable guiding energy could explode at any moment.
Even with high-grade items, there was no guarantee of safety.
And if—in the worst-case scenario—they’d been dropped where the boss monster spawned?
If the two struggled more than expected, Yeonwoo’s body would instinctively react.
Yeonwoo was a guide optimized for espers.
The slightest instability in an esper’s condition triggered an immediate response from his guiding energy.
Jihyuk and the others had experienced it countless times.
That’s what made this worse.
Once Park Jaerim and Seok Kiwoo tasted Yeonwoo’s guiding energy properly, there was no way they’d stay sane.
Especially when compared to their original guide, Koo Seojin—the contrast alone would drive them mad.
Jihyuk unclenched his fist. He’d been gripping it so hard that his palm bled.
A hallucination flashed before him—Yeonwoo spreading his legs, taking their cocks inside him.
A cold fury surged.
Jihyuk shut his eyes tightly.
Behind him, the dark desert sky slowly began to lighten.
“Ha, fuck……”
“……Hoo.”
Park Jaerim and Seok Kiwoo both let out heavy breaths.
There was a specific reason why they, as S-class Espers, were struggling so much.
It wasn’t because of the Golem they had assumed was the boss monster.
The two stared at the boss monster that looked like a human-shaped Egyptian king.
It had been fine to destroy the Golem quickly using maximum output.
Because of that, their runaway levels rose rapidly, but it wasn’t meaningless.
Now that they had killed the boss monster, they believed they could escape this place.
However, an unexpected variable occurred.
The corpse of the completely dead Golem suddenly floated up and was placed on a black altar.
Then, a black light spread from the altar, and the Golem’s corpse disappeared in an instant.
What appeared after that was a monster that looked like the master of this temple.
It held a staff, wore a cloak, and even had a crown. In that moment, they realized the previous Golem was just an underdog, and the monster appearing now was the real deal.
Park Jaerim and Seok Kiwoo thought at the same time: ‘We are totally fucked.’
They had prayed it wouldn’t happen, but the worst-case scenario had occurred.
They thought of Koo Seojin, who would be in America.
While they were stuck in this shitty situation, that Guide—who thought of them as less than passing bugs—would be spending his time leisurely.
Fucking Koo Seojin.
* * *
