* * *

“What the hell is this…?”

I blinked blankly at the scene unfolding before me.

My gaze was glued to the unmoving man lying in a pool of blood beneath me, his body lifeless and still, as crimson dripped from the blade in my trembling hand.

It was as if someone had struck the back of my head with a hammer.

The devastation around me—scorched earth, ruins—was nothing like the reality I knew.

Everything felt utterly alien.

‘…I was definitely in bed before I fell asleep.’

I couldn’t possibly be sleepwalking.

None of my previous partners had ever mentioned such a thing.

Even on nights when we didn’t do it, I’d always woken up in the same place where I’d fallen asleep.

‘So I’m not crazy, at least.’

I took another look around.

The crumbling buildings, gaping holes in the ground, and columns of black smoke rising everywhere made it clear this was far from a normal situation.

But that wasn’t the problem.

The real problem lay with the man beneath me—the man who, by all appearances, I had killed.

He lay motionless, surrounded by a pool of blood.

The pungent scent of iron filled the air, sharp enough to cause a headache.

I needed to get out of here before figuring anything else out.

I needed to, but my feet wouldn’t move.

My gaze slowly dropped to my trembling hands, and that’s when I noticed it.

My skin—it looked paler.

Much paler than it should’ve been.

“What… is this…?”

A jarring realization hit me like a slap.

My skin wasn’t just pale—it was unnaturally smooth, devoid of every familiar mark: the small mole on my right wrist, the scar on my finger from an old accident.

Everything was gone.

I frantically examined myself.

My body, even through my clothes, felt lean but muscular—a far cry from the slender frame I used to have.

‘What the hell happened to me?’

The headache pounding in my temples doubled in intensity.

As I pressed my fingers to my forehead, trying to steady myself, a deafening noise made me snap my head up.

KIIIIAAAAAHHHK!

My eyes widened at the sight.

In the distance, an enormous, grotesque creature—something that looked like a hybrid of a pterosaur and a gorilla—was roaring as it rampaged through the sky, engaged in a fierce battle with… someone.

‘Someone?’

I focused on the scene, and to my shock, my vision sharpened, expanding unnaturally.

That’s when I saw them—small, human-like figures floating near the creature.

And those figures… they were people.

People hovering in midair without any visible support.

The sight was just as surreal as the monster itself.

‘Wait. This… feels familiar.’

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me.

It wasn’t something I’d seen with my eyes, but a memory stirred in my mind—vivid, as though it were something I knew intimately.

Just as I was about to grasp it, the situation shifted.

The creature in the sky plummeted to the ground.

BOOM!

The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, making the ground beneath me tremble.

I staggered, struggling to stay upright, when a sudden, suffocating presence made me gasp.

Before I could react, a hand clamped around my throat, yanking me off balance.

The speed of it all was disorienting—so fast I hadn’t even seen him move.

“Guh…!”

“How dare you… you worthless insect. How dare you touch Woo Jiyoo…!”

“Let… go of me…!”

“I’ll kill you. Rip you apart, piece by piece.”

The man holding me by the throat pinned me to the ground, his eyes burning with an intense, fiery blue.

His presence radiated murderous intent, sharp enough to cut.

And yet… something about him felt eerily familiar.

‘Wait. This is just like… before using their abilities. Hold on.’

My scattered thoughts froze, and I stared at him.

He was utterly distinct—silver hair, piercing blue eyes.

That’s when it hit me. I knew who he was.

A while back, after finishing a session with one of my partners, I’d wandered into their study, looking to kill time.

My eyes had fallen on a strange book—one with a blank cover.

Curiosity had led me to open it, and the story had drawn me in more than I’d expected.

The setting was a world called Guideverse, where people were divided into three groups: Espers, Guides, and ordinary humans.

Espers possessed superhuman abilities, while Guides helped Espers manage the side effects of their powers.

At first, I hadn’t realized it, but the story was actually BL—dark and angst-filled, a genre I wasn’t unfamiliar with but hadn’t expected.

The protagonist—more accurately, the main uke—was Woo Jiyoo, an A-grade Guide.

In this world, Guides were rare, making him exceptionally valuable.

Unlike the plentiful Espers, Guides were scarce, and the reasons for this were unknown.

Jiyoo had not one but four designated Espers—each an S-grade, the highest rank, and all equally obsessive.

They were unrelenting in their pursuit of him, to the point that Jiyoo suffered from depression but had no way to escape them.

At some point, an A-grade Esper named Go Yeonwoo, the story’s villain, extended a helping hand.

But in truth,Yeonwoo was planning to kill Jiyoo.

The story ended in tragedy: Jiyoo died atYeonwoo’s hands, and Yeonwoo was subsequently killed by the four Espers.

The ending had left a sour taste in my mouth, and I’d pushed it out of my mind since.

But now… now it was all coming back.

“Jiyoo… No, you’re not Jiyoo, right? Tell me you’re not.”

“Goddammit, Woo Jiyoo! Wake up! Wake up!”

“…This can’t be real.”

I turned my head, noticing three other men approaching, each matching the descriptions from the novel.

Jiyoo’s four Espers… they were all here.

The realization crashed over me like a tidal wave.

Somehow, impossibly, I had become Go Yeonwoo.

And I was going to die.

The proof was in the hands wrapped around my neck.

Blue energy surged from the man restraining me, its oppressive force driving bile up my throat.

“Guh… kuh…!”

The dizzying sensation twisted through my body, spinning my head into a chaotic whirl.

No—something scorching seemed to surge up from deep within my chest.

I couldn’t make sense of it.

This overwhelming shift within me left me in utter confusion.

My mind was unable to grasp onto anything solid, and I was completely disoriented.

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I caught a glimpse of the other three Espers rushing toward me, their intent murderous.

But before I could focus on them, my vision turned stark white, blinding me to everything else.

All that reached me were scattered voices echoing in my ears.

“Gasp—what the hell is this wavelength…?”

“This bastard… is a Guide? How can an Esper emit Guide wavelengths…?”

“I’ve never felt anything like this wavelength before…”

“This is beyond A-class—it has to be S-class. Nothing else could explain it…”

The voices, fragmented and jumbled, carried tones of disbelief, tinged with a sharp, murderous edge.

Then, silence.

For a moment, all I could hear was faint breathing. Just as the tension was about to snap, a voice broke through the quiet, clear and sinister.

“This bastard… let’s take him and make him our toy. Killing him would be too easy—it wouldn’t be punishment enough. Even Woo Jiyoo wouldn’t want that.”

“I agree.”

“Let’s make him regret ever killing Woo Jiyoo.”

“A toy, huh…? Yeah, that works for me.”

“We’ll make him beg for death by the time we’re done.”

Those final chilling words marked the last thing I heard before my consciousness gave way completely.

Darkness consumed me.

* * *