The Association staff member in charge of this raid must have been thinking the same thing, because they approached Joo Seunghyuk and asked,

“Esper Joo Seunghyuk, what brings you here?”

“Support.”

“Sorry?”

“I heard there was a gate raid, so I came to help.” 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“Ah... I see.”

An S-rank Esper was always a welcome addition. There was no reason to stop him when he was volunteering to participate in a national gate subjugation.

Still, the staff member seemed to have one thing on his mind.

“Since this isn’t an officially assigned subjugation for Esper Joo Seunghyuk, even if you participate, it won’t count toward your required national raid quota. Are you still okay with that?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll leave it to you.”

Joo Seunghyuk strode inside. It might have been a B-rank gate, but could he really go in wearing nothing but his school uniform, without any protective gear?

Just then, Joo Seunghyuk turned his head and looked at me.

I must’ve been staring without realizing it. I quickly averted my gaze in surprise, and without any particular reaction, he turned back and entered the gate.

“What? Joo Seunghyuk’s here? Where is he?!”

Kim Seowon came running over in a frenzy. When someone told him that Joo Seunghyuk had already gone into the gate, his face crumpled on the spot.

“Argh! I should’ve stayed! I’m doing the Guiding for Joo Seunghyuk today! Nobody touch him! Seniors, don’t even think about it!”

So that guy had his eyes on Joo Seunghyuk all along...

Joo Seunghyuk had often caused trouble with Guides. Well, it was always him causing the trouble, so calling it a “conflict” might not be entirely accurate.

But even with all the incidents piling up, the number of Guides wanting to pair with Joo Seunghyuk never seemed to dwindle.

Not only was he an S-rank Esper, he was also rich, handsome, and—though I didn’t know for sure—according to some Omega Guides, even his pheromones were incredibly attractive. Some said it was his pheromones that made him so alluring, more than any other trait. In the original novel too, he was very popular.

Of course, just as many Guides avoided him, so there weren’t many who would fight Kim Seowon over the chance to Guide him.

***

A few hours later, the Espers emerged. I’d heard this was a large-scale gate, but the raid had ended much faster than expected.

Was it because Joo Seunghyuk had participated?

I was getting ready to begin the Guiding when I noticed something was off.

“There’s an injured man!”

One of the Espers came rushing out, carrying someone on his back.

“AAAGH!”

The man on his back screamed in agony, unable to bear the pain.

Park Cheoljin...?

He was drenched in blood. His appearance was so gruesome, I didn’t even recognize him at first.

The Association staff hurried to bring potions, and a healing-type Esper rushed over to examine Park Cheoljin.

“Joo Seunghyuk... You bastard! You, you!”

Lying on a cot in the tent, Park Cheoljin screamed in fury at Joo Seunghyuk.

“Esper Joo Seunghyuk, what exactly happened here?”

The staff member in charge questioned him, but Joo Seunghyuk remained calm.

“No idea. I don’t get why someone would blame others for their own incompetence.”

“You son of a bitch, you knew exactly what you were doing! You threw me to the monsters on purpose! AAAGH!”

“Park Cheoljin, calm down! And Joo Seunghyuk, step aside for now!”

An A-rank Esper—apparently the most senior present—stepped in to separate the two and began to explain the situation.

Because it was a large-scale gate, the raid had been conducted in two-person teams. Apparently, Joo Seunghyuk had been ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) paired with Park Cheoljin.

Joo Seunghyuk had gone straight to engage the boss, and Park Cheoljin, left behind, had been attacked by monsters and injured.

“What the hell? He got wrecked because he’s weak, and now he’s blaming Joo Seunghyuk?”

Kim Seowon, overhearing the situation, summed it up in a single sentence.

I hated Kim Seowon, but I had to agree with him on this one. Joo Seunghyuk wasn’t the type to care about his teammates.

He’d probably gone ahead simply to take down the boss. I didn’t think he’d deliberately thrown Park Cheoljin to the monsters like the guy claimed.

The staff in charge seemed to feel the same. If Joo Seunghyuk had physically attacked Park Cheoljin, that would’ve been one thing—but failing to protect him from a monster wasn’t something you could punish.

“We’ll handle Park Cheoljin’s treatment. All other ability users, please proceed with Guiding.”

The staff member moved to get the situation under control. But with all the screaming, it was impossible to begin Guiding.

Only after Park Cheoljin was loaded into an ambulance did the proper Guiding finally begin.

And it was Kim Seowon who ended up assigned to Joo Seunghyuk.

“AAAAAH!!”

Just as things were settling down, another scream echoed through the air.

This time it was Kim Seowon. He had been the first to start Guiding, and now everyone turned toward the noise in shock.

Even the staff member, having just gotten things under control, rushed into the tent at the sound of the scream. When the partition curtain was pulled back, there was Kim Seowon, clutching his hand and writhing on the floor.

“What now?”

The staff member questioned Joo Seunghyuk, this time clearly accusatory. Park Cheoljin might have been an accident, but this was clearly Joo Seunghyuk causing injury.

But Joo Seunghyuk showed not a shred of remorse. His face was cold as he snapped at Kim Seowon.

“If you’re a Guide, then do your job. Don’t shove your filthy body at me.”

He kicked Kim Seowon in the stomach and walked out of the Guiding tent.

From that day forward, Park Cheoljin was forced to retire from being an Esper due to his injuries.

As for Kim Seowon—he had been going around bragging that he was the grandson of the Association President. But it turned out that wasn’t true. Not only was he not the grandson—he wasn’t even a distant relative.

He’d been throwing the Association President’s name around, and even borrowing money under false pretenses.

In the end, he was officially disciplined by the Association and effectively blacklisted from the entire ability-user community.

He had been affiliated with the fifth-largest guild in the country, but the guild terminated his contract following the disciplinary action.

He didn’t retire, though. I ran into him a few times again at the Ability Academy or during national subjugations, but he never picked a fight again. In fact, he avoided me entirely.

Once Kim Seowon went quiet, the whole atmosphere of mocking me for only doing Stage 1 Guiding vanished too. Of course, that didn’t mean all the complaints disappeared, but at least no one insulted me to my face anymore.

Thanks to that, participating in gate raids became a lot easier...

In the end, the events of that day actually helped me. But I never thought of it as thanks to Joo Seunghyuk. Rather, I was so shaken by his violence that I vowed never to get close to him again.

He had barged into a gate uninvited, caused an Esper to retire, and insulted a Guide who liked him.

***

But now that I think about it... could he have come that day for my sake?

The image of Joo Seunghyuk running into the gate in nothing but his school uniform—without even protective gear—lingered in my mind.

I thought I had deviated from the original story. But that was a foolish delusion. Joo Seunghyuk had been watching me the whole time.

He even intercepted the letters between Park Geonwoo and me—probably out of obsession and jealousy...

As I traced each of my memories of him, the cuffs around my wrists and shackles on my ankles tightened. My body moved on its own and locked into place.

Then came the sound of footsteps. Someone was approaching.

The steps stopped, and I heard the sound of a key turning in a lock. The door opened, and there was the distinct sound of a tray being set down.

Was it Joo Seunghyuk?

But the power of submission from Alcantara’s Treasure had frozen me facing the wall opposite the door. I couldn’t move, couldn’t even shift my eyes, couldn’t speak—my tongue was stiff too.

So I couldn’t see who entered. All I could do was listen.

The door shut again, then locked. Footsteps faded into the distance.

Only after the steps were completely gone did the pressure on my limbs release.

Now I could move.

I turned my head. A tray sat in front of the door.

I got off the bed and trudged toward it. Joo Seunghyuk provided me with three meals a day. There were no windows or clocks in the basement, but I could tell the time by when the meals arrived.

It must be Joo Seunghyuk... right?

It had to be. Alcantara’s Treasure could only be activated by the will of its owner. So it had to be him...

When he first shackled my hands and feet, I thought it was going to be that kind of awful but cozy garbage pit. But it wasn’t.

Then I thought maybe he was afraid I’d try to run again. But that wasn’t it either.

He just didn’t want to see me.

He didn’t even want to hear my voice. That’s why he shackled me. That’s why he forced me to face the wall whenever he came in.

Did he really hate the sight of me that much?

Of course he did. I hadn’t just run—I’d taken him to an amusement park and deceived him.

That wasn’t my intention, but from Joo Seunghyuk’s perspective, it was the worst betrayal imaginable.

On the tray were rice, soybean paste stew, bulgogi, kimchi, seasoned vegetables, and tofu side dishes.

It looked good, and it probably tasted good too—but I had no appetite at all.