PARADOX 7

It was certainly not something that could be done with ordinary courage to stand in front of a rampaging S-grade esper. Gu Jeyi was simply standing still, yet Hanseo’s nervous system was sounding all sorts of warning alarms.

Hanseo barely suppressed the desire to immediately turn around and run away.

“Esper Gu Jeyi, can you hear my voice?”

Instead of an answer, black blood flowed down from Gu Jeyi’s nose. It was a typical symptom of overload.

Right now, Gu Jeyi appeared to be in a standby state right before rampage. The remaining fragment of Gu Jeyi’s reason was holding back the rampaging energy.

But holding onto unstable wavelengths was naturally no ordinary task. If he continued to endure like that, in the worst case he could fall into a brain-dead state.

‘Well, that won’t happen.’

Hanseo, who knew the future, did not worry unnecessarily. Of course, after this incident Gu Jeyi had gone missing for about a month and all sorts of rumors had circulated, but he eventually returned safely.

‘Come to think of it, the first time I saw Gu Jeyi was also during that period when he was missing.’

Anyway, seeing his condition in person made him wonder how on earth Gu Jeyi had not gone into rampage in that state.

Was it possible for an esper to stop the progression of rampage with their own power alone?

‘…If it’s Gu Jeyi, maybe it is.’

Anyway, there was no time to resolve his questions. Now it was his turn to step forward.

“I know you can hear my voice.”

Hanseo spoke in a gentle tone so as not to stimulate Gu Jeyi.

“I’m going to come closer to Esper Gu Jeyi now, so, um, please stay still.”

Knowing that Gu Jeyi still had some reason left, he warned first and then took a step.

One step, and then another.

Fortunately, Gu Jeyi simply looked at him obediently.

Hanseo reached out his hand. His fingertips were trembling.

‘If I can just touch Gu Jeyi like this…’

Kwaang!

“Cooluk!”

For a moment his vision went pitch black and then turned white.

Gu Jeyi had blown him away.

‘That crazy bastard…’

He couldn’t help swearing even if he tried not to. Fortunately his bones didn’t seem broken, but the impact was quite severe.

“Ugh…”

After the shock had somewhat subsided, he leaned against the wall, staggered up, and saw Gu Jeyi still standing in the same place with the same appearance.

‘This is annoying.’

Every time he clashed with Gu Jeyi he thought this, but psychokinesis was truly an irritating ability. The other side didn’t even lift a finger, yet this side always suffered massive damage.

Hanseo glared at Gu Jeyi with narrowed eyes and then swallowed a sigh. What could he do? He was in a position where he had to save that detestable guy somehow.

He spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth.

“Esper Gu Jeyi! Please don’t use your ability. I’m trying to help you!”

He shouted quickly in case Gu Jeyi blew him away again.

“I’m weak. If you use your ability again I’ll die! Then I won’t be able to help Esper Gu Jeyi either! So please! Don’t! Use your ability!”

He didn’t kneel, but this was practically begging.

Whether Hanseo’s shout worked or whether Gu Jeyi was too preoccupied with controlling his own energy, Gu Jeyi allowed Hanseo to approach.

In that way, Hanseo succeeded in getting as close as before.

But something was different from a moment ago. A faint light appeared in Gu Jeyi’s pitch-black, pit-like eyes as he looked at Hanseo.

“Gu, Jeyi Esper?”

At that moment, Hanseo realized.

For the first time since returning to the past, Gu Jeyi was properly recognizing him.

Thump, thump, thump.

What was this sound?

Hanseo, who had been confused by the loud noise, soon realized that the sound was coming from his own left chest. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it would jump out at any moment.

‘Am I this scared of Gu Jeyi?’

Come to think of it, even in his previous life, seeing Gu Jeyi had sometimes triggered this kind of reaction. It must be because the experiences of nearly dying had resurfaced.

Then, Gu Jeyi’s lips moved. Hanseo’s entire nerves focused on that.

Gu Jeyi said to Hanseo.

“…Get lost.”

“…”

At that moment, his wildly thumping heart instantly returned to its normal speed. It seemed he had gotten so angry that he forgot his fear.

‘No, no matter what, what kind of first words are “get lost”? Get lost.’

However, getting angry at an esper who was on the verge of rampage was no different from fanning the flames in a fire. Especially with Gu Jeyi’s personality—if you came on strong, he would push back even harder—so acting weak was easier to handle.

Hanseo carefully opened his mouth.

“I know you’re in pain right now. But it’s okay now. I’ll hel—”

His words were immediately cut off.

“You can’t… do it.”

As if his nose wasn’t enough, black blood now flowed from Gu Jeyi’s eyes as well. No matter how handsome his face was, in this state it only looked eerie.

“…No one.”

Hanseo couldn’t hear exactly what he was muttering, but it seemed his condition was gradually getting worse.

The moment Hanseo urgently reached out, Gu Jeyi dodged to the side. Hanseo’s expression hardened. He realized that Gu Jeyi hadn’t used his ability to dodge, but had only moved his body because he lacked the confidence to control his power.

The light that had lingered in Gu Jeyi’s eyes was fading again. It was a bad sign.

‘Don’t tell me he’s going to rampage here?’

Clearly, in the past, Gu Jeyi had not rampaged at this point. The building had collapsed and he had taken a short break for recovery, but he had been safe anyway.

“I have to… do it…”

Gu Jeyi muttered something, but it was too quiet for Hanseo to hear clearly.

But Hanseo instinctively sensed what he was trying to do.

This crazy bastard!

His actions were faster than his thoughts.

Hanseo grabbed Gu Jeyi’s chin and immediately shoved his fingers into the opened mouth.

“…!”

Sure enough, something touched his fingertips.

He didn’t know exactly what it was, but guessing its identity wasn’t difficult.

‘Poison or a small bomb.’

He knew because in his previous life he had seen many people who carried such things in their mouths for suicide.

‘Is this guy really crazy?’

Only now did he understand how Gu Jeyi had not rampaged in his previous life.

The rampage-imminent Gu Jeyi had attempted suicide.

No matter how strong Gu Jeyi was, he wouldn’t have been fine after swallowing poison or a bomb. He wouldn’t have died, but he would have come close to death.

‘A guy who’s only 21 years old…’

He barely caught the object touching his fingertips with his index and middle fingers to prevent Gu Jeyi from swallowing it.

“Esper Gu Jeyi, you don’t need to do this. I can help you.”

Instead of an answer, Gu Jeyi’s teeth dug painfully into his fingers.

“I am…”

Before he could bite his finger off, Hanseo struck first.

“A guide!”

The guiding energy that Hanseo released poured straight into Gu Jeyi’s body. At the same time, the strength that had seemed about to sever his finger slowly weakened.

Of course, that didn’t make the existing bite disappear, so it still hurt like hell.

‘He didn’t bite it off, right?’

No, even if it had been severed, now that he had started guiding he couldn’t stop here.

“Originally, guiding without the other party’s consent is illegal, but this is an emergency situation so I ask for your understanding.”

“…”

“Then I will proceed with the guiding.”

He reported it late, but since Gu Jeyi didn’t seem to have the presence of mind to properly hear it anyway, it should be fine.

‘More importantly, this seems insufficient.’

Gu Jeyi’s wavelengths were too messed up for it to stabilize easily.

As expected, this level wasn’t enough?

While pondering, Hanseo carefully pulled his fingers out of Gu Jeyi’s mouth. More blood than expected flowed, but fortunately it hadn’t been severed.

‘It was poison.’

Hanseo put the capsule-shaped pill, smaller than a pinky nail, that was between his fingers into his pocket. Then he spoke the words he had been keeping in mind.

“Um, Esper Gu Jeyi. Your current condition is very bad, so simple skin contact alone won’t be enough for guiding. So… I’m going to move to the next stage.”

When he actually tried, Gu Jeyi’s height was too tall. With no choice, Hanseo stood on his tiptoes and at the same time grabbed both of Gu Jeyi’s cheeks to make him lower his head.

He tried to speak calmly, but for some reason his voice trembled.

“Open your mouth.”

“…”

“Don’t refuse. This is treatment.”

Knowing Gu Jeyi’s mysophobia, he said it because he thought he might refuse.

But surprisingly, Gu Jeyi obediently opened his mouth.

‘Gu Jeyi is listening to me.’

It felt strange.

Of course, it was probably because he wasn’t in his right mind.

Still, the fact that he accepted guiding without resistance even in a state without reason… didn’t that mean he had at least some will to live?

‘So…’

Hanseo soothed Gu Jeyi’s wildly rampaging energy as if gently stroking it.

‘Live this time.’

In the past, the reason Gu Jeyi had died was not due to rampage from lack of guiding.

Dozens of casualties occurred due to Gu Jeyi’s rampage.

Out of guilt for that, the 23-year-old Gu Jeyi took his own life.

‘I’ll make sure you live.’

But this time, it wouldn’t end like that.