Guide Me If You Dare-Chapter 153: NOH YIHUN (9)

"YIHUN-AH, I understand what you want to do. However, it’s not easy to deal with those Espers."

"That’s what I’m wondering about, Hyung," Yihun said in response to what Lee Hansol said. "Hyung and Sori-ya look strong to me. I’m sure you could have just taken away the Guides here. You have a secret group that’s willing to rescue them, right?"

"We would have done that if we could," Nam Sori said sternly. "But the Guides here are acting like they have Stockholm Syndrome. They can’t leave this place, saying the Espers need them even though they’re being abused and assaulted. No matter what we say, they insist that their bodies belong to Espers."

"That can’t be right," Yihun said sternly. "Only a small percentage of Espers and Guides could go beyond light skinship. Sexual intercourse is reserved for pairs that exceed 75% compatibility test. Why are the Espers and Guides here engaging in Intimate Guiding Session when they don’t have to?"

As far as Yihun knew, no Esper-Guide in this Danger Zone had the right compatibility rate to engage in sex.

And most Guides here are young!

"That’s why we said the Guides here are acting like they have Stockholm Syndrome," Nam Sori said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Im Sung suspects that it’s because of the pills that the ’Warden’ makes the Guides take before Guiding the Espers here."

"’Warden?’"

"It’s the A-Class Esper who’s practically the boss of this place," Lee Hansol explained. "You’ll meet him later. The Warden took the Espers here to the Center, but they’ll be back soon."

"’Center?’"

Nam Sori answered Yihun’s question: "It’s the place where Espers from different Danger Zones gather and train together."

"Then I can’t wait to meet that Warden," Yihun said through gritted teeth. "Since I’m also a Guide, he’s going to give me that pill, too. Right?"

***

"WELCOME to Danger Zone A11, Yihun-ssi."

"Yes, thank you," Yihun said indifferently to the Warden. "How should I address you, sir?"

To Yihun’s surprise, the Warden wasn’t an old man.

Yes, I finally met him after a week of waiting.

That morning, Yihun was summoned by the Warden.

He was then ushered to a studio apartment in the complex that had been turned into a simple office.

The Warden simply introduced himself as ’Joon.’

This hyung-nim is only in his late twenties, but he looks like he’s been running an evil organization for many years already.

"You can just call me ’hyung-nim,’" Joon said with a creepy smile on his face. "You must be getting bored already since nothing has happened yet. But don’t be too complacent. Many Civilians are afraid of Danger Zones because of how frequent Dungeon Breaks occur here, and their fear is valid."

Right.

Having Dungeon Breaks in the same zone every two weeks was scary, indeed.

Even if the Gates and the dungeon monsters are low-ranked, it’s still frightening to live in such a place.

"That’s why the Espers and Guides here are always on high alert."

Yihun nodded politely, pretending to listen while his mind was elsewhere.

I wonder how to get good at drawing hands.

"So, I always bring our Espers to the Center to train."

I’m getting better at drawing side profiles, so that’s an improvement.

"And we have these pills for Guides."

Oh, finally.

Yihun only paid attention to Joon when the bastard pulled out a vial with pink pills inside. "What are those pills for, Hyung-nim?"

"Ah, you can just think of these pills as vitamins for the Guides," Joon said with a sketchy smile on his face. "Since Guides often have to guide Espers, you could use a little help."

"Are those pills approved by the National Guide Bureau, sir?"

"Of course. We wouldn’t have distributed it to our precious Guides otherwise, right?"

Bullshit.

Even so, Yihun remained stoic as he picked up the vial. "Thank you for this, sir."

"You’re welcome," Joon said, still smiling. "Don’t forget to take one pill every night, Yihun-ssi."

***

"ARE YOU sure you’re going to take the pill, Yihun-ssi?"

Yihun nodded in response to Im Sung’s question.

Right now, Im Sung was in his apartment. Of course, that meant Lee Hansol and Nam Sori were also there.

We kind of became a team now.

"Yes, I have to take this pill to know what exactly it does."

"But I already explained it to you. The pills make me hear a voice in my head that keeps telling me to surrender my body to Espers," Im Sung said, his face turning red as if he was embarrassed. "I’m afraid you might end up hypnotized like my fellow Guides here. I don’t actually know why I’m not affected by the pills, but I can’t say the same for my peers."

"It’s probably because Sung Hyung-nim has a thick Mana," Yihun explained. "It’s almost similar to our class."

"But my Mana only protected me. I can’t use it to save others..."

"It’s alright— I can do it," Yihun said, and then he put the pill in his mouth. "I’m slightly special as a Guide."

He then bit the pill.

As soon as the bitterness hit his taste buds, he felt a disturbance in the flow of his Mana.

And then Yihun heard it.

<"Your body doesn’t belong to you— it belongs to Espers.">

"What the hell are you saying?" Yihun asked coldly, startling Im Sung, Lee Hansol, and Nam Sori. "Guides’ bodies belong to them."

Yihun then controlled the flow of his Mana, guiding it to the "foreign substance" that entered his body— aka the pill.

So, the pill contains a substance similar to an Esper’s corrupted Mana.

That was interesting.

"Hansol Hyung, Sori-ya, have you experienced Rampage before?"

"I haven’t experienced it yet since I rarely use my ability to its full limit," Nam Sori said while shaking her head. "But Oppa did."

"It only happened once, though," Lee Hansol said. "Why are you asking, Yihun-ah?"

"Did you hear a voice in your head during your Rampage, Hyung? I heard Espers who go on a Rampage hear a voice that encourages them to get crazy."

Lee Hansol nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that voice is annoying! Only a Guide’s touch could make it shut up."

Right.

Only a Guide’s touch can stop the Espers from hearing the voice that drives them crazy.

So, maybe a Guide could stop these pills’ effects as well.

When we were taught to move the flow of our Mana to coat our heart and Core with Mana, we’re just essentially using our blood to cover it since the Mana inside our body doesn’t have its own physical form.

In short, a Guide’s Mana was mixed with their blood.

If that was the case, then...

"My blood," Yihun wondered out loud. "I think I can use my blood to guide other Guides."

"A Guide who guides his fellow Guides?" Im Sung asked out loud. "Yihun-ah, what are you?"

Yeah, I wonder about that, too.

Yihun thought maybe E-Class Guides were more special than he expected.

***

IT TOOK Yihun one week to finish it.

I thought I was gonna die from blood loss.

But he was satisfied with the result of his experiment.

Yihun looked at the little red crystal balls in a clean, huge bowl.

The little crystal balls were actually blood crystals.

I used the Crystallization technique that the Lab taught us.

He just had to cut himself and once he bled, he used his ability to turn the blood droplets into little blood crystals.

And these blood crystals contain my Mana.

If the Guides here consumed pills that were similar to an Esper’s corrupted Mana, then his blood filled with Mana should purify their system.

"Sung Hyung, these blood crystals will melt when you mix them with any drinks," Yihun explained, and then he raised his head to look at Im Sung, Lee Hansol, and Nam Sori who all looked shocked for some reason. "Ah, I know it’s hard to trust me. But I promise that these blood crystals won’t harm the Guides here."

"No, it’s not like we don’t trust you, Yihun-ah," Lee Hansol said while shaking his head. "As an Esper, the scent of those blood crystals is kind of addicting. I already feel like I’m being guided."

Nam Sori nodded in agreement. "Yihun-ah, we have a low compatibility rate. But your blood crystals are already healing me."

"As a Guide, I can tell that these blood crystals were made from pure Mana," Im Sung said, obviously in awe. "Is this the difference in our class?"

Okay, he was suddenly feeling shy.

Hence, he quickly changed the topic.

"Let’s start working," Yihun said, avoiding his new colleagues’ sparkling eyes. "We need to save the Guides here from being further brainwashed."

***

THE ALARM went off.

It was Yihun’s first month at the Death Camp when a Dungeon Break finally occurred.

The Dungeon Breaks in this zone happens every two weeks, so people are starting to worry when nothing happened for the entire month.

But, now, it finally arrived.

Yihun stood on his balcony, watching the dungeon monsters crawl out of the Gate that emerged from the ground.

The Cage this time was just like a big container house.

Fortunately, the dungeon monsters were just probably D-Grade and F-Grade.

The D-Class and F-Class Espers who came out to fight the dungeon monsters seemed to be strong enough to deal with them.

Hmm.

The Espers here are unusually strong for their ranks.

No wonder Lee Hansol and Nam Sori were being extra careful even though the two of them were both A-Class Espers.

"Yihun-ah, it’s time."

Right.

Yihun turned around and faced Im Sung. "Yes, it’s Guiding time."

***

"WHAT DO you mean you refuse to sleep with me?!"

"We don’t have to do an Intimate Guiding Session!"

"Hey, Guides don’t have a say—"

"Fuck you! Guides aren’t prostitutes!"

"You’ll die without us, so know your place, Espers!"

"Forcing Guides to have sex with you is a crime, not Guiding!"

Yihun smiled proudly while watching the Guides in the Death Camp finally come together to protest.

Joon, the Warden, and the Espers all looked confused.

My blood crystals worked.

"What’s happening?" Joon asked, confused and angry. "How dare you lowly Guides protest when we, Espers, risk our lives to protect the world?!"

Haaah.

Some Espers are really arrogant.

"Guides are just as useful as the Espers in protecting this world," Yihun said coldly, pressing his palm against Joon’s chest. "I’ll teach you how to respect Guides, Hyung-nim."

Joon glared at Yihun, and then the Esper let out a blood-curdling scream.

Yeah, it was Reverse Guiding.

And I made it as painful as possible for this bastard.

Joon fell to the ground, unconscious.

Only then did the Espers react.

"What did you do to our boss?!"

"Dammit! Let’s just kill all these Guides!"

"Noh Yihun is mine!"

Whatever.

Yihun didn’t have to worry about the angry Espers because Lee Hansol and Nam Sori stood in front of Yihun and the Guides protectively.

Yep, they’ll deal with the Espers.

"Let’s go, Sung Hyung," Yihun said to the older Guide. "It’s time to let the entire country know what the Guides here have gone through."

Im Sung beamed, and then he smiled brightly. "I think I like you, Yihun-ah."

Uh, thank you?

***

EXTRA STORY (in case you miss present Yuno and Ki Gayoon):

"MINT green hair? You used to have mint green hair? For real?"

"If you don’t believe me, you can ask Sajangnim," Noh Yuno said sleepily. "I think he has my photo from back then..."

Ki Gayoon wanted to ask more about it.

But Noh Yuno had already fallen asleep.

Hence, he quietly left the bedroom to make a call.

<"Hi, Yoonyoon—">

"How much?" Gayoon asked impatiently. "How much will you sell Yuno’s picture for, Moon Noa? I’m talking about his picture when he had mint green hair."

<"Ten billion won?">

"Deal."

<"Hey, it was just a joke— people will think I’m going broke if they found out I sold you an overpriced picture!">

"Nah," Gayoon said, smirking. "My Babe Princess’ picture is worth more than a few billion won."

And it was a good material to tease the hell out of Noh Yuno.

<"Freaking simp...">

***

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