TTOA Chapter 62

#62

Major Ma Tae-o gripped Kwon Jae-jin’s neck even tighter.

So tightly that Jae-jin could only gasp, completely choked. He was genuinely at a loss for words.

To just barge in and then ask Kwon Jae-jin if he had been Guiding him.

Jae-jin furrowed his brow and inhaled sharply. Major Ma Tae-o, unable to suppress the surging impulse, trembled his eyes.

“Haa…”

Like a man possessed, he traced his hand along Jae-jin’s neckline. Then, he covered his entire lower jaw with his palm, forcing his lips to graze against the dry skin.

“Euup. Brr.”

Jae-jin turned his head away, his face clearly showing his displeasure. He couldn’t understand why the sane man was suddenly losing his mind.

Major Ma knelt on one knee in front of Jae-jin, continuing to rub his lips with his palm.

Then, as if trying to probe deeper inside the mucous membrane, he bent his finger and forced it into the gap of his lips.

Kwon Jae-jin bit Major Ma Tae-o’s finger and rebuked him. His fiercely glaring eyes were like burning flames.

“What, ugh, what do you think you’re doing!”

Could it be that he was trying to Guide him?

Kwon Jae-jin, a late-blooming Esper…?

He wasn’t Seo Eui-woo, who was extremely deficient in Guiding, so there was no way he’d do something so insane…

“Why is the Guiding, why, like this?”

Major Ma Tae-o didn’t care whether his finger was bitten or not and pressed down on Jae-jin’s tongue. It seemed that a high pain threshold was a common trait among Espers.

He grabbed Jae-jin’s tongue with his thumb and forefinger and forcibly pulled it out. Jae-jin, who had suddenly been forced to stick his tongue out, forgot about his injured arm and struggled, pushing the Major away with his tied arms. Ma Tae-o, a skilled combatant, didn’t budge.

“What efficiency, what, what an extremely…”

As if he couldn’t think of the right word for the situation, Major Ma Tae-o seriously agonized, repeating the same words.

Seo Eui-woo would have simply and clearly blurted out, “Feels good,” but it seemed he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he meticulously described it with specific and accurate words.

After fiddling with his tongue for a while, Major Ma murmured, trembling his fingertips.

“Sweet.”

The voice, plummeting in a thick bass, sounded so absurd that Kwon Jae-jin was aghast. Honestly, he felt nauseous.

To fondle someone else’s tongue and make such an expression, it was so repulsive that he felt like throwing up.

Jae-jin lifted his legs and kicked Major Ma Tae-o’s abdomen with all his might, his feet together. Only then did his rude hand fall away.

Feeling utterly disgusted with his tongue, which was left with only an unpleasant taste, Kwon Jae-jin shot a volley of accusations.

“Ugh, you said hiding late-blooming Espers is illegal, but is it okay to Guide a late-blooming Esper? Judging by your behavior, Guiding doesn’t violate any principles at all! Isn’t that right?”

Major Ma Tae-o slowly raised the hand that had touched Jae-jin’s tongue and examined it. As if testing something, he clenched his fist, released it, and loosely spread his fingers.

His ability bloomed around him, forming a semi-transparent shield.

It was a clearer and sturdier shield than the one he had created during the battle earlier.

“…What are you?”

Major Ma Tae-o turned his head to look at Kwon Jae-jin. Unlike before, the way he looked at Jae-jin had changed. He scrutinized him meticulously, as if trying to detect every single skin cell.

“How can you provide such Guiding?”

When Jae-jin didn’t answer, Major Ma Tae-o reached out again.

He wondered if he was going to rummage through his tongue like before, but this time, his hand was directed at his torso instead of his face. He cut the leather harness with a jackknife and even tore Kwon Jae-jin’s bloodied and tattered shirt, revealing his bare chest.

In the freezing winter weather, his chest was exposed, and a chill ran down his spine. His fine hairs stood on end, and goosebumps spread all over his body.

Kwon Jae-jin shouted fiercely.

“Don’t! Major Ma Tae-o, if you touch me, you’re an undeniable criminal!”

Despite the harsh refusal, Major Ma, like a man obsessed with one thought, instantly grabbed Kwon Jae-jin’s pectoral muscles.

To feel the small, incomplete Core on the left side, where his heart was beating, more closely than before.

Major Ma Tae-o’s perfect Core resonated with Kwon Jae-jin’s Core.

He had dismissed it as a clumsily formed late-blooming Esper Core that would easily break with a small impact, but when he carefully sensed it, the resonating waves were unusual.

Sweet and ecstatic.

Vast and profound.

“…Haa.”

Major Ma narrowed his eyes, frowned, and swallowed a groan.

He knew in his head that he shouldn’t feel such an impulse from a late-blooming Guide, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.

The Esper’s innate instinct cried out.

This Guide’s Guiding would open up horizons he had never felt before.

“I see. An S-rank… An S-rank Guide?”

The existing Esper ranks are divided into A, B, C, and F.

But above that, there is one more immeasurable rank.

S-rank.

A rank newly added to the system 20 years ago, only for Seo Eui-woo.

However, if Kwon Jae-jin had manifested as a formal Esper, the history of the S-rank would have originated 26 years ago, not 20 years ago.

“You’re not surprised even after hearing this! Despite being a late-blooming Esper, did you already know your rank?”

A shaken Major Ma shouted, breathing heavily. He tried to muster his self-control and take his hand away from Jae-jin, but it was not easy for an Esper to abstain from an S-rank Guide he had met for the first time.

“Get out of the way, get away from me!”

Kwon Jae-jin grimaced, his expression fierce. Strength tightened in his straight jaw.

He had naturally guessed his rank.

He didn’t have any confirmation because he had never undergone a formal rank test, but he had been considering it ever since Seo Eui-woo called Kwon Jae-jin his only Guide.

Only an S-rank Guide could provide proper Guiding to an S-rank Esper.

“It’s regrettable. That an S-rank Guide would come from a late-blooming Esper…”

Major Ma muttered seriously. Then, he lowered his gaze and scanned Kwon Jae-jin’s body.

His eyes, looking between his legs, were those of an Esper seeking Guiding itself.

“Haa, fuck… Close those eyes right now.”

“…”

“You’re disgusting. I told you to get lost!”

“…”

Seeing Major Ma’s silent reaction, Kwon Jae-jin was about to lose his mind. If he was forcibly Guided by him like this, he really wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

‘Fuck, fuck, Seo Eui-woo, you fucking bastard. What are you doing somewhere…? Why aren’t you showing up, you bastard…!’

Naturally, he desperately called out to Seo Eui-woo.

In his first life, he couldn’t escape even if he tried desperately to run away, but in his second life, he had escaped his surveillance so easily. It was absurd.

‘You son of a bitch, you acted like you’d hang yourself if I disappeared, but you don’t even show your face when it’s important…?’

He resented Seo Eui-woo. More than ever before.

He couldn’t even control his abilities and ruined the security system in the house, and on top of that, he didn’t even know the system was broken and went to work all by himself…

Kwon Jae-jin had fought creatures alone, been bitten, and even prepared to die to protect Seo Eui-woo…

But Seo Eui-woo,

Why doesn’t he even know that Kwon Jae-jin is in this crisis?

He said Kwon Jae-jin was Seo Eui-woo’s only Guide.

He made such a fuss about how much he liked him.

Shouldn’t he have prevented that precious and special existence from being abandoned like a roadside pebble to this extent?

Why…

‘At this rate, I’m really going to be Guided…’

The moment his firmly built-up resolve crumbled, a light flashed.

It was teleportation.

Originally, the scattering drops of light should have sparkled like fireflies, but now, the uncontrollable force was causing an endless torrent of intense light that made it impossible to even open his eyes.

It was as if the sun had risen in this place.

Someone appeared, emitting an enormous ability that made it impossible to recognize his form.

He looked like a transcendent being, not a human.

Seo Eui-woo, who had pulled out and unleashed the power that had been suppressed and submerged in the abyss, exuded a presence so powerful that he could not be dared to look at, intimidating and dominating everything around him.

The ground cracked and the sky closed.

The earth trembled and submitted to him, and the fierce winter wind knelt before him and calmed down.

His immense power tore apart the ground, and the area around the canyon collapsed as if an earthquake had occurred.

“Kueuheuk…!”

Of course, the only one caught up in this disaster was Major Ma Tae-o. Kwon Jae-jin’s body floated safely, and only Major Ma was swept into the cracks of the splitting rocks.

“Major Ma!”

Just in time, the members of the 7th Special Task Force, who had heard the support request sent by Major Ma Tae-o, were shocked by this unrealistic emergency.

They couldn’t even open their eyes properly and fired awkwardly at the one emitting the intense light. However, the blind bullets didn’t even touch Seo Eui-woo’s body. They only fell uselessly to the ground as soon as they were fired.