AAGULT Ch 1

Chapter 1

 

There have been very few moments in his life when Jaeha ever felt he had acted honorably.

 

Even taking into account the fact that, both subjectively and objectively, he had lived a miserable and ambiguous life, Jaeha had been involved in illegal activities, and that in itself was not right.

 

“Why are you shaking?”

 

“A-ah, it’s nothing…”

 

So naturally, he had occasionally thought that he might be punished someday. But he never imagined that time would be now. In other words, he wasn’t mentally prepared for it yet.

 

“I think I know why you’re shaking.”

 

“……”

 

He smiled kindly. Jaeha couldn’t bring himself to check what his face looked like. If he looked at his face, their eyes would meet, and once their eyes met, the ability would inevitably activate.

 

Jaeha didn’t have the confidence to look into the thoughts of this guide who had come to wipe out his organization.

 

It was strange to fear someone who looked neat and polite on the outside, a mere civilian at that, and yet, after having already read those pitch-black, terrifying inner thoughts, there was no way he could pretend to be oblivious.

 

“Mr. Jaeha.”

 

Even with his head bowed, he could tell that the man was reaching out to him. He clearly understood that he should quickly put down the glass he was wiping and avoid that hand. Moreover, the man wasn’t even wearing gloves like he usually did.

 

But… should he avoid it?

 

That man was a guide. And he was an esper.

 

As an unregistered, illegal esper, he had never once properly received guiding. Occasionally, the higher-ups would toss him wave suppressants to prevent him from going berserk. Lately, even containing the violent and chaotic waves inside the vessel that was his body had started to feel like a burden.

 

If he had no idea what guiding was like, it might have been a different story. But as someone who had felt, however faintly, that man’s massive and warm guiding before, this was…

 

Noticing his hesitation, the man smiled gently.

 

“Don’t avoid my hand.”

 

“……”

 

Even the basic politeness he’d been barely maintaining was now discarded, and his tone had grown informal. Yet for some reason, it suited him very well.

 

In truth, even if the man hadn’t ordered him, Jaeha didn’t dare avoid it.

 

The hand was now close enough that it was impossible to dodge. And then suddenly—

 

“Ugh…!”

 

His collar was grabbed. The man pulled him in with abnormally strong strength for a civilian, causing Jaeha to nearly topple over.

 

Jaeha barely caught himself on the table to avoid smashing his face into it. As a result, not only the glass he’d been wiping, but all the glasses lined up on the table fell to the floor. The clatter of shattered glass echoed throughout the empty bar.

 

He should have been worried about getting hit again for breaking a single glass, but not a single bit of such concern entered his mind.

 

“A-ah…”

 

It was because the man’s bare skin had brushed against his neck while grabbing his collar. The blatant influx of guiding left him unable to think rationally.

 

The pain that had been tormenting his body was suddenly cut off. He felt dizzy, and his stomach churned. The tiny flames that had seemed to nibble away at his flesh were extinguished with a crackle, and peace came. The stillness inside his body was so absolute that it made him feel like gagging.

 

It was nothing like when he had offered himself up as a sex partner just to absorb the guiding the man unconsciously emitted. Back then, even though the man had realized he was an esper, he had only occasionally thrown him scraps of guiding, like charity. But now, he was openly guiding him.

 

Having endured pain every second of every moment, Jaeha now felt a drowsiness creeping over him, as if the timing didn’t matter. But he barely held on, thanks to the urgency and tension of the present.

 

“Mr. Jaeha. Look at me.”

 

“……”

 

His body trembled uncontrollably. Thinking back to how he had walked a tightrope between his organization and the man just to receive guiding, he knew he couldn’t cross any more lines.

 

But he had no choice but to obey the man’s words. He was an esper in desperate need of proper guiding, and the man was the only guide who could relieve his pain.

 

His trembling eyelids lifted. Their eyes met, with the man standing against the light. He was smiling. That kind and polite face anyone would fall for.

 

“There you go.”

 

He praised him. For some reason, that praise made Jaeha feel good, and he felt an urge to obediently follow every word. Maybe it was because he had already grown used to physical contact with the man.

 

Their eyes met again. Those pitch-black pupils held no reflection of anything.

 

[You’re turned on, huh…]

 

“……”

 

[You’re scared? What should I do, that’s adorable…]

 

“……”

 

[I want to XX you and XXX and then XX you until you XXX.]

 

His jaw dropped. He’d read many of the man’s perverted thoughts before, but this… this level of intensity was rare. And what? He wanted to do that to him? Why? Seriously, why?

 

“Mr. Jaeha.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

The man smiled gently. He released the hand that had been gripping Jaeha’s collar. Of course, Jaeha could only sit there blankly, still in the position the man had pulled him into, looking up at him.

 

The hand that touched his cheek as if praising him was full of guiding.

 

“Haa…”

 

A happy sigh escaped before he could stop it. His eyelids trembled. The man brushed back his neat hair as if petting a cute puppy.

 

Jaeha couldn’t help but look at him. Their eyes met again. The man curved his eyes and smirked.

 

In those pitch-black pupils, nothing was reflected.

 

[You can hear what I’m thinking right now, can’t you?]

 

So even though everything had been exposed, he couldn’t bring himself to run. He could only stupidly nod his head.

 

Seeing Jaeha’s affirmation, the man smiled even deeper.

 

And so, Song Jaeha thought—

 

The moment he became a sex partner to the association’s guide who had come to wipe out his own organization—motivated by a mix of rebellion against the organization that practically abused him and the desire to experience proper guiding just once—he was already done for.

 

In short, to put it simply…

 

He was screwed.

 

 

—

 

Song Jaeha was an orphan. It was a common story.

 

He had grown up in an orphanage. When the time came for him to leave, he was scammed by an acquaintance who targeted his post-orphanage stipend and got completely cleaned out. It was an older brother figure from the same orphanage. Another all-too-common tale.

 

When he was despairing and barely scraping by with part-time jobs, the orphanage director introduced him to someone. It was a young CEO who had consistently donated to the orphanage. Thankfully, Jaeha somehow ended up working at that man’s company. He handled small errands and odd jobs. The pay was quite decent for someone with only a high school diploma.

 

As he worked under the CEO and got closer to him, Jaeha started to feel like maybe he could live like a proper human being now. But then he found out that the debt from the scam had transferred to him. It was because he had lent out his name under semi-coercion when he was first scammed. The debt had ballooned through loan sharks and high-interest loans, becoming an astronomical amount he couldn’t possibly repay.

 

…And for some reason, the CEO paid it off.

 

“Jaeha.”

 

“Yes, yes, sir.”

 

“You can do well, right?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Around that time, Jaeha awakened as an esper. He wondered if the CEO had taken a liking to him and paid off his debts because of that.

 

Every esper in South Korea is required to register with the Esper Association. But Jaeha never even got the chance. The moment he awakened, the CEO took him into a certain building. It was one of the CEO’s “other” companies.

 

In exchange for paying off the debt, he was asked to work for him. He couldn’t refuse. No—it wasn’t even a request. He realized too late that it was closer to a command. From that point on, Jaeha rarely ever left that building. Thus, even after awakening as an esper, he became an unregistered criminal.

 

By the time he realized that the company he was involved in was actually a criminal organization, it was already far too late.

 

The CEO was also an unregistered esper—a villain. He ran multiple businesses. One of them involved the production of drugs that amplified esper abilities, and another operated an illegal guiding facility.

 

Since the place took in unregistered espers of dubious background, Jaeha had occasionally thought that the guides working there must have pitiful lives. But he had his own problems to worry about.

 

Whack.

 

“Ugh…!”

 

“Hey, Song Jaeha. I told you to do your job properly.”

 

“S-sorry… I’m sorry.”

 

“What use are you being such a coward… tsk.”

 

Jaeha curled up like a caterpillar to minimize the pain. Even so, tears welled up in his eyes from the agony. He struggled to open his eyes and looked up at Manager Kang, who scowled deeply.

 

“What’re you looking at? Keep your eyes down.”

 

Whack!

 

“Ugh!”

 

The moment he got kicked again, a crushing pain hit his lungs. He coughed reflexively, a few times, almost gagging. He heard a tongue click, as if in disgust.

 

“Can’t even control your powers…”

 

“……”

 

It was unfair. But he had nothing to say.

 

When he first awakened, he was treated fairly well. A mind-reading ability seemed incredibly useful for a criminal organization.

 

But the problem was Jaeha’s personality.

 

Yes, Jaeha was a coward. Even though he belonged to a criminal group, his tender and soft heart couldn’t be helped.

 

Infiltrate another organization as a spy? How on earth was he supposed to do that?

 

Because he had no choice, he went out trembling to carry out the order, but he got caught within a single day and had just barely been rescued by the CEO before he was killed.