AAGULT Ch 58

Chapter 58

“There’s quite a bit to explain. I’ll walk you through it step by step.”

“Thank you…”

Fortunately, Jaeha was allowed to drink some water, and with Aiden’s help, he managed to take a few sips. As the dryness in his throat subsided, he realized just how severe his thirst had actually been—a fact he hadn’t noticed until now.

After a short while, a doctor entered the room and began by introducing himself. Even Jaeha had heard his name a few times—he was a professor at one of the major hospitals affiliated with the Association. It felt very strange to be under the care of someone like that.

Jaeha had apparently been in a coma for five days. Though it felt like he had merely fallen asleep and woken up, he accepted it as reality. In fact, just lying in a luxurious, private hospital room like this didn’t feel real. He was the kind of person who had once held out until morning before crawling to the emergency room, worrying about the cost after breaking his ankle.

“Your kidneys were damaged. The toxins produced from the metabolized drug placed a considerable burden on them… You’ll need ongoing care for recovery. But this is relatively minor. Your occipital lobe was also affected—are you experiencing any problems with your vision?”

“…I’m not sure. Aside from the occasional headache and slight blurriness…”

“That’s also due to the drug. It seems to be causing color distortion and altered perception of light… You’ll need concurrent neural regeneration therapy to restore blood flow to the occipital lobe. Because the wave patterns have remained distorted for so long, recovery will take quite a while.”

“…Is it related to wave patterns?”

“In many ways, espers’ waveforms are linked to brain neural patterns. And in your case, you’re a mental-type esper.”

“Ah…”

The doctor continued explaining in a dry tone as he checked the chart, pushing up his glasses. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly, as though dealing with someone who had neglected their illness for too long. Feeling embarrassed, Jaeha offered a sheepish smile, and the doctor glanced over at Aiden, who was quietly listening beside them, and flinched. Aiden gave him a very gentle smile. Clearing his throat, the doctor quickly added more.

“Well… It’s not the patient’s fault, after all.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

“In any case.”

He flipped to the next page of the chart. For the first time since he began his emotionless explanation of test results, he hesitated. He glanced at Aiden, who silently nodded as if he already knew what was coming.

“It’s only natural, considering you used an unregistered, unapproved suppressant…”

“…”

He trailed off slightly. As he hesitated, Jaeha stared blankly and then realized what the doctor was trying to say. It was something he had already begun to suspect.

“My rating dropped a lot, didn’t it?”

“…Yes. According to the tests, you’ve become an F-class.”

“Hm…”

I see. Perhaps because he had never been particularly attached to his esper rank, he didn’t feel especially upset. He had only clung to his rank at first because it gave him a reason to stay near the boss, and if this entire situation had been orchestrated by the boss, then surely he had his reasons. Jaeha didn’t feel the urge to blame or get angry at him.

…Is that strange?

Shouldn’t he be angry…?

The doctor gave him a moment, as if waiting for a reaction, and blinked when it didn’t come—clearly not expecting such a calm response.

Snapping out of it, the doctor cleared his throat again.

“It’s not impossible for you to recover your rank. Since your original rating was so high, you actually fall into the group with a higher chance of recovery. But you’ll need consistent treatment, ability adjustment training, and ongoing guiding.”

Jaeha let the talk of rank recovery pass by him. What caught his ear was the part about guiding. He had to receive guiding? Even as an F-class?

“…Don’t F-class espers need less guiding?”

“In your case, it’s different from a typical F-class. It’s not just that your abilities weakened—your original waveform was forcibly distorted and separated due to external shock. As a result, your nervous system has become extremely unstable, and this could lead to physical and psychological side effects unrelated to ability manifestation. If the instability in your waveform isn’t brought under control, there’s even a risk of a surge.”

“Ah…”

A surge? Since he was a mental-type esper, even if he did surge, it probably wouldn’t harm others… so maybe that was a small mercy. He had come close to surging a few times before, but thanks to the boss’s help, he had never actually lost control. No esper ever wanted to surge.

Only now was it starting to feel a bit real, and a chill crept into his chest.

“There haven’t been many cases of A-classes dropping to F, especially among mental-types… From my perspective, you’ll need to receive guiding regularly as a stopgap until a proper antidote is developed.”

“Uh, how often…”

“As frequently as possible.”

“O-once a week… maybe?”

It already felt overwhelming. Setting aside his instinctive aversion to the idea of guiding, he couldn’t even remember whether the boss had allowed it or not. He had told him to go to the Association, but… did he say anything about guiding?

Jaeha closed his eyes tightly and then opened them again. After a pause, he asked hesitantly, and the doctor let out a short scoff.

“Three times a day would be best.”

“…Excuse me?”

“As frequently as possible. Do you understand, Mr. Song?”

“…”

Jaeha was too afraid to look at the man sitting beside him. He didn’t want to see Aiden’s expression as he began lightly tracing his palm with their still-interlocked fingers… Maybe it was a small blessing that, now that he was F-class, reading Aiden’s thoughts had become much more difficult.

“I’ve… received guiding from an S-class guide before. So… do I still need it that often…?”

As Aiden fiddled with his hand, Jaeha suddenly recalled that he was an S-class guide—far more skilled than most others. Because of that, Jaeha cautiously asked whether that much guiding was still necessary.

“If the issue were only a tangled waveform, then perhaps not. But in your case, since no antidote has been developed yet, even with frequent guiding, your waveform will quickly revert to its current state. Just endure it until the antidote is ready.”

“…”

“Understood?”

When Jaeha didn’t reply, the doctor repeated the question.

“Yes, yes. I heard you, Doctor. I’ll be sure to inform the Association as well.”

But the one who answered wasn’t Jaeha—it was Aiden. Jaeha hesitated, then turned to look at him.

He looked strangely pleased.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we? I’m Yoon Taesik.”

“Ah… Hello. I’m Song Jaeha. It’s an honor.”

After that, Aiden had to return to work, so he left the room. In his place, an investigator from the Association came in to ask a few questions. The next person to visit Jaeha’s hospital room was someone he recognized. Or rather, there was hardly anyone in Korea who wouldn’t recognize his name, at least.

The President of the Korean Esper Association.

An A-class esper who had spent over 30 years in the field before retiring and becoming the President. He was known for having rescued hundreds of civilians during the “Gwangmyeong Gate Incident” through a solo breakthrough, and for restructuring the esper rehabilitation programs and monster response manuals based on his field experience—significantly improving survival rates for both espers and civilians.

Though he had only been President for six years, he had completely revamped the ranking and support systems for espers upon taking office, led the formation of special gate-response forces, and systematized cooperation among espers, the military, and police. He was generally well-regarded.

On TV, he had seemed like a stern, intimidating middle-aged man, but in person, his impression felt much warmer.

Jaeha remembered seeing him briefly during Aiden’s hospitalization. He also remembered the man clicking his tongue at him…

He felt nervous. It wasn’t the same, but it felt oddly like meeting a potential in-law—awkward and timid.

“I didn’t realize before… ahem, but you were with the Baeksan faction, weren’t you? You worked at an illegal guiding facility?”

“…Yes, I did.”

Unlike Aiden, the Association President wasn’t good at acting. This awkward question, punctuated with a cough, was the best he could manage. Jaeha, too occupied with guilt over deceiving him and the anxiety of being a detainee, failed to notice the man’s discomfort.

“Well, the situation is complicated, but let’s get to the point.”

“…Yes.”

“Are you interested in becoming an esper affiliated with the Association?”

“…Pardon?”

It was a question Jaeha hadn’t expected at all. Of course not. He was a criminal, currently under arrest, and now an F-class esper to boot. This wasn’t the sort of offer one would expect from the Association President.

But for the President, it was a proposal he had made only after much thought. Originally, he had no intention of scouting a mental-type esper who had dropped to F-class. Even if there was a chance of rank recovery, it was unprecAidented, and he saw no reason to invest in something so uncertain.

However, in the end, he had decided to recruit the shattered porcelain that Baek Beomwoo had discarded. He suspected that, even if he did nothing, Aiden wouldn’t sit still. And maybe—just maybe—he wanted to defy Baek Beomwoo’s expectations. Perhaps that would throw him off just enough to create an opening.

“I’ve heard there’s a chance your rank could recover. If that happens, and if you cooperate with the investigation into Baek Beomwoo… I’m willing to cover for your crimes. The testimonies from the other guides at the illegal facility could serve as mitigating factors.”

“…”

“I heard from the investigator earlier that you were rather uncooperative. Would you be willing to reconsider?”