TGIC Ch 2

Chapter 2

 

Crash!

 

The moment I realized I might have regressed, I hurriedly turned on the internet. The first thing I needed to look for wasn’t the lottery or stocks. It was an illegal wavelength suppressor chip.

 

The suppressor chip is originally a tool used by espers. It forcibly slows the flow of energy waves in the body to reduce the burden and delay rampages. Since official chips are expensive, most people use illegal ones.

 

However, a few years later, research showed that when a guide used an illegal suppressor chip, their guiding waves would be disrupted, drastically lowering the average match rate. As a result, usage among guides who wanted to avoid esper pairings exploded, prompting widespread crackdowns.

 

At this point in time, though, the research hadn’t been conducted yet, so illegal chips should still be easily purchasable. It cost quite a bit of money, but right now, I didn’t care about that in the slightest.

 

Compared to the days I spent with that guy I was about to be matched with, this money meant nothing.

 

Those days were truly hellish. I trembled as I recalled the moment from just a few hours ago, when I had been awaiting death inside a gate.

 

If he was going to go crazy, couldn’t he have done it in a normal way? Why did he have to go mad in such a monstrous fashion?

 

Tsk. Clicking my tongue briefly, I checked the time.

 

“…That suppressor chip better get here soon.”

 

I could already feel my physical condition deteriorating. I had told the seller I needed it urgently, and they said they’d send it by express delivery—but illegal dealers can’t be trusted. I had spent all my money to buy just one, so I couldn’t even think about looking for another seller.

 

I bit my nails, unable to hide my anxiety. Tomorrow wouldn’t do, nor the day after. I had to receive that chip by tonight at the latest.

 

March 30th.

 

Because today was the day I awakened.

 

Once the awakening began, an intense fever and unbearable pain would follow. There was no way I could endure that in a sane state. Due to the physical transformation too severe for a normal human body to withstand, without a hospital-administered awakening sedative, most people suffered lasting aftereffects. After coming back from the dead, the last thing I needed was to live the rest of my life disabled.

 

“Damn it… When is it coming?”

 

I could vividly feel my body temperature rising. It looked like the awakening symptoms were starting soon.

 

Going through that again? I grimaced as I recalled the day I first awakened.

 

My whole body was in excruciating pain out of nowhere, and my vision spun like crazy—I truly thought I was going to die. Then, when I opened my eyes in a hospital, they told me I had awakened as an S-rank guide. I thought the hardships of my life were finally over. But hell no. That had only been the beginning of my disaster.

 

Once the awakening symptoms fully kicked in, there was no way to endure it while conscious. I had to call an ambulance and implant the chip at the back of my neck before that happened.

 

The moment I arrived at the hospital unconscious and was confirmed as a guide, matching with espers would begin. If the chip wasn’t implanted by then, it would all be for nothing. This was a race against time—whether the delivery arrived before I passed out.

 

“It has to come before I collapse…”

 

My head throbbed like it was going to split open and chills racked my body. Still waiting for the package that hadn’t arrived for hours, I shoved several painkillers into my mouth and chewed them raw.

 

“Don’t tell me I got scammed?”

 

I had no money left in my account now.

 

Pacing nervously in front of the door with my phone in hand, I cursed. Damn it. Am I heading back down the slave route?

 

Technically, guides have the right to choose their espers, but in reality, that right is mostly a farce. When an S-rank esper nominates someone, it’s essentially absolute.

 

Of course, it wasn’t that I hadn’t tried to escape from Vasily. Not long after we were matched, I realized I couldn’t take it anymore and barely managed to get reassigned. But just a few days later, the new esper I was matched with became half-paralyzed under mysterious circumstances, and I had to become Vasily’s guide again.

 

‘Too late.’

 

When I returned just a few days later, he greeted me nonchalantly. The moment I saw his face, I was convinced it was his doing. And sure enough, from that point on, he became even more ruthless in how he used me.

 

“Ugh!”

 

Suddenly, it felt like someone had struck the back of my head. Pain exploded in my skull, and my body began to tremble uncontrollably. Staggering with one hand on the wall, I eventually collapsed to the floor.

 

An unforgettable pain. The awakening symptoms had begun.

 

“Gah… haah…”

 

My chest felt tight, and I couldn’t breathe. On instinct, I started to dial 119, but stopped at the last second and threw my phone into the corner of the room.

 

What the hell was I thinking? After surviving that hell for years and finally escaping, I nearly walked back into it of my own accord.

 

Curled up, I writhed alone. I nearly lost consciousness several times but barely managed to hold on.

 

I couldn’t pass out. The moment I lost consciousness, it would all be over. The delivery guy would just leave the chip at the door, and I’d be taken to the ER without it implanted, assigned once more as that guy’s guide. If I was unlucky, I might even end up with aftereffects from awakening due to a delayed ER visit.

 

But as the pain consumed my mind, my ability to think clearly began to slip away.

 

“Shit… I just need to survive…”

 

At this rate, I really was going to die. Crawling into the corner, I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and reached for the call button.

 

Ding-dong.

 

“…!”

 

It had arrived.

 

Just as I was about to hit the call button, the doorbell rang. My mind snapped back into clarity, and I froze my outstretched finger.

 

“Delivery.”

 

When I opened the door, a courier stood holding a small package. I couldn’t believe how happy I felt just to see a damn parcel.

 

“Uh, are you alri—”

 

Bang!

 

The courier looked startled at my half-dead expression and tried to say something, but I didn’t have time to listen. I snatched the package and slammed the door shut.

 

As soon as I was back inside, I tore open the tape-covered box like a madman and dumped its contents onto the floor. A wad of papers that looked like instructions, an injector containing the chip, and finally, a suspicious-looking red pill.

 

“Why is there so much?”

 

There were warnings and instructions everywhere. But I had no time to read any of it. My body was already on the verge of collapse.

 

Skipping the densely printed instructions, I grabbed the injector first.

 

I already knew the chip had to be implanted at the back of the neck, so thankfully, I didn’t need to read anything. Tearing off the seal, I pressed the injector to my neck and pushed the end. There was a sharp prick, but it was nothing compared to the awakening pain.

 

Next, I picked up the pill. That unsettling deep red color… I had no idea what it was, but judging by how many they’d sent, I figured I had to take it. I popped it into my mouth and swallowed. Without water, it scraped down my throat painfully.

 

All I did was open the package and take out its contents, but the room was a wreck. Scattered pill packets and the injector were shoved back into the box and pushed into a corner.

 

Ah, now I could finally call the ambulance. Maybe because I felt a bit more at ease, the pain seemed slightly less intense.

 

I picked up my phone, punched in the three familiar numbers, and hit the call button.

 

Ring… click.

 

– “This is 119. How may I assist you?”

 

“A-Awakening symptoms…”

 

And then I lost consciousness.

 

—

 

“Ugh…”

 

The noise around me woke me up. My mind was hazy, blank—until the dull ache at the back of my neck jolted me into awareness.

 

The suppressor chip?

 

I reached behind my neck and felt the hard, swollen flesh.

 

Thank god. At least it looked like it had been implanted properly. But I couldn’t relax until the doctor confirmed it. It was an illegal chip, after all. There was a chance it was faulty.

 

Sighing, I closed my eyes. As darkness returned to my vision, all the struggles I’d been through played out like a panorama.

 

Only after dying and regressing did I finally escape from Vasily. I was so proud of myself for enduring six years that I felt tears well up.

 

Goodbye, horrific past.

 

Freedom—what a sweet word. I felt like I could now stand in front of Vasily and laugh without fear.

 

I basked in thoughts of the peaceful future ahead. That is, right up until I heard my grade.

 

“You’re a C-rank.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

Happiness didn’t last.

 

The doctor who came after hearing I had woken up looked at my chart and calmly informed me of my grade. I blinked in disbelief and asked again.

 

“You said C-rank?”

 

“Yes. Patient Kwon Gidam has awakened as a C-rank guide.”

 

“Not S-rank… but C-rank?”

 

“Don’t be too disappointed just because it’s not the rank you were hoping for. C-rank is still a respectable grade.”

 

C-rank? Could it be a side effect of the chip?

 

I had clearly read that suppressor chips only affect compatibility with espers, not the guiding grade itself.

 

But I had used an illegal chip. Which meant any side effect was fair game.

 

Frozen in shock from the bombshell news, my face went pale.

 

What the hell… does this mean my salary just turned into scrap paper?