Boom.
While we were eating as usual, a dull noise resounded.
“Ahhh! Ugh.”
Instinctively, I knew this scream was the final cry of someone whose life was hanging by a thread.
“Something serious must be happening outside.”
Emily, my dining companion, said. The blood of the creature in the wine glass quivered with the vibrations, which grew stronger and more rhythmic.
The source of the vibrations was getting closer. A foreboding feeling washed over me.
“We need to get out, quickly.”
I hurriedly cleaned up our table. I double-bagged the creature’s leg meat I had pre-packed in a paper bag and prepared to leave with Emily.
Bang!
At that moment, the wall collapsed. Dust filled the room instantly. Beyond the haze, a raspy growl could be heard.
“Grrr…”
Thud, thud.
The creature that had broken through the wall advanced. Its sturdy legs and sharp claws were visible, along with its long tail and rugged skin.
From the waist down, it looked like a creature. But its upper body was human-like. Judging by its awkward appearance, it seemed to be a cremon in the process of transforming into a creature due to prolonged lack of blood intake.
“Emily, keep an eye out.”
“Okay.”
Emily stepped outside. When I allowed my cremon nature to take over, my vision darkened. Everything around me turned to a dim black and white, but the creature in front of me glowed red and blue like a thermal imaging camera.
“Brave of you to barge into a cremon’s lair.”
As I squinted, I could see a thumb-sized rock-like core, the creature’s nucleus, in its chest. I charged at the creature without hesitation.
“Gyaaah!”
The creature flailed, trying to strike me as I charged straight at it. It must have tried to locate my core like I did but failed.
I bent backward, sliding between the creature’s legs, and pinned it from behind, piercing the left side of its chest where the core was with my sharp nails.
“Kreeek!”
As I grasped its heart, the creature convulsed and screamed. With a cracking sound, the rock shattered, and the creature collapsed with a thud. When I withdrew my hand, it was covered in thick, dark blood.
“Dirty.”
I knelt down and began to dismantle the creature’s thigh. The taut muscle resisted my efforts to cut it.
Frustrated after several tries, I sank my teeth into the flesh. The still-warm meat moved as if alive, and blood flowed out in a stream.
‘Hmm. I should get some for Emily too.’
Fresh creature blood like this was hard to come by due to the illegality hindering its swift distribution.
A single creature could provide enough blood to last Emily and me a month without needing to worry about finding new sources. As I was leisurely collecting the meat, I heard a voice nearby.
“Gu Sa-weol!”
“…!”
Someone was approaching with incredible speed. There was no time to escape. The moment I registered the voice, its owner stopped right behind me.
I turned my head and saw a fist radiating intense heat right in front of my nose. I could feel the rough wavelengths of anger emanating from it.
“Why are you here…?”
The owner of the voice was none other than Baek Yu-geon.
It didn’t take long to recognize the person who had thrown the punch. The unexpected nature of the encounter made me question if it was real.
“Baek… Yu-geon…?”
Even as I said it, I couldn’t believe it. Yu-geon’s pupils were dilated, staring at me without blinking. Then, slowly, he moved his gaze.
He was looking at the body of the cremon that lay behind me. A tense silence filled the air, as if time had stopped.
“You…”
Yu-geon was the first to break the silence. His voice trembled slightly, snapping me back to reality. Before he could finish speaking, I bolted through the broken wall.
“W-wait! Hold on!”
Yu-geon’s voice echoed loudly behind me. Without a clear destination, I ran as fast as I could. Raindrops began to fall, one by one, onto my head. Soon, with a roar, the rain poured down so heavily it blurred my vision.
Though it wasn’t unexpected, like a bolt from the blue, I had always known this day might come.
I knew it well. I knew it, but still…
‘It’s too much for Baek Yu-geon to find out.’
* * *
When I turned on my phone, it vibrated continuously with missed messages and notifications.
「sa-weol, where are you? Are you taking the day off?」
「Why is your phone off? Are you sick?」
「This is Nam Woojoo from the Phoenix team. Please contact me.」
「sa-weol, did you not come to work today?」
「sa-weol. Reply. If I don’t hear from you by evening, I’ll come to your place.」
The screen was filled with messages. Most were from team members, followed by work-related messages. There was not a single message from Baek Yu-geon.
「I heard from Yu-geon. Take care and let me know when you feel better.」
The last message was from Han-gyeol.
“Sigh…”
I clicked my nails. My fingertips were a mess from habitually biting them when anxious. What did Yu-geon tell Han-gyeol? Did he tell the others that I’m a cremon?
If that fact became known at the center, no matter that I’m an S-class guide, I would face immediate execution. They would shoot me in front of everyone.
However, given there was no mention of me being a cremon, it seemed Yu-geon hadn’t told them everything. Moreover, Han-gyeol had wished me well. Perhaps Yu-geon had simply said I was unwell.
‘But why? Why would Baek Yu-geon cover for me?’
Amidst the myriad of questions, one thought surfaced.
‘Does he still want to pair with me?’
Awakener ranks are broadly divided into upper and lower grades. Upper grades include S, A, and B ranks, while lower grades include C rank and below. There are no intermediate grades because the classification is based on the infection rate when bitten by a creature.
Guides, even those of upper grades, can be infected. However, upper-grade espers have a faster regeneration rate than the spread of the toxin, making them less likely to be infected. To them, cremions aren’t as threatening.
Yu-geon is S-class. There’s no creature or cremon that can infect him.
‘But still, why protect a cremon?’
From the moment gates started appearing, cremions were treated the same as creatures. Although they have half human, half creature DNA, their appearance made them closer to monsters.
Guiding involves physical contact. Who would want to hold hands with a monster?
My mind became a jumble of thoughts. I couldn’t understand.
When Yu-geon and I met that day, he had stopped his attack. He must have known that encountering a cremon meant an immediate execution. So why didn’t he follow through?
I recalled Yu-geon’s expression that day. At first, he looked shocked, then confused, and finally horrified when he saw the creature’s remains behind me.
In that bizarre moment, another face overlapped with Yu-geon’s in my mind—Han-gyeol’s. I imagined Han-gyeol looking at me with the same disdainful expression.
“…”
Slowly, I rose from the bed and headed to the bathroom for a long shower. Afterward, I sat in front of the vanity and saw that my face had become slightly gaunt over the past few days.
I applied a thicker base of makeup than usual and covered my face with heavy makeup. Finishing with a bright red lipstick, I felt slightly better.
‘Since when did I become afraid of dying?’
It was my first day back to work in three days. With some of my worries laid to rest, my steps felt lighter.
* * *
“sa-weol, are you feeling better?”
“I heard there was a creature in Sector A17. Was it a cremon going berserk?”
“Good thing Yu-geon was nearby. You must have been really scared. Are you hurt?”
“Uh, uh… yeah.”
As soon as I entered the Alpha team office, the team members gathered around. I responded awkwardly, trying to gauge the atmosphere.
“That’s a relief.”
“Really lucky. It was fortunate Yu-geon followed you that day. It was the right call not to stop him.”
“Followed me?”
When I asked Ji-soo, an Alpha team guide, for clarification, he looked hesitant but then opened up.
“Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that?”
“Yu-geon was waiting for you in front of the main building after work that day. When he found out you had left early, he used his watch to track your location and followed you. He seemed to have something to give you. Didn’t you get it?”
“…”
So that’s why Yu-geon was unexpectedly in that distant place. What could he have been trying to give me?
Frowning, I became lost in thought. Outside of emergencies like gate incidents, it’s unusual to use the tracking function after work.
Using the tracking function also alerts the team captain. If there’s no justified reason, Han-gyeol would impose sanctions. Since an incident occurred, Yu-geon wasn’t penalized, but he couldn’t have known an incident would happen….
I had managed to keep my secret hidden for five years, so letting my guard down was my mistake. When I fell silent, Ji-soo became restless and started waving frantically as someone approached.
“Captain! Yu-geon! sa-weol is back today!”
I flinched and turned around. Han-gyeol and Yu-geon were walking in together.
From a distance, I couldn’t see clearly, but Yu-geon’s face was almost expressionless as he approached. As he got closer, my heart began to race.
‘What should I say? Hi? Or thank him for saving me? What if I say something and he reveals everything?’
A multitude of thoughts swirled in my mind. Finally, Yu-geon stood before me, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, so I tightly closed my eyes.
“Guide Gusa-weol.”
His voice was firm. He was just saying my name, but it felt harsh. I opened my eyes slightly and looked ahead.
Han-gyeol was staring down at me with a stern expression. I quickly turned to see Yu-geon had already walked past me and was far away.
“Is the center a joke to you?”
Han-gyeol’s sharp tone demanded my attention. The office lights cast shadows on his features, making him look even more severe today.
“Sorry, Captain.”
I belatedly clasped my hands behind my back and bowed my head.
“Follow me to the conference room.”
Han-gyeol turned and walked away. As I followed him, I glanced back, but Yu-geon was sitting at his desk, not even glancing in my direction.
* * *
“You don’t look well. Are you still sick?”
When the blackout curtains in the conference room were drawn, Han-gyeol approached with a worried look. His demeanor had completely changed from earlier.
“If you’re not feeling well, you should have rested more.”
“I’m fine now. I was just a bit shaken.”
“I heard from Yu-geon. You were attacked by a berserk cremon.”
That was true, but…
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“…”
“What were you doing so far away? You knew cremons have been targeting guides more frequently lately.”
I’m a cremon….
The more Han-gyeol questioned me, the guiltier I felt. Avoiding his eyes, I kept my lips tightly sealed. He tilted his head, scrutinizing my expression.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
He had known me since before I awakened as a guide. Because of my parents, who were researchers at the center, I lived in the dormitory when I was young, and Han-gyeol often played with me.
To me, Han-gyeol had always been a friendly and kind person. But now he was my superior. As the captain of the Alpha team, he was responsible for managing and directing the team.
Any behavior that seemed like favoritism could be detrimental. This applied to both of us. Therefore, we kept our close relationship hidden from others.
“What happened?”
“Well…”
