“No.”
“Figures.”
I wasn’t particularly surprised.
“Figures? This time, it was actually pretty convincing!”
Yugeon protested, looking genuinely aggrieved when I dismissed his efforts.
“What was convincing about it? If you make it that obvious, the culprit would run away before even getting close.”
“No, just listen.”
According to Yugeon, he had lucked out at the gate and ended up in the same team as a C-Class mental-type Esper from the suspect list. So, he deliberately took a creature’s attack, making himself bleed, and noticed that the suspect kept watching him with an intense gaze.
“So after we cleared the gate, I asked if they wanted to grab a meal together. And they said yes, even invited me to their dorm. Pretty suspicious, right?”
“Hmm. And then?”
That was an odd reaction for an ordinary Esper.
They were strangers, yet the suspect had agreed to eat together and invited Yugeon to a private space.
“When we got to the dorm, they actually prepared food for me. So I ate. And while we were eating, they kept asking me these weirdly suggestive questions—like if I had a high pain tolerance or if I enjoyed it. I figured they were being cautious, so I just went along with it.”
Cremons had to be secretive because exposure meant danger.
Yugeon must have assumed the suspect was carefully testing the waters.
But wait… isn’t that question kind of weird?
Why would they ask if he enjoyed it?
I felt like I had misunderstood Yugeon in a similar way before—wondering if he actually enjoyed pain, or if I had somehow awakened something in him.
“Then, as soon as I answered, their whole face lit up. Their hands were shaking, they licked their lips—like they were really excited. Then they told me to wait in their room while they prepared something.”
“Wait a second…”
I suddenly had a bad feeling.
Hadn’t I misinterpreted Yugeon in a similar way before?
Like wondering if he actually enjoyed pain or if I had accidentally awakened some weird preference in him?
“No, listen—then I started hearing all these clanking and rustling noises, and guess what they brought out?”
He let out a dry laugh.
“A goddamn whip and handcuffs. I bolted the second I saw them.”
…Of course.
A completely catastrophic ending.
The suspect had noticed that Yugeon was deliberately injuring himself.
And as it turned out, that person enjoyed a particular kind of play and had mistaken Yugeon for someone with the same preferences.
People with unusual kinks were secretive too, after all.
But wait… wasn’t that mental-type Esper a man?
An Esper taking an interest in another Esper?
I wasn’t about to judge anyone’s preferences, but it was unusual.
Normally, Espers were drawn to Guides due to their wavelengths.
“Forget it. I wasn’t expecting much anyway. That method’s no good—we need another plan.”
I recalled Ian’s reaction when I had tried something similar earlier.
It was a method that easily led to all sorts of misunderstandings.
We needed a different approach.
“Actually, I just thought of something else…”
I was about to share the idea that had come to me during my conversation with Ian when my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I pulled it out and glanced at the screen—Emily.
Holding up a hand to signal Yugeon to wait, I prepared to answer.
But before I could press the call button, Yugeon suddenly grabbed my hand.
“What’s this? Why are you injured?”
– “Sa-weol, can you talk right now?”
Emily’s voice came through the speaker. I must have accidentally hit the answer button.
Since she usually didn’t call me while I was at the Center, I ignored Yugeon for the moment and asked her directly.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
– “It’s about what you asked me. About your body acting weird lately.”
“Yeah, Emily, hold on a second.”
She was referring to the false thirst.
I pulled my hand away from Yugeon and examined my palm. The cut Ian had left was deeper than I had realized.
Still, it wasn’t anything serious—a single creature transformation, and it would heal instantly.
I waved my hand dismissively, signaling Yugeon to drop it and leave.
He had just come back from the field, so he needed to get himself cleaned up anyway.
He didn’t look convinced, but after a moment of hesitation, he silently mouthed, Don’t go anywhere. Stay here.
He must have been worried I’d wander off somewhere dangerous while alone.
Once he disappeared from view, I returned my focus to Emily.
“Alright, Emily. What did you find out?”
– “It’s an imprint.”
“…What?”
– “I said, it’s an imprint.”
Her answer was short and definitive, as if it had been obvious all along.
Like she was wondering how I hadn’t realized it sooner.
But even after hearing it, I couldn’t believe it.
“What do you mean?”
– “If you keep drinking the same person’s blood over a period of time, this kind of reaction happens. Most Cremons don’t experience it because they rarely drink from the same source.”
“But imprinting… isn’t that something only Espers and Guides do?”
There were two ways to bond an Esper and a Guide: Pairing and Imprinting.
Imprinting significantly increased guiding efficiency, and I had heard that Espers who formed an imprint felt as though their entire world revolved around their Guide.
They became hyper-aware of their Guide, consumed by possessiveness and obsession. Some might call that romantic or beneficial, but the level of fixation was terrifying.
There were countless news reports about Espers committing assault or murder due to Imprinting.
If the relationship was good, Imprinting was incredibly effective. But if things went south, the risks were immeasurable.
That was why Imprinting was a lifelong commitment. While Pairing was more of a business contract with emotions kept to a minimum, Imprinting was akin to marriage—a vow to be together forever.
But unlike marriage, Imprinting wasn’t something that could be achieved by sheer will.
It required at least a 50% compatibility rate and three levels of guiding. Even then, failure was common.
If Imprinting was that difficult even between Espers and Guides, how could it have happened just by drinking the same blood for a while?
More than that—I had never heard of a Cremon forming an Imprint.
– “There’s no clear term for it because it’s so rare. Some call it ‘addiction,’ while others call it ‘Imprinting.’ My friend thinks ‘Imprinting’ makes more sense since it creates a sense of ownership over the blood source. The affected Cremon starts perceiving the imprinted person as their only source of nourishment.”
Most Cremons extracted blood from creature meat.
Since they used different creatures each time, they never drank from the same source.
Cremons that attacked humans did so until their victims were completely drained—because once they tasted human blood, their craving became uncontrollable.
But I wasn’t like that.
I only drank enough to keep my target alive, waiting until their blood regenerated before drinking again.
It made sense that this phenomenon was unknown in the already small Cremon community.
I could also understand why there was confusion between addiction and Imprinting.
Addiction was when repeated exposure made it impossible to function without the substance.
Meanwhile, an Esper’s Imprint was an explosive resonance of wavelengths, making it feel as if two bodies were originally one and had been forcibly split apart—leading to obsession.
By process, it sounded like addiction, but the possessiveness over blood was closer to Imprinting.
That’s why Emily’s friend believed the term Imprinting was more accurate.
But I thought otherwise.
It started as addiction—then evolved into an Imprint.
I had become addicted to Yugeon’s blood, and that addiction had formed an Imprint.
Now that I thought about it, whenever I felt the false thirst, the only person I wanted to be around was Yugeon.
After drinking his blood in my dorm that night, his kindness and warmth felt… familiar.
Like it was natural.
Like he should be treating me that way.
Like him being by my side was expected.
Logically, I had no reason to feel that way.
We had high compatibility, sure, but we had already canceled our Pair.
There was no reason for me to think that way.
Yet, those irrational thoughts were proof.
I had imprinted on Yugeon.
I saw him as my source.
That’s why being with him felt so easy.
Why I could hold his hand without hesitation.
Why his presence calmed me.
“…This is insane.”
I let out a small sigh of disbelief as I reached my final conclusion.
No matter how I tried to deny it, all the evidence pointed to one truth.
I had imprinted on Yugeon.
“So what now? Can I break this?”
The thought of being permanently bound to him was suffocating.
I didn’t dislike Yugeon, but that was a separate issue.
According to him, we were nothing more than ‘closest colleagues.’
– “Yeah. Since Cremon Imprinting happens similarly to addiction, you can break it the same way. It varies from person to person, but generally, if you go three weeks without drinking from the imprinted person, it naturally disappears.”
I let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
Thank god.
I wasn’t trapped for life.
I had nothing against Yugeon, but being bound to him forever was another story entirely.
– “By the way, when was the last time you drank Yugeon’s blood?”
“Why?”
– “The second week is when withdrawal symptoms hit the hardest. Right now, you can suppress the thirst just by being near him, but when it gets worse, you won’t be able to satisfy it with any other blood. You’ll only crave his.”
I counted the days.
The gate incident happened less than a week ago, meaning it had been six days since I last drank Yugeon’s blood.
Next week would mark two weeks.
And that’s when things would get worse.
Even now, just being in a closed space with Yugeon made the thirst intensify. I found myself holding my breath without realizing it…
And we’d be spending even more time together in the coming days.
That was concerning.
“If I don’t drink his blood, I won’t suddenly trigger a creature transformation, right?”
– “Nope. As long as you drink some kind of blood, it won’t happen.”
“Then that’s all I need to know.”
The withdrawal-induced thirst was false thirst.
Even if it wasn’t satisfied, it wouldn’t force me to transform.
That meant all I had to do was endure.
