Chapter 169:
Baek Joo-won walked away from the gate, not stopping until he was far enough away that he could see the massive gate but not the people.
The surroundings were desolate, as Las Vegas was situated in a desert. The gate’s emergence had driven away even the tourists, adding to the desolation.
Baek Joo-won found the silence… unfamiliar.
It had been a while since he had been completely alone. He had been constantly by Seo Jae-yi’s side recently.
“This is… strange.”
He stopped and looked back.
The blue gate, radiating an ominous energy befitting a Rank 1 dungeon, was visible in the distance.
‘Seo Jae-yi must be fighting alongside Airok now.’
He would have been there with her if it weren’t for this important task he had to complete.
“Unfamiliar.”
Perhaps that was why this moment, this moment without Seo Jae-yi by his side, felt so unfamiliar.
When had a human become so important to him? So important that being apart felt strange, unnatural?
He had changed. Completely.
But he didn’t want to go back to how he was before. He preferred being with Seo Jae-yi, even for a single moment.
‘I have to finish this quickly and return to where I belong.’
He turned and continued walking, stopping at a hill overlooking the gate.
“…”
A vast expanse of desert stretched before him. Others would have been awed by the majestic scenery.
But Baek Joo-won felt nothing. He would probably forget it the moment he turned away.
If Seo Jae-yi were here, he would have remembered every detail – every blade of grass, every scent in the air, the feel of the wind against his skin. But she wasn’t here.
‘I should really take Seo Jae-yi on a trip after this is over.’
He was looking forward to seeing these unremarkable landscapes through her eyes.
A smile, the first since he had left Seo Jae-yi, touched his lips.
But first…
“You can come out now.”
Baek Joo-won turned around and spoke.
Someone emerged from behind a large rock at the foot of the hill.
A gaunt figure, his face etched with weariness, making him look much older than he actually was, his eyes sunken, his beard unkempt, his posture slightly stooped.
He had never seen him in person, but he recognized him from the pictures.
Park Jung-soo.
The man Seo Jae-yi loathed, the man she desperately wanted to capture.
Baek Joo-won smiled, a predatory glint in his eyes, at the appearance of the man he had been waiting for.
“You look much older than in the pictures.”
“…You speak as if you were expecting me.”
Park Jung-soo’s voice was raspy with exhaustion. But the intensity in his sunken eyes was unsettling.
He looked deranged. Almost comical.
“You’ve always been waiting for me to be alone. I’ve been curious why, so I decided to give you an opportunity.”
He had been expecting Park Jung-soo to appear.
This was a trap he and Seo Jae-yi had set.
It had started in Korea. When they received the news about the dungeon in the US, Baek Joo-won had suggested using it as bait.
If Seo Jae-yi entered the dungeon alone, and he remained outside, Park Jung-soo would definitely approach him. It was a certainty, considering his obsession.
The question was how to get him to the US, as he was a wanted man.
They had to act discreetly; even Park Jung-soo couldn’t know it was a trap. So they had to keep it a secret, even from Kwon Yi-soo. And they had received unexpected help.
From Joo Seon-min and Kwon Gyu-yeon.
Kwon Gyu-yeon, in particular, had been instrumental.
‘To think she would send a broker to Park Jung-soo…’
As expected, Park Jung-soo had started looking for ways to get to the US as soon as he heard about Seo Jae-yi’s departure, and Kwon Gyu-yeon, with her talent for finding people, had been the first to locate him.
She had sent a broker to him, successfully arranging his transport to the US.
‘So many people involved just to catch this insignificant worm.’
He had been anxious, worried Park Jung-soo might realize it was a trap and escape.
But this was the end.
“You want my Guide Factor so badly, don’t you?”
“You knew and still waited for me. You seem confident you can subdue me.”
“And you… Do you think you can subdue me?”
Baek Joo-won smirked.
He had been disappointed when he first saw Park Jung-soo.
He was far more pathetic and insignificant than he had imagined.
It would have been worth the effort if he had been at least as formidable as Kwon Yi-soo, but this… this insignificant human wasn’t even worth remembering.
The thought of this pathetic creature harassing Seo Jae-yi, coveting her, his Seo Jae-yi, made his stomach churn.
Yes. This insignificant worm, daring to desire Seo Jae-yi, who belonged to him, body and soul.
“I can’t defeat you with brute force, of course. But there are other ways.”
Park Jung-soo took out a vial.
A vial filled with a beautiful, shimmering red liquid.
Baek Joo-won’s body reacted before his mind could process it. A chilling wave of… something akin to terror, washed over him.
There was only one thing in the world that could evoke such a reaction from him.
Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor.
“Just how much of her Factor did you extract?”
“An Esper, especially an S-rank, can survive even if you extract a lethal amount of blood from an ordinary human. That’s basic knowledge.”
Baek Joo-won’s face hardened. If Seo Jae-yi or Airok had seen his expression, they would have been shocked by his fury.
But Park Jung-soo, lost in his madness, didn’t sense his anger, his fear.
Fear? Terror? Those didn’t matter. Failing to achieve his desire was far more terrifying than death.
“Well, there’s not much left, but I’m not disappointed. Once I have your Guide Factor, Seo Jae-yi will be mine.”
Forever.
Park Jung-soo smiled, a disgusting, possessive grin.
It wasn’t just Espers who were obsessed with Guides. Sometimes, a Guide’s obsession with an Esper was even more intense.
How satisfying it must be to have the one you could save completely subservient to you, worshipping at your feet.
And Espers were willing to fulfill their Guide’s every whim, possessing the power to make their desires a reality.
That was why Guides who coveted Espers were the most dangerous.
“Are you angry? Don’t make that face.”
Park Jung-soo smiled brightly at Baek Joo-won’s hardened expression.
“If it weren’t for you, the highly compatible Guide, I would have given up. You’re the one who gave me this opportunity. So blame yourself.”
He threw the vial at Baek Joo-won. Baek Joo-won’s gaze was instinctively drawn to the spinning vial.
He couldn’t help it; it contained Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor, and she was everything to him now.
And in that moment of distraction…
Bang!
A sharp, metallic sound echoed through the silent desert. A splash of crimson. Baek Joo-won’s pale face, the face Seo Jae-yi loved, was splattered with blood.
The bullet Park Jung-soo had fired had pierced his left shoulder.
It had torn through his combat uniform and embedded itself in his flesh. It was clearly an anti-monster bullet, the kind used by Espers, not an ordinary gun.
Park Jung-soo, clutching his shoulder and groaning in pain from the recoil, was proof of that. Only Espers could handle the powerful recoil of an anti-monster gun.
Despite his shoulder being practically shattered, Park Jung-soo smiled.
His determination to obtain what he desired was palpable.
“You’re resorting to tricks.”
Baek Joo-won, ignoring his wound, kicked off the ground, his uninjured right hand snatching the vial from the air.
Bang!
Another gunshot. But this time, the bullet missed. Baek Joo-won had already retreated after catching the vial.
He looked at the familiar red liquid, Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor, and then turned his gaze towards Park Jung-soo.
He had dropped the gun, his hands trembling, unable to fire a third shot.
But Baek Joo-won was more interested in something else.
“Why did you shoot my shoulder? You could have killed me instantly if you had aimed lower.”
“I need to extract your blood while you’re alive to obtain a fresh Guide Factor.”
Park Jung-soo looked at Baek Joo-won’s shoulder with a greedy glint in his eyes.
More precisely, at his blood, the crimson blood that resembled Seo Jae-yi’s, the blood that pulsed with her power.
He gulped, as if it was the elixir of life, his eyes burning with a feverish intensity.
Baek Joo-won chuckled derisively.
“You crave it that much? You think this blood will increase your Matching Rate with Seo Jae-yi?”
“It seems you found what I left behind in Jeongseon.”
“You failed with Gong Ju-hyun. Do you think you’ll succeed with this?”
Gong Ju-hyun, who had been continuously exposed to Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor, had indeed seen his Matching Rate with her increase.
But it had been a meaningless number. Seo Jae-yi hadn’t reacted at all. He hadn’t even been able to Guide her.
It had been a complete failure.
But Park Jung-soo didn’t see it that way.
“It wasn’t a failure. It gave me hope. Do you have any idea how happy I was when you appeared?”
He let out a strange, distorted laugh and took a step towards Baek Joo-won, his gaze fixated on the blood trickling down his arm.
“There’s no such thing as failure. I will succeed. I’ve been preparing for this day for so long!”
Baek Joo-won’s existence had given him hope, and his experiment on Gong Ju-hyun had fueled that hope.
Now, all that remained was to obtain his blood.
“Give me your blood!”
Park Jung-soo lunged at Baek Joo-won, his fingers digging into the bullet wound, reopening it, fresh blood welling up.
Park Jung-soo’s eyes, fixated on the blood, were filled with a rapturous light, like a treasure hunter who had finally found his prize.
“With this, with this, I can have Seo Jae-yi! With this, I can have the strongest Esper at my feet!”
He took out a syringe and plunged the needle into Baek Joo-won’s wound.