Chapter 170:
Crimson blood filled the syringe. As if that wasn’t enough, Park Jung-soo licked the blood dripping from the wound, staining his lips and grimy clothes.
“Ha… haha… I have it. I finally have it. It’s finally mine!”
Once the syringe was full, Park Jung-soo pushed Baek Joo-won away roughly and stumbled back, laughing maniacally.
“Seo Jae-yi won’t be able to ignore me now. This is the Factor of a 93% Matching Rate Guide!”
“One hundred percent.”
Baek Joo-won’s voice, sharp as a blade, cut through Park Jung-soo’s crazed laughter. Park Jung-soo, startled by his commanding presence, turned to look at him.
“Ha… haha…ha… What?”
“Not 93%, but 100%. We had a re-evaluation a few days ago.”
“…What?”
Park Jung-soo’s eyes widened. What was he saying? 100%? Not 93%, but 100%?
“Their Matching Rate increased that much in just a few months?”
“Do you think I’m the same as a worthless insect like you? I’m the only one in the world who can save Seo Jae-yi.”
Baek Joo-won smiled, looking directly at Park Jung-soo.
Even the blood splattered across his pale face couldn’t diminish his beauty. On the contrary, the crimson droplets seemed to enhance it, making it even more…
Terrifying.
‘What is this…?’
Park Jung-soo instinctively took a step back.
Something felt… wrong. A strange, unsettling energy was emanating from Baek Joo-won.
“What’s wrong? You finally have what you wanted, so why are you retreating?”
Baek Joo-won gestured towards the syringe in his hand. Park Jung-soo’s hand twitched involuntarily.
“Are you… hesitant now? Are you afraid of transplanting the Factor of a Guide with a 100% Matching Rate with Seo Jae-yi?”
100% Matching Rate. Park Jung-soo’s hesitant expression hardened at those words.
Hesitant? Afraid?! Preposterous!
This was the moment he had been waiting for, for eleven long years!
“Fine. I’ll transplant it right now, if that’s what you want. And I’ll take Seo Jae-yi right in front of you. She’s mine. Mine.”
Park Jung-soo, his hand trembling slightly, took out another vial filled with a special solution that separated the Awakening Factor from the blood.
He poured Baek Joo-won’s blood from the syringe into the vial, his hands shaking, oblivious to the tremors.
Baek Joo-won didn’t interfere, watching impassively as he worked.
Park Jung-soo, his eyes gleaming with anticipation, was thrilled by his inaction.
That fool, so lost in his arrogance, he didn’t even realize he was sealing his own fate!
“He… hehe.”
The blood settled at the bottom of the vial, and the Awakening Factor rose to the top.
Park Jung-soo chuckled, a distorted sound, and carefully extracted the separated Factor with the syringe, discarding the remaining blood.
“Ah… ah… this is…”
He stared at the syringe, his eyes filled with a rapturous light.
With this, with this injected into his body, everything would be over.
He would finally achieve his lifelong dream of possessing Seo Jae-yi!
He held the syringe and then fumbled for Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor.
He popped the cork, and a wave of heat, like a burning flame, washed over him. Baek Joo-won’s face softened involuntarily, as if soothed by her powerful, defiant energy.
“Ugh!”
But unlike Baek Joo-won, who seemed to find her energy comforting, Park Jung-soo felt an agonizing pain.
His eyes turned bloodshot, seeing Baek Joo-won’s relaxed expression, his apparent enjoyment of her energy.
That smug look wouldn’t last long. He would never smile like that again after losing Seo Jae-yi to him.
“Haa!”
Park Jung-soo plunged the needle into his arm, injecting Baek Joo-won’s Guide Factor into his body.
He watched as the last drop entered his bloodstream and then brought the vial containing Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor closer, beginning his Guiding.
It was excruciating.
Especially since his Matching Rate with Seo Jae-yi was a mere 8%.
But he had to endure. The reward would be worth the pain.
“Ah.”
He felt a change within his body.
It started in his arm, where he had injected Baek Joo-won’s Factor. The veins bulged, throbbing painfully. His arm trembled uncontrollably.
It hurt, but the pain was quickly replaced by a wave of euphoria.
“Ah… ah…”
He was becoming attuned to Seo Jae-yi’s energy, despite their low Matching Rate! His breathing, which had felt like he was inhaling fire, gradually eased.
A powerful force was growing within him, allowing him to Guide Seo Jae-yi’s energy more easily.
Yes, he was Guiding!
Seo Jae-yi’s energy!
“Ha… haha… hahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!”
Park Jung-soo burst out laughing, his laughter louder than the gunshots that had echoed through the desert.
Tears of joy streamed down his face.
Ah, when was the last time he had cried?
He couldn’t contain his tears, overjoyed at the thought of finally possessing Seo Jae-yi, the world’s strongest Esper.
Once he eliminated Baek Joo-won, he would be the only one in the world who could control Seo Jae-yi.
Park Jung-soo wiped away his tears, his face radiant with happiness.
“…Huh?”
Something was strange. It wasn’t clear tears staining his hand, but blood.
What… what was this?
It wasn’t Baek Joo-won’s blood. It was… his own.
And then, as he realized that, more tears, or rather, blood, started pouring out, not just from his eyes, but also his nose, ears, and even his mouth.
“Wh-what? What’s happening? Why… why is this happening?”
This was strange. It didn’t even hurt that much; why was he bleeding so profusely?
He wasn’t feeling any pain; on the contrary, the power he had injected, Baek Joo-won’s energy, was growing stronger within him.
…Wait. Growing stronger… within him?
“Wh-what? What’s happening?”
His arm, where he had injected the Factor, started swelling. His veins, engorged with blood, bulged beneath his skin.
“I-I’ve… never… experienced this before…”
This wasn’t the first time Park Jung-soo had transplanted a Guide Factor.
He had stolen and injected a few Guide Factors to enhance his own Guiding abilities.
He hadn’t been able to touch Kwon Yi-soo’s and Joo Seon-min’s, as they were kept under strict security, but he had experimented with the Factors of a few top-tier A-rank Guides.
He had experienced some side effects, like fever and nosebleeds, but never anything like this.
“What… what’s happening to me?!”
He yelled, and the scent of Seo Jae-yi’s Esper Factor, still emanating from the open vial, assaulted his senses. He dropped the vial, his head throbbing with a searing pain.
The vial shattered, and Seo Jae-yi’s powerful energy washed over him, even more intensely.
“Aaaaaargh!”
Seo Jae-yi’s energy was far more painful than Baek Joo-won’s Factor within him.
He scrambled away, his swollen arm dragging on the ground.
“Why… why is it rejecting me? It’s Seo Jae-yi’s energy, my Factor…”
Baek Joo-won slowly approached him.
Park Jung-soo, seeing him approach, screamed, his voice filled with terror.
“St-stay back! Don’t come any closer!”
“You were so eager to lick my blood just a moment ago, and now you’re rejecting it? Don’t worry; I’ll give you more, if you want.”
“Stay away! Stay away from me!”
Baek Joo-won, reaching him in an instant, placed his foot on Park Jung-soo’s back.
“Ugh!”
Park Jung-soo groaned. He felt a crushing weight on his back, as if a mountain was pressing down on him.
He had never felt this kind of pressure, not even from Seo Jae-yi, not from any Esper.
Fear, true, primal fear, filled his eyes for the first time.
“Wh-who… who are you…? What… what are you…? Y-you monster!”
“A monster… Well, you’re not wrong.”
Baek Joo-won chuckled and knelt before him.
Their eyes met.
“Or rather, you couldn’t be more right.”
What was he talking about…?
Park Jung-soo’s face froze as he stared at him, his eyes wide with terror.
Baek Joo-won’s shoulder, where he had been shot.
The torn skin, the blood… the wound was closing, healing rapidly.
That shouldn’t be possible for a human!
“H-how… how…?”
The bullet, pushed out of the wound, clattered onto the ground before him. Baek Joo-won’s shoulder was perfectly healed, as if it had never been injured.
“H-how… how… how is this…?”
Park Jung-soo looked back and forth between the bullet and the healed wound.
How could a Guide, not an Esper, possess such regenerative abilities? Even S-rank Espers couldn’t heal this quickly from an anti-monster bullet!
He, who had experimented on countless Espers, knew that!
Then how could he explain this?
“A-are you… an Esper…? No, that’s impossible. No one can possess both Esper and Guide abilities.”
“You’re right. There’s no such human.”
Park Jung-soo’s frantic cries ceased abruptly at his strange words.
What? Was he implying he wasn’t human?
That was impossible. It couldn’t be…
“Is it truly… impossible?”
Baek Joo-won smiled, as if reading his thoughts.
And his brown eyes turned a vibrant green, his pupils elongating into slits.
“Aaaaaargh!”
Park Jung-soo screamed, scrambling backwards, his movements clumsy and pathetic.
“You were so eager for me, and now you’re running away? You said possessing Seo Jae-yi would be just a matter of time if you had me.”
His fangs lengthened as he sneered.
Park Jung-soo instinctively clutched his throat, seeing his monstrous form. He felt like he was about to be attacked, his neck torn open.
It was the primal fear of encountering a predator, a tiger lurking in the dark.
“Shall I tell you something? Your hypothesis… it was correct.”
“…Wh-what?”
“Your hypothesis, that you might be able to increase your Matching Rate with Seo Jae-yi if you obtained my blood, my power… It was correct.”