Chapter 55: It’s Natural

“Espers, you must have heard this for the first time.

It’s a phenomenon so rare that there isn’t even a formal term for it.

Among our researchers, we collectively call it ‘natural imprinting.’”

“Natural imprinting?”

Lee Tae Hwan and Min Ji Oh, frowning at the phenomenon they’d never heard of, reacted simultaneously.

The researcher nodded and, raising his voice, focused on explaining.

“As the name suggests, the typical imprinting process is omitted, and imprinting occurs naturally.

There have been very rare cases of this occurring between an Esper and a Guide with an unusually high matching rate, above average.”

“So, they imprinted without even sleeping together?”

The researcher, clearing his throat at Min Ji Oh’s blunt question, continued smoothly.

“To be precise, it’s difficult to say that complete imprinting has occurred.

Because guiding doesn’t work.

Simply put, you can think of it as a half-imprint.

According to the guiding report, the frequency of mucosal guiding was quite high, so it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when natural imprinting occurred, but it is presumed to have happened during that process.”

All Guides were obligated to report their guiding process with their assigned Esper.

Unless they were imprinted, they had to end each day by writing bothersome reports.

Bodam, in particular, had many details to report.

“Currently, excluding the ability users already imprinted within the Center, you two have the highest matching rates.

It’s very high not just domestically, but globally as well.

Furthermore, if Esper Kang Yi Jun had a strong attachment to Guide Yoon Bodam, it is entirely possible.”

He went on to explain the research findings that a commonality among cases of natural imprinting was an extremely high desire for imprinting from the Esper.

To this, Min Ji Oh, who had been sitting at the table listening intently, asked crookedly.

His expression already conveyed a stream of curses.

“So. Kang Yi Jun forcibly imprinted him?”

“It’s difficult to say it was forced.

Because it’s not possible simply by the Esper’s will.

Every Esper desires imprinting, but natural imprinting doesn’t occur just because of a high matching rate.

That’s also why countermeasures to prevent natural imprinting haven’t been established.”

“Then what, he just got imprinted because he had bad luck?”

“From the Guide’s perspective, one could summarize it that way.”

“Is there a way to remove the imprinting?”

Seung Ho, who had set down his coffee cup, asked again, interrupting Ji Oh and the researcher’s conversation.

If it was a half-imprint, there had to be a way to sever it.

“Killing Kang Yi Jun would end it.”

Lee Tae Hwan, who had uttered such a shocking statement while sitting on the sofa, raised an eyebrow.

As if asking the researcher for confirmation, ‘Isn’t that right?’

“Hmm. That’s right.

Like regular imprinting, if the Esper dies, the imprinting naturally disappears.

The connected senses also sever their link.”

The researcher, answering without hesitation, wiped his damp philtrum and spoke rapidly.

“But the difference is that even if the Guide dies, the Esper does not go into a rampage.

Since it’s literally a half-imprint, if one of them dies, it disappears.

Without any rampage.

Of course, of course, there should absolutely be no sacrifice from either, so this method is naturally out of the question.”

The researcher, impaled by the Esper Director’s sharp gaze, quickly added.

Lee Tae Hwan seemed on the verge of making the decision to kill Kang Yi Jun immediately.

If the pain was connected as if imprinted, but guiding didn’t work, then the Guide was in danger.

There was no way a Guide, with a body like an ordinary person, could endure the pain an Esper felt.

Furthermore, it was even more dangerous for a physically weak Guide like Yoon Bodam.

“Other methods?”

Seung Ho, setting down his coffee cup, asked again.

There must have been a reason for the Esper Director to come all the way here.

“As of now, there are two methods.”

As expected, the researcher, eagerly seizing Seung Ho’s question, raised his voice even more firmly.

“The fastest and surest way to stabilize Esper Kang Yi Jun’s condition is to form a true imprint.

Of course! Of course, it would be difficult to get Guide Yoon’s consent.

Th-that’s natural.”

The researcher, intimidated by Lee Tae Hwan’s and Min Ji Oh’s expressions, quickly raised both arms to emphasize his last words.

Even with hundreds of millions of won, it would be impossible to have relations with Esper Kang Yi Jun, who had become a dark blue monster like this.

As the researcher, thoroughly frightened by their aura, stammered, the Esper Director slammed his cane down.

He opened his mouth, glaring in frustration at the excessively long-winded researcher.

There was a faster way, without having to delve into various solutions.

There was no need to hear the second method either.

“What’s the point of bringing up ambiguous phenomena like natural imprinting?”

The Esper Director, turning his head widely, meeting the eyes of Lee Tae Hwan, Min Ji Oh, and Han Seung Ho one by one, his eyes gleaming.

“We can just treat it as if they imprinted.”

All the symptoms displayed by Kang Yi Jun and Yoon Bodam proved they were imprinted, and the only one claiming otherwise was the Guide.

And the only one that Attack Team 3, uncharacteristically, was obsessed with and wanted was that one Guide.

So, the easy solution was already there.

“Although guiding isn’t possible right now, it did show a reaction, so if we keep trying, there’s a possibility that guiding will work.”

“Yes. It will certainly be possible.

Since there was a reaction even with light contact, it’s not at all impossible if we maintain consistent contact and increase the guiding level.”

The researcher, adding to the Director’s words with an open smile, spoke confidently.

Kang Yi Jun, who had been lying like a dead body, showed movement at Yoon Bodam’s voice.

Surely, if they only put in time and effort, guiding would be possible.

“With this matching rate, the Guide’s heart is also easily swayed.”

The Director, rubbing the handle of his cane and continuing to speak, had already made his decision.

Coaxing a seemingly soft Guide was simple.

A single word about an imprinted Esper possibly dying because of him would be enough.

Furthermore, according to the records he’d received, the Guide was quite passionate about guiding.

Someone with a sense of mission for their work was even easier to handle.

“Making him believe he’s imprinted is no trouble at all.

Legally, we also have the upper hand.”

Thud, the Director, striking the floor with his cane and straightening his sitting posture, began speaking in a slightly commanding tone.

“I’ll take care of this.

You just need to handle the Guide I’ve put back in his place well.

Don’t act according to your usual personalities like before.

If you want to use that Guide for a long time, that is.

Understood?”

Thud.

The sound of the cane hitting the floor echoed again.

But it wasn’t the Director who made the sound.

“So now.”

Lee Tae Hwan, his head resting on the back of the sofa, tapped the floor loudly with the Director’s cane, wiggling his fingers.

Thick muscles stood out on the wrinkled hand gripping the cane handle.

“You’re going to brainwash Yoon Bodam into believing he really imprinted.”

Thud.

“Threaten him into guiding.”

Thud.

“And keep him at the Center for life.”

KWA-A-ANG—!

As the cane plunged into the floor, the ceiling collapsed.

Around where the Director sat, the floor cracked and the ceiling caved in.

With an enormous sound, an Esper who had been in the data room upstairs, looking for books, was dragged down with a dumbfounded expression.

The long corridor was filled with broken concrete debris, bookshelves, and countless books, raising a cloud of dust.

In the midst of it, the Esper, slumped like a decoration, merely adjusted his glasses, unable to comprehend the situation.

Thanks to Seung Ho, who had cast a barrier just before Tae Hwan used psychokinesis, there were no casualties.

Tae Hwan, rising from the sofa, stepped on the debris scattered across the chaotic floor.

His gaze was fixed on the Esper Director.

“Do it.”

Tae Hwan, taking a step towards the Director, mimicked the smile the Director had worn and spoke.

“Because I’ll be the one to make you rampage.

Understand?”

He walked closer, pulled out the cane stuck in the floor, and hardened his expression.

Mimicking what the Director had said, he issued a warning.

“Tearing and bursting intestines into tiny pieces is easy.

It’s no trouble at all.”

The Director remained seated, unmoving, inside the barrier Seung Ho had cast.

He fixed his gaze on the fallen ceiling on the floor, not even blinking.

The researcher standing beside him had long since collapsed, his legs giving out.

“Team Leader. Let’s move to another waiting room.

If we’ve used one for too long, we should change it.”

Tae Hwan, after glaring at the Director as if to pierce him, walked towards the door.

Seung Ho, who briefly looked up at the collapsed ceiling, followed Tae Hwan out of the waiting room.

An annoyingly relaxed aura emanated from Han Seung Ho’s even footsteps.

“This came from the Center Director’s head, didn’t it?”

Ji Oh asked the Director, who took a deep breath and stood up from his seat.

The Director omitted his answer and quickly left, leaning on his cane.

It was an obvious answer that didn’t even need confirmation.

“Where are you going?”

Seung Ho, who had followed Tae Hwan out, called out to him, stopping him.

Tae Hwan, who had a habit of walking slowly when angry, hadn’t gone far.

“Guiding room.”

Tae Hwan merely spat out a short answer and continued to stomp forward, eventually stopping.

“Yoon Bodam wanted to stay, didn’t he?”

Seung Ho’s nonsense forced him to stop.

“I had a bad feeling, and it turns out I was right.”

Tae Hwan, turning to face Seung Ho, raised his voice.

He should have known from the moment that man, who never wasted time, listened to the old snake’s words until the very end.

“Are you agreeing with that bastard?”

If it had been a topic he was truly uninterested in, Han Seung Ho would have cut it short immediately.

But he had listened to the researcher’s words.

“Is there a better solution?”

Seung Ho, unmoved by Tae Hwan’s cursing shouts, continued.

“You all want Yoon Bodam to come back, and Kang Yi Jun will especially want him.”

“Ha…”

“If you have another way, tell me.”

Tae Hwan, his words caught in his throat, couldn’t even curse anymore.

Suddenly, he thought of Yoon Bodam.

A sudden realization struck him like a blow to the head.

His crumbling sanity scattered like dust, clouding his vision.

“Shut up.”

‘How did Yoon Bodam endure half a year?’

‘Half a year of rubbing shoulders with bastards like us.’