Chapter 92: A Captive Audience

Siyun was able to meet again the next day.
His face was paler and more haggard than the first time we met, but his gaze, unlike before, was not numb or dazed.

Putting aside my remaining worries at that sight, I cautiously asked him.

“Are you feeling okay now?”

He was silent, as if he had no intention of answering my question, and instead, Dr. Yoon answered.

“He’s fine. Then shall we proceed with Siyun-gun’s ability for the contract?”

It seemed he intended to proceed with his mental-type ability, which had been stopped last time, today.
I had thought I would be out of here soon, but my phone still wasn’t ringing, and Jinseok had not appeared either.

Since there was a possibility that he had failed, I felt that I shouldn’t let him use his ability on me.
I hurriedly called out to him.

“Just a moment.”

“What is it?”

“If I receive the ability, I will be made to keep silent about the research lab and the deal with you after I’m discharged, right?”

“Yes. Everyone here came in after receiving the same ability. Siyun-gun himself, too.”

“How can I trust that? You could make all my memories disappear, not just the ones about the research lab.”

At my words, his face turned troubled, and he soon let out a low sigh, as if annoyed.

“I won’t do such a thing. How can I make you trust me?”

“Please schedule the time you use the ability on me for after the project is all over.”

“That will be difficult.”

“Why? You don’t trust me?”

“I have also taken a big risk to get you out of the Association.”

I doubted if the big risk he mentioned even existed, but since I had to persuade him now, I had to see eye to eye without revealing my true feelings as much as possible.

“I know. But I’m still anxious.”

“You don’t have to worry. But if you’re still concerned, there’s another way to set a different condition instead of going through the silence procedure later. Would you like to hear it?”

“What is it?”

He instructed his assistant to do something.
The assistant came back with a small machine not long after.
It was an ability nullification ring I had seen once before.
It was an unfamiliar object to me, but I remembered it because the prison inmates had been wearing it.

“Do you know what a nullification ring is?”

“I saw it at the Awakened prison. But I’m not an Esper.”

“The nullification ring not only nullifies abilities but also has a real-time location tracking function. And if you move far away from a specific area, an electric shock is generated.”

From his following explanation, I could tell that he was determined to tie me down here.

I had to escape from this place if he didn’t appear, but since the location tracking function could hold me back then, I felt a sense of rejection.

He looked at me with a face as if to ask what I would do.
Neither option was a good one.

I was in the middle of contemplating what to do.
Suddenly, I heard someone’s voice in my head.
I was surprised by the voice, which sounded like it was right in my ear, and looked around.

「Guide-nim, please don’t say anything and just listen.」

It was a voice that had just gone through puberty.
I just rolled my eyes and looked around before I saw him.
He might be talking to me with his ability.

「I won’t use the ability. Please tell Dr. Yoon that you will receive the ability.」

At the specific word ‘ability’, I knew that the person talking to me was him.
I couldn’t believe his words, but it was more trustworthy than the face of him, who was looking at me as if he would put the ability nullification ring on my body right away.

In this situation, it was better to receive his ability than the nullification ring, so in the end, I said I would receive the ability.
Most of all, I wanted to believe him, who had secretly spoken to me with his ability.

“I’ll go with receiving the ability.”

“A wise choice. They say it’s painful to have to wear this all day.”

He said, touching the nullification ring.
And with a face as if he had to finish the work quickly, he said to him.

“Siyun-gun, you can use your ability on the guide in front of you as you always do.”

As soon as his words ended, he held out his hand to me, but I couldn’t easily take it.
Then he grabbed my wrist and placed it on his hand.

He held my hand and closed his eyes.
His wavelength quickly enveloped my body and began to emit light.

I thought it would be unsettling, but it was surprisingly fine.
But I was amazed.
How could an Esper who was not yet an adult use such a vast energy ability?

He, who had been holding my hand for a long time, pulled his hand away.
As his hand fell, the wavelength also receded.
I didn’t feel any wavelength seeping into my body, and for now, I didn’t feel any particular change.
It seemed he had really not used his ability.

“Siyun-gun, are you finished?”

“Yes.”

His voice was the same as the one I had heard in my head a little while ago, but in reality, it was drier and more parched.

He put his hand on his shoulder with the words ‘good work’.

“You worked hard. Then shall we move to the guiding room now?”

As soon as his words ended, we moved to the guiding room.
How did he get involved with him and end up living in such a closed place?
From the looks of it, it didn’t seem like he had gone out many times.
His skin was deathly pale, as if to show that he hadn’t seen the sun.

He, who had been silent for a while, finally opened his mouth after we entered the guiding room.

“You can guide until he’s in the calm zone, as usual.”

As I had seen before, the guiding room had the same internal structure as the Center’s guiding room.
Instead of a bed, two chairs were placed about 1m apart.
He and I each sat in a chair.

He watched us from the monitoring room, and since he said I only had to do remote guiding, I decided to do so.

“I’ll do remote guiding.”

He nodded silently.
But his gaze, looking at me, was clear.
I looked at the Guiding Watch, which was linked to his bio-chip, and tried to do remote guiding.

Looking at his guiding level, it seemed he also had side effects, just like him.
His level was in the crisis zone.

How was he usually guided?
There was a high probability that another S-Class guide had done it.

I was curious about what kind of life he had lived here, but since we would be parting ways soon, I didn’t bother to ask.

Since his current guiding level was only 48%, I released more wavelength than usual, but the level was rising slower than I thought.
It seemed to be because my matching rate with him was low.
His wavelength kept trying to run away.

Even with me, who had good wavelength control, the guiding was like this, so I became curious again as to how he had been guided in the past.
In the end, I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and asked him.

“Did an S-Class guide guide you until now?”

This time too, he just nodded.
His guiding level was a problem, but seeing him unable to even express himself properly, my brow furrowed.
I didn’t get the feeling that he was here of his own free will.

“How long have you been here?”

• [Guide-nim, I would appreciate it if you would just focus on guiding.]

“I understand.”

As expected, he blocked my conversation with him.
In the end, I couldn’t talk to him anymore, and it was only after a full hour had passed that I was able to enter the calm zone.
It had taken twice as long as with him and him.

As soon as his guiding was over, I moved to my room on the third basement level.
I was worried about him, but since my own situation was more worrying now, I looked at my phone again.

There was still no contact from anyone.
I should be getting a call soon…
Feeling a sense of wonder, I sent a message.
But the message wouldn’t go through.
The communication was definitely connected, which was strange.

I immediately called Jinseok, but it was immediately disconnected.
Only then did I think that he might not have been able to contact me because the communication was not working.
Thinking that it might not be connecting only in the room, I walked around and tried to send a message, but it wouldn’t go through.

It seemed they might be blocking the signal.
I hadn’t fully believed his words that phone use was possible, but now that this situation had come, I was so dumbfounded that a dry laugh escaped me.

I returned to my room and picked up the internal phone, intending to question him about the situation.

• [Hello.]

“This is Guide Lee Shinui.”

• [Yes, Guide-nim. What can I do for you?]

“The call is not connecting.”

• [I was just about to tell you. We are currently undergoing a communication network inspection, so it should be up by tomorrow.]

“Around what time tomorrow will communication be possible?”

• [It’s difficult to give you a definite answer because the time is different every time. I hope you’ll understand this point.]

“Then can you contact me when the inspection is over?”

At my words, the researcher said okay and hung up.
I planned to call Jinseok as soon as the inspection was over tomorrow.
But if this was the case, I couldn’t help but think about the possibility of communication being down in the future.
The feeling of looking at my dead phone was unsettling.

When it was 7 PM, his assistant came.
He said he had come to get me for the Multi project, which started at 7 o’clock.
I followed the assistant down to the basement, and in front of me was an iron door, different from the ones I had seen until now.

From the looks of it, it seemed you could only enter with biometric recognition and a researcher’s ID card.

“This is the Multi project room. Today, I’ll just show you the site, and you’ll be joining from tomorrow.”

“I understand.”

When the door opened, a situation room appeared.
Inside were two researchers, and there were monitors, various machines, and a large magic mirror that showed the project room.

As I got closer, I saw a person sleeping on a bed beyond the mirror, and someone was standing in front of them.
It was Sung Yohan.

I was a little surprised at his appearance.
I hadn’t expected to see him so soon.
I wanted to talk to him, but since I was only looking at the site today, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to meet him.

“Who is the person lying down?”

“A C-Class guide.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen him.”

If he was an Association-affiliated guide, I would have had some acquaintance with him, but he was a guide I was seeing for the first time.

At my words, his assistant said no more.
He had a face that said he had no obligation to tell me.

I looked at the guide again.
That guide must also be desperate for a promotion, just like the me from before the regression.

“From tomorrow, you will be injecting your wavelength with him.”

“Did that guide also agree to the wavelength injection?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Although he said it was with consent, it was pitiful to see him lying there without knowing what was being done to him in his sleep.

Since coming here, all of Dr. Yoon’s research and projects looked negative to me.
The me in my heart kept telling me that I should never participate in his project.