Chapter 1: A Borderline Existence

B-class.

It’s such an ambiguous rank.

Even when people buy something as trivial as beef, they prefer C over nothing, B over C, and A over B.

For a species that calls itself rational and superior to ordinary beasts, humans are strangely obsessed with numbers and ranks.

Even without seeing proof with their own eyes, the moment a grade or number seems unimpressive, people judge everything through a biased lens.

Of course, I’m not trying to criticize them.

If I had enough money in my hands, I too would choose the highest quality beef available.

In that sense, I am both unfortunate… and ambiguous.

I was a refugee born in a conflict zone between District 3 Relief Zone and District 4 Relief Zone.

I spent my childhood in a state-run refugee shelter.

At sixteen, I was lucky enough to awaken as a Guide.

But even that… was nothing more than a pitiful B-class.

Yes. B-class.

“Who in the world would even care about something like that? Just look at him, he’s useless from the start.”

“I’d rather he didn’t come near me. It’s unpleasant.”

“Hyung, aren’t you being too harsh? Even if the situation is what it is, why are you treating Siram hyung like that?”

“Everyone, don’t be so hard on Jaeyoon. It’s not like he chose to be B-class. It can’t be helped, right?”

And I am, without a doubt, the Guide of Assault Team 3—the strongest team in the center.

#01

1. A Borderline Existence

How many people in this world truly live exactly the way they want?

Unless you’re lucky enough to be born into a good family and live without hardship…

Or blessed with extraordinary luck where everything you do just works out…

Life is bound to be difficult.

Somehow, or perhaps inevitably…

I was the same.

“Hey! Hey, Han Jaeyoon! Where are you?!”

On a late autumn afternoon, warm sunlight streaming through the window, I had just finished a grueling day and was resting in the dorm.

Then suddenly, Park Suchang’s irritated voice rang sharply in my ears.

Startled, I quickly got up from the bed and walked into the living room.

As expected, there he was—his face twisted as if he could devour me at any moment.

After a week of constant overtime and recent field support work, my entire body ached as if I’d been beaten.

Perhaps displeased that I simply stood there without reacting, Park Suchang bared his unusually long fangs and sneered.

“What are you looking at? Move your damn eyes.”

“…I’m certain I asked you to refrain from entering my quarters without permission, Mr. Park Suchang.”

“Refrain? Don’t give me that crap. I already got chewed out by the director today, I’m in a bad mood.”

As always, he ignored everything I said and acted solely on his impulses.

A headache slowly crept in.

There was only one reason why an Esper from Assault Team 3—the strongest team in the center—would come looking for me, their assigned Guide.

He needed guiding.

Swallowing the bitterness rising in my throat, I forced myself to speak calmly.

“As you’re well aware, I’m a B-class Guide. On busy days like today, you need to contact me in advance if you want guidance. I believe I mentioned this before, along with the issue of entering my quarters.”

“So? Are you going to do it or not?”

“…I assume you’ve set aside enough time.”

“Hah. Do I really have to consider your schedule just to get guided? You’ve gotten pretty arrogant, haven’t you?”

After three years, I had grown used to this kind of treatment.

But whenever I sensed that someone was deliberately trying to hurt me…

It left me feeling utterly powerless.

It wasn’t like I enjoyed guiding them.

It wasn’t like I chose to be assigned to this team.

Yet, perhaps because a mere B-class like me was guiding S-class Espers like them, my paired Espers tormented me relentlessly throughout the contract period.

Verbal abuse was routine.

At the beginning of the contract, they even tried to expel me from the team, claiming my guidance instability posed a risk.

They mocked and insulted me with degrading words—even other department members would find them shameful—just because I was a refugee guiding them.

“Guiding can’t be interrupted midway. Unless you’re capable of delicate control, this is the best I can do.”

“If it were Choi Siram instead of you today, would I even have to go through all this trouble?”

“…I’m terribly sorry for being so useless.”

“Good. At least you know.”

Among them, Park Suchang was especially cruel.

Refugee, refugee—he repeated it so often it rang in my ears.

I had never once been ashamed of where I came from.

But after being assigned to this team, I found myself questioning my existence dozens of times a day.

From the start, the difference between them and me wasn’t my fault.

Just as they didn’t choose to be born wealthy in District 1…

I didn’t choose to be born in a war-torn slum.

From dawn until dusk, gunfire filled the streets.

People were wounded and killed.

Children barely five years old crawled through ruins, surviving on muddy water collected in pits because there was nothing else to drink.

Who would ever choose such a miserable life?

Suppressing a bitter laugh, I spoke carefully so as not to provoke him.

“If you’re ready, please hold out your hand and close your eyes. And refrain from any unnecessary thoughts.”

“Bullshit. I wouldn’t touch you even if you offered. Stop talking nonsense and just guide me. That’s what you exist for anyway.”

“…Then that would mean Choi Siram is in the same position as me. Are you sure you won’t regret saying that?”

Choi Siram.

Unlike me, a mere B-class, he was an exceptional Guide from District 2.

Born to a senator father and a pianist mother, he was practically nobility.

After recently completing A-class training, he was assigned to Assault Team 3 after me.

Perhaps because people of similar standing fit together, the team treated him like a precious treasure—completely different from how they treated me.

“How are you even comparable to him? Just making that comparison is insulting.”

With orange-blond hair like melted brown sugar, bright green eyes like a forest, and soft cherry-colored lips…

Choi Siram seemed like the very embodiment of the word “lovely.”

Standing beside him made all worries disappear.

His warmth and kindness were overwhelming.

And his personality—so gentle and naïve—he would cry easily, laugh easily…

Even I, who had grown numb to most situations, found him difficult to deal with.

“Oh, right.”

“What is it this time?”

“You didn’t forget about the party tonight, did you?”

“…A party? What are you talking about all of a sudden…?”

“Idiot. Hyung sent you an invitation earlier. Didn’t you get it?”

“…That strange piece of paper?”

“‘Piece of paper’? It’s an invitation to a party hosted by the center director.”

I sighed in disbelief.

About two weeks ago, Kwon Yiyul—the leader of Assault Team 3 and the most terrifying among them—had suddenly shown up and handed me a paper.

He said something afterward, but I had been too busy with personnel changes to remember a single word.

Besides, anything he said to me was usually either useless… or meant to humiliate me.

For my own sanity, it was better to forget as quickly as possible.

“Even if you say that, I don’t have anything suitable to wear. And I still have a lot of work left to do…”

“Does this look like I’m asking for your opinion?”

“…So I should just shut up and attend?”

“Exactly. What else would it mean?”

This was bad.

My plan to quietly finish work and end the day with a movie was completely ruined.

On top of that, exhaustion hit me like a tidal wave, making my head throb.

Recently, stress had even given me stomach problems.

And now, I had to attend a party celebrating Choi Siram’s assignment…

Just thinking about it made my whole body feel heavy.

“…If I must attend, I should check with the center wardrobe to see if I can rent a tailcoat. Ah, should I get one for Choi Siram too? I heard he hasn’t finished moving his belongings yet.”

“Are you insane? Why would he wear something that someone else has worn?”