Chapter 102: The Plan in Motion

Since failing to escape the research lab, Dr. Yoon’s demands had been getting more severe by the day.
There was a message from early in the morning to start wavelength condensation.
It was closer to a one-sided command than a message.

Dr. Yoon had watched me with a smile as I was colored with shock and horror at the sight of the S-Class guide on the eighth basement level.
He probably thought I wouldn’t be able to resist anymore and intended to use me as he pleased.

Although the escape had failed, it was not without its consequences.
When I got outside, my communication with Jinseok was connected, and if it was him, he would have surely been thinking about a situation where I would contact him.
I sincerely hoped that he had identified the communication location.

Even if he didn’t come, I planned to keep trying to escape as long as I was here.
And Siyun’s help would be a great aid to the escape.

• [Guide-nim, your wavelength emission is 20% lower than yesterday.]

“That’s because I’m releasing it every day. Do you think a lot will come out when you keep squeezing it?”

• [Didn’t you want to get out of here? At this rate, you won’t be able to.]

At my annoyed words, he also came out with a firm attitude.
I glared at the situation room’s glass where he was, but he was looking at the monitor with his assistant, as if he didn’t care about my gaze.

I didn’t know how long I could endure his coercive words and commands.

If I was obedient, he would be thrilled and swing me around, and if I had a rebellious attitude like now, in the end, he would send me to the eighth basement level.

Considering this situation, I had no choice but to hope for Sung Yohan’s help.
If he helped, I could escape immediately, but since he hadn’t shown his face for several days, I couldn’t help but become more impatient as time passed.

With Siyun’s mental-type ability, couldn’t I try to escape one more time?
If I failed this time too, I might become a guiding machine, tied to a machine like the guide I saw on the eighth basement level, but come to think of it, my situation and the guide tied to the machine were not that different.

Instead of just waiting quietly, hoping for someone’s help, I wanted to keep trying to escape.

After the wavelength condensation was over, I waited for Siyun’s guiding time while having lunch.
Now, just being on the third basement level felt suffocating.

I walked down the dry hallway with his assistant, who had appeared on time for the guiding.
As I had felt since I first came, the inside was neither cold nor warm.
It was just set to an average temperature.
I didn’t know the flow of time, and the thought that I might be trapped here forever made me suffocate even more.
My desire to get out of here quickly just grew stronger.

When we entered the guiding room, he greeted me with his eyes first.
At that, I also blinked my eyes once for a long time, sat in my designated seat, and did remote guiding.
Not long after my wavelength connected with his, I heard a small voice in my ear.

「Guide-nim, is there still no contact from Esper Sung Yohan?」

I could feel the stuffiness in his voice, as if he were just as frustrated with this situation as I was.

「Yes. I think it would be better for us to find a way to get out on our own rather than waiting for him.」

「I think I can get out of the lab with my ability. But I’m worried that if I run into an Esper who is on standby outside, like you did, I’ll be caught again.」

As he said, I was also concerned about that point.
If I were caught by the security Esper who was on standby outside, it would be a meaningless escape.
And I was also worried that the door to the building across from me was blocked.

Even if we escaped outside, if there was no escape route, the probability of being caught again was high.
If that was the case, we had no choice but for someone to help us or come to find us.

「Siyun-gun, can you also brainwash Dr. Yoon’s assistant?」

「It’s possible. But why?」

He and his assistant could go in and out of the secret research lab and the Center’s research lab.
If that was the case, it seemed possible to brainwash the assistant and inform Jinseok of the location here.

I had already told him to get his help, and since a considerable amount of time had passed since I had come here, there was a high probability that he was also in contact with him.

「Can you make the assistant tell my manager the location here? Then my manager will come to help.」

「It’s possible. As you said, I’ll place a suggestion to convey the location.」

I couldn’t yet gauge the power of his suggestion, but seeing that he was struggling with it, I was confident that things would proceed smoothly.

If this also didn’t work, I would have to consider other methods.
Though it would be nice if he appeared in the meantime.

After the guiding was over, I asked him again about the suggestion and returned to my room.
My head was throbbing.

The headache that had started after the failed escape was getting worse by the day.
I wanted to take headache medicine, but I was reluctant to eat the medicine given here because I was suspicious.

I was trying to force myself to sleep by closing my eyes when I faintly felt his wavelength.

I hurriedly sat up and tried to concentrate to make contact with his wavelength, but this time too, it was repelled.
No matter how much I thought about it, it was strange.
Since it was a secret research lab, it seemed that even wavelength leakage was difficult outside of the guiding room.

I didn’t know if he was inside or outside the research lab, but it seemed he had come looking for me, knowing that I was here.

I was about to go out into the hallway to make contact with his wavelength again, but for a moment, the past that he had shown me and his desperate expression came to mind, and my strength drained away.
Every time I thought of the past, my energy was drained like this, and I would blame myself.

To be honest, I wanted to ask him if the things he had shown me were true.
If they were true, I didn’t know for whom I had been struggling until now.

If he had been a little more honest, this situation wouldn’t have come.
I ended up blaming all my mistakes on his actions and began to create an excuse.

But the image of him sobbing kept coming to mind.
Along with the thought that if I hadn’t attached the sleep chip, we might have been different.

The next day, he, whom I met in the guiding room, had a brighter face than usual.
At that face, I could vaguely tell that the suggestion had been successful.

「Guide-nim! I have good news.」

「Did the suggestion succeed? There’s no sign that the assistant or Dr. Yoon noticed, right?」

「Yes. I confirmed that the location was safely delivered, and I also checked the situation, and it seems to be on the good side.」

At the positive words, I could feel the nightmare-like thoughts that had been tormenting me last night become a little lighter.

「Siyun-gun, it must have been a difficult situation. You worked hard.」

「You also had a hard time here, Guide-nim. I’m going to undo all the suggestions I’ve placed on people when I get out this time. I don’t want to torment people anymore.」

It seemed that he had also been living with anguish here.
If he undid the suggestions, it would be easier to uncover the things that had happened at the secret research lab.

I was talking with him about future plans when I suddenly heard his voice.

• [This is very strange, Guide Shinui.]

At his sudden strange words, my back straightened, and I became tense.

“What is?”

I asked, looking at his face inside the situation room’s glass.

• [Siyun-gun is continuously receiving guiding, but his level isn’t going up. As if he’s using his ability.]

At his words, I held my breath without realizing it.
He also flinched and was agitated like me, but he still maintained his expressionless face.

“I had my wavelength compressed since this morning. Do you think guiding would work well now?”

• [That’s true. But it’s still strange.]

If it were him, he might have noticed that he and I were communicating.
But since I had already informed him of the location, it was too late even if he noticed.

• [Let’s stop here for today.]

“His level hasn’t even reached the calm zone yet.”

• [It’s fine. Siyun-gun, come out.]

At his words, he went out first, and I was left alone in the guiding room.
He said to me as if warning me.

• [Don’t do anything foolish to him.]

“I haven’t done anything foolish.”

He looked at me with a condescending gaze and then went out.
I wanted to say a word to him, but since it was a time to watch the situation quietly, I held it in.

In the end, I couldn’t see him the next day.
It was certain that he had sensed something strange and had isolated him and me.
The Multi project was also suddenly suspended, and I was made to stay only on the third basement level.

Even in this anxious situation, the fact that the location had been delivered to Jinseok was a comfort.

Had my earnestness all this time finally been answered?
I was waiting for Jinseok to contact me in my bedroom, when an emergency siren blared in the research lab.