Chapter 3: The Unexpected Pouch

Bliss Moore’s presence in the mansion’s garden stemmed from a rather ordinary reason. As the estate’s new owner, he was scheduled to stay at a downtown hotel until the property was fully prepared.

Though he could move into the mansion directly in a week, he chose the inconvenience of a hotel to survey the lingering traces of Henry Grace before the staff tidied everything.

Beneath the mansion, perched on a hill overlooking the lake, lay a bunker designed to counteract potential rampages. It was an ideal spot for an arduously earned vacation.

This particular bunker had been custom-built for his father, an A-rank Esper. However, his father met his end in a rampage outside the capital, not here, rendering the bunker unused.

‘Even so, with a few adjustments, it should be usable.’

In any case, if he were to truly rampage, such a bunker would be useless. It merely needed to withstand the intermittent attacks he experienced in the absence of a Guide.

While Philip, his secretary, frantically scoured the town for necessities, Bliss wandered the mansion’s interior alone.

On the second floor, from the room where Henry had last lain, he happened to glance out the window. There, he spotted a man trudging through the garden toward the lakeside. The man’s natural gait suggested he had trespassed more than once, which Bliss found vexing. However, the realization that the back gate’s security was likely compromised softened his irritation.

‘Perhaps I’ll let it slide for today.’

Despite this thought, his feet inevitably gravitated toward the lake, feigning a stroll. He wanted to see the audacious fellow’s face. Had the sudden onset of an attack not struck him as he reached the garden, he would have surely confronted the brazen man.

As he crossed the garden toward the side gate leading to the lake, a familiar pain made him freeze. The agony, starting like needles pricking his fingertips, was enough to make an ordinary person scream and weep. Yet, for him, it had been a daily reality since his Esper abilities manifested at age twelve.

“This is troublesome.”

The attacks, which typically occurred every two months with careful living or every month and a half with active movement, had accelerated.

He groaned.

Sitting on a bench, he doubled over, moaning softly. He thought of the mansion’s bunker, but he hadn’t yet registered his biometric patterns, rendering it inaccessible.

The pain, which had begun at his fingertips, now grew like sharp thorns, steadily consuming Bliss from within.

“…Damn it!”

Feeling his heart pound at an abnormal rate, he swore, then collapsed onto the bench where he had been sitting, curling into a ball. Henry’s bedroom, which overlooked the garden, was within the attack’s range.

As the pain climbed like a vine, making his heart erratic and extending to his head, the agony intensified, sending uncontrolled commands throughout his brain.

‘I came to look for traces, not to completely erase them.’

Thud!

Gasping for breath, Bliss’s gaze, filled with resignation as he awaited the inevitable pain, shifted toward the sound of something falling.

‘A pouch?’

The small, two-finger-sized pouch was round, cinched at the top, and featured a peculiar emblem in its center.

Bliss stared at it for a moment, then grimaced again, letting out a low groan. The pouch was irrelevant; he was in a far more critical situation. If he could move even slightly, throwing himself into the lake might be an option, but the side gate connecting the garden to the lake felt impossibly distant.

Thump-thump!

Yet, he discovered that even amidst his agony, a fresh wave of irritation could surge when another pouch fell, striking his face before dropping beneath the bench.

“…What the—!”

It was the same type of pouch as before, but this one appeared to be sewn from colorful fabric scraps. As Bliss, still gasping, glared at the pouch that had just hit his cheek, a small commotion arose among those hidden at a distance, observing him while concealing their presence.

[Ugh, why doesn’t that idiot recognize a fortune pouch! When “Bok (福)” is kindly written on it, shouldn’t he assume it’s something good and open it?]

Watching Yuwol stomp his feet in frustration, Ethan replied with eyes that seemed to regard an old dwarf cosplaying as a child.

“Yuwol, at this point, you don’t really need to keep the secret of when you died. Even my dad didn’t know that character. In Han Village, only the elders and I, who were forced to study, knew it. Chilbok, hand over one more pouch.”

As he spoke, he poked the large fortune pouch tucked into his clothes. For a moment, it swelled slightly, only to deflate with a soft hiss.

“Chilbok, honestly, or rather, ‘pouch-estly,’ what’s with only giving out a pouch the size of two fingers? How many fabrics have I offered you? Shouldn’t it at least be the size of a fist?”

However, the fortune pouch, named Chilbok, remained unresponsive.

[Hey, hey. That human’s rampage looks like it’ll be powerful!]

Glaring at Chilbok for a moment at Yuwol’s words, Ethan, as if conceding defeat, spoke to the fortune pouch.

“If I go to town tomorrow, I’ll buy you real silk.”

Instantly, the fortune pouch puffed up and spat out a patchwork pouch the size of an adult’s fist. Ethan suppressed a sigh, plunged his hand into the pouch, and let his ki flow.

Feeling a slight weariness from the drained ki, he sealed the pouch’s opening. Then, he summoned Oweol, the crow who had already run two errands, gave them a sparkling pin as payment, and sent them flying.

‘Ah, that pin was quite expensive. I was saving it to use when the little bird refused to listen.’

With a wistful gaze, he watched Oweol fly off excitedly.

‘After all this, if he doesn’t open the pouch, it’s his loss. Though I don’t know how well that Esper and my ki will match.’

Unlike the general rule that one Guide matches one Esper, Ethan’s guiding was multi-faceted, tending to adapt to the individual Esper.

Of course, the effectiveness of this customized guiding varied greatly depending on the compatibility between the Esper and Ethan, sometimes applying only 5%, other times 10, 30, or even over 50%.

Regardless, even if it was only 5%, it still provided the necessary guiding for the recipient. After discovering this during his secondary sexual maturation when he manifested as a Guide, it was only natural that Ethan’s coming-of-age ceremony became a top-secret affair.

Ethan, who had indifferently observed the Esper on the verge of an attack until Oweol returned, eventually stretched his arms overhead and stood up.

“Since there’s no explosion or anything, it seems fine. It’s a temporary measure, but it probably bought him enough time to act before the full symptoms hit. It’s a bit annoying, but I’ll have to go around the lake today.”

[So, we can’t come here anymore?]

“We’ll have to find somewhere else. It’s far, but the opposite side of the lake or even the valley in the forest might not be bad.”

Long after they vanished into the bushes, the side gate burst open, and a tall man stumbled out, swaying slightly. In his hand dangled a surprisingly cute fortune pouch.

****

“First, register my biometrics in the bunker.”

The next day, seated in the ornate antique chair of his hotel room, Bliss decided to address the most urgent matter, issuing instructions to Philip.

His low, commanding voice carried an undeniable authority. Yet, Philip, his friend and executive assistant who had known him since childhood, casually dismissed Bliss’s words, returning a question instead of an answer.

“Considering you mentioned a sudden attack in the garden yesterday, you seem to be in remarkably good condition. How did you manage to endure it? The garden and building appear perfectly fine, so…”

Bliss’s pupils flickered. A moment later, he spoke, earnestly, yet with words that would undoubtedly brand him a lunatic.

“A strange pouch came to me on its own and provided guiding.”

It was the unvarnished truth, but Philip was momentarily speechless. Barely preventing his composure from crumbling, Philip suggested, his voice calm yet tinged with genuine urgency.

“Perhaps you should consider professional mental care for Espers.”

“…”