Chapter 67: The Lunatic Who Realized His Guide Had Been Preparing for This All Along

He’s really acting like this is nothing. Prodded by a sudden wave of stubborn defiance, Hae-jin subtly shifted his body whenever Lee Chae’s hands brushed against his skin, intentionally provoking him in return. Lee Chae’s breathing grew steadily rougher, mutating into low, strained groans.

“You prefer it when I just lie here like a doll?”

When Hae-jin asked the question, his face contorted in a grimace of raw frustration, Lee Chae simply offered a quiet nod.

“Why? You’re clearly turned on. It’s supposed to feel better when we touch each other.”

“Guiding comes first. Once my guiding session is officially complete, you can do whatever you want.”

Whatever I want? Hae-jin felt an urgent need to clarify the exact boundaries of that statement. At this very moment, Lee Chae appeared dangerously precarious—looking as if he might shatter into pieces at any second—and harbored the distinct aura of a man frantically concealing something beneath the surface.

“You’re making it sound like an open invitation to imprint on you right now.”

Lee Chae’s shoulders flinched violently. His pupils trembled in chaotic disarray, perfectly mirroring a man whose deepest, hidden motives had just been brutally exposed.

“That’s right. I’m going to make sure we officially imprint today. No matter what.”

Witnessing that reaction, Hae-jin felt a surge of absolute disgust, despite having just received the explicit permission he had craved for so long. There wasn’t a single shred of romance in the air; instead, Lee Chae was treating the act of imprinting like a tedious chore he was desperately trying to rush through and cross off a checklist.

Hae-jin actively forced his overheated brain to cool down. Snagging a hand through Lee Chae’s hair, he forced the younger man’s head up to meet his gaze.

“You’re not turned on right now. And this isn’t even something you genuinely want.”

As if attempting to prove him wrong, Lee Chae grabbed Hae-jin’s hand and pressed it directly against his bare chest. Hae-jin could distinctly feel the heart beneath the skin thumping at a rapid, erratic cadence. Yet, this was merely a involuntary physiological reflex inherent to a Guide undergoing physical contact—it had zero relation to a genuine exchange of emotional intimacy.

It was nothing more than a mechanical, biological reaction—devoid of the scorching, desperate gasps or the soft, melting tenderness that had characterized their very first touch-guiding session.

There’s definitely something going on here… Have his feelings for me officially cooled down?

No, that made zero logical sense. A man whose feelings had faded wouldn’t actively march forward and demand a permanent imprint. Then why on earth was he acting like an emotionless machine, sending such wildly conflicting signals and leaving Hae-jin so thoroughly bewildered? A barrage of endless theories flooded Hae-jin’s mind in a fraction of a second. To make matters worse, Lee Chae kept deliberately rubbing his bare body against his frame as if staging a desperate seduction. Watching the unnatural display only ignited an inexplicable, mounting fury within Hae-jin’s chest.

“Hyung, I’m literally lying here completely naked… What on earth is spinning through that head of yours? Just hold on a little longer. Let me finish the guiding first, and then I’ll let you have your way with me completely. Or is staying still really that difficult for you?”

Even while fully aware that Lee Chae was intentionally deploying the title ‘Hyung’ and adopting a soft, gentle tone specifically because he knew Hae-jin was pathetically defenseless against it, Hae-jin felt his inner defense mechanisms subtly soften anyway.

“Just relax your muscles, and leave everything to me. It’s going to feel good.”

Lee Chae lazily ran his tongue over his own lower lip while his hands pressed down firmly against Hae-jin’s broad shoulders. Though Hae-jin’s logical mind remained ice-cold, every single point of physical contact burned with a terrifying, escalating heat… If this continued for even a few moments longer, the fraying tether of his self-control was going to snap entirely. And if that happened, he would end up being passively dragged along by Lee Chae’s agenda without ever uncovering what was truly spinning inside that head, or why he was suddenly pushing so desperately for an imprint.

The lips that had been resting near Hae-jin’s ribcage began to lazily trace a path downward. The absolute microsecond those lips reached the vicinity of his navel, Hae-jin reached down and forcefully hauled Lee Chae’s frame upward. Wrapping his arms around him in an unyielding grip to paralyze his movements, Hae-jin leaned in and rasped directly against his ear.

“Am I just some casual fling to you?”

At those words, Lee Chae let out a faint chuckle, shaking his head.

“I already served as your practical training tool to help boost a D-class Guide’s skill capacity last time, didn’t I?”

“Who said anything about that? Just finish what you were doing. Keep spouting nonsense, and I’m calling this whole thing off.”

Though delivered as a passing, casual remark, there was something inexplicably heartbreaking about the underlying tone. Hae-jin pulled the struggling Lee Chae tighter against his chest, refusing to let him wriggle free, and gently stroked his back.

As their bodies pressed together without a single fraction of space between them, their heartbeats—which had been clashing in wildly chaotic rhythms—gradually synchronized into a unified cadence. As their body temperatures melted into the exact same feverish heat, true emotional depth finally began to seep into an act that had previously felt like a hollow shell.

Despite having zero clue why Lee Chae was acting so recklessly, Hae-jin refrained from pressing him with harsh questions, choosing instead to continuously pat and soothe his back. Far more critical than extracting an immediate explanation was comforting his lover—who appeared infinitely more battered and emotionally wounded than Hae-jin himself, despite Hae-jin being the one who had just narrowly escaped the jaws of death.

Only after an extensive stretch of being held and gently caressed did Lee Chae slowly lift his head, uttering a response in a tiny, crawling voice.

“What on earth did I even do wrong for you to react like this? I was just acting like I usually do.”

With the unnatural fever draining from his eyes, the chaotic tremor in his pupils stabilizing, and the defensive venom vanishing from his voice, he finally looked like his true, authentic hamster self again. Now that Lee Chae had reverted to normal, it was officially time for questioning.

“Of course you didn’t do anything wrong, sweetheart. The absolute crime lies entirely with me for causing you so much anxiety and pain. You must have been pushed to your absolute psychological limit for you to demand we settle an obligatory defense battle the second I walked through the door.”

“It wasn’t anything like that.”

“Don’t lie to me, it was textbook duty. Why? When you thought I was officially dead, did a massive wave of regret hit you over all the times you treated me poorly?”

“No. I was just… turned on…”

Lee Chae’s voice trailed off into absolute silence as he tightly clamped his lips together, actively averting his gaze.

I knew it. That’s exactly what it was.

Having reached his final verdict, Hae-jin shifted his weight, rolling their intertwined bodies over in a single fluid motion. He pinned Lee Chae securely beneath his frame, ensuring zero avenue for escape.

“Look at your lips.”

He used his index finger to lightly press down on Lee Chae’s lower lip.

“If you’re going to attempt a lie, you should at least wet your mouth first.”

“…”

The stubbornly sealed lips showed zero intention of parting. What on earth was going on inside that small head of his? Hae-jin stroked Lee Chae’s soft hair, whispering in a low, grounding tone.

“What exactly are you regretting so intensely?”

The moment Hae-jin accurately pinpointed the exact core of the issue, Lee Chae’s pupils dilated and trembled violently. Watching him struggle so pitifully to execute a lie he was clearly utterly terrible at was genuinely heartbreaking. After a agonizingly long silence, a voice so faint it was barely audible finally drifted upward.

“The fact that… it’s all my fault.”

“What is?”

“If I hadn’t been so stupidly captured by that humanoid monster in the first place, you never would have been dragged away. And even when you vanished, if we had just been officially imprinted, I could have tracked your location instantly. So… you getting captured, and you suffering through all that hell because I couldn’t find you fast enough… it’s all entirely my fault.”

Hae-jin desperately wanted to snap and demand to know what kind of absolute bullshit logic that was, but he forced himself to remain silent, silently absorbing every word until Lee Chae managed to pour out every drop of poison in his heart. The suffocating agony that had trapped Lee Chae in a web of dark delusions during Hae-jin’s absence came erupting out like a volatile explosion.

“I should have just agreed to do it when you asked me to back then… But I stupidly rejected you instead.”

“Jung Lee Chae, you didn’t reject me because you didn’t love me, did you? So why on earth are you saddling yourself with this ridiculous guilt?”

“Because I was terrified. Because I was a coward.”

Terrified? Of imprinting? Why?

The more Lee Chae spoke, the more deeply chaotic and confusing the entire narrative became. If it were a fear regarding the physical pain of the process, he could rationally comprehend it. But if two people shared a genuine, absolute devotion, an imprint was never something an Esper or a Guide should ever fear.

Then… don’t tell me… it’s because his feelings aren’t genuine?

The moment that dark thought crossed his mind, the icy composure Hae-jin had painstakingly built to stay rational vanished instantly, a wave of dark heat surging from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his skull.

If his feelings aren’t real… then I’ll just have to forcibly chain him to me anyway.

Hae-jin felt an overpowering urge to pin Lee Chae down and brutally force the imprint right then and there, but witnessing the younger man lying beneath him like a guilty criminal—unable to even meet his eyes—he managed to force his racing pulse back under control.

“And what exactly were you terrified of? That once we imprinted, you wouldn’t be able to run away from me? Because your feelings aren’t real?”

The words cut through the air with a harsh, icy chill. Lee Chae snapped his head up, his eyes locking directly onto Hae-jin’s. His expression radiated absolute disbelief, as if demanding to know what kind of unhinged nonsense Hae-jin was spouting.

“It was the exact opposite.”

“What?”

“I was terrified that if we imprinted recklessly based on a premature judgment, you would end up regretting it later, Hyung. You might claim you love me right now, but unlike me, you’re an S-class Esper.”

What on earth is this hamster babbling about?

Hae-jin’s face contorted into a completely wrecked grimace. At first, he genuinely couldn’t wrap his head around the convoluted logic, but the moment the full picture clicked into place, a shock of cold clarity washed over his brain like a bucket of ice water.

“If we don’t imprint, you can freely walk away the second you grow tired of me. But if we imprint, you won’t be able to leave… and having you stay trapped by my side out of obligation would destroy my pride—”

He was endlessly chattering away with that endless stream of nonsense.

“Stop spouting absolute garbage. And stop the guiding too. f*ck… just stay completely still. I’m going to handle every single thing from here on out.”

With his mouth effectively silenced, Lee Chae offered a compliant nod. Yet, appearing uncomfortable, his body continuously wriggled and twitched against Hae-jin’s frame. The moment Hae-jin’s palm lightly brushed against his inner thigh, a distinct, wet sound of Lee Chae swallowing his saliva echoed in the quiet space.

Pretending he doesn’t want it, when his body is reacting like this.

Suppressing the wild, primal instinct to brutally possess him on the spot, Hae-jin buried his face against Lee Chae’s lower body. As Lee Chae attempted to squirm away from the overwhelming sensation, Hae-jin clamped a hand over his waist, exhaling hot bursts of air against his sensitive skin and gently tickling him until a wave of uncontrollable arousal washed over him.

A series of exquisite, melodic sounds began to spill past Lee Chae’s lips.

“Ah…”

The breathless gasps tickling his ears served as high-octane fuel to Hae-jin’s exploding desire. Having memorized every inch of Lee Chae’s anatomy long ago, he knew precisely which buttons to press. He selectively targeted every single hyper-sensitive zone across his skin.

“St-stop… No, ke-keep going…”

Stop? Or keep going? God, he’s so f*cking cute…

Hae-jin pressed a relentless cascade of hot kisses across every inch of Lee Chae’s body as the younger man continued to groan, entirely unaware of the contradictory words spilling from his own mouth. The rigid tension locking Lee Chae’s frame gradually dissolved into fluid warmth, his lips parting naturally in an invitation. The absolute second the pathway opened, Hae-jin buried himself deep inside him in a single, unyielding push.

“Hah!”

The second they joined, the intense, crushing grip of Lee Chae’s passage surrounding his length was so overwhelming that Hae-jin completely froze, utterly incapable of making another move.

I’m going to lose my f*cking mind. Seriously.

He had assumed Lee Chae’s declaration about being prepared for an imprint was nothing more than hollow bravado, but he was dead wrong. He had zero clue how long Lee Chae had been secretly preparing his body for this, but the interior was so breathtakingly soft, liquid-slick, and scalding hot that it felt as though he might pass out from pure ecstasy. At this rate, even without consciously forcing an imprint, the sheer intensity of the connection felt powerful enough to trigger a permanent bond all on its own.

“Lee Chae. Jung Lee Chae, look at me.”

A pair of half-lidded, glazed eyes slowly focused on Hae-jin. They radiated a profound thirst, burning with a desperate, intense longing. Though Lee Chae didn’t appear to be in physical distress, Hae-jin asked just to be entirely certain.

“Are you alright?”

“J-just… hurry up.”

A volatile mixture of pure lust and lingering fear swirled within Lee Chae’s pupils as his gaze feverishly scanned Hae-jin’s face. A continuous stream of scalding groans poured relentlessly from his parted lips, while every single point where their flesh connected clamped down with an agonizing, addictive tightness.