Chapter 99: The Truth Revealed

I couldn’t even imagine that Hyun Taewoon would go on a rampage after I died.
I didn’t know if the sleep chip had failed to activate, but he was continuing his rampage, turning the surroundings into a sea of fire.
He was recklessly attacking not only the monsters but also the Espers, and it looked precarious.

The damage caused by his ability was greater than that of the devil.
The Association must have also felt the danger from him, as they quickly attempted to anesthetize him, but it was not easy.
In the end, with Sung Yohan’s help, he, who had fallen into an anesthetized state, fell to the ground.

「Did it really happen like that…?」

「Yes. The damage was great because he went on a rampage.」

He was still looking for me even as he was collapsing.
Even though his face and body were also crushed by the devil to the point of being unrecognizable.

This broken him was not the person I had known.
The person I had seen until now was thorough, concise, and cold, at least at the gate.

He was moved to the Center hospital, but when he opened his eyes again, his eyes were blank, as if his soul had left him.
And he moved to the gate again, combining machine guiding and medication guiding.
He focused all his attention on killing the devil.
He even took guiding medication in the middle of a battle.
But despite his efforts, the devil’s gate did not close for over a week.

Seoul, which was already more than half destroyed by the devil and the monsters, was now close to ruin, to the point where it was difficult to find a living person.

In the shelter’s guiding room, he was receiving machine guiding with a face that looked like he was about to die.
A neat-looking Sung Yohan approached his side.

He, who couldn’t even open his eyes properly, said to him in a cracked voice.

“Where is Shinui?”

“He died a week ago.”

At his words, tears welled up in his dry eyes and then flowed silently down his cheeks.
He seemed to not want to accept that I had died.

“Sung Yohan, you said you could go back to the past, right?”

“I can go back.”

“Can I, can I go too…?”

“Yeah, you can go too. Why?”

Unlike the desperate him, he was smiling as if he were enjoying the situation.

“Then send me, to the time when Shinui was alive.”

“What will you do for me if I send you?”

At his words, his head slowly went up.
His face was a wreck, but hope could be felt in his eyes.

“I’ll do anything. Whatever you want… I can do it.”

From his words, it seemed he had already known about his ability.

「How did he know his ability?」

「I was once paired with his sister. We were on good terms when we were young, so we knew each other’s abilities.」

I had heard that his sister had died from reverse guiding by an S-Class Esper.
If that was the case, he might have been the Esper who had reverse guided his sister.

Only then did I understand the reason why he had extremely disliked him.

“Okay. If you don’t keep your promise, you’re coming back here.”

He smiled like a devil and took his hand.
And the surroundings turned to darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, it was my room in the secret research lab.
It didn’t feel real, as if what had just happened had been a dream.

If what I had just seen was the truth, I didn’t know what the hatred I had shown towards him until now was.
I felt like a fool.

It wasn’t that he was without fault.
But I was also responsible for distorting the truth and accepting it, blinded by jealousy after Joo Wonjae appeared.
It felt so hopelessly twisted.

“You have a face that doesn’t want to believe it.”

He said to me, who had been stiff and silent for a while.
I really didn’t want to believe it.
So much so that I even thought that he might have shown me a hallucination.
But it was the same as the events I remembered, and it was too detailed.

“Is it really the truth? Without a single lie?”

“Yes. It’s the truth without a single lie.”

He nodded his head lightly.
At that, I had no choice but to accept that it was the truth to some extent.

As I replayed his last face in my mind, the devil’s gate came to mind.
I couldn’t know the end of the most important devil’s gate, so I hurriedly asked him.

“What happened to the devil’s gate?”

“I came back in the middle, so I don’t know what happened. It probably closed safely, right?”

I had gone to see the devil’s gate close, but in the end, I couldn’t know if it had closed.

“I have to confirm if the devil’s gate closed! That’s why I made a deal with you.”

I felt like I had been tricked by him.
I had to confirm how the gate had closed…
I was engulfed in a sense of dismay.

“It probably closed safely. Anyway, how was his last appearance?”

“I don’t know.”

When I saw his crumbling figure, my chest felt tight and uncomfortable, as if someone were squeezing it.
But I tried my best not to feel that way.
Otherwise, I felt like I would regret my actions until now.

“By the way, how did you return to the past?”

At his question of how I had come to the past, I debated whether to tell him the truth or hide it.
But since I also didn’t know why I had returned to the past, I told him the truth.

“After I died, I woke up and I was back in the past.”

At my words, he smiled with a meaningful expression, with only the corners of his mouth raised.
He had a look as if he knew something.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because I think I know the reason.”

“What reason? Don’t be coy and tell me honestly.”

“We were doing the Multi project at the same time as your S-Class project.”

I was shocked at the words that we had been doing the Multi project at the same time.
It was a fact I had not known at all.

“I definitely put my wavelength deep inside your body, but it’s all gone here.”

“……You put your wavelength in me?”

I felt the blood drain from my body.
Every time I did the project, I had felt an alien, tingling wavelength all over my body.
I thought it was a machine wavelength, but only now did I know that his wavelength had also been mixed in.

“Yes. Anyway, I’m starting to want to be guided now.”

Unlike me, who was surprised at the words that we had done the Multi project, he showed me his Guiding Watch and demanded guiding.
There was no way I could care about his guiding level in this situation.

“I never said I would participate in the Multi project.”

“I know. But you trusted Dr. Yoon too much.”

As he said, I remembered that I had trusted him and had been put under sleep anesthesia.
At that time, he had felt like a savior to me, and I had thought that I had to do as he said to be promoted.

“Now, guide me. If it goes down any further, I might go on a rampage like him.”

He once again urged me to guide.
However, since I still hadn’t come to my senses, I couldn’t guide him even if he asked me to.

“Just a moment. I need to clear my head.”

“Then clear it while we do first-level guiding.”

Even though I had asked for time, he immediately took my hand, as if my opinion didn’t matter.
I struggled to pull my hand away, but he squeezed my hand tightly, as if to tell me not to refuse, and it even hurt.

“My guiding level keeps dropping because I had to travel with you.”

“Sung Yohan-ssi, please.”

Even at my words, he didn’t release his grip on my hand and looked at my hand with gentle eyes.
He had a relieved expression just from being connected to my wavelength.
I was still trying to sort out my thoughts with my confused head.
He must have also noticed my state, as he continued to speak as if to tell me to get a grip.

“It’s because you’re foolish. The Multi project, misunderstanding him, and even now.”

Even though he kept saying something, I couldn’t concentrate well, and his figure kept coming to my mind.
I was also curious about what he had wanted from him at the end.

“What was the price he agreed to pay?”

“I think it will be resolved now.”

“What was it?”

“I asked him to kill a mental-type Esper.”

He must have also confronted him at some point.
But to kill that young child?

“How can you ask someone to kill a person.”

“Unnecessary things should die.”

I didn’t know what ability he had used to try to kill him, but it was certain that he was annoyed by his ability.

“I don’t think I have to kill him anymore. You’ll take care of it for me, won’t you?”

He said and hugged me.
I could feel a strong sense of possessiveness in his actions.

“Sung Yohan-ssi, can’t you just let me go?”

“I don’t want to. You were given another life thanks to me, weren’t you? How about you try living for me this time, not him?”

My mouth clamped shut at his selfish remark.
Seeing me, he smiled so brightly that his fangs were visible, and he caressed my brow with his thumb and continued.

“I’ll let you out of here as you wished, so relax your frown.”

Still, I was relieved that Sung Yohan said he would let me out of here as promised.
But my heart was still stirred with an unknown anxiety.