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''Why the hell didn't you tell me I was an S-Class Guide?!' I screamed internally, gripping my hair like I wanted to rip it out.
[Host wasn't ready.]
My eye twitched violently.
'Ready?!'
'Ready?! What part of my life looked ready to you?!'
[Correct.]
[Host is now experiencing the consequences of being an anomaly.]
I wanted to throw something. Preferably the system itself.
[That's not very nice, Host.]
"Agh, fuck this—" I ran both hands through my hair, nearly pulling it out in frustration.
[Initializing Host's Status Screen.]
'My what now?'
A sleek, pitch-black holographic window expanded in front of me, glowing with elegant purple accents. The interface looked far more advanced than before, it looked cold and authoritative.
STATUS SCREEN
Name: Jung Hanseong
Age: 19
Rank: S-Class Guide (First in Existence)
Guiding Capacity: 8 S-Class Espers (Maximum)
Active Skills:
●Eternal Symphony (Unique)
Allows the user to simultaneously guide up to 8 S-Class Espers. Creates a mental symphony where each Esper acts as an instrument under perfect synchronization.
Warning: Extreme mental strain. Prolonged use may cause backlash.
●Tyrant's Choir (Rare)
Allows the user to guide Espers using only their voice. Effectiveness increases with emotional intensity.
Current Mastery: Beginner
Hidden Traits:
●Plot Anomaly (Deviation: 89%)
●Transmigrator
???
I stared at the screen, speechless.
Not one
Not two
'…Eight.'
'I can guide eight S-Class Espers at once?'
[Impressive, isn't it?]
'Impressive my ass, are you trying to get me killed?!'
'Eight monsters...'
[Correction host, you mean espers]
'I will rip your guts out'
[I sense that host is unhappy with his skills.]
'Fuck you'
***
OUTSIDE THE VAULT.
"The government will classify him immediately as a national asset," Yuri said coldly.
Taehyun's shadows twisted like living things ready to strike.
His voice dropped into a dangerous growl.
"Try."
Yuri's eyes narrowed, unflinching despite the suffocating pressure radiating from the S-class Esper.
"Since when do you care so much about your guides, Lee Taehyun?" she shot back.
"You've discarded every single one before him like they were nothing. What makes this one different?"
Taehyun didn't answer immediately. His mismatched eyes darkened as he stared her down.
"He's mine."
The simple declaration carried more weight than any threat. The air in the corridor grew thick with unstable energy.
Yuri went still for half a second.
In all the years she'd known Lee Taehyun, he'd never claimed a guide before.
Yuri recovered quickly, adjusting her glasses.
"...That attitude is precisely why the government needs jurisdiction."
Taehyun's expression didn't change.
"He is not a weapon."
A dark chuckle escaped Yuri's lips.
"That's exactly what he became the moment that orb shattered."
She took one step closer, her voice dropping into a low whisper.
"You know what scares me the most?"
She looked him dead in the eye.
"It's not his rank, it's you Taehyun."
The shadows around Taehyun's feet deepened.
"Careful, Director."
***
Former Presidential Residence.
An old man calmly watered his bonsai tree, enjoying the quiet morning light filtering through the windows.
Then the door burst open. A black-suited aide practically sprinted into the room, breathing hard.
"Sir!"
The former president didn't look up. "What is it?"
"Headquarters just confirmed an S-Class Guide awakening."
The watering can stopped mid-air.
"…Repeat that."
"The first in existence, sir."
The old man's expression hardened.
"…Impossible."
The aide hesitated.
"It's Jung Hanseong."
Crash.
The ceramic watering pot shattered against the floor.
The old man slowly turned around, his usual calm completely shattered. His hands trembled with a mix of shock, disbelief…
"Hanseong...?"
The ceramic fragments scattered across the polished floor.
The aide froze.
The former president stared at him for a long, terrible moment.
"Hanseong?" he repeated quietly.
His grandson.
The boy whose A-Class awakening had been celebrated by the media and quietly criticized by political elites who'd expected an Esper.
The old man exhaled sharply, dragging a hand across his face.
"How many people know?"
"Director Kim Yuri. Esper Lee Taehyun. Several headquarters personnel before containment protocols were enacted."
His expression darkened immediately.
"Too many."
The aide swallowed.
"Sir... should I notify the current administration?"
The former president's eyes sharpened with frightening clarity, remnants of the leader who once governed an entire nation surfacing beneath the grandfather's shock.
His voice hardened.
"Mobilize family protection detail."
The aide blinked.
"Sir?"
"And pull every intelligence report involving foreign awakened organizations from the last six months."
The aide suddenly looked pale.
"You think they'll move that quickly?"
The former president laughed. It held absolutely no humor.
"The first S-Class Guide in human history?"
He turned toward the window, Incheon's skyline stretching endlessly below.
"Is he safe?"
The aide hesitated.
"Kim Yuri and Esper Lee Taehyun are with him."
The room fell silent.
The former president closed his eyes.
That answer did not reassure him in the slightest.
"Get the helicopter ready"
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