Beyond The Control

Chapter 35

At the same time, Song Ji-hyeok was looking out the car window. His reflection in the glass showed visible irritation.

The cause was the taxi driver. He should just drive like a proper driver. His phlegmy voice rambling about the state of the country and dungeons, acting like an armchair expert, was annoying.

‘I can’t even rip his mouth.’

He suddenly thought the team leader was impressive for sitting through all this talk. Well, he had given off that impression from the first. An ideal Esper fulfilling his mission for the country and citizens, setting an example for everyone.

Just as he was about to tell the driver to shut up, unable to bear it anymore, the taxi conveniently stopped, and the team leader turned around after unbuckling his seatbelt.

“I’ll go first… Wait. Is Lee Su-hyeon asleep?”

At those words, Song Ji-hyeok looked to the side and saw that Lee Su-hyeon was indeed closing his eyes. Seeing him breathing deeply with his head half-tilted, he seemed completely out cold.

Soon, the team leader’s voice was heard again.

“Take this.”

Something was held out to the back seat. Staring blankly at what it was, the team leader shook it as if urging him to take it quickly. Receiving it reflexively, he saw it was two 50,000 won bills.

“Use it for the taxi fare, and use the rest for breakfast tomorrow. See you tomorrow then.”

With that, the team leader got out of the car without hesitation, leaving Song Ji-hyeok to speak in an uncharacteristically flustered voice.

“What about this person?”

The “this person” he referred to was Lee Su-hyeon, who was still in deep sleep, unaware of the small commotion.

Anyway, Song Ji-hyeok thought the team leader had momentarily forgotten about his existence. He was sitting in a blind spot and was quiet due to being asleep.

But the team leader’s answer completely missed the expectation. His expression, as if asking why he was asking such an obvious thing, was a bonus.

“You take care of your own Guide. See you tomorrow then.”

He said his piece and closed the car door without lingering. Thanks to that, Song Ji-hyeok was suddenly left in charge of a drunk person. He wasn’t sure if the expression was appropriate, but he felt like he was being stabbed in the eye while wide awake.

He remembered what the team leader had been saying at the drinking party. He had spouted nonsense like “The team is one” and “Team members are my family” more than ten times, but now that he abandoned a team member and left, the sense of betrayal was even greater. The oblivious taxi driver added fuel to the fire.

“Excuse me…”

“Shut up and drive.”

As a price for his temper, silence fell in the car. After a moment, Song Ji-hyeok’s gaze repeatedly turned to Lee Su-hyeon. He seemed to be in such a deep sleep that he probably wouldn’t notice even if someone cursed right in his face or stole his wallet.

Thinking about how he would panic when he woke up made the corners of Song Ji-hyeok’s mouth lift slightly. Meanwhile, the taxi drove along a quiet road and arrived in front of the villa where Song Ji-hyeok lived.

Song Ji-hyeok handed the bills the team leader had just given him to the driver and got out of the taxi. On his back was Lee Su-hyeon. He briefly considered sending him to the guild, but it was closer to an empty thought. He had received help before, and he didn’t want to hear unnecessary complaints.

The place where Song Ji-hyeok lived was one of the most prestigious villas in the wealthy area. Befitting his high value, it boasted a luxurious exterior and very tight security. Song Ji-hyeok had the entire top floor, the most expensive, to himself.

His father had arranged the residence. When Song Ji-hyeok told him about awakening as an Esper and added that he needed to live independently, his father was very pleased and solved the problem with one phone call.

‘Well done. Well done.’

Song Ji-hyeok didn’t respond to the awkward praise given while patting his back. He just gave a crooked sneer and left his father’s study. There was a time when he desperately envied the praise directed only at his smart and excellent older brother, but that was literally a thing of his childhood.

Objectively, Song Ji-hyeok’s parents were very accomplished people. His mother, the daughter of a seasoned political family, was eagerly involved in politics herself, and his father was steadily climbing the career ladder in the legal world, backed by his wife’s influence. To others, they appeared to be a perfect couple.

But in reality, they were a typical showpiece couple. For these two who had married for their own ambitions, even their children were merely trophies to boast about. So it wasn’t strange at all that they only doted on their first son, who had fulfilled their expectations by being called a prodigy since childhood, while treating their relatively lacking second son as if he were invisible.

The only thing they wanted from their second son was one thing: to live as if he were dead, not even making a sound of breathing.

After realizing this fact, Song Ji-hyeok gave up all expectations of his parents. He let go of all his efforts to crave affection and seek recognition. His parents didn’t even blink at this change. On the rare occasions when they encountered him at home, they would only coldly tell him not to tarnish their name, frowning.

The one thing to be grateful for was that they didn’t skimp on material support even for their neglected second son. From a young age, he received various private educations, had several helpers attending to him, and could have anything he wanted. Thinking about it now, it was no different from raising a child they couldn’t abandon with money, but as he grew older, he thought it was fortunate that his parents at least didn’t skimp on money for him. At least he was never looked down upon elsewhere because of money.

Anyway, Song Ji-hyeok wasn’t just unlucky with his parents. While children might be expected to stick together when their parents are cynical, unfortunately, Song Ji-hyeok also had no luck with siblings.

Born six years after his brother, Song Ji-hyeok found his older brother to be even worse than his parents in some ways. While his parents hurt his feelings with indifference, his brother stabbed his heart with contemptuous looks and harsh words.

Stupid child. Pathetic fool. It’s shameful that you’re my brother. Don’t tell anyone you’re my brother.

He had heard words worse than curses throughout his childhood, and whenever he happened to think of his brother’s existence, all he could remember was the look of looking down on him as if he were an insect. In such an environment, the only person who took relatively good care of him was his cousin, Jung Seok-hoon. Perhaps because Jung Seok-hoon’s family was also very well-off and he was known as a genius, even the arrogant Song Tae-hyeok seemed to listen to Jung Seok-hoon quite obediently.

Anyway, out of the blue, a turning point in his life arrived. After Song Tae-hyeok manifested as an Esper, Song Ji-hyeok hated even seeing ability users, but then that same ability appeared in him.

The first person Song Ji-hyeok confided this to, and who actively encouraged him to take an awakening test, was Jung Seok-hoon. As he was the only person Song Ji-hyeok trusted and followed, he reluctantly visited the center, but felt no expectation while taking the test. He only felt annoyed at the thought of Song Tae-hyeok sneering if he got a lousy D or E rank rating.

But then it happened.

[Judgment Rank – S Rank or higher]

When the result appeared on the electronic board, the center staff cheered with exclamations. On the other hand, Song Ji-hyeok was frozen in place for a moment. At first, he couldn’t believe the congratulatory words everyone was offering, and when he finally realized that the visible result was true, a chill-like thrill ran through his entire body. In his mind, Song Tae-hyeok’s unpleasant face appeared.

A person who was clearly born to trample on others, someone who wasn’t even human-like. The thought that he could now look down on such a person filled him with uncontrollable elation. He wondered if this was how it felt to have the whole world.

The impact of the name S-rank Esper was even greater than he thought. Somehow the news leaked, and every media outlet reported it prominently, with the public showing an enthusiastic response to his mere existence. And that wasn’t all. When a call came in under the name “Mother,” he couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. It was the first time since he got a cell phone that his mother had contacted him directly without going through a secretary.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, his brother’s existence had a big influence on his subsequent moves. Amidst the flood of love calls from both domestic and international sources, Song Ji-hyeok chose Sunrise Guild without hesitation. It was because he knew it was in a competitive relationship with the guild his brother belonged to.

At first, he thought about “joining the same guild as my brother and crushing his pride.” But soon he crossed out that option. Just imagining facing that face every day made his stomach churn. If he were to be unluckily tied to the same team, it would be a disaster.

So he chose to join a competing guild as the next best option, but… even there, life didn’t go entirely as planned.

Sunrise Guild was one of the top three large guilds in Korea, and accordingly, it had many affiliated Guides. Especially hearing that there were more than ten A-rank Guides, he was satisfied and planned to pair with the one with the highest matching rate among them.

But the result was absurd in itself. The matching rate of over 80% was very good. But the fact that the Guide’s rank was C-rank was hard to believe even hearing it with his own ears. Imagining Song Tae-hyeok’s face sneering, “That’s just like you,” made his fists tremble.

Damn it. Talk about bad luck.

If he had conceded a hundred times and the Guide had been at least B-rank, it wouldn’t have felt so futile. But to think he had to have a C-rank by his side, who could even pair with D-ranks or E-ranks, was infuriating and mind-boggling.

So it was only natural that Choi Young-sun caught his eye. If it weren’t for that stupid clause in the contract that said “prioritize guiding from the Guide with the highest matching rate,” he would never have received guiding from C-rank Lee Su-hyeon.