Taming the Obsessive Attachment

“How much are you paying me for this?”

“…What?”

“What I mean is, I have something to discuss regarding this whole situation. From what I can tell, you were very satisfied with the guiding, and you have absolutely no intention of sending me back to the Sixth General Residential District. From my perspective, that’s an incredibly frustrating problem for multiple reasons.”

Jae-jin picked up the piece of beef Seo Eui-woo had ignored and popped it into his own mouth.

It was delicious.

The wild pine mushroom added a rich, earthy aroma, and the beef was cooked to perfection—juicy and tender enough to melt on his tongue.

“Guiding for Espers is basically the equivalent of affection in the eyes of normal people. It’s not something you can just force someone to do—it has to come from the heart.”

“Affection?”

“There’s such a thing.” Jae-jin waved it off, unwilling to elaborate. “Anyway, from a civilian standpoint, kidnapping someone and raping them outright is a crime. No matter the difference in perception or whatever justification you might have, it’s still an unforgivable felony.”

“Is that so? Well, regardless, there’s nothing to be done. You’re my guide now.”

A strange current swept through the air.

An invisible force surged upward from below, lifting Jae-jin against his will.

The metal chair he was sitting on defied gravity and began floating. Seo Eui-woo was using his psychokinesis.

And he was smiling as he did it.

“I understand that you’re clinging to your old civilian life, but you can’t go back. And even if you did try, you’d end up getting slaughtered.”

The higher his chair rose, the taller Jae-jin’s sitting posture became.

Seo Eui-woo followed him as he ascended.

Just moments ago, he had been tilting his head down to kiss Jae-jin’s crown. Now, he lifted his chin, rising to meet Jae-jin’s gaze at equal height.

“You’re a mutant, Jae-jin.”

Seo Eui-woo’s half-lidded eyes curved into a languid smile as he slowly ran his tongue over his lower lip.

The depths of his gray irises were endless, an abyss swallowing everything in its path.

A white-hot ecstasy burned within him, consuming even his most primal instincts.

Every moment he touched Jae-jin, he looked utterly intoxicated by it.

“Do you even know what a mutant is?”

His voice was honeyed, dragging out every syllable like a whispered secret.

“Espers or guides who fail to awaken at birth and instead awaken late—like you—are called mutants. Uncontrollable, dangerous anomalies.”

“…….”

“Any awakened individual who fails to complete their formal training is disposed of immediately. Do you really think the government would let a mutant live? Uncontrolled Espers are nothing but a threat to society. They’re executed on the spot. Every single one of them.”

A shiver ran down the back of Jae-jin’s neck.

Seo Eui-woo’s voice was calm, measured—yet terrifyingly cold, a quiet, deadly threat. He had known from the very beginning that there was no escape for Kwon Jae-jin.

Like a predator toying with its prey, he leisurely sucked at Jae-jin’s parted lips, savoring the moment before pulling away with a whisper.

“So, what’s it going to be? Do you want me to throw you out so you can be hunted down and shot? Or should I hide you away and let you live as my personal guide?”

Moments like this made Jae-jin painfully aware that Seo Eui-woo was from an entirely different world.

Jae-jin had spent his life in the safety of a general residential district, attending college, working an office job—living an ordinary, uneventful life. But the only reason he had been able to do so was because people like Seo Eui-woo had shouldered the dangers in his place.

The truth about Espers was deliberately kept hidden from civilians.

Because if people knew, no parent would ever allow their child to be taken away and raised in isolation as an awakened being.

To the general public, Espers were nothing more than highly paid specialists living in their own luxurious, private districts—celebrities more popular than actual entertainers, hailed as the chosen heroes of humanity. The media controlled their image, only ever showing them effortlessly defeating creatures with their abilities, keeping the truth behind a polished façade.

“So you’re telling me to choose between being a civilian or a guide?”

A cruel choice lay before him.

At a glance, it seemed like he had two options.

But in reality, there was only one.

“Of course, I have no intention of letting you die as a civilian. I’m never letting you go.”

The air around them grew unbearably heavy—like the atmosphere itself had swallowed a lungful of water.

An invisible force pressed down on Jae-jin’s shoulders.

The utensils on the table trembled, clattering against the plates, and water sloshed over the rim of a glass.

“If you try to leave, I’ll just tie you up and keep you here. Handcuffs… Do you mind those?”

Even without meaning to, Seo Eui-woo’s overwhelming power radiated from him, suffocating the space.

KUNG!

In the blink of an eye, the world flipped.

“Ugh—!”

Jae-jin’s body was slammed forward onto the table, his stomach crushed beneath the weight of Seo Eui-woo pinning him down.

A hand pressed firmly against his lower abdomen. From that single point of contact, waves of force pulsed outward in concentric circles, shaking the air itself.

“I could gag you, tie you to the bed,” Seo Eui-woo murmured darkly. “I’ll feed you myself. You can go to the bathroom once a day. I’ll even attach a catheter, so don’t worry.”

His voice was low, strained—as if suppressing the violent shudder coursing through his body.

The face looking down at Jae-jin was downright chilling.

His hair, defying gravity, swayed weightlessly, his pale, pristine features seemingly untouched by the chaos surrounding him.

He was devastatingly beautiful.

And yet, every instinct in Jae-jin’s body screamed in terror.

Seo Eui-woo’s hand, which had been pressing against Jae-jin’s stomach, slowly slid upward.

And unbelievably, wherever his five fingers passed, fabric tore apart with a sickening rip.

Like a beast’s claws had shredded through it, Jae-jin’s white T-shirt was reduced to scraps.

“That’s why… That’s why… Jae-jin, you have to guide me.” Seo Eui-woo’s voice was desperate, trembling with raw need. “As my exclusive guide, you’ll stay here with me. I… I need this. Really, really need this.”

Seo Eui-woo pushed up the tattered shirt, peeling it away like he was stripping the skin from a ripe fruit.

With Jae-jin’s bare stomach exposed, Seo Eui-woo pressed his cheek against it, rubbing his face against his skin in a slow, possessive motion—like a child throwing a fit, unwilling to let go of his favorite toy.

“I never believed it when other Espers talked about guiding. Even when I heard about it, I didn’t think it mattered. But now… this… this feels so good. It’s like I’ve been reborn.”

His expression twisted slightly.

His thick eyebrows furrowed, and a faint crease formed along the bridge of his straight, elegant nose.

Jae-jin recognized that expression.

It was Seo Eui-woo’s sulking face.

It was the look he made when things didn’t go his way.

“Seo Eui-woo.”

“It’s like… I’m addicted to you down to the very cells of my body.”

Jae-jin wasn’t the only one whose entire world had been upended.

Just as Jae-jin had been ripped away from his normal life, Seo Eui-woo had been ripped away from his own.

He had come to know—the blind devotion, the primal craving, the absolute thirst for guiding. And once that knowledge existed, there was no going back.

“Every single strand of my hair wants you.”

From the very beginning, he had been born incomplete.

And only now had he found the missing piece.

Like a man who had been starving his entire life finally tasting food.

Like someone who had been sleepless for years finally surrendering to rest.

Now that he had something in his grasp, he was desperate to never let it go.

“In this state, I’d commit any crime—murder, anything—if it meant I could keep receiving guiding.”

“Seo Eui-woo—”

“And I wasn’t joking about tying you up. Ah, well—technically, secretly smuggling a mutant Esper like you and keeping you hidden is already a high-level crime.”

“…….”

“But I don’t care. I wouldn’t hesitate to do worse.”

Seo Eui-woo bared his teeth in a sharp, gleaming smile.

Jae-jin smirked in return.

For some reason, the smile came out a little bitter.

‘Was Seo Eui-woo this desperate back then? In my memory, all I remember is the sheer horror, the suffocating fear.’

His chest felt uncomfortably tight.

His heart thudded noisily, his ribs squeezing inward, his muscles coiling tense. A heavy weight settled deep in his gut.

Kwon Jae-jin forced down the emotions stirring inside him and smiled. His pitch-black eyes shimmered with a complicated mix of colors.

“…Are you done saying everything you wanted to say? Because now it’s my turn.”

He wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand before speaking again.

The sheer pressure weighing down on him made it difficult to keep his eyes open, but he didn’t care. He simply smirked through his grimace.

“Who said anything about running out there to die? Of course, I’ll be your guide, Seo Eui-woo. I just have a few conditions, that’s all.”

Every breath he exhaled felt like his lungs were being wrung dry.

He struggled to lift a trembling hand, his fingertips barely brushing against the bridge of Seo Eui-woo’s nose.

Jae-jin pressed his fingers against the wrinkle forming on his nose, smoothing it out.

Seo Eui-woo’s eyes crinkled into a pleased smile at the touch, his expression stretching wide with satisfaction as he tilted his head up to look at Jae-jin.

“Conditions?”

“First—money. If I’m working, I should be paid accordingly.”

The monotonous statement struck Seo Eui-woo’s ears like a sharp blade.

Jae-jin repeated himself, clearer this time.

“Awakened individuals receive tens of billions in annual salary from the government. I should be getting the same. You’ll pay me, Seo Eui-woo.”