KEG 66

“Move, it’s hot.”

The pasta was fully cooked.

I drained the water, poured in the sauce, heated it a bit more, and transferred it to a plate. Since I have no talent for plating, the result looked like pasta that a drunk had just vomited up.

“Eat.”

I set it on the table and lit a cigarette. As I took a drag and glanced over, Baek Yejun was staring at me.

What’s he unhappy about now?

“Do that for me.”

“Do what?”

“I want to see you pray.”

What a pain. I fed him, do I have to put on a show for him too?

I took a drag on the cigarette, exhaled, and tucked it between my fingers. Then I tapped my forehead stolen content and both shoulders, clasped my hands, and closed my eyes.

It wasn’t some prayer of gratitude.

It was just a habitual gesture and silence.

I opened my eyes again and stared at the cigarette at my fingertips, its smoke rising in a straight line. It almost looked like incense.

Because of that, the thought that the dining table resembled an altar crossed my mind.

“Does praying make you feel comfortable?”

A voice broke the silence.

I looked up at him.

“It looks that way.”

It was just a habit.

Though I suppose you could call this “comfortable.”

“You said you were hungry. ”

“Actually, that’s a lie. At my level, I don’t get hungry even if I go without food for a while. I won’t starve to death.”

He argued point by point. It was infuriating.

I considered overturning the table but held back. Wasting food brings bad karma.

I set my cigarette on the ashtray, twirled some pasta, and put it into my mouth.

“I like that you don’t make any noise when you eat, Hyung.”

Baek Yejun followed my lead and ate the pasta. He also ate without making a sound.

“What do you think it means when a powerful Esper says they’re hungry?”

He said he wouldn’t starve to death. He also mentioned that sometimes certain senses become overly heightened.

“An Esper who’s become sensitive to hunger.”

“Again?”

“An Esper who likes bothering people.”

I said that and looked at him. The way he smiled like it was something to be proud of was infuriating. It was even more so because I hadn’t said it to praise him.

“That’s right. Either their senses are specialized in that direction or…”

Baek Yejun wrapped the pasta noodles around his fork.

From the plate to the fork, and from the fork into his mouth, where fangs were visible.

“It means they’re emotionally hungry.”

It’s not his stomach that’s hungry, but his mind.

The deprivation of those who transcend humanity.

I probably won’t ever be able to understand it.

***

I finished reminiscing and looked at Lee Yuksam.

A loud rumbling came from his stomach.

Perhaps he was the type who felt hunger particularly intensely.

“Do you feel hungry even when you’re full?”

When I asked, he looked genuinely surprised.

“Aren’t you scared of me?”

“Was that meant to scare me?”

“Not exactly, but…”

A starving, penniless Esper with a head full of flowers who wants to blend into society.

That strange level of innocence was proof of just how strong he was. It meant he had lived a life where understanding and observing the outside world wasn’t necessary.

“When I’m full, I do feel less like eating.”

“Then just tell me right away when you’re hungry. We’ll go get something to eat.”

A full beast doesn’t hunt.

As long as he didn’t attack me, that was fine.

If I could control Lee Yuksam while spilling less blood, he would become a useful asset.

“…Ho-hyung, you really look like the protagonist of an art film.”

“Last time you said I looked like someone who’d die any minute.”

“But you didn’t die. It definitely looked like you were going to.”

That’s my specialty.

Surviving no matter where I go and coming back alive. Staying alive even if my body’s shattered.

“The protagonist never dies.”

Lee Yuksam’s eyes sparkled. That made him look like a madman.

A madman driven by conviction.

“Never mind. They say I have to stay in bed for three days.”

The staples lodged in my chest tightened with every breath I took. In my current state, I didn’t even have the strength to hold a spoon, let alone a gun.

To think I had to risk life and limb just to take down a monster the size of a child. I thought of Kang Byungwook, who had taken down a house-sized boar monster with a modified rifle, and my mouth went dry.

“Do you know why I came to this village?”

Lee Yuksam tilted his head at my words. His expression said he’d only come because I offered him food; my purpose didn’t even cross his mind. In a way, his simplicity was refreshing.

“I came to take care of an Esper.”

“Wow, but you are Guide?”

“I can handle it.”

I’d already confirmed there was no one near the tent. Manpower must be concentrated on hunting down the wild boar monsters that had appeared all over the village.

“No wonder you treated me so roughly.”

Lee Yuksam nodded, as if his confusion about my attitude toward him had been cleared up.

Unfortunately, he was wrong. He was just being pushed around because he was a pushover.

“Who are you here to kill?”

He didn’t question the fact that I was here to kill someone. He simply asked about the target.

This confirmed that Lee Yuksam was definitely out of his mind.

“There’s a terrorist hiding in this village.”

I relayed the story I’d heard from Baek Yejun exactly as it was.

“What kind of terrorist?”

“An Esper specialized terrorist with anarchist ideologies.”

A criminal who had suddenly appeared recently. A serial killer who specifically targeted low-class Espers, as they were relatively easy to kill.

We don’t know what their ability is. The only clues came from the anarchist slogans they carved into the corpses of the Espers they killed.

‘Freedom by the people, for the people.’

‘We destroy to survive.’

They use these as justifications for murder, pretending it was a struggle for survival and freedom.

And the most dangerous phrase of all.

‘We are only taking back what is ours.’

It mirrored the ideology of a certain cult.

The terrorist wasn’t acting alone. They were likely part of a group operating systematically.

“They say the leader is currently hiding in this town. ”

The tax evasion and money laundering used to fund the terrorist organization took place at a casino near Gangwon Province. But eventually, even that fell under the National Tax Service’s surveillance.

I thought it was only a matter of time before they were caught, but things didn’t go as expected.

“They say they are exceptionally skilled at hiding.”

Even skilled Hunters couldn’t catch even a trace of that Esper.

“I don’t know what they look like. My goal is to find them and kill them.”

They could be old, a child, or young. They could change their appearance however they pleased.

After all, there were Espers capable of altering their gender, age, and even race.

“What happens if you can’t find them?”

“I’ll go home.”

“Even with your chest in such a mess?”

“Yes.”

What else was I supposed to do if I didn’t obtain the 4 billion won? I might as well just go home.

“I won’t even be able to buy you a meal.”

“Gah…!”

Lee Yuksam acted as if not being able to get a meal was more shocking than my injury.

Is he a human or a beast?

“So, while I’m lying here, could you gather some intel for me?”

Lee Yuksam nodded with a determined expression. Then he asked what he should do.

I hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Are you confident you won’t follow anyone who offers you a meal?”

“Hm? Hm… What kind of meal are you talking about?”

Does that mean he’d be lured away if someone gave him food?

If so, another approach.

“Would you betray a friend who asked you for a favor?”

“A friend…!”

“We’re best friends.”

“Best friends?!”

He was almost sold.

So he was the type who craved both physical and emotional sustenance.

It was easy to coax him with conversation. There was no one else in the world as gullible as him.

“Your best friend is asking you. Please don’t betray me.”

Lee Yuksam nodded vigorously and said he understood. He even swore on his life that he wouldn’t betray me even if the sky fell.

I didn’t really trust him, but for now, I had no other choice. I slowly gathered my thoughts and said,

“Yuksam, join a terrorist organization.”

I briefly explained the steps Lee Yuksam needed to take to infiltrate the terrorist organization.

In short, Lee Yuksam had to play on people’s pity. Objectively speaking, he certainly looked the part.

“Huh? You want me to join a terrorist organization and pretend to be pitiful?”

He pointed at himself before insisting he had no talent for acting.

“You don’t even have to act.”

A former child soldier from the North.

An S-class Esper, yet a destitute member of the lower class with nothing to his name.

His entire understanding of society came from movies and TV dramas.

He didn’t have a single proper human relationship.

“Just say you’re a B-class and act like you normally do.”

You can tell just by watching him for a moment. The deprivation and loneliness that make up Lee Yuksam.

Just look at how he was always saying he was hungry and how he was obsessed with food and friends. It was enough for someone to arbitrarily invent a backstory and feel sorry for him.

“I’m not very smart…”

“I’m not very smart either, but I’m doing this kind of work.”

This guy didn’t need any cunning strategic skills or quick ​visit our site​wits. His life experience was his weapon.

“I have nothing to offer, will they let me join the vigilante group?”

« You’re more than enough.”

Being young and strong already meant having a lot.

First, he joins the vigilante group. Then, his abilities catch their eye, and he forms a connection with a terrorist organization.

“Whatever they ask you to do, don’t back out, just say you’ll do it all.”

“What will they ask me to do?”

“They’ll spout fancy-sounding talk about changing society, or reform, or revolution.”

“Ugh… that’s hard to understand…”

His simplicity, his inability to get involved in such ideas, that was what would protect Lee Yuksam from antisocial ideologies.

“Yuksam, what did I tell you was the most important thing to remember?”

I asked Lee Yuksam for confirmation. He answered my question confidently.

“Don’t betray your best friend!”

Lee Yuksam is my sucker.

I won’t let the terrorist organization take him away from me.