Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: One Year Later
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One year had passed since then.
The collapsed house was just the beginning. Far worse ordeals were waiting for me.
This world clearly had me and my family in it, but it wasn't the ordinary reality I'd lived in until I was seventeen.
It had long since transformed into a modern fantasy world straight out of a novel.
The moment I opened my eyes in the hospital room, I heard a ton of stories, and every single one was a shock.
Among them, the three that stuck with me the most were: Gates. Espers. Guides.
Espers were basically superpowered beings, but using their abilities polluted their "vessels." Guides were the ones who purified those vessels for them.
Oh, and Han Se-young, who'd told me she worked as a guide, wasn't some tour guide like I'd thought. She was an E-rank Guide affiliated with the Center.
The general term for Espers and Guides in society was Awakeners.
These days, the most coveted job for teens worldwide wasn't civil service or celebrity—it was being an Awakener.
And that damn bastard Yeon Woo-jin, who'd blown up my house the very day I returned to this world, was one of the absolute top-tier Espers, standing at the pinnacle even among other Awakeners.
Anyway, over the past year, all sorts of things happened, and despite countless hardships, I held back my tears and steeled my anger.
Still, feelings of emptiness crept in sometimes, so I kept myself busy to clear my head as much as possible.
Right now, I'd closed my flower shop and was bouncing between part-time gigs.
The reason was simple: I couldn't run a flower shop when I didn't even know flower names, let alone how to make bouquets.
Of course, I hadn't spent the whole year just doing odd jobs. After closing the shop and saving what money I had left, I even opened a rice ball stand midway through.
It was a hobby I actually enjoyed—cooking—so I'd given it a shot, but the rice ball place didn't even last six months before a Gate popped up right there and blew everything to hell.
Oh, and in between, two more rented one-rooms I'd signed contracts for got obliterated by Yeon Woo-jin.
Thanks to all that, I finally had a dream: someday, I'd weave a burial shroud from that bastard's hair.
* * *
Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.
I jolted awake at the sound of my phone alarm.
Lately, I'd been doing shift work at a popular cafe in a safe zone with good pay.
The upside was the decent hourly wage, but the downside was how far it was from where I was crashing.
Recently, some crazy Esper had wrecked my cute little setup again, completing his triple crown of destruction, so with nowhere else to go, I was staying at my high school friend Kim So-hee's place.
Of course, the government did provide victim support funds.
I got my one-room deposit back, plus living expenses while I was homeless. Depending on the situation, there were other small payouts too.
But it wasn't like winning the lottery, and since it was "victim" support money, I'd never exactly welcome it.
My house was gone, my interior and stuff all reset to zero—what was there to be happy about?
Plus, with the loans I had to pay back, it made more financial sense to split rent and food costs by moving into a friend's place instead of rushing into a new lease.
About a year ago, when I first got discharged, I'd stayed at Han Se-young's, then found a room, only for it to get blown up and force me back to her place. Rinse and repeat.
But as time dragged on, I felt bad, so I switched to another friend's house.
Han Se-young said I could stay as long as I wanted, but she was hitting it off with Yang Hyun-woo lately—how could I overstay like some oblivious freeloader?
Oh, Yang Hyun-woo? He's the guy who visited me in the hospital a year ago to break the news about my house exploding.
Same age as me and Han Se-young, he was a D-rank Esper working at the Center too.
At this point, it felt like houses and I just weren't meant to be, so I stopped renting altogether. Instead, swallowing my pride, I got some help from my parents to open a new shop.
Luckily, one of my parents' friends—a landlord who lived right under God, apparently—had an empty spot and graciously offered to rent it to me.
To prepare, I'd gotten my barista certification along with ones for baking and cooking. Until the shop was ready, I'd scrape by on part-time work.
Once it opened, I'd live in the private room set aside in the cafe.
"Whoa, again? Unnie, it's starting again...!"
As I dreamed of my bright future and pulled espresso shots, the female part-timer waved me over urgently.
Following her excited gaze, sure enough, there was that strikingly handsome guy I'd grown familiar with over the past few days.
Sandy-blond hair and eyes. Broad shoulders and tall frame.
A man whose presence stood out no matter how many people surrounded him.
He seemed to live in a nearby luxury officetel and dropped by this cafe at least once a week.
His order was always an iced Americano, and he favored black turtlenecks with beige coats.
It almost made me sound like his stalker, but this was all stuff I'd heard from coworkers and customers.
He'd been famous here even before I started my temp shift.
The biggest reason? That face of his, like he was shooting a coffee ad just by drinking it.
But there was another reason he was well-known—and that's what had me quietly observing him out of curiosity.
He was never alone. In front of his usual seat, stunning women who could pass for celebrities rotated in one after another.
His expression stayed cool and impassive, while theirs burned with intense emotion.
Today, after a few exchanges, the woman finally burst into tears and stormed out, bringing the curtain down.
This one ended quietly. Last time, she threw her drink everywhere, and we had a hell of a time cleaning up.
As if reading my mind, the male part-timer whispered.
"Noona, at least no mess this time, right? Last time we had to scrub the sofa too."
"Shh, he'll hear you."
"Pfft, no way. We're so far back—how could he?"
The guy laughed like it was ridiculous.
Fair enough. I nodded vaguely and kept staring at the man, who was still seated. His face looked paler than usual today.
Here at the cafe, he went through breakups like clockwork. Regular as discarding obsolete tools.
And always at the same spot? That alone screamed a lack of consideration for his partners.
I'd tossed manners and common sense aside while scraping by in that other world, but I always tried to hold onto basic courtesy. So his attitude rubbed me the wrong way.
Our female coworker chattered that hot guys like him coasted on their looks. Every time his name came up, I felt awkward.
Even if he turned the cafe into breakup central, he was still a customer.
Especially one still hanging around—bad form for staff to gossip.
"Oh, right—did you all see Error Guild's latest dungeon clear? Their Nutube views are insane. Guilds hardly ever film inside Gates."
"That vid's just the gory bits. Bad for your mental health."
"Oppa, you're too uptight."
"You're too reckless."
They bickered like always, on the verge of a spat, so I butted in to ask what was up. The guy explained first.
"Error Guild—they're super controversial. They uploaded a live stream from inside a Gate on Nutube."
"So? It happens sometimes, doesn't it? Like Center-led raids."
"The issue is someone died. A C-rank Esper who didn't get Guiding in time and rampaged. It's all on video... It's been taken down now, though."
"What was his ability?"
"Explosion."
"Ah."
So the whole process of his body blowing apart got broadcast live.
As I grimaced, the male part-timer showed me the news on his phone.
The dead Esper had no high matching rate Guide, so he'd been popping pills that mimicked regular Guiding effects.
Error's video basically raised red flags about those Guiding drugs, which was why it was blowing up in the media.
"Speaking of Guides... I used to wanna be one back in the day."
"Not an Esper? Why?"
"'Cause a hot Esper might obsess over me. They're all gorgeous—imagine being the one and only for an Awakener, eternal love and all!"
"You watch too much media."
"Unnie, you think so too? When's this kid gonna grow up?"
I shook my head with a light chuckle, and the guy nodded in agreement.
As the girl said, unlike Guides, Espers all had above-average looks. Technically, awakening as an Esper enhanced their physiques.
Scholars said it was because Guiding meant survival, and humans naturally favored beauty—Guides included.
That's why Espers were constant fodder for gossip. Even infamous Esper crime syndicates had fans. That said it all.