Guide Me If You Dare-Chapter 224: A MONSTER AMONG MONSTERS

THIS THING is about to explode at any moment.

Tsk.

Since Ki Gayoon didn’t have enough time to find an empty building, he decided to finish things off mid-air.

He grabbed the thing by the neck with one hand.

And then he put his other hand in its mouth, forcing it to open wide until he could fit his fist in. The thing’s mouth ripped, and it looked disgusting. But he still continued what he was doing.

After that, he pulled the thing’s unusually long tongue with one tug.

Of course, Gayoon was only making it look easy because he was a natural S-Class Esper with an SS-Grade Poison Immunity.

If someone who didn’t have that skill touched the tongue, they’d die.

Moreover, the thing’s tongue wasn’t something you could simply severe using a bare hand.

It was only possible because he was Ki Gayoon.

There’s a reason why there’s a vast difference between a natural S-Class Espers and S-Class Espers.

This was one of those.

After Gayoon severed the thing’s tongue, he threw it upwards.

Then he snapped his fingers— trapping the severed tongue in a shield shaped like a cube.

He had to say that creating shields weren’t his forte.

In fact, it was only an S-Grade skill (the lowest grade among his abilities).

All of his skills were either SS-Grade or SSS-Grade.

That’s what makes natural S-Class Espers more special than the regular S-Class Espers— we don’t have a skill that’s graded below S.

But even if Gayoon’s shield-making skill was only S-Grade, it was still useful.

The thing’s poisonous tongue exploded inside the shield, making the cube shake like a vibrating phone.

It’s noisy.

The rattling sound was already muffled, though.

Fortunately, it soon stopped when the explosion finished. The tongue had been reduced to nothing but a violet substance similar to slime.

Disgusting.

Gayoon snapped his fingers, and then the shield containing the violet substance disappeared.

It went to his Inventory since he couldn’t just throw it away.

It’s dangerous if a Civilian or an ignorant Esper picks it up.

Anyway, now that the bomb had been taken care of...

"Hey, you."

Gayoon finally got to focus on the thing pretending to be human.

And he belatedly realized that...

"It’s dead."

Not because Gayoon severed its tongue, especially not because he snapped the thing’s neck when he grabbed it earlier.

It seemed like the thing had always been dead.

After all, it didn’t fight back in the first place.

It’s as if it was just programmed to blend in with the crowd.

But for what purpose?

Oh.

Was this thing trying to kill the Civilians earlier by self-sabotaging?

While he was in the middle of using his brain power, his Status Window suddenly popped up in front of him.

[Esper Ki Gayoon-nim, you may now extract the ’Unreliable Map.’]

Gayoon scoffed. "The name sounds useless."

[...]

He was about to dissect the thing to find the "map," but he didn’t have to.

The left eye...

Upon looking closer, Gayoon realized that the thing’s left eye had some strange markings in it.

His gut feeling told him it was the ’Unreliable Map.’

But he felt uncomfortable because everything was easy.

I thought Ryu Sungbin would make it hard for me to find the map I need— so, why do I feel like they’re giving it to me for free?

***

"I’M NOT supposed to kill you, but it’s getting harder for me to hold back."

Tsk.

Ryu Sungbin was annoyed because he knew 17 wasn’t bluffing— the bastard was really holding back a lot.

If 17 was serious about killing me, I would have already died.

Look at him now.

Ryu Sungbin was almost toasted to death when 17 struck him with a powerful lightning bolt.

He only survived because he was a natural S-Class Esper.

If I didn’t have an SSS-Grade protection, I wouldn’t have recovered.

Actually, he didn’t recover that much.

Most parts of his skin were still burned and needed medical attention. It was already a miracle that he was able to get up, albeit he was barely standing.

"Hmm? You called your friends?"

Right.

Despite Ryu Sungbin’s current poor state, he still felt it— the appearance of a Special Dungeon.

The monsters.

And other natural S-Class Espers.

Ah, they’re here.

"Ryun Sungbin, you’ve changed."

"What are you talking about?" Ryu Sungbin asked, scoffing. "We’re not close enough for you to say that I’ve changed."

"I’m not talking about your personality," 17 said, smiling while pointing at Ryu Sungbin’s chest. "Your Core. What did you do to it?"

"Why not ask Ki Gayoon? It seems like he already opened his mouth anyway."

17 just shrugged, and then he lifted his head.

Ryu Sungbin let out a sigh of relief when Matthew and Jin Sooin finally arrived, falling from the "sky."

17 lifted his head a moment before the descent, so he already knew the two were coming.

Sharp bastard.

"I know you’re here to save Ryu Sungbin, but I can’t let you do that," 17 said cheerfully. "I made a deal with Ki Gayoon, after all."

And then 17 raised his hand, probably summoning his lightning bolts.

But nothing happened.

Now the official #1 Esper in the world looked confused.

Heh.

It was the fake Matthew’s L-Grade skill.

That thing can nullify even a natural S-Class Esper’s power for seven seconds.

It was enough for them to escape.

"We don’t have time to play with you," Matthew said, stomping his foot on the floor. "See you later."

17 just tilted his head to one side, clearly amused.

A black-hole type of dungeon appeared below Ryu Sungbin, Matthew, and Jin Sooin.

It was a portal that quickly "swallowed" the three of them like a quicksand would.

Ryu Sungbin thought they could leave peacefully, but 17 suddenly clapped his hands.

And then...

"ARGH!"

Ryu Sungbin, Matthew, and Jin Sooin all let out a blood-curdling scream after getting hit by 17’s lightning bolts.

That bastard was able to break Matthew’s "spell" in just four seconds!

Hence, even though their group managed to escape, the three of them still suffered major injuries.

17 is really a monster among monsters.

***

"THEY GOT away, Gayoon. I’m sorry~"

Ki Gayoon raised an eyebrow at 17’s half-assed apology.

When he returned to the Esper Association, Ryu Sungbin and the others were already gone. They couldn’t feel their presence.

The dungeon had also disappeared.

But the burn marks and lightning marks everywhere suggested a brutal fight, and it was proof of the attack.

I hope the CCTV survived, though.

"You won’t break the deal just because I failed, will you?"

Gayoon scoffed. "Since you failed to capture Ryu Sungbin, I want you to do something else for me."

"Hey, you should be talking to Professor J about that~"

"Drop the act. I know the Awakened World Organization listens to whatever you say anyway."

17 just laughed and shrugged. "So, what can I do to make it up to you?"

"Support me when I declare the Esper Law in this country."

17 laughed again, but he instantly got serious when he realized that Gayoon wasn’t joking. "For real?"

"Do I look like I’m joking?"

"I wouldn’t know since you have a dark rumor. Remember when you threatened to kill the President of the USA when you were nothing but a rookie Esper? Then you said it was a joke while smiling creepily."

Gayoon just rolled his eyes. "I’m serious."

"Damn, you’re really a crazy bastard. What kind of monster did South Korea raise?"

"It’s funny to hear you call me a ’monster’ when you know damn well that the word was invented in advance for you."

"Aww, thank you."

"I flattered you enough and boosted your ego, so you’re going to support my declaration, won’t you?"

"Declaring the Esper Law in a peaceful country like this will be a lot of work, Gayoon," 17 said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I know that I failed, but your request is still too much."

Gayoon already expected 17 to not agree right away.

After all, the Esper Law had ruined several countries in the past.

But he needed that law to run South Korea the way he wanted to, and that was why he already thought of a bribe for 17.

"What if I give you another piece of interesting information?"

"Let’s hear it first."

Instead of answering verbally, Gayoon just pulled out a corpse from his Inventory and threw it in 17’s direction.

It was the lifeless (and one-eyed) corpse of the thing he caught earlier.

17, who looked confused, lifted his head. "This wasn’t human."

As expected, this monster isn’t officially the #1 Esper in the world for no reason.

"Yes, it wasn’t human," Gayoon confirmed grimly. "It was a humanoid monster."

That means there’s a new species of monsters intelligent enough to mimic humans.

***

Please ADD <GUIDE ME IF YOU DARE> to your LIBRARY to be notified when an update is posted. Thank you! :>