Ghost Apple

He plunged his tongue deep inside, swallowing Han-gyeom’s ragged breath whole. That slick, red muscle stirred wildly, as if toying with him, tickling his throat with lascivious intent.

“Nngh, uuh! Mmph…!”

Han-gyeom’s left hand—his only free limb—latched onto Seo Won’s wrist. It was an attempt to pry off the hand gripping his collar, but he couldn’t muster enough strength. Instead, it looked more like he was desperately clinging to him.

Clinging to Seo Won’s wrist ended up helping Han-gyeom maintain what little stability he had left. Thanks to that, Seo Won’s feral, unrelenting kiss could go on uninterrupted.

Guiding varied in intensity depending on the guide’s emotions and condition. When their mood soured or their health waned, the density of their GP would weaken, and the efficiency of their guiding would drop with it.

On the other hand, when a guide was swept up in excitement and pleasure, the concentration of their GP surged, delivering optimal guiding effects.

That’s why many espers preferred deep guiding, which was grounded in the guide’s arousal and pleasure, over mere physical contact like hand guiding. The difference was so stark that most espers who experienced deep guiding even once found themselves unable to settle for hand guiding ever again.

That was true even in general cases—let alone between two who were bonded. The satisfaction was bound to be overwhelming.

Seo Won felt as if he had forgotten every guiding session he’d ever received before his heart transplant. Those past guidings hadn’t exactly been bad, as far as he could remember—but nothing, absolutely nothing, had ever felt this euphoric.

“Mmph… ngh…”

Han-gyeom let out a strained moan as he endured the rough kiss. Even then, Seo Won’s tongue was still ravaging the inside of his mouth without pause.

The selfish kiss and the relentless draw of GP were already draining the strength from Han-gyeom’s body.

Only when Han-gyeom’s trembling hand—still gripping Seo Won’s wrist—began to lose its hold did their lips finally part.

“Cha Han-gyeom.”

Seo Won licked up the saliva trailing from the corner of Han-gyeom’s mouth with a flick of his tongue, almost teasingly. His blue eyes, locked onto Han-gyeom’s face, burned with an icy flame.

“From now on, you’re mine. For life. Until death.”

Mine, and mine alone.

Mine, as the one who marked him.

Seo Won had always believed that the bond between an esper and a guide was a useless, pointless ritual. So when he first realized that his heart had been marked, his rage had been explosive.

But now, in this very moment, his thoughts had completely changed.

For the first time, he was grateful—grateful that the heart inside him had been bonded.

The sheer ecstasy and hunger, impossible to substitute with anything else, had shaken Seo Won’s once-frozen mind into a fervent frenzy.

***

“Hyung! Are you sure you’re okay?!”

From yesterday to today, Jae-woo had asked that question so many times that Han-gyeom’s response had grown noticeably indifferent.

“I told you—I’m fine.”

Han-gyeom stood up from where he’d been sitting on the edge of the bed and walked toward the window.

Since early morning, the mansion had been bustling with activity.

Near the entrance that led into the garden, bodyguards stood in a neat line. The man standing across from them, presumably the head of security, looked strict and unyielding even at a glance, his expression sharp and severe. He occasionally pointed at certain people while issuing orders.

Surely they don’t do a full daily briefing like that every single morning… right?

The gardeners moving briskly beside the line of guards and the male and female staff members rushing around in all directions added to the lively commotion. Based on what you’d expect from a movie or drama, mornings were usually the busiest time for people like them.

Even the room Han-gyeom had been assigned—also the one he’d woken up in right after the kidnapping—had already seen three separate visits.

The first time was to install a luxurious digital door lock. Apparently, the door couldn’t be locked from the inside, but could be freely opened from the outside. With this room and the attached bathroom being his only available space, it felt a bit claustrophobic—but whether there was a lock or not, it wasn’t like he could go anywhere freely, so it didn’t make much difference to him.

The second visit had been a group of people barging in to clean the room. When he tried to step out to give them space, the bodyguard standing at the door—whose face looked like it had been carved from stone—shook his head firmly and said absolutely not. So Han-gyeom had ended up plastered against the corner of the room, watching the already pristine space get scrubbed even cleaner.

The third visit was a cheerful young man pushing a tray loaded with an over-the-top breakfast.

With a smile as bright as the morning sun, the young man seemed determined to put Han-gyeom at ease, showering him with compliments and gentle reassurances. He praised his looks, empathized with how hard things must’ve been, said he needed to eat well to regain strength, and even promised to take care of him from now on. Han-gyeom wasn’t used to being treated like that, but something about the guy reminded him of Song Jae-woo, which made it hard not to keep glancing his way.

On the room’s round table, the breakfast the young man had set out was clearly Western-style: picture-perfect pancakes topped with blueberries, eggs Benedict with ham and potatoes, colorful avocado slices paired with baguette, fresh salad, and a smoothie blended with various fruits.

No way they eat like this every day… right?

Remembering the breakfast that had nearly overflowed the table, Han-gyeom stared out the window with a grimace. Just then, a white car entered the property.

From his room, he couldn’t see the mansion’s main gate, so he had no idea who was getting out of the car. But since the place was supposedly owned solely by Seo Won, anyone aside from him and the resident staff would be considered a guest.

—Hyung! Are you even listening?!

“Ah, yeah. I heard you.”

His mind had wandered elsewhere, and he hadn’t caught what Jae-woo had just said.

Jae-woo grumbled in a sulky tone.

—“I came by earlier too, but they wouldn’t even open the gate. I begged them to let me see you, but they kept saying absolutely not. They said if I show up one more time, they’ll call the cops. Like hell—they think they’re untouchable or something? Hmph!”

Kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and harboring an unregistered ability user.

From Jae-woo’s perspective, the bodyguards were probably bluffing. He doubted they’d actually report anything to the police. If they did, his plan was to throw all three of those charges back in their faces and take them down together.

But Han-gyeom knew that if it came to that, Jae-woo would be the only one who bled for it. So he had no choice but to talk him down.

“Just leave it alone, okay? Don’t stir things up—just stay put.”

—“How can I?! You’re locked up in there! You think throwing money around solves everything?!”

“What about the signing bonus?”

—“Huh? Oh, yeah… I got it yesterday, right before they kicked me out.”

“Then hang on to it. They said they’ll be giving you another hundred million in cash at the end of every month, so go find yourself a big enough private vault ahead of time.”

Unregistered ability users couldn’t use banks since they were technically fugitives. Instead, they often relied on illegal private vaults to stash their cash or valuables. Han-gyeom had also used those kinds of vaults to store most of his earnings. Given the size of the signing bonus and the steady cash flow promised in the months to come, it was time to secure a new, larger vault.

If Hye-seong noona were around, she’d probably have funneled it all through overseas accounts and laundered it before dumping it into a borrowed-name account…

Unfortunately, she was still out of contact. Not surprising, considering someone like Seo Won had probably made sure of it. Even if she did get in touch, Han-gyeom couldn’t trust her the same way he used to—not now that Seo Won’s influence had likely reached her.

—“Hyung… you’re not seriously planning to stay there, are you?”

“Why not? It’s not so bad.”

Han-gyeom kept his voice deliberately light, masking the tangle of heavy emotions inside him.

“Isn’t your dream to rake in a ton of cash and just laze around doing nothing? Well, I can make that happen faster than expected now. Why would I say no?”

—“Even if that’s my dream… that’s not your dream, is it?”

The sincerity in Jae-woo’s voice made Han-gyeom go quiet for a beat.

“…No. It is my dream.”

His gaze lowered to the floor, dark and clouded—stark contrast to the bright, clear skies outside.

Knock knock—

The sound of someone knocking snapped Han-gyeom’s head up.

“We’ll talk later. I’ll call you, so just behave until then.”

—“Wait, Hyung! Your tongu—!”

Ignoring Jae-woo’s urgent shout, Han-gyeom hit the end call button and immediately powered off the phone.

Click.

The door opened with a soft mechanical sound.

“Have you finished your call?”

Barely ten minutes had passed.

The intimidating-looking bodyguard strode confidently into the room, extending his hand to signal that the agreed-upon time was up. Han-gyeom calmly handed over the powered-off phone.

The phone he originally owned had been snapped in half and destroyed when he escaped from the house where he’d been used for guiding. It had been necessary to erase any traceable evidence—but that also meant he had no way to contact Jae-woo on the outside, so he had borrowed a temporary one.

Punctual to a fault.

Just as Seo Won had ordered, the bodyguard had granted him exactly ten minutes—no more, no less.

The man, as burly and rough as his appearance suggested, now held the phone in one hand and pointed toward the door with the other.

“The doctor will be here shortly.”

“…?”

As Han-gyeom tilted his head in confusion, the man silently looked down at him.

Then, with unexpected gentleness, he began fastening the unevenly buttoned shirt Han-gyeom wore, working up each button with careful, deliberate movements. Despite his rugged appearance, the touch was surprisingly kind—almost delicate.