Vicious Darling

Earth.

The planet’s original six continents were split into twelve due to natural disasters.

People named each continent after the months from “January” to “December” and classified them as spring, summer, autumn, and winter according to their climate.

This can be considered a remnant of the old era when four seasons still existed.

The disaster that struck Earth was due to a war caused by the previous generation of humans. It is said that more than three-tenths of the population died, but considering the contamination of historical records, the credibility of this information is questionable.

Thus, humanity, having endured severe pain, went through a period of mixing various races, cultures, and religions, and was very confused for a long time. The environment became increasingly barren, and the advancing science and technology were lost.

We were slowly heading towards extinction.

Until the ‘Espers’ appeared.

– From the memoirs of Senior Researcher R of the Esper Union

Vicious Darling

[1]

The man glared at the faint light with his head bowed.

How much time had passed? A day? Two days? Or five?

He couldn’t tell how long he had been trapped here. Were his companions alright?

The sound of the door opening was heard. The man deliberately kept staring at the floor without looking in that direction.

The sound of a chair being pulled, kkiriruk, gnawed at his eardrums like a bug crawling up his earlobe. Every stimulus felt like an awl, causing him distress.

How long had it been since he last took the guiding medicine…

His memories of daily life were fading away. Even though not much time had passed since he was trapped here, his mind was withering rapidly.

He thought he might go mad if time kept passing like this with nothing changing.

The sound of the chair being placed was as loud as iron bars crashing to the floor. It was reaching his limit to deliberately ignore the person who had entered through the open door.

He raised his head.

Sitting across from him was a man who looked as if silent darkness had been molded into human form. His own face was reflected in the purple eyes set above pale cheeks almost devoid of color.

His face, with stubble growing and dark circles under his eyes, looked terribly shabby. The other person, ignoring his gaze, silently extended his arm like a ghost and put something down.

“Yuri… Sobolev.”

The man muttered the other’s identity in a hoarse voice.

“It seems you know who I am.”

How could he not recognize those cold purple eyes?

Yuri Sobolev.

Known as the ruler of the Winter Continent, operating as a mafia boss.

Even though his master Rosenhauser was a being who manipulated the world from the shadows, he had made Yuri Sobolev his enemy and ended up collapsing miserably.

And now it was his turn.

‘If only I had the medicine!’

The man clutched at his head.

He was an Esper. Espers were a term referring to the very few survivors who gained supernatural abilities after the world had once been destroyed and the continents split into twelve.

The initial joy of awakening and gaining special powers was short-lived. Before long, the man discovered that he couldn’t even breathe without a Guide.

The guiding drug created by Rosenhauser was the only solution to the innate curse of Espers.

If only he had had enough of the medicine left, at the very least he wouldn’t have been captured in such a state, unable to even resist properly.

“We can skip the introductions.”

Yuri, having lost even a shred of interest, muttered indifferently, thinking of Chris.

The man before him was said to be an Esper like Chris, but his patience was truly lacking. Yuri’s dog wouldn’t show such weakness even after spending more than ten days without guiding.

He would just quietly stare at Yuri with eyes more bloodshot than usual.

With a click, something like a spherical terminal device appeared.

“Pain is not my concern.”

The man, who had expected torture as much as he had been captured, was puzzled by what the other said.

“I have little interest in your silence or denial.”

Yuri Sobolev’s purple eyes were inorganic.

“I’ve had enough of dealing with people who don’t utter a word in places like this.”

The purple eyes scanning the room leisurely seemed to find not just this situation, but everything in the world boring.

The boredom in Yuri’s voice was too clear to be considered mere bravado.

“Likewise, loyalty or belief in an organization is not to my taste.”

The man’s face contorted.

That bastard, Yuri Sobolev, wasn’t an Esper, so he didn’t know. He didn’t know how miserable an Esper becomes without a Guide.

The guiding drug that Rosenhauser provided to people like himself was truly salvation.

‘If only there had been a little more leeway, if Sobolev’s dog hadn’t torn Rosenhauser apart, Espers could have become the gods of a new era.’

The man glared at Yuri with bloodshot eyes. However, the other’s expression remained as cold as if touching it would leave frost on one’s hand.

“Let’s get this over with quickly.”

Yuri, who possessed surprisingly quiet movements, had been deliberately making noise only at certain moments since earlier.

When opening the door, when pulling the chair, and when placing this terminal on the desk.

As if intentionally stimulating him.

For instance, now. Like the sound of pressing the play button on that terminal.

Click.

“West Avenue. 1859, Bravo, Whiskey…”

The communication seemed unstable, with ominous static interrupting and disappearing between words.

The man, who had been frozen since first hearing the voice from across the terminal, grew paler as the words continued.

‘West Avenue. 1859. BW-‘

The sobbing voice was revealing the address of the house where he had hidden his elderly father. Before going on a mission, he had asked a colleague to take care of his father if he didn’t return. But now that very colleague was exposing his safe house to Yuri Sobolev.

Click, the button was pressed once more, and Yuri’s silk-smooth voice interjected between the static.

“So, tell me an interesting story.”

Yuri’s purple eyes, seated with legs crossed on a cheap metal chair rather than a throne, were extremely arrogant.

Cold sweat ran down his spine as if his neck were on the guillotine.

“Make me inclined to listen to your words more than theirs.”

The man dropped his head. A sob that wasn’t quite a sob escaped his lips. Despite witnessing this despair, Yuri’s bored gaze remained unchanged.

As mentioned earlier, he had experienced this far too many times.

His pale, long fingers moved over the terminal’s buttons.

“I’ll talk!”

A cry that was almost a scream burst from the man.

“I’ll tell you everything, please…”

Yuri listened as incoherent words flowed from the man who had curled up.

After the man spilled everything he knew, Yuri stood up.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

The man squeezed his eyes shut.

Having become a traitor, he would not be able to return to the Thorns Order.

Never again.

Even knowing he was nothing more than a kite with its string cut, his heart felt empty. Since he was still trapped here, it didn’t feel real that he had saved his elderly father.

Yuri, who had stood up, left without looking back. The man, who had been holding his head and hunching over, raised his head when he heard the door close and discovered the old-fashioned terminal still on the desk.

He reached out with trembling hands.

Aaargh!

Not long after the door closed behind him, the sound of the man inside screaming, breaking something, and striking with the chair was heard.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

After that, a long silence followed, and then sobbing similar to the cry of a beast was heard.

Yuri continued walking down the dim corridor without looking back.