LIAR PARADOX
CHAPTER 6
SYNOPSIS AND CHARACTER INFO
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It had already been a month since Hanseo first saw Gu Jei at the Center.
For nearly a month, Hanseo's daily routine remained monotonously consistent.
First, he would go to work at the Center in the morning and perform janitorial duties. After work, he would return to his motel room and gather information until he fell asleep.
Gathering information is crucial.
Even now, at work, he was gathering information whenever he had a moment to spare.
Although he came from the future, his past self showed little interest in current events, leaving him woefully ignorant. It was fortunate that his hobby had been watching TV; otherwise, he would have been a complete blank slate.
To prepare for the future, he needed to thoroughly understand how the world operated at this point in time.
In that sense, the smartphone was a revolution.
Could there be a simpler or better tool for gathering information?
He owned one in the past, a gift from the Cult Leader. He used it briefly before abandoning it. The Cult Leader's ability to track his searches and communications had chilled him to the bone, making the device unusable.
It was likely a cloned phone, but he still wondered why the Cult Leader even bothered to monitor him, knowing he couldn't betray him.
That enigmatic bastard... How could anyone ever fully understand his motives?
Regardless, unlike in the past, Hanseo now had the freedom to use his phone without restriction, allowing him to stumble upon this post.
Gu Jei's Only Weakness
Interesting.
With a racing heart, Hanseo clicked on the post.
•───────•
Title: Gu Jei's Only Weakness
I want to be that.
He doesn't even flinch while conquering S-Class Gates, but if I trip and scrape my knee, he acts like the world is ending, agonizing over it.
He doesn't care about his own injuries, but if I jokingly say, "How would you live without me?" his stoic face suddenly crumples, tears welling up as he cries like a child, asking why I'd say such a thing and insisting he couldn't live without me...
Sigh, what a bowl of pure fantasy.
•───────•
"......"
What did I just read?
Hanseo realized once again that not everything on the internet is trustworthy. In fact, there's far more garbage information than reliable content.
But he wasn't disappointed.
He already knew Gu Jei's only weakness.
He's here.
Hanseo slipped his phone into his pocket and watched Gu Jei take the elevator up.
Is this the fifth time?
He has been working as a janitor at the Center for a month.
In that time, he saw Gu Jei five times.
His last visit was just three days ago.
As Hanseo had predicted, Gu Jei's visits to the Center were becoming increasingly frequent.
Gu Jei typically visited the Center to receive Guiding from one of its affiliated Guides.
The shortened intervals suggested that Gu Jei's condition was deteriorating.
Gu Jei was the strongest Esper in the world. Blades and bullets couldn't even scratch his skin, and he could sink an entire island into the sea with a mere thought.
Gu Jei's weakness lay in the fact that he was ultimately an Esper.
Espers absolutely needed Guides. Without Guiding, their Esper energy would become unstable, causing physical symptoms like headaches, insomnia, visual and auditory hallucinations. In the worst cases, they could descend into complete madness.
Though he himself had a unique constitution that prevented him from experiencing problems with Esper energy, the desperation in which others sought after Guides suggests it must be an excruciating ordeal.
Unfortunately, Gu Jei had yet to find a compatible Guide. For Guiding to be effective, the compatibility rate needed to be at least 50%. Yet, every compatibility test he'd undergone with existing Guides yielded a mere 10%.
With a 10% compatibility rate, even an S-Class Guide wouldn't produce noticeable effects.
Conversely, a high compatibility rate could allow even a lower-ranked Guide to achieve remarkable efficiency. Compatibility with a Guide was that crucial. That's why the Center regularly conducted programs to match Guides with Espers.
Anyway, after seeing that, he felt certain that the moment he'd been waiting for would soon arrive.
...Yes, I'm sure.
But he never imagined it would be today.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The fire alarm blared.
The crimson glow of the alarm lights intensified the tension.
"Everyone evacuate! Get out now!"
Employees working late began pouring out, rushing toward the first-floor exits.
"Don't push!"
"Ah! I said don't push!"
"My glasses! My glasses fell off!"
Everyone moved according to the evacuation order, unaware of what was happening.
Though there was some commotion during the escape, fortunately, it was night, and few employees remained, so the evacuation was quickly completed.
Is everyone out?
Hanseo, who had been hiding in a bathroom stall until the commotion subsided, finally emerged.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
As soon as he stepped out, the thick fireproof doors at the first-floor exits slammed shut simultaneously. It seemed the exits automatically sealed after a certain time following the alarm, preventing anything inside from escaping.
Not a bad method.
Unless the opponent was Gu Jei.
Did they really think this could stop an S-Class Esper? No, they probably have other defenses. After all, the last time this happened, the Center only suffered structural damage without any casualties.
In the past, he hadn't paid much attention to social events, but he remembered the major incidents that everyone talked about.
One such incident was the "Center Collapse Incident" caused by Gu Jei's temporary rampage.
This event led to the Center's headquarters being relocated to Cheongram City and the public disclosure of Gu Jei's long-hidden issues.
He just didn't expect it to happen today.
It was strange that Gu Jei hadn't left the Center since arriving that morning. That's why Hanseo had stayed late, claiming to be working overtime.
Either way, this was an opportunity.
"Let's go then."
Hanseo had already memorized the Center's layout and marked all the places Gu Jei might be.
"......"
But his feet wouldn't move.
He had to admit it. Despite preparing for everything, he was still... a little scared.
Would it have been better if he knew nothing? But after nearly dying at Gu Jei's hands several times in the past, his body seemed to have learned fear, refusing to budge.
And it wasn't just facing Gu Jei—it was facing Gu Jei in his berserk state that made it even worse.
Realizing he couldn't stay frozen like this, Hanseo began to reassure himself.
You've already died once. What's there to be afraid of? Remember when you were chewed up by that Monster? Compared to that, this is nothing.
Fortunately, it was quite effective.
Perhaps it was because he had recently dreamt of being chewed like gum by a monster. As he recalled the pain and terror that felt as fresh as if they had just happened, everything suddenly seemed trivial.
Inside the monster's mouth, he had been utterly helpless, unable to do anything. But now, at least he could struggle.
That's enough.
His frozen feet finally began to obey his will. Hanseo took a deep breath and moved to find Gu Jei.
Finding Gu Jei wasn't difficult. The closer he got, the heavier the air became, and his skin began to tingle with static electricity. It was all due to the energy radiating from the Esper.
An Esper's rampage occurs when they lose control of their energy. The heavy air and stinging skin were due to the massive amount of energy Gu Jei had been controlling leaking outward.
Hanseo soon found Gu Jei in the Guiding Room.
"Hah... sob..."
Surprisingly, Gu Jei wasn't alone. A man was slumped against the Guiding Room door, wearing the white jacket worn by Center Guides, indicating he was likely a Guide himself.
Did something go wrong during Guiding?
If so, this Guide would have been the first to notice Gu Jei's rampage and likely triggered the alarm.
The irony was that the person who sounded the alarm hadn't managed to escape himself.
"Ugh, ugh... I don't want..."
His condition is severe.
If Gu Jei had gone berserk during Guiding, this state was understandable. Guiding fundamentally connects the Guide and Esper. If one person's hand catches fire while they're holding hands, wouldn't the other person also get burned?
After checking the vomit on the floor and the Guide's unfocused eyes, Hanseo turned his gaze to Gu Jei.
Gu Jei simply stood there, staring at Hanseo. His eyes, darker than usual, reflected Hanseo's image like a mirror.
Ah.
Hanseo belatedly gasped for air. He must have forgotten to breathe for a moment.
I feel like I'm about to panic too.
He forcibly ignored the terror surging up from his gut.
"Esper Gu Jei?"
There was no response.
Still unconscious, huh?
But the fact that the building was still intact meant he hadn't completely lost his mind—thankfully.
To be fair, Gu Jei's complete rampage was something that would happen later, not now. He knew this, which was why he came this far.
Fuck, this is still terrifying.
Even knowing that, he was still scared shitless.
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