Ghost Apple

[18:09]

‘The appointment time has already passed!’

Nine minutes had passed since the time Kim Hye-seong had scheduled the reservation when Han-gyeom finally felt a serious wave of anxiety.

Kim Hye-seong was someone who prided herself on punctuality. Even if it meant arriving ten or twenty minutes early and waiting, she would never, ever be late for an appointment. And yet today, nine minutes had slipped by without a single word from her.

Another minute passed. At exactly 6:10 p.m., Han-gyeom could no longer stand the wait and pulled up her contact information.

Just as he was about to call her directly—

Bzzzzzt—

His phone vibrated suddenly, and her name appeared on the screen. The moment he saw it, Han-gyeom hurriedly answered the call.

“Noona, where are you? Nothing’s wrong, is there?”

But no sound came from the other end.

It felt like someone was just quietly listening to his voice.

“Noona? What’s going on?”

He asked again, puzzled. Only then did the other party finally speak.

—This woman’s the last appointment for today, right?

It wasn’t Kim Hye-seong’s voice. It was a man.

A chill ran down his spine. Goosebumps erupted across his skin.

That voice—he definitely recognized it.

It was from the first person he had guided. The one who stuck in his memory, lingering in his mind for reasons he couldn’t quite explain. Maybe it was because Kim Hye-seong herself had sent the man to him.

Wait a second… Where’s Hye-seong noona?

The sudden thought hit him like a brick, freezing him in place.

For her to miss an appointment like this without any notice and then vanish completely—this was completely out of character.

And now that strange man was calling from her number.

A loud alarm blared inside his mind, an instinctive warning he couldn’t ignore. The ominous feeling that had crept up from his toes now surged up to his throat.

—If there are more appointments, say so now. I’ll take care of them all.

The man’s chilling words made Han-gyeom’s lips part slightly, but no sound came out.

What does he mean? “Take care of them”?

Overwhelmed by the sudden surge of dread, Han-gyeom immediately hung up and searched for Song Jae-woo’s contact.

If it was Jae-woo, he probably already heard Han-gyeom’s voice echoing inside the barrier and would’ve sensed something was off. That meant he’d likely pick up faster than usual. He might even already be on his way here.

Appointments were only ever taken before 7 p.m.

The reason for that was simple: the barrier could only be maintained for a maximum of twelve hours.

Jae-woo would arrive just before the first customer at 7 a.m., set up a new barrier, and only accept appointments within the 12-hour window that his powers could sustain. After the final client at 6 p.m., he’d usually come back before 7 to settle payments and recast the barrier. That time also marked the end of business for the day.

Current time: 6:15 p.m.

Only 45 minutes remained before the barrier would dissipate.

If Jae-woo arrived in time to block all entry or reinforce the area with another layer of shielding, at least two people’s safety could still be secured.

But the moment Han-gyeom called him, he had to change his plans—because of the voice that came through his phone.

—The power has been turned off. Please leave a message after the beep…

There was no need to listen further.

Emergency.

Kim Hye-seong and all other clients had vanished without a trace.

He couldn’t reach Song Jae-woo—the one person he could rely on—and the barrier surrounding the house wouldn’t last much longer.

More importantly, the man who’d called him using Hye-seong’s phone knew about this place.

There had even been a faint hint of amusement in the man’s voice when he asked if there were any more appointments.

There was no more time to waste.

Without a second thought, Han-gyeom snapped his phone in half. It was an old flip-style feature phone, so by bending it forcefully in the opposite direction—like cracking a spine—it broke surprisingly easily.

Not stopping there, he pulled out the fingernail-sized SIM card and crushed it too. Just as he’d chosen a phone that couldn’t be tracked, he now made sure all data collection was cut off completely.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Han-gyeom flung the phone’s remains away and bolted out the door.

He couldn’t stay huddled inside, hoping the barrier would last long enough.

He still didn’t know exactly who that man was, but the fact that he was targeting unregistered Espers, calling with an eerily calm voice to talk about “appointments,” and that Jae-woo was now unreachable—everything pointed to something dangerously wrong.

The moment he stepped outside, he sensed movement at the end of the alley. As expected, men in black suits pointed at him and shouted.

“Get him, now!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

Han-gyeom hated black suits. Association Espers always strutted around in those high-and-mighty tailored blacks—just the sight of similar outfits made his skin crawl.

The Association’s here?

He’d half-expected it.

If someone was targeting unregistered Espers one by one, the Association was the first suspect that came to mind.

He had thought maybe the recent appointment cancellations had triggered an unexpected sweep from their search teams.

Apparently, he’d been right.

Dodging the mob of grim reapers in suits, Han-gyeom leapt up, pushing off the end of a dead-end wall with both hands. It was about as tall as he was, but he was light and agile—he managed to vault over it in one go.

As soon as he landed, he sprinted through the empty alley—only to be blocked by a woman who suddenly dropped from the sky.

Despite her youthful, delicate appearance, she clenched her fist and lunged at him with intimidating force.

“Stay right where you are!”

“She tries to punch me in the solar plexus out of nowhere and tells me to stay still? Is she out of her mind?”

Han-gyeom barely dodged the blow aimed at his gut and swiftly grabbed the woman’s arm. Figuring she had to be an Esper—after all, she had just dropped from the sky—he unleashed a torrent of red currents, the source of his Guiding power, straight into her body.

But she didn’t react at all.

Instead, seizing the opportunity, she flipped Han-gyeom over in a flash, using the arm he had grabbed.

His vision spun, and a powerful impact crashed against his back the moment he hit the ground.

“Ugh…!”

Swallowing the scream that threatened to burst out, Han-gyeom forced himself upright.

As the woman let down her guard, assured her move had landed, he quickly reached behind his back and drew a hidden knife, swinging it at her.

“Ah!”

Though she jerked backward, he managed to slash her arm. In that moment of distraction, Han-gyeom sprang to his feet and launched himself away.

The woman, clearly startled—she hadn’t expected him to be armed—cried out in panic.

“W-Wait! Stop right there!”

She too gave chase with desperate energy.

But Han-gyeom was confident in his speed. More importantly, he knew this labyrinthine maze of alleyways better than anyone.

Zigzagging through the narrow paths, twisting and turning without pause, he kept running until eventually, even the woman’s voice faded into silence.

Catching his breath in the shadow of a corner, Han-gyeom thought back to her.

She wasn’t an Esper.

The Association always sent Espers to track down or arrest unregistered ones. Since they had no way of knowing the target’s abilities or ESP level, they dispatched full teams of Espers to be cautious.

But that woman? Definitely not one.

Just moments ago, he had tried using his Guiding ability to scramble all the channels inside her body—the routes through which psychic energy flowed.

Other guides could only smooth a path into one straight line, but he, as the only guide from that place, the completed guide, had the power to destroy them entirely.

But so what?

If she wasn’t an Esper, then his ability was completely useless.

It made Han-gyeom start to question whether the people after him were even from the Association at all.

That woman was proof enough. The Association would never include a non-Esper in a search team.

Then who the hell are they…?

Thud—

His thoughts hit a screeching halt when something suddenly embedded itself in his shoulder. A sharp, tingling sting spread through his skin.

Startled, he looked down to find a dart-like pin, about the length of a finger, lodged in him.

The moment he yanked it out and tossed it aside, a wave of dizziness hit.

His face pale, he looked up—and saw a man in a black suit, standing atop a nearby roof with a sniper rifle aimed right at him. When had he even gotten up there?

What the hell… this isn’t some movie…

A guy with a tranquilizer sniper rifle… in a place like this, some run-down back-alley neighborhood in Korea?

Whoever sent them was definitely out of their damn mind.

As the numbness spread rapidly from the shoulder where the tranquilizer dart had hit, Han-gyeom felt his entire body growing dull and unresponsive.

He slowly collapsed to the ground, his legs giving out beneath him.

The last thing he saw was the group of men in black suits closing in on him—

—and then, Han-gyeom’s eyes fluttered shut.