Survive With the Max Level Guide

An S-rank Esper—one of the rarest in all of Korea. Team leader of the Counter-Espers Terrorism Unit. The eldest son of Chahwa, a world-renowned IT conglomerate.

My brother lived a life where nothing came lightly.

I sat silently, watching the bold lines of his face—so unlike mine. He’d just showered after dinner, his hair still damp.

—“Esper A, who murdered an entire family in Yeondan New Town, has been apprehended on-site.”

My brother’s brows furrowed as he focused on the news. I noticed the small tremor in his hand, the stiff tension in his jaw.

A little too much to chalk up to the tragedy of the broadcast.

These were symptoms of Guiding deprivation.

He tried to hide it as best he could, but unfortunately for him, I always saw right through it. Up until now, all I could do was feel sorry for him. But this time…

“Why?”

Sensing my gaze, he turned toward me from across the room.

I leaned back casually against the sofa and shook my head.

“You’re seriously something, you know that? You come home after work and choose to watch the news? It’s like you never left the office.”

“It’s always better to hear about incidents early.”

“Sure, sure.”

I laughed, hugging my knees. He glanced back at the TV.

“Be careful whenever you’re out.”

“…I’m twenty now, you know. Isn’t it time you stopped worrying about your fully grown little brother?”

He was always sensitive when it came to our family’s safety—especially with me, the kid brother twelve years younger than him, who probably still looked like a baby in his eyes.

Even for a short outing, he insisted I be accompanied by bodyguards without fail.

I get it. It all stemmed from that assassination attempt that took our father’s life.

Long ago, back when we lived in a different house, Esper terrorists had broken in. They killed our father in front of the entire family and vanished without a trace.

I have no memory of it. I was just a baby then, too sleepy to stay awake—even in the middle of a massacre. Honestly, back in those days when all I did was eat and sleep… most of it is a blur. I couldn’t recall how people looked, what was happening, or even how I felt about it.

But unlike me, my brother was old enough to be scarred by it. As soon as he became an adult, he joined the Counter-Espers Terrorism Unit to hunt those bastards down—despite our mother’s strong objections.

And now, after becoming the youngest team leader ever, there’s no telling how much he’s accomplished.

…Thinking back on it like this, damn—my brother’s like a main character straight out of a novel. Badass as hell.

A fresh wave of admiration swelled in me. He had the courage and moral strength I lacked.

“But hey, Hyung.”

So I decided to stop beating around the bush.

I lowered my legs and stood up.

“I’ve been noticing it since earlier… Are you really just tired? You don’t look well.”

“I’m fine.”

“Still. Let me see.”

I stepped in front of my brother and came to a halt. Then, as if checking for a fever, I slowly reached out toward his upturned face.

My fingertips brushed against his smooth forehead.

***

The world of Espers is loud. The more distorted your wavelength becomes, the more intense it gets. And it wasn’t just hearing—every sense was pushed to its extreme, to the point of agony.

Cha Eun-hyuk had endured that agony for a long time. He comforted himself by calling it a useful pain—something that benefited his work. After all, it wasn’t something he could ever truly separate himself from.

But the moment his brother touched him—All the noise, the piercing sensations that had once jabbed at his skin, vanished.

The presence of the guards stationed outside, the scent of leather from the sofa, the faint sound from the TV—

All of it disappeared.

If not for his brother’s breath and heartbeat, he would’ve thought time itself had stopped.

It felt like the world consisted of just the two of them.

“Hyung?”

That familiar voice reached him. A startled face looked up at him from below.

He was sure he’d been the one looking down, and yet… Had he laid him down?

His hazy mind scrambled to process it.

“Hyung, what are you…?”

His voice trailed off. Cha Eun-soo’s eyes widened.

Tears were falling—ones that weren’t his own.

Only then did Cha Eun-hyuk realize that he was crying.

His youngest brother had never seen him like this before. Completely caught off guard, Cha Eun-soo’s light brown eyes trembled as he opened his mouth, lost for words.

Before long, those slender, delicate fingers cautiously cradled Cha Eun-hyuk’s face.

A sharp inhale. A shiver ran through him.

“What’s wrong? Why are you like this?”

…Would he even understand, no matter how he answered?

His wavelength—once hopelessly tangled and gnawing at his sanity—was now quietly unraveling. The sensation was surreal. The pain and torment he’d carried for so long were dissolving.

It felt like salvation.

No—he had been saved.

Even water in a desert wouldn’t taste as sweet to a dying man. Cha Eun-hyuk pressed his face into Cha Eun-soo’s hand and closed his eyes.

It wasn’t enough.

He wanted to feel it deeper.

“…!”

His instincts—having devoured his reason—claimed his brother’s soft lips too.

Caught off guard, Cha Eun-soo gasped, and Cha Eun-hyuk seized the opening, invading his mouth without mercy. He restrained the frozen tongue and tasted it, again and again. He ravaged the tender inner walls, exploring them with relentless hunger.

The small lips that struggled to endure the frantic kiss spilled saliva—whose it belonged to was no longer clear.

“Hhng!”

Only then did Cha Eun-soo begin to resist. Pinned beneath him, he thrashed to break free of Cha Eun-hyuk, but it was nothing for a trained Esper to subdue him.

Cha Eun-hyuk easily forced both of Eun-soo’s wrists together and pinned them down, then gripped his jaw, turning it just so. Eun-soo was helplessly restrained, eyes clenched shut, left with no choice but to endure his brother’s actions.

“Ha, ah!”

Their ragged breathing filled the space. The wet sounds of lips and tongues colliding echoed between them.

After a long, feverish kiss, Cha Eun-hyuk finally pulled back. His parted lips traced down Eun-soo’s cheek, dragging slowly and heavily.

Eun-soo hurriedly grabbed at the shoulders of his brother, who was now biting at his neck.

“Hyung! Stop it!”

That desperate cry finally halted Cha Eun-hyuk’s movements.

Sanity flickered back into his dazed eyes.

“What… what the hell is this…”

Cha Eun-soo stammered, his face ghostly pale, a mess of shock and shame. He had been drained of energy through the guiding, leaving him weak and dazed.

Cha Eun-hyuk slowly let go of his brother’s arms.

What the hell did I just do…

The realization struck him like a blunt weapon to the head.

Cha Eun-soo had awakened as a Guide. And he—experiencing, for the first time, a perfectly matched guiding—had completely lost himself and lunged like a madman.

There was no confusion to be had.

Cha Eun-hyuk could only accept one thing: he alone was at fault.

“…Eun-soo.”

He opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Eun-soo…”

“…I’m sorry.”

He bowed his head.

“I’m so sorry.”

The apology slipped between clenched teeth, soaked in guilt.

He had hurt the one person he had sworn to protect above all else. Regret surged like a flood. And now, for failing to control himself, he might lose his brother.

That thought terrified him more than anything. Even now, the craving for the satisfying guiding still smoldered inside him, not easily quelled.

Cha Eun-hyuk imagined Cha Eun-soo turning his back on him in disgust.

It felt like something sharp had pierced straight through his soul.

His beloved little brother had become something more than that today.

“…”

A deathlike silence filled the room.

Cha Eun-soo staggered as he pushed himself upright. Cha Eun-hyuk reached out instinctively to support him, but his hand hovered uselessly in the air, never making contact.

Eun-soo covered his face with both hands and remained silent for a long time.

“My head feels like it’s going to explode.”

The silence that had seemed endless finally shattered.

“This whole situation… I just can’t believe it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

Cha Eun-soo confessed his feelings in a weary voice. Muffled within his hands, his words reverberated softly, but to Cha Eun-hyuk, they rang clearer than any sound in the world.

“But I think I get it now. Why you acted the way you did.”

Cha Eun-hyuk kept his gaze lowered, silently listening to his brother’s words like a sinner awaiting judgment.

“I’m a Guide, aren’t I?”

His hands dropped, revealing a face still pale as a sheet.

“The way you acted… it was like someone desperately trying to get something. And I started feeling weird too.”

Guides often described Guiding as something akin to a blood transfusion. If pushed too far, it could result in serious shock. Even knowing that, Cha Eun-hyuk had almost lost control—had nearly violated his own brother.

Seeing Eun-soo looking like he could collapse at any moment tore at him. He clenched his fists, overcome with the urge to pull him into an embrace right then and there.

“Was I right?”

“…Yeah.”

Cha Eun-hyuk answered heavily. He wasn’t sure when Eun-soo had awakened, but without a doubt, they were the same grade.

“…Honestly, I was scared. You didn’t look like the hyung I knew.”

Eun-soo muttered the words like a quiet confession.

“And we’re…”

His voice trembled and faltered.

“We’re brothers.”

“…So how could you…”

His tear-filled eyes wandered, unable to focus.

Cha Eun-hyuk made a choice—to reassure his brother no matter what. He dropped to his knees in front of him, eye to eye.

“I swear I’ll never touch you again. Not even a fingertip. I promise.”

“…”

“You’ll never be forced into anything. Ever.”

“But… that’ll hurt you.”

At last, Cha Eun-soo cried.

“That would hurt me more.”

I can help you now…

The unspoken words were swallowed up by his trembling voice, but Cha Eun-hyuk understood them all the same.

Eun-soo had shattered the terrifying expectations Cha Eun-hyuk had feared. He hadn’t turned away. He hadn’t shown disgust. He still worried for him, just the same as always.

No—he even seemed to be blaming himself for not being able to help his brother more willingly.

Even in this moment… his honest, kind-hearted little brother was still that same person.