Chapter 3: The Lee Family’s Pet (3)

　　She carefully stroked the nape of his neck. His skin was soft as silk and unnaturally cool. “Your temperature is low.”

　　He didn’t respond.

　　“Didn’t you get guiding from Saeron?”

　　Her voice was strained at the mention of another woman, but Doha didn’t seem to notice, merely replying in a languid tone.

　　“I did.”

　　“Then why are you like this?”

　　“I don’t know. Stress, maybe?”

　　He nuzzled his head against her neck. Dana slid her hand into his hair, stroking it gently. Doha let out a long, weary sigh, his tension seeming to melt away. She was familiar with this side of him.

　　“You’re warm…”

　　“Because the guiding is working.”

　　“Can I kiss you?”

　　At her careful question, Doha’s eyes narrowed slightly. His light brown irises were beautiful, like stars scattered across the night sky.

　　“You may.”

　　With his generous permission, Dana tilted her head toward him. Their bodies pressed together, their breaths mingling. As she felt his long, delicate hand close over her breast, her consciousness drifted into the past.

* * *

　　Wars and plagues had always struck like disasters, arriving suddenly as if from a hidden room. But they had all been, on some level, comprehensible. The portal to another world, however, was something no one could have predicted. It became humanity’s worst catastrophe.

　　No one knew why the Gates opened. The intruders that came through them, called demon beasts, were hostile to humanity. A new food chain of predator and prey was established in an instant.

　　Just as they had been helpless against new diseases, in the early days of the Gates, people could only tremble and flee like frightened mice. But just as humanity had eventually overcome every plague and war, a path forward appeared: a new human species called Espers.

　　They performed miracles that defied the known laws of physics. They could move objects without touching them, bend thick iron bars, possess immeasurable intelligence, or create something from nothing. They were the only ones who could single-handedly stand against the demon beasts that swallowed humans whole.

　　But as this power, never meant for human bodies, surpassed the limits of the flesh, problems arose. Espers began to break down, to malfunction. To protect them from their own overwhelming energy, another being was needed—one who could help them circulate that energy internally.

　　Espers were the heroes who beat back the demon beasts, and Guides were their control devices. A pencil and an eraser. A sword and a scabbard. A thread and a needle. An Esper and a Guide. They were a fated pair, complete only when together. Realizing that Espers could not exist alone, people began to refer to both as awakened beings.

　　With their Guides, Espers dealt fatal blows to the monsters, while scientists and engineers harvested magic stones from their bodies, creating a new energy source for Earth. A system was now in place to counter the Gates, but in the early days, it was chaos.

　　Ten years ago, a Gate opened in a small provincial city.

　　The demon beast that emerged was the size of a house. Its body was covered in sticky mucus, its face so devoid of flesh it resembled a skull. Black smoke billowed from its empty sockets.

　　Octopus-like tentacles writhed around its head, snatching people and shoving them into its maw. Of all the otherworldly beings shown on the news, this was by far the most overwhelming.

　　Smaller demon beasts roamed the town, spreading the disaster. A mere graze from their sharp tentacles was enough to kill most people on the spot. But some survived, only to become the monster’s minions.

　　“Grrrrrr…”

　　A man, now a monster himself, stalked the streets, his eyes glowing red. The infected turned on the very neighbors he had lived beside for years. He tore at flesh with their teeth and forced his hideously swollen genitals between women’s legs. The peaceful city became a hellscape of blood and screams.

　　Dana’s parents were among the infected. And their very first target was the daughter they had cherished most in life.

　　Dana ran. She prayed to the heavens that if this was a nightmare, she would wake up soon. She imagined closing her eyes and opening them to find her parents smiling in the bright morning sun, asking if she was awake. But reality was her parents, now beasts, chasing her down streets littered with the corpses of her friends.

　　Someone, please, get me out of this hell.

　　As she prayed, a huge shadow fell over her.

　　Gulp.

　　On the day an entire town vanished, the fate of a single girl swallowed by a demon beast went unnoticed.

　　Days later, a group of Espers passing nearby discovered the disaster and moved in to help.

　　“There’s a gatekeeper over there!”

　　“Honey, you can’t go!”

　　“But our son—he’s already in there!”

　　Dana was drowning in death, slowly being digested in the demon beast’s sticky stomach. It was a death slow enough for her to be aware of every agonizing second, slow enough to be consumed by fear.

　　Her will to live flickered like a dying candle. Flailing blindly, her hands brushed against something—the bones of an animal. Or perhaps a human. How many lives had ended in this foul grave?

　　The conviction that this disgusting space would be her tomb as well was just setting in when—

　　Her vision exploded with light.

　　Someone had entered. She squinted, the sudden sunlight blinding her dark-adjusted eyes. …A boy?

　　He was a black silhouette against the backlight. Dana’s fingers trembled. Her eyelids were coated in some unknown fluid, making it hard to even blink, and she was too weak to wipe her face. But at the sight of the light, an instinctive will to live surged through her, and she forced her hand up. I’m here. Save me.

　　Someone answered her desperate plea. A warm hand clasped her own cold one.

　　“I knew something felt off…”

　　I can live! Dana strained to see, but the effort was too much for her exhausted body. Her head spun, her vision blurring. Just then, a cloud passed over the sun, and the backlight vanished. The soft light revealed a face as beautiful as a Greek god’s, with pitch-black hair and eyes as deep as the abyss.

　　“So, you’re my Guide.”

　　The unfamiliar voice brushed past her ear like a dandelion seed. And then, her consciousness sank beneath the surface.

　　When she came to, she was lying on a soft bed. She would later learn it was one of the many guest rooms in the Lee family estate. Her vision was blurry, and a figure wavered before her.

　　“Mom…?”

　　Slowly, the image sharpened.

　　“Hello.”

　　It was a boy with a pale face and hair that looked brown in the light. He had large, pretty eyes with double eyelids and a sharp nose, despite his youth. He was so unrealistically beautiful, with his perfectly symmetrical features, that for a moment she wondered if he was an angel. She had never seen anyone like him. At her blank stare, he gave a wan smile.

　　“Why’d you wake up so late?”

　　She didn’t respond.

　　“Can’t you speak?”

　　A doctor in a white coat examined her. As she blinked vacantly, the doctor spoke to the boy. “It seems she has aphasia from the shock. The number of Gate PTSD patients is on the rise. Considering her parents were also involved, she’ll need counseling for a while.”

　　Mom, Dad… She couldn’t speak, but she could still think. Grrrrrr. The image of the monster that had chased her flashed in her mind. Her face went pale. She began to tremble, but the memory of the warm hand that had held hers calmed her. Her eyes found the boy. He hadn’t noticed her gaze and was still talking to the doctor.

　　“By the way, young master, are you planning to keep this child here?”

　　“That’s the plan.”

　　“Your mother is very worried. She’s not an ordinary child. Her eyes have already changed. She’s an ominous child.”

　　Doha was silent.

　　“Of course, I know you care for her. You went through demon beasts alone to save her, so you must want to take full responsibility. That sentiment alone is admirable, and the child will be grateful. If it’s still weighing on you, why not hand her over to a children’s center managed by the Yangwoo Foundation and keep an eye on her from there?”

　　“Have you ever picked up a stray dog, Doctor?”

　　“Excuse me? A dog?”

　　“When a dog has no owner, the one who finds it becomes its new master.”

　　The doctor was speechless.

　　“I picked her up. And I don’t like it when people tell me what to do with my things.”

　　The doctor’s voice faded away. Growing tired, Dana closed her eyes, and the sounds soon disappeared as well.