Chapter 7 : One Chance, One Touch

He rolled up his sleeve.

A red light leaked from the watch.

Usually, a warning sound would accompany it, but Se Gyeom seemed to have turned the sound off completely.

Se Gyeom gently pulled his hand away from Ji Han, who had grown serious looking at the red light from the watch, and smiled sheepishly.

Ji Han snatched the hand back again and spoke fiercely.

“What do you mean, okay?”

“Your hands are trembling like this!”

“Just a little hand trembling, that’s all.”

“It’ll get better quickly if I get guiding outside.”

A soft voice, unbelievable for someone whose hands were trembling, descended from above him.

As if telling him not to worry and to be relieved.

However, Ji Han couldn’t feel relieved at all.

“Do you even have a guide lined up?”

“…I’m sure I can find one if I look.”

“If you could do that, why didn’t you find one sooner?”

“I’m a bit busy, you know.”

Ji Han let out a long sigh at Se Gyeom’s attitude of constantly trying to brush off the serious situation with jokes.

Then, with a serious expression, he lifted his head to face Se Gyeom.

“I’m a guide too.”

“…I know.”

“If you know, then receive it from me.”

“Don’t push me away saying you’re busy.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Playing hard to get is my charm.”

Ji Han looked pitifully at Se Gyeom, who was talking nonsense even while his hands trembled violently, but he played along roughly.

Getting truly serious in this situation was frightening and unsettling for Ji Han as well.

“You should probably hide that charm for the rest of your life.”

“Why?”

“I’m popular.”

“They say I’m the number one man people want to date?”

“Uh, sure.”

“If you get out of here alive, go have lots of those great dates.”

Se Gyeom wore an awkward expression at the soulless retort and wiped the sweat beaded on his chin.

Seeing even that hand trembling uncontrollably, Ji Han tightened his grip on the hand he held.

“There’s no way for us to get out in our current state, right?”

“…Yeah.”

Se Gyeom had already attempted to teleport outside the monster’s body when Ji Han was unconscious.

However, for some reason, he couldn’t escape this place, as if blocked by something.

And because of that futile attempt, his EC level had worsened, even causing his hands to tremble.

Although he hadn’t heard the exact details, Ji Han could guess that Se Gyeom hadn’t just been sitting idly by.

And yet, finding no other way, he must have woken up here.

Ji Han, trying his best to remain calm, spoke seriously.

“Then let’s have me guide you.”

Se Gyeom didn’t answer the suggestion to receive guiding.

However, his intention was clear enough as he twisted his hand to pull it away.

Ji Han looked at Se Gyeom, his gaze filled with the question, why?

“If I faint from guiding side effects right here, we both die.”

“This isn’t something we should do just hoping our matching rate is good.”

“We’ll die anyway if we can’t get out of here!”

“I won’t let you die.”

“Absolutely not.”

Se Gyeom shook his head with a firm voice, looking Ji Han straight in the eyes.

“I’ll get you out, no matter what it takes.”

“Is this something that gets solved if only I get out?”

“If you die here and I get out alone, how could I possibly face your parents!”

Ji Han snapped at him not to talk nonsense and straightened his body.

He then firmly grasped the trembling hand.

“Now that we’ve come this far, we live together, or we die together.”

“…Our Ji Han is quite romantic.”

“The genre right now isn’t romance, it’s horror thriller, okay?”

“You figure out a way to get us out of here.”

Ji Han looked around with a serious face and shook the wrist he was holding as if urging him.

Se Gyeom then followed Ji Han’s gaze, scanning the surroundings as he spoke.

“Guild support should have arrived by now.”

“Let’s get out when they start attacking from the outside.”

“But the guild members don’t know we’re inside its stomach.”

“What if they just start pouring attacks even though we’re in here?”

“Hmm, well…”

“We’ll just have to figure out how to get out safely on our own.”

“…Yeah, that’s incredibly reassuring.”

It was the moment Ji Han let out a long sigh.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them seemed to squirm, and the sound of water echoed through the large space.

It sounded similar to flushing a toilet.

“what is it?”

“Come here, Ji Han.”

As Ji Han lost his balance on the squirming ground, Se Gyeom reached out and wrapped an arm around his waist.

At the same time, water like a waterfall began pouring down from all directions.

Se Gyeom quickly lifted himself and Ji Han into the air.

The fiercely pouring liquid rapidly raised its level.

The problem was that it wasn’t ordinary water.

The moment the tips of their shoes touched the sloshing liquid, the rubber soles melted, emitting white smoke.

Ji Han, his face pale white, saw this and clung tightly to Se Gyeom, wrapping his legs around his waist.

“Whoa, sht, what is that?!”

“…Looks like stomach acid?”

“St-stomach acid?”

“What, is this bastard trying to digest us right now?”

“It seems like it, ugh!”

At that moment, a drop of liquid fell from above.

It landed on Se Gyeom’s shoulder, making a ‘hiss’ sound as it melted his clothes and left a red burn mark on his skin.

“Ugh! Are you okay?”

However, Se Gyeom waved his hand above his head faster than Ji Han could ask if he was okay.

Simultaneously, a large sheet of ice formed overhead, just as the stomach acid began raining down.

“…Wow, we’re gonna die soon at this rate.”

Ji Han tilted his head back, observed the scene, and muttered blankly.

Se Gyeom frowned slightly at that.

“Don’t say unlucky things.”

“I told you I won’t let you die.”

While scolding Ji Han, Se Gyeom floated higher and assessed the situation below.

However, even at a glance, the speed at which the stomach acid was rising was frighteningly fast.

As if raining wasn’t enough, the acid pouring from all sides sparked the fear that they would soon be submerged up to their heads.

At this, Ji Han called Se Gyeom with a grim face.

“Shin Se Gyeom.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s just try guiding, whether we live or die.”

“If you collapse here now, we really have no chance of survival.”

“And who knows?”

“Maybe we’ll be lucky and the matching rate will be over 50%?”

Se Gyeom, silent for a moment, let out a hollow laugh.

“You want to bet our lives on mere luck?”

“What else can we do?”

“If we stay like this, we’re going to be digested by that Pinky Slime and become its flesh and blood.”

“For the record, I really hate pink.”

Ji Han’s eyes shone intensely as if he had made up his mind.

It was a gaze that showed a strong desire for life.

Ji Han didn’t want to die so meaninglessly.

With the sole intention of surviving, Ji Han released the arms he had been clinging to for dear life and looked Se Gyeom straight in the eye.

The moment their eyes met, Ji Han’s filled with panic, a hand filled with a deep desire for survival moved without hesitation and grasped the

nape of Se Gyeom’s neck.

He couldn’t just stand by and die helplessly like this.

Ji Han, determined to try something, whether it led to death or survival, earnestly prayed before starting the guiding.

“Please, just let the matching rate be over 50%!”

“Higher would be even better, if possible!”

“…You sound like someone praying before scratching a lottery ticket right now.”

“I’m more desperate than scratching a lottery ticket, okay?”

“Our lives depend on this!”

Hearing Ji Han’s desperate prayer, Se Gyeom burst into laughter but still pulled Ji Han’s waist tightly against him.

Although he was forcing himself to act fine, the trembling in his hands had already spread throughout his body.

Watching Se Gyeom tremble while holding him, Ji Han took a deep breath.

And without a shred of hesitation, he immediately began guiding.

The moment the warm energy gathered in his hand flowed into Se Gyeom, a backlash of dark, tangled energy struck Ji Han’s nerves.

It felt like his delicate insides were being clawed and churned into mud.

“Ugh, what kind of energy is this!”

However, Se Gyeom didn’t hear Ji Han’s grumbling.

More accurately, he didn’t have the capacity to pay attention.

The best he could do was try not to embrace Ji Han too tightly as his body kept tensing up, as if revealing his desperation.

Despite this, the muscles in the arm holding Ji Han’s waist tensed, and veins popped out.

Struggling to relax as much as possible, Se Gyeom moved his hand along the hollow of Ji Han’s spine.

His hand slid up the waist, passed the shoulder blades, and settled on the shoulder.

After only checking the number on his watch, he immediately began stroking the lean back.

It was an act to recognize who was in his arms and steady his own heart.

ECI level 67%.

[TL Note: ECI/EC seems to be a measure of an Esper’s energy/condition.]

Thankfully, the number was decreasing, albeit slightly.

Furthermore, there were none of the side effects that should have followed.

Instead, the weak but warm energy enveloping his rampaging energy was loosening his nerves, which had been sharpened like a blade.

“Agh, I’m going to die before I get digested.”

Conversely, groans of pain escaped Ji Han.

Ji Han naturally buried his forehead into the broad shoulder and flinched at the languid breath that escaped Se Gyeom’s lips.

Every time the hot breath tickled his nape, goosebumps started from his waist and traveled up his spine.

“Haah, Ji Han, it feels, so good.”

“Good my *ss.”

“I feel like dying.”

“What kind of energy…”

“It feels really good.”

“Hah, so this is, real guiding.”

“Yeah, this is real guiding, so focus and recover your energy first!”

“We’re going to die trapped here at this rate!”

Ji Han raised his shoulder sharply, as if the area where Se Gyeom’s lips touched tickled, and shouted.

But Se Gyeom couldn’t seem to come to his senses at all.

It was a comfortable sensation he had never felt before.

No, beyond comfort, all the muscles in his body relaxed languidly, and a strange stimulation tickled his lower abdomen, evoking a pleasant

sensation.

Unable to hold back, Se Gyeom pressed his lips against the nape of Ji Han’s neck, continuing to nibble gently, then spoke in a slightly

warning tone.

“Ji Han, talking about dying, haah, it might be better, if you stopped.”

” don’t talk against my neck!”

“And I really feel like I’m going to die, so please focus!”

“I told you our lives are on the line, how many times, ah!”

At that moment, Ji Han froze, startled as his earlobe was bitten.

His eyes widened, pupils darting around, before he squeezed them shut due to Se Gyeom greedily sucking in his energy.

This was no different from a hippo guzzling down guiding energy.

“Ah, sht, a little slower…”

Feeling like his energy would be depleted in an instant, he dug his nails into the hand holding Se Gyeom.

It was his own way of warning him to take it easy.

However.

Gggguuuuuurgle!

A loud sound, like it was echoing off the cave walls, resonated through the space filling with stomach acid.

Then, what seemed to be the stomach wall squirmed, splashing the acid here and there.

“What was that?”

“Stomach cramps?”