"Now tell me how the fuck you got pregnant, Orion!" Edwards snapped, his voice laced with both anger and fear. He bent down in front of him, his sharp eyes locking onto Orion's with unflinching intensity. His breath came out heavy, as if he was struggling to control his emotions. "Don't lie to me now. At this point, you don't have to hide anything. Just remember....I've always had your back."
"How am I supposed to know that too?!" Orion shot back, his voice cracking as he clutched the edge of the chair he was sitting on with trembling hands. "Like....how the fuck am I pregnant? Who's supposed to be the father?!"
Edwards' jaw clenched as his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose. He pushed them back up with a trembling hand before speaking again, his tone sharper now.
"You chose not to reveal yourself to the government, even though you're an E-rank guide," Edwards said, his voice rising in frustration. "E-rank! One of the rarest classifications and yet considered the most useless but then.....you can still help certain low level espers but you still chose to hide that truth from the government. Do you know how much danger that puts you in?!"
He slammed his hand against the wall, the echo making Orion flinch. "I accepted your decision, Orion! Even though I'm just a human, I kept your secret. I protected you from being forced into guiding some power-hungry esper you despise. And thank fucking heavens your uncle only made you serve drinks at his club. You should have been safe!"
Edwards' voice cracked with a mix of fury and desperation. "Everything was already perfect. I made sure of it! So how the hell did this happen?! How did you end up pregnant, Orion?!"
Orion's breath came out ragged, his head spinning. "I don't know!" he yelled, his chest rising and falling with uneven gasps. "I don't even remember how...."
But Edwards cut him off mercilessly. "We only had one secret. One. That you were a guide, hiding from the government. But now?" His voice shook as he jabbed a finger toward Orion's stomach. "Now you're pregnant. Pregnant by an esper. And not even bonded! No wedding, no contract, no official recognition!"
Orion stared at him blankly, the words crashing into him.
Edwards continued, voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. "I could have brushed this off.....'Oh, maybe some human knocked you up, so it's no big deal.' But checking your pulse earlier already shows this pregnancy is not from a human. Besides guides like you who have low fertility rate....E-ranked can only get pregnant from an esper, bonded or otherwise. Do you understand? There's no fucking way around it."
His tone hardened, a bitter laugh escaping him. "And the government already foresaw this. That's why they handed out special condoms, to prevent accidents like this. Do you know why? Because guides aren't many. They're precious. They're not going to let you just go around carrying esper children without regulation. So tell me, Orion, how the hell did this slip through?!"
Orion's lips trembled, but no words came out. His mind was a swirl of chaos and disbelief.
"And don't even think about lying to the world that a human got you pregnant," Edwards hissed, stepping closer until their foreheads almost touched. "It won't work. Once your baby scent starts leaking and it will....there'll be no hiding it. There's no drug, no suppressant, no miracle cure that can mask it. Everyone will know you're a guide. Everyone will know you're pregnant. And when that happens…"
His eyes darkened, voice breaking with something close to grief. "…you're a dead man walking."
Orion's breath hitched, his throat dry. He whispered hoarsely, "Yeah… I know I'm dead."
He pressed his palms against his face, shaking.
But then… this isn't even really me, is it? This Orion worked at that damned club. Maybe.....maybe some of those bastards, those espers, had their way with him. And now I'm the one trapped here, in his body, carrying their seed. Carrying their shame.
Just then, he felt a sharp pain in his head, a splitting headache which made him hold his head.
Memories. Flashes of moments that didn't belong to him. Faces he didn't recognize. Places he had never been. But deep down, he knew. He didn't need anyone to explain. These weren't his memories. They belonged to the body he now inhabited.
His pulse thundered in his ears. A low, hollow laugh escaped his lips. "Oh, fuck… I was right all along."
His eyes glazed with both horror and clarity as he whispered the truth to himself.
"I really did transmigrate… into another world. After death."
And yeah… this was an esper and guide world. Together, they were called the Awakened, but their roles could not be more different.
The espers called hunters were warriors of society. They used their awakened powers to fight the monsters that prowled the earth after Doomsday, slaying the horrors that poured from the yawning black mouths of monster caves.
Doomsday. The day when espers themselves first went berserk, losing control and mutating into monsters. The day psychic storms tore the skies and ripped holes in reality, birthing caves that bled endless beasts into the world. It was the darkest day in human history yet the Awakened were both its curse and its only salvation.
The guides, on the other hand, did not wield blades or fire or lightning. They were anchors. They were the soothing balm that kept espers from losing themselves to rampage. When an esper teetered on the edge of turning into a monster, it was a guide's touch, their presence, their psychic resonance, that could calm them. Guides were society's "soothing pills."
Yet… the irony was cruel. Espers were celebrated, respected, free to roam as they wished. Guides so few in number were treated as tools. Goods. Chattel stamped with government-issued ID cards and forced into uniforms so they could be identified at a glance. Stripped of dignity, bound by law, their existence reduced to serving espers whenever ordered. The injustice of it all was crazy.
And in this world… he was supposed to be Orion Redwood, the so-called nephew of Mr. Redwood....a man steeped in wickedness. A man who trafficked humans, enslaved debtors, and made the desperate pay in blood and flesh. Those unlucky enough to offend him or fail to repay his loans ended up in his shady private club. The fortunate ones merely served drinks. The unfortunate… were tossed to espers as playthings, and many of them died under the weight of esper lust and stamina. Redwood was clever.....never daring to traffic guides, knowing the consequences would be swift and fatal if the government caught wind of it. He dealt only in humans, those without awakening, those without hope.
Orion's hands balled into fists. Rage and disbelief boiled over.
"Arrrgh!!!" he roared, his voice echoing through the room. His chest heaved violently. "I was supposed to return to my Earth! My world! Not end up in this fucking nightmare!!!"