TDAV 04

Chapter 04

When the troubled morning classes finally ended, lunchtime arrived.

For Betty, lunch was the most grueling part of the school day. Lunchtime was when she was completely free from the teachers’ watchful eyes.

It was the perfect time for half-tamed beasts to hunt their prey.

That was why Betty rarely went to the cafeteria where all those beasts gathered. The moment she caught their attention, they would undoubtedly pounce on her and try to devour her.

So, normally, she would bring a sandwich from home and secretly eat it in the bathroom, or simply skip lunch altogether.

But today, she hadn’t eaten breakfast and hadn’t brought a sandwich either, so she had no choice but to head to the cafeteria.

She was simply too hungry.

The moment Betty entered the cafeteria, everyone’s eyes turned toward her as though they had been waiting for her.

Betty did her best to ignore them as she picked up a tray and joined the line. The boy standing in front of her glanced back with an annoyed expression, apparently displeased that Betty had gotten in line behind him.

Betty said nothing.

She was accustomed to such looks.

Soon, she would probably hear the sneering remarks directed at her, too.

The one fortunate thing was that Linda’s group wasn’t anywhere to be seen yet. At least that meant they wouldn’t directly interfere with her food.

I’ll eat as quickly as possible and leave.

Betty put two slices of hard pizza, some french fries, wilted salad, and a carton of milk onto her tray before heading toward a secluded corner.

The moment she picked up her fork while trying to avoid everyone’s attention as much as possible, Betty sensed that something was strange.

Even with Linda’s group absent, the cafeteria was unusually quiet.

There were no mocking remarks directed at her.

Not even the racist curses she had grown accustomed to hearing.

What is this…?

Betty looked around at the strange atmosphere, but she didn’t make eye contact with anyone.

Why…?

The students gathered in the cafeteria were acting as though they had completely forgotten that Betty existed. They were gathered among themselves, constantly talking about something, completely indifferent to whatever she was doing.

It was an ordinary atmosphere.

An ordinary atmosphere Betty had never experienced before.

She felt an awkward sense of comfort in it.

Unfortunately, that comfort didn’t last long.

Because a boy who had just entered the cafeteria suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Hero James transferred to our school!”

The boy’s loud voice echoed throughout the cafeteria, and the entire room instantly erupted into an uproar.

“James transferred here?”

“No way! James is coming to our school!”

“Does that mean we can see that perfect face every day? In person!?”

“I told you I saw James this morning!”

“Oh my God, so he really came to school to complete his transfer? That’s insane.”

“Oh, God! Thank you for sending James here!”

The girls squealed, while the boys couldn’t hide their excitement, even throwing in a few curses as they exclaimed in amazement.

Their faces were filled with rapture, as though James himself were standing right in front of them.

How could they not go crazy with excitement when the world-famous Hero James, someone they had admired from afar, had transferred to their school?

Their intense reaction was only natural.

Except for Betty, of course.

Betty was shocked for an entirely different reason than everyone else.

James…

was going to attend the same school as her.

Then did that mean she would keep running into him from now on?

Just as he knew about James’s past, James knew about hers.

One encounter could be brushed off as a coincidence.

But if they kept seeing each other, he might notice something about her that resembled Ha-ju.

That would be far too dangerous.

But Betty had no power to stop James from transferring.

She was quieter than ever, yet she finished her lunch with a mind far more complicated than when she was being insulted.

All because of one name.

James.

Until she left the cafeteria, Betty had to listen to endless praise and gossip about James.

And things weren’t much different outside the cafeteria.

Whenever the students gathered, they talked about James.

“Remember Jennifer, the girl who had that scandal with James? Apparently, she dyed her blonde hair black because of him. She heard James likes black hair.”

“You know the hotel James is staying at right now? The hotel gave him a suite for free. And there’s no limit on how long he can stay.”

“Did you know James’s car is one of only five in the entire world?”

“James is starting school tomorrow. Aren’t you excited?”

“James…”

It became difficult to find even a single place where Betty could go without hearing the first syllable of James’s name until the end of the school day.

But among all the countless rumors, there was one thing that particularly caught Betty’s attention.

“When you think about it, James is the only hero who doesn’t have a Guide right now. I’m worried about him. I heard he’s holding on with medicine, but they say the stronger the power, the worse the pain.”

“It’s not just the pain. It shortens his lifespan, too. I’m so worried that James might die young. Having such incredible power is amazing, but… that very power is poison to James… It’s such an irony.”

“If only I could become his Guide. I’d gladly give him some of my lifespan…”

Betty walked past the students murmuring sadly and boarded the school bus home.

James’s Guide…

Perhaps because he had suddenly appeared before her, thoughts about James that she normally would never have entertained began swirling through Betty’s mind.

Ten years ago, the Guide research institute had developed Guiding Medicine, but even now, it had not advanced enough to cure an S-rank.

The price of wielding power that bordered on the realm of gods was simply too great.

Unexplained seizures.

Blood that gradually hardened as time passed.

Guiding Medicine could only slow the progression of the disease.

To save an S-rank, what they needed wasn’t Guiding Medicine.

They needed a real Guide.

And even when S-ranks took Guiding Medicine…

they were said to still experience the full pain of the seizures.

It only shortened the duration of the attacks.

Among the S-rank superpowered people in the world, nine had found Guides compatible with them.

All of them had been forcibly matched by the research institutes.

Naturally, since guiding matching had first succeeded in the United States, the S-ranks affiliated with the US government all had Guides.

Except James.

James had awakened his ability after the research institutes were shut down, so they had been unable to match him with a Guide.

It wasn’t something Betty could feel sorry about.

But regardless, without a Guide, James was essentially slowly dying.

And the situation was even more dangerous because James’s power was the strongest among the three heroes.

Naturally, the government had been searching the entire world for a Guide compatible with James.

But apparently, they still hadn’t found one.

If his Guide had appeared, the news would have been making a huge fuss about it.

And if they still hadn’t found his Guide by now, then perhaps…

his Guide simply didn’t exist in this world.

The number of Guides had decreased exponentially after the Guide research institute incident.

The antibiotic that had caused the side effect known as superpowers had also been discontinued, so the number of superpowered people had decreased considerably over the past ten years.

But only two or three Guides appeared worldwide each year.

Experts predicted that in two years, no more Guides would appear at all.

So unless a miracle happened, it would be nearly impossible to find James’s Guide.

“…A miracle…”

Betty murmured the word with downcast eyes.

She had never experienced a miracle in her life.

There had been far more despair.

But James was different.

No, Betty sincerely hoped a miracle would happen for him.

Because if he ultimately failed to find a Guide, James would…

eventually die because he couldn’t withstand his own power.

She didn’t want to watch Seung-hyun, who had once been her closest friend, die.

“If only I could become his Guide…”

The words she had heard earlier suddenly came back to Betty.

And without realizing it, she thought:

Could it be… that I’m his Guide?

Betty instinctively looked around at the dangerous thought that had crossed her mind.

Even though she hadn’t said it aloud, she was suddenly anxious, as though someone might have overheard her secret.

That’s right.

The secret Betty was hiding was the fact that she was a Guide.

A truth known only to her and her uncle.

And Betty hated the fact that she was a Guide more than anything.

The reason her parents had died.

The reason she could no longer live under the name Seo Hae-ju.

It was all because she had been identified as a Guide.

The fact that Betty was a Guide had been discovered on her eighth birthday, ten years ago, when the government conducted nationwide blood tests on a massive scale to find Guides.

Unlike superpowered people, whose awakenings were visible, Guides could discover their status through an awakening fever and a blood test.

A Guide’s blood structure became different from that of an ordinary person when they suffered the awakening fever.

But Betty was an unusual case.

She had never suffered from Guide awakening fever.

If it hadn’t been for the massive screening tests, she would probably still be living happily as Seo Hae-ju instead of Betty.

But there was no way even Ha-ju could avoid the blood test that every citizen was required to undergo regardless of age.

Her uncle had been certain that she couldn’t possibly be a Guide because Ha-ju had never suffered from the fever.

In the end, his certainty had been wrong.

“Ha-ju must never become a Guide.”

Her uncle’s face, twisted with madness, as he screamed those words.

The car overturning in the darkness.

The horrifying memories resurfaced once again.

Betty squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them, desperately trying to drive away every thought that was clouding her mind.

James.

Guides.

Seo Hae-ju, who had been revealed to be a Guide, was dead.

I’m Betty Brown.

I’m not a Guide.

She repeated those words to herself.

But for some reason, her heart continued pounding anxiously, refusing to calm down.

That moment when she had encountered James kept coming back to her.

“…He couldn’t possibly… recognize me… right?”

She had the strange sensation that time, which had stopped for Ha-ju, was beginning to move again.

“…I should avoid him as much as possible.”

James was apparently starting school tomorrow.

If I can avoid him for just four months, everything will be fine.

I’ll be leaving Cookeville in four months anyway.

Just as Betty was trying to settle her troubled heart, convincing herself that nothing would happen—

“Be-Betty.”

“Hm?”

At the voice calling her name, Betty turned her gaze.