There was a slight sweet scent in the air that tickled Shuu’s nose. It felt almost familiar, but Shuu could not put his finger on why that was the case.

He just knew that his head was starting to feel heavy and he wanted to fall asleep. His eyes were too tired to be kept open, and soon, they dropped completely.

He was half-conscious when he felt someone grabbing him and picking his body up. He wanted to protest, but his limbs had no energy in them.

"Tsk, it seems like my ability did not work on this person as well as I thought. Did you not say that this would work perfectly?"

"Well, it was supposed to work. But even I cannot help it if someone has too much resistance. Didn’t you say you felt the aura of a superior guide? Then it is possible that he’s too high to fall for my ability."

"Too high when even Secretary Ann fell for it? What grade could this person be? S-class? Did we not hit a jackpot? Let’s take him quickly."

"But won’t we be in trouble for kidnapping an employee of the Survivor’s Guild? I-I don’t want to die..."

"Ah, don’t worry too much. We will be fine. After all, he’s soon going to be an ex-employee, and the dungeon breaks will increase in number, so no one will have time to find him."

Shuu heard all this, but he did not have the strength to do anything about it. Moreover, the news of the dungeon breaks shocked him.

Did this mean that the dungeon breaks that had been happening were not real and part of someone’s plan?

Was that even possible in the first place?

"Hey, I know that we are all excited about this and all, but are you sure we can trust this ’mysterious’ sponsor of ours? They don’t show their face and contact us using the system. They don’t leave any trace, and their planning goes too smoothly."

Someone questioned, only for everyone else to let out a laugh.

"Hey, did you still not realize the identity of our ’mysterious’ sponsor yet? It’s the system itself. We are being sponsored by the system, and it is making sure we do not get caught. Now, stop being a coward and start working."

The hesitation fled from the kidnappers’ bodies, and Shuu was taken away. He did not even have the strength to warn anyone about what was happening. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Oh-! Before we forget, we need to make sure to leave those messages to convince everyone else that it was his choice. Once we do that, we can head back and have our own fun."

The man laughed, and that was the last Shuu saw of that familiar room. He finally lost the battle against sleep, and his eyes closed.

The next time he opened his eyes, he was in a dark room and could not see anything. He could not even move or speak.

’Where am I-? It is too dark for me to be able to see-’

His sharp ears picked up the sound of someone walking toward him, and he did his best to appear as if he was not affected by their presence.

"Hey boss, are you sure we need to take these many precautions? Not only have we bound him but also taken away his ability to see. Isn’t that too cruel?"

Someone was feeling sorry for Shuu, and he immediately wanted to ask for help. But the other person spoke up even faster.

"Don’t be fooled by that innocent face in front of you. This guy is an S-class guide, and we have no idea what they are capable of. The more we keep him in check, the better it would be for our side."

"Alright, I understand."

Unfortunately, that dashed Shuu’s hopes, and he felt uneasy while sitting in the chair.

"So, who is going to try his guiding first? I have heard that S-class guiding is addictive. As much as I want to try, I am afraid to do so."

"Don’t be foolish. It’s only addictive if you do it too much. But he’s a precious product we will be making use of. We will take commission fees from other S-class espers and charge them a hefty sum for every session. That way, we can make a massive profit and also keep the product."

"But boss, what if the S-class espers decide to break free the guide and take him for themselves? We cannot possibly fight them-"

"That’s where the drugs come in. We will make it such that the guide is not able to function without us and keep him and the espers in check that way."

These people had everything figured out. They knew what they needed to do to keep Shuu quiet, and the espers obeyed them as well.

Honestly, Shuu did not know whether to feel impressed or disgusted by them. But what he did know was that he needed to get out before he could become another victim to those people.

"Before all that, let me try that superior S-class guiding for myself. I want to see what all that hype is about. Maybe it will finally make me tired of that A-class guide of mine, and I will have a new toy to play with."

The esper reached to grab Shuu, and pain assaulted his senses as he felt the esper trying to reverse guide him.

"Oh-! This is good. But unfortunately, he’s still resisting, so it’s hard to pull the guiding out. But with drugs... Hehehe, this has the opportunity to become our biggest seller to date."

The esper declared, finally stopping the reverse guiding. But he still looked gleeful and happy with the results.

Shuu felt exhausted, and he panted to get more air into his body. It was hard for him to even keep his eyes open after what happened.

’I-I need to get out of here before I am forced to experience that again. I don’t think I will be able to take it one more time.’