Central Management City

‎ A city run by government control, where surveillance cameras operate on every street corner. It is a district with zero freedom and a city with absolutely no blind spots.

Buildings stretch high into the sky, and artificial lights illuminate the entire city. It is a place without darkness, where bright lights shine even at night, leaving no shadows to be found. The citizens here are accustomed to all of this: being controlled, being monitored, and lacking freedom.

Kang Yechan was born here. In a middle-class family, receiving a decent amount of love. Freedom was something he didn't wish for as a child. He didn't even know it existed, so he didn't know how to want it. The red blinking of the surveillance cameras always felt creepy, but he couldn't say it was strange. Being watched was simply natural. ‎

‎ He was always running around, enjoying the freedom only children can have. He loved to run and had great athletic nerves, participating in many sports. He lived not just without envying others, but as an object of envy for them.

Time passed, and at the age of 14, things changed from the usual copy-paste days. As soon as he woke up in the morning, his vision was blurry and his body felt like a ball of fire. But at 14, pain couldn't take priority over playing.

Aside from the pain, it was a day like any other. He just ran around and played with his friends. However, as time went on, what he saw changed. The speed of the ball seemed to slow down, and his friends' movements appeared choppy like digital noise. His body began to move here and there regardless of his will, moving so fast that his eyes couldn't keep up, transcending human reaction speeds. For a few seconds, it felt as if the world had stopped.

Kang Yechan had manifested as a high-speed Esper—an Esper with movements significantly faster than others and the ability to see others' movements in slow motion.

Yechan entered a training center that very day and grew into a perfect government Esper following an elite course. Top-tier judgment and speed, specialized in close combat, and optimized for pursuit or entry missions. He became a perfect asset for the government and their most loyal Esper. Yechan always thought this was how things were supposed to be. That he lived to protect people. ‎

‎ There was one mission where Yechan's faith in the government, and in himself, came crashing down: The Anti-Government Suppression Operation. Yechan entered the battle with grim determination. As always, following the government's orders, like a dog of the state.

But the reality was different. Fleeing citizens, exploited young Espers, and traces of various experiments and torture. Yechan stopped in his tracks. He, who always moved faster than anyone, stood still while others moved, simply staring at the horrific scene. "Is this right? Is all of this... the justice I believed in?" For the first time, a crack appeared in his faith. Then came the single sentence that completely destroyed his world. A lone command: "Kill them all."

Upon hearing that order, the surrounding Espers ignored the screams of citizens begging for their lives and carried out the command. Yechan stood frozen like a stone, unable to move. Then, a young Esper caught his eye—covered in blood, breathing painfully. And then he heard it... a pathetic plea to be saved. Yechan's movement was instantaneous. He scooped up the fallen young Esper and began killing his comrades one by one as they ruthlessly carried out the orders. For the first time, he ignored a command, his smile gone.

Overnight, Yechan went from being the government's top elite Esper to an uncontrollable target for pursuit. He spent days running to evade the government's eyes, eventually abandoning the city he had believed in all his life to hide in the shadows.

From a place of constant light to a place of constant darkness. From a life of control to a life without it.