S-Rank Esper, Ethan Dale.
A blood manipulator esper who was regarded as the strongest S-Rank Esper in his generation. Withholder of the fastest gate clear of seventeen minutes. A domineering and arrogant esper who treated his guide like a wet rag…
And that Ethan Dale was supposed to be me.
"Mr. Dale! This frozen bridge incident is caused by your fellow S-Rank esper, please give us your comment!"
"Mr. Dale! The civilians said you saved them by using your own blood, injuring yourself, is it true?!"
I shake my head in frustration as I smiled at the cameras.
'Of all things that happen in my life, why is it a transmigration?'
Let me narrated my backstory for a bit.
My name was Carl, 23 years old by the time of death. And I was a construction worker after a year of being a NEET and job hunting to the depth of hell.
It all began when I got my first allowance.
That day, I was so happy I indulge my sister — promising her I'd buy whatever she wanted.
That was the most regretful mistake I'd ever made.
"Buy me this, that, that box over there and the limited-time merch from this official webpage."
She was brutal in spending the money that wasn't hers. I could only tremble while swiping my card as my hard-earned money slipped away like flowing water.
Among the things she bought was a BL comic with a questionable cover.
When I asked her about it, she just waved her hand like I was some kind of bug interfering her business.
Since then, that little gremlin would smooch the comic while chanting 'Ethan my beloved!' which made my parents scolded me for buying weird things for her.
At some point, afraid their precious daughter got influenced by something weird, they told me to search who this Ethan was.
Seriously.
Ethan who?
Why should I search for some random Ethan I didn't even know?
But alas, maybe me transmigrating here was a karma.
After falling asleep searching who this Ethan was, I opened my eyes in a completely different world. In an awakening center at that.
I was standing on the hall with my official test result in my hand. I pulled the document warped inside the envelope and read it.
"S-Rank ability user."
The name and photo beside it was clear, it was Ethan Dale's profile.
The paper I grabbed in my hand felt heavy at that moment. After hours of surfing the internet, there's no way I wouldn't recognize the name on the paper and my current face that looked exactly like the photo. Neatly slicked back black hair and silver grey eyes.
Even as the researchers and news reporter made a fuss about new S-Rank Esper, my mind was blank.
The only thought I had that time was only one.
I'm fucked
I knew nothing about the story, I only knew Ethan Dale, and he was described as an asshole treating humans like trash.
'Yeah no, I won't act like Ethan Dale in the comic or else the years of moral education my parents teach me would be a waste.'
Resolved not to act like an asshole and becoming trash in the society, I decided to change my image since early on.
But that was my goal as Ethan Dale, my real goal was to actually go back to the real world – if that's possible at all. And the only way for me to make sure that could happen was to follow the plot until the end of the story.
At least that's what transmigration story protagonist usually did.
But this is a BL story and I wasn't into men to begin with, so how was I supposed to love a man?
"Well, I'll figure it out as I go."
Ethan was a son of a rich conglomerate, he had his own house that could even be called a mansion and luxury sport car even before he became an Esper. That's why...
"Let's have taste of how rich people live!"
And that's precisely what I did, living as a rich young master while training to become someone capable of bearing my rank. Righteously of course.
It's been a year since then, and I've fully accepted my life as Ethan Dale. My gate clear records was already piling up and I was already skillful enough to use my ability.
The only problem was the pain I felt all over my body after every skill use.
I hadn't fully grasped the concept of guide and esper because when they taught me in the learning center my mind was a mess from my transmigration and adjustment of life. But from my incomplete understanding, every time an esper used their ability an impure energy would accumulate in their body and messed with their body's wavelength which was why a guide, who could purify the impurities and stabilized this wavelength was needed.
The higher the esper's rank, the more impure energy would accumulate and messed up their wavelength.
Being an S-Rank, it was naturally harder for me to search for a suitable guide. I had to endure the miniscule guiding from lower ranked guides which didn't help elevate my pain.
Now I kind of understand why the original Ethan lashed out at every person he met. Putting up fake smiles while hypothetically being stabbed by needles from within your body wasn't exactly pleasant.
It didn't justify his trash behavior though.
"Until the main protagonist awakens and become the first S-Rank guide, I need to endure this."
A physical pain wasn't a problem for me, working as construction worker for months, I was used to sore muscle. It's just the pain was amplified two times than that.
"Haah.... Truly wonderful."
Carl who was used to living for 23 years on a peaceful earth had now become Ethan Dale, a 25 year old S-Rank Esper.
But instead of leading a trashy life and being branded as a short fused, arrogant bastard that treated the main protagonist like his personal wet rag, Ethan Dale would live a righteous life.
"I just hope I could reach this comic's ending smoothly."