Beep beep, beep beep!
Dawoon reacted immediately to the pager signal. His body moved reflexively, drawn to the notification before his mind could catch up.
“Sorry, I’ll be right back.”
Dawoon, who quickly got dressed, briefly petted the cat while calling the Teleport Esper with his pager.
“I’ll buy you food, so wait just a bit.”
The cat urgently grabbed Dawoon’s wrist with both front paws. However, Dawoon had no choice but to shake off those white and soft hands.
“Sorry. Even if you’re hungry, hold on a little.”
Knock knock, the Teleport Esper who arrived in front of Dawoon’s room door knocked. At the same time, the pager’s vibration began to intensify as if urging Dawoon.
In his haste, Dawoon didn’t even grab shoes. Instead, he grabbed indoor slippers from the room and went to the waiting Teleport Esper.
“I’ll depart immediately.”
At the intense pager notification, the Teleport Esper also moved swiftly. Thanks to that, Dawoon moved to the scene without being late.
“Khup.”
The moment he stepped outside the teleport gate, the acrid air mixed with pollutants blocked his breath. Someone shouted toward Dawoon who let out a small cough.
“Jeong Dawoon Esper-nim! Over here!”
Dawoon ran toward the voice. As expected, it was a reflexive movement.
GA-19 Zone where towering gorges unfolded. Among the zones where high-risk A-Rank Gates occurred, this place was a rocky area where falling rocks dropped, so many injured occurred.
Multiple Healers had already been deployed, but they weren’t enough, so a support request came even to Dawoon.
“Eight injured in total. Please treat them enough to be combat-capable.”
A high-rank Esper who appeared to be the zone administrator conveyed the situation to Dawoon. Under the barrier the Barrier Master had spread, eight Espers were waiting for treatment covered in blood.
“If internal damage is severe, combat is impossible. Those two look difficult.”
Dawoon first calmly examined the injured with his eyes, then ran toward the critically injured. The two Espers who were just before losing consciousness were barely stopping their own bleeding. Seeing their abdomens severely swollen, it seemed internal organs had ruptured.
“Kuh, khuk…”
The critically injured recognized Dawoon, the Healer, and sent distress signals with pained eyes. Dawoon calmly met their gazes while quickly removing his gloves.
“I’ll begin treatment.”
The moment Dawoon’s hands touched them, relief permeated the Espers’ eyes.
“Everything will be fine. Don’t worry about anything.”
Even though he was a low B-rank, everyone felt reassured watching Dawoon who pulled his wavelength to maximum to treat them. From his attitude of not sparing his body, they felt at least a strong will to treat everyone.
Reading their relief, Dawoon treated them with even more passion and sincerity.
After finishing emergency treatment of the critically injured, he immediately reached out to those whose body parts had been torn off by Monsters or whose legs had been crushed by falling rocks.
If he were a high-rank Healer, treatment would have been possible without contact, but low-ranked Dawoon couldn’t do that. Because of that, even while treating them with all his might to the point of dripping sweat, he felt apologetic.
“Dawoon Esper-nim, can you do more?”
The administrator approached Dawoon who had finished treating all eight people. As Dawoon instructed, the critically injured were sent back to the Center.
“Yes, it’s possible.”
Dawoon wiped the sweat beaded on his forehead while watching those who were immediately put into combat as soon as treatment ended. They were all still exhausted but forcibly pulled up their wavelengths to eliminate Monsters. He couldn’t just return leaving such people behind.
Many Espers controlled their wavelengths while chewing guiding medicine. Since it was a danger zone where even the air was polluted, Guides with bodies no different from ordinary people couldn’t enter. It was a zone where even capable Guides were prohibited from field guiding.
Everyone who came out to GA-19 Zone were all high-rank Espers only. Among ability users below B-rank, only Dawoon and a few Healers who came out in a hurry were all there were.
“We’ll handle Monster disposal. Please focus only on treating the injured.”
“Yes, understood. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Dawoon waved his hand at the administrator watching him.
The administrator nodded with effort while breaking into a cold sweat. If Dawoon were an ordinary B-rank Healer, he wouldn’t have looked after him this much. After all, he was worried because he was a Healer belonging to Sau Guild.
Moreover, if Jeong Dawoon Esper became endangered… Guild Leader Ryu Taeha wouldn’t stay still.
Of course, Dawoon didn’t know this reason. He just thought they were looking after him because he belonged to a famous guild.
Kwaaang!
Dawoon, who briefly caught his breath, watched falling rocks dropping from all directions. From Gates distributed everywhere, all kinds of Monsters were bursting out.
Though there were many, as soon as they came out, they got beaten by high-rank Espers or had their necks cleanly cut off in the blink of an eye.
As the administrator said, it didn’t seem Dawoon needed to step forward for Monster elimination. Dawoon moved to find the injured while putting his gloves back on.
* * *
Inside the high-ranker exclusive guiding room. Ryu Jin sitting alone on the sofa had a face full of worry.
As if deep in thought, he who had been quietly looking outside the window sighed after checking the wall clock.
“Why isn’t he coming…”
Ryu Jin took out his phone and opened the chat window with someone who hadn’t replied. On the screen, only long messages full of sincerity that Ryu Jin had sent were listed.
He sent messages filled with cute and gentle emoticons, but the other party always only replied by reading and ignoring.
[Hello, Go Yeoul Esper-nim! Are you still working?]
Ryu Jin’s small fingers diligently tapped the phone screen.
[You know our guiding is at 12 o’clock today, right? I’m waiting in the guiding room, so come comfortably after finishing work!]
Today too, he diligently wrote a long message without fail. Even though no answer came back, he stubbornly overused emoticons.
The day before yesterday too, he was late to the scheduled guiding time, so he couldn’t do it for long. He always arrived late, then would completely leave once the scheduled time ended.
If he’s late again today…
Just as his thoughts were about to deepen, the guiding room door opened. Fortunately, he wasn’t very late today.
“You’re here, Go Yeoul Esper-nim!”
Ryu Jin smiled brightly and sprang up from the sofa.
“I just sent a text but you haven’t seen it yet, right? I thought you were working.”
Today too, Yeoul was silently unresponsive. He entered the room with an expressionless face and just plopped down on the sofa without a word.
“Your work must have finished late. You worked hard again today.”
Seeing Yeoul in field clothes, Ryu Jin brought out a water bottle from the refrigerator. He didn’t forget to put the snacks he’d prepared in advance in front of Yeoul too.
“If you haven’t eaten, please eat. The bread here is really delicious.”
Yeoul shook his head and closed his eyes with his arms crossed. It was an attitude saying stop talking and just do the guiding. As expected, his will to not do things like contact was plainly visible.
“Then I’ll start guiding right away. If there’s any uncomfortable place, please tell me immediately.”
Ryu Jin familiarly accepted Yeoul’s cold attitude and started guiding. Even though Yeoul wasn’t watching, he maintained a bright smile while slowly sending out energy.
“The weather is very hot today too. They say this year’s summer is much hotter than last year.”
Even knowing no reaction would come back, Ryu Jin attempted conversation. It was to raise the guiding effect even a little.
He forced himself to talk because he’d learned that conversation with the Esper helps during Radiation Guiding. Weather, food, entertainment news, trending videos these days, etc. He endlessly babbled while breaking into a cold sweat inside trying to squeeze out conversation topics.
“There’s a newly opened bakery and the salt bread there is really delicious. I gave some to Dawoon Esper-nim too, and he immediately asked where I bought it.”
“Where?”
Ryu Jin, who had been talking hard by himself, flinched and looked at Yeoul. He was startled because Yeoul, who had kept his eyes and mouth shut throughout the guiding, suddenly showed a reaction.
“What?”
“I asked where. The store name.”
“Ah, just a moment. I’ll send you the store address by text.”
Ryu Jin hurriedly sent Yeoul a text. He thought he wasn’t even listening to his words. He was very happy that he showed interest for the first time.
“Everything here is delicious. The tarts and cake slices are famous too.”
Surprisingly, Yeoul immediately took out his phone to check. His unread mark never disappeared within a day, but today was an exception. So he likes bread. Ryu Jin glanced at Yeoul with a face mixed with wonder and joy.
“What bread did hyung eat?”
At Yeoul’s continued question, Ryu Jin’s expression became subtle.
“…Salt bread.”
Yeoul typed exactly three hard characters ‘salt bread’ below the address Ryu Jin sent. It was the first reply Ryu Jin had received from him.
Watching Yeoul who used his chat window as a memo pad, Ryu Jin slowly opened his mouth.
“Um, Yeoul Esper-nim. Perhaps…”
Bzzzzt—!
Ryu Jin’s shoulders, who had carefully begun, jumped up noisily. Startled by the sudden notification vibration, Ryu Jin urgently grabbed the small tablet PC placed on the desk.
It was a dedicated device that could know the wavelength changes and condition of Espers in his charge. The more critical the Esper’s condition, the stronger the vibration intensity.
Bzzt, bzzzzt—!
Ryu Jin quickly checked the tablet screen. Yeoul, who scanned the screen before him, immediately called the Teleport Esper.
The Teleport Esper who had just arrived hesitated seeing Yeoul’s expression. Ryu Jin also froze without being able to speak.
“Go to where Dawoon hyung was moved to.”
At Yeoul’s continued command, the Teleport Esper immediately created a transport gate. If he hesitated even a little, it seemed like his neck would fly off. Naturally, it wasn’t just a metaphor. Go Yeoul in a bad mood was a person who could break someone’s neck and then some.
