Only then did I remember the things I had done to get here. Since I had spread broadcast guiding widely to search for Do Ganghyun, it was only natural that my waves would seep into him, who had been closest to me helping.
For a moment, I understood Hyun Yoonseo’s strange questions that had demanded answers multiple times as if his head hurt.
“In that case, it’s right to bet on delivering you safely and helping that bastard Do Ganghyun maintain his reason.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far.
I was already accustomed to guiding other Espers in the public guiding room, and I had spent days where it was natural for Do Ganghyun to reject me and watch over it. So in a way, it was natural that the problem my actions would cause didn’t even occur to me.
An Esper in rampage seeks their guide by instinct to avoid death and reacts sensitively to other Espers’ approaches. Such patterns appeared more strongly as their reason evaporated. It wasn’t for nothing that responses varied depending on the state of the Esper in rampage.
‘But the situation has become one where I’m approaching with guiding thickly plastered on another Esper…’
I immediately understood why Hyun Yoonseo had been troubled.
‘…But will Do Ganghyun really react the same way as typical Espers?’
This was a reasonable doubt.
Do Ganghyun had found me disagreeable from the moment we first met. It was natural that he didn’t acknowledge my existence, and hadn’t he been avoiding me until recently to not receive guiding? Perhaps it was rejection engraved in both instinct and reason.
Moreover, in this urgent and dangerous situation, it was an undeniable fact that the center was responding appropriately, albeit a bit late. As I explained earlier, this could mean Do Ganghyun was holding on to his reason more strongly than expected and enduring. In such a situation, would Do Ganghyun crave me like other Espers? Somehow it was difficult to give a definite answer.
However, there was no time to hesitate like this. Even at this moment, time continued to flow, and Do Ganghyun’s rampage was progressing.
“If you go straight to the left, there are stairs next to the elevator.”
“Elevator?”
“Yes, we need to go down to the basement.”
Do Ganghyun was there.
And the fact that he was in the basement also meant that at least until he went into rampage, he had maintained enough consciousness to enter the isolation room on his own feet.
‘As expected.’
I had anticipated it, but considering what had happened, it was a hopeful situation.
I conveyed this thought of mine and specifically told Hyun Yoonseo the direction to the basement where Do Ganghyun was. At this, Hyun Yoonseo obediently moved with me as if understanding. As we got closer to Do Ganghyun’s location, his rough attitude subsided and his playfulness disappeared.
How long did we move in such silence?
“Guide Myeong Eunha! I knew you’d come—, Esper Hyun Yoonseo?”
Multiple presences were felt, and in an instant, people showed their faces one by one. They were researchers I had seen going in and out of the research lab for clinical experiments. Well, there was no way there would be any other faces here besides those involved.
“Let’s greet each other later, what’s the situation?”
“Well…”
The Research Director who had approached happily trailed off. Seeing that he couldn’t open his mouth carelessly, it seemed things had unfolded in connection with my clinical experiment.
‘So that’s why the response was faster than expected.’
I thought it made sense that they had only blown up about one research lab building compared to the scale of the rampage.
However, I had neither the courage nor the qualification to blame them for this.
“—More importantly, how is the Esper?”
I quickly interjected into their conversation. It wasn’t to help the Research Director. I simply stepped forward thinking I had to do something in this urgent situation. In reality, I was the only one who could resolve the situation here.
Actually, I thought that as soon as I arrived, I would be dragged by the Research Director’s hand and forcibly pulled into the isolation room where Do Ganghyun was. However, the Research Director hesitated, not knowing what to do in front of Hyun Yoonseo. Bitterness rose at that contrasting attitude.
“Kuhup, keuk—!”
Of course, it was natural that there was no time to express this outwardly.
From somewhere, Do Ganghyun’s voice mixed with mechanical sounds could be heard. When I raised my head to look at the ceiling, his agonizing groans flowed through the speaker. When I looked at the Research Director with hope that he would explain the situation, he opened his mouth with difficulty.
“Well, it’s not like Esper Do Ganghyun has been particularly diligent about receiving guiding until now, right? So this gate raid schedule was too much—.”
The Research Director explained as if making excuses to Hyun Yoonseo, not me. He seemed afraid that the situation had flowed to this point and made him come to this place.
He must have belatedly remembered. The first-priority S-rank Esper who had no choice but to come here, the grandson of the Center Director.
However, I didn’t have the luxury to listen to all those words.
“What else?!”
I shouted urgently. I didn’t know I could raise such a loud voice toward the Research Director, but hearing Do Ganghyun’s agonizing groans transmitted through the speaker made impatience and anxiety rise.
“Where is Esper Do Ganghyun?”
“Hey, you’re going to face Do Ganghyun as you are now? Wait. At least prepare…”
“If you go down about half a floor from here, there’s an isolation room. You can only go down through the inner stairs. Using gate stones to separate the space from this side as much as possible—.”
Having heard up to that point, I strongly pushed Hyun Yoonseo Esper’s shoulder and escaped from his arms. And I snatched the security key from the Research Director’s hand before he could finish speaking. Seeing that the Research Director had prepared the security key in advance, it seemed this was his intention from the start, but it wasn’t important.
“Wait! Ugh, damn it!”
Hyun Yoonseo Esper chased closely from behind, but before he could catch me, he had no choice but to retreat due to Do Ganghyun’s waves that instantly swelled up.
I didn’t miss that moment and swiped the security key and passed through the door leading to the stairs.
Drrrr, thud!
The door closed with a heavy sound.
From the beginning, it was a place where, to prepare for an Esper’s rampage, gate stones were used to create a separated space, if not perfectly, at least similarly. So if there was no security key, others couldn’t enter. The Research Director wasn’t such a careless person, so surely the only security key immediately prepared was this one in my possession.
‘Even if they have additional security keys, they won’t open their mouths right away.’
Because they would have to stop Do Ganghyun’s rampage.
I went down the stairs, forcibly putting strength into my legs that had stiffened with tension.
It was true that I had rushed in recklessly without preparation out of worry, but it wasn’t that I had no countermeasures at all.
‘Wait!’
A moment ago, when Hyun Yoonseo Esper chased after me, Do Ganghyun’s waves changed, and the movement of those waves gave me confidence.
‘It’s different from when he pushed me away and threw me in front of everyone.’
Do Ganghyun’s waves were still just as sharp and rough, but they didn’t reject me like when he pushed Hyun Yoonseo away. Rather, hadn’t he sensed Hyun Yoonseo’s presence and blocked his approach? He seemed to have enough control ability to precisely distinguish between me and another Esper.
Whether it was done through rational judgment or an instinctive flow, that wasn’t important. Do Ganghyun’s state was at least enough to accept his pair guide. That one thing was enough.
‘That’s sufficient.’
I led my trembling legs and slowly descended the stairs. If it were up to my heart, I wanted to reach Do Ganghyun quickly, but the fact that I had used stamina earlier and that it was a space using gate stones held me back.
Gate stones were not only solid but also played a role in confusing Espers and guides’ waves and obstructing their flow. It wasn’t for nothing that they were used when building buildings for special purposes like isolation rooms.
Thanks to this, even in such a crisis, the research lab people could survive and endure through the isolation room temporarily prepared in the research lab. However, it was impossible to move quickly to find Do Ganghyun like this or stabilize him from afar with broadcast guiding.
After descending downward for a while, I heard Do Ganghyun gasping for breath through the waves that clung stickily like a swamp.
“Esper…!”
I screamed and ran toward him. I don’t know where such strength came from. I fell once while quickly descending the stairs and my knee buckled, but I ran without even knowing it hurt.
I had been consoling myself by recalling various words like Do Ganghyun would be maintaining his reason, or it was still okay, but the state of Do Ganghyun I directly faced was serious.
The surroundings were so drenched in blood that the wound on my knee would be completely covered by his blood. There were numerous torn wounds on his hands, feet, waist, neck, etc., as if he had restrained himself. I saw something like leather straps in the corner of the isolation room, similarly dyed in blood and torn miserably. It must have been made to restrain Espers, so it was clearly made from monster byproducts, yet it didn’t look like it at all.
Above all, I could easily guess that the dark red blood responsible for more than 90% of this disastrous scene all came from his body. Moreover, since he was coughing up blood and gasping for breath right before my eyes, it would only hurt my mouth to say more.
