‘They should just say it’s because of Esper Hyun Yoonseo.’
During the time Do Ganghyun had been recovering and withdrawn from gate raids, high-grade gates were said to have been raided under Esper Hyun Yoonseo’s leadership. I thought perhaps the Center Director had put forth nonsensical excuses because he didn’t want to push his grandson too hard anymore.
Anyway, for that reason, Do Ganghyun received missions as usual even though only a few days had passed since his rampage and recovery. No, rather, I should say the allocation had doubled.
After the rampage, I heard that far from having aftereffects, Do Ganghyun overflowed with so much power he could devastate the hospital room. Moreover, his Esper waves were also more stable than ever before.
No matter how much the person in question denied it and made a fuss, numbers were honest. Do Ganghyun and I had imprinted, the matching rate had risen, and Do Ganghyun’s condition was following an unprecedentedly stable flow. The reason for specifically having a ten-day recovery period was because I needed recovery time in addition to his psychological issues.
“Ha!”
Just then, Do Ganghyun clicked his tongue and turned toward me.
Suddenly I thought that I was meeting those eyes for the first time in a really long while. Unlike usual, no, I saw eyes swept up in even stronger anger than usual.
“You should have gotten it immediately when I ignored you when you first came in. Still don’t grasp the situation?”
He spoke sharper words than ever before.
“Weren’t you satisfied just with being a pair? Not knowing your place even as the matching rate rose, did you covet imprinting too?”
“That’s not it, I’m only for the Esper’s sake—!”
“For me?”
“……”
“If you really were for my sake, you should have disappeared without a trace the moment we were matched.”
‘Instead of harboring such impure feelings.’ Do Ganghyun’s words dug deep into my lungs. It was even more so because I had no words to refute the one statement he threw.
Saaaaa……
In an instant, frightened waves flowed out as if to soothe my Esper.
“You, this shi—!”
“Esper, no, this is…”
At the broadcast guiding that started in an instant, tendons rose in Do Ganghyun’s masseter muscle. The Esper’s waves, which had been seeking his imprinted guide, came out to greet him gladly wagging their tail even at the faint guiding filled with embarrassment. Then a graph drawing an explosively rising line appeared on the monitor connected to numerous black wires attached to test the matching rate. And then it soon showed a stably pulsing appearance at the top.
Certainly, imprinting was great. Even though I was C-rank, even though what was being done now was broadcast guiding, the numbers were this stable.
However, contrary to such results, the Esper before my eyes was looking at me as if to tear me to death. As if he couldn’t tolerate this result right now. Soon all those emotions became disgust directed at me.
“Are my words funny?”
“It’s really not like that—.”
“Hey, Myeong Eunha.”
Finally, an address that had never come out before came from his mouth.
Do Ganghyun, who was very conscious of people’s gazes, was careful in speaking and paid attention to word choice. He was especially sensitive about forms of address. Perhaps that’s why he had never used the expression ‘hey’ to me. And I had just realized that fact now.
“…Huk.”
As the atmosphere turned frighteningly intense, someone drew in a breath. Do Ganghyun’s head, which had already been sensitive, turned at once toward where the sound came from.
“……”
They said he could speak a bit more comfortably where the Research Director was within the center, but now the case was completely different. Quite a few people, including other researchers, were before his eyes. People who could spread words like hyenas at any time.
Belatedly recognizing that he had been very emotional, Do Ganghyun took a deep breath with furrowed brows.
“Do I seem like I’m staying still because I like you right now?”
“……”
“Keep it moderate. See?”
Do Ganghyun tilted his head and pointed at the monitor drawing a stable graph. It was a tone of having no choice even though his pride was hurt to death.
“I’m only going this far because you’re at least useful. Don’t be noticeable.”
Then he disappeared like the wind. As always, as if hurriedly fleeing from something.
***
Do Ganghyun steadied his breathing before entering the gate.
Already, talk about Myeong Eunha and his imprinting was spreading. The center hadn’t yet issued an official position, but it would soon be known to the public.
‘Anyway, they swarm like a pack of dogs.’
The crowd gathered this time were also people trying to check on him. There were people gathered out of simple curiosity, but overwhelmingly there were many journalists.
If it were an ordinary gate, the schedule wouldn’t have been known this much, but this time it was an S-rank gate officially allocated to me, not as punishment, so it was receiving public attention anyway. It meant it was a gate whose raid schedule had been widely known from before.
Thanks to that, everyone gathered here including journalists were each holding cameras filming every situation. As if they wouldn’t miss even one of his flaws.
“……”
Normally he should feel suffocated and frustrated, but especially today, an unprecedentedly stable state continued. And he clearly knew the reason.
Myeong Eunha.
Even without imprinting, Myeong Eunha’s guiding was definitely excellent. Of course the rank difference didn’t come to mind, and separate from his heart rejecting him, just seeing his body reacting honestly, he could tell. When receiving guiding, strangely his body relaxed, sexual tension heightened, and his mind became hazy. That hurt his pride quite a bit.
‘To have to wag my tail like a dog at just this kind of small guiding.’
In such a situation, it was natural for Do Ganghyun to be displeased with the imprinting that was finally achieved. And that was the same even in this situation right now. He couldn’t believe his own body that was reacting as if asking “is this really okay?” when he was struggling so hard to break the imprint.
“Fuck, really…”
The gate he entered with such a troubled mind was like an empty field. Not that his heart was like that, but literally there were no monsters visible and only a large field spread out.
Do Ganghyun and his party quietly held their position as if they had expected this. Even if there was tension, with an SS-rank Esper present, an S-rank gate couldn’t be a big threat, and above all, it was a gate that had been raided several times before. It’s just that the gate hadn’t disappeared, so they had to periodically raid it like now. It was like knowing the answer to what would happen, so there was no need to panic.
—We will confirm the energy amount.
Just then, a voice resembling mechanical sounds spread throughout the entire gate. The gate’s form of mimicking a human voice was creepy, but since that too was expected, no one showed agitation.
—Energy amount 243%, setting appearing monsters.
With those final words, bright light arose from all over the gate. Soon monsters appeared one by one in the places where the light had disappeared. The monsters filling the endlessly spread field—it was impossible to gauge how many individuals there were.
“…243%? If I’d known this, we should have brought fewer people.”
“Still, it didn’t exceed 250%, so isn’t it safe?”
“Safe my ass! The raid time will be doubled compared to usual, you bastard!”
Those who were looking around assessing the situation murmured and showed complaints. However, even among them, there was still no tension. Because although the raid difficulty had risen somewhat, it was within the expected range.
Do Ganghyun watched this and frowned slightly. The cause was in the ‘energy amount’ measured by the gate.
Commonly known as the Imitation Gate.
This gate, called the Copycat Gate among people, was one of the gates that suddenly appeared in the middle of Seoul causing confusion. Due to the nature of field-type gates not disappearing even when raided, and having no choice but to periodically clean it to prevent the gate from bursting also played a part, but the gate itself was also a problem.
The characteristic of the gate that troubled so many people was, as its name suggested, mimicking human civilization and the abilities of those who entered. That’s why most of those who entered here were physical types with only sturdy bodies. Because even if it tried to copy them, all it could do was measure the total energy amount like that and bring out many monsters.
Of course, in all these possibilities, Do Ganghyun was an exception. No matter how much the gate flew and crawled, it was S-rank; his rank was SS-rank. Since it couldn’t mimic beyond ranks, Do Ganghyun became the only person unaffected by the gate.
Anyway, because of that, this gate had a thoroughly calculated raid party formed in advance. The total energy amount the gate allowed was fixed, and it wasn’t easy to form a raid party in a situation where SS-rank Do Ganghyun was entering, but that was all in the past. Because there was already accumulated data from several raids.
Thus, the energy amount targeted for this raid was approximately less than 230%. It was a standard with quite a large difference from the actually measured value.
The raid party personnel hadn’t changed, nor were there any particular issues. The one person here who had recently met with a major change was only one. SS-rank Esper Do Ganghyun. And at that, having received guiding from his imprinted guide just before.
‘Again, Myeong Eunha…’
Do Ganghyun chewed his lips at Myeong Eunha coming to mind even after entering the gate, even with monsters before his eyes. At some point, there had never been a time when Myeong Eunha wasn’t in his head, and because of that, it had become no different from being with him even in daily life.
“Everyone get ready.”
However, he who had been trying hard to ignore all of that made the wrong choice, as always.
