***
Despite the variables, the battle ended before long. The reason was simple.
Kwaaaang—!
Because the skill Do Ganghyun displayed was extraordinary.
He rampaged as if venting his anger, pouring various attacks utilizing telekinesis evenly on the monsters. Considering his usually fastidiously clean combat style, it was quite a distanced method.
Kwadruk, kwajik!
And for good reason, because it was commonplace for him to cause mass crushing deaths as if gravity worked differently only on the monsters.
Because of that, debris flew in all directions and intact corpses couldn’t be salvaged, making it difficult to collect byproducts, not to mention most of those engaged in close combat also had difficulty fighting properly. To the extent that they had to move separately to avoid overlapping movement lines with Do Ganghyun at all.
‘At this rate, there’s no point in forming a raid party.’
Team Leader Hwangbo Hyun, who was in charge of the raid party, looked around and clicked his tongue.
If they continued raiding like this, various words would surely spread. Right now everyone was pleased that the raid ended faster than expected, but in the case of Espers whose instincts came first during battle, they would surely remember the sensation of “being interfered with” for a long time. Especially memories of not coordinating well during a raid would definitely become a stumbling block later. As long as gate raid schedules to tackle together continued going forward, it was necessary to mention it at least once.
“Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
Hwangbo Hyun approached while asking lightly. The gazes that had briefly concentrated toward where Do Ganghyun and Hwangbo Hyun were quickly dispersed. Do Ganghyun also looked around, conscious of the gazes gathered on him, then belatedly gave his attention to Hwangbo Hyun.
“Not particularly.”
“Haha, but please think of our guys once too. Even though they look docile, they have quite a temper, so their pride might have been hurt considerably.”
Do Ganghyun’s gaze turned toward the back again. The Espers were gathered among themselves chattering about various things, but it didn’t feel like complaints. They were just all wondering when they could leave this place, or saying they didn’t like field-types because the exit appeared late, or wanting to see their guides. When Do Ganghyun raised his eyebrows and tilted his head at that, Hwangbo Hyun laughed awkwardly.
“I’m just saying. Even if there’s no problem right now, if it festers, it’s bound to show and burst someday.”
“…I’ll keep it in mind.”
Do Ganghyun agreed without adding any particular words.
Certainly, this aspect of Do Ganghyun was convenient. Not being arrogant for being SS-rank and listening to his subordinates.
In the case of high-grade Espers, as their pride in their abilities was strong, it was rare for them to look after those below or be careful with their words and actions. Because of that, discord arose or words spread.
However, Do Ganghyun’s case was different. Really unexpectedly, he was the type to listen to those around him. Even if occasionally that degree was excessive and he had a tendency to be sensitive to people’s gazes, overall he was clean and maintained boundaries. To the extent that today’s matter was truly exceptional.
Hwangbo Hyun sighed. Though it wasn’t something to say in front of the person himself, he also felt like he knew the reason he was acting like this.
‘It must be because of the imprint.’
There was no way rumors spread among civilians wouldn’t reach the center. The words had gone out from the center to begin with. Moreover, most of those in the center were in a position to verify the truth of those rumors.
Hwangbo Hyun was one of them. He knew that the emergency that ended as a simple happening was actually a crisis situation on the verge of Do Ganghyun’s rampage. Also that imprinting was achieved in the process of stopping it.
‘There’s talk of natural imprinting.’
Though he hadn’t properly grasped even that far, if someone who had just escaped rampage was already showing this level of skill, it didn’t seem like entirely wrong words.
Anyway, what was currently important was that if Do Ganghyun’s such “exception” was because of imprinting as guessed, this kind of tiresome situation during gate raids would continue for a while. Because even ‘that’ Do Ganghyun had been extremely sensitive to rumors involving Myeong Eunha. Otherwise, there was no way he would have stayed still when his guide was swept up in all kinds of rumors and rumors spread that he himself rejected his guide.
“I mean, even if I want to receive guiding, I can’t meet them?!”
While Hwangbo Hyun wore a good-natured face and sighed inwardly, a big commotion suddenly arose from the Espers’ side.
No matter how far the distance, if someone shouted this loudly, it couldn’t be ignored. Hwangbo Hyun, who had been frowning slightly, moved his steps to mediate among the Espers. It was noisy, but also because it wasn’t a very good subject to speak about in front of Do Ganghyun.
“If I forcibly meet them and even get divorced, will you take responsibility? They even deliberately took imprint dissolution drugs!”
However, the Esper’s words continuing was faster than that. The Esper with a burly build was unusually showing teary eyes while huffing, and it was clearly a face with a story. A story that would feel quite wronged.
The problem was the situation was too bad to carelessly bring up the topic. Because there was an SS-rank Esper nearby who was uncomfortable due to an unwanted imprint recently.
“Alright, alright, enough—.”
It was when Hwangbo Hyun intervened, thinking he’d somehow make all the bastards who brought up this kind of topic write incident reports.
“They took the drug?”
Do Ganghyun, who until now hadn’t exchanged private conversations with the Espers, let alone light interactions, spoke to the tearful Esper close by. There was no telling when he had approached so closely without a sign.
‘Damn!’
For a moment, Hwangbo Hyun couldn’t erase the thought that things had gotten nastily tangled.
“…Pardon?”
The Esper who had been venting his grievances until a moment ago, Seo Yuseok, now wanted to cry in a different sense.
‘Why such a trial for me!’
Because right behind him, an SS-rank Esper had spoken to him from close enough that it wouldn’t be strange to give up his life right then. Though it wasn’t the first time raiding a gate with Esper Do Ganghyun, it was definitely the first time having a conversation like this. But why did that conversation have to be such a private and difficult family matter to bring up!
‘And a divorce story at that! To a superior!’
He couldn’t ignore it or leave the scene. To use monsters as an excuse, the raid had ended long ago, and to use byproduct collection as an excuse, there was nothing to salvage from the crushed corpses. Moreover, since more than 30 minutes remained until the exit was created, he truly had no choice but to continue this suffocating conversation.
‘Should I run?’
Seo Yuseok wondered whether he should use an escape stone that even with his A-rank Esper salary, he could barely afford one. However, he gave up, thinking there would be no room for negotiation if he recklessly used such an expensive escape stone in a situation where he was arguing about divorcing his guide or not.
So in the end, where his resentment was directed was toward where his friend was, who had made such unnecessary remarks and escalated things like this.
‘This damn XX XXX bastard—!’
However, he couldn’t maintain that glare for long.
“I’d appreciate it if you could explain in detail.”
Because Do Ganghyun urged an answer.
Seo Yuseok put aside his desire to cry and urgently opened his mouth while equipping a work-life smile.
“It’s nothing much. Just a personal family matter…”
“If that family matter is causing problems with the raid party’s fighting strength, can’t say it’s nothing much, can we?”
“……”
It was a sharp point. However, if the imprint was dissolved, the one taking a big hit was the guide, not the Esper. Of course, there could be temporary loss of fighting strength due to issues like being unable to forget the imprinted guide and refusing other guiding, but he wasn’t such an idiot as to act foolishly enough to affect gate raids because of personal matters.
Moreover, he didn’t belong to the category suffering from not having a matching guide like Esper Do Ganghyun, nor was the raid party running so sloppily that it would have problems just from losing that one person. So what Do Ganghyun said was nothing more than giving a plausible reason, but Seo Yuseok couldn’t dare point him out and step forward.
‘Of all topics to grab onto, this one.’
He could immediately realize why he had become Do Ganghyun’s target. It was because he had presumptuously mentioned imprint dissolution in front of him who had become sensitive about imprinting.
In the end, Seo Yuseok hesitantly opened his mouth.
“…The imprint won’t be dissolved.”
“You said they took the drug.”
“I’m avoiding guiding itself. Even if they took the drug, dissolution won’t be easy right away. And they’re only doing this because they’re angry at me right now…”
Seo Yuseok earnestly appealed that he wouldn’t affect the raid party’s weakening of fighting strength, and that the imprint wouldn’t be dissolved either. Needless to say, the words that followed were purely defending his guide.
However, Do Ganghyun, who held one doubt from that short conversation, mercilessly cut off those words. He had no choice. Because the reason he had spoken up while risking such attention seemed to have appeared a moment ago.
