Just before Kang Cheol-hyeon opened the door, he’d remove the ring and simultaneously trap the enemy’s entire body in water to block their vision while restricting their movement. 0.5 seconds would be enough. Once the two people with blocked airways lost consciousness, he’d escape quietly alone.
It was the moment he was about to move according to the plan that had naturally filled his head.
“You don’t do anything unnecessary and wait quietly.”
As if reading Hae-il’s mind, Moon Woo-shin warned in a chilly voice. Even though it was clearly a voice without any ability infused in it, Hae-il couldn’t move his body as if he were being controlled by him.
It was a familiar sensation he’d felt long ago. The feeling that he had to obey his commands. For an instant, he felt the illusion of having returned to being a 21-year-old trainee.
Opportunities leaving always happens in an instant.
While Hae-il was frozen, Kang Cheol-hyeon, who had moved with quick strides, opened the door first and went outside. The sound of the door closing again sounded abnormally loud.
‘You crazy bastard….’
Cursing at himself, which was unlike him, Hae-il struggled desperately not to raise his gaze. The moment he made eye contact, he might end up moving according to his will.
Moon Woo-shin was a Guide, but in some sense, he could also be considered an Esper. The mental-type ability that rarely manifested only in outstanding S-rank Guides could exert power as strong as its rank. Especially against Espers with good compatibility.
What broke the tense silence was leisurely footsteps and an indifferent voice.
“I know you graduated from school. You must have joined the Special Abilities Agency as planned too.”
Between the pleasant-sounding voice, neat shoe sounds interjected. Even without looking, his tidy gait was familiar enough to be drawn before his eyes.
He could clearly feel Moon Woo-shin approaching closer and closer at a steady pace.
“There’s no way Seo Hae-il would voluntarily set foot in a place like this.”
Finally, Moon Woo-shin’s shoes entered Hae-il’s field of vision. Moon Woo-shin, who tapped Hae-il’s toes with the tip of his expensive-looking shoes, suddenly reached out his hand.
A large hand suddenly grabbed his chin with strong force. Hae-il’s head was forcibly lifted up, and making eye contact like that was beyond his control.
Pitch-black eyes whose depth couldn’t be guessed and a gaze that seemed to see through everything, coldly felt eye shape, an expressionless face. Hae-il couldn’t move his body as if he’d been swallowed by him.
“There’s only one conclusion.”
At a distance where their noses would touch if he came just a little closer, Moon Woo-shin whispered in a small voice.
“Spy?”
The lips that calmly guessed his identity curved obliquely upward. It was a curve so beautiful it sent chills throughout his body.
1
If he’d been able to pretend not to know until the end, Seo Hae-il’s life would probably have been much smoother than it is now.
Looking back at the beginning of why he ended up suffering like this, it was because of an incident from about 1 year and 3 months ago.
No, perhaps it could be said to be because of a conscience that never dulled throughout his lifetime.
The ambition created by the environment he grew up in was always broken at critical moments because he couldn’t abandon his conscience.
In middle school, when he happened to witness school violence and tried to stop it, he accidentally hit the perpetrator student too hard and it almost turned into a big problem. The trouble was that, having manifested as an Esper not long before, he couldn’t properly control his strength. He didn’t realize they’d be that weak since they were his senior and looked bigger than him.
Because it became a case of an ability user assaulting an ordinary person, he paid a more severe price than a typical school violence case. The already poor household had to pay compensation money on top of everything, making the poverty even worse, and for a while he had to attend mandatory education at the Special Abilities Agency and do community service. Almost throughout his entire middle school years.
Walking 3 hours round trip to save bus fare, Hae-il made his first resolution.
‘My own problems are enough, so let’s not make a fuss from now on.’
Exactly three years later, in high school, he happened to witness his homeroom teacher stealing exam papers. That person made both a bribe, offering exam papers to Hae-il who was the only witness, and a threat, saying he’d need to manage his school records well if he wanted to go to college.
At the time, Hae-il was just an 18-year-old preparing for the Special Abilities University entrance exam while dreaming of economic stability from joining the Special Abilities and Gate Management Agency, so the threat worked effectively. For several days, he went back and forth dozens of times between the thought of just pretending not to know and his pricking conscience.
After long consideration, what Hae-il chose in the end was his conscience.
As soon as he made up his mind, he went to the principal’s office and testified about what he’d witnessed, but that side wasn’t a trustworthy adult either. They tried to cover it up appropriately.
At that point, he actually felt defiant. Hae-il went directly to the police station without hesitation and reported it. Naturally, the school was turned upside down.
Still, that case was handled well in the end. Everyone involved in that incident served prison time, and Hae-il safely entered the Special Abilities University.
However, during that process, he was called around by both the police and the school, investigated several times, ruined his school records because of it, and had a hard time for a while switching strategies to the regular exam, leading to a resolution similar to the one from middle school.
‘Let’s think about my own situation before making a fuss.’
And in college, because of that bastard….
Anyway, the worries that had continued since childhood and the consistent conclusion couldn’t suddenly change 180 degrees just because he became an adult and an office worker.
Nevertheless, at 26 years old, Hae-il was living while compromising quite a lot with the world. Pretending not to know appropriately, sometimes agreeing appropriately, and above all, prioritizing advancement.
He thought his conscience had dulled quite a bit from experiencing society. But facing something he couldn’t pretend not to know and compromise about in that way was really unexpected.
“Hey, Seo Hae-il!”
A sudden shout rang out in the office that had been filled only with the sound of typing amid the quiet.
Hae-il, who had been writing a post-Gate report from a visit a few days ago, calmly raised his head while repeatedly hitting the save button.
“Yes, Deputy Manager.”
“Yes, Deputy Manageeeer? Where does this bastard think he is pretending not to know! Come out with me right now!”
I ended up in this situation because I couldn’t pretend not to know, but it seems to Deputy Manager Kim Seong-jin it looked like I’m doing well at it.
Hae-il swallowed a sigh internally and stood up from his seat. The curious gazes of the team members in the office alternately stabbed at the two people.
However, before Hae-il could even follow Deputy Manager Kim Seong-jin out, unfamiliar people barged into the Gate Strategy Team 3 office.
“Mr. Kim Seong-jin. We’re from the Audit Office.”
The stiff-faced Audit Office employee dragged Deputy Manager Kim, whose face had turned red and blue, right out.
As soon as the outsiders and Deputy Manager Kim disappeared outside the office, along with murmuring commotion, the attention of all the nearby team members focused on Hae-il.
“Senior, what is it? Why was Deputy Manager Kim called away?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Why did he pick a fight with Hae-il as soon as he came in? Do you know something?”
“Weren’t Esper Seo Hae-il and the Deputy Manager quite close usually?”
Even the usually tacit Team Leader casually added a word, so Hae-il deflected for now.
“…I wonder.”
From experience, whistleblowers had more than a 50% chance of not hearing good things regardless of right or wrong, so it was best to stay quiet for as long as possible. Still, word traveling from mouth to mouth would be instantaneous anyway.
Just as expected, the time it took for the rumor to spread was only about three hours.
“It was you?”
“What was?”
“The rumor’s already spread, man. Don’t you know how small the Special Abilities Agency is?”
Around 3 PM, in a corner of the Main Bureau rooftop where direct sunlight beat down. Jo Gi-hyeon, his colleague, threw out an abrupt opening while smoking a cigarette.
Hae-il, who had silently inhaled the smoke, exhaled as if sighing. The hazy smoke scattering into the air felt particularly acrid today.
“You know better than anyone that Deputy Manager Kim is in the Director General’s line, so what would you gain by whistleblowing? Just let it slide roughly. I thought you were trying to ride the Director General’s line.”
Current Special Abilities Agency Director General Lee Gi-cheol’s high school junior, Deputy Manager Kim Seong-jin, had been promoted very quickly for a B-rank Esper. At one time, Hae-il had actually considered riding that line through Deputy Manager Kim Seong-jin and accelerating his advancement.
It was an objective fact that Seo Hae-il was an S-rank Esper and was born with the ability to control water, making him very useful for both offense and defense, but such conditions didn’t guarantee advancement as well.
