<Keesssseut!>
Their hair, reaching down to around their waists, continuously scattered streams of water, and the sand only grew soggily wet in response. Their speed was so fast that Yeo Dowoon felt exactly like he was watching centipede-type monsters.
Absurdly enough, just as he was about to create and throw an ice blade, he ended up making eye contact with one of them. The hideously torn corners of the Siren’s mouth rose even higher. Chills rose all over his body.
<Keeseut……!>
That was when it happened. A pitch-black hand that burst through the sand at his feet filled his vision. Yeo Dowoon instinctively knew it belonged to a Siren.
It was covered in fish scales, so how could it be a human hand!
Kwaang!
The ice blade he urgently thrust down severed the Siren’s wrist, but the Siren that was actually attacked rolled back its eyelids without even letting out a cry, as if it had already anticipated its own death.
Yeo Dowoon looked up with a bitter laugh. The situation was so absurd that no words came out.
“……”
The Sirens that hadn’t rushed out to sea and remained in small groups began to chorus together, opening their mouths.
<Keesssseut! Keessssseut…! Keeseut!>
Now, fuck, it was just funny.
The Siren that died beneath him had already turned pitch black. So…, just looking at this, it would certainly seem like it had jumped in accepting death to attract the humans’ attention.
However, no matter how high their intelligence, he had never heard of or witnessed monster hordes voluntarily establishing strategies to confront humans.
“…Fuck.”
Yeo Dowoon felt disillusionment along with a sense of defeat. The announcement sound informing players’ status had definitely rung out a total of five times. This would be proof that all personnel including Kwon Jeonghoo were connected in the simulation.
Perhaps that’s why he hadn’t been killed even after facing the Sirens. If Kwon Jeonghoo had used his ability to hold onto his consciousness, he wouldn’t have been bewitched by their voices and gone berserk.
Soon after, a notification window surrounded by black bands flickered and filled the screen.
—Two players have disconnected.
Yeo Dowoon checked the names written at the bottom of the notification window and hardened his expression. In simulation training, the word disconnection meant, in other words, the player’s death.
He roughly tore off and threw away the special glasses he was wearing.
—Would you like to continue the simulation?
—If more than half agree, the program will restart.
At stage 15, where they couldn’t even approach the sea, Kwon Jeonghoo and Yoon Minoh from Team Delta died instantly.
Yeo Dowoon kicked out of his space and then scoured the training rooms lined up on both sides like catching mice. Bang, kwaang, bang! The sound of doors being thrown open echoed violently.
Only after repeating the same action about five times could Yeo Dowoon discover Yoon Minoh sitting weakly slumped. Yoon Minoh was looking up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes.
“……Hey.”
Yeo Dowoon, who was breathing heavily while gripping the doorknob, let out a cracked voice.
“Why did you die?”
But Yoon Minoh didn’t move at all. Until Yeo Dowoon, who approached with big strides, grabbed and lifted him up, he only coughed out small coughs without his lips twitching even once.
“I’m asking why you died.”
If Yoon Minoh continued to avoid answering like this, Yeo Dowoon planned to go find Kwon Jeonghoo.
“……I died because of the Sirens. What other reason would there be?”
However, fortunately or unfortunately, Yoon Minoh spoke while blinking his bloodshot eyes.
“For details, go outside and get an explanation from Mr. Kwon.”
“……”
“That thing we’re dealing with, that’s not a regular Siren.”
“……”
“They say it’s a mutated version, do I really have to finish this training all the way through?”
When Yeo Dowoon remained silent, Yoon Minoh shouted resentfully.
“I’d rather be trained by hyung all night!”
So Yeo Dowoon had no choice but to carefully fold away his intention to dig into the details and smack his smooth forehead. This bastard definitely had thorns sprouting in his mouth the moment he became serious even for an instant.
***
Since the stage that just ended was the fifteenth, it meant that combat simulations of similar aspects had been conducted fourteen more times until now.
So it wasn’t all that strange that the Espers who participated in training became exhausted like rags.
“Hyung……, I really feel like I’m going to throw up. Urp. Uuuurgh.”
The Espers who left the training room all had miserable appearances, excluding Gu Seohyun. Among them, Yoon Minoh consistently dry heaved while clinging to Yeo Dowoon.
“Carry me on your back…, okay? Please. Or at least hold me. Super intensely.”
Rough platinum blonde hair rubbed against Yeo Dowoon’s nape.
But Yeo Dowoon only snorted. In his entire life, the only time he had ever carried someone on his back was that moment when he carried Kwon Jeonghoo and fled from a dungeon explosion.
He said while pushing Yoon Minoh far away.
“Move, man. You seriously reek of sweat.”
It was an annoyed tone. Then Yoon Minoh went “Aing” and pulled aegyo that wouldn’t work.
“Think of it as pheromones and let it slide. It’s salty so it’s kinda addictive, right?”
Earlier he had been panic-stricken from the simulation training, but now he seemed to be gradually regaining his original pace. He giggled pleasantly while looking at Yeo Dowoon’s frowning expression.
“See. You’re dying of happiness from smelling my sweat!”
“I just want to kill you, you dog-like bastard.”
But Yoon Minoh smiled even more broadly and flapped his top. He shook it very intensely as if to spread testosterone far and wide. Disgusting self-appeal continued.
“How about it. Don’t you want to lick every nook and cranny of my flesh and armpits?”
“……I want to skin you alive and kill you.”
“Your words are harsh.”
“You’re the worst.”
Yeo Dowoon snapped as if disturbed.
Gu Seohyun, who was watching them while leaning against the opposite wall, suddenly opened her mouth.
“Didn’t you say you had no intention of participating in this operation?”
It was a question that hit the mark. Yeo Dowoon, who had been bickering while Yoon Minoh hung on him, observed her. Then suddenly, Yeo Dowoon noticed that her whip had disappeared and threw out a question unrelated to context.
“The whip noona was using?”
Yoon Minoh made a sulky face at his voice that had changed completely differently from when dealing with him, as expected. He tried begging for attention with a “Hyuuung,” but it was insufficient. Yeo Dowoon only concentrated on Gu Seohyun.
Gu Seohyun answered.
“Right now I’m barehanded. I only use mediums when there’s a target to control.”
“…Aren’t Sirens also targets to control?”
When Yeo Dowoon expressed doubt, she smiled faintly. Soon she slightly gestured with her chin at Yoon Minoh. Not only that, but while successively pointing with her finger at Cha Uihyeon, Ko Ijae, and also Baek Seonwoo.
She declared.
“My quota is limited to the rear. The Sirens are your portion to handle.”
It was when Yeo Dowoon, who couldn’t quite understand her words, was about to request a more detailed explanation. As if Kwon Jeonghoo had commanded assembly through mental sensing, the team members efficiently moved their steps toward the ground floor on their own.
“Hyung. Aren’t you going?”
Only Yeo Dowoon, on whom Kwon Jeonghoo’s ability didn’t work, belatedly moved his feet only after Yoon Minoh pulled his arm. After passing the stairs where the basement’s characteristic humidity and cement smell were mixed, this thought came to him.
This somewhat…, felt like being left out. But it was too awkward to say out loud.
***
The place where Kwon Jeonghoo summoned the team members was the conference room on the very top floor of the research center.
The people who had arrived at the conference room early each gave friendly eye greetings to the Espers crowding in. Baek Seonwoo was the first to burst into exclamation.
“Oh……!”
Today, mysteriously, all S-class and A-class Guides were gathered in one place. Though when it came to S-class Guides, Cha Haseong was all there was. Still, for Baek Seonwoo it was a sufficiently surprising situation.
For Guides and Espers from the Seoul branch to gather in one place without a single person missing, such opportunities to see faces all around were very rare unless it was a colleague’s funeral.
‘Guide-nim?’
Even in the midst of this, Yeo Dowoon’s eyes skillfully picked out only one person positioned among many Guides, Cha Haseong. Yeo Dowoon, who appeared with Yoon Minoh stuck on his back like gum, broke out in cold sweat.
Cha Haseong was looking at him with his chin propped at an angle.
Yeo Dowoon’s gaze, having lost its destination, reluctantly settled on Shim Woomin. Empowered by instinct, he had set out to find the opponent most comfortable for him to deal with. Shim Woomin waved his hand with a bright smile. While greeting without knowing anything.
“Dowoon, hello?”
However, at the edge of Yeo Dowoon’s heart, the cobalt blue-colored knit that Cha Haseong was wearing kept flickering. The thickness was quite substantial, but if he had come to work wearing only that one layer, he wouldn’t be able to avoid catching a cold. Yeo Dowoon wanted to take off his jumper and wrap it around him.
‘How terrible colds are these days.’
He stubbornly didn’t withdraw his affectionate worry and put strength in his eyeballs. This was because he was struggling hard not to look at him even while thinking of Cha Haseong.
“If you’re here, at least sit down.”
Fortunately, Kwon Jeonghoo, sitting in the middle of the table, calmed the noisy atmosphere before it was too late. Baek Seonwoo and Cha Uihyeon, who had been chatting with the A-class Guides they’d met after a long time, hurriedly took their seats following his order.
