“In any case — you really have no other conditions? None at all?”
The Director asked, his expression still visibly uneasy.
No wonder he looks like that, after being jerked around by Yujin Langford’s whims for so long. Yujin clicked his tongue inwardly and nodded without hesitation.
“Yes. I mean it.”
“Hah…… Understood. Then I’ll get word to Alpha Team 1 right away and arrange a guiding schedule.”
The Director’s tone turned urgent the moment he realized Yujin was serious — as though he wanted to move before Yujin could change his mind again.
“Please let me know once the schedule is set.”
“Yes, yes. Will do.”
Yujin dipped his head toward the Director and left the office. Once outside, he paused to think.
Where am I supposed to go?
It was too late in the day to simply head back to his room — sitting cooped up at this hour would be a perfect way to get labeled as someone who did nothing all day.
But with no memories to draw from, he didn’t even know where his team’s office was. He was well and truly stuck.
Beep-beep, beep!
Just then, a loud chime rang from his watch. Yujin glanced down instinctively and spotted an unfamiliar name on the screen.
Yun Hayeong
Reject / Answer
He didn’t recognize the name, but if someone was calling him directly, there was a good chance they were either close to him or closely involved in his work. Yujin pressed the answer button without hesitation.
“Yes.”
— Um, Team Leader?
“Go ahead.”
— ……
Yujin had answered without thinking, and the moment the other person went silent, he caught himself. There was no way Yujin Langford would speak politely to anyone. The man had treated even the Center Director carelessly — and the person on the line was someone who used formal honorifics when addressing him. Yujin corrected his speech belatedly.
“Talk. What is it.”
— Ah, yes. I’m sorry. For a moment I thought I’d called the wrong person……
The other person answered in a flustered rush. Their voice was so thin and lacking in confidence that the image of a meek, anxious face practically materialized in Yujin’s mind.
Someone from the Guide team? If they were calling the team leader directly, they might even be the deputy leader. With no way of knowing their rank, Yujin filed away his guesses and quietly listened as Hayeong continued.
— I’m sorry to say this, but today it might be a good idea for you to come into work. I hear the HR department will be conducting an audit soon……
“……”
Yujin fell silent for a moment at Hayeong’s words.
So this person didn’t even bother showing up to work and spent their time lounging around? Truly unbelievable. Yujin pressed a hand to his aching head.
“Fine. I’ll head in now.”
He needed to go to the office anyway to get a handle on things going forward.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Yujin remembered his predicament and added with some difficulty:
“By the way — where is our team’s office?”
— ……
Fortunately, Hayeong didn’t seem particularly suspicious when Yujin asked where the office was.
Given that the HR department was even sending an auditor to check whether any work was being done, Yujin Langford had probably spent his days scheming about how to slack off rather than doing any actual work. That was precisely why Yujin had been able to ask so shamelessly and openly.
“Hmm……”
Hayeong, when they came face to face, turned out to be a Guide with a youthful appearance. A fairly capable A-rank Guide, serving as Yujin’s aide and the deputy team leader of the Guide team. There was no doubt that Hayeong had been handling all actual operations on his own.
“There’s nothing on the computer.”
Yujin had already felt a creeping unease when he’d noticed the desk was suspiciously bare — and after digging through the desktop for a while, he finally spoke. Hayeong answered with a flustered expression.
“Yes, you instructed us to deliver everything verbally……”
“Mm.”
Of course. Someone who apparently couldn’t even be bothered to show up for work wouldn’t have left any files behind. And yet now Yujin had agreed to the Director’s request and would soon have to guide the S-rank Espers of Alpha Team 1 — this was a problem.
My training was three years ago……
The information from back then was bound to be outdated by now — and he hadn’t retained every last detail of that training to begin with.
What to do. Yujin glanced at Hayeong, whose anxiety was plain to see. Suddenly asking for work files might raise suspicion.
He mulled over an excuse, and eventually landed on something plausible enough to come from the mouth of a villain like Yujin Langford. He opened his mouth again.
“I’ve been wanting to know more about the Alpha Team 1 Espers in detail. Go ahead and update their files and share them with me right now.”
“Ah……”
The phrasing was somewhat overbearing — but just the fact that Yujin was showing interest in Alpha Team 1 was enough to make Hayeong’s face light up instantly.
“Yes! I’ll compile everything and share it on the cloud!”
“Fine.”
Yujin gave a vague wave of his hand and sent Hayeong on his way. Once he was gone, Yujin let out a long breath.
At least once I have the files and know something about Alpha Team 1, I’ll be able to manage. Right now, he knew nothing about them.
“I might as well look at this while I wait.”
Yujin rummaged through his breast pocket and pulled out the papers he’d tucked away earlier — the ones that had been scattered across the study desk. He examined the writing in Yujin Langford’s hand closely.
He wasn’t expecting much from whatever that scoundrel had left behind — but if Yujin Langford had written down his impressions of life here, Yujin might at least be able to piece together what had happened over the past three years. With that thought in mind, he read the first page.
Baek Dohun, S-rank Transcendent
“Hm?”
Right from the first line, a name he hadn’t expected appeared in the personal notes.
In the world of the original novel, Espers were called Transcendents, and Guides were called Purifiers. So naturally, Yujin Langford had written “Transcendent” for Esper. The rank designation was the same — and if someone was S-rank, there was a high chance they were part of Alpha Team 1.
He had no idea why Yujin Langford had happened to record exactly the kind of information he needed. Yujin’s eyes sharpened as he read on.
Among the barbaric creatures who are no better than monkeys, this one at least possesses a face worth looking at. His jet-black hair is like silk, and his eyes carry a faint, mysterious blue tint — whether an effect of his ability, I cannot say — which I find satisfying. His ability, too, is exceptional. He is more than sufficient to serve as a slave to this body.
“……”
Unable to endure any more — it was nothing but commentary on someone’s appearance — he threw the paper aside. Yujin’s shoulders heaved as he fumed.
This insane man!
A leopard never changes its spots. Yujin Langford was, in the end, still Yujin Langford. Yujin snatched up the remaining papers and tore them to shreds, tossing them into the trash.
In the novel, Yujin Langford’s favorite pastime had been taming high-rank Espers. He had delighted in making Espers who were desperate for guiding kneel at his feet like slaves. It didn’t matter what status his target held.
The reason Yujin Langford had been able to carry himself with such arrogance was that the higher an Esper’s rank, the harder it was to find a Guide with a high compatibility rate. On top of that, the world of the novel had a far more severe shortage of Guides compared to this one. In those circumstances, there had been nothing to stop Yujin Langford — an S-rank Guide with outstanding ability to boot.
Of course, his tyranny had lasted only until the substitute arrived in the form of the main lead. The leads, filled to the brim with fury at what Yujin Langford had done, discarded him without a second thought the moment he was no longer needed. That was how the arrogant Yujin Langford had met his end.
Well — that kind of conduct was only possible in that world.
Unlike the world of the original novel, this one didn’t have such a severe shortage of Guides. Yujin was the only S-rank Guide in the country, yes — but there were others abroad, and if the government were so inclined, it could actively recruit them.
So Yujin Langford had not been an irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind existence here. Over time, he must have realized that himself — which meant there was probably very little he could actually do over the course of those three years. At most, he’d used the prospect of insertion guiding as leverage to toy with the Espers of Alpha Team 1. Yujin exhaled slowly, arriving at that cold assessment.
But even that kind of scheming was more than enough to have soured his relationship with Alpha Team 1’s Espers. For the sake of smooth operations going forward, he needed to repair things with them. The contamination levels of Alpha Team 1’s Espers had already climbed to the point where the Director couldn’t sit still — and as a matter of professional pride alone, he absolutely could not stand by and watch them spiral into rampage.
Ding.
Just then, a notification popped up on the desktop, whose screen had been left on. Hayeong had sent the cloud address and password through the internal messenger — and had even attached a careful set of instructions, apparently worried Yujin wouldn’t be able to connect properly. Of course, unlike Yujin Langford, Yujin had no trouble at all accessing the cloud and pulling up Alpha Team 1’s files.
“Hmm.”
Most of the general team information was already familiar to him. The country’s top unit, composed entirely of S-rank Espers. Their accomplishments were summarized briefly as well. Yujin skimmed through all of that and went straight to the individual profiles.
Baek Dohun.
The very Esper whose appearance Yujin Langford had gone to the greatest lengths to praise. Yujin stared at the name with vague distaste for a moment, then dropped his gaze.
“S-rank Esper, ability: lightning……”
Baek Dohun’s rank, ability, age, and career history were all listed in sequence. And he was the team leader of Alpha Team 1. An elite among elites — someone who had attended a military academy affiliated with the Esper corps ever since his awakening.
“Hmm. This won’t be an easy person to deal with.”
Yujin murmured quietly as he read through the file. Not only was he the leader of Alpha Team 1 — he was also the son of the Minister of National Defense. A man with everything: background, position, and ability. Even now, Yujin could already see exactly what kind of person he’d be — exacting, proud, and impossible to get around.
“And I’ve already gotten on this person’s bad side……”
Yujin exhaled deeply, bracing himself for the fact that clearing the debt Yujin Langford had racked up was not going to be easy.
