“But I have a question for Yeoul.”
Esper Seo Giwon raised his hand high with sparkling eyes. When he raised his arm, his well-developed chest muscles rippled threateningly.
“By any chance, what’s your relationship with the Team Leader? I saw you two contacting each other often in Lebanon. The Team Leader said you’re just a younger sibling he cherishes… is that true?”
“Yeah, I was most curious about that too. Is that really all?”
Everyone’s gazes glittered meaningfully. Yeoul, who had been bewildered for a moment by the gazes full of interest and curiosity, soon grasped the intent of the question and waved his hands frantically.
“It’s, it’s true. Really just a hyung-dongsaeng relationship from next door… that’s all.”
“Hmmm, suspicious. The Team Leader’s expression wasn’t like that though.”
“Right. To anyone watching, it looked like contacting a lover…”
“Really… it’s really true.”
Yeoul’s face heated up as if it would burst. He shook his head while waving his hands as if his wrists would fall off, but everyone was tilting their heads with narrowed eyes.
I’m so wronged I could die. If we really were in that kind of relationship, at least I wouldn’t feel wronged… The reality is that he’s always teased by Kang Hyeseong as a baby and treated like a snotty little kid, so what lover…
“You saw it earlier, right? His expression when he stroked your head.”
“And when Yeoul was introducing himself, he was looking from the side with such a pleased expression.”
“Exactly. Honey was practically flowing from his eyes.”
“He really cherishes you a lot, Yeoul. It’s the first time I’ve seen the Team Leader make that expression.”
A drop of sweat trickled down his burning back. Yeoul could only smile awkwardly with a reddened face.
To receive such a misunderstanding. If asked whether he disliked it… honestly, that wasn’t entirely true. How could he dislike it? He was someone he’d carried in his heart his whole life.
So it can look that way to others. While embarrassing enough to make his body curl up naturally, it seemed like a small sprout of joy was budding somewhere in his stomach.
However, Yeoul soon came to his senses. This was the Supernatural Abilities Security Bureau, and right now Kang Hyeseong and he were in a superior-subordinate relationship. If he didn’t properly distinguish between public and private matters, he could cause trouble for Kang Hyeseong.
“Well, since the person in question says no, let’s not push it. Our newbie will get uncomfortable. Yeoul, do you have any questions for us? Ask quickly while we’re free like this.”
“Right. We don’t usually have time to leisurely chat like this.”
When Esper Jung Dasol sensibly changed the subject, Hyun Junho chimed in with a smiling face. Yeoul took this opportunity to start asking the things he’d been curious about step by step.
“Ah… then, may I ask how the other seniors receive guiding?”
“Ah, we stop by the support team to receive guiding.”
Esper Hyun Junho replied in a straightforward tone.
“Actually, the higher the rank, the harder it is to find someone with a high matching rate, so finding a dedicated Guide isn’t that easy. So we all receive guiding a lot from the support team on our way to and from work. The Guides stationed there are B-rank at most, but we don’t have other options.”
“Ah…”
“Actually, if you’re a C-rank or D-rank Esper, you can manage reasonably well with just guiding potions, but for us, that stuff doesn’t even make a dent… Ah, like the Team Leader said, Yeoul just needs to guide us only in urgent situations in the field.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Guide Lee Bora is in an imprinted state with Esper Jung Dasol, so she can only guide her partner. So the only one who can save us in emergency situations is Guide Kim Yeoul. Hehe. Please take care of us from now on.”
“Yes! I’ll do my best.”
Partner… To call the imprinted state with such a cute term. Somehow his feelings became fluffy. He felt a little envious of Esper Jung Dasol and Guide Lee Bora looking at each other affectionately with their hands around each other’s waists.
Then at the mechanical sounds bursting out simultaneously from here and there, Yeoul’s shoulders jumped. After a short siren sounded from the callers fixed to the team members’ combat uniform tops, a radio transmission flowed out.
―Code Orange. Code Orange. Seoul, Yangcheon-gu XX-dong, B-rank gate occurrence. Coordinates 212, 998. I repeat. Code Orange…
“Oh my fate. How long has it even been since we got off work?”
“Haah… my whole body really aches.”
“See, it was good that we ate breakfast, right?”
While grumbling verbally, the team members swiftly prepared for dispatch. Since everyone had come to work wearing combat uniforms, there was nothing special to take. Yeoul quickly moved following Jung Dasol, who guided him saying “Come this way.”
The team members nimbly ran and boarded the military vehicle waiting in front of the first floor of the main building. As soon as they boarded, the car immediately began moving. All vehicles standing on the road gave way to the rushing military vehicle. A purple siren announcing movement to a gate rang noisily from atop the vehicle.
Seo Giwon explained various precautions to Yeoul in the moving car. The content was that Guides basically don’t enter gates together, so he should maintain a safe distance with Guide Lee Bora and stay away from the gate.
However, he also warned to be particularly careful of the creatures pouring out if a gate open phenomenon occurred, which happened with a fifty percent probability.
“Of course, in that case, one Esper will pull out to protect the Guides, so don’t worry too much. Anyway, since the Team Leader is there, you don’t need to worry too much. With just the Team Leader, even A-rank gates can be handled easily.”
Seo Giwon, who smiled brightly, patted Yeoul’s shoulder. Yeoul answered with a tense face and nodded.
“Is the Team Leader… coming now too?”
“Hm? Of course. When a gate opens, he almost always dispatches together. He probably came out of the meeting room right away?”
His heart, which had been pounding with tension, now began to pound in a different sense. The first dispatch together with Kang Hyeseong.
A pleasant pressure touched his skin. I need to do well. I mustn’t be a burden, and I must become a member who helps the team members… especially Kang Hyeseong. He steeled his resolve, thinking he must guide him this time for sure.
The rapidly moving car suddenly stopped at some point. The team members swiftly jumped out of the car. Yeoul also followed them closely with tension. And the next moment, he couldn’t help but gape at the unpleasant form floating before his eyes.
“…This is…”
“Ah shit… unlucky open-type.”
“This got troublesome.”
Jung Dasol contorted her face and cursed viciously. Hyun Junho and Seo Giwon also groaned quietly beside her.
That was because, in the case of closed-type gates, since creatures only operated inside, combat was possible without the threat of hostages or spatial constraints. Thanks to this, for R1 team members who were all A-rank Espers, it was like a huge live combat training ground.
However, the problem with open-type gates was that creatures could freely pour out. If that happened, not only were there spatial constraints, but citizens’ safety became hostage. Just like right now.
―Kieeeeeek—!
The hole piercing through while distorting the sky seemed to be at least 50 meters in diameter. It was a bizarre scenery that didn’t match the blue sky with clouds floating in it.
From inside the dizzying hole whose depth couldn’t be known like a black hole, large creatures were bursting out as if pouring. They were bird-shaped creatures very similar to pterodactyls.
“That’s a B-rank gate? …With a hole that big?”
“Right. Either the identification team misidentified it, or it transformed midway? This is A-rank.”
Hyun Junho and Seo Giwon gaped in disbelief. The radio crackled once, then a dry-toned instruction flowed out. It was Kang Hyeseong’s voice.
―Jung Dasol, Seo Giwon, commence attack. Hyun Junho, take the Guides, secure safe distance, then control civilians.
“Ah damn, whatever. Let’s get rid of them first, those things.”
Jung Dasol ground her teeth and gestured backward toward Lee Bora. Hyun Junho began running backward with the two Guides.
Yeoul ran hard together with Guide Lee Bora to get away from the gate. Police who had already been dispatched were controlling civilians in an orderly manner. Yeoul caught his rough breath and looked at the gate from near the control line.
Jung Dasol stretched her hand hard toward the sky. Then the creatures that had been flying around screaming suddenly stopped in place. As if caught in an invisible spider web.
The creatures bound in midair twisted their bodies this way and that while squawking, as if confused. Seo Giwon’s attack immediately followed. Flame streams from his palms flew like arrows and lodged in the creatures’ torsos.
Kieeeek! Kyak! At the screams that seemed to tear eardrums, Yeoul frowned but couldn’t take his eyes off the scene. As the creatures wrapped in flames writhed in midair and flapped their large wings, embers began pouring down to the ground like snow.
Having arrived at some point, Kang Hyeseong, who had taken the lead, extended his hand. The burning feathers, pieces of creature flesh, and wildly scattering sparks froze in an instant. The fire that had been about to spread to nearby tree branches naturally subsided.
Kang Hyeseong extended his hand again. As snowflake crystals fluttered down, the surrounding air became cool in an instant. The creatures pouring out from the hole froze in place.
The creatures that had become giant ice chunks fell one after another with a thud–! Personnel from the Security Bureau’s on-site processing team who had dispatched together began diligently collecting the corpses.
“You learned during education, right? Gates are eliminated when you find the core hidden inside and remove it with abilities, or when you completely eliminate all creatures inside the gate.”
Hyun Junho explained to Yeoul while pointing at the gate.
“But if it’s a gate floating in the sky like that, entry itself is difficult. Then you have to attack the gate from outside, and pushing abilities from outside all the way to the inside to eliminate the core or annihilate the creatures isn’t easy even for A-ranks.”
“Ah…”
“That’s why the Team Leader is always so busy. He’s the only one who can do that.”
