Listening to his explanation, Yeoul nodded his head vigorously. The Creatures that had already emerged could be suppressed with telekinesis and flames, but to completely eliminate the gate that endlessly poured out the monstrous lifeforms, more fundamental measures seemed necessary, just as Hyun Junho had explained.
When Kang Hyeseong stretched out his hand again, a dazzling light covered their vision. At the same time, a chill cold enough to make their jaws tremble washed over them. It was difficult to withstand the intensely raging ability, so Yeoul raised his arms to cover his face and tensed his entire body.
A ruthlessly cold energy shot toward the hole floating in the sky. Snowstorms whirled from all directions. As an enormous amount of ability was injected into the hole that reached 50 meters in diameter, the hole that had been pitch black to an unfathomable depth was covered in white light.
Since they couldn’t see with their eyes the Creatures remaining inside the gate or the core hidden deep within, it was close to just pouring out a massive amount of ability. Wajijijijik— The sound of something freezing inside the gate vividly traveled through the air.
During this time, the citizens held their breath and blankly looked up at the sky. They had to button up their coats against the biting wind blowing from inside the gate through the hole. Yeoul also rubbed his arms with his hands and curled up his body. Everyone was anxiously watching the gate floating in the sky.
Finally, a crunching, boom–! sound of something frozen shattering into pieces was heard. A roar so loud it could be mistaken for thunder rang out resonantly all around. How many minutes had passed? The hole that had been floating while grotesquely distorting the sky began to gradually shrink in size.
“Huh…”
Yeoul stared at the sight with his mouth hanging open blankly. A scene he had only seen countless times in internet videos was being recreated right before his eyes.
The gate that kept shrinking and shrinking finally disappeared without a trace. Once the gate that had been hideously gaping disappeared, only a clean and clear sky remained, as if nothing had ever happened.
“The gate has been eliminated!”
“Esper Kang Hyeseong is the best!”
“Thank you, Esper-nim!”
The citizens who had been gathered in one place watching the scene with anxious hearts cheered. They clapped, whistled, and loudly called out Kang Hyeseong’s name. Yeoul, who had been covering his mouth, also clapped loudly with an emotional heart.
‘Really… really insane.’
This was the first time he had properly seen Kang Hyeseong use his abilities right before his eyes. Yeoul, who had unconsciously felt overwhelmed, suddenly made a serious expression as if he had remembered something, letting out an “Ah.”
Now was not the time to just be admiring like this. If he had blown away an entire gate close to A-rank, just how much ability had he used? And all at once at that… Suddenly his heart became endlessly anxious. Yeoul ran with all his might toward Hyeseong and called out to him.
“Team Leader!”
An urgent voice burst out without thinking about the consequences. He thought it would be awkward to call him Team Leader instead of hyung, which he always called him affectionately, but when the situation became urgent, he didn’t even have time to think about such things.
Kang Hyeseong turned his head toward Yeoul. Guide Lee Bora had already arrived next to Jung Dasol, who was standing beside him. Since she had bound dozens of massive monstrous lifeforms in the sky, she must have also used an enormous amount of ability.
“Good work, Dasol. Are you hurt anywhere? Aren’t you dizzy?”
“I’m fine, unni. Thank you. Wow- our unni’s guiding is the best as expected.”
Lee Bora firmly grasped Jung Dasol’s hand. Jung Dasol, who had been breathing heavily, plopped down on the spot for the time being and began receiving guiding.
With her eyes tightly closed, her expression as she released the disheveled waves of telekinesis and accepted the waves of purification looked very peaceful. Their tightly clasped hands were firmly intertwined without gloves.
Guiding gloves were basic tools that prevented unnecessary contact and lowered guiding rejection reactions. Therefore, they had learned that pairs who weren’t imprinted would generally wear gloves when guiding unless it was an emergency.
However, Jung Dasol and Lee Bora, who were imprinted, didn’t need gloves. They could quickly exchange impure waves and purification waves while directly feeling each other’s body heat and skin.
‘I need to do it too.’
Watching Dasol find stability in real-time, Yeoul became anxious. The guiding of Kang Hyeseong, who had clearly used the most ability here, was urgent. Yeoul, who had approached Kang Hyeseong in one bound, caught his breath and held out his hand.
“Team Leader, I think you need to be guided right now. Please give me your hand.”
At that moment, the surroundings became quiet. Amid the citizens dispersing noisily as the road control was lifted, only the R1 Team members were staring at him and Kang Hyeseong with their mouths hanging open. However, Yeoul, who was focused solely on the thought that he had to guide Kang Hyeseong, didn’t notice this.
“Hurry, Team Leader. You need to do it right now. Please give me your hand quickly.”
Yeoul demanded of him with an even more serious expression, holding out his hand. He was in a hurry. Now that he looked, Kang Hyeseong’s breathing seemed a bit labored, and his already pale face seemed to have turned even paler.
What are you doing, not quickly holding out your hand… Frustrated, Yeoul grabbed Hyeseong’s wrist with his gloved hand and pulled sharply. Then he intertwined their fingers and held on firmly.
‘Don’t be nervous, stay calm. First, let’s recall the guiding manual. Number 1, first take a deep breath and focus on feeling the purification waves in your body. Number 2…’
I can do this. Yeoul encouraged himself, chanting like a spell several times. While rolling his eyes trying to recall what he had learned during training, he made eye contact with Kang Hyeseong.
“……”
Kang Hyeseong, looking down at him and moving his lips, had a rarely flustered face. Only then did Yeoul, sensing something strange, look around.
Jung Dasol and Lee Bora, who had been fixing their gazes on each other, were now looking this way. And with very surprised expressions at that.
Seo Giwon, who had been standing next to them, had his mouth hanging completely open, and Hyun Junho was looking at him and Kang Hyeseong with an excited expression as if watching a morning drama.
“…Uh…”
Yeoul suddenly became a bit embarrassed.
‘What? Is this not it?’
It felt like… throwing out what he thought was a killer joke but failing to make anyone laugh and making the atmosphere turn cold instead. Wait, did he do something wrong? He had only attempted guiding exactly like Guide Lee Bora had done…
At that moment, the hand that had been clasping his fingers slipped away stealthily. The hand that smoothly came loose without any chance to grab it again lightly tapped Yeoul’s shoulder.
“…Let’s do the guiding at the Security Bureau. Thank you, Second Lieutenant Kim Yeoul.”
Hyeseong removed the hand that had been tapping his shoulder. He immediately turned around and approached the police who were controlling the road. Leaving him behind as he talked with what appeared to be the person in charge of the scene, the other R1 Team members led Yeoul away, saying they should return to the Security Bureau first.
As soon as they got in the car, the excited Espers began speaking one after another.
“Did you see? Did you see?! Team Leader’s flustered face?”
“That was the first time I’ve seen the cold-blooded Captain make that expression. Wow, the rookie’s boldness is insane.”
Amid the team members exchanging conversation loudly in a highly excited state, only Yeoul was bewildered. From the context, they seemed to be talking about the situation where he had attempted guiding… but what exactly was everyone making such a fuss about?
‘It’s not like I attempted mucous membrane guiding… ahem… or anything like that.’
He didn’t seem to have committed any greatly disrespectful action in front of everyone, but he couldn’t understand why everyone was making such a commotion. Even Kang Hyeseong had been flustered. Though he didn’t show it much, having watched him for a long time, Yeoul couldn’t help but know that Hyeseong had been surprised.
‘If he used that much ability, he should just obediently receive guiding.’
Yeoul pouted his lips and resented him inwardly. Anyway, just wait until he comes to the guiding room later. He was determined that this time he would properly guide him, when Seo Giwon tapped Yeoul’s forearm with sparkling eyes.
“Yeoul, you’re really amazing. That was the first time I’ve seen anyone do that to Team Leader.”
“Pardon…?”
“You totally grabbed Team Leader’s wrist with such force and were like, ‘I think you need to be guided right now.’ I almost fell for you, you know?”
“Right. That momentarily stunned expression on Team Leader’s face… I’ve really never seen that expression in all the years we’ve worked together.”
Everyone laughed loudly and gave Yeoul a thumbs up. Yeoul showed an awkward smile with an embarrassed face. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel complicated inside.
Kang Hyeseong, just how long had he been going without guiding? It must have been quite something for his own team members to be this surprised.
When they arrived at the Security Bureau, everyone stretched and got out of the car. Jung Dasol and Lee Bora immediately moved to the guiding room, Seo Giwon decided to go to the support team to receive guiding, and Hyun Junho said he would go to the dormitory to rest a bit.
Yeoul immediately took out the pager. It was what he had received from the Inspector after the pair contract, and he had been told that using this pager, he could contact Kang Hyeseong directly. When he pressed the button and waited, after a few seconds a green light came on and his voice was heard.
―Second Lieutenant Kim Yeoul.
“When will you return, Team Leader? I’ve arrived and am waiting for you.”
Yeoul, who had delivered his business clearly and precisely, silently waited for his answer. After a few seconds of silence, Hyeseong’s voice came through the pager.
―…I’ll arrive at the Security Bureau in about 20 minutes.
“Understood. Then I’ll be waiting inside Guiding Room 1.”
He deliberately specified the guiding room as the location and ended the call. Yeoul, who put the pager in his pocket, stood up briskly and headed to the guiding zone located on the same floor.
He headed to Room 1, the closest of the guiding rooms lined up in a row. When he held his civil service ID to the security pad installed on the door, the door opened with a button sound. The neatly organized guiding room was decorated cozily and comfortably, just like a hotel suite room.
Yeoul closed the door, came inside, and took off his stuffy combat uniform jacket. After washing his hands cleanly and taking off his socks, he sat blankly on the bed and waited for Kang Hyeseong. Had about 10 minutes passed? Beep- the guiding room door opened with a button sound.
