# Chapter 30
Geonwoo violently refused. He yelled that he didn’t want to receive treatment, telling them not to come near him. The healing Espers broke into a cold sweat as he even pulled out the IV needle from his arm. Eventually, they used their abilities to subdue Geonwoo.
Geonwoo tried to resist the sudden wave of drowsiness by biting the inside of his cheek and digging his fingernails into his palms to forcibly stay awake, but it was impossible for an undeveloped Esper to withstand the power of healing Espers.
Geonwoo’s voice gradually became drowsy.
“I don’t… want to…”
Even as he fell asleep, Geonwoo said this to Jaehee. Afraid that Jaehee might disappear once he fell asleep, Geonwoo hugged him tighter and pleaded.
“Don’t… leave…”
At Geonwoo’s plea, Jaehee couldn’t say a word. He simply waited quietly for Geonwoo to fall asleep. Soon, his eyes gently closed, and Geonwoo’s breathing became regular.
Seeing Geonwoo like this, everyone let out a soft sigh. Though it would have been better to use their abilities while he was awake given his poor condition, there was no other way. It was better than not being able to start the treatment at all.
“Then I’ll begin now. First, I need to assess his condition.”
The healing Esper said this. Seeing the thin trail of blood flowing from Geonwoo’s arm from the earlier commotion, Jaehee tried to raise himself to examine Geonwoo’s wound.
But no matter how much strength he used, Geonwoo’s arms wouldn’t loosen. He was holding Jaehee’s body so tightly that he couldn’t move. And with the wavelengths inside his body being unstable, Jaehee had no choice but to remain still.
In Jaehee’s place, the healing Espers said they would check Geonwoo’s new injuries as well, and began examining both his internal and overall condition. The healing Espers, consisting of two B-class and one A-class, brought out their abilities to the fullest.
But soon their expressions darkened. They exchanged glances while frowning, and some let out faint sighs as if frustrated, slightly shaking their heads.
Jaehee’s nerves became sensitive to their gestures.
“Is there a problem? Is it serious?”
Unable to hold back, he asked, and the healing Esper who appeared to be the eldest spoke.
“His body is in worse shape than we thought.”
Since the patient was asleep, the healing Esper no longer filtered his words. Dropping the careful tone he had been maintaining, he spoke plainly.
“Honestly, I don’t know how he managed to endure in this state.”
Geonwoo’s body was in complete chaos. Since he had been acting as if he was protecting Jaehee without thinking of himself, Jaehee had thought he must still have some strength left, but that wasn’t the case at all. The raging wavelengths had left deep scars throughout his body like traces.
Furthermore, his Guiding sensitivity was through the roof. When he was awake, seeing Jaehee had somewhat calmed him, but now that he was asleep, his wavelengths would spike intermittently with just the slightest movement from Jaehee. It seemed the anxiety he felt before falling asleep made it worse.
“The problem is that his physical strength has dropped too much.”
The healing Esper, with a troubled expression, thought for a moment and then used his ability on Geonwoo again. Concentrating as much as possible, he drew on his power to the point of nearly reaching his limit. As a reaction, faint wavelengths scattered around the healing Esper’s body.
But the healing Esper soon shook his head and withdrew his power. With a deep sigh, he looked at Jaehee and said:
“It’s impossible no matter how many times I try. I forcibly raised his body’s healing power to its limit, but there’s no response at all. Look at this wound here. Honestly, it’s just blood that flowed when the IV needle came out, it’s barely a wound, completely minor. But even this won’t heal. It means my ability isn’t working at all.”
To ordinary people, a healing Esper’s ability might seem like an amazing power that instantly heals wounds, but in reality, it wasn’t. The healing Espers’ abilities weren’t as all-powerful as people thought, and they didn’t have magic-like powers to heal wounds in an instant.
Their ability was simply to enhance the subject’s natural healing power. Therefore, healing instantly meant that the subject had enough physical strength to spare and that the wound was light.
Conversely, for critical patients, higher-ranked Espers who could draw out the patient’s own healing power from rock bottom were desperately needed.
And Geonwoo’s case was exactly that.
“The abilities of us two B-class Espers aren’t working, and as for…”
The B-class healing Esper stopped mid-sentence and looked at Cheon Taeyun, the A-class healing Esper standing at the end, as if asking with his expression how it had been for him.
In response, Taeyun, who had been quietly listening while examining Geonwoo’s condition, paused for a moment before extending his hand towards the arm wound that the B-class Esper had just been concentrating on. He focused his ability there. Soon, the wound on Geonwoo’s arm began to heal very slowly but steadily.
Taeyun, observing this, spoke as if for Jaehee to hear:
“My A-class ability does work.”
At the expressionless tone but hopeful words, everyone’s attention turned to him.
“But his Guiding sensitivity is high, so treatment won’t be easy.”
However, the words that followed were negative. This time, Taeyun alternated his gaze between Geonwoo and the wavelength measurement machine as he spoke.
“His wavelength readings aren’t normal. He’s reacting too sensitively. You felt it just now, right? The wavelengths spiking every time Guide Lee Jaehee moves slightly.”
He took his eyes off the wavelength measurement machine and continued in a monotone voice.
“So even if I manage to heal a little, his wavelengths will rise, creating larger wounds. And that will repeat. Heal a little, create new larger wounds, heal again. Then even larger wounds form that outweigh the healing.”
At these words, Jaehee’s face turned pale.
“Is there… no way?”
To Jaehee’s question, Taeyun looked up as if thinking for a moment, then spoke casually:
“If there were several high-ranking healing Espers, it might be worth trying, but multiple high-level Gates suddenly appeared in the provinces, so most have gone down there. So currently, I’m the only A-class healing Esper left at the Center.”
The upper management’s lie, which had started to deceive Dohyun, had come back to haunt them till the end.
“Then…”
Jaehee couldn’t readily continue. At those slightly trembling words, the A-class Esper turned his gaze to look at Jaehee. His eyes took in every bit of Jaehee’s distress as if engraving it in his memory. Then, with a small curl of his lips, he said:
“That doesn’t mean there’s absolutely no way.”
At those words, Jaehee, who had been looking at Geonwoo, turned his head to look at Taeyun. He was looking at Jaehee with a calm smile on his face. The remnants of the clouded emotions he had shown when first entering the examination room had already disappeared from his eyes. Instead, a kind smile had taken their place.
He spoke, imitating a gentle tone:
“It’s beyond my current ability, but if I could draw out my ability to its maximum with Guiding.”
Taeyun paused there and scanned Jaehee, lowering his gaze. His eyes moved from Jaehee’s face, across his shoulders, and down to his wrists.
“Then it might be possible.”
Taeyun gestured toward the silver bracelet on Jaehee’s wrist. He smiled brightly and said:
“So, would you mind removing that Guiding control device?”
***
“Mom!”
When Geonwoo opened his eyes, a familiar scene was spread out before him. It was a memory from when he was 10 years old. Geonwoo still vividly remembered that time. For a very long time, countless dreams had endlessly shown him that scene under the name of nightmares.
But today, that nightmare seemed to be trying to tell a slightly different story.
“Mom! Mom!”
The young Geonwoo in the dream ran and ran, searching for his parents.
A Gate that suddenly appeared near the forest campsite. Monsters emerged from there. People scattered in panic, running in all directions to survive, and Geonwoo was among them.
Just a moment ago, his family and classmates had been around him, but now not a single person remained by Geonwoo’s side. He had no way of knowing where everyone had fled to or if they were safe. Then, from behind, came a tearing roar of a monster. Young Geonwoo was startled and crouched down, covering his mouth with both hands.
Mom… I’m scared…
Teardrops were already hanging from Geonwoo’s round eyes. The tears were so plentiful that they finally rolled down his cheeks. The tears that fell on the dirt ground created round marks.
Geonwoo raised both arms to wipe away his tears.
The monster’s sounds grew closer and closer.
‘I can’t stay here…’
Geonwoo put strength into his trembling legs and got up again. He had to escape quickly.
