# Chapter 26
“Me? Me?”
“We don’t have any espers or guides who can be deployed right now!”
Manager Kang Muwon, seemingly having a mental breakdown, grabbed my shoulders and shook me with tears welling up in his eyes.
“If Nam Ihyeon Esper’s injuries worsen, I’m really in big trouble! Please save me!”
“How can I save you when I’m not even an esper!”
“You’re the one who can enable the esper to save us! Garam-ssi!”
“Manager! That S-class thing might be an error. If I go in now, it’s no different than pushing me into the Han River!”
I was desperate too. What Manager Kang was suggesting was truly nothing short of a suicide mission. But Manager Kang was already close to panic. He seemed to be thinking only of ways to shove me into the gate immediately.
I needed to prevent that, even if I had to jump out of this car. Killing off the protagonist would be nothing to that author. It didn’t matter whether it was Kim Haewon or Nam Ihyeon. I didn’t even know the names of the A-class guide and D-class esper, but that wasn’t important either. I shook my head, insisting that I absolutely could not go in.
“Manager! Get a grip. At times like this, you should be protecting the S-class guide in preparation for any contingencies! If Kim Haewon Esper returns all beaten up, what will you do without me!”
“The gate isn’t that bad, so it’ll be fine! Kim Haewon Esper will be okay,”
“What?”
“SS-class espers are different! He’ll be fine! He’s been fine before!”
“Th-that’s not a proper argument!”
I was speechless. That thinking—that Kim Haewon could handle anything—was the problem. I recalled the messy wavelength I had felt. Nobody had looked inside him. Not even Kim Haewon himself. That’s why things had turned out this way. Because they said it was fine, they really believed it was fine. Suddenly, anger rose from my core.
“That’s exactly why the condition of South Korea’s best esper is like that! Do you even know what Kim Haewon Esper’s wavelength is like right now?”
“I don’t know! All I know is that two people are in there right now…! Compared to Kim Haewon Esper, they’re practically civilians!”
“Then what is Kim Haewon, an alien? What kind of treatment is this?”
Loud voices were exchanged. Manager Kang seemed to have lost his mind due to the sense of crisis that he couldn’t prevent the deaths of two people and the fact that Nam Ihyeon, the Association’s star, wouldn’t escape injury.
I was feeling my own sense of mortal danger. At the same time, though unintended, my empathy for Kim Haewon, who was excluded from this entire situation, transformed into anger and poured out.
This thought wasn’t just coming from one manager. It was as if the entire department viewed the situation this way. There couldn’t be a more fucked-up case. Kim Haewon’s skills were so exceptional that they were relying on him too much. Without even thinking about protecting him.
That’s why they were now spouting nonsense to me about entering the gate without any weapons.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Garam-ssi, right now!”
“Ah, I can’t go! No, I won’t go! This isn’t fair treatment for Kim Haewon Esper’s pair guide! Huh?”
I just kept thinking that I shouldn’t go in no matter what. But the car door opened, and I was pushed out of the car.
“Ah, you’re pushing me, pushing me!”
“People are dying right now!”
“No, really, what am I supposed to—”
I wanted to scream “what am I supposed to do,” but suddenly a hot wind blew strongly. The SUV we had arrived in spun around several times. Was the entrance already expanding? Light was coming from the gate.
I pushed Manager Kang away from the gate. I had instinctively pushed him away in a protective manner. No, I shouldn’t be pushing him, I should be running away myself…!
The moment I had that thought, a dust-covered man was thrown out of the gate. It was none other than Nam Ihyeon who had thrown the person. With blood flowing from his forehead, he shouted.
“Fuck, who put a D-class in this gate? Do you want to die? I’m already busy enough as it is!”
Nam Ihyeon sounded very angry. He clearly didn’t look good, but he was better off than the person who had been thrown. I checked the D-class esper’s body. He was breathing, albeit weakly. His energy wavelength, which must have been very small to begin with, had completely disappeared. I wanted to give him something, even a little, by holding his hand, but nothing happened, probably because our matching rate was low.
“Damn it.”
“Park Garam?”
Nam Ihyeon saw me trying to guide the D-class esper somehow and reached out his hand. Then he grabbed the back of my neck.
“Huh? Wh-what! Let go of this!”
“This doesn’t seem like the place for you to be right now, does it?”
Nam Ihyeon said that to me, and then continued, nodding towards Kang Muwon.
“Clean this up. I’ll be back after clearing the gate.”
“Where, where are you going! I’m not going into the gate! I’m telling you I’m not going in!”
I kicked my legs while dangling in the air. But Nam Ihyeon paid no attention and dragged me into the gate. I started to feel nauseated, then felt my body being compressed and stretched.
“Cough, cough.”
Inside the gate was a ruined city. Gray buildings were all broken. Blue flashes were coming from a distance, probably where Kim Haewon was fighting.
“I’m in a hurry, so let’s get this over with quickly.”
Nam Ihyeon said as he started to unzip his pants. I thought he was some kind of crazy bastard, but I knew I would be helpless if an S-class esper was determined to attack me.
As soon as I understood the situation, I just rushed in and hugged his waist.
“Hey!”
He seemed to be saying something to me, but I started guiding while tightly hugging him. I felt an energy as hot as fire. The wavelength was the opposite of Kim Haewon’s. The spherical power was refined like a solid bead. And the surface of the wavelength was cracked as if it was too hot, like drought-stricken land. That place was thirsting for guiding.
As I began guiding, filling in those cracks, Nam Ihyeon bent his waist toward me and exhaled hot breath.
“When it would be easier to just stick it in and move…”
“I’m not your guide, so don’t be rude, Esper Nam Ihyeon.”
“They said the matching rate was high, and the effect is good indeed.”
Nam Ihyeon gently stroked my nape with his finger. I shook my head to flick off his hand and looked around. The gate’s exit was up in the air, and to get there, we’d need an esper’s power.
Damn it. There was a reason why the D-class esper and A-class guide couldn’t escape quickly. Moreover, if the shelter had been caught in such an entrance, they could have sustained serious injuries.
‘Maybe it’s fortunate that only two people were injured. This place looks like it could wipe everyone out.’
There was a residential area near the western gate. Even if the Association had evacuated as many people as possible, more could still be caught up in the situation.
The wavelength flared up once more. Nam Ihyeon and I looked in that direction simultaneously. I separated from him and asked.
“What is that?”
“There’s a rather large monster there. This place is strange. The difference in rank between monsters is too great. Some small fry could be killed by an F-class, but some beasts are so tough that several A-class could struggle with them.”
Nam Ihyeon crossed his arms and watched. I pushed him.
“I’ve patched you up enough. Go now. Esper Kim Haewon must be struggling to fight alone.”
“What could be overwhelming for that monster?”
“Are you not going because you’re scared?”
His wavelength was much more stable than Kim Haewon’s. Nam Ihyeon let out a dry laugh, perhaps offended by my sarcasm.
“Acting like you’re looking out for your pair?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just finish this quickly and let me out. Or let me out now.”
“That’s not possible. We don’t know what might happen.”
“Ah, then hurry and go… No, wait. Don’t you sense another guide’s wavelength right now?”
“A guide? There’s another one besides the guy I just threw out?”
“An A-class guide. If we don’t rescue them, they might die. S-class espers have more sensitive senses than others, right?”
“You’re asking me to find a needle in a sand beach. How am I supposed to find an A-class guide in this vast place?”
Nam Ihyeon frowned and closed his eyes. Maybe 1 or 2 minutes passed. Nam Ihyeon turned his head sideways and continued.
“Don’t know. Can’t feel anything. Must be dead.”
“What? How can you say that so easily? Wait, why have you been speaking informally to me this whole time?”
“If it bothers you, you do it too.”
“Forget it. Let’s just stop talking. Stop talking.”
The content of the novel could be changed, and could be changed by us. Nam Ihyeon had saved the D-class esper. But it was difficult to even find the A-class guide’s body. Was he really dead? Is this bastard just giving me a half-assed response? I was suspicious but couldn’t ask again.
As I was looking for a place to hide, the building right in front of us was sliced diagonally. Nam Ihyeon reflexively hid me behind him, and a crushed monster’s head rolled to my feet.
“Ugh…”
It was a disgustingly ugly face. Even Frankenstein would probably look better than this. The face, resembling a fat zombie, still had eyeballs rolling around. When the monster realized I was weaker than it, it extended its tongue toward me. But soon, the tongue froze in that extended position.
I looked at where that cold ice-attribute energy had been fired from. Kim Haewon, dressed in combat gear, was looking at me.
“What are you doing here?”
“W-well…”
“I brought him in.”
Kim Haewon opened his eyes fiercely and looked at Nam Ihyeon.
“I don’t understand.”
“…”
Kim Haewon ran his hand through his hair.
“Who do you think you are to bring in my guide?”
“It’s good for you too, isn’t it?”
“Shut up. And you, did you just come along because he said so? Do you know where this is?”
Kim Haewon’s anger turned toward me again. I was dumbfounded and was about to make excuses, but at that moment, the ground where I was standing began to crack, and something shot up from beside me. As I tightly closed my eyes, there was a booming sound, and a wind strong enough to make me stagger.
