Checking Yu Haneul’s injuries was no easy task.
“Are you trying to break my ankle?”
“No. I was just trying to check the wound.”
“What’s the point of looking when you don’t even have medicine? You’re definitely just trying to torment me! Don’t come near me!”
As Yu Haneul, engulfed in anxiety, shouted at the top of his lungs, bugs crawled out. He struck the bugs heading toward Yu Haneul with the canteen—now just a lump of metal that had lost its function. The bug shells were so hard that after hitting them a few times, it had even been reformed into a bumpy shape that made it easier to grip.
“Yu Haneul-nim, are you okay?”
“Ugh… I really hate this.”
He put down the canteen, now covered in sticky bodily fluids and unsuitable for holding water, and approached Yu Haneul, who had collapsed in the middle of the cave.
Seeing that he was sitting on a rock to avoid the bugs popping out from the walls and ceiling, he hadn’t lost his reason. He was just a little—no, quite a lot—confused and his negative emotions had grown. Thanks to his bent knees, his exposed ankle still had purple bruises exactly where the vine marks had been. Unlike his wrist, which only had physical traces, his ankle showed a completely different pattern, and Han Seoha was certain it was a symptom of addiction.
Research on the bruises wasn’t really conducted.
As one got closer to the treasure room, the bruises increased and everything darkened. As if the treasure had sucked in all light and life. No poison or special substances were found in the mottled rocks or vines. True to a gate rich in mana, only the mana content was high.
The fact that it contains large amounts of mana… is a common characteristic, and it doesn’t cause any problems for Espers.
Since Guides, who were no different from ordinary people, had no reason to come near the treasure room, these symptoms were even less known.
The mana in the air has different densities outdoors versus in enclosed spaces. And since he was directly injured by the mana vines touching him, it became serious.
Yu Haneul had mana poisoning. To make matters worse, the symptoms manifested as auditory and visual hallucinations, and the location happened to be a narrow cave. And if he was with someone he not only had no affection for but was dying to devour, the anxiety and fear Yu Haneul felt would be considerable.
Here, he had to avoid provoking him as much as possible. Having made his decision, Han Seoha took a step back.
“Don’t go!”
When Yu Haneul shouted as if having a fit, making him want to shut his mouth, so he took a step closer again.
“Don’t come closer!”
What was he supposed to do?
When Han Seoha looked at Yu Haneul in a situation where he could neither advance nor retreat, he grimaced and panted for breath.
“Heu-euk, I can’t breathe. You came here on purpose, didn’t you?”
Even if the cave was narrow, it was open at both ends, and cool air was even blowing gently from the direction they needed to go. Han Seoha’s head ached from trying to think of a way to persuade someone who hated and feared him. What could he say to someone who got scared and angry just from him breathing?
For now, Han Seoha slowly sat down in the position where he’d become unable to move. Yu Haneul, whose eyes had turned red, watched Han Seoha without blinking once.
Yu Haneul’s condition could only get worse from here, not better. But he couldn’t just wait idly for the rescue team to arrive.
Even if the rescue team came, it would be a problem. Would it be possible to send only Yu Haneul and have Han Seoha go in alone to get the item?
Not a chance. There wouldn’t be an Esper anywhere who would let a Guide wander through the cave alone.
What appeared on the watch… this looks like Ryu Jaegeon.
Inside the gate where watch confirmation was only possible within a certain distance. Given the cave structure that extended in all directions—up, down, left, and right—before being blocked and bent, if he could sense it through waves, he must have approached quite close.
Anyway, his abilities are good.
This was the cold-hearted person who, with such excellent abilities, hadn’t saved his own partner.
To say he came to rescue Han Seoha… ah, but Yu Haneul is here.
Either way, it didn’t matter.
The direction to persuade Yu Haneul was decided.
“Jaegeon will come to rescue you.”
“Why would Jaegeon hyung? It’s been a while since you terminated your partnership with him—do you still have lingering feelings?”
When he mentioned Ryu Jaegeon, Yu Haneul suddenly switched to formal speech, but his tone was still sharp.
Han Seoha waved his hands frantically as if shocked by this.
“No, coming to rescue me? I’m C-rank, you know. We can’t waste a precious A-rank Esper on something like this.”
Since each point was correct, Yu Haneul bit his lip instead of refuting. The words were right, but something bothered him, so the words circled in his mouth.
“Jaegeon… that was the first time I saw Esper Ryu Jaegeon looking so comfortable. It’s all thanks to Yu Haneul-nim.”
“Of course. Do you think A-rank is easy?”
Though he reacted sharply, Yu Haneul’s anxiety had decreased, and Han Seoha gauged what state his mind might be in as he calmly continued the conversation.
“Esper Ryu Jaegeon has been waiting all along. For a Guide to save him.”
Yu Haneul didn’t answer, but the corners of his lips twitched.
“He was always struggling. By chance, his matching rate with me came out high… Back then, both Esper Ryu Jaegeon and I were rookies, so we didn’t know that a difference of two grades would matter that much. No, we knew but… we probably pretended not to know.”
“You two dated for 2 years, right?”
“We didn’t date. You know we were partners.”
“Liar. Everyone knows that if same-sex people are partners for over a year, it’s like that.”
As Yu Haneul filled up with distrust and wariness again, Han Seoha hesitated, then bowed his head deeply and spoke in a very small voice.
“It wasn’t like that with Jaegeon. Really.”
“Huh…?”
At these words, Yu Haneul was flustered for the first time. The embarrassment contained neither suspicion nor wariness, nor understanding nor doubt, but rather the awkwardness of uncovering someone else’s secret they’d tried hard to hide.
In the much softer atmosphere, Han Seoha drove the point home.
“So I’m truly grateful. I’ve been hoping all along that Esper Ryu Jaegeon would become whole.”
“Why? You’re nothing to him if you’re not partners. Honor, achievements, nothing will go to you.”
Han Seoha, who had been answering diligently, just smiled. What showed in that faint smile was relief and longing. The sincere affection was enough to extinguish even Yu Haneul’s sharp reaction as it scattered and hid in a wistful sigh.
“It’s okay however you think of me. Whether it’s a misunderstanding or the truth, whether you hate me or ignore me. As long as Guide Yu Haneul is safe, Jaegeon won’t hurt anymore.”
So why do you care? Yu Haneul barely swallowed the words he wanted to spit out. He knew that if he heard more here, the anxiety he didn’t need to have would just keep growing. The desire to shake off even a little anxiety forced Yu Haneul to speak.
“Jaegeon hyung has me, so don’t worry about it.”
“Yes, Guide Yu Haneul.”
Please take care of him. I promise. Even with the plain answer that didn’t add any words and the formal title, Yu Haneul’s nervousness didn’t fade.
The sounds of vines and bugs crawling behind the walls seemed to be getting louder. The sensation of Esper waves that shouldn’t exist seemed to be nearby, and he couldn’t bear the feeling of gradually going insane.
“Yu Haneul-nim?”
Yu Haneul suddenly stood up and started walking back the way they came, limping. As if unaware that Han Seoha was following him, his ankle wobbled precariously as he started running recklessly, looking only ahead.
“Be careful, the ground there is weak—it’s the path we avoided earlier!”
“Aaaah!”
Despite Han Seoha’s urgent warning, the ground beneath Yu Haneul’s recklessly stepping feet collapsed. It was only a portion, but the problem was the vines and insect-type magic beasts called by Yu Haneul’s scream.
Kururung.
Through the collaboration of the vines and earthworm magic beasts, one side of the narrow cave completely collapsed. A wide cavity was revealed just a few meters away, revealing that the cave they’d been walking through had been the ceiling.
“S-save me!”
Yu Haneul, who had barely grabbed onto a vine, checked what he’d grabbed and desperately tried to grab the wall. The pile of dirt Yu Haneul’s fingers scraped down rather made the collapsed space more unstable.
Han Seoha quickly surveyed the surroundings and wrapped one of the vines rapidly extending toward Yu Haneul around his wrist.
“Aah! Help me! Pull me up!”
Every time Yu Haneul screamed, the vines rapidly climbed up Han Seoha’s arm. Han Seoha, who slid toward the cave wall with a gaping hole, grabbed Yu Haneul’s jacket near his nape. At the sensation of his neck being suddenly pulled, Yu Haneul looked up with a tear-soaked face.
“Please save me!”
“Stop shouting.”
Only then did Yu Haneul shut his mouth tightly, but one of Han Seoha’s arms was already wrapped in vines up to the shoulder. He held Yu Haneul with his good hand so he wouldn’t slide any further, but he didn’t have enough strength in one arm to pull up an adult man.
“See the vine next to you? Grab that and climb up.”
“I can’t.”
Instead, he tightly gripped Han Seoha’s hand that was holding his nape. Yu Haneul’s trembling hands revealed it was fear, not stubbornness.
“Don’t let go.”
“I won’t let go.”
If they just held on like this, they would only keep sliding down. It would be better to make noise and get pulled up by the vines.
But what Han Seoha saw was Ryu Jaegeon in the distance, wandering unable to pinpoint their location from the cave’s echoes.
He managed to find his way here.
I can’t miss this opportunity to dump this burden.
