# Chapter 39
When even that expression was completely wiped away, his face would look lifeless and rigid like a wax figure, making people instinctively afraid.
When he called out “hyung” in that state, Ko Ijae would startle as if he’d had a nightmare. After hesitating for a moment, Ko Ijae offered a sincere compliment.
“You’re handsome, Dowoon.”
But regardless of his goodwill, Yeo Dowoon desperately persisted.
“Just because someone likes alcohol and cigarettes doesn’t mean they’re promiscuous or anything like that.”
“…Right? Of course not.”
“I’ve even almost quit cigarettes. I don’t smell like cigarettes, do I?”
“No, not at all. Zero nicotine. Zero tar.”
Ko Ijae looked with desperate eyes at the back of Kwon Jeonghoo, who was making Yoon Minoh alternate between windmill exercises and back tumbling after Minoh had thrown a tantrum saying he absolutely couldn’t handle training.
Even though Yeo Dowoon had been working on the same team for 10 years now, whenever he showed this unpredictable side, Ko Ijae felt like he wanted to be transferred somewhere remote in the mountains.
As if his wishes had been heard, Kwon Jeonghoo suddenly turned his body counterclockwise.
“Captain!”
Ko Ijae didn’t miss this precious opportunity and tried to pass Yeo Dowoon off to him. But for some reason, Kwon Jeonghoo just slightly raised the corner of his mouth and merely nodded his head.
-Ijae. You tell him for me.
Since he could no longer attempt telepathy with Yeo Dowoon, he wanted to convey his message through Ko Ijae. He had already eavesdropped on their entire conversation through Ko Ijae.
Thanks to this, Ko Ijae opened his mouth feeling like he had encountered a difficult situation.
“Um, Dowoon?”
Yeo Dowoon, who had been reflecting on his behavior, answered crookedly.
“What?”
“The Captain says…”
Then Ko Ijae reluctantly conveyed the message, as if he didn’t want to either.
“If you don’t want to be misunderstood, fix your Guide fetish first.”
“Guide what?”
“Guide fetish.”
“…”
“Oh, and.”
Unlike his usual loose formal wear, Kwon Jeonghoo was wearing the same training clothes as the other Espers.
“Never mind. Just fix your Guide fetish.”
Perhaps because of the tight-fitting material, his chest and thighs were particularly noticeable today. His well-structured muscles seemed to ripple like small waves following his movements.
Yeo Dowoon, who had been staring intently at him, suddenly blurted out.
“Tell him I don’t have any such fetish.”
Ko Ijae asked in confusion.
“Me?”
“Well, who else is here besides you, hyung?”
Though he desperately wanted to answer ‘You! You, you bastard…!’, he barely held back his frustration. He couldn’t understand the mentality of the Captain and Ace who dragged him into a conversation they could have had between themselves.
But Ko Ijae faithfully carried out his orders, speaking loud enough for Kwon Jeonghoo to hear.
“He says he doesn’t have such a fetish, Captain.”
However, Kwon Jeonghoo didn’t give any response and only focused on training Yoon Minoh.
When Ko Ijae hesitated and conveyed that there was no response from the Captain, Yeo Dowoon stretched widely and suddenly laid down on his thigh.
“…Dowoon?”
The firm muscle supported Yeo Dowoon’s neck like a wooden pillow made from hardwood.
When Ko Ijae shifted his leg, Yeo Dowoon scolded him to stay still. His eyes looking up at Ko Ijae were soaked with fatigue.
“I’ll stay like this just until we go on the mission.”
“Hm?”
“I’ve been having a hard time lately…”
Yeo Dowoon, who had mumbled this, slowly closed his eyes.
The breeze was cool and the sunlight warm. Perhaps because he had been living on edge lately, tension was tightly wound throughout his body and wouldn’t release.
His back and spine especially often felt stiff and sore. Yeo Dowoon grabbed Ko Ijae’s hand and made him create shade above himself.
“I should have time to rest too.”
At this natural aegyo, Ko Ijae burst into laughter.
Because he was such an outstanding Esper, he often forgot, but the image of Yeo Dowoon asking him Korean questions while preparing for his GED exam flashed through his mind.
He used to tease him a lot, saying it was quite a talent how he would consistently pick only the wrong answers on multiple choice questions. Whenever that happened, Yeo Dowoon would angrily spout out a string of curses.
“Yeo Dowoon.”
But the peaceful atmosphere didn’t last long. Kwon Jeonghoo, who had programmed Yoon Minoh with the back tumbling command, approached them and pulled Yeo Dowoon upright.
Fuck. He almost dislocated his arm.
Yeo Dowoon frowned as he looked at his wrist, which had reddish handprints just from being grabbed once. He had grabbed so hard that even his joints were throbbing.
“Briefing starts soon, so stop dawdling around.”
“That means it’s not starting yet.”
Yeo Dowoon answered irritably as he stood up on his long legs. His gait following Kwon Jeonghoo was no different from a soulless zombie.
Yoon Minoh, who had been doing back tumbling with his large body all folded up, noticed that he had walked near him and grinned.
He was disappointed that he couldn’t call out “hyung!” as he wanted.
“Ugh… bleh! I think I’m gonna puke, damn.”
Only after Kwon Jeonghoo released the mental manipulation did Yoon Minoh stagger and fall on his butt. As he caught his breath while sweating buckets, he suddenly looked up at Yeo Dowoon.
Although half of Yeo Dowoon’s features were hidden due to the backlighting, he could clearly see every bit of those precious lips that had given him the cool energy of ice.
“Hyung. Did you come to see me?”
Yoon Minoh asked desperately, even while gasping for breath.
Yeo Dowoon sighed as he looked at his hair, which was sticking together, damp with sweat.
Seeing those eyes sparkling with expectation made him think he should say something warm.
“I came here to make money, you bastard.”
But there was no mercy in the palm that struck the back of Yoon Minoh’s head.
Yoon Minoh, who ducked his head with an “Aagh!”, made a dejected face as if he were hurt. His pouting lips looked exactly his age.
“Everyone, attention.”
Kwon Jeonghoo stood in the center of the group. It was a very rare situation where all of Team Delta had gathered in one place, except for one Esper who had been dispatched overseas.
When Kwon Jeonghoo flicked his finger, Yoon Minoh got up like a wind-up toy and walked toward him step by step.
“Fuck…”
He cursed at Kwon Jeonghoo’s character for using telepathy even for such simple actions.
Only after he safely arrived beside him did Kwon Jeonghoo finally release the telepathy. After casually ignoring Yoon Minoh, who took a deep breath with a “Haah,” he explained simply.
“Remember this. As of today, the physical-type Yoon Minoh has joined the Delta Project.”
“Wow… Looking at your faces, you’re all old geezers. Hello, uncles?”
Yoon Minoh grinned foolishly and threw out a greeting that looked even more foolish than his face.
While Baek Seonwoo was displeased by the arrogance that seemed even more difficult than when Yeo Dowoon had joined, Ko Ijae quickly gave up and accepted it. He concluded that young S-class individuals must be born with that kind of cockiness engraved in their blood vessels.
Only Cha Haseong, who had just returned to the base today after finishing a business trip to Jeju Island, praised Yoon Minoh as quite a fresh kid. He was the first to step forward and extend his hand as if to shake hands.
“Welcome, Minoh. Call me hyung.”
“Haha. I don’t want to shake hands with old geezers, I want to shake hands with Dowoon hyung.”
And Yeo Dowoon…
“No.”
He curtly rejected Yoon Minoh’s cheeky request and ignited flames in his palm with a whoosh. He coldly dismissed the crestfallen Yoon Minoh and pressed Kwon Jeonghoo to give more mission briefing.
Then Cha Haseong, perhaps feeling awkward about his dangling arm, turned it toward Yeo Dowoon. Just as he naturally put his arm around his shoulders and Yoon Minoh glared saying “Look at that!”
“The Gate’s origin point is Yeongjong Island in Incheon, and the estimated grade is probably S.”
“An S-grade broke out at the coastline?”
When Baek Seonwoo asked in surprise, Kwon Jeonghoo slowly reprimanded him.
“Questions after the briefing ends.”
Originally, S-grade Gates or S-grade dungeons broke out very rarely in coastal areas. Rather than rare, it was safe to say the possibility was close to 0%.
If they did occur, Gates appeared more actively than dungeons, and even then, most cases remained at C-grade or D-grade levels.
But an estimated S-grade?
“So far it’s been confirmed as a no-dungeon Gate, but whether it will continue to remain only in Gate form is unknown. The Gate connection area is the North Atlantic.”
The more they heard, the more absurd it became.
Although their occurrence frequency was minimal, coastal Gates were often counted among the more difficult Gates to conquer. This was because there was great potential for them to connect to anywhere with water.
