As soon as they emerged from the teleport gate, Yeoul could be seen crouching on a rock.
“Dawoon hyung.”
He jumped up as soon as he saw Dawoon.
“Why are you so late? Didn’t you just change clothes?”
“It just ended up taking a bit longer. But Yeoul, why is your hair…”
Yeoul’s hair was covered in dirt and dust. Looking closely, his shoulders and back were also full of dust.
“Did you fall?”
“The leader threw me.”
Yeoul reported in full detail that the leader had made him roll on the ground several times.
That leader bastard. He must have thrown around a kid whose personality was already rough. What if his personality gets even worse from this? I’m raising him with such difficulty, trying to soothe him.
Dawoon glared at Ryu Taeha and carefully brushed off Yeoul’s body. Ryu Taeha, who had been watching this, smirked and turned around.
“You two don’t need to come to the meeting, so go help the patrol team.”
Ryu Taeha left the order and returned to the barracks. Dawoon, who had been glaring at that indifferent back, almost fell over from the weight of Yeoul leaning his body against him.
“Hey, you bastard…!”
“Sorry for getting you wet.”
Yeoul hugged Dawoon tightly and rested the tip of his nose on his round crown. Though he was a recessive omega, Dawoon was also quite tall since he was an esper. However, Yeoul was 10cm taller than him. Their youngest had no manners.
“I wish hyung was waterproof.”
He said something absurd while smoothing down Dawoon’s stiff new combat uniform. He seemed sorry for frequently getting Dawoon wet with his ability. He was a bundle of affection deprivation with some screws loose, but the kid was kind.
“If hyung catches a cold because of me, I’d be so sad.”
Dawoon patted the dispirited youngest’s back.
“You helped me this time. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve fallen to the ground and broken my neck.”
“Don’t say scary things.”
Yeoul hunched his shoulders and hugged Dawoon even harder. If Dawoon had been a guide and not an esper, it would have been strength he couldn’t endure.
“Alright. Let’s go to work.”
“Let’s stay a little longer.”
Two thick arms wrapped around Dawoon’s thin waist. Dawoon didn’t push away Yeoul, who clung to him like a baby koala. He just chuckled and stroked his broad back.
“Are you a child?”
Honestly, he was kind of cute. A guy with such a big build acting like a child was funny.
Thinking that this guy might become a villain… it makes me want to treat him even better. How hard must things have been for him to end up that way?
Dawoon continued to pat Yeoul while mulling over the developments that would unfold ahead.
The protagonist who hadn’t appeared yet, Baek Suho.
The day of his appearance wasn’t far off either. In fact, the one Dawoon was more worried about than Go Yeoul was precisely Baek Suho.
Baek Suho, who had a violent personality that only charged forward without considering the consequences, had only lived among beastmen. Unsocialized, he caused various incidents from the early part of his appearance.
Falling for Ryu Jin who cleaned up those incidents, he devoted all his sincerity to seducing Ryu Jin. He was a dangerous existence who coaxed the innocent Ryu Jin to the point of eventually spending the night with him.
Even knowing that Ryu Jin loved his hyung, he didn’t care and begged for his heart, asking to be loved too. However, this only became a catalyst that made the Ryu brothers’ relationship even more solid, producing the opposite effect.
In other words, Baek Suho was also a person of concern who needed to be kept far away from Ryu Jin. Especially since he was a guy who wouldn’t listen to reason, even more caution was needed.
Please appear as late as possible. Even now, Dawoon was already becoming exhausted every day from guarding against Ryu Taeha and soothing their youngest.
If one more guy increased here, his body wouldn’t be able to endure. So he just hoped he’d appear late. Of course, it would be even better if he didn’t appear at all.
Inside the dim barracks used for on-site meetings.
When Ryu Taeha entered, his clone sitting in the head seat smoothly disappeared on its own. Thanks to being able to share information with his clone, the meeting continued without interruption.
“Let’s continue.”
Ryu Taeha, seated at the head, gestured to Nam Seokgwan, the leader of Howl Guild, who had briefly stopped speaking. He was a senior esper ranked 2nd domestically.
“This year, the domestic ability manifestation rate decreased by 11%.”
Nam Seokgwan continued the meeting while looking at the hologram floating in the center of the table. The materials displayed graphs analyzing esper manifestation rates worldwide.
The Republic of Korea was one of the countries with an ability user shortage. It was a miracle that talented espers capable of making it to the world rankings, like Ryu Taeha, Nam Seokgwan, and Go Yeoul, had emerged from such a country.
Especially Ryu Taeha, who was S+ grade with multiple abilities, was a talent coveted even overseas. In times like these when the esper shortage problem was prominent worldwide, attempts to recruit Ryu Taeha came from all directions.
However, Ryu Taeha didn’t blink an eye at the scouting conditions that rose higher every year.
There was only one reason. Because Ryu Jin disliked overseas.
Ryu Jin liked familiar spaces and people. He had absolutely no interest in travel, which everyone enjoyed. He found more joy in taking walks around the dormitory alone with his hyung than going far away to unknown places.
Unaware of this, overseas they simply regarded Ryu Taeha as a great patriot. In a time full of espers who easily changed nationality and even turned their backs on their homeland if the conditions were good, Ryu Taeha’s conduct was distinctly exceptional. The number of countries coveting him, who was so loyal to his country, only increased.
Ryu Taeha was a treasure of the Republic of Korea. Though it was a nation whose esper numbers couldn’t escape the world’s lower ranks, they maintained pride saying, ‘We have the Sau Guild led by Ryu Taeha.’
Furthermore, Nam Seokgwan, the head of Howl Guild, was also a great source of domestic pride. Unlike Ryu Taeha who would abandon his homeland without looking back the moment his younger brother showed interest in going overseas, Nam Seokgwan was a true patriot.
“Every year, espers decrease while gates increase. If things continue this way, the problem will become serious.”
Nam Seokgwan displayed a new hologram. On the map marking gate occurrence zones, colors were distinguished by danger level. Fortunately, the red markings indicating higher levels weren’t many.
“So far, all the increased gates are rank B or below, so there’s no difficulty in handling them, but if the grades rise as well, there’s a possibility that civilians will get caught up in it.”
“Already this year, gate reports in civilian areas are increasing.”
Those seated around the table also added their words one by one. Eventually, it flowed toward a situation where they had no choice but to seek help from other countries. There was no way to artificially increase the esper manifestation rate. That wasn’t within the realm of what humans could do.
However, reaching out to allied nations was a last resort. Fortunately, up until now, gate handling was possible with just domestic guilds. Thanks to having many who could handle a hundred enemies alone like Ryu Taeha and Nam Seokgwan, despite their small numbers, they were protecting citizens without major problems.
But the problem was that the esper manifestation rate was decreasing more and more.
Miraculously outstanding espers like Ryu Taeha no longer appeared. As if mocking this, the ever-increasing monsters led to the emergence of those who worried about gate fissure accidents.
Gate fissures absolutely had to be avoided. A heavy shadow fell over the faces of the senior espers assuming that terrible situation. Only Nam Seokgwan, with his expressionless, blunt impression, looked at Ryu Taeha with a calm face.
“Guild Leader Ryu Taeha.”
Following Nam Seokgwan’s low voice, everyone’s gaze concentrated on Ryu Taeha. However, since returning to the barracks, Ryu Taeha hadn’t said a word, as if absorbed in other thoughts.
Nam Seokgwan stretched out his arm and lightly tapped in front of Ryu Taeha’s desk. Only then did Ryu Taeha raise his head and focus on the meeting again.
“Don’t worry too much, everyone.”
As if he hadn’t been absorbed in other thoughts, he responded to the gazes fixed on him with his characteristic relaxed smile.
“Don’t we have a card we’ve been saving?”
Ryu Taeha, who had risen to rank 1 at a young age, never felt intimidated even in front of senior espers with far more age and experience than himself. Rather, he ominously exuded an aura that overwhelmed others.
Even before his grade was assessed right after manifesting as an esper, his atmosphere had been extraordinary. He went around giving off a strange leisure that couldn’t be felt from a newcomer and a languidness like someone who had lived through all of life.
“It’s about time to use that card.”
No one asked what the ‘card’ he was talking about was. Even Nam Seokgwan, seated in the seat closest to the head, just silently looked at Ryu Taeha.
It was a topic that had come up long ago, so everyone understood at once. The card Ryu Taeha was talking about was the power of the beastmen tribe.
The beastmen tribe, who possessed power incomparable to guilds borrowed from allied nations. If only they lent their strength, something like gate fissures wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Ryu Taeha spoke calmly.
“I will meet with the leader of the beastmen tribe.”
