The fact that there were no civilian casualties was extremely fortunate, but it was obvious even without seeing that Kang Taejun must have fought more fiercely than anyone in the deepest place. Because he was a man who had never once taken combat lightly.
Park Shinui recalled the descriptions in the original novel. The bloody battles Kang Taejun waged against monsters were always described in desperately vivid detail across multiple pages. Even if he possessed absolute power that no one could approach, not all battles had been smooth.
“His contamination level must have risen again.”
Moreover, the abilities Kang Taejun handled were all top-tier without exception. In proportion to that overwhelming destructive power, every time he poured out his strength, the contamination level that gnawed at his mind and body rose steeply.
The man who couldn’t even keep a proper guide by his side had to swallow unbearable pain alone after exterminating monsters each time, instead of cheers of victory. That terrible sensation of contaminated wavelengths flowing through his blood vessels and slashing at his nerves—he had endured it until now relying on a few pills of Mendorin.
The appearance of Kang Taejun suffering as his contamination level reached its peak and his muscles twisted on their own, engulfed in a burning sensation as if lava was flowing through every blood vessel. He’d even watched countless times in dreams those miserable moments when blood trickled down from around his eyes, unable to endure the intraocular pressure.
Back then, all he could do was feel sorry as a reader, but now it was different. After directly facing Kang Taejun writhing in pain like a beast in the air-raid shelter a few days ago, an intense desire to save him had taken root inside Park Shinui.
He didn’t know if this was an instinct he couldn’t refuse as a Guide, or affection as a reader who had cherished him for a long time. However, what was certain was only the fact that he hoped Kang Taejun would no longer be left alone in that hellish pain.
Above all, the occurrence cycle of gates was abnormal. It was already the third gate even though not much time had passed since Park Shinui entered this world. In the original work, gates usually appeared at intervals of two to three months, or at the earliest one month. There had never been A-grade or higher gates that lower-grade Espers couldn’t even touch, bursting out consecutively within a matter of days.
“Kang Taejun hasn’t even received proper guiding……”
They’d been holding it down by holding hands and embracing for the past three days, but that was only a temporary measure like spraying a water mist on blazing flames. Kang Taejun’s numbers were still exceeding 80%, the danger zone. Having thrown himself into the battlefield again in that state, by now his mind might be reaching its limit and being scraped away.
“Going into the air-raid shelter would be much slower than me guiding him.”
Thinking that way, even what the Ability Center had been pressuring and demanding with Kang Taejun’s status reports felt like a reasonable request. Because the military power that one person called Kang Taejun possessed was more enormous than combining many high-grade Espers.
Park Shinui let out a deep sigh—he’d lost count of how many times—while looking around the house without warmth. There were no clues to gain in this fake-like house corner anyway.
Then should he go home and wait for Kang Taejun, or should he run to the Center? His worry deepened. Anxiety assailed him that perhaps today, a level of simply holding hands might not be able to handle his contamination level.
Ring- Ring- Ring-
As if cutting off the worries that had been chasing each other’s tails in his mind with a single stroke, the cell phone on the table rang sharply. Park Shinui jumped up with the feeling of his heart plummeting to his feet and grabbed the cell phone as if snatching it.
Kang Taejun
The name clearly embedded on the screen was that person who had been filling his mind until just now. Park Shinui unconsciously moistened his parched lips with his tongue and carefully pressed the call button.
“Hello.”
― Where are you right now?
A resolute voice mixed with urgent breathing flowed through the receiver. Park Shinui was momentarily dazed at his voice that felt much closer than expected, then hurriedly answered.
“Park Shinui’s… I mean, the house I used to live in.”
Kang Taejun was silent for a moment. Between the silence, rough breathing continued faintly, then soon a short answer returned.
― I’ll be there soon.
“What? Ah, wait a moment! I haven’t even told you exactly where this is……”
Click.
The call ended without time to add an explanation. Park Shinui stared blankly down at the disconnected screen, engulfed in bewilderment. How would he know the location and come—it was before the question could even fade.
Not even a few minutes had passed when the air in the middle of the quiet living room began to ripple tremblingly. The empty air that had nothing wavered as if twisting bizarrely, then along with a short bursting sound—’swoosh’—a human silhouette gradually formed.
“……!”
Park Shinui’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. It was unbelievable. Kang Taejun had appeared not even 5 minutes after hanging up the phone. In the same surreal manner as when he’d disappeared like smoke before his eyes during the gate mobilization this afternoon.
“What’s with that expression?”
Kang Taejun strode toward Park Shinui, who was standing there with his mouth open blankly, and asked.
“My expression… why, what about it?”
The scene he’d just witnessed was so surreal that it was still hard to come to his senses.
“You look like you’re about to drool.”
“What?”
With a just-in-case feeling, Park Shinui quickly wiped around his mouth with the back of his hand. Fortunately, nothing came off, but his face burned with embarrassment.
“Why are you so surprised by just something like this?”
Kang Taejun’s voice was lowered and sunken. His expression also didn’t look very good, which was natural since he’d just finished a fierce battle and his contamination level would have shot up.
“How did you… come straight here?”
Park Shinui tried to shake off the awkwardness with a cough and asked. However, overwhelmed by the abnormal heat emanating from Kang Taejun, he subtly withdrew his body.
Spatial movement had clear limits. Unless it was a location marked in advance, dropping at such a precise point was close to impossible. The mental and physical strength consumed in that process was also enormous, and above all, the harsh price of increased contamination level followed. Yet that man was standing in the middle of the living room with an unconcerned face.
“This place… seems a bit different from when I came last time.”
Kang Taejun, without approaching further, scanned the house interior with reddened bloodshot eyes. Under his combat uniform sleeves, on the back of his hands, black blood vessels were spreading out like living creatures, but his attitude alone was bizarrely leisurely.
Park Shinui observed him with glancing eyes while unconsciously clenching and unclenching his fists. He’d thought he’d gotten used to it after spending several days together, but the space facing Kang Taejun alone was still suffocatingly uncomfortable. His body instinctively couldn’t relax its tension.
“Have you been here before?”
To break the precarious atmosphere, Park Shinui deliberately asked as if composed. The question itself was contradictory since he’d already marked the coordinates and appeared, but it was a question thrown out while pretending not to know.
“Ah, you’d lost your memory.”
Then Kang Taejun slowly crossed his arms as if seeing through Park Shinui’s intentions and raised the corners of his mouth. His tone was mixed with an irritating level of sarcasm.
Though he might look fine on the outside, Kang Taejun’s condition was by no means good. From the moment he appeared in the living room, the wavelengths emanating from him were wildly fluctuating and twisting the surrounding air unstably.
Park Shinui widened his eyes then immediately calmed his mind. Knowing full well that Kang Taejun’s physical condition wasn’t normal, he didn’t want to get angry and start a fight. He was willing to lightly pass over that level of sarcasm. Was it a matter of just a day or two that that man acted nastily?
“Give me your hand.”
He appeared as if he needed guiding right away, yet once they faced each other, he pretended to be unconcerned and acted leisurely. Did his lofty pride make him unwilling to ask first? He was acting strange about the hand they’d been holding just fine until now.
Park Shinui hesitated for a moment but eventually reached out his hand first. Now wasn’t the time to hesitate while weighing pride or complicated thoughts.
Kang Taejun’s rough breathing was already indicating he’d reached a critical point. Looking closely, his shoulders were trembling finely, and the muscles at the tip of his tightly clenched jaw quivered.
“Ugh.”
The moment it touched the back of his hand, a tingling sensation passed by as if a faint current was flowing. Body heat like a fireball and an irregularly racing pulse were transmitted directly through his fingertips.
“It’s okay.”
Though he said that with his mouth, Kang Taejun’s condition was much more miserable than expected. Park Shinui felt dizzy at the contaminated wavelength as if being sucked into an endless abyss. Even just this afternoon it hadn’t been this bad, so he couldn’t even gauge how high the contamination level had soared during the battle of barely three hours.
