“Hoo… this really is the end now, right?”
“Should be. Every time we thought it was over, more showed up—but it’s quiet now, so… I think we’re good?”
“If more come, we’ll just take them down again.”
“Can you not say that so casually? I seriously feel like I’m gonna die over here.”
“Please, all you did was support.”
Tae-hwan wiped the sweat off his forehead and smacked Min-hyeon on the back. Min-hyeon cried out, looking thoroughly wronged.
“I worked my ass off, okay⁉ And if that’s how we’re counting, then everyone except Rion just did support too!”
“Look at you, raising your voice now.”
For the typically timid Min-hyeon to shout like that, he must’ve been really upset. And honestly, it made sense. Even if they’d only supported, they’d been fighting until the sun had completely set—everyone was exhausted.
“I can’t even stand anymore. You guys are all S-rank or A-rank, so you might not get it, but I’m B-rank, okay? I don’t think I can even heal myself if my arm falls off right now.”
“I’m with him. I got wiped out early on from chronic guiding deficiency—I couldn’t do anything after that. Everyone’s judging things based on their own standards.”
Seo-jin, also a B-rank, nodded vigorously in agreement. The two of them, clearly outclassed in rank compared to the others, were visibly more worn out.
“Is that so?”
“It’s hard for S-ranks too, you know. We just did more work.”
“We’d rather die than use our powers again at this point.”
Min-hyeon grumbled and flopped onto the ground. Part of him wanted to whine and ask Rion to carry him, but the truth was, Rion had taken care of almost all the monsters.
Even for an S-rank Esper—an S-rank among S-ranks—Rion had poured so much power into this battle that he had to be completely spent.
“Then let’s get some guiding and head back. You never know when more monsters could show up.”
From above, Rion scanned the ground, checking for any remaining movement, then descended to the group. He glanced at the two B-ranks collapsed on the ground and casually lifted them both.
“There. That’s better. Let’s go.”
“W-wait—no, put me down! You must be exhausted too!”
“I’m fine. You two are the ones who are worn out. Go get guiding first. I can wait a little while.”
Rion spoke as if it were nothing, and both Min-hyeon and Seo-jin felt reassured. And he wasn’t just saying it to be nice—Rion genuinely did still have energy left.
He looked so clear-eyed and alert now that it was hard to believe he’d ever been struggling with chronic guiding deficiency. Maybe he just had trouble pacing himself at the start—now he was running on exactly what he needed to keep going.
It helped, probably, that he felt a bit more at ease these days. Thinking that, Rion headed toward the cluster of Guides to receive his turn.
“Min-hyeon, you okay?”
“Yes… I mean, no… I kinda feel like I’m dying.”
The moment he arrived, Min-hyeon grabbed Jin-ha’s hand and immediately started receiving guiding. Seeing how quick he was about it, Jin-ha figured it must’ve been an especially long day for him and gently patted his head with his other hand.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah… I think I might live now.”
“Hyung, give me your hand too.”
Yu-won, passing by the two, walked straight up to Rion. Rion looked at the large hand stretched out toward him, then shook his head.
“I’m good. There are people who need guiding more than I do—help them first. I can wait a bit. Guide Seo-jin first, would you?”
Rion reached over to where Seo-jin was barely holding herself together, grabbed her wrist, and placed her hand in Yu-won’s.
Yu-won’s brow twitched slightly.
But he quickly composed his face and took Seo-jin’s hand. It was a match between an S-rank Guide and a B-rank Esper—match rate aside, the guiding was effective. Seo-jin let out a long sigh of relief.
“Ahh… now that’s better. Honestly, if there’s one upside to this whole mess, it’s that I’ve gotten enough S-rank guiding to last a lifetime. It’s not like B-ranks ever get to experience this—heck, even A-rank guiding is rare. Gotta make the most of it while I can.”
“Really? Then just come to me whenever you need guiding. If I’ve got time after a Gate, I’ll help out.”
“Seriously? No take-backs, okay?”
“Why would I lie about that?”
Seo-jin grinned and shook Yu-won’s hand enthusiastically. Then she turned toward Rion with an eager expression.
“Is that okay with you?”
“Huh? Yeah, I don’t mind.”
“Lucky you, having someone like Yu-won as your match Guide. I wish I had one too—someone as skilled and cool as him!”
She raised a thumbs-up with her other hand and grinned up at Rion.
“Can’t I just be Yu-won’s matching Esper instead?”
“Huh?”
She was clearly joking, but the expressions on Rion and Yu-won’s faces were unexpectedly serious. Rion was the first to speak.
“…No. He’s my matching Guide. What was your match rate with him again?”
“Uh… I think it was around 71%? Somewhere in the low seventies.”
“That’s pretty high.”
“Well, once you’re at S-rank Guide level, it’s actually harder to get bad match rates with B-rank Espers.”
Seo-jin shrugged playfully. She wasn’t wrong—when the rank difference was more than two tiers, match rates often became meaningless.
S-rank Guides generally had high compatibility across the board. Even among B-rank Espers, most would match at 60% or higher with any S-rank Guide.
“That makes me feel a little insulted.”
“You’re just an exception.”
Of course, there were exceptions. Like Jin-ha, an S-rank Guide with fairly average match rates. His best rate, even now, capped at 69%.
“Anyway, if you get too cocky just because your match rate is high, someone might steal your Guide.”
“What a load of crap.”
Rion wanted to dismiss it as nonsense—but it wasn’t something he could laugh off entirely.
An S-rank and another S-rank. A 99% match rate. Yet, they still weren’t a pair. A strange arrangement.
But because of that absurdly high match rate, and the fact that Rion and Yu-won worked together so often, people treated them like an actual pair.
Now, however, there was another solid S-rank Guide in the picture—one with better match rates among B-ranks, and even fairly decent compatibility with A-ranks.
If things kept going this way, they might be assigned to the same Gates less and less. And then… the term “matching Guide” would start to lose meaning.
Until recently, Rion had wanted that. But now? Now, it felt… kind of sad.
“That’s not gonna happen.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. What kind of idiot would throw away a Guide with a 99% match rate? Don’t go sniffing around where you don’t belong. Keep it up and I’ll tell him not to guide you anymore.”
“Nooo!”
Seo-jin squealed and clung to Yu-won’s hand. She hadn’t meant it seriously from the start.
The talk about stealing his Guide, the tight grip on Yu-won’s hand—just teasing, nothing more.
“You done with the guiding?”
“Yeah, probably…”
“Then move.”
“So cold!”
“I’ve still got to get mine before we move.”
But Rion wasn’t joking when he reached over and pulled Seo-jin’s hand off of Yu-won’s. The thought that the joke might become reality left a sour taste in his mouth.
We were finally getting closer… no way I’m handing him over now.
“Might take a bit. I’m running on empty.”
“Then you should’ve gone first.”
The words were sharp—but it was clear this time that they came from concern. Rion let out a small chuckle.
“Someone who couldn’t even stand came first. I still had enough in me to wait.”
“Rion did pretty much everything again today. He actually seems more relaxed now than at the beginning.”
“Feels like nothing could surprise me anymore, no matter what kind of insane monster shows up. I think I’ve seen every weird creature there is.”
Rion shook his head with a tired smile. It was partly an attempt to lighten the mood—but it was true. He’d seen all kinds of monsters in the past four years, roaming Gate after Gate, but the ones in this Gate were beyond anything he’d ever encountered.
“The boss, too…”
Rion shuddered slightly as he recalled the boss’s distant silhouette. Even seeing it briefly from afar had sent a chill down his spine—he dreaded how terrifying it would be to face it in actual combat.
“Hyung?”
But he didn’t want to worry the others unnecessarily. Rion quickly forced a grin and changed the subject.
“No, nothing. How’s everyone doing on guiding?”
“We’re about done here.”
“This guy’s good too.”
“Wish I could give a bit more…”
They’d already entered the boss’s territory. Just because it was nighttime didn’t mean they were safe. And this Gate was crawling with all kinds of bizarre creatures.
Most places with nocturnal monsters are already dark when you enter, so it’s rare for them to be active this late. But this is an S-rank Gate—you can’t take anything for granted.
“Alright, let’s head out as soon as everyone’s finished guiding.”
Still holding Yu-won’s hand, Rion stood up. He thought he felt Yu-won’s grip tighten slightly—but figured it was just surprise from the sudden movement and didn’t think much of it.
“……”
No one noticed the conflicted expression that briefly flickered across Yu-won’s face as the group turned and made their way into the forest.
