The cycle by which Gates appeared was always arbitrary. It was certainly remarkable that an S-rank Gate hadn’t appeared in Korea for such a long time—but it wasn’t impossible.
In some places, they appeared as often as three times a year, while there were countries where no S-rank Gate had appeared for over thirty years.
Still, if no S-rank Gate appeared for more than twenty years, anyone would inevitably start thinking, Maybe this place is a safe zone.
Rion was no different. Neither was the Center Director. Of course, neither of them thought S-rank Gates would disappear forever—but they had at least believed things would remain quiet for a few more years.
And yet, less than two months later, signs of another S-rank Gate were appearing again. It was horrifying enough to make him want to believe it was all just a bad dream.
“……It might not be, right? I mean, it’s just… a possibility, isn’t it?”
“The signs are almost identical to last time. We’re treating it as nearly confirmed. I’d like to believe it’s just unfounded anxiety too, but it’s harder to think that it isn’t.”
Rion bit down hard on his lip. There were four S-rank Espers at the Central Center—but two were currently inside Gates, and one was abroad on leave due to a family funeral.
As far as he knew, that person wouldn’t be back until next week. Even then, they’d be exhausted on a personal level, and it would be cutting it close just to fit in preparatory training.
“Of all people, Hyobin was the last to enter a Gate. That means he’ll be the last to come out. Haah… we don’t even have enough time to start training immediately.”
It wasn’t hard for Rion to understand why the Center Director had called him in. At present, Rion was the only S-rank Esper left at the Center—and the one who could be deployed right away with the fewest complications.
“I wanted to let you rest longer, but I can’t do that in a situation like this. Ideally, I wouldn’t want to send the same people as last time, but……”
“It’s fine. I’m the best choice anyway, right?”
Rion replied calmly. He’d been looking forward to returning to a Gate—but coming back under circumstances like this didn’t exactly feel welcome.
“Senior Hyobin was the last to enter, so he’ll probably be back right before the Gate opens. Senior Cheonghyeon is overseas for a family funeral. Senior Hyeon-seo and I are the only ones with prior S-rank Gate experience—and Hyeon-seo will be back in two days at the latest.”
“That’s right. And even without all that, sending the strongest Esper is still the better option.”
The Center Director shook his head with a pained expression. No matter how he looked at it, there was no avoiding sending Rion.
You could only let someone rest when the situation allowed for it. Letting the Center’s greatest asset—an S-rank Esper—sit out in circumstances like this would be insanity.
“And Yu-won should be back as early as today, or at the latest within two days… it’ll be exhausting, but it’s not an impossible schedule.”
Will Yu-won be okay?
The thought suddenly crossed Rion’s mind, and his brow furrowed.
He himself would be fine—but from a Guide’s perspective, entering an S-rank Gate again in less than two months couldn’t not be a burden. And Yu-won had always looked uncomfortable whenever S-rank Gates were even mentioned.
“……I guess so.”
But there was no helping it. This was the profession they had chosen—a profession where you had to live with the knowledge that situations like this could arise at any time.
No matter how complicated his feelings were, no matter how much he worried about Yu-won, he couldn’t let that interfere with work. It was a little bitter that he didn’t even have the time to think about the true nature of the emotions he’d been feeling lately—but that kind of introspection could wait until after the job was done.
“So I’ll be entering together with Hyeon-seo sunbae, then?”
“Most likely. Last time, we were lucky enough to detect the signs early, but this time the discovery was late. It looks like the Gate will open within a few days.”
One problem piled on top of another. In a situation like this, it was fortunate at least that he hadn’t been inside a Gate himself.
“The Busan team entered five days ago in the morning, so they should be coming out soon. I feel bad bringing this up the moment they’re out, but… what choice do we have?”
“They’ll understand. And even if they don’t—well, it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it.”
“True. For now, assume Hyeon-seo and Yu-won are in, and I’ll have to think about how to select the rest of the team.”
“If we try to build the team mainly from those who went last time… the team that entered most recently would be cutting it pretty close.”
“Yeah. It’s better to exclude them. Haah, this is giving me a headache.”
After that, Rion helped the Center Director draft a roster for the new S-rank Gate. After roughly narrowing down candidates who had good compatibility with either Hyeon-seo or Rion, they decided to finalize the team once Hyeon-seo returned from the Gate and wrapped things up for the day.
The roughly completed list became completely useless just one day later.
***
“Sunbae, did you hear about that?”
“Hear what?”
“They say there was a seriously injured person at the Busan Gate.”
“What?”
Just past lunchtime, Rion froze on the spot when a junior told him about the Busan Gate.
“W-who? I haven’t heard anything like that.”
There hadn’t even been a notification that the Gate had closed yet. Even as he thought it sounded impossible, Rion couldn’t just let the comment slide and pressed for details.
“We haven’t even gotten a Gate closure alert yet.”
“Apparently things are still chaotic over there. I heard it from a staff member I’m close with who’s on site—they said there’s a seriously injured person, so it’s taking some time to wrap things up……”
“Who—who got hurt?”
“I didn’t hear that much. They said things were crazy and hung up pretty quickly……”
No way.
Rion’s face drained of color as he immediately pulled out his phone and called Yu-won. When the automated message informed him that the phone was powered off, Rion shoved his phone back into his pocket with a sharp, irritated motion.
“Are you sure you didn’t hear wrong?”
“No. They looked really rushed. I clearly remember them complaining nonstop about having to go all the way to Busan.”
An unknown critically injured person.
Rion’s heartbeat grew so loud it felt like it might burst out of his chest.
It can’t be. There were four Espers and two Guides in that Gate. There’s no way the injured one is Lee Yu-won—…no, wait. They never said it was only one person, did they?
Come to think of it, there could have been more than one injured person. If someone was critically hurt, it was common for the rest of the team to come out with minor injuries as well.
[Gate Subjugation Notice: The Gate that occurred in Busan 000―00 on 10/21 has been successfully suppressed.]
The completion alert arrived late. Rion tried calling Yu-won again, but once more, all he got was the stiff mechanical voice saying the phone was unreachable.
“It can’t be. There’s no way……”
“Why are you so anxious? This isn’t like you, sunbae.”
The junior, who had been watching Rion grow increasingly agitated over what they’d thought was a minor update, glanced at him cautiously. They’d expected maybe a bit of fuss—but Rion’s anxiety was intense enough to make even an observer uneasy.
“I-I guess you’re really worried because he’s your matching Guide.”
The junior Esper wasn’t someone Rion was uncomfortable with—but they weren’t close, either. This entire situation felt unfamiliar and bewildering to them.
The two were famously known for not getting along, and while people said their relationship had improved since they started living together, Rion’s current behavior went far beyond mere concern for someone you weren’t on bad terms with.
Normally, Rion might have thought, Does it really look that way?—but right now, he didn’t even have the mental space for that.
Rather than just sitting here, it’s better to move and find out something—anything.
Having made up his mind, Rion spoke decisively.
“I’m going to head out first.”
“Huh? Weren’t we on our way to simultaneous activation training? It’s not like you can go there right now anyway, and if something really happened, we’ll hear about it soon—”
“I’ll go alone today.”
Before the junior could even finish speaking, Rion turned and started running.
Just as the junior had said—even if Rion immediately used his ability to rush over, it would still take hours to reach Busan. And if something truly had happened, news would reach him within those hours.
But he didn’t have the composure to wait. If he didn’t confirm what was going on—who had been hurt—it felt like something terrible would happen.
“They must’ve gotten… really close. He really cherishes him, huh.”
Left to head to the training center alone, the junior murmured quietly—too softly for Rion to hear. Could a person really change this much in just a few months?
“He looks like he’s in love or something.”
The words slipped out unconsciously, and the junior quickly shook their head. There’s no way.
And just like that, the footsteps of the two heading toward the training center diverged.
