39.
If it had been an area where Exclusive Economic Zones overlapped, they would naturally have sent an official document to the Chinese side requesting an alert, but the location where the gate was generated wasn’t such a place—it clearly belonged only to South Korea’s territorial waters.
It would be absurd to officially request South Korea for rescue or body recovery, but they couldn’t just sit idly by when they couldn’t guarantee their citizens’ safety either. So the Chinese side had requested to enter this site together, offering enormous support and unofficial diplomatic gifts.
South Korea, for its part, had nothing to gain by widely publicizing internally or externally that they had failed to detect the opening of a high-level S-class dungeon gate in real time. It was the result of the cleverly interlocking interests of both authorities.
However, that was the circumstance of the high-ranking officials who organized and moved the political board above, while the opinions of the ability users who actually had to enter the field and fight were obviously quite different.
The other side would also send carefully selected outstanding talents, so joining forces to enter wouldn’t necessarily be disadvantageous to their fighting power. However, the psychological burden came from entering together with people they couldn’t confidently trust to watch their backs in an unstable situation where visibility wasn’t properly secured and monster attacks could come at any time.
“Sigh… Just make sure to place Han Ji-su Esper with me. If not even that’s possible, I’m really going to wash my hands of this.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry.”
Kim Jun-young made a circle with his thumb and index finger and waved it. As if he had uncannily noticed that Ryu Ho-yeon’s lecture had concluded, his smiling expression was simply relaxed.
Han Ji-su was an A-class natural-type Esper whose main ability was controlling water, an ability user who could secure an advantageous position better than anyone else in water-related settings, whether rivers or seas.
Ryu Ho-yeon, saying he needed to eat something good since he was stressed, stomped out of the team leader’s office with heavy footsteps. Behind him, Choi Jae-won hurriedly followed, saying, “Hey, I should come with you.”
He was about to get up and leave. Kim Jun-young and Choi Jae-won’s gazes suddenly met and entangled in mid-air. The two exchanged casual eye greetings with appropriately comfortable expressions.
Some might think the relationship between the two would be quite uncomfortable or awkward given that Dr. An, who had completely trampled on Kim Jun-young’s late boyhood, stood between them. Logically, it would have been much more natural for things to flow that way.
However, surprisingly, Kim Jun-young and Choi Jae-won had smoothly maintained the position of workplace colleagues who saw each other frequently enough, if not close friends, from two years ago until now. It would be a lie to say there wasn’t any concern about Ryu Ho-yeon feeling uncomfortable as the one caught in the middle, though neither was particularly the type to be overly conscious of others’ feelings.
But apart from that, Kim Jun-young could understand Choi Jae-won’s choices and actions more deeply than anyone else from the position of someone who desperately yearned for someone. So how could he truly be angry at a junior who was easily more than ten years younger?
Also, as stated earlier, Kim Jun-young had long since graduated from his boyhood, too far removed to suffer or boil with revenge because of Dr. An. Choi Jae-won also viewed Dr. An merely as a means to an end, so any lingering resentment could be postponed for later.
Kim Jun-young thought that if he were in Choi Jae-won’s position and Lee Jung-hyuk were in Ryu Ho-yeon’s, he could have committed even worse acts without hesitation. After all, isn’t it natural to be that desperate and cling so fiercely to achieve love?
If there was one piece of advice he could offer… whether because he was still young or just his personality, Choi Jae-won never knew how to take credit for his efforts despite going through all kinds of hardships. Even when his body was battered from successive experiment participations and dungeon deployments, Choi Jae-won would grit his teeth and try to act as normal as possible, pretending to be fine whenever Ryu Ho-yeon was watching.
If it had been Kim Jun-young, he would never have done such a foolish thing. He would have shown his pain when in pain, his struggle when struggling, thoroughly shaking the other person’s mind—making it too loud and clear to distinguish between love and pity.
“Jun-young hyung, your expression right now…”
“Hm?”
“What mischievous thoughts are you having that make you smile like that?”
“Mischievous thoughts? No way. Hey, Jung-hyuk. We have some time, should we go out and take a break?”
Kim Jun-young habitually changed the subject and pulled Lee Jung-hyuk up from the sofa by his shoulders. It was know-how acquired through his own unnecessary struggles spanning more than a decade. He had no particular intention of sharing it.
“S-s-so, after entering the gate, you must only communicate through me. Understood?”
The C-class Esper in question, Kim Ga-ram, with his impressively kind round face, emphasized as if making a final request. It seemed the person making the request was more nervous than those listening to it, but considering the diplomatic face of the Level 5 diplomat, Ryu Ho-yeon just quietly nodded.
This foreign ministry official, exactly thirty years old this year, had passed the foreign service examination last year and was in the middle of completing a one-year training program. In terms of the Center’s ability users, it meant he was a bright green rookie who hadn’t even finished basic training.
He had suddenly been called away in the middle of his training, processed for exemption from Center admission once confirmed as a C-class Esper, and then immediately transplanted into this field. At this point, he qualified as the most unfortunate person among those standing before this gate, with plenty to spare.
Even Ryu Ho-yeon, an S-class Esper, had started adapting gradually from B-class dungeons when training to enter dungeons. The same was true for Kim Jun-young and Park Woo-jun. Because the outside environment and the inside of the gate were so different, it was most important to first accustom one’s senses to the dungeon ecosystem itself.
But for a C-class Esper who had lived a life no different from an ordinary person, a billion light-years away from dungeons, to enter an S-class dungeon from the start—and a maritime dungeon notorious for its challenging environment at that.
Considering that countless B-class ability users retire safely without ever setting foot in the shadow of an S-class dungeon from the day they enter the Center until the day they retire, it’s no exaggeration to say that this was like cramming his lifetime quota of dungeons into this one instance.
Splash.
“Aaah!!”
Even at just a single, mild splash of a wave, Kim Ga-ram’s heart seemed to drop as he collapsed in place with a short scream. Even then, he rolled toward the stern due to the floor swaying with the waves.
The assault team members, who had seemed quite tense about the unfamiliar joint operation with foreign ability users, finally couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
The members of this assault team, organized around materialization ability user Ryu Ho-yeon and A-class Esper section chief Han Ji-su, were all elite personnel, as expected. They were the type of people who would find it harder to deliberately feel afraid of things like a swaying bow or fiercely crashing waves.
To their eyes, the C-class with his fluffy down-like hair, busy chirping that all exchanges with the other side must go through him, was simply cute. That was the impression they got even though the actual Kim Ga-ram was a sturdy adult half a span taller than Ryu Ho-yeon.
The Chinese vessel appeared exactly five minutes before the appointed time. Han Ji-su cheerfully waved to the representative Esper standing at the bow of their ship. Seeing this, Kim Ga-ram, who had rolled all the way over there and was awkwardly returning to his place, turned pale, quickly ran over, and immediately pulled down Han Ji-su’s swaying hand.
“E-E-Esper! A-according to the manual, all exchanges are p-prohibited, so c-clearly only through me…!”
“Calm down, Secretary. That friend and I already know each other, so there won’t be any unnecessary conflicts.”
Han Ji-su just smiled brightly, saying it was a face he had encountered countless times while being stationed at the Incheon branch for a long time, practically in charge of this coastline. Then, turning around so those on the other side couldn’t read his lips, he left some advice for his companions in a small voice.
“He’s extremely moody, so be careful. When he’s in a good mood, he’s limitlessly good, but once things go wrong, he becomes limitlessly bad. If he seems to be showing off, applaud him, and if he acts like he wants attention, just give any reaction. There’s no need to deliberately cause trouble.”
The way he was diligently calculating various things behind an expression that didn’t look serious at all but just playful somehow reminded Ryu Ho-yeon of Kim Jun-young. Ryu Ho-yeon gazed up at the profile of Choi Jae-won, who was holding his hand.
