Guild Leader Kim Mi-yeon asked when they were planning to leave for their trip.
“The whole point of a trip is to go the moment you decide,” Seo-ha declared confidently.
It was Han Ju-oh who caught him mid-excitement.
“Where are we going?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you, did I? Guess I got ahead of myself. I’ve already picked the place.”
That’s why they were able to head off without any hesitation. Seo-ha took Han Ju-oh’s hand.
“Have you ever even been on a trip before? I seriously doubt it. But if you have, we’ll have to see who ends up calling the shots. I’ve never seen a trip where both people calmly sit down and make plans together.”
Which basically meant: Just leave everything to me.
“I haven’t.”
Fortunately, Han Ju-oh shook his head and admitted he’d never traveled before.
“Knew it. Then let’s go.”
Grinning with excitement, Seo-ha swung Han Ju-oh’s hand back and forth dramatically.
“The moment I thought about going, I went ahead and booked a place. I’ve always wanted to visit, and now I finally get to.”
The way he looked at Han Ju-oh as he said that—I’ve always wanted to go—was strangely layered. Han Ju-oh would realize why soon enough.
***
On the bus to Gangwon-do, both of them passed out like they’d been unplugged. They hadn’t been sleeping properly, constantly on the move, juggling one task after another. Even on workdays, Han Ju-oh had to fly while carrying Seo-ha—there hadn’t been a single moment to rest.
When the bus arrived and people started getting off, Seo-ha stirred first and nudged Han Ju-oh.
“We’re here.”
Han Ju-oh’s eyelids slowly lifted, revealing eyes still dazed and unfocused.
“You’re the guy who says he never sleeps in dungeons, but you’re totally out cold on a bus?”
Seo-ha dug mercilessly into Han Ju-oh’s old uptight habits, saying it just to tease him. But when Han Ju-oh wiped the corner of Seo-ha’s mouth with his thumb, the mood flipped.
“You can sleep anywhere.”
Despite having slept just as much, Seo-ha tried to brush it off and awkwardly changed the subject.
“Let’s get off.”
Once the bus cleared out, Seo-ha stood and pulled Han Ju-oh up with him. As they walked down the narrow aisle between the seats, their hands never let go.
Stepping out of the terminal, Seo-ha glanced around with a refreshed expression.
“It’s nice coming back here.”
They still had a ways to go to reach the inn, but the scenery felt so different from the city it put him in a strangely elevated mood.
“This place feels familiar.”
“Of course it does. This is where I met that kind old guy who gave me a ride on his tractor. Now who was it that came flying after me that day?”
‘You.’
Seo-ha looked up at Han Ju-oh with a deadpan stare, completely emotionless. He was thinking about how he didn’t even make it close to the inn last time—Han Ju-oh had swooped in and taken him away.
“This time, I am going. So don’t you dare stop me. That’s why you came with me, right?”
With a now-unbothered pace, Seo-ha walked on, casually taking in the scenery.
“If you order a full barbecue set at the inn, they’ll grill the meat for you. They prep everything, too. But we’ve gotta buy the alcohol ourselves, so let’s stop by that convenience store.”
Chattering away, Seo-ha explained why he chose this place.
“Gates are popping up all over the city. Maybe that’s why it’s so quiet out here—hardly any people. No Gates, no Espers, just peace and quiet…”
Mid-sentence, he spotted a small speck in the sky. It grew steadily larger. Seo-ha turned his head away, pretending not to see it.
“All there is out here are the mountains, the road, and the sky. I’m seriously thinking of moving somewhere like this…”
He trailed off with empty words, but only for a moment. Looking at Han Ju-oh with a miserable expression, Seo-ha realized there was no use pretending. Denying it wouldn’t make it go away.
“Why?! Why does a Gate have to appear in the middle of quiet little Gangwon-do?!”
Seo-ha practically wailed, voice cracking in protest. Han Ju-oh couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“You think this is funny? Huh? You’re laughing?”
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He came out here hoping for an actual vacation, heart full of anticipation—only to find a Gate shimmering right in front of them. How was this even real?
“Whatever. We’re not staying here anyway. Let’s just report it and leave, yeah?”
Seo-ha, having zero intention of entering the Gate, immediately came up with a plan. But his face had already fallen.
“If you don’t want to go in, we won’t.”
Han Ju-oh had already explained the situation to Guild Leader Kim Mi-yeon over the phone. Now, he answered Seo-ha in a voice that made it clear he was leaving the choice to him.
“Really? No take-backs later.”
Seo-ha made his stance clear—he had no intention of stepping into that Gate—and turned away without a second thought. Han Ju-oh watched the Gate for a brief moment, then silently followed him.
At the convenience store beside the terminal, Seo-ha grabbed a basket and started tossing items in without pause.
“This world is definitely out to get me. There’s no other explanation for this crap.”
When the first basket filled up in no time, Han Ju-oh quietly took it from him and handed him an empty one.
“When my matching rate was at 3%, other people were going into Gates maybe twice a month. Me? I was in there ten, twenty times. No one made me do it—it was just the only option I had back then. I get it. That was my choice. But now? What the hell is this?”
He threw in snacks. Disposable chopsticks. Sanitizing wipes. Bottled water. Towels. Another basket, full in seconds. Seo-ha grabbed a third one, letting out an irritated sigh.
“I finally started seeing my match rate go up. I thought I could breathe for once. And this is what I get? I just want to take a break. I just want to have fun.”
He shook a can in front of Han Ju-oh’s face.
“I don’t want canned tuna—I want grilled meat. I didn’t come here to pack for survival.”
“Just get whatever you want. I’ll cover it.”
When Han Ju-oh coaxed him gently, Seo-ha let out a heavy sigh and went back to loading up the basket.
***
With a hiking backpack packed to the brim at his side, Seo-ha crouched next to it, absently watching Han Ju-oh move around. While Han Ju-oh scouted the area and made another sweep through the shops for supplies—including the convenience store—he kept a constant eye on the Gate.
Now he was talking to someone from the Control Center. Judging by the exchange, he was probably volunteering to lead the response team. Resting his chin on his hand, Seo-ha muttered under his breath.
“What the hell is the issue this time?”
Seriously—how could a Gate just randomly show up here?
“It appears while I’m packing. Appears when I’m grabbing coffee.”
It didn’t matter what he was doing—bam, a Gate. And always after he’d made up his mind to do something else. It was hard not to be suspicious.
“Do me and Han Ju-oh have some freakish power that summons Gates just by being near each other or something?”
Of course not. No such power existed. But the timing was so ludicrous, he couldn’t help but think about it. Even when they tried to take a damn vacation, a Gate had to show up. It was beyond ridiculous.
When Han Ju-oh came back, he crouched down to meet Seo-ha at eye level and spoke softly.
“Should we go to the inn? We can still grill meat there.”
“Oh, really? You think we can just turn our backs and walk away? What, do I look like some rookie Guide to you?”
Seo-ha let out a sharp, dry laugh.
“I saw someone from the local Gate Control Center earlier.”
Most people assumed the Gate Control Center was a single national organization, but that only applied in the city where Gates were frequent enough to justify a central office. Outside the urban core, regional branches operated separately. After all, Gates required immediate response, and it wasn’t realistic for the main office to deploy from the capital to places like Gangwon-do on short notice.
There was a reason Seo-ha specifically pointed out that this was a local center.
Because in quiet regions like this, Gates were rare, and so were Espers. Even more rare were high-rank ones. So with an S-Class Esper standing right in front of them, of course they weren’t going to bother assembling a separate team.
They were clearly trying to rope him in.
“Be straight with me.”
“…They asked us to go in first.”
Han Ju-oh didn’t even hesitate. Seo-ha gave a bitter, joyless laugh.
“I knew it. You’ve been laying the groundwork for this since earlier. It’s one thing to say they might gather a team, but they want us to go in first?”
“They said they’re still trying to gather people.”
Seo-ha bit back everything rising to the tip of his tongue. Honestly, he didn’t know how this particular control center operated. Maybe they had their reasons.
‘Still doesn’t mean Han Ju-oh should be the one taking the fall.’
Seo-ha stood up and brushed the dust from his pants. When Han Ju-oh hesitantly picked up the pack, Seo-ha sighed.
“Hold on. Just one call.”
There was no way he was letting them use the two of them like this. Pulling out his phone, he called someone and explained the situation in a cold, neutral tone—devoid of emotion. At the end, he added a single, loaded sentence, a subtle signal that carried weight.
Then he switched his phone to airplane mode and met Han Ju-oh’s gaze.
“Let’s go.”
Screw the inn. If this turned into a dungeon crawl, then so be it. Call it a different kind of trip.
