8
Jihwan stared at Minjae with a vacant expression for a moment. Since Minjae had no intention of taking back his words, he simply stared back without saying anything.
“…Understood.”
Jihwan answered with a voice full of discontent and headed outside with the children. Minjae began searching the school again with Eunjeong.
Not long after, they discovered a man looking at them warily from beyond a classroom door.
“Open the door. We’re the rescue esper team.”
Despite Minjae’s words, the man didn’t open the door. Behind him, they could faintly see the anxious faces of children.
The man inside the classroom appeared to be one of the school teachers, judging by how he was protecting the children.
Eunjeong took out her phone from beside him and contacted someone.
“How can I trust that?”
The man didn’t easily let go of his suspicion. Haven’t they identified who the culprit is yet? Minjae was about to add something but closed his mouth when he saw the children looking at him.
“Because our uniforms are official Hero Center staff uniforms.”
Minjae pointed to the wing pattern embroidered on his sleeve. The man glanced inside the classroom and gave a slight nod. Heroes! The children whispered.
“Hello, kids~!”
Just then, someone shouted from outside the window facing the playground.
Seeing a man in a blue jumpsuit floating in the air with a smile, the children reacted in various ways.
“Hoyoung’s here!”
Eunjeong greeted loudly. Hoyoung, polite even while floating in midair, bowed slightly before placing his feet on the windowsill and grabbing hold of it.
Hoyoung, a flying-type esper, seemed to have received Eunjeong’s message while helping with reconnaissance and rescue activities outside.
“Who are you, mister?”
One of the children asked. Hoyoung, in his early twenties, looked slightly hurt by this comment.
“Haha… Couldn’t you call me uncle instead?”
“I’m opening the door. Teacher and students, please step back.”
Minjae spoke, ignoring the wounded Hoyoung.
“I’ll move the chairs for you…!”
“We don’t have much time, so please step back.”
The teacher, seemingly flustered, approached the door before retreating and having the children stand by the window facing the playground.
Desks and chairs were clumsily piled in front of the door. Minjae quickly surveyed the inside and nodded to Eunjeong. She also tilted her head to look inside before extending her hand to open the door.
Crack! A creaking sound echoed through the corridor. It was the sound of desks and chairs that had been blocking the door being pushed back and breaking.
The children huddled together on the opposite side of the door gasped with their mouths wide open.
“Alright, friends. I’ll take you down to near the mattress area two at a time, so just grab my arms and trust me.”
Hoyoung said as he opened the window.
“Can’t we go through the corridor…?”
“The corridor is too dangerous.”
When a child asked nervously, seemingly frightened by the ground visible below, Minjae answered as he entered the classroom. On one side, Eunjeong was lightly moving desks and chairs toward the teacher’s desk as if clearing away coffee mugs.
“The perpetrator is roaming the corridors. Since the search will take time, we’re prioritizing rescue.”
Eunjeong explained with a smile. The male teacher nodded with a slightly relieved expression.
“Thank you. Um… there’s a child who’s injured…”
“Who?”
The teacher pointed to a child with a bandage around their arm. Minjae approached and sat down. After examining the child’s arm, he injected healing.
The child gasped softly as white light emanated from Minjae’s hand.
Thanks to Hoyoung’s swift movements, almost all the children had evacuated the classroom. Occasionally, choking sounds could be heard from Hoyoung as children clung to his neck out of fear. Eunjeong snickered watching him.
Minjae was getting up when his eyes met those of the teacher who was watching him.
The teacher was looking at him with an ambiguous gaze. Gratitude and wonder, mixed with discomfort and uneasiness. Minjae was used to such looks.
“…Will it be okay?”
After Minjae finished healing, the teacher asked while looking at the child being carried by Hoyoung.
“Are you worried about side effects?”
“What? No…”
The teacher blushed. Minjae, with an expressionless face, gestured toward Hoyoung who had risen up again.
“Take the teacher too.”
“Yes!”
Hoyoung smiled energetically and extended his hand to the teacher. The teacher awkwardly bowed his head and grabbed Hoyoung’s arm.
It was around the time Hoyoung’s head disappeared downward after lifting the teacher that it happened.
Bang!
A bullet grazed Minjae’s ear. Turning toward the direction the bullet came from, Minjae’s eyes met with Jihwan’s, who had a gun pointed at his temple.
It’s him.
The moment he saw the man holding a gun to Jihwan’s head, Minjae was certain he was the culprit in this incident.
The man glared at Minjae and Eunjeong with bloodshot eyes. Although Jihwan was taller than the man, he was being dragged along, lowering his waist and knees due to the gun. Minjae felt a burning sensation near his ear and silently cursed.
Minjae’s instructions to Jihwan had been simple: take the children to the emergency medical team and return to the Center. Yet here he was, captured as a hostage by the perpetrator.
Seems like we’re fucked. Eunjeong muttered softly. Minjae wished the hand gripping Jihwan’s collar was his own.
“Sunbae…”
“Shut up.”
Jihwan called out to Minjae, his lips trembling in fear. Minjae quickly stopped him because the sound might attract the perpetrator’s attention.
Jihwan, seemingly upset by Minjae’s words, clamped his mouth shut with tears welling up in his eyes. Then he mouthed: The children are safe.
Minjae glared at Jihwan before blinking slightly at those words. It was a sign of acknowledgment. Whether Jihwan understood Minjae’s signal or not, he continued to stare intently at him.
“Bring them here!”
The gun was now pointed at Minjae. Minjae didn’t react and just stared at the man. Then he raised his hand to touch his ear. Jihwan’s eyes followed Minjae’s hand.
The ear grazed by the bullet stung like a burn. Fucking hell. Minjae injected healing. The man’s bloodshot eyes widened as if they might burst.
The gun barrel twitched. A sign of excitement. I knew he would react to this. Just as Minjae thought this, the man’s hand moved.
Bang!
Another gunshot rang out.
Ack! Jihwan screamed and closed his eyes. In contrast, Minjae didn’t close his.
A brief silence followed. The bullet had missed Minjae. The highly agitated perpetrator was trembling. There was no way his aim could be accurate.
Minjae stared at the man without moving. The man seemed disturbed by Minjae’s composure. Jihwan squinted his eyes to check if Minjae was safe, then exhaled.
“You monster bastards! Bring them! I said bring the kids!”
“The children are in a safe place. Currently, you have no hostages to take.”
The hostage-taker was agitated that the children from his class had disappeared. He spoke as if the espers were holding the children hostage.
Minjae assessed the perpetrator while calmly making him aware of the situation.
Normally, he wouldn’t say many things that might provoke the perpetrator, but since the gun was now pointed at Minjae, provoking him might be a strategy. It was much more convenient when the target was Minjae himself rather than Jihwan.
“No… no…! Bring them! I need to test them!”
Minjae carefully examined the man from head to toe. Middle-aged male. Obviously someone unfamiliar with this kind of crime.
“Test? What kind of test?”
Minjae asked.
“Monsters… they might have become monsters. I must test them…”
The man seemed to be talking to Minjae but kept muttering to himself. Monsters and tests. Familiar words.
“He was fine. He was fine… But then…”
Eunjeong was slowly approaching from behind the man while he was unaware.
Minjae looked at Jihwan’s face, which was turning increasingly blue either from tension or being choked, and signaled to Eunjeong. It was a sign to wait for now.
One wrong move could result in the death of either the S-class or the man. Minjae wanted to avoid such a situation at all costs.
Eunjeong, seemingly displeased with Minjae’s order, widened her eyes before standing with one leg crossed in front of the other.
“None of the children have become monsters. They’re all fine.”
“Monsters like you wouldn’t know!!!”
The man shouted at the top of his lungs and shook his head. He momentarily forgot that he was aiming his gun at Minjae and began hitting his own head with his hand. His gun handling was extremely clumsy.
This could go wrong. Just as Minjae was about to signal Eunjeong to take the gun, Hoyoung rose up outside the window.
Hoyoung, who was trying to enter through the window, encountered the situation and widened his eyes.
Making eye contact with Minjae, Hoyoung raised both hands and made a rectangle with his thumbs and index fingers, placing it in front of his eyes. Then he raised his hands in the air, making the gesture used to indicate something sparkling. After repeating the front and back movements several times, Minjae realized.
Reporters have surrounded us again. Fuck.
It wasn’t just that reporters had surrounded them; there was a possibility that the situation was being broadcast in detail. It was perhaps inevitable, given that both an SSS-class and an S-class had been deployed to the scene.
How many gunshots have been fired so far? This is driving me crazy. Minjae became troubled.
A small metallic sound was heard. The man’s gun was now pressed against Jihwan’s head again.
“Bring every single one of them. Otherwise, I’ll shoot and kill this bastard.”
Jihwan looked at Minjae with pleading eyes. Minjae ignored him.
“Shoot.”
“…What?”
The man asked. Minjae didn’t hesitate.
“I said shoot.”
Jihwan’s eyes widened as much as they could before settling. Then, raising his eyes again, Jihwan looked at Minjae.
In that brief moment, Minjae wondered what kind of look Jihwan might have. Eyes full of resentment or anger. Eyes filled with fear or despair. Perhaps even eyes with killing intent directed at him.
However, Jihwan looked at Minjae with eyes that seemed full of determination and mouthed: I’m okay. Jihwan closed his eyes. His face resembled that of a saint.
Wow, what an arrogant bastard. Minjae moved toward the man who was pointing the gun at Jihwan.
“Shoot? You’re saying shoot!!!”
The man, seemingly confused, barked as he pointed the gun at Minjae and then back at Jihwan. Without hesitation, Minjae reached out and gripped the gun barrel.
Bang!
Another gunshot rang out. This time, the sound was more muffled than before.
“Sunbae!”
Eunjeong called out to Minjae in surprise.
Minjae’s hand, which had blocked the gun barrel and taken the full impact, was in a terrible state. Bones were visible, and blood was streaming from burst vessels inside his hand.
Opening his eyes at the commotion, Jihwan discovered Minjae’s hand in a horror movie-like state.
Uh… uh… Jihwan repeated the same words like a broken recorder.
Eunjeong quickly twisted the man’s arm behind his back. The man, momentarily dazed, twisted his body in resistance.
Seeing Eunjeong clench her fist, Minjae extended his uninjured hand.
“Don’t break him. Reporters are outside.”
Shit. Cursing, Eunjeong unclenched her fist and struck the back of the man’s neck with the side of her hand. The man’s body went limp. Eunjeong bound the man’s hands behind his back and looked at Minjae.
“Sunbae, are you okay?”
“Sunbae-nim, are you alright?”
Eunjeong and Jihwan asked simultaneously.
Jihwan carefully took Minjae’s bleeding hand and scrunched up his face. Uh, uh, what should I do? You must be in pain. His expression made it look like Jihwan was the one who had been shot.
Minjae injected healing into his injured hand with his other hand. The bones aligned, and the tissues in his hand returned to their proper places. Minjae swallowed a groan.
“The fired bullet was accidentally discharged by the perpetrator, and there are no injuries.”
Minjae’s voice was calm. Eunjeong nodded lightly, as if familiar with this situation. Hoyoung, who had entered the classroom, did the same.
“Everyone deployed on the mission is safe, and after talking with the perpetrator, the arrest was successful. There was no idiot who got taken hostage. Nothing happened.”
“……”
“Understood?”
Minjae was speaking to Jihwan.
Although he emphasized the word “idiot,” Jihwan didn’t react and just stared at Minjae’s hand where the wound had healed. Though the wound had disappeared, his hand was still covered in blood.
Jihwan, not letting go of Minjae’s hand, gently wiped away the blood with his sleeve.
“Yes.”
Jihwan answered in a small voice, almost like a whisper.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
