1
It was an ordinary day no different from any other. A video was uploaded to the internet showing a man at the roadside levitating a car in the air with a gesture.
The car moved precisely in the direction the man pointed. It even flipped over like a light pizza dough.
However, the man demonstrating these incredible abilities suddenly collapsed, coughing up blood. The car he dropped caused a series of collisions.
And shortly after, an explosion erupted.
Where the black smoke cleared, only overturned vehicles, a destroyed road, and bloodstains remained.
The video spread rapidly. There were claims it was manipulated footage, but as several more dashcam videos emerged, the world was turned upside down.
It’s a plague, a curse, the apocalypse. Various hypotheses followed. However, when a case emerged of someone embracing their convulsing friend and preventing an “explosion,” a surviving person with supernatural abilities appeared. The survivor said they suddenly manifested supernatural powers by chance.
Scientists continued heated debates about whether this phenomenon should be considered human evolution or a mutation. During this process, for convenience, they decided to call those with abilities “espers,” and those who could prevent espers from going out of control “guides.”
People believed their survival was threatened by espers. Someone walking beside them on the street could go out of control, or they themselves could lose control. They felt fear about potentially being left behind by evolved humanity. And that led to terrorism.
Six months after the first esper manifestation. The first terrorist attack began. A large screen was installed outside a building demanding the expulsion of mutants, and a 60-minute countdown started.
60 minutes was too short to decide whether to deny or accept the existence of a race—if it could be called that.
After the countdown ended, the building was bombed. 150 humans, including ordinary people or hidden espers, died.
Casualties continued to mount from ongoing terrorist attacks. The terrorists were sometimes espers, sometimes civilians. Their reasons and demands varied as well. Thus began the era of terrorism.
***
[Announcement. Citizens within five kilometers of the Venus Building are advised to evacuate promptly.]
[Please show mature civic awareness. Those with vehicles are requested to assist citizens evacuating on foot.]
One hour after the Venus Building terrorism report was received.
The announcement continued to echo around the building. People were evacuating with expressions that seemed to feel both fear and irritation simultaneously.
On the screen of the building next to the Venus Building, a man’s face was displayed.
Fair skin with straight, gentle eyes. A man with a stern and solid gaze. His features were so refined that he could have passed for an actor in a melodrama.
Next to the face confidently staring into space like a righteous hero, wearing a uniform that seemed to belong to neither the police nor the military, was a caption. Hero, Woo Minjae.
“What bullshit.”
Minjae muttered from the rooftop of a building facing the screen. With his baseball cap pulled down low, he displayed a twisted smile completely unlike his angelic smile on the screen.
Leaning against the rooftop wall, he took out a hamburger from the paper bag he had brought.
[Please evacuate calmly for your safety.]
The announcement kept repeating that it was safe. That’s when it happened.
A massive missile lodged into the building. The subsequent blaring horns and people’s screams were so loud that the sound of the building cracking couldn’t be heard.
The missile had “DEFEAT ESPERS” scrawled in red letters. It looked like it was written with red lacquer.
It had been over 20 years since the first esper manifested, yet terrorists like this were still abundant. Ironically, because of them, espers were treated like heroes. Though they lived lives rolling around as directed by the state, outwardly it looked impressive.
Minjae mumbled while chewing his hamburger, then crumpled the remaining wrapper and tossed it carelessly.
“It’s a dud.”
Minjae muttered in an emotionless tone. Buildings exploding or things lodging into buildings were common occurrences. And cases like this, where a massive missile someone had gone to great trouble to make turned out to be a dud, were quite common too.
For all the effort put into sending that crude warning letter, they seem to lack missile-making skills. Minjae sneered as he looked at the building.
“Ten, eleven, twelve—”
Woong—
With a sound like that of an airplane starting to fly, the building began to tilt. Minjae, who had been counting seconds, quickly pulled out the phone he had carelessly stuffed into his back pocket and started taking pictures.
“Smi~le!”
A cheerful voice rang out, incongruous with the situation. After checking the focus of the photo, Minjae began typing on his phone.
Ding! Diri-ring! Diriririririliririring! This time button sound effects rang out. 5-meter missile. Dud. Building held for 13 seconds.
Just as Minjae was about to press the send button, a thunderous noise struck his ears. Black smoke was surging before his eyes. A strong wind caused by the explosion brushed past Minjae’s cheek.
F*cking hell. Swallowing the curse, Minjae rewrote the message. 17 seconds elapsed. Explosion. Multiple casualties expected.
After sending the message, Minjae narrowed his eyes and looked at the city covered in black smoke.
“Looks like I won’t be getting off work.”
Sighing, Minjae took out a water bottle from his jacket and tried to take a drink. Or rather, he would have, if he hadn’t been suddenly lifted up and found himself floating in mid-air.
Minjae had to flail his arms to break free from whatever had snatched him up like an eagle.
“Don’t move! I’ll take you to a safe place, so please stay still!”
What…?
Minjae forcibly turned his head to look up at the other person. Short hair like an athlete’s and thick eyebrows. With his whole body tensed, he was clearly a young rookie esper.
Who authorized sending such a small fry…? Minjae swallowed a sigh.
“Ugh! Ah! Citizen! Please stay still. As long as I’m here, you’re safe!”
Wow— there’s actually someone here reciting the lines they teach at the training center. Super hero? What’s this “as long as I’m here” nonsense?
The esper, completely unaware that Minjae was mocking him, was faithfully performing the response manual that espers must follow when rescuing citizens, asking things like what are you doing on a rooftop in such a dangerous place, are you hurt anywhere, and so on.
Ugh! Argh! The esper seemed new to flying, as his trajectory was far from smooth. He kept making sounds that might have been screams whenever he wobbled, and consequently, the two of them swayed in the air with every gust of wind.
Dangling in the air, Minjae exercised his utmost patience and swallowed both his motion sickness and irritation.
“Put me down.”
“What? Citizen! We’re not even far from the explosion site yet. And the aftershocks from the explosion…!”
Before he could finish speaking, Minjae struck the hand holding him with the edge of his own hand. Huh? Momentarily losing his grip, the esper dropped Minjae and reached out toward him as he fell through the air.
The esper grabbed the edge of Minjae’s jacket. Minjae’s body, which was about to land on the ground, tilted off-balance due to the pulling force from behind.
Losing his center of gravity, Minjae hit the ground with a thud. For a moment, Minjae felt his vision go dark.
He felt vibrations behind his back. Aftershocks were beginning. The wind was continuously sweeping dust and building debris around, making it difficult to see clearly.
Ugh. Minjae barely managed to sit up, feeling like his body might break. In the end, what am I doing because of that idiot? Minjae thought.
A strong pain surged from his left shoulder along with a strange sensation. It’s fractured. Damn. Daaaamn. Minjae cursed like a groan and pressed his left shoulder with his right hand to align the bone. There was a cracking sound from his shoulder.
A faint light emanated from Minjae’s right hand. Sighing deeply, Minjae leaned against a concrete wall that wasn’t even as tall as his upper body.
“Uh… citi-zen. Are you, o-kay…?”
Startled by a voice coming from his right, Minjae quickly turned his head to look. As his vision cleared, he saw the esper collapsed in a strange position as if he had fallen mid-fall.
Ah. Shit. Fixing his hat that had fallen off, Minjae crawled over in panic.
“Where are you hurt?”
“What? Citizen… your blood… blood… uh… rescue team…”
From the young esper’s condition, it was clear that one or both of his legs were broken. Even in that state, he was still struggling to help with citizen rescue, showing just how deeply immersed he was in playing hero.
“Right, left.”
“Pardon…?”
“Which leg, I’m asking.”
“Uh…”
The young esper stammered, unable to speak properly. I’m fine. Please don’t worry. The rescue team will soon…! The hand he extended to comfort Minjae was scraped and covered in blood. Seeing him recite the manual like a broken machine, Minjae felt deflated.
“You’re lucky, you know.”
Minjae said curtly as he got up and looked at the young esper askance. Judging by the odd angle of his left leg, it was definitely fractured.
Minjae approached him and lightly nudged the left leg with his foot.
“Aaargh!!! What are you doing?!”
Somehow still having the strength to shout, the esper writhed and got angry. What are you, a worm? Minjae snickered before placing his hand on the leg. Once again, a small light emanated.
The esper looked at his leg and then at Minjae with wide eyes.
“Wow…”
“First time in the field, right?”
Minjae snickered and extended his hand to the esper. He was thinking of asking if the esper could fly and then returning more comfortably, but remembering the esper’s flying skills, he quickly abandoned the idea.
Meanwhile, the esper eagerly grabbed Minjae’s outstretched hand but instead of trying to stand up, he exclaimed with sparkling eyes:
“Please be my guide!”
Please-! -lease-! -ease-!
His voice was so loud that it echoed. Hearing the repeated voice, Minjae asked back with a dumbfounded face:
“What…?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
