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A speck of white dust fell on Taebeom’s knee. With his gaze fixed on the bed, he didn’t notice it.
He was at the former Grand Guildmaster’s mansion. The former Grand Guildmaster, who always used to greet him with a kind smile, was now asleep, looking like a withered leaf.
They said he now slept much longer than he was awake. As if foretelling the moment of farewell. With his eyes closed, he already looked like a cold corpse.
His body had become so small and unremarkable, it was hard to believe he was an Esper. It was because the ability degeneration had taken away even his sense of taste.
Ability degeneration dulls the senses. Hearing and vision gradually deteriorate, loss of taste causes poor appetite, and in severe cases, the body may even reject food.
For the past few years, the former Grand Guildmaster had survived only on liquid food. This was why the once high-ranking Esper who had roamed battlefields had withered away like a frail old man.
“Can people live inside the gate?”
After a long silence, Taebeom asked the deeply sleeping former Grand Guildmaster. Even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.
As expected, only faint breathing returned. The weak breath that seemed like it might stop at any moment filled the small room.
Despite being the owner of this vast mansion, he stayed in the smallest room. He had given away all the large, sunny rooms suitable for playing to children abandoned by the world.
Having dedicated his entire life to protecting the country and the Center, he had no blood children to pass on his legacy, but he had many who followed him like children. Taebeom was one of them.
Taebeom continued to silently watch the former Grand Guildmaster for a while after that. As if saying goodbye in advance.
* * *
Secretary Dongkwon stood in front of the former Grand Guildmaster’s bedroom door, rubbing his stiff eyes. His face showed clear fatigue from running around delivering documents to Taebeom and attending meetings without a wink of sleep.
“Haah…”
He felt like he had aged 10 years in just a few days. His sleep time was severely lacking, and he hadn’t eaten properly. As he rubbed his hungry stomach, he clicked his tongue, thinking of Taebeom beyond the door.
“Isn’t he hungry?”
He was never one to care much about food, but since getting busy, Dongkwon couldn’t remember seeing him eat at all. The secretary was certain that among Espers with high activity levels, no one ate as little as Taebeom.
His eating habits were completely different from his younger brother, Geonho. Of course, they did have some similarities.
“What’s that?”
Dongkwon suddenly frowned and looked closely out the window. A bird was clumsily flapping its wings, leaning against the window frame. It was an unremarkable sight, but the bird’s appearance was unusual.
“What kind of bird looks like that?”
As he tilted his head and tried to get a closer look at the bird, he heard movement from the stairs. Dongkwon greeted the person coming up the stairs with a warm fatherly smile.
“Why did you come up? Bored?”
The child who carefully approached Dongkwon shook her head. As she shook her head, her long hair and well-groomed fur swayed gently.
The girl, who looked about elementary school age, was a dog beastkin. Being a small breed, her human form was also very small and petite. Even in human form, her face remained that of a dog.
“Hm?”
The girl opened and closed her mouth, pointing at the bird outside the window.
“Not a bird?”
Dongkwon, used to communicating with the girl who only expressed herself through gestures, immediately understood her meaning. If not a bird, then what? Puzzled, he looked more closely at the creature outside the window.
“Ah, it’s a flying squirrel.”
The girl smiled brightly and nodded vigorously. Dongkwon smiled along with her.
The girl, looking as if she had more to say, suddenly waved her hand towards the bottom of the stairs. Now he noticed another one coming up.
“Don’t rush me. I’m coming on my own.”
Grumbling as he came up, a boy with a mischievous look was a tiger beastkin. He pursed his lips and was reluctantly led by the girl to stand in front of Dongkwon.
Dongkwon looked at them with an interested expression.
“What? Are you giving me a gift?”
“It’s not for you, mister.”
The boy was carefully holding a clumsily wrapped object. Seeing the ribbon on it, it seemed he had prepared it properly.
“I’m not a mister, I’m an older brother. Come on, say ‘hyungnim’.”
Dongkwon protested that he was still in his 20s, but to the young boy’s eyes, he only looked like a mister.
“Here, you can have this.”
The boy took out a small box from his pocket, as if making a concession. It was also wrapped, so it seemed he had prepared something for Dongkwon too. Dongkwon accepted the gift happily, with a deeply touched expression.
“Wow, anti-drowsiness candy. This is perfect!”
Dongkwon immediately unwrapped the gift and smiled brightly, saying it was exactly what he needed right now. Seeing how happy he was with the small gift, the boy shyly averted his eyes.
“Next year, I’ll save up and get you something better.”
“This is plenty good. Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
Dongkwon shook the tin case containing the candy and then noticed the letter the shy girl was holding out, exclaiming “Ah.”
Reading the carefully written words along with a pretty flower drawing on thick paper, he felt a lump in his throat. Next month would already mark the 5th anniversary of Baekya Guild’s formation. He had forgotten about it while living such a hectic life.
“Kids, thank you so much.”
Dongkwon’s eyes reddened with emotion. The boy handed him the ribbon-decorated gift before he could start crying.
“This… please pass it on. We made it together.”
The boy scratched his head shyly, mumbling that he was giving it early because they would be busy. A month would pass quickly anyway.
Having achieved his goal, he quickly ran down the stairs. The girl followed him downstairs, her fur fluttering.
They made it themselves again this year.
Dongkwon had a feeling about what gift the children had prepared for Taebeom. Last year, they had also given a handmade gift. A ceramic vase that showed the clumsy craftsmanship of young children.
He couldn’t bring himself to say it had been broken. He was still keeping secret the fact that he had put it on his own desk, thinking Taebeom wouldn’t keep it properly.
Expecting this year’s gift to be ceramic as well, he carefully held the present with both hands. Just then, new footsteps came up the stairs. It was the former Grand Guildmaster’s personal secretary.
“Do you have another schedule right away?”
The secretary appeared, as always, looking like the perfect example of an elderly gentleman.
“No, today is relatively free.”
“Then let’s have a meal before you go.”
Seeing him smile kindly, saying he had prepared a lot of food, Dongkwon held back his desire to immediately say he would eat. Just then, the door opened.
“Leader, the secretary has prepared a meal for us.”
Dongkwon, who had been hungry, looked at Taebeom with a happy face. He also remembered to hand over the gift.
“The children prepared this as our 5th anniversary gift.”
Dongkwon was about to say he would take care of it, but before he could, Taebeom took the gift. He gave a slight nod to the secretary and then left.
“You’re leaving without eating?”
“You eat and come.”
Taebeom left the mansion alone, leaving Dongkwon behind.
As he left, the large dogs in the yard ran up to him, wagging their tails vigorously. They were real dogs, not beastkin. Taebeom stroked them briefly, watching their tails move widely from side to side.
Just then, a light presence was felt in the air.
“Kind of resembles Geonho.”
Jihan approached Taebeom and spoke with a smile. He gently stroked the large dogs that were wary of him. It was his first time coming to the former Grand Guildmaster’s mansion.
Taebeom looked at Jihan with an expression asking why he had come.
“I had something to report so I went to the leader’s office, and I found something strange.”
Jihan made a clicking sound by hitting his middle finger and thumb together, and floated some documents in the air. They were materials from Taebeom’s office. The secretary had left additional documents on the desk, which Jihan had seen.
Taebeom had warned him several times to manage things properly. It was the result of insufficient sleep.
“So this is why it’s been even harder to see your face lately?”
Jihan spread out the materials about gate entry and sighed exaggeratedly.
It had already been a week since Siwoo started on-site guiding. During that time, not only had the leader not visited the site, but he had hardly even answered calls.
I just thought he was very busy. I didn’t know he was secretly planning something this big.
“Are you planning to enter the interior?”
Jihan made the documents disappear and rubbed his chin. Honestly, he was surprised, but he thought it was a plausible plan.
“I was also bothered by the gate. Seeing that only beastkin Espers have seizures, it’s clear that someone is intentionally behind this.”
Jihan clicked his middle finger and thumb again, this time bringing out a small ball. Simultaneously, all the large dogs’ attention focused on the ball.
“If there was someone in the Center plotting this, you wouldn’t miss it, right?”
The dogs quickly ran after the ball that flew far away in a parabolic arc.
“Then they must be hiding somewhere out of our sight, and the only such place is inside the gate.”
But people can’t live inside the gate. It was a fact everyone knew well. No one had ever returned alive after entering a gate.
But what if it were possible? Finding the cause of the beastkin seizure incidents would become simpler. We just need to go in and find out.
“Who do you think is behind it?”
“We’ll have to go in to find out.”
Jihan chuckled at Taebeom’s indifferent voice and threw the ball again to the dogs who had quickly returned with it.
“One thing is certain for now.”
The sound of the dogs’ paws running excitedly towards the ball echoed cheerfully.
“A beastkin hater.”
The laughter disappeared from his voice as he pronounced each word slowly. However, Jihan’s lips were still smiling.
“But that’s too much, leader. You should have told us about such an important matter earlier.”
There was a lot to prepare for entering the gate. First and foremost, they needed to find a place to leave our passionate guide. That was what Jihan was most worried about. In case Siwoo wanted to come along.
“You don’t need to go.”
As if he had anticipated Taebeom’s response, Jihan let it go in one ear and out the other. He only worried about what excuses to give Siwoo.
“Should I tell that Guide Team Leader from before? Ask him to stay with our guide while we’re away.”
“Yoo Jihan.”
“Or should we send him on a trip? Then he’d definitely say he won’t go, right?”
Taebeom took a step closer to Jihan. Jihan didn’t avoid him and faced him directly, smiling deeply.
“You stay behind and protect. I alone am enough to go in.”
“Your confidence is excessive. You’re not that good, leader.”
He said it like a joke, but he was serious. What could he do alone inside the gate? All those who had attempted to enter the gate interior so far were famous high-ranking Espers. There were records of even nationally treasured rare ability users going in.
“Why are you trying to fight alone when you have an SS-class younger brother?”
Jihan had already answered that with his own words. Because the opponent was likely a beastkin hater. Geonho, being a beastkin and the strongest among the high-ranking Espers, was likely to be a target. That’s why he wanted to move alone.
“If you go in, leader, we’re all going in together.”
But they couldn’t just hold back because of that. The reason they had been able to suppress the gate saturation period was that they never looked back.
They only looked forward, fighting beyond their limits as if today was their only future. That’s how they were able to protect. It was the fruit of their labor, fighting until victory.
“Think carefully and decide.”
This time, Jihan took a step closer to Taebeom.
“Whether you’ll go in alone first and get beaten up before accepting our help, or we’ll go in hand in hand and beat them up together.”
Jihan clasped his hands together, saying he hoped for the latter, and disappeared with a wink.
The dogs that had brought back the ball looked around for Jihan and then ran to Taebeom. Their large tails wagging widely from side to side.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
